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More 18 to 24-year-olds than any other age group in the UK know someone who's lost their job in the recession. That's one of the findings of the BBC's Taking the Pulse survey and another indication the younger generation is feeling the brunt of the economic downturn. Newsbeat's Tamasin Ford reports from Hull.
| By Tamasin FordNewsbeat reporter in Hull
As the class of 2009 graduates from schools, colleges and universities across the country, there are fears that the problem of youth unemployment is only going to get worse.
It is a national problem but in some cities, like Hull, it's a stark reality.
Famous for its docks and the Humber bridge, it's now known for having the highest percentage of under-25s claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) than any other city in the UK.
Twenty-two-year-old Simon Muller is one of them. He said: "I've been out of work for a year-and-a-half now. I'm still looking for any kind of work, whether it's factory or retail."
Have Your Say: How has the recession affected you?
'Frustrated and angry'
Simon's one of 12 young unemployed people taking part in a week-long scheme at the KC stadium, home of the city's football and rugby league sides.
Backed by the Prince's Trust and funded by the Premier League, the Football Federation and the Professional Footballers Association, it's about inspiring young people to get them back into the world of work.
"It's just really hard as there isn't anything out there. I'm just really frustrated and angry," he said.
Simon's not alone. A thousand young people are losing their jobs every day, according to the latest unemployment figures.
2.3 million people are now out of work in the UK.
Saeed Ali, who's on the course too, hasn't had a job for eight months. His only source of income is also Jobseekers Allowance.
He said: "I'm just wasting my life. It's so hard because a) you don't have any money and b) you feel useless really.
"You can't do anything, there's nothing to look forward to and you basically just give up on life."
And as people like Saeed and Simon prepare for another evening of scouring through the scant jobs pages, it's graduation day at Hull University for 21-year-old Charlotte Parker from the Wirral.
"There just aren't any jobs around," she said.
"It does worry me because I think, 'Am I going to come back and just get a job I'm not interested in just so I can afford to live?'"
'Scary thought'
Charlotte's putting off getting a job for a couple of years to go travelling.
"I've worked so hard to get my degree and I'm going to work even harder to get my masters and then to have to settle for a job I don't really want to do, it's a bit of a scary thought.
"It's not something I'm looking forward too," she said.
Hull is not alone in its battle against youth unemployment.
Sunderland, Barnsley, Doncaster and Hastings all have high numbers of young people without work and on benefits too.
Other cities like Swindon, Milton Keynes and Northampton have seen a huge jump in the number of under-25s claiming JSA in the last year.
Dee Kundra, from the Prince's Trust, said: "Too many young people at the moment are facing a bleak future.
"The number of young people out of employment is costing the economy millions every week."
Under-25s now make up one in five of Britain's working population, but also make up two in five of the unemployed.
Dee added: "The Prince's Trust in the past 12 months has seen a 50% increase in the number of calls we're getting for help.
"So we can really tell the young people we help are being affected by this recession."
The number of young people out of work is at its highest level for 15 years.
Job creation
The government is investing £1bn in the Future Jobs Fund to create 150,000 new jobs for long-term unemployed young people between 2009-2011.
Jim Knight, the employment minister, said: "We're willing to put our money where our mouth is and make sure there is a real intervention from the government now rather than going back to the old days where unemployment was a price worth paying."
However, with long term youth unemployment expected to almost treble between now and 2011 there's a worry this new proposal may just act as a sticking plaster for the potential 350,000 young people out of work in just over two years time.
"Of course I'm worried about youth unemployment but the notion that there aren't any new jobs around is false," he added.
"There are quite a few jobs coming through, we've just got to make sure the young people are well placed to get them."
And for some people, like 17-year-old Lewis Valentine from Bridlington, it's all about perseverance. He works as a glass collector in a club in Hull.
He said: "It's not hard to get a job at all. There's loads of jobs out there, you just need to know where to look.
"If you just go for a part-time job and then go back to college, you're going in the right direction aren't you? If you really want to do it, you'll do it."
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Greg Owen wanted a new drug, not available through the NHS, that would stop him becoming HIV-positive. But it was too late - he already had the virus. Despite this, he and a friend worked on an ambitious plan to help thousands of others get the new treatment. | By Tom de CastellaBBC Stories
"You know when you do one thing… when your whole life changes? Pressing that send on Facebook was actually the moment my whole life changed."
Greg Owen grew up in Belfast, the eldest of six children. It was the 1980s, the height of the Troubles, and he was, as he puts it, "very gay".
Fast-forward to London in 2015. Greg is working in bars and clubs, sleeping on friends' sofas.
There is no sign of what is to come - that Greg is going to help save thousands of lives and change the way the NHS thinks about gay men having sex.
Then, Greg met Alex Craddock.
"He was cute, a little bit sassy. And I fancied him a little bit," says Greg.
Alex had just come back from New York. He had something Greg wanted very much. He was on Prep, a relatively new drug seen as a game-changer in the fight against HIV infection.
If you are on Prep and have sex with someone with HIV, the drug - if taken as directed - is almost 100% effective in preventing you becoming HIV positive even if you are not wearing a condom.
The British HIV Association (BHIVA) says the efficacy of Prep is "highly dependent on adherence" by those taking it.
Greg was intrigued. "I was trying to get Prep. And Alex was already on it. He'd got in the States." Alex told him it was easy to get in New York. But Alex's supply was about to run out. Here in the UK, it wasn't available.
"I'd been given this amazing new thing and then it had been taken away from me," Alex says. "That's when I first met Greg."
At the time, HIV diagnoses for high risk groups in the UK were going up. One in eight gay men in London had HIV.
Short for pre-exposure prophylaxis, Prep is a pill you take before penetrative sex.
Some users take it daily - while others take it "on demand", in the days before and after intercourse.
If a condom is not worn, and you come into contact with HIV, the drug stops the virus from getting into the bloodstream permanently. Prep is prevention not cure.
But before you can take Prep, you have to make sure you don't already have HIV.
Greg had managed to get hold of a small amount of the drug - and so he went for a test.
He wasn't too worried as he'd gone for sexually transmitted infection (STI) checks fairly regularly. He was watching the doctor. He knew how it worked. The testing kit would show one dot for negative, and two for positive. Suddenly, in a heartbeat, everything changed.
"Literally, 'Boom,' like two dots so [the doctor] didn't even have to say anything, I saw it because it was sitting in-between us."
Greg felt numb, trapped and alone. "I was seeing people go past me and I felt like I was in like a bubble - like there was a something separating me from the rest of the world."
And that's when he made the decision that changed his life and maybe that of thousands of other gay men.
He decided to reveal this big secret to the world. So, he posted on Facebook that he was HIV positive. And he talked about Prep - this drug few knew much about, which could have stopped him getting HIV.
His phone "just lit up", he says.
"First of all, people couldn't believe I'd done that. And then there was, 'What is all this Prep stuff?' Why would Prep have kept you HIV negative?' So, I could tell people what Prep was and I could tell people how it worked. And then obviously the next question was, 'How do I get Prep?'"
Watch Greg and Alex's story
The People vs The NHS: Who Gets the Drugs? was first broadcast on BBC Two.
It is now on the BBC iPlayer along with more programmes about the NHS at 70.
And that was Greg and Alex's next move.
"We don't even need the government right now," Alex recalls them saying. "We can do it ourselves. We'll tell everyone to order pharmaceutical drugs on the internet and start taking them."
From Alex's bedroom, they started building a website.
First, came all the medical information people needed to know. And then, the bit everyone wanted - the opportunity to "click to buy". "We didn't want to make any money ourselves. We were just linking up buyers to sellers," Greg says.
It was a simple, radical idea.
"I'm not going to wait for the NHS to come and save me," Alex recalls. "I want Prep now and this is how I'm going to get it."
So, they called the website I Want Prep Now. It launched in October 2015.
They got 400 hits in the first 24 hours and it mushroomed from there.
Then, the medical profession took an interest.
Mags Portman, an NHS consultant on HIV and sexual health, emailed Greg asking if she could meet.
Will Nutland, an activist at Prepster, a website giving information about Prep, also became involved.
Will even became a guinea pig.
He took Prep pills from new suppliers and then had his blood tested at Portman's sexual health clinic. It tested more than 300 batches and found no fakes.
At the same time, the UK Medical Research Council was running the Proud study, comparing gay men on Prep against non-users.
The result was so clear-cut - an 86% fall in new HIV infections among in Prep users - that the study was ended early and those on the study not taking Prep were immediately offered it.
So where was NHS England?
At the end of 2014, it had begun a process to decide whether Prep should be made available. Time passed, nothing happened.
"It was very, very difficult and frustrating as a clinician to know that this HIV prevention tool was out there," says Mags.
"We couldn't access it and we couldn't prescribe it and we were seeing people that we knew were at risk and then coming back with HIV."
By 2016, the NHS was still debating the matter. And then it said no.
"I was gobsmacked," says Sheena McCormack, professor of clinical epidemiology, who ran the Proud trial.
"Oh, my goodness, it was absolutely horrifying," says Mags.
But what began in a bedroom ended up going to the High Court.
The National Aids Trust, a charity, took NHS England to court. They wanted Prep to be looked at according to the same rules as any other new medication would be.
The stakes were high. The Terrence Higgins Trust - another leading HIV/Aids charity - sent a letter to the Times, saying that every day Prep was delayed at least 17 people were becoming infected with HIV.
The legal case was complex. The NHS said it wasn't legally required to fund prevention. That was the job of local government, it said.
The NHS was facing one of the biggest funding crises in its seven-decade history. It was not a good time to be taking on new funding responsibilities. Today, despite record levels of investment, there are still funding gaps.
The case also revealed something else - society's view of what gay men were entitled to.
The journalist and broadcaster Andrew Pierce, who is gay himself, is against Prep being funded by the state.
"I don't think the NHS can afford £450 per month to a homosexual," he says.
"Because this is what it is about - indulging gay men who don't want to use a condom. Well, that is outrageous - why should the taxpayer subsidise a reckless sex life?"
The official list price for Prep has now come down to £355 per month - but the different regions of the NHS will negotiate significantly lower prices for the drug. This price is not in the public domain because of its commercial sensitivity.
For Greg, "gay guys have the right to fear-free, guilt-free, disease-free sex". For too long, he says, there has been too much self-loathing.
"We are ultimately conditioned to believe that love, particularly sex between two men, always has to come at a price. And it doesn't."
Buying generic Prep - rather than branded Prep, known as Truvada - doesn't necessarily cost patients hundreds of pounds a month.
Currently, a 30-day supply can be bought privately for between £20 and £55.
In court, the NHS's argument unravelled. It turned out it did fund prevention - statins, for example, which help to lower harmful cholesterol. The judge found unequivocally in favour of the National Aids Trust.
But NHS England said it would appeal and sent out a press release that Ian Green, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, remembers all too well. "They said the decision had been taken for high risk men who have condomless sex, with multiple sexual partners - it was condemnatory."
For Greg, it was hurtful. "It just felt, that felt really vicious actually. It felt like sour grapes."
Suddenly the NHS's decision-making was under the microscope at almost a philosophical level.
"It's interesting, this question of personal responsibility and on what role it plays in the NHS's decisions - officially it doesn't play any role at all," says Sean Sinclair, a medical ethicist at the University of Leeds. "Unofficially, you can see it playing a role."
The matter was settled in November 2016. The NHS lost its legal appeal and would have to take responsibility for Prep.
Greg, by now back in Northern Ireland, was working in a pub. "I was literally crying. Serving pints of beer to this poor Belfast boy who probably thought I was absolutely off my rocker."
So what's happened since then?
By summer last year, eight clinics in London, and several outside the capital, had taken part in a trial to provide Prep. And many more men buy the drug privately due to better awareness. In August 2017, the NHS in England announced it would give Prep to 10,000 people in a £10m trial lasting three years.
In Wales, the drug is available from selected NHS sexual health clinics as part of a similar trial. Prep is not currently available from the NHS in Northern Ireland. Scotland is the only part of the UK to offer full Prep provision through the NHS.
For the first time in recent years, the HIV diagnosis rate in gay men is down. From 2015 to 2016, it was down by about 20% nationwide. But in certain clinics in London it fell by 40%.
"That was the first moment when we were able to take a step back and actually be quite shocked at how effective all of this was," says Alex.
Opponents say Prep may undermine safe-sex messages. They point to a four-year Australian study in the Lancet, suggesting that as Prep use grows, condom use falls. And men not on the drug, therefore not benefiting from it, were also having more condomless sex, the researchers say.
But for Sheena McCormack, who ran the Proud trial, Prep is still a game-changer.
"We probably had done as much as we possibly could in the way of frequent testing, early diagnosis and early treatment.
"The piece that was missing was the HIV-negative individuals who were catching HIV in-between their HIV tests. That's where Prep fills the gap."
Prep may also save the NHS money.
Scientists at University College London who studied its cost-effectiveness said it would cost money for the first few decades but after 40 years it would begin to save the NHS cash.
And after 80 years it would save the UK about £1bn, they predicted.
Greg often tears up when he thinks about where they've got to.
He remembers one phone call in particular that made him cry. Sheena McCormack was on the line. It was Christmas 2016, a few weeks after the Appeal Court victory.
She told him that without his website, the one set up by him and Alex, there would have been only tiny numbers of people on Prep.
"Sheena was like, 'I want you to strip it back, think about the people, of the thousands of people walking around now HIV negative because of something that you did.'"
Looking back, Greg says there was no grand plan. "I had a humble objective. I just wanted one person to remain HIV negative on the back of my diagnosis. That way it's HIV equal. If we prevent a second person, then I have won - my HIV status didn't cost anything."
It's fair to say, he won big.
Image copyright:
BBC, Getty Images, Greg Owen, Claire McGeown and Alex Craddock.
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A man who was accused of helping a woman following the discovery of human remains in two suitcases is no longer facing criminal charges. | Mahesh Sorathiya, 39, of Wolverhampton, was charged with assisting an offender after the suitcases were found near a quarry in the Forest of Dean on 12 May.
They contained the body of Phoenix Netts, 28, from Birmingham.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the case against Mr Sorathiya had now been dismissed.
Gareeca Conita Gordon, 27, from Birmingham is charged with murder and is next due to appear at Bristol Crown Court next month.
Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]
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A health trust has begun an investigation into events leading up to the death of a student whose body was found in the boot of a burning car. | Sussex Partnership runs Mill View Hospital, Hove, from where Janet Muller was reported missing on 12 March.
The University of Brighton student was found in the car in Ifield, near Crawley, a day later.
The NHS trust said it was working closely with the police and had also launched its own investigation.
Christopher Jeffrey-Shaw, 26, from Beckenham, south London, has been charged with Ms Muller's murder.
A second man has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
The cause of Ms Muller's death was smoke inhalation.
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"I was in Puerto Valdivia when the first alarm sounded. It was very chaotic. No-one knew whether to run for the hills or along the road, whether to grab the children or grab the elderly. Everyone was going crazy," says Teresa Jaramillo recalling the moment on 12 May when flash flooding hit her small riverside community. | By Nicolas Bedoya & Pablo CuellarItuango, Colombia
Puerto Valdivia is just one of the communities affected by a series of emergencies which have hit Colombia's largest hydroelectric dam project, Hidroituango.
Tens of thousands of people living downstream from the dam have been evacuated and the emergencies just keep coming.
Rising water
The Hidroituango dam over the river Cauca, about 175km (110 miles) north of the city of Medellín, was just months from completion when on 28 April a landslide near the site blocked a tunnel built to divert the river's flow while construction was going on.
As the project was almost finished, two other tunnels built for the same purpose had already been sealed by the company building the dam, Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM). This meant that the tunnel blocked by the landslide was the only remaining outlet.
Further landslides followed and with water levels rising and all outlets now blocked, EPM decided to flood the dam's turbine rooms on 10 May to release the river's increasing pressure on the structure.
While the move caused irreparable damage to transformers and other systems which had already been installed in the turbine room, it did reduce water levels.
But only two days later, one of the sealed tunnels naturally unblocked, causing water to gush through it and creating flash floods further downstream.
Cut off
Puerto Valdivia lay in the path of the flash foods. Fifty-nine homes, a school and a health centre were destroyed and more than 600 people were displaced.
León Taborda is one of them. "The Cauca river took my house. What do I do?" he asks.
"My wife doesn't want to return to Puerto Valdivia anymore, even if we could. The peace of mind I had there, I won't ever be able to regain it, not living there or anywhere else."
And Hidroituango's troubles seem far from over.
Experts have warned that there is a renewed risk of landslides from nearby mountainsides which could block the water-intake tunnels for the turbine room, as well as the spillway, potentially compromising the integrity of the entire hydroelectric project.
Almost 24,000 people living downstream of the dam have already been evacuated due to this risk. Another 380 people living upstream have been displaced by the premature filling of the dam's reservoir.
And the residents of Ituango, the town nearest the dam, have been left cut off after the only bridge connecting it to the rest of the country was submerged by the rising waters on 4 May.
Lack of food
Community leader Teresa Jaramillo says the situation is particularly critical in rural communities which have been isolated for three weeks now.
Even the areas not directly at risk of landslides or flooding have begun to feel the effects of the mass evacuation of the riverside communities and the lack of trade.
"We only produce plantain and yucca. Everything else is beginning to run out, all other goods," rural leaders say.
Many have so far ignored calls for them to evacuate their land but they say the lack of food is becoming an issue.
"If we have to go to the camps, well, we will have to, but Valdivia is also collapsing with so many people," one man said.
Continuing risk
At a recent news conference, EPM's CEO Jorge Londoño said that communities near the dam would continue to be at risk until the company had figured out a permanent solution.
He suggested that in order to fix the problem, EPM would have to construct a new tunnel to reduce the levels of the flooded river in a controlled fashion, a process likely to take several months.
Environmental activists, who have long opposed the hydroelectric project because of what they say are the inherent dangers in damming Colombia's second-largest river, complain about a lack of oversight.
"How can it be that the same company that is causing so much damage is the one pretending to provide the solutions?" asks Isabel Zuleta, leader of local environmental organisation Ríos Vivos.
"What does that tell us? That in Colombia there is no one that controls the big corporations," she says.
With the entire workforce evacuated from the site again on Tuesday because of new warnings of landslides, many people living both up- and downstream from the megaproject are in a state of fear.
Ms Zuleta says trust has been eroded. "They said there was no problem, that there was no danger, that everything was under control."
She says that people do not want quick fixes but a river which is allowed to flow freely.
But with the project far advanced - it was due to be completed by the end of the year - and its backers maintaining that it will account for about 17% of Colombia's power capacity, that is unlikely to happen.
All photos by Nicolas Bedoya and Pablo Cuellar from Colombia-based Vela Colectivo.
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A couple of weeks ago I noted that the devolution of funding and decision-making for health and social care to Greater Manchester went some way to fulfil a long-running Treasury ambition for the NHS to be - in effect - broken up. | Robert PestonEconomics editor
What is striking is that this devolution may have been decades in the making, but it is moving ahead swiftly - from rough concept in November's outline plans for transferring more powers to the regions, to announcement last month.
And an official memorandum published in February says that the integration of the £6bn health and social care budgets for the region will take place in "shadow" form as soon as next month, with full devolution scheduled for April 2016.
Which you might think is an encouraging sign that the government is still governing, is pressing ahead with important reforms, and is not being completely distracted by the looming general election.
Just perhaps, you might see it as slightly undignified and worrying haste.
Or, if you are Lord Owen - the former Labour foreign secretary and a medical doctor - you will see it as a constitutional outrage.
'Collaborative working'
Now as it happens, Lord Owen is in favour of the regional control of health spending.
But he has written to the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, arguing that the authorisation of central government civil servants and health managers "to embark on a major new process for collaborative working in shadow form from 1 April ...is a serious abuse of past conventions, let alone in the new circumstances of a fixed Parliament when the date of an election has been known, in effect, for five years".
He believes that work to create the integrated health and social care service for Manchester in the coming weeks breaches a prohibition on rushing through policies that could secure political advantage for the ruling party (or parties) during the run up to a general election.
So he has urged Sir Jeremy to "immediately rule that this MOU [memorandum of understanding] is unacceptable in its starting date". And he says that the shadow operation of the new health and social care authority should not begin until authorised by whoever is health secretary after the 7 May poll.
Lord Owen is awaiting a response. But I am told that the thrust of Sir Jeremy's response will be that the work of the Manchester shadow health organisation will primarily be to develop a proper business plan for the real thing.
And it will only be on the basis of this business plan that any new government would give formal approval for any transfer of health powers to happen in a formal sense, in October this year.
So he will argue that the new government - of whatever colour - will have the right and duty to say "yes" or "no" to whether this devolution happens.
Constitutional niceties
The chances of this satisfying Lord Owen are slim. And I suspect this argument will rumble on - partly because Owen and Heywood have a history of argy-bargy on these constitutional niceties.
Lord Owen wrote to the cabinet secretary just under a year ago, because he was uneasy that the Prime Minister had written to 1.7 million company and charity directors extolling the virtues of the Budget.
He had two concerns. First, that the letter had come from David Cameron, rather than the Treasury.
Second, that it was sent quite close to the elections for the European parliament.
In his response, Sir Jeremy acknowledged that "this is the first time a prime minister has decided to communicate directly with taxpayers in this way".
But he did not see this as a constitutional calamity because he saw the letter as part of a campaign to raise awareness of an "Employment Allowance" that would reduce employers' National Insurance contributions.
And Sir Jeremy was clear that the timing of the letter was not "in advance of the sensitive period for communications with the public in advance of the elections".
That said, it is odd that the letter came from David Cameron, not from the Chancellor. Also, I have been told that Sir Nick Macpherson, the Treasury Permanent Secretary, was a bit concerned that the letter was a bit too close to being a PR stunt for the Tories.
So I put this to the Prime Minister's official spokesman, who said that try as he might he can find no record of Sir Nick being anxious that public money and resources had been used for party-political gain.
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Princess Anne has attended a memorial ceremony for more than 600 men who died in the sinking of the SS Mendi in the English Channel 100 years ago. | The vessel was hit by cargo steamship SS Darro in thick fog, off the Isle of Wight, on 21 February 1917.
The South African Native Labour Corps troops onboard were travelling to France to assist the allies during World War One.
A ceremony was held earlier at Hollybrook Cemetery in Southampton.
The Princess Royal's husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Lawrence, accompanied her to the service.
During his speech, on behalf of the War Graves Commission, he paid tribute to the "dignity and bravery" of those who died.
Bodies were washed up along the Sussex coast and buried in graveyards near Brighton, in Littlehampton, East Dean and Hastings.
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The jovial Conservative Party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin is deep in what should be enemy territory, the market square in Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. He bumps into one man who could have been sent by Central Office, if not central casting. | Mark MardellPresenter, The World This Weekend@BBCMarkMardellon Twitter
"I was brought up in a mining village, Mum and Dad always voted Labour, but I've started to see a bit of sense. You've got to trust Theresa May, haven't you?"
When the scrum moves on, he tells me he used to like UKIP but Mrs May has something about her. Jeremy Corbyn? "Wouldn't trust him as far as you could throw him."
The square is dominated by a Victorian monument, empty within because the donations ran out before they could afford to build the statue of the aristocrat it was meant to celebrate.
The stalls carry all sorts of goods, from potted plants to mobility scooters, knickers to knick-knacks. One sells the local speciality of cold whelks and hot mushy peas (strange but delicious).
The Royal Horse Guards are here too, with a Panther command vehicle.
The Army officer in charge of this recruiting campaign tells me his real job is to scout ahead of a battle and report back to the top brass, to tell them if their well-laid plans will actually work on the ground.
Perhaps that is what Sir Patrick is doing, too.
He says: "Our plan is to attract people across the whole scale."
"What we've seen today is people who've voted UKIP, but we are are also seeing people who are disillusioned with Labour."
Mansfield, which has been Labour since the 1920s, is apparently still feeling the effects of the pit closures of the 1980s.
Yet it is apparently in the Conservative crosshairs.
The clue as to why is in the voting figures from the last election.
Labour has a majority of about 5,000. But add the UKIP vote to the Conservative one, and it equals a Labour wipeout.
UKIP have a stall here and tell me they are fighting to win, but Mansfield district councillor Barry Answer is forthright about the local elections.
"It's been an absolute disaster, and you could say the coffin lid is on and the parliamentary elections decide if it's going to be nailed down."
Why? Who is holding the Brexit baton? "For 20 years UKIP have had that in their arms tightly held, until we got the vote to leave. Theresa May is now holding the baton. The votes are going with the baton."
The co-author of the authoritative account of the rise of UKIP, Prof Matt Goodwin, says: "If you look at everything Theresa May has done since taking over - her critique of liberal elites and the 'citizens of nowhere', her rhetoric on immigration and Brexit, her support for grammar schools - all of that is straight out of the text book on how to win back traditional social conservatives."
Talking to people in the square, I come across Michael. His father fled from Poland during the War, worked in the mines and he followed his dad down the pits. He gives all credit to UKIP.
"They gave us the referendum that we needed, they did a great job, they fought the battle but lost the war."
He says nothing has got better around here in the past 40 years.
So how will he vote?
"Conservative. I used to be the old socialist Labour but Mr Corbyn and his crew are not Labour, they're communist".
Others support the party but not the leader.
"Corbyn's got good policies but I don't think his image is that good," one tells me.
"I'd like the other lot to get in, but I don't think he' s strong enough, really," says another.
And the former leader of the Labour group on Mansfield District Council, Martin Lee, is worried about the Conservative threat.
"They are going all out to win this seat: they think UKIP will collapse and they'll get the votes.
"I've voted for Jeremy Corbyn twice, he's got to get out there and make a big difference over the next four weeks.'
If Mrs May can capture seats such as Mansfield it will be critical, not just for the election result but the shape of British politics for years to come.
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Despite little evidence that it's a widespread problem, rumours of "plastic" rice being sold in Africa and elsewhere persist on social media - driven in particular by viral videos which show bouncing rice balls. | By Anisa SubedarBBC Trending
The rumours spread over the last few weeks in Senegal, The Gambia and Ghana - and reached such a pitch that the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority decided to carry out an investigation.
They invited consumers and traders to submit samples of any rice brands they suspected of being made of plastic - and eventually concluded that there was no plastic rice being sold on the Ghanaian market.
Originating in China, rumours on social media have circulated since about 2010 of plastic rice being manufactured and mixed in with the real rice supply in order to trick consumers. The rumours were originally prompted by "fake rice" scandals, although they didn't involve food made entirely out of plastic.
In one case, companies were passing off ordinary but edible rice as premium "Wuchang" grains. Then in 2011, reports emerged that rice was being produced with potatoes and an industrial sticky resin. The rumours were further compounded when a Chinese restaurant association official warned that eating three bowls of "plastic rice" was the equivalent of eating one plastic bag.
At no point, however, were there confirmed cases of large amounts of plastic chips being passed off as rice. "Plastic rice" is manufactured for use in shipping boxes, but it's likely that in most cases the cost of the chips would actually be more expensive than real rice.
The story had reached social media in Africa by 2016 when Nigerian customs authorities confiscated 2.5 tonnes of rice. Customs officials initially claimed that the rice was plastic - and were later forced to backtrack when the country's health minister said there was no evidence for the claims. Tests showed that the rice did however contain a high level of bacteria, Nigeria's National Agency For Food and Drugs said.
Bouncy rice
But rumours have persisted that plastic is being sold as rice, fuelled by videos which show people bouncing rice balls. Some also purport to show how the rice is made in factories.
Alexander Waugh, director of the Rice Association, a UK-based industry group, says the videos may be authentic - but not because the grains are plastic. Rice - when prepared in the right way - can actually bounce, Waugh told BBC Trending radio.
"The natural characteristics of rice are carbohydrates and proteins and you can do something like that with rice," Waugh says.
It could be that protectionism and a distrust of foreign imports is behind the persistence of the rumours, according to journalist Alexandre Capron of France 24's, The Observers.
More from Trending
Capron has worked extensively to debunk the myths around plastic rice and says some people are deliberately sharing fake videos to encourage consumers to buy more locally grown rice.
"The rumour is more popular in countries which are dependent on imported rice like Ivory Coast or Senegal," he says. "The rumour is so huge that governments are compelled to make statements... as to why there is no plastic rice."
Hassan Arouni, editor of the BBC's Focus on Africa, has looked into the "fake rice" rumours and says he's not sure whether people in West African countries are deliberately targeting food exporting countries such as China. But he does think food safety authorities in West Africa are doing the right thing by addressing the rumours head-on.
"I think that's the way to go and demonstrate to the public this [rumour] is not true," he says. "I think it will reassure people that this is fake news and probably somebody being naughty on the internet."
Blog by Anisa Subedar
You can find BBC Trending on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @BBCtrending. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.
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In a crisis, they say, it is clear who your friends are. France has been in the grip of an economic crisis for years, but the country is still divided over which of its politicians are friends to the nation and which are enemies. | By Lucy WilliamsonBBC News, Paris
Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, who cut his teeth in the Rothschild banking group, launches a series of reforms on Wednesday designed to "unlock" the French economy.
Some French believe that the tough love and new reforms that he is planning are exactly what France needs. Others - including some within his own Socialist Party - see him as taking the nation apart piece by piece.
Aged 36, Mr Macron is the youngest member in Prime Minister Manuel Valls's Socialist government and French commentators are widely predicting a baptism of fire.
Among the key changes are plans to liberalise national bus routes and open up "protected" professions.
Notaries, bailiffs and lawyers are gearing up to defend their interests and aim to turn out on the streets in their thousands in protest.
Mr Macron is standing firm, arguing that "by overprotecting, we end up protecting nothing", quoting France's Nobel economics prize winner Jean Tirole.
And then there is a proposal to extend Sunday shopping to 12 times a year and provide exemptions to selected "zones with strong tourist and economic potential".
Some shops already open on Sundays in the run-up to Christmas.
The festive window displays of the grands magasins (department stores) of Paris draw huge crowds on weekends. Small children are held high against the glass as the smell of chestnuts wafts over the crowd of shoppers, shuffling along the boulevard.
But the number of Sunday licences is strictly limited to five days in a year - a tribute to France's traditionally Socialist values. Local authorities are currently allowed to refuse all such trading on Sundays completely.
Under Mr Macron's plan, all that will change - a step backwards in the eyes of many rebels on the left of the Socialist Party.
But not for Prime Minister Manuel Valls who asked on French TV: "Do we want Chinese tourists to leave to do their shopping in London on Sundays?"
Emmanuel Macron - Hollande's 'right brain'
For one of the Socialist rebels, Sandrine Doucet, the Sunday shopping issue revolves around giving people the chance to rest.
"We shouldn't let go of that tradition," she argues.
"Sunday rest is a Socialist achievement, something we have fought long and hard to achieve. If we lose this right, we'll also lose other rights, because I don't believe that employees will be properly paid for working on a Sunday."
But while left-wing politicians are firmly opposed, a large majority of the public appears to have come round to the changes.
Pollster Gael Sliman from Oxada says that traditional opposition to Sunday opening hours is shrinking. "Seventy per cent of voters we asked recently said they were in favour of it," he said, "and opposition is diminishing towards other kinds of reform too."
Certainly the lunch-time crowds around the Paris shopping district of Les Halles were firmly behind the plan.
"It's a good choice for people who work all week, and on Sunday it's possible to shop with the family," said one man.
One woman pointed out that France had several religions, not just Christianity. A student added that many workers were happy to work on Sundays as they received double pay, but felt they should not be forced to work at weekends.
Oxada's recent poll suggests that 86% of French voters think the government's economic performance is poor.
"Voters don't care about politics at the moment," Mr Sliman says, "they are more pragmatic and less ideological than ever before. They want change."
But Mr Macron is making enemies even among those who approve of his reforms. While some in his party say he is going too far, other colleagues accuse him of moving too slowly. One leading Socialist criticised his lack of ambition.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a German newspaper that French plans did not go far enough.
One Socialist colleague of Mr Macron suggested that the minister should decide whether it was Mrs Merkel that he should wish to please, or the voices of his party colleagues.
As Emmanuel Macron is finding out, it is hard to please everyone.
The proof, though, may well be in the results. If he and his prime minister can engineer an upturn in the economy, they will suddenly find themselves a whole lot more popular than they thought. And, with presidential elections due in three years' time, popularity counts.
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Halima Aden, the first hijab-wearing supermodel, quit the fashion industry in November saying it was incompatible with her Muslim religion. Here, in an exclusive interview, she tells BBC Global Religion reporter Sodaba Haidare the full story - how she became a model, and how she reached the decision to walk away. | Halima, 23, is in St Cloud, Minnesota, where she grew up surrounded by other Somalis. She's wearing ordinary clothes and no makeup, cheerfully petting her dog, Coco.
"I'm Halima from Kakuma," she says, referring to the refugee camp in Kenya, where she was born. Others have described her as a trailblazing hijab-wearing supermodel or as the first hijabi model to feature on the cover of Vogue magazine - but she left all that behind two months ago, saying the fashion industry clashed with her Muslim faith.
"It's the most comfortable I've ever felt in an interview," she laughs. "Because I didn't spend 10 hours getting ready, in an outfit I couldn't keep."
As a hijab-wearing model, Halima was selective about her clothing. At the start of her career, she would take a suitcase filled with her own hijabs, long dresses and skirts to every shoot. She wore her own plain black hijab for her first campaign for Rihanna's Fenty Beauty.
However she was dressed, keeping her hijab on for every shoot was non-negotiable. It was so important to her that in 2017 when she signed with IMG, one of the biggest modelling agencies in the world, she added a clause to her contract making IMG agree that she would never have to remove it. Her hijab meant the world to her.
"There are girls who wanted to die for a modelling contract," she says, "but I was ready to walk away if it wasn't accepted."
This was despite the fact that at that stage no-one had heard of her - that she was "a nobody".
But as time went on she had less control over the clothes she wore, and agreed to head coverings she would have ruled out at the start.
"I eventually drifted away and got into the confusing grey area of letting the team on-set style my hijab."
In the last year of her career her hijab got smaller and smaller, sometimes accentuating her neck and chest. And sometimes instead of the hijab, she wrapped jeans, or other clothes and fabrics, around her head.
Another clause of Halima's contract guaranteed her a blocked-out box, allowing her to get dressed in the privacy of her own space.
But she soon realised that other hijab-wearing models, who had followed her into the industry, were not being treated with the same respect. She would see them being told to find a bathroom to change in.
"That rubbed me the wrong way and I was like, 'OMG, these girls are following in my footsteps, and I have opened the door to the lion's mouth.'"
She had expected her successors to be her equals, and this intensified her protective feelings towards them.
"A lot of them are so young, it can be a creepy industry. Even the parties that we attended, I would always find myself in big sister mode having to grab one of the hijab-wearing models because she'd be surrounded by a group of men following and flocking [round] her. I was like, 'This doesn't look right, she's a child.' I would pull her out and ask her who she was with."
Part of this sense of responsibility and community comes from Halima's Somali background.
As a child in Kakuma refugee camp, in north-western Kenya, she was taught by her mother to work hard and to help others. And this continued after they moved to Minnesota, when Halima was seven, becoming part of the largest Somali community in the US.
So there was a problem when Halima became her high school's first hijab-wearing homecoming queen (an honour bestowed on the school's most popular students). She knew her mum, whose focus was on good grades, would disapprove.
"I was so embarrassed, because when you get nominated, the kids come to your house and I said, 'Don't do that - my mum will have the shoe ready and you wouldn't know what you've gotten yourselves into!'"
Her fears were justified. Halima's mum broke the homecoming crown. "You're focusing way too much on friends and beauty pageants," she said.
But Halima still took part in Miss Minnesota USA in 2016. She was the first hijab-wearing contestant and became a semi-finalist.
And then, to her mother's dismay, Halima chose to pursue a career in modelling - a career her mother felt was in conflict with who Halima was as a person: black, Muslim, refugee.
Even when she started walking on some of the world's major runways for Yeezy and Max Mara, or became a Miss USA judge, her mother still encouraged her to "get a proper job".
It was the humanitarian side of Halima's career that had gone some way to convincing her mother that it was worth it. As a refugee who had walked 12 days from Somalia to Kenya for a better life, she knew the value of helping those in need.
"She said, 'There's no way you'll do modelling if it doesn't have a giving-back component.' In my first meeting with IMG I told them to take me to Unicef," Halima says.
IMG supported her in this and in 2018 Halima became a Unicef ambassador. As she had spent her childhood in a refugee camp, her work focused on children's rights.
"My mum never viewed me as a model or cover girl. She viewed me as a beacon of hope for young girls and would always remind me to be a good role model for them."
Halima wanted to raise awareness about displaced children, and to show the children that if she could make it out of the refugee camp, they could hope to one day do the same.
But Unicef didn't live up to her expectations.
In 2018, not long after becoming a Unicef ambassador, she visited the Kakuma camp to give a Ted Talk.
"I met with the kids and asked them, 'Are things still being done the way they were, do you still have to dance and sing in front of newcomers?' They said, 'Yes, but this time we're not doing it for other celebrities they'd bring to the camp, this time we're doing it for you.'"
Halima was guilt-stricken and upset. She says she still remembers when she and other children sang and danced for visiting celebrities.
"The UN workers prepped me for what was to come: I had my first headshot, thanks to those organisations."
It seemed to her that the organisation focused more on its brand than on children's education.
"I could spell 'Unicef' when I couldn't spell my own name. I was marking X," she says. "Minnesota gave me my first book, my first pencil, my first backpack. Not Unicef."
She had assumed all of that had changed since she left.
In November, when she video-called the kids in Kakuma for World Children's Day, she decided she couldn't carry on. It was hard to see them in winter in the middle of a global pandemic.
"After speaking to the kids, I had a breakthrough," she says.
"I just decided I'm done with the NGO world using me for 'my beautiful story of courage and hope'"
Unicef USA told the BBC: "We are grateful for [Halima's] three-and-a-half years of partnership and support. Her remarkable story of resilience and hope has guided her vision for a world that upholds the rights of every child. It has been a privilege for Unicef to work with Halima and we wish her all the best in her future endeavours."
Halima's doubts about the modelling side of her career had also been multiplying.
As demand for her in the fashion industry grew, she spent less time with her family and would be away from home on Muslim religious festivals.
"In the first year of my career I was able to make it home for Eid and Ramadan but in the last three years, I was travelling. I was sometimes on six to seven flights a week. It just didn't pause," she says.
In September 2019, she was featured on the cover of King Kong magazine, wearing bright red and green eye shadow and a large piece of jewellery on her face. It resembled a mask and covered everything but her nose and mouth.
"The style and makeup were horrendous. I looked like a white man's fetishised version of me," she says.
And to her horror, she found a picture of a nude man in the same issue.
"Why would the magazine think it was acceptable to have a hijab-wearing Muslim woman when a naked man is on the next page?" she asks. It went against everything she believed in.
King Kong told the BBC: "The artists, photographers and contributors with whom we work express themselves in ways which may both appeal to some and seem provocative to others, but the stories they produce always respect the subject and the model.
"We are sorry that Halima now regrets the work she did with us, and that there were images in the issue that she personally did not like, but were in no way connected to her own feature."
Halima says that when she spotted her photograph on the cover of magazines at airports, as she travelled between shoots, she would often barely recognise herself.
"I had zero excitement because I couldn't see myself. Do you know how mentally damaging that can be to be to somebody? When I'm supposed to feel happy and grateful and I'm supposed to relate, because that's me, that's my own picture, but I was so far removed.
"My career was seemingly on top, but I was mentally not happy."
And there were those other problems - her hijab rule getting stretched to breaking point, and the way other hijab-wearing models were being treated.
The coronavirus pandemic put everything in perspective. With Covid-19 halting fashion shoots and runway shows, she returned home to St Cloud to spend time with her mother, to whom she remains incredibly close.
"I was having anxiety thinking of 2021 because I loved staying at home with my family and seeing friends again," she says.
All this explains why, in November, she decided to give up both modelling and her role with Unicef.
"I'm grateful for this new chance that Covid gave me. We're all reflecting about our career paths and asking, 'Does it bring me genuine happiness, does it bring me joy?'" she says.
Her mother's prayers had finally been granted. She was so elated she even agreed to do a photoshoot with her daughter, just for fun.
"When I was a model, my mum turned down every shoot, she wouldn't even do mother-daughter campaigns. I wanted to give her a chance to see me in my creative zone," says Halima excitedly.
"She really is my number one inspiration and I'm so grateful God picked me to be her daughter. She's truly a remarkable and resilient woman."
The photoshoot is not the only thing Halima is excited about. She has just finished executive-producing a film inspired by the true story of a refugee fleeing war and violence in Afghanistan. I Am You is due to be released on Apple TV in March.
"We're anxiously waiting to see if we've been nominated for an Oscar!" she says.
Quitting Unicef doesn't mean Halima has given up doing charity work.
"I'm not going to stop volunteering," she says. "I don't think the world needs me as a model or celebrity, it needs me as Halima from Kakuma - somebody who understands the true value of a penny and the true value of community."
But first she is going to take a break.
"You know, I've never been on a proper vacation. I'm putting my mental health and my family at the top. I'm thriving, not just surviving. I'm getting my mental health checked, I'm getting therapy time."
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The Instagram poet Yrsa Daley-Ward has had a difficult life - an unsettled childhood, the loss of her mother and struggles with depression. But it's these things, she says, that have made her the person she is and added an extra dimension to her first published collection, Bone.
Yrsa Daley-Ward: The model who turned her pain into poetry
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Pregnant women are often now attending hospital appointments on their own. Covid-19 safety measures in hospitals mean loved ones must sit in the car or pace outside. It means some are being given the heartbreaking news of miscarriages on their own. Four women tell their stories of miscarriage during the coronavirus pandemic. | By Vibeke VenemaBBC News
Helen's story: 'I won't try again'
When Helen Bosher, 40, discovered she was pregnant at the end of March, she was anxious - she had lost three babies already, and was under the care of the recurrent miscarriage unit at St Mary's Hospital, in London. She urgently needed to get hold of some blood test results, but when she rang up she was told her consultant was self-isolating. The unit was closed.
Planned services had been paused and staff re-deployed to urgent and emergency care services. "My whole support network, everyone who was there to help me, just vanished," says Helen. "They disappeared overnight."
She frantically rang and emailed her local hospital, her GP and 111, but nobody could help her get hold of the results. "My anxiety went through the roof. I remember crying and crying on the phone, because no-one knew what was going on. It was chaos."
Eventually she was booked in for an early scan at Pembury Hospital, in Tunbridge Wells, but because of the new coronavirus restrictions her partner, Dan, was not allowed in with her. It was not good news.
"It was highly distressing to find out my baby had no heartbeat, when my partner had to sit in the car park and wait. I then had to come out and tell him the sad news myself."
Two weeks later they were back to discuss treatment. Dan stayed in the car while Helen made her way to the early pregnancy unit. She asked a nurse for directions, and when she explained she was miscarrying, the nurse had tears in her eyes. "If only I could put my arm around you," she told her.
Dan sat in the car, wondering what Helen was going through. It felt strange to see people out shopping and chatting when he couldn't be with her.
Inside, Helen's worst fears were being realised. She was given drugs to speed up the miscarriage and the doctors suggested she stay in hospital. But she wasn't taking in what they were saying - she just wanted to get back to Dan. "I was so overwhelmed and I didn't have that second set of eyes and ears I needed," she says.
Five hours later, Helen finally came out. They drove home and waited for the drugs to take effect, but they weren't prepared for what that involved.
"I ended up having terrible contractions, projectile vomiting, nearly blacking out because of the pain. It was a really terrifying experience," says Helen.
Dan didn't know what to do and was desperately searching for advice online. "I was emailing, I messaged people on Instagram," he says. "Having to Google what's going to happen rather than speaking to a professional has to be dangerous."
After four hours the pain and bleeding subsided, but Helen now thinks it was a mistake to go home and that if Dan had been with her she might have chosen to stay in hospital.
The experience was so traumatic they can't face going through it again. They have decided to adopt instead.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said that partners are not currently able to attend scan or antenatal appointments, in line with national and regional NHS guidance.
"We understand the concerns this may cause for those who are expecting but we would like to reassure them that the restrictions are in place for everyone's safety and thank them for their patience and understanding."
Fatma's story: 'It took months'
Just before lockdown, on 16 March, Fatma Reid found out she was pregnant again. The 25-year-old lost a baby the year before, but this time there was no sign anything was wrong. "I had a bump, I was craving Revels, I was definitely 100% pregnant," she says.
Her six-year-old daughter noticed the bump and kept asking if she was pregnant, and just before the 12-week scan Fatma finally told her she was. But the scan revealed a large sac and no baby. Sometimes called a blighted ovum, or anembryonic pregnancy, this can happen when the foetus dies early in the pregnancy and is reabsorbed, while the sac continues to develop.
"It was very confusing because I've never in my life heard of someone having a sac but no baby," says Fatma. "I was crying loads."
Her husband Zach was called in from the car park to discuss the options. Fatma wanted to have surgery to "get it over with" but operations were being kept to a minimum at the time. She agreed to go home and let nature take its course.
She had to explain to her daughter that she was not going to be a big sister after all - and she waited to miscarry. But nothing happened and three weeks later, she still tested pregnant.
Next, doctors administered tablets to speed up the process. At home, Fatma bled profusely and was in a lot of pain. She hoped that was the end of it, but on 29 June she had another positive pregnancy test.
Back at Salisbury District Hospital a scan showed there was a significant amount of pregnancy tissue left, and surgery was the way forward. Fatma was booked in to have a procedure called manual vacuum aspiration (MVA), under local anaesthetic.
Three days later Fatma was in a lot of pain. "I turned to my husband and said, 'Oh my God, something's wrong. This isn't normal.'" Zach took her to A&E and was initially told to wait outside, until Fatma protested.
A scan showed abnormal cells, but the doctor was adamant that it couldn't be pregnancy tissue. "You believe doctors, don't you?" says Fatma.
Two days later she woke up in agony, bleeding heavily, but she was reluctant to go back to hospital. "You feel, 'am I overreacting?' I felt like I was wasting people's time," she says.
She rang 111 and they called an ambulance. This time a scan revealed what Fatma suspected - that there was still pregnancy tissue left. She was booked in for emergency surgery on 17 July to make sure nothing was left behind.
Had it not been for Covid, Fatma would have had surgery soon after her 12-week scan. Instead, the process took two months and many hospital visits, all the time trying to hide her distress from her young daughter.
A spokesperson for Salisbury District Hospital explained many services had to be altered to protect patients and staff from the virus, and that they are very sorry for any distress caused.
"Throughout the pandemic our staff have sought to do their jobs with care, compassion and commitment especially when helping patients in stressful and upsetting circumstances."
It is now allowing partners to accompany expectant mothers to their 20-week scan and are keeping all other restrictions under review.
Lauren's story: 'I felt I was disappointing him'
Lauren, 33, a teacher from Glasgow, hangs on to the moments of humanity she experienced during an otherwise bleak time. Having first lost a baby last year, she had two further miscarriages during lockdown.
She suspected something was wrong when she started bleeding. A six-week scan in March was inconclusive. But because scans were being kept to a minimum, she was told she couldn't have another until her 12-week appointment.
"I was pretty sure I was miscarrying again and nobody would confirm it. I was so worried, I was so anxious," she says.
Her midwife was able to arrange a scan at nine weeks which confirmed her fears. Lauren begged to have surgery. "I had already had a natural miscarriage at home and was petrified of having another," she says.
Because of Covid, surgery was not an option. She was booked in for an MVA nine days later, but within days she miscarried at home.
"I had the fright of my life because it sent me into labour," she says. "Nobody warned me that although my foetus had stopped growing at six weeks, my sac and placenta had continued to grow."
To ease the pain, she got into a warm bath. Afterwards, she and her husband Michael had to sift through the water to collect the pregnancy tissues. "That was probably one of the most traumatic parts of it."
They did it because she had been promised the tissues would be sent for genetic testing, in the hope of finding out why she had been miscarrying. But when she took them to hospital the following day, she was told testing had been stopped.
"For us, it was traumatising to find out that after all that, we wouldn't get any answers," she says.
Lauren says the worst part of it all was not having Michael with her. She hated having to give him bad news. "I felt like I was disappointing him every time," she says.
And Michael felt helpless. Instead of getting the facts from a medical professional, he had to piece things together when an emotional Lauren got back in the car. "I've got questions that I've never been able to ask," he says. "I'm involved as well. I've just been cast out, cast aside."
At the start of June, Lauren found out she was pregnant again. When she arrived at the hospital she was overcome by a sense of foreboding.
"I started crying and didn't want to go out of the car," she says. "I was worried about going into the building on my own, but my husband wasn't allowed in."
Sadly this pregnancy was not viable. Lauren began to miscarry alone at home and made her way to hospital in agony.
"What the midwife did changed everything: she gave me a cuddle," she says. "She shouldn't have done that, due to Covid, but it was the right thing to do. It was one of those life-changing moments."
Lauren now has a supportive consultant and is sharing her experience on Instagram.
Lucy's story: 'I had to face this day alone'
For Lucy McLeod, 33, the experience of losing a baby during lockdown felt "a world away" from her previous miscarriage, when her husband Ben was with her.
She was on her own at the 12-week scan when the sonographer could not find a heartbeat.
"I burst into tears, and she put on a pair of gloves to pat me on my knee - I think even that kindness was against protocol," she says.
"I was sent to a different room to talk to a midwife who, after asking me to sanitise my hands, cautiously put a box of tissues between herself and me. She said they would usually offer a hug right now, but she wasn't allowed to."
Lucy was offered options that would not require surgery, but she rejected them. "I couldn't face going through labour to birth a baby that was dead. It felt like a second blow that I would have to give birth to her and clean her up myself in order to bury her," she says.
It was agreed that she could have surgery, but she had to accept the risk of catching the virus while in hospital. "Even so, I much preferred this option," she says.
Lucy was swabbed for Covid before being wheeled into theatre. She was still crying when she came round. "The sister in recovery stroked my hair and held my hand tightly. I was so grateful for her soothing me," she says. "I couldn't believe that I had to face this day alone."
Ben and Lucy have named their baby Chloe. They will collect her body this week. But Lucy is worried about the effect Covid measures will have had on the mental health of people who have lost a baby.
"Miscarriages are devastating," says Birte Harlev-Lam from the Royal College of Midwives. "We know that this pandemic has made the experience even more difficult due to restrictions on having partners at scans and other appointments."
The miscarriage charity Tommy's saw a huge spike in helpline queries during the pandemic and is urging women to seek medical help if they have symptoms such as changes in their baby's movements, severe pain or heavy bleeding.
According to Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidance, scans should still be offered if someone is worried about retained pregnancy tissue, if they're bleeding heavily, or if they're in pain, and women should then be monitored for signs of infection.
Consultant gynaecologist Prof Tom Bourne, speaking for the RCOG, says a study is being done on the impact of the pandemic on the care of women with complications in early pregnancy, including miscarriage, and that those experiences will inform future guidance.
Listen to Helen and Fatma speaking on Woman's Hour
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Wiltshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson is now described as "stable and improving" after suffering a heart attack last week. | The 60-year-old was taken to hospital by air ambulance after being taken ill in Trowbridge on Friday morning.
He remains in the intensive care unit at Bath's Royal United Hospital
The county's Chief Constable Pat Geenty said Mr Macpherson was "sitting up in bed and talking to his family".
The commissioner became ill during a meeting to discuss his annual report with local MP Dr Andrew Murrison at his constituency offices on the White Horse Business Park.
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Thousands of people drive up and down the A1 every day, stopping off at fast-food outlets and petrol stations. But something else lines one of England's busiest roads: sex shops. Why are they there and, in the age of the internet, who is going in? | By Duncan Leatherdale & David McKennaBBC News Online
Lingerie, handcuffs, synthetic body parts and a £1,500 sex doll - they are all available to buy next to a Shell garage on the northbound carriageway between Doncaster and Pontefract.
There are seven Pulse & Cocktails adult superstores in total, which occupy former roadside restaurants - mostly Little Chefs. On the A1, a major trunk road connecting London and Edinburgh, there are three stores. This caused comedian Alan Carr to pose the question on Twitter: "How horny are the drivers on the A1?"
Quite, as it turns out. But why is Britain's longest road such a handy location for selling sex paraphernalia?
"The [shops] are good for a number of reasons," said Graham Kidd, one of the directors of Pulse & Cocktails, which has been in business for 21 years. "They have good car parking, they are high profile and they are discreet - you're not likely to run into your neighbour inside.
"We can never get away from the fact that we are British and everyone is frightened to death of being seen going into a local adult store, but if they are 100 miles from home they have the confidence to go in."
The shops are fairly isolated in that they are situated away from schools and town centres and communities likely to complain. Inside, the buildings are modern, open plan and well-lit. They are a far cry from the seedy backstreet stores seen as typical of Britain's sex shop offering.
"When we first opened a roadside shop it was a step into the dark, we did not know what to expect," said Mr Kidd. "People objected in the early days because they did not know what it was going to be. It's not like we are next to schools; our shops are very remote and look very tasteful from the outside.
"I do understand why people talk about us, after all we have taken over a number of old Little Chefs, which was an iconic British brand. The risk has paid off though; they are more popular than our city centre shops."
Sex shops used to be aimed squarely at men, while women bought sex toys at "parties" men were not invited to - opening up a gap in the market, said Mr Kidd. "We felt there was a need for somewhere a couple could go and shop together for toys they could use together," he said.
The stereotype that the majority of those visiting roadside sex shops are long-distance truckers is also false, with less than 7% of Pulse & Cocktails' clientele falling into this category.
About 500 people visit the store on the A1 southbound at Grantham every week, estimates manager Michaela Snell. She said most will buy something and roughly 25% of people walking through the doors are regulars. "It's intriguing to a lot of people - they might drive by several times before they eventually come in, but they will come in to see what it is about."
The uninitiated will often turn right into the less intimidating lingerie department, while more seasoned shoppers head straight for the sex toys or bondage area.
"We say hello to everyone that comes in," said Ms Snell. "Some will come straight up and ask questions, others will look as if to say 'oh God, don't talk to me', which is fine - we can gauge what people want and leave them to it. We get a real mix of people in here... we do get a lot of people just asking for directions as well."
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According to a recent survey by a condom company, 79% of women and 58% of men who took part said they used sex toys. For those who are reluctant to visit a sex shop in person to make a purchase, there are plenty of places to shop online.
But others find visiting a store helpful when choosing merchandise. One couple buying flavoured condoms in the Grantham store said seeing items before buying was part of the appeal. They said the first time they went in the shop was "very nerve-wracking" but the anonymity offered by a roadside store was what took them to the A1.
Richard Longhurst, co-founder of online retailer Lovehoney, said it is this combination that keeps the bricks and mortar retail offering viable.
"I think there's room for both shops and the internet. You can see quite naturally that it's the perfect product to sell online because of the discretion, because people might be nervous about asking questions about the product. To do that face to face in a shop is quite daunting. But for some people, they like to go and touch and fondle and squeeze, they like to try the clothing on before they buy it.
"So there's definitely a market for both. But we've seen big growth online; for us it's the future of this market."
Mr Kidd said the firm's physical stores get far more traffic than its online shop and its biggest sellers are high-end, rechargeable sex toys. Simply put, "people want to see them before they buy them", he said.
In the 12 years Ms Snell has been at the company - choosing working in a sex shop over a High Street clothes store - she has seen people becoming "more open and understanding" about sex. The Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, in particular, has encouraged people to experiment, she added, with more and more young people coming in "wanting to spice up their sex life".
"I do like working here, I made the right decision," she said. "This appeals to me more, it's a bit more fun and adventurous.
"It's a business though, it's not all fun and games... but it is mostly fun and games."
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Jersey's lifeboat service said it was a busy and long weekend after crews were called out five times in four days. | The RNLI said it believed it was because people were making the most of the fine weather.
A spokesman said crews helped an upturned sailing boat, an engine fire and rescued people from near Icho Tower on Sunday.
He said the call outs started on Thursday with a dismasted yacht and a search for a missing fisherman.
The spokesman said: "The number of incidents is reflective of the fine weather and disappointing summer so far in 2012."
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A baby girl who died after falling from a third-floor flat window in Clydebank has been named. | One-year-old Lexi Bergene fell from the building on Dumbarton Road, near Boquhanran Road, at about 14:10 on Wednesday.
She was taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow where she later died.
Police said on Thursday inquiries were ongoing, but her death did not appear to be suspicious.
A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.
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The European Union has issued a 16-page document outlining the preparations that need to be made for Brexit. It includes advice on how countries, companies and individuals should prepare for the prospect of the UK leaving with "no deal" in place. | By Chris MorrisReality Check correspondent, BBC News
BBC Reality Check correspondent Chris Morris has read the document so you don't have to. Here are some key excerpts, and explanations of what they mean:
'Significant disruption'
From the outset, the EU makes one thing clear - even if negotiations go better than expected, it thinks there will be significant disruption, and everyone needs to be ready for it. (The EU talks about 30 March as exit day, by the way, because the precise time of withdrawal is due to be midnight on 30 March in Central European Time, but 23:00 on 29 March in GMT).
The document emphasises that negotiations on a withdrawal agreement are continuing and that a negotiated settlement is the EU's preferred outcome.
But it also notes that important issues remain unresolved - including on the protection of personal data sent to the UK while it was a member state and on the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in policing a withdrawal agreement.
In particular, it states that there has been "no progress" in agreeing a "backstop" solution to avoid the imposition of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The EU notes, as it has done many times before, that time to both reach and ratify an agreement is running short.
'No deal'
This is why preparations for "no deal" are so important.
If there is a deal, there will also be a transition period running until 31 December 2020 during which EU rules and regulations will continue to apply in the UK.
That will give businesses and governments more time to prepare for a new relationship.
Without a deal, the transition (or "implementation period" as the UK government calls it) falls away and the relationship will change abruptly at the end of March next year.
If both sides come to the conclusion several months before the end of March that there will be "no deal", they can at least make some contingency plans to deal with that.
But if there is a last-minute hitch, time will have run out.
So, from the EU's perspective, thinking about "no deal" means "preparing for the worst and hoping for the best".
Much of the UK government would probably look at it in the same way - but there are many Brexiteers who think that "no deal" would be perfectly acceptable as long as sufficient preparations have been made.
Stepping up preparation
This kind of language is scattered throughout the document. "Don't say we didn't warn you," would be another way of putting it.
The document stresses that some things will have to be done whatever the outcome.
One thing it mentions is the need for companies to take steps to ensure that they have the right authorisations and certificates to access the EU market after Brexit.
But contingency planning for "no deal" is the main emphasis - the EU says this is a prudent step because the outcome of negotiations "cannot be predicted".
Among other issues, it notes that there would be no arrangement in place for EU citizens in the UK or UK citizens in the EU.
It says controls at borders "could cause significant delays, eg in road transport, and difficulties for ports", where there could be "long lines of vehicles waiting for customs procedures to be fulfilled".
It also says that the UK would become a third country for trade and regulatory issues, which would "represent a significant drawback compared to the current level of market integration".
It also emphasises that while many measures would have to be taken at EU level, national, regional and local governments also need to step up their levels of preparation to "mitigate the worst impacts of a potential cliff-edge scenario" - cheerful stuff.
Business preparation
And of course a lot of the attention is focused on making sure that individual EU businesses, big and small, are going to be ready for whatever emerges at the end of a highly unpredictable process of negotiation.
The document notes that several EU governments, such as the Irish and the Dutch, have set up online platforms to help their companies prepare for different potential Brexit scenarios.
The document also claims - in a sentence that won't please the UK government - that "many companies are relocating to the EU27" or expanding their operations there.
EU officials insist that they are not trying to add fuel to the fire and that they are simply engaged in prudent planning.
But it's a reminder that there are people in Europe, as well as in the UK, who see Brexit as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Legal and technical implications
The commission has now published 68 notices (anyone with a few hours to spare can read them here) on preparations in specific sectors of the economy, including health and food safety, financial services, customs, transport, and company law.
They set out the legal and technical issues that governments and companies need to take into account and are another glimpse into the complexities of Brexit that stretch into every area of economic life.
In the UK, the government has not yet published any comparable information of its own.
However, on Wednesday, Theresa May told MPs at the Liaison Committee that a similar number of technical notifications about what to do in the event of a "no deal" Brexit will be released during August and September - aimed at businesses and citizens.
In response to the EU document, the Department for Exiting the European Union said "It is the duty of any responsible government to prepare for every eventuality, including the unlikely scenario that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal. We have already done a lot of work behind the scenes to prepare for this - it is only natural that our European partners would seek to make similar preparations. We are keen to work closely with the EU on preparedness issues."
Access to databases
There are all sorts of EU databases, including many dealing with policing and internal security issues, to which the UK wants to retain access after Brexit.
But the EU has argued that the UK can't simply pick and choose the bits of membership it likes - and this part of the document emphasises that work is well under way to remove the UK from numerous databases and IT systems once it becomes a "third country".
The commission is also making preparations for changing international agreements that currently involve the UK as a member state. It says it will notify its international partners formally once it has sufficient certainty about the outcome of the current negotiations - not for a while, then.
Finally, the EU document says work is under way to relocate or reassign tasks that are currently performed in the UK - such as the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (part of the EU's project for satellites in space) or the UK-based EU Reference Laboratories - because it will not be possible "to entrust a third country" with such EU tasks after the withdrawal date.
Two London-based agencies, the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority, are already moving to Amsterdam and Paris respectively.
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Two applications for superstores in Newport have been approved by councillors on the Isle of Wight. | Both ASDA and Newport Football Club want to build food stores with petrol stations on the edge of the town on St George's Way.
Council members voted to approve the plans, which have similar floor areas, submitted by both on Wednesday.
ASDA said its proposed development was expected to create up to 450 new full and part time jobs.
The football club's application submitted by the ground's owner, South Coast Leisure (SCL) includes a new clubhouse and grandstand.
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A much-loved statue of the Virgin Mary in Sri Lanka has been returned to the site from which it had to be removed because
of fighting in the north of the island. | The Bishop of Mannar, Royappu Joseph, said the statue, known as Our Lady of Madhu, has now been re-installed at what is the
country's most revered Catholic Church.
The Virgin had been removed to spare her from possible destruction as fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels raged
around the building earlier this year.
Government forces recently took full control of the area, and the church is now back in the hands of its priests.
However church authorities have decided not to hold the traditional annual Madhu feast this year.
Vicar General of Mannar diocese Rev. Soosai told BBC Sandeshaya on Friday that both parties have failed to respond to a request
by the Church to declare Madhu as war free zone.
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Five wards at Wrexham Maelor Hospital have been closed to the public following an outbreak of norovirus. | Two other wards also have some restrictions in place in a bid to stop it spreading.
The move comes after 21 patients showed symptoms of the winter vomiting bug.
A Betsi Cadwaladr health board spokesman urged any visitors with symptoms to stay away from the hospital.
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During World War Two a small group of men managed to get behind enemy lines and retrieve artwork which had been stolen by the Nazis. | Will GompertzArts editor@WillGompertzBBCon Twitter
George Clooney was so inspired by the story that he decided to make a film about it.
He spoke to me in the conservation room at the National Gallery about writing, producing, directing and starring in The Monuments Men - and how he copes with bad reviews.
Here's my report.
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A 1,500-page "manifesto" recently published online, entitled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence, has been attributed to Anders Behring Breivik, who has admitted being behind Friday's bloody twin attacks in Norway. | Part of the tract details the author's "personal reflections and experiences during several preparation phases", apparently in the run-up to the 22 July attacks.
Over dozens of pages, the author chillingly and meticulously details his efforts to create cover stories for his plot, to build up his personal fitness levels, and to acquire the weaponry and explosives materials needed.
It also sketches out aspects of his mental preparation for the act he intends to commit.
But according to the Norwegian anti-Islamic citizen journalist website Document.no, to which Mr Breivik himself was a frequent contributor, large parts of the manifesto are copied directly from "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski's own manifesto, with minor changes such as replacement of the word "leftist" by the phrase "cultural Marxist". Kaczynski is serving a life sentence for carrying out a bombing campaign in the US from 1978 to 1995, sending 16 bombs which killed three people and injured another 23, organised from a remote cabin in the state of Montana.
The manifesto begins with an entry for April/May 2002, in which the author claims to have been "ordinated as the 8th Justiciar Knight for the PCCTS, Knights Templar Europe" - the "resistance movement" that elsewhere he claims has been established to combat the "Islamisation" of Europe.
"I joined the session after visiting one of the initial facilitators, a Serbian Crusader Commander and war hero, in Monrovia, Liberia... Our primary objective is to develop PCCTS, Knights Templar into becoming the foremost conservative revolutionary movement in Western Europe [in] the next few decades."
From 2002-2006, the log claims, the author raised funds for his venture - with 2006-2008 spent researching and writing his manifesto.
By the autumn of 2009, the author claimed to be preparing for the next phase.
"I'm creating two different and 'professional looking' prospectuses for 'business ventures'. A mining company and a small farm operation.
"The reasoning for this decision is to create a credible cover in case I am arrested in regards to the purchase and smuggling of explosives or components to explosives - fertiliser. In this regard I created a new company called Geofarm, which might act as a credible cover for such activities."
Geofarm is a farm which has been linked to Anders Behring Breivik.
'Traitors'
In July 2010, the author wrote he had "successfully finished the 'armour acquisition phase'" - including buying a protective case to store the weapons underground in a forest.
But it was not an easy operation - the author was plagued by mosquitoes, spiders (with which he says he has "serious issues") and underground rocks while he dug the hole, which took him five hours.
In September 2010, the author says: "I now have to acquire a semi-automatic rifle and Glock [pistol] legally...
"I don't have a criminal record so there is no reason why the police should reject my application."
The author goes on: "I have now sent an application for a Ruger Mini 14 semi-automatic rifle (5.56)... On the application form I stated: 'hunting deer'. It would have been tempting to just write the truth; 'executing category A and B cultural Marxists/multiculturalist traitors' just to see their reaction :P."
In October-November 2010, he writes: "I have now made my first order for one of the chemicals required for my initiator from an online-based Polish supplier. I will have to order another 4-5 different ingredients online before I am done.
"Needless to say; this is an extremely vulnerable phase. In fact, it is the most vulnerable phase of them all. If I get through this phase without trouble I will be very close to finalizing my operation.
"I am somewhat concerned but I have credible cover stories for each individual chemical (with the exception of one) should there be any complication."
Fears of detection are repeatedly described in the log.
'Feel great'
He goes on to say: "So what do I do when I'm not working? I'm in the middle of another steroid cycle at the moment, training hard to exceed my 92 kg record from July... I have a more or less perfect body at the moment and I'm as happy as I have ever been.
"My morale is at an all time high and I'm generally happy with how things are progressing. I may create an ideological Knights Templar Youtube movie this winter."
A video titled Knights Templar 2083 and posted on YouTube has indeed been attributed to Mr Breivik.
Later in the same entry: "As for girlfriends; I do get the occasional lead, or the occasional girl making a move, especially now a day as I'm fit like hell and feel great. But I'm trying to avoid relationships as it would only complicate my plans and it may jeopardize my operation."
In November, December and January, the author claims he is undergoing pistol training "to fulfill the government requirement for purchase".
"Documentation and activity requirement was met. I joined my local pistol club back in 2005 for the first time but have only sporadically attended training until November 2010.
"The fact that I joined the club as early as 2005 was a planned move to increase my chances for obtaining a Glock, legally."
He goes on to take rifle training - this time, for his own purposes. A list of ammunition purchased follows, followed itself by a minutely detailed list of other items purchased for his scheme.
'Martyrdom'
Near the end, in a section titled "Social life and continuation of cover", the author explains: "I have been storing three bottles of Chateau Kirwan 1979 (French red wine) which I purchased at an auction 10 years ago with the intention of enjoying them at a very special occasion.
"Considering the fact that my martyrdom operation draws ever closer I decided to bring one to enjoy with my extended family at our annual Christmas party in December."
He goes on: "My thought was to save the last flask for my last martyrdom celebration and enjoy it with the two high class model whores I intend to rent prior to the mission."
After this, the log goes into detailed day-to-day entries for the run-up to his attack, including detailed accounts of labour-intensive explosives preparation.
At the end of the log, it reads: "I believe this will be my last entry. It is now Fri July 22nd, 12.51.
"Sincere regards, Andrew Berwick. Justiciar Knight Commander. Knights Templar Europe. Knights Templar Norway."
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Empty supermarket shelves have unnerved much of the nation and made consumers question the security of food supplies they had taken for granted. As people ponder how they might have to source their food during the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, will there be a growth in growing your own? | By Amy GladwellBBC News Online
National groups including the Royal Horticultural Society and National Vegetable Society have reported a substantial increase in people starting to grow their own veg for the first time.
So what are the merits of taking things into our own glove-clad hands?
Charlie Hoskin, 38, her partner Mouse Bragg, 40 and their three-year-old daughter are one of many families who have been inspired to get digging.
"Like many our wistful intentions have been catalysed recently by the recent COVID-19 outbreak," she said.
They have been isolating for about three weeks now at their home in Cornwall.
"We have more time to channel and hopefully once the patch is established we shall enjoy salad-saving sums and a more sustainable lifestyle whilst also hatching a new family habit together," she said.
Tamasin Pemberton, a green-fingered mother of three, said since the coronavirus pandemic began she had seen an influx in first-time growers at the Cornish garden centre she worked at - at least before the government closed "all but essential stores".
For years she had run her own social enterprise, Perennial Harvest, with a charity arm, trying to give families the skills to "grow their own" in workshops.
She admitted enthusiasm had been a little lacklustre - until now.
The pandemic seemed to have prompted an "overdue revival," she said, and a chance to share her passion with an audience who were really listening.
"It's a lot of people in their 30s and 40s with young families," she said.
"People who are really keen but haven't got any experience whatsoever".
"It has touched on people's fears about food security - they've seen how bare the shelves are."
The UK government and supermarkets have said there would be more than enough food to go round, and action was being taken to meet the increased demand for deliveries to both stores and households.
But UK growers said this week they were facing a "serious labour shortage" that could risks millions of tonnes of fruit and veg failing to reach consumers.
"I don't want this to be frightening to people, I want them to think what can we practically do, and to give our kids the ability to be able to adapt, to persevere," Ms Pemberton said.
It has prompted the 43-year-old to start a Facebook blog, full of picture-guides for beginners.
Fiona Shenfield, general secretary of the National Vegetable Society, said it had seen a "big increase" in people waking up to the benefits of home growing during the current health crisis.
"In fact some of our members have been approached and have been helping by providing spare tomato plants, for example."
Leaders at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) also reported a boost in interest.
Alistair Griffiths, director of science at the the RHS, said: "There are very few, if any, other activities that can achieve all of the things that gardening can - in particular, the measurable impact on active lifestyles and mental wellbeing, such as reductions in depression, anxiety, and body mass index, as well as increases in life satisfaction and quality of life.
"Gardening is also a great way to top up your vitamin D... from direct sunlight on the skin."
Growing tips from Guy Barter, the RHS's chief horticulturalist
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"I ended up living under a bush in a park in Brighton for five months. It was the nadir of 20 years of alcoholism. I'd become homeless, and I knew that something had to change otherwise I was going to drink myself to death. I decided that I had to go to rehab." | By Caroline Turriff BBC Radio 4
James Howard started drinking as a teenager. During his 20s, he was detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act on three separate occasions, suffering from alcoholic psychosis. When he was 33, he decided he needed treatment.
"I was on the waiting list for rehab for a year and I was clearly killing myself. But ultimately I just could not get a place. I got to the point where I didn't see any hope at all of getting into rehab or any form of treatment."
Brighton council says that while it cannot comment on individual cases, "when people are assessed as needing residential rehabilitation, we make sure this service is offered to them as quickly as possible".
Publicly funded drug and alcohol detox and rehab programmes are offered by NHS units or other providers, such as charities, that help patients whose treatment is paid for by local authorities.
But since 2013 local authorities have cut overall funding for alcohol and drugs treatment by £300m. During the same period the number of people accessing publicly funded detox and rehab services for alcohol has almost halved, and almost half of the total of the approximately 80 units offering these services have closed, the BBC has discovered.
Alcoholism: 'I was on a mission of self-destruction'
Choice of tipple 'determines different moods'
When mum or dad is an alcoholic
The latest figure for alcohol-related deaths from the Office of National Statistics - 9,214 in 2016 - is the highest since records began, in 1994.
Public Health England estimates there are at least 595,000 dependent drinkers in need of treatment, but less than one in five receives it.
Frank also has had problems with alcohol since he was a teenager.
"I was never offered publicly funded residential rehab. I'd been run over by a car in a blackout from drinking. My friends thought I was dead. I was getting injured a lot. I've attempted to take my life a couple of times. My parents definitely thought I was going to die, and I did too."
Frank saw no option but to pay for a private rehab. But his parents had to use all their savings for their retirement to send him there. "They sacrificed their future to save the life of their son. It does fill me with a lot of guilt and shame."
The BBC has also obtained figures from most private rehabs, which show an average rise of over 100% in their private alcohol patients since 2013.
The number of private rehabs has risen by almost 70% since 2012.
Conservative MP Fiona Bruce, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Harm, described these figures as "extremely concerning".
"The increase in private providers and the parallel decrease in public providers for alcohol treatment is a really serious issue because it's a matter of social justice that people should be able to access help when they need it not according to their pocket."
But there are also concerns about the quality of private rehabs.
At the end of last year, the Care Quality Commission published a report describing almost two-thirds of independent providers of residential detox, the vast majority run by private companies, as unsafe.
"We're facing a crisis that isn't recognised or being addressed by government," says Ms Bruce.
"Over the last decade, we've seen alcohol-related hospital admissions doubling and we've seen alcohol-related deaths increasing."
She adds: "There are 1.5 million dependent or higher-risk drinkers and two million children living in homes where alcohol is an issue."
Alcohol-related hospital admissions are now running at their highest levels ever - 1.1 million a year.
"All of this is having an impact on the NHS being able to treat other patients," Ms Bruce says.
"[In] accident and emergency centres on Saturday night, figures show, [it] can be as much as 80% of the admissions are alcohol-related.
"We need a national alcohol strategy."
According to Public Health England, 61% of problem drinkers completed their course free of dependence in 2016-17, compared with only 26% of opiate addicts.
James eventually got a bed funded by public donations, at a Salvation Army Rehabilitation Centre. He has been clean now for almost two years and has never relapsed since he first went into rehab.
"I've been back at work for six months, working in translation, which I got a degree in, and have moved into a new flat.
"Without that bed in rehab, I would have drunk myself to death. I would be dead."
The Department of Health said: "We are investing more than £16bn in local government public health services.
"We are putting in place new higher duties to target cheap, high-strength cider and looking at what further support we can provide to families to tackle alcohol harms."
Hear Caroline Turriff's full report on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.
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The killing of Gen Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds force, represents a dramatic escalation in the low-level conflict between the US and Iran and one whose consequences could be considerable. | By Jonathan MarcusDefence and diplomatic correspondent
Retaliation is to be expected. A chain of action and reprisal could ensue bringing the two countries closer to a direct confrontation. Washington's future in Iraq could well be called into question. And President Trump's strategy for the region - if there is one - will be tested like never before.
Philip Gordon, who was White House co-ordinator for the Middle East and the Persian Gulf in the Obama administration, described the killing as little short of a "declaration of war" by the Americans against Iran.
The Quds Force is the branch of Iran's security forces responsible for operations abroad. For years, whether it be in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria or elsewhere, Soleimani has been a key instigator in expanding and extending Iran's influence through planning attacks or bolstering Tehran's local allies.
For Washington, he was a man with US blood on his hands. But he was popular in Iran itself. And in practical terms, he led Tehran's fightback against the broad campaign of pressure and US-imposed sanctions.
What is most surprising is not that Soleimani was in President Trump's sights but quite why the US should strike him now.
A series of low-level rocket attacks against US bases in Iraq were blamed on Tehran. One US civilian contractor was killed. But earlier Iranian operations - against tankers in the Gulf; the shooting down of a US unmanned aerial vehicle; even the major attack against a Saudi oil facility - all went without a direct US response.
As for the rocket attacks against the US bases in Iraq, the Pentagon has already hit back against the pro-Iranian militia believed to be behind them. That prompted a potential assault on the US embassy compound in Baghdad.
In explaining the decision to kill Soleimani, the Pentagon focused not just on his past actions, but also insisted that the strike was meant as a deterrent. The general, the Pentagon statement reads, was "actively developing plans to attack US diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region".
Quite what happens next is the big question. President Trump will hope that in one dramatic action he has both cowed Iran and proven to his increasingly uneasy allies in the region like Israel and Saudi Arabia that US deterrence still has teeth. However it is almost unthinkable that there will not be a robust Iranian response, even if it is not immediate.
The 5,000 US troops in Iraq are an obvious potential target. So too are the sorts of targets hit by Iran or its proxies in the past. Tensions will be higher in the Gulf. No wonder the initial impact was to see a surge in oil prices.
The US and its allies will be looking to their defences. Washington has already despatched a small number of reinforcements to its embassy in Baghdad. It will have plans to increase its military footprint in the region quickly if needed.
But it is equally possible that Iran's response will be in some sense asymmetric - in other words not just a strike for a strike. It may seek to play on the widespread support it has in the region - through the very proxies that Soleimani built up and funded.
It could for example renew the siege on the US embassy in Baghdad, putting the Iraqi government in a difficult position, and call into question the US deployment there. It could prompt demonstrations elsewhere as cover for other attacks.
The strike against the Quds force commander was a clear demonstration of US military intelligence and capabilities. Many in the region will not mourn his passing. But was this the wisest thing for President Trump to do?
How well is the Pentagon prepared for the inevitable aftermath? And just what does this strike tell us about Mr Trump's overall strategy in the region? Has this changed in any way? Is there a new zero-tolerance towards Iranian operations?
Or was this just the president taking out an Iranian commander he would no doubt regard as "a very bad man".
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Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have moved into parts of northern Iraq abandoned by the army in the face of an advance by jihadist-led rebels. The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil met members of an elite female unit as they prepared to go to the front line. | Morning assembly is in full swing at a military facility on the outskirts of Sulaimaniya, a city in the autonomous Kurdistan Region.
The troops look serious and focused despite the scorching heat of the Iraqi summer.
Standing straight in their fatigues with Kalashnikovs on their shoulders, this looks no different than any other training camp.
But it is the long hair tied back in a bun under caps, and the hint of make-up on some faces, that spells out the difference.
Ready for battle
This female unit of the Peshmerga - the Kurdistan Region's security forces - is undergoing intense training.
Some of its members are getting ready to go to the front line to fight militants from the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis).
The unit commander, Col Nahida Ahmed Rashid, says the unit was formed in 1996 to fight loyalists of former President Saddam Hussein.
It is made up of several hundred fighters, all volunteers. Few have seen combat, but many have been telling their commander they want to fight since Isis captured large swathes of northern and western Iraq last month.
Col Rashid says that her female troops have been training daily and are ready.
"They've been trained with SWAT teams and with the special forces. Some have already fought alongside their male colleagues on the front line and I'm sending others to Kirkuk soon. I was in Kirkuk myself recently."
'Areas of conflict'
The Peshmerga have been instrumental in securing the Kurdistan Region.
Over the past month, they have also moved into disputed areas abandoned by Iraqi security forces during the Isis advance.
They have also recently seized control of oil production facilities at Bai Hassan and Kirkuk - the female Peshmerga will now be part of a mission to secure the city and its surrounding oil fields.
"They've taken up arms and gone to battle to protect Kurdistan, but also to say that there's no difference between men and women," Col Rashid says.
"A lot of women are volunteering to fight with us at the moment," she adds. "They join because they want to defend other women in areas of conflict."
Capt Mujdat al-Hameed, who led the day's training, is about to head off to Kirkuk.
She is a mother of three and says both her children and her husband are proud of what she is doing.
Supportive
One of the women in her unit is Awas Tawfiq. She is also about to head to the front line.
"I'm very happy - I've been training for eight years for this," she says. "I'm not afraid, I know I'll be defending my land, I'm very excited to go."
Ms Tawfiq is a divorcee and a mother of two teenaged boys.
She spends two days a week at the military camp and the other four with her children.
She says they know she is fighting for a good cause and are very supportive.
Many people in Kurdistan believe the region owes much of its safety to the efforts of the Peshmerga.
Col Rashid says families are quite supportive of the decision of their daughters and female relatives to join the force.
"I have a daughter - she's 10 years old - and when she sees the videos of Isis attacks on Facebook and on the internet, she tells me: 'Please mum, when you go to fight on the front line, please just take me with you.'"
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Lawyers acting for senior republican Freddie Scappaticci have failed in an attempt to prevent the BBC from running part of a Spotlight film on Tuesday. | The hearing, at the high court in Belfast, centred around filming at a news conference given by the alleged British agent at his solicitor's office on 14 May 2003.
The programme will be broadcast on Tuesday on BBC One at 22:40 BST.
A BBC spokesman said the programme "is of major public interest".
He added: "Tonight's Spotlight is an important investigation by Darragh MacIntyre of allegations that Freddie Scappaticci was involved in the murder of alleged British informants while himself an agent of the state, codenamed Stakeknife, at the heart of the IRA."
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President Obama is likely to have a packed agenda when he visits east Africa later this month, but Kenyans are already using Twitter to advise him on what he should - or shouldn't - be discussing. | BBC TrendingWhat's popular and why
#KenyansMessageToObama is trending in the country, with nearly 3,000 tweets in just a few hours Monday morning. One prominent topic of conversation is gay rights. "Spare us the gay talk," one user comments, while another tweets: "That gay vibe should remain in America."
Last month the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is legal across the country, a decision that was hailed by Obama - although he had expressed opposition to gay marriage in the past. More broadly, Obama has used previous trips to Africa to urge governments to decriminalise homosexuality. Gay sex is illegal in Kenya, and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Anti-gay activists held a protest in Nairobi on Monday morning. Most of the messages mentioning gay rights under the #KenyansMessagetoObama tag are anti-homosexual, but a few Kenyans do offer an opposing view. "Gays are part of our society," one says, "we need to give them some space."
Gay rights, while a popular topic of discussion, isn't the only suggestion for the official visit. Several encourage the US president to try local delicacies, for instance a type of sausage:
There were more than a few jokes at the expense of a lawyer who plans to offer 50 cows, 70 sheep and 30 goats as a bride price for Obama's elder daughter, 17-year-old Malia.
"Owing to increasing demand of Kenyan men on Malia," tweets Nathan Murgor, "You're advised to have her keep you company."
But a number of more serious issues are also suggested. "Avoid Kenyan politicians," advises one activist. Others decry the fact that neglected roads will be spruced up for the occasion. "Kindly visit every county so that there can be beautification and cleaning everywhere," tweets @jacksonjaxo. "#KenyansMessageToObama hash tag reflects a popular African trend," laments Martha Rose. "Clean house only because visitors are coming."
And one of the most retweeted messages is an apparent reference to the frantic pace of construction in the Kenyan capital. "When you land, ask to use Jogoo Rd," said @Ma3Route. "Mombasa Rd will give you false impression."
Blog by Mike Wendling
Our mobile bureau BBC Pop Up will be travelling around Kenya from 10 July - 1 Aug. We want to hear about the relationship between Kenya and America ... and we'll be filming other ideas you suggest, so get in touch via Twitter.
Next story: Reporting on a coup and a crisis... using a music-sharing site
It's a country in crisis: a failed coup, disputed elections, dozens of protesters killed by police and a crackdown on independent media. But journalists in Burundi have hit upon a novel way of continuing to get the news out amid this turmoil, using social media and an app more often associated with indie bands, niche podcasts and DJ remixes. READ MORE
You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.
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A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a man in Glasgow last month. | Omar Sadiq was found seriously injured on Boydstone Road, in the Pollok area of the city, on 15 September.
Hashim Uddin, 27, is accused of assaulting and murdering Mr Sadiq, who died from his injuries in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Mr Uddin made no plea during a private hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court and was remanded in custody.
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After a few hectic final weeks and a last-minute, late-night scramble, the United States, Canada and Mexico have come to an agreement in principle on a revised North American Free Trade Agreement - a resolution 14 months in the making. | By Jessica Murphy & Natalie Sherman BBC News
The leaders of all three nations took a victory lap on Monday, with US President Donald Trump heralding the still-to-be-ratified agreement as "truly historic".
The original 1994 deal has also been renamed, and is now the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA.
Industries will now be combing through all 34 chapters of the document to see how it affects their segment of the $1.2tn in annual trade between the three partners.
But even at first glance, there are clear winners - and some who will bear the brunt of the concessions.
Car industry
The two most eye-catching changes to the deal could benefit car-manufacturing workers from all three countries and help spur investment in the North American industry.
The first provision requires that 75% - up from 62.5% - of the parts that go into a vehicle be made in the region to qualify for tariff-free treatment, a move intended to boost production in North America.
The second requires 40-45% of a vehicle be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour - a measure aimed at discouraging firms from shifting work to lower-wage Mexico. (In the US, the average hourly pay for auto manufacturing workers was more than $22 as of June.)
The provisions are directed toward blue-collar workers in US manufacturing states, who share Mr Trump's critique of the deal. But they also offer a win to labourers in Canada and Mexico.
The agreement-in-principle also means Canada will escape potentially devastating national security tariffs on car part imports that have been threatened by President Trump.
Canada's dairy farmers
There was no doubt Canada's dairy sector was in the negotiating crosshairs and, in the end, Canada did grant more access to US producers.
The USMCA will grant them a 3.6% slice of Canada's domestic market. It also scraps a recently implemented milk-pricing policy that had raised the ire of producers in US states like Wisconsin and New York.
The Dairy Farmers of Canada, an industry group, claimed that 220,000 Canadians in the sector were "sacrificed" to secure a deal.
"The livelihood of these thousands of Canadians and the future generations of dairy producers is seriously at risk," the group said on Monday.
Still, the concessions were pared down from original demands by the White House.
US negotiators had proposed the dismantling of Canada's 50-year-old protectionist dairy supply management system entirely over the course of a decade. It remains in place.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised dairy farmers will receive compensation for the trade deal.
Tech companies and online shoppers
The new agreement raises duty-free shopping limits to $100 to enter Mexico and C$150 ($115) to enter Canada without facing import duties - well above the $50 previously allowed in Mexico and C$20 permitted by Canada.
That's good news for online shoppers in Mexico and Canada - as well as shipping firms and e-commerce companies, especially giants like Amazon.
Consumers are also expected to benefit from faster shipping.
Canadian retailers had argued against raising the limits, fearing a more generous exemption could place them at a disadvantage.
Rules over data storage offer another significant win for Amazon.
Good for Mexico's new leader
By Will Grant, BBC News, Mexico City
Mexico was always unlikely to step away from Nafta - the bedrock of its trade with the North. While Donald Trump made his dissatisfaction with the agreement abundantly clear, even calling it "one of the worst trade deals in history", Mexico was always keen to find enough common ground for a new deal.
Outwardly at least, the government says they're happy with the new arrangement. They reached an agreement with the Americans a full month before Canada did and were apparently perfectly prepared for Nafta to become a bilateral deal if that's what it took.
In the end, salvaging the trilateral relationship under the new USMCA probably suits them better. They undoubtedly made concessions, especially for some of President Trump's more protectionist measures. In particular, in the car industry, where Mexico agreed that a higher percentage of cars destined for cross-border trade would be built in high-wage factories, pushing down its competitive advantage.
But Mexico's negotiators found new impetus in the upcoming change in administration. The president-elect in Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, broadly agreed with President Trump that Nafta needed overhauling - albeit for very different reasons than the US.
It has taken more than a year of often bitter wrangling but at least in trade, if not in politics the 'Three Amigos' - as the Nafta members were first known in 1994 - are friends again.
Steel and aluminium suppliers
In June, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from key allies in Europe as well as from Canada and Mexico.
The Trump administration had suggested the tariffs against its direct neighbours were tied by to progress achieved on the Nafta negotiations.
Now those tariffs will be dealt with separately.
The United Steelworkers Canadian director, Ken Neumann, said those in the industry have been "left in the lurch from concessions" made at the bargaining table.
Canada "sold out Canadian steel and aluminium workers. So much for the 'win-win-win' deal promised by this government", he said on Monday.
Mr Trudeau says removing the tariffs remains a priority for both Canada and Mexico.
Big pharma
Pharmaceutical companies won 10 years of protection for patents on certain types of treatments known as biologics, as well as an expanded scope of products eligible for protection.
Canada agreed to extend its monopoly period from eight years to 10 years and Mexico from five to 10 years.
Still, that protection is shorter under current US law, which protects drug patents for 12 years.
There are concerns this part of the agreement will raise the cost of drugs in Canada and affect its national healthcare system. The move has faced opposition from generic manufacturers because it would delay getting their products to market.
Trump delivers on promise
Arguments may rage on how much this is merely Nafta repackaged, but it's hard to see this as anything but a partial victory for President Donald Trump.
Never mind that he backed down from some of his original demands - like an automatic expiration clause.
The president will use the deal to boast of his negotiating prowess and delivery of a core campaign promise.
It's not clear exactly what it means for his approval ratings, which have taken a slight hit in areas badly hit by the tariffs tit-for-tat with China.
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Dame Louise Ellman has confirmed she will not be stand for re-election in the upcoming general election. | The Liverpool Riverside MP quit Labour earlier this month, citing the "growth of anti-Semitism" in the party.
Dame Louise, who has been an MP since 1997, said in her resignation letter that the party's leader Jeremy Corbyn was "not fit" to become prime minister.
At the time of her resignation, Labour said it was taking "robust action" to root out anti-Semitism.
More than 50 MPs have now said they will be standing down ahead of the 12 December poll.
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A Gypsy site in the Brecon Beacons National Park has won a housing award. | Powys council's housing service won the promoting equality and accessibility category at the Welsh Housing Awards for the Kings Meadow Gypsy site.
The awards are organised by the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru and recognise good practice.
Councillor Gary Banks said: "I am delighted that we have delivered on the initiative and received this national recognition."
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A wooden replica of Stonehenge, dubbed Woodhenge, which was built without planning permission, could be allowed to stay pending a decision by planners. | The structure was built last June by Square and Compass pub landlord Charlie Newman in Worth Matravers, Dorset.
Purbeck District Council said the 50 sq m structure contravened planning rules and would have to come down.
The authority has now said it can stay, pending an application for retrospective planning permission.
That application will be considered by the council's planning board on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the planning department said officers were recommending a two-year temporary approval.
An online petition in favour of retaining the structure was said to have attracted more than 1,300 signatures from villagers and tourists.
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The government has been forced to publish the legal advice given to Prime Minister Theresa May by the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox on the proposed backstop plan, which aims to avoid a hard border in Ireland under all circumstances. | By Chris MorrisReality Check correspondent, BBC News
The backstop, or guarantee, appears in a "Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland", which forms part of the UK's Withdrawal Agreement with the EU.
It would only come into effect if a UK-EU trade agreement keeping the border open is not ready by the end of a post-Brexit transition period.
Much of the advice given by the attorney general is not new, but it is set out in black and white for the first time.
Here are some excerpts from the six-page document.
This is a reminder that Northern Ireland would be more deeply entwined in the EU's customs rules and procedures than the rest of the UK.
Northern Ireland would retain full membership of the EU customs union, while Great Britain would be in a separate customs union with the EU.
The outcome of this complex arrangement is that the whole of the United Kingdom would be in a single customs territory with the EU.
That means there would be no tariffs on goods passing between anywhere in the UK and the EU, but declarations would have to be made (not involving any kind of border checks) for goods passing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
It is a carefully crafted fudge, in other words, with which no-one is entirely happy.
This section spells out clearly the implications of Northern Ireland remaining in the EU's single market for goods while the rest of the UK does not.
Again, there are no surprises here, but the attorney general emphasises that, for regulatory purposes, Great Britain would be treated as a third (or separate) country by Northern Ireland.
That means that for goods crossing the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland (but not in the other direction) regulatory checks would have to take place.
The EU has conceded that many of them (on things like product standards) could take place online or away from ports or airports.
But that is not the case for checks on food and animal produce. There are already checks on live animals arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain, but this would be a much broader system of controls.
This point is already clear in the text of the Withdrawal Agreement, but the attorney general is giving a legal opinion about international law: everyone says the backstop is intended to be temporary, but it could - in theory - remain in place indefinitely "unless or until" another permanent agreement takes its place.
This is only one of several ways in which many supporters of Brexit fear a trap, although it is quite clear that the EU is equally uncomfortable with many aspects of the backstop.
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Your guide to Brexit jargon
The attorney general sets out at some length why the EU does not like the backstop either.
It raises awkward legal questions about the UK (a country that will no longer be part of the EU) being responsible for protecting one of the borders of the EU single market.
It could also, he suggests, provoke complaints (legal or otherwise) from Irish companies, which might argue that the EU is giving rival companies in Northern Ireland the competitive advantage of full access to both the EU and UK markets.
And it complicates the EU's ability to strike future trade deals around the world, because the EU would not be able to define the extent of its customs territory precisely.
It is likely to be important for the EU, the attorney general says, that the backstop can be presented as "a temporary arrangement with a clear and early end".
As if there was not already enough concern being expressed about the backstop and the lack of a UK right to leave it unilaterally, this will add fuel to the fire.
It suggests that the language used in the protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement might allow the EU to suggest that the UK-wide part of the backstop should be abandoned, while keeping Northern Ireland closely tied to the EU.
But the lack of a unilateral exit clause cuts both ways. If the UK cannot bring the backstop to an end without the EU's approval, then similarly the UK would have to agree to the EU ending it.
It has been designed deliberately to concentrate minds on a permanent alternative solution.
In the end, as the attorney general points out, this is a highly political construction.
But the prospect of the UK being unable to leave a temporary customs union without a subsequent agreement on the Irish border makes many people extremely uncomfortable.
This gets to the heart of the problem. The EU believes the only way for the Irish border to remain as open as it is now is for either Northern Ireland or the whole of the UK to stay in the customs union and the single market. And it says it is still waiting for the UK to come up with a credible alternative plan.
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A 24-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing in Sheffield. | South Yorkshire Police said a 24-year-old woman was taken to hospital after suffering a suspected stab wound in the Woodhouse area on Saturday night.
She remains in a critical but stable condition after surgery, police said.
Officers are appealing for anyone with information about the incident, which happened in Badger Road at about 19:00 GMT, to get in touch.
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A 77-year-old woman who was found dead at a house in a Derbyshire village has been named by police. | Dorothy Bowyer's body was discovered by officers in Western Lane, Buxworth, in the early hours of Thursday.
A dog was also found dead at the property.
William Blunsdon, 25, of Buxworth, who was arrested shortly afterwards, has been charged with her murder and criminal damage. He is due to appear at Nottingham Crown Court on 15 March.
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A photo of Rohingya refugee children queuing with empty plates in Bangladesh has won a major food photography award.
K M Asad has been named Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2020 for his image from a sprawling refugee camp at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
| More than one million people live in the refugee camp, recently been placed in lockdown amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
"This moving image really speaks to our times," awards founder and director Caroline Kenyon says.
"The world is in the grip of Covid-19 - and normal life, whatever that may be, has stopped for all of us.
"These Rohingya refugee children remind us of the fragility of life, that our need for food for survival connects us all around the world - we are all the same."
After judges sifted through 9,000 entries from more than 70 countries the winners, were announced online via a livestream event.
Here are some of the competition category winners, with descriptions by the photographers.
Bring Home the Harvest: The Morning Catch, by Zay Yar Lin, Myanmar
Food Bloggers: Bowl of Squash, by Aimee Twigger, UK
Food for the Family: Olek Eating Pancakes, by Anna Włodarczyk, Poland
Food in the Field: When the Hive is Filled, by Xiaodong Sun, China
Food Stylist: Halibut and Radish, by Nicole Herft, UK
InterContinental Food at the Table: Looking Too Good to Eat (Just Yet), by Sandy Wood, UK
Young aged 15-17: Believers Sharing a Meal, by Sangjun Lee, India
Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture: Baked Figs, by Liam Desbois, UK
Young aged under 10: Apples, by Scarlett Blanch, UK
Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer: Just Desserts, by Thomas Alexander, UK
On the Phone: Hilsa, by Azim Khan Ronnie, Bangladesh
One Vision Imaging Cream of the Crop: Vinaigrette, by Kai Stiepel, Germany
Pink Lady Apple a Day: Caramel Lady, by Diana Kowalczyk, Poland
All photographs courtesy Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2020.
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The first clinical trial for a vaccine against the most widespread strain of malaria, Plasmodium vivax, is now under way at the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research (WRAIR), near Washington DC. The BBC's Jane O'Brien speaks with those heading the trial and individuals who are being bitten by infected mosquitoes to help further the research. | US army medic Joseph Civitello admits that becoming deliberately infected with malaria - one of the world's deadliest diseases - is "definitely nuts".
But without such volunteers, it would be almost impossible to test a new vaccine aimed at protecting the military overseas and preventing some of the estimated 300 million cases of malaria that occur every year.
First Sgt Civitello is part of the world's first clinical trial of a vaccine against Plasmodium vivax - the most widespread strain of malaria.
It's not as deadly as Plasmodium falciparum, which is endemic in Africa and kills millions of people, but it can resurface years after infection and still make its victims extremely ill.
"It was weird because I did this knowing I was going to get sick," says Sgt Civitello.
"Fortunately I'm in a hotel room with doctors and nurses nearby and not out in the woods somewhere."
Unlike most of the other volunteers in this unique trial, Sgt Civitello wasn't given the test vaccine.
Human test subjects
He's part of a small control group - a human yardstick - needed by doctors to confirm that all the study participants have been infected.
And as predicted, about 10 days after being bitten by mosquitoes in a laboratory, he displayed all the symptoms of malaria.
"It started out with a headache, then a general malaise throughout the day. My eyeballs hurt, and I was really sensitive to cold and hot - my skin was sensitive and I had sweats and chills all night long. It was like extremely bad flu," Sgt Civitello said.
Twenty-seven other volunteers in the study had been given varying doses of the vaccine for several months prior to infection.
Developed by scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, it consists of a protein that stimulates the body's immune system and triggers its natural defences against the disease.
Then, at the beginning of November, they were bitten by mosquitoes imported from Thailand and infected with Plasmodium vivax malaria.
A small carton containing the insects was placed on their arms for several minutes and repeated until they received five bites each, making infection a certainty.
"What makes this process unique is that we don't know whether a vaccine has worked unless it is exposed to a pathogen - in this case malaria. And malaria can only be transmitted through the bite of a mosquito," says Col Christian Ockenhouse, director of the Malaria Vaccine Research Programme at WRAIR.
He adds: "What we do here plays a critical, pivotal role in the fight against malaria. Without this model of challenging the human body with malaria, we would be unable to effectively develop and figure out whether a vaccine works or not."
"It costs millions of dollars to test any vaccine and if we can safely eliminate vaccines that don't work and push into further trials those that do show promise, it will save millions of dollars."
Malaria vaccines have remained elusive because of the parasite's ability to rapidly evolve and adapt to its human host.
An international movement
The Gates Foundation has spent $1.4bn fighting the disease and the global campaign involves many organisations from WRAIR to big pharmaceutical companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline.
The US military has been at the forefront of developing vaccines ever since the Civil War because of malaria's ability to disrupt operations if soldiers get sick. The Plasmodium vivax strain is a particular problem for troops serving in Afghanistan.
At the moment, the only other way to prevent infection is to avoid mosquito bites by using bed nets or insecticides.
But a trial for a Plasmodium falciparum malaria vaccine, involving 16,000 children in Africa, could be completed next year.
Volunteers in the world's first Plasmodium vivax malaria vaccine trial are given several thousand dollars in compensation.
They say the money is an incentive, but most take part because they want to further medical science.
"My dad was a doctor, and I always knew that in order to advance the medical field you need human subjects," says Mengee Shan, a volunteer in the control group.
"And being a science major myself, I felt I would have to rethink my career if I couldn't dedicate myself to doing something like this, especially if I am going to ask others to take part in my medical projects."
Renee Kruger, a single mother from Maryland, says the cash will help pay for Christmas but feels she's doing something worthwhile.
"Some people may be scared of doing this, but every drug or over-the-counter medicine needed to be tested on a human, so that's why I'm doing it."
Twelve days after being bitten, she exhibits no signs of infection, but other vaccine testers are showing positive for malaria.
Pending results
Scientists say it'll be another week before they can determine full extent of the trial's success or failure.
The vaccine may have offered limited protection to some of the volunteers or be completely effective in others.
In any event, the results will be used to develop better vaccines in the future.
"It typically takes 15 to 20 years to develop a new drug or vaccine that goes to market," says Col Ockenhouse.
"But the world doesn't have 15 or 20 years to wait for another malaria vaccine - so anything we can do to rapidly progress this development process is most important."
Meanwhile, the volunteers are staying at a hotel in Maryland, where they can be monitored around the clock.
Some of the rooms have been converted into a clinic and laboratory so that blood samples can be tested immediately for any signs of malaria.
If the volunteers do succumb they are instantly treated with drugs to ensure there will be no lasting consequences of the trial.
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Before 1918 no women were allowed to vote in parliamentary elections. It took the extraordinary actions of ordinary women to bring the issue to the forefront of politics; women who were prepared to go to prison, to go on hunger strike, to be force fed - just to achieve parity with men. | By Bethan BellBBC News
Two branches emerged - the suffragists used peaceful tactics such as non-violent demonstrations, petitions and the lobbying of MPs; while the suffragettes' methods were more militant, smashing windows and setting fire to buildings.
Most people have heard of the poster girls of women's suffrage, such as Emily Wilding Davison and the Pankhursts, but here are some of the lesser-known women - and men - who dedicated themselves to the cause.
The dancer-turned-arsonist
Lilian Lenton, a firm believer in the suffragettes' motto "deeds not words", had an ambition of burning down at least two buildings a week. She trained as a dancer when she left school but became a suffragette as soon as she turned 21. She quickly became famous for her ability to escape from the authorities.
Moving from her hometown of Leicester to London, early in 1913 she began a series of arson attacks in the capital. Her object was to bring the country into crisis, showing that it was impossible to govern those who did not want to be governed.
She was arrested in February 1913 for setting fire to the Tea House at Kew Gardens and in Holloway prison went on hunger strike before being forcibly fed. The process, which involved stuffing a tube through her nose and down her throat, caused her to become seriously ill as she breathed food into her lungs.
She was quickly released. The authorities did not want a martyr.
You can hear Lilian Lenton speaking here
However, her time in jail only made her more determined. She continued her campaign of arson and was soon jailed again in Leeds before being released under the "Cat and Mouse Act" when she went on hunger strike.
Fearing she would be rearrested once recovered, she fled the city in a delivery van, dressed as an errand boy. Taxis took her to Harrogate and then Scarborough from where she escaped to France in a private yacht, although she soon returned to Britain, setting fire to things again.
This act of evasion earned her the nickname of "the Leicester Pimpernel".
A newspaper cutting from May 1914 describes how she evaded capture.
"She led the police a merry dance up and down the country for several weeks while she changed her disguises. Harrogate, Scarborough and Dundee were a few of the towns she visited. She also stayed at Cardiff. There she was nearly caught, but by disguising herself as an infirm old lady, with a black shawl over her head, she hobbled into the station and travelled to London".
During World War One, she served in Serbia with a hospital unit and was awarded a French Red Cross medal.
After the war the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed, awarding the vote to women householders or the wives of householders, aged 30 and over.
Lenton, who was unmarried and did not own a home, was unimpressed by this concession. "I hadn't either a husband or furniture, although I was over 30," she said.
She died aged 81, in 1972.
The actress-turned-activist
Elizabeth Robins was an American actor and playwright brought up by her grandmother after her mother was committed to an insane asylum. She married an actor and was far more successful than him - he eventually killed himself by jumping into a river, leaving a note to her saying: "I will not stand in your light any longer."
Robins came to London in 1891 to play the lead in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, becoming the pre-eminent Ibsen actress of her day. By 1906 she had begun to focus on women's suffrage as a subject for drama.
In the autumn she wrote Votes for Women! in which one of the main characters is based on suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst. The play was a success and performed all over the country. She later adapted it into a book - The Convert - which is still in print.
Robins took the production to New York and Rome, helping to spread the message. She gave some of the proceeds to the suffragette movement.
As suffragette militancy increased, she wrote articles and letters in support.
Other than her brief marriage, she remained single. Highly intelligent, she was welcomed into London's literary and artistic circles, enjoying friendships with George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and Henry James.
She continued to campaign on feminist issues for the rest of her life, even turning her house into a convalescent home for overworked professional women. She was also a driving force behind the founding of the New Sussex Hospital for Women and Children.
The shopgirl who became a cabinet minister
Margaret Bondfield was one of very few working class women who rose to the top of the suffrage movement.
Born in Chard, Somerset, in 1873, the second youngest of eleven children, she became an apprentice at a drapers in Brighton aged 14.
There she saw how the daily grind wore down the women workers and affected their self-respect. She observed they were left with little time or energy to pursue interests away from work, with many girls seeming intent on getting married as early as possible in order to escape the drudgery.
Ms Bondfield left Brighton and went to live with her brother in London - working, again, in a shop. She became an active trade unionist and was shocked by the working culture of long hours, low wages, poor diet and requirement to "live in" in often dismal dormitories.
She co-founded the first trade union for women, the National federation of Women Workers, and later recalled how one irate grocer "read a recruitment leaflet, tore it up and stamped on the bits", shouting: "Union indeed! Go home and mend your stockings!"
By 1910, she was working as an advisor to the Liberal government - helping to influence the Health Insurance Bill, giving improved maternity benefits to mothers, and working to further gender equality.
In 1923 she became one of the first female MPs, winning Northampton for Labour, and in early 1924, she made history when she was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Labour - the first woman ever to become a government minister. In 1929 she was made Minister of Labour herself - the first time that a woman had been made a British cabinet minister.
She remained a staunch Labour supporter until her death at the age of 80.
Clement Attlee, the leader of the party and former prime minister, gave the address at her funeral.
The power couple ousted by the Pankhursts
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and her husband Fred were a suffragette power couple.
Emmeline Pethick had a strong social conscience and worked with working class girls in London to improve their living standards and employment prospects. Frederick Lawrence was a barrister from a wealthy family, who had aspirations to become a Liberal MP. When the pair fell in love, Miss Pethick refused to marry him until he became a socialist.
The couple agreed to combine their names, but continue to hold separate bank accounts. His money and her organisational skills helped the Women's Social and Political Union, the radical organisation led by Mrs Pankhurst, rise to prominence.
Campaigns were planned at their country home, which was also used as a place where women released from prison could recuperate, and together they ran the publication Votes for Women.
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence came up with the colours of purple, white and green to represent the suffragettes: "Purple as everyone knows is the royal colour, it stands for the royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette, the instinct of freedom and dignity… white stands for purity in private and public life… green is the colour of hope and the emblem of spring."
But, as influential and helpful as they were, the Pethick-Lawrences fell out with Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, who preferred militant action.
The couple disapproved of the campaign to smash windows, but because of their involvement with the group, they were arrested, charged with conspiracy and jailed for nine months.
Both went on hunger strike, both were force-fed.
Mrs Pethick-Lawrence said: "If the government was naive enough to believe the nasal tube or the stomach pump, the steel gag, the punishment cell, handcuffs and the straight jacket would break the spirit of women who were determined to win the enfranchisement of their sex, they were again woefully misled".
The courts also took the contents of their home to pay for the cost of the windows. Just as damaging were the prosecution costs. Bailiffs were called in and the couple only narrowly avoided bankruptcy.
When the WSPU planned to move on to campaigns of arson, the Pethick-Lawrences objected. Christabel Pankhurst then arranged for them to be expelled from the the organisation.
"Christabel made it quite clear that she had no further use for us," Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence later recalled.
Despite being pushed to one side, the Pethick-Lawrences continued to campaign for equality.
In 1928, the Equal Franchise Act granted equal voting rights to all women and men aged 21 or over.
At a celebratory gathering, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence thanked the government for the new law, saying: "We have fought a good fight."
BBC Local Radio will sharing stories of these and other women from 6 February using the hashtag #1918women.
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Rolls-Royce has announced a $2.7bn (£1.9bn) order to manufacture and service Boeing 787 Dreamliner engines for the airline, Norwegian. | It will provide its Trent 1000 engines for 19 new Dreamliners.
Today's deal is some welcome positive news for Rolls-Royce, which has seen its share price tumble by more than a third over the last year.
The company is in the middle of a shake-up under new chief executive Warren East.
He has changed senior management at the company and changed the structure of Rolls-Royce in an attempt to make it more transparent.
The reorganisation was a response to a series of profit warnings.
Under the deal with Norwegian it will provide its TotalCare service contracts for the new aircraft, as well as for the engines on 11 other 787 aircraft leased by Norwegian.
The airline has options to buy 10 more Dreamliners, which would also be powered by Rolls-Royce engines.
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The toppling of the statue of Edward Colston during anti-racism protests at the weekend has focused attention on Bristol's past as a slave port. The modern city portrays itself as progressive and is proud of its cultural diversity. However, many Bristolians still have an uneasy relationship with its past. | The statue of Edward Colston - who made a fortune out of the transatlantic slave trade in the 17th Century - has been a source of controversy in the city for decades.
For much of the city's black population, the symbolic act of pulling it down and throwing it in the harbour was a welcome sight.
Yet while his statue may no longer gaze over Colston Avenue, the legacy of slavery is still visible across much of the city.
Actor Scott Bayliss was born and raised in Bristol. As a child he always felt the Colston statue was paying tribute to a "special man".
"You would pass these statues and you would think that it's positive," he said.
"It's only when you look into these things you realise the negatives, the evil aspect which a lot of England and a lot of the world really has been built on."
Colston was a member of the Royal African Company, which transported about 100,000 men, women and children from Africa to the Americas.
Some 20,000 of them died on the ships and were thrown overboard.
"When people say, is England racist? It's all been built upon racism and it's all been built upon racist acts," he adds.
"It makes me sick that this city that I love is championing and celebrating a man who was responsible for taking 100,000 people from Africa to the Caribbean as slaves, including women and children who were branded with "RAC", the Royal Africa Company, on their chests."
On his death in 1721, Colston bequeathed his wealth to charities in the city. As a result, many of the city's street names and landmarks bear his name.
Colston Hall, an arts venue in the city centre, plans to change its name later this year.
But there are several references to the city's slavery links elsewhere; Exchange Hall, where slaves were bought and sold, and Guinea Street, to name but a few.
Bayliss is calling for all of the UK's street names and places to be renamed as a "commitment to equality" but has become frustrated by the attitude of the various authorities.
"It's so hypocritical - how can it be so terrible when you celebrate slavery with statues?," he says.
Many people in the city believe Colston's legacy should be preserved, however.
In 2018 a petition against efforts to rename Colston Hall attracted 5,000 signatures with its organiser saying it was "time to educate" people about him rather than "eliminate" him from history.
Will Taylor, an arts producer who has lived in Bristol for 10 years, said both sides of Bristol's past should be reflected in its place names and landmarks.
"It's about paying due respect and due diligence to both parties involved in the histories behind people being named as streets and monuments," he said.
He said those objecting to calls for place name changes should consider their motivations.
"I ask those people what their idea of Britain really is? Because if they require those contentious and oppressive memories to remain then my mere existence and the fact that I was born in this country as a black man is an affront to their idea of what it means to be British."
Bristol's population is estimated at about 463,000, with 16% from a black, or minority ethnic group.
The city council says there are now at least 45 religions, at least 187 countries of birth represented and at least 91 main languages spoken by people living in Bristol.
Psychology graduate, Saharla Ismail, 23, was born and raised in the city.
"Bristol does pride itself on being an inclusive city, a green city and all of these amazing things," she said.
"But all of those things elude meaning when you have slave traders' names placed everywhere - roads, statues.
"It empties meaning of Bristol being an open and safe space for everyone.
"Bristol is a segregated city, just look at different areas of how class and race intersect with each other.
"A lot more needs to be done to support black people and other people of colour," she added.
Caine Tayo Lewin-Turner, a 20-year-old history student from the city, said he wanted the school curriculum to be changed to reflect black history.
"I'm happy this symbol of white supremacy has been toppled as Colston was responsible for misery causing tens of thousands of deaths," he said.
"There is so much more to do and I hope the way we confront the legacy is more democratic with a black-led focus."
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NI Justice Minister David Ford has welcomed a decision by the Prison Officers' Association (POA) to sign up to an agreement on new working practices. | Mr Ford said the move marked a new era of industrial relations in prisons.
The agreement includes the recruitment of hundreds of staff for new roles on lower salaries.
They will replace prison officers leaving as part of a voluntary redundancy scheme.
The new arrangements were agreed in principle between prison management and union leaders in March and the POA then asked its members to vote on the proposed package.
It was announced on Monday that two-thirds of prison officers voted in favour of accepting the proposals.
Welcoming the decision, the justice minister said the agreement would help quicken the pace of reform across the prison service.
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Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is facing a US military tribunal on charges he helped plan the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, was regarded as one of the most senior operatives in Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. | The Pentagon says he has admitted to being responsible "from A to Z" for the attacks in New York and Washington.
At a 2008 hearing to determine whether he was an "enemy combatant" who should remain in detention at Guantanamo Bay, he also reportedly said he had personally decapitated kidnapped US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.
He was also said to have admitted to a role in 30 plots.
He is being tried at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, along with four other defendants accused of helping plan the 11 September attacks. The trial is expected to take years.
In 2009 US Attorney General Eric Holder recommended that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four others be tried in a federal court in New York City.
But that plan prompted a public outcry, and the Obama administration backed away.
Planning 9/11
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in March 2003 and sent to the US detention centre in Cuba in 2006.
He had been indicted in 1996 with plotting to blow up 11 or 12 American airliners flying from South-East Asia to the United States the year before.
According to interrogation transcripts, the self-proclaimed head of al-Qaeda's military committee admitted to:
He said he had used his own "blessed right hand" to behead Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, according to Pentagon papers.
Four men were convicted of kidnapping and killing Pearl, including British national Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, though subsequent investigation has cast doubt on the legitimacy of the murder convictions.
Official documents have shown that Mohammed was subjected to waterboarding - or simulated drowning - 183 times in 2003, before this interrogation technique was banned.
That could potentially complicate his prosecution, if testimony or evidence is deemed to have been obtained by coercion.
US university
Mohammed is believed to have been born in either 1964 or 1965 in Kuwait into a family originally from the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan.
He is said to be fluent in Arabic, English, Urdu and Baluchi.
He graduated in 1986 from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in the US, with a degree in mechanical engineering. Later, he moved to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets.
In the late 1980s he moved to Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar, where he met Bin Laden.
Mohammed first achieved notoriety with the discovery of the plot to blow up US airliners over the Pacific in 1995 - known as Operation Bojinka.
The plan was reportedly foiled when police found incriminating computer files during their investigation into a separate plot to assassinate the Pope.
In 1999, Mohammed persuaded Bin Laden to back the plan that culminated in the 9/11 attacks, the US says.
'Experienced organiser'
After the 9/11 attacks, which killed more than 3,000 people, US officials raised the reward on his head.
They believe Mohammed co-ordinated the attacks and transferred money that was used to pay for the hijackings.
Mohammed is the uncle of Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted in 1997 of bombing the World Trade Center four years earlier.
Mohammed's arrest marked one of the most important breakthroughs in the fight against al-Qaeda.
Terrorism and al-Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna described him as a "highly experienced organiser of terrorist attacks across international borders, one of an elite group capable of such events".
It is not just the Americans and the Pakistanis who wanted information from him.
French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with a suicide bomb attack on a synagogue in the Tunisian resort island of Djerba in 2002.
And the Australians have been interested, because of their investigation into the Bali bombing in 2002 in which 202 people died.
Recently, he has been held with his co-defendants in an ultra-high security wing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay known as Camp Seven.
But a lawyer for Ramzi Binalshibh, a co-defendant, has indicated the men all would fight the charges.
At a pre-trial hearing at Guantanamo Bay in December 2008, Mohammed said he wanted to plead guilty to all charges against him and said he would welcome the death penalty.
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An investigation into the deaths of hundreds of toads along the Millennium Coastal Park in Carmarthenshire has been traced to a family of otters. | Environment Agency officials were called in after body parts of toads were found around ponds in the park which runs from Llanelli to Burry Port.
Wildlife experts have ruled out poisoning, the weather and water temperature, instead blaming otters.
Park rangers have found otter droppings and bite marks on the toad remains.
And now a Carmarthenshire Wildlife Watch member has captured images of the animals.
It is not the first time the cute but rapacious carnivores have proved controversial this year.
Last month a Gwynedd fish farmer sued the Environment Agency for £2m claiming that otters had eaten his entire stock of carp. The High Court threw out the case.
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Children are at greater risk of being taken in to care when a family is made homeless, a terrifying thought for many struggling parents. But for some, help is at hand, in the form of a purpose-built village in north Wales, which aims to keep loved ones together. | "I've done that much crying I can't shed tears any more."
That was 18-year-old Vicky's reaction when she arrived at Save The Family's hostel in Northop, Flintshire, with her eight-month-old son Rhys.
Vicky has been homeless since she was 15, when she had to leave her family home after falling out with her mother.
"I was never angry, I got a bit wild, then depressed and that's when self-harming came into it."
She admitted: "I've lost count of what number hostel this is."
Vicky had been referred to Save The Family by her social workers, who were worried about her lifestyle and mental health.
They felt the charity could provide her with a safe and stable environment, with extra support she could not get at other hostels.
Most residents have been referred by their local council's housing department or social services because of the extra support the hostel gives.
Many turn up with just a bin bag of belongings.
They were often "very broken, damaged, hurt, frightened people," said 75-year-old Edna Speed, who is in charge.
She explained Save The Family, which has been running for 30 years, saw itself as an alternative to the care system.
"We have to look at statistics of care and say, 'So it works does it?'
"It jolly well doesn't. The statistics are frightening and I am rubbing shoulders with the outcomes of care every day.
"I believe that families are the ultimate, they are the anchor. There is much work to be done on how we keep more families together."
Success stories
Residents are offered support in all aspects of their lives including housing, debt, relationship and parenting problems, their addictions and how to live with their past.
The staff are either ex-residents themselves or have gone through similar traumatic experiences which they believe is the key to truly identifying with the residents.
"You put on your make-up but the scars are still there underneath," said 32-year-old Celia.
After becoming homeless at 18 she became addicted to prescription drugs. She had four children that were taken away from her and adopted by others which devastated her.
But she has gone on to have another two children - four-year-old McKenzie and two-year-old Cruz - with her partner Kevin. This time, with the help of Save The Family, she is making a success of motherhood.
She said the support and lessons in parenting skills and budgeting she received at the village had enabled her to get her life back on track.
She, Kevin and the boys have recently moved to a terraced house 15 miles away that is also run and supported by the charity. It is the family's first step towards living on their own.
Edna said she was convinced that if Celia had had more "substantial support in the right atmosphere, that wasn't threatening," she would have kept her first four children.
"I'll never heal but I've got to go on haven't I?," said Celia.
She is working towards the day when she can be reunited with her adopted children, when they are adults.
"When they come back they will want to see a good person who is doing well, they won't want to see me if I'm a down and out. I'm proving I can be a good mum."
Rule breakers
The village, made up of 24 cottages, is funded by grants, charity donations and the benefits that the residents receive.
"It's not a boot camp but it's not a holiday camp either," said Edna.
Residents have to sign a contract to say they will abide by the rules, which includes being up and dressed by 0900 BST. If they break the rules they have straight-talking Edna to answer to.
Tensions can rise in the village. During Vicky's stay she said she had been threatened.
Helen Walsh, head of family services at the village, said however they were quick to nip things in the bud but she was not surprised how quickly tensions spilled over into real aggression.
"I think that's how they are in the community and I think that's how some of them have got themselves in the predicaments they're in.
"That's why you have to get them together to see if they can resolve the conflict themselves.
"It means when they go back into the community they know how to handle conflict without it blowing up and escalating."
Edna acknowledged her team could not sort out every resident and has been criticised for making the residents too dependent.
"We've been criticised for being a community but people only become dependent if there isn't an alternative," said Edna.
"If the communities they go back into have not got the community structure, then yes they are dependent because it's going to happen again."
"But we never turn them away if it's ten years, twenty years, two months, two weeks."
Save The Family is a Christian charity but it is not compulsory to attend their church services, although most do.
Support worker Lindsay defended the religious aspect: "A lot of people would say, 'You've got vulnerable families, vulnerable children you shouldn't be encouraging them to believe in god'.
"Why not? It's the one thing that I know within this place makes a difference."
Edna said there was no pressure on residents: "If we don't pray together we still love you, we're still equal."
Vicky's stay at the hostel had many ups and downs. She ended her volatile relationship with Rhys's father Mark, who would then not give him back after a visit.
She started missing curfews and admitted to drinking and taking drugs. Staff urged Vicky to fight for Rhys and she eventually was given visitation rights.
"I will get him back," said Vicky.
"If Save the Family hadn't taken us in god knows where I'd be now, I'd probably be dead or in a gutter."
Helen Walsh summed up the aim at the village: "If someone can say they feel safe now and they're not running or their windows haven't been smashed in.
"Or they haven't seen their mum beaten up and they can sleep on a clean bed for the first time and without being harassed, that is brilliant and that's why we're here."
The charity is due to open its second homeless village in Chester in summer 2011.
Fix My Family is on BBC Two on Monday 18 April at 2100 BST or online via iPlayer at the above link.
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A £30m work programme has been launched to help long-term unemployed people find jobs. | Announcing the scheme on Thursday, Communities Minister Lesley Griffiths said the scheme would support 35,000 adults over three years.
More than 200 specialists will help people who struggle to find work because of issues with childcare, qualifications or health.
The Communities 4 Work scheme is available to people aged over 25.
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A man has been charged with murder after the body of a woman was found in her east London home. | The body of Sandra Samuels, 44, was found in her flat in Herrick House, Hackney, following a welfare check on Saturday, police said.
A post-mortem examination proved inconclusive but her death is being treated as suspicious.
Gavin Shane Carl Lewis, 40, of no fixed abode, will appear at the Old Bailey on 9 September charged with murder.
A 47-year-old man also arrested on suspicion of murder was released under investigation.
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After surviving the Parkland school massacre in Florida in February 2018 Cameron Kasky helped lead a youth campaign for gun control. But the strain of his experiences - in the school, and in the media spotlight - left him anxious and depressed. A year later, writes the BBC's Tom Gillett, his focus is on dialogue with his former opponents. | On 14 February 2018 a former pupil entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. After six minutes and 20 seconds of carnage, three teachers and 14 of Cameron Kasky's fellow students lay dead.
The geography teacher Scott Biegel, whom Kasky had known well, died protecting his students from gunfire.
When the shooting broke out, Kasky had been rushing to pick up his younger brother from a special needs class. Hustled into the nearest classroom, the brothers spent the remainder of the attack hiding in the dark, not knowing if the door would be opened by the shooter or a rescuer.
There he stayed in touch with events outside via his mobile phone.
"I saw videos, when we were in the room, of people being killed. They were going round Snapchat," he says.
"It was very familiar to me. I grew up with these. I was born in 2000 - that was not long at all after Columbine," he says, referring to the Columbine school massacre the previous year, where 12 schoolchildren and a teacher were murdered by two teenage gunmen, who then killed themselves.
As Kasky was to tweet after the attack: "I am part of the Mass Shooting Generation, and it's an ugly club to be in."
It was the reaction of the teenage Parkland pupils immediately after the events of that day that made the response to this attack unique.
An outraged determination set in among Kasky and a small group of his friends.
"That day I said, 'We need to flip this narrative.' After all these shootings, you see such similar things. You see crying mothers talking about their children. You see people talking about how the shooter was just a nice boy - misunderstood. With only a few exceptions, so much of these shootings had the same exact response. A couple of lawmakers would get kids from the shooting to stand next to them, they'd sign some bill that did nothing and we'd be done. I said, 'We can't have Parkland be that city.'
"I wanted it to be that 20 years after the shooting when people thought of Parkland they didn't think of people crying, they thought of people in the worst possible situation standing up and standing for something that was bigger than them."
Starting the night of the attack, Kasky and a handful of his classmates took to social media, demanding stricter gun control laws and the right to be able to go to school without the fear of being killed. As they typed and posted, the hashtag #NeverAgain went viral.
"I found myself frantically Facebook posting. It was what I knew how to do," he says. "The next morning I was getting all these calls from reporters."
The same thing happened to his friends.
Find out more
Cameron Kasky talks to Stephen Sackur on HARDtalk on BBC World Service radio on Wednesday 13 February and on BBC World News television on Thursday 14 February (click for transmission times)
UK viewers can watch on the BBC News Channel or catch up later on the BBC iPlayer
As well as doing broadcast interviews, Kasky wrote online comment pieces and - a week after the attack - he took part in a televised town-hall event.
Standing in front of a large crowd of his peers and neighbours, he confronted Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio over the money he had received from the National Rifle Association. "Senator Rubio can you tell me right now that you would not accept a single NRA donation in the future?" he demanded.
The room exploded into chants and cheers. Kasky looked stunned and overwhelmed. He had just put one of the nation's most prominent politicians on the spot, live on national television.
As momentum gathered behind the young campaigners, Kasky co-founded the group March For Our Lives and set about organising a demonstration in the nation's capital.
Six weeks after the attack, on 24 March 2018, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington DC for the March For Our Lives protest. The Parkland students demanded a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and stricter background checks for those wishing to buy guns.
The organisers estimated that 800,000 people attended the rally that day. Kasky's Twitter following rose to more than 400,000.
But while the students succeeded in attracting popular support and media attention, the concrete legislative steps that they demanded have not materialised.
In the month after the attack, Florida governor Rick Scott signed a bill that placed stricter age restrictions on gun purchases and provided funding for mental health services in the state.
On a federal level, the so called "bump stock" which enables a rifle to be fired more rapidly has been banned. But their other demands have been resisted.
As the first anniversary of the Parkland massacre approaches, Cameron is, despite this, sanguine about the movement's achievements.
"Whilst we haven't got all the legislative victories we want with gun control… at the end of the day, there is a victory in the sense that Parkland is not the city that you think of and you instantly think of people mourning and people running away from a problem," he says.
"I think when people hear of Parkland they think of something larger and stronger than the shooter."
But he is also critical of himself, and the decisions he made in the immediate aftermath of the attack.
Sitting in the living room of his suburban home near Miami, Cameron says he now feels that he was too confrontational.
"I think it showed that sometimes how we feel about things can get in the way of our objective thinking," he says.
There is one statement he particularly regrets, a remark to Marco Rubio in the town hall debate:
"Senator Rubio, it's hard to look at you and not look down the barrel on an AR-15 and not look at…" and here he named the shooter - something that the young campaigners quickly decided they would not do, to deny him the fame, or infamy, he may have sought.
"I regretted saying the name of the shooter to Senator Rubio and telling him I can't look at him without seeing the shooter. That's not true," he says.
"In many ways my confrontation with Senator Rubio was very positive, in a sense that it reminded a lot of people my age that politicians are just like anybody else - they are not these deities that you need to look up to as if they are our supreme leaders.
"But going about it… I did it in such a vitriolic way that I don't find it to have been very meaningful and productive."
The activism that he and others threw themselves into in the days after the shooting was a way of dealing with the pain, he says, and the sense of helplessness. But the intense media spotlight also exacted a psychological toll.
"After the shooting, I found myself on television almost 24/7 for a month or two and I found myself sky-rocketed to this position where so many people were looking at what I had to say and were listening to me," he says.
"I think the concept that I could make gun control happen was seductive. And I started to see myself as the person that could make gun control happen. As if it was me. Not as if it was a large push for legislative change in this country. I had this messiah-like concept that I could do this. And I got so high off of that."
When all this was happening, Kasky was only 17, and he found it hard to deal with.
"I spent so long in front of cameras that I forgot how to be a person," he says.
"I spent so long feeling like I was an avatar. Feeling like my body was saying things and doing things - my mind was just cut off."
And eventually, he says, everything caught up with him - and it was compounded, he says, by the mistakes he felt he made along the way. He struggles with depression and anxiety, he says.
In the summer of 2018, Kasky embarked on a road trip to Texas where, in a change of direction, he actively sought the opinions of those who disagreed with him on gun control.
"I think the more you think about how right you are and how wrong everybody else is, the less you'll learn. A lot of people in this country get stuck in bubbles - especially because of social media.
"I'm very pro gun control… and when I'm with other people who are pro gun control I start to think, 'If you don't think this you must be a really bad person.' And then I met these people and I said, 'These people are not bad people.'
"If I vilify half the people in this country where is that going to bring me? I think there is so much that we can do if we all look at each other and say, 'Where can we agree?' Because that's normally where the most progress is made."
Subsequently, last September, Kasky announced he was leaving the March For Our Lives group to focus on bipartisan dialogue.
He is currently applying for college and plans to revive a podcast series, Cameron Kasky Knows Nothing - "my journey towards understanding folks who disagree with me" as he put it in the trailer.
But what does he hope the legacy of the movement he co-founded will be?
"I think the thing that March For Our Lives did for this country was, we told a whole generation of kids, 'We need to start working together, we need to start thinking. And just because we are little, does not mean we are inadequate when it comes to being part of the conversation.'"
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A photo of a student partying in blackface caused days of tension on the campus of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. Protests erupted, the university authorities walked a tightrope defending free speech, and racist graffiti sprang up. Student journalist Megan Schellong was in the thick of it and tells the story.
'The blackface scandal that rocked my campus'
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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As more than 25 million people are placed on a two-week lockdown in parts of Nigeria in a bid to curtail the spread of coronavirus, poor people in congested neighbourhoods are worried about how they will cope, writes the BBC's Nduka Orjinmo from the commercial capital Lagos. | "From where do we get the extra water to wash the hands you are talking about," asked Debby Ogunsola, 36, as she led me down a dark corridor towards her room in the Alapere area of Lagos state.
A lockdown in Lagos - the commercial hub of Nigeria, as well as the neighbouring state of Ogun and the capital Abuja - came into force on Monday night, following an announcement by President Muhammadu Buhari that the fight against the virus was a "matter of life and death".
For Ms Ogunsola it will be difficult to remain indoors. She and her family live in one room in a block of 20, locally called Face-me-I-face-you because of their close proximity to each other.
There is no electricity, and when I visited, light was coming in through where a door should have been standing. Outside there were two toilets and bathrooms shared by all the families living in the 20 rooms.
'Fearing hunger, not the virus'
There is no pipe-borne water either in Alapere, and Ms Ogunsola is forced to walk more than 50 metres to a broken public water pipe for her supply.
"It's my children I am worried about," she said.
All four of them were lying on the floor as it rained outside. A single window was the only source of air into the room and it could get very hot at night.
"If I am not able to go out and sell, how will they [children] survive?'' asked Ms Ogunsola, who earns money by selling fruit and vegetables by the roadside.
Her husband works at an oil rig in the southern city of Warri and is due to come home in a month. But several states - including Rivers, Delta, Kano and Bayelsa - have closed their borders, prohibiting inter-state movement. So if the lockdown is extended, it could be a while before she is reunited with her husband.
"It is hunger I am worried about, not a virus. I even heard it doesn't kill young people," Ms Ogunsola told the BBC.
Though there is a higher mortality rate among the old and those with underlying health conditions, young people are also dying of the virus - and they can transmit it if they do not act responsibly.
No money to stockpile
Across an open drain from Ms Ogunsola's residence are more rows of similar apartments. One has an expansive veranda where two old women were sitting and talking.
It is not uncommon for urban Nigerian families to live with older relatives, who also double up as nannies.
And the concern is that these old people could be at risk if the virus spreads.
"They are at home and they are still gathering in crowded conditions. If you were to have someone who has the virus there, the chances of spreading it is high," said Dr Oyewale Odubanjo, a public health expert.
In Italy, many multi-generational families also live together and this is one reason why it has seen more coronavirus deaths than any other country.
All non-essential travel has been banned in most states and many workers, including civil servants, have been told to work from home.
But with a lack of reliable electricity supplies and poor internet connections, it is hard to see how most people will get any work done.
There were long queues at supermarkets after President Buhari announced the lockdown, with people rushing to stock up on essentials.
But many Nigerians live hand-to-mouth, often on less than $1 (£0.80) and they cannot stock up on food or other essentials.
Many workers are also yet to be paid their wages for March so there are deep concerns about the financial implications of a lockdown.
Mr Buhari outlined some measures to ease the hardship, including a one-month advance payment of the monthly $13 given to the poorest of the poor, but most people feel that millions of self-employed Nigerians have been left without financial aid.
"It's only those who have money that can buy now. If you do not have what can you do?" said a taxi driver parked outside a supermarket.
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There are also fears that if things get worse in the urban areas, people would ignore the ban on travel and start moving to rural areas - where they are guaranteed food from family farms but where there is a higher population of vulnerable older people and more limited health services.
"That would be bedlam, total madness, if people begin to move to their villages," said town planner Ayobami Bamidele.
"Whatever happens, people should remain where they are. We will survive this," he said.
Early March now seems like a long time ago, when the World Health Organization praised Nigeria for its handling of coronavirus after the first case was reported in the country.
Officials had swiftly identified, traced and quarantined contacts of the Italian man they referred to as the index case.
But now there is growing concern that Nigeria has not done enough to curb the spread of the virus, and its health system is ill-equipped to cope with a major outbreak.
'We shall survive'
Nigeria has few testing kits, but many asymptomatic government officials and music stars are being tested, raising questions about the fairness of the process.
Despite Mr Buhari's promise when he took office to put an end to medical tourism, he and other government officials still go abroad for treatment. However, this is unlikely to happen if any official gets Covid-19.
"Even if you are wealthy, you will have to use the same health facilities with others, whether good or bad - nobody is going to accept a patient from abroad to treat," Dr Odubanjo said.
Lagos and some other states introduced restrictions on large gatherings about a fortnight ago, but many people - including some pastors - are ignoring calls to adhere to social distancing.
Meanwhile, back at a crowded bus stop in Alapere, hawkers competed for every inch of available space to sell their wares, ignoring any thought of social distancing. Most were not concerned about the virus.
"All death is death," a woman selling smoked fish on a tray said in Pidgin, as she nipped between two yellow buses.
"If I stay home, I will die of hunger, if I come out to hustle you say I will die of coronavirus.
"There is nothing we have not seen and we are still here, we shall survive this one," she said, smacking her lips.
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Farea al-Muslimi was born and raised in the poor Yemeni village of Wessab, the son of a farmer. He received his primary school education underneath a tree in a town that was bereft of electricity and paved roads. | By Abubakr Al-Shamahi BBC Arabic
Yet on 23 April, Mr Muslimi appeared in front of a US Senate Judiciary Committee, delivering passionate testimony denouncing a US drone strike that had hit Wessab only days before, killing five suspected members of al-Qaeda.
Farea al-Muslimi's path from Wessab to speaking at the US Senate was largely thanks to American aid; he won various scholarships first enabling him to learn English at a school in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and then to spend a year studying at a secondary school in California.
Mr Muslimi is now an activist and an increasingly prominent writer.
He is also torn.
"It is as if your left hand has slapped your right cheek," says Mr Muslimi.
"I'm not just concerned about the reaction of my villagers, but also about my own safety from the drones my buddies are remotely piloting. It's a complex dilemma."
During George W Bush's presidency, American drone strikes largely targeted al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with only one strike in Yemen.
However, the number of drone attacks there has dramatically increased under President Barack Obama. In 2012 there were more drone strikes in Yemen than anywhere else.
Pro-drones
The increased is in response to the growing threat the US feels from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), widely believed to be the most powerful of the various al-Qaeda affiliated groups.
The drone strikes are also seen as a reaction to the absence of central government authority in many rural parts of Yemen, which came with the popular uprising that eventually led the country's longstanding ruler, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down in late 2011.
Mr Saleh largely refrained from publically supporting American drone strikes, for fear of angering Yemenis, some of whom are opposed to any American military presence in Yemen.
This even led to his government claiming public responsibility for some drone strikes, such as an attack in 2009 that resulted in civilian deaths.
"We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours," Mr Saleh apparently told the former commander of US forces in the Middle East, Gen David Petreaus, according to a cable released by the Wikileaks website.
Mr Saleh's successor, President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, is much more openly pro-drones, even going as far as saying that he personally signs off all US drone strikes in Yemen himself.
Speaking to BBC Arabic, Yemen's Interior Minister, Abdul Qader Qahtan, defended his government's security ties with the United States.
"Yemen has suffered a lot from terrorism," he said. "The problem is that this organisation targets everyone, foreigners and Yemenis. This causes the Yemeni citizen to be afraid."
'Counterproductive'
The Senate hearing on drone attacks comes at a time of growing questions over whether the policy is in fact counter-productive in fighting al-Qaeda.
Although the targets of the drone strikes are figures linked to al-Qaeda, civilians have also been killed, leading to increased criticism of the tactic.
Joshua Foust, PBS's National Security Columnist, and a regular writer on the issue, believes that US policymakers choose drones because it is the best current option on the table when it comes to dealing with Yemen.
"They [the US] cannot solve the problem of the [secessionist] Southern Movement or the [insurgent] Houthis or even AQAP… but they can disrupt AQAP to where it can't organise another attack on the US," he said.
Mr Foust said drones must be seen as part of a wider strategy.
"Drones can be an effective tool if they're part of a larger strategy to counter and marginalise terror groups," he added. "But if drone strikes are the entirety of the strategy, or the only publicly visible part of that strategy, then they will not work."
On the other hand, Ghada Eldemellawy, of the British charity Reprieve, which works on the ground in Yemen campaigning against drone attacks, said the strikes are deadly and counterproductive.
"The harm goes far beyond those killed or physically maimed in attacks," she said. "The psychological impact of drones hovering constantly over villages devastates local populations."
She added that Reprieve's anti-drone campaign is gathering support.
"Families of those killed have been very receptive to our efforts and we hope to see President Hadi withdraw his original unconditional consent to the strikes - no government is allowed to permit the slaughter of its people."
Meanwhile, the people of Wessab are the latest in Yemen to experience a drone strike. They are fearful and angry, according to Farea al-Muslimi.
The drone strikes policy of the country he loves - the United States - has now arrived at the homes of his family, and it is leaving him in a precarious position.
"I don't even know if it safe for me to go back to Wessab, because I am someone who people in my village associate with America and its values."
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While the world's attention has been focused on the fires raging in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, indigenous people living there have warned that the policies of President Jair Bolsonaro pose a bigger threat to their existence.
Rival groups have now come together to fight the government's plans for the region that is their home, as BBC News Brasil's João Fellet reports from the Amazon village of Kubenkokre. | Dozens of indigenous people gathered in this remote part of northern Brazil last month after travelling for days by bus and boat.
The meeting brought together formerly sworn enemies such as the Kayapó and the Panará.
The two groups were at war for decades, raiding each other's villages in tit-for-tat attacks. The warring came to a brutal end in 1968, when an attack by the Kayapó, who came armed with guns, left 26 Panará, who only had arrows to defend themselves, dead.
Tensions remained high for years but according to those gathered in Kubenkokre, the two sides have now overcome their animosity for a greater goal.
"Today, we have only one enemy, the government of Brazil, the president of Brazil, and those invading [indigenous territories]," Kayapó leader Mudjire explained.
"We have internal fights but we've come together to fight this government."
His words were echoed by Panará leader Sinku: "We've killed the Kayapó and the Kayapó have killed us, we've reconciled and will no longer fight."
"We've got a shared interest to stand together so the non-indigenous people don't kill all of us," he said, referring to the threats posed by the arrival of miners and loggers carrying out illegal activities in their area.
'69,000 football fields lost'
More than 800,000 indigenous people live in 450 demarcated indigenous territories across Brazil, about 12% of Brazil's total territory. Most are located in the Amazon region and some groups still live completely isolated and without outside contact.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in January, has repeatedly questioned whether these demarcated territories - which are enshrined in Brazil's constitution - should continue to exist, arguing that their size is disproportionate to the number of indigenous people living there.
His plans to open up these territories for mining, logging and agriculture are controversial, and any change to their status would need to be passed by the Brazilian Congress.
But it is something that worries the indigenous leaders gathered in Kubenkokre. "Other presidents had more concern for our land. [Mr Bolsonaro] isn't concerned about this, he wants to put an end to what our people have and to how we live," explains Panará leader Sinku.
"That's why I have a heavy heart and that's why we're here talking to each other."
In some demarcated areas, loggers and miners are already at work after some local indigenous leaders granted them permission.
Indigenous leader Bepto Xikrin told the gathering how some 400 miners and loggers had illegally entered the Bacajá territory since the start of the year. He said that members of his indigenous group were scared and did not know what to do.
And according to a network of 24 environmental and indigenous groups, Rede Xingu+, an area equivalent to 69,000 football fields was destroyed between January and June of this year alone in the Xingu river region.
Heavy machinery has caused major damage and the Fresco and Branco rivers that run through the region have been contaminated with mercury.
Kayapó leader Doto Takakire said illegal mining had been further encouraged by the fact that it often goes unpunished.
Analysis by BBC Brasil shows the number of fines handed out by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) for environmental violations has dropped significantly since President Bolsonaro took office on 1 January.
Mr Bolsonaro has in the past pledged to limit the fines imposed for damaging the Amazon and many blame the president for Ibama's current weak position.
'We won't repeat the past'
At the meeting - which was held in both Portuguese and Kayapó - participants discussed projects for their region's economic developments which do not contribute to deforestation, such as handicrafts and the processing of native fruits.
"[I'm concerned] about the trees, water, fish, the non-indigenous people who want to enter our land," explained Sinku. "I don't want to contaminate the water with [toxic products from] mining... That's why I'm here."
Indigenous groups which have allowed miners on to their land were not invited, an omission which some of those attending described as a missed opportunity.
"There's no-one here who wants agribusiness or mining in their villages, so are we just going to talk amongst ourselves?" Kayapó leader Oé asked.
The fires which have been burning across the Amazon were not a big topic of debate at the gathering, in part because they have mainly happened outside protected indigenous reserves but also because those gathered consider illegal mining and logging as more pressing threats.
"We won't repeat the past," Kayapó leader Kadkure concluded. "From now on, we'll be united."
BBC Crossing Divides
A season of stories about bringing people together in a fragmented world.
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"Until half an hour ago, 12 of our 18 Covid intensive care beds were occupied," says Demetrio Labate, fastening his protective clothing. "But now we're down to 11. We just lost another patient - he was 82." | By Mark LowenBBC News, Calabria, Italy
The ICU doctor gives us our fourth layer of surgical gloves, checks that our overalls leaves no part of our body exposed - and with that, we follow him into the coronavirus ward of the Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, the largest hospital in Calabria.
This region in Italy's southern toe was quickly declared a "red zone" in early November as the virus wreaked its destruction.
"The second wave has hit us much harder than the first," he says, as he guides us between beds of patients on assisted breathing. "We are lacking staff - and the limited ones we have are doing several extra shifts." One of the female patients is conscious, in a ventilation helmet. She manages a brief wave of her hand: a small gesture to lift the spirits of the exhausted doctors.
"We are fighting this like lions so as not to keel over", says Iole Fantozzi, the hospital's director. "This wave was predictable because we felt free over the summer when cases were very low and people came in and out of Calabria."
Italy was the first country in the West to be crushed by the pandemic and was for some time its global epicentre.
With the eighth highest number of cases in the world, this month it became the second in Europe to surpass 50,000 deaths.
In July, when daily infections dropped to just over 100, a false sense of security set in as Italy threw open its doors to tourists and restrictions were rolled back. It is now paying the price, battling a lethal second wave - and once again its death figures are some of the highest in Europe.
But unlike March, when the pandemic centred on the wealthy northern region of Lombardy, the second wave is pummelling the impoverished south as well.
Calabria is Italy's, and one of Western Europe's, poorest regions. And while its infection rate and intensive care numbers are lower than northern Italy, its fragile health system is buckling - hence it was put into the highest risk category.
Why the south is suffering
Calabria has been left behind by decades of political mismanagement and plunder by its mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, which infiltrated the healthcare system.
Criminal gangs seized resources and ran up massive debts, leading to 18 of its public hospitals being closed and savage cuts to beds and staff.
Just days ago, a top local politician was arrested, charged with laundering money through 'Ndrangheta-controlled pharmacies in exchange for mafia support.
Corruption exacerbated serial political failings: two health commissioners for the region were fired within the past month. One was sacked after he called face masks useless and said the only way to catch the virus was to kiss an infected person with a tongue for 15 minutes.
Two other candidates nominated by the government refused the job.
"Calabria found itself without the appropriate hospitals to meet even the minimum requirements of coronavirus - so the whole system went into meltdown," says Santo Gioffrè, a gynaecologist who, as head of a local health authority, exposed fraud five years ago - but says he was silenced by the authorities.
That emergency is crippling Calabria's economy, the "red zone" designation closing businesses for a second time this year.
Mafia and Covid a double pandemic
At Filippo Cogliandro's restaurant L'A Gourmet the chairs are stacked on empty tables beneath glass chandeliers and the kitchen is silent. "A restaurant is like an orchestra", he tells me, describing the sounds of cooks at work and plates clattering. "And it's very hard to see it mute," he adds, tears welling up.
For the award-winning chef, the situation has echoes of 12 years ago, when he refused to pay 'Ndrangheta extortion money and the mafia's threats kept customers away. But he built his way back up then - and says he can do it again.
"The 'Ndrangheta and Covid are both pandemics," he says, the afternoon sun glinting through the windows of the elegant hundred-year-old palazzo housing his restaurant. "We'll destroy the virus with a vaccine - but the fight against the mafia will take longer."
Italy is starting to flatten the curve again and the 'R" value - the reproduction rate of the virus - has dropped below 1 in several regions, including Calabria, which has now been moved from being a red zone to orange as a result, allowing greater movement locally.
But in this scarred corner of Italy, the virus has exposed its fragile heart.
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Gavin Williamson's political obituary has been written so many times he must sometimes feel like the walking dead. | By Sean CoughlanBBC News education and family correspondent
So how has England's under-pressure education secretary survived in his job? Or is there a counter-narrative that he's been unfairly blamed for decisions not really his own?
Once again on Wednesday Mr Williamson will be defending himself in front of the Education Select Committee, a few months after he faced a grilling from MPs over the chaos with the last round of cancelled A-levels and GCSEs.
There won't be a shortage of new material.
Last week, on a single day, he saw the demolition of two of his biggest policies. The commitment to keeping schools open and continuing with exams were swept away in the new lockdown.
Having told millions of families of the vital importance of getting primary school children back into class, on the very same day he had to tell them of the vital importance of staying at home.
Insiders say it wasn't his choice and he'd been overtaken by changing evidence about the virus - but it cut the ground from under him and left Mr Williamson once again looking beleaguered and besieged, fending off hostile questions.
Labour taunted him for bringing "chaos and confusion" wherever he went. In a poll of 6,000 teachers, 92% thought he should resign. And a leader article in The Times pronounced that Mr Williamson was the Cabinet's "worst performer" who had "sacrificed his own future in government".
That was just last week.
Exams fiasco
But how much of the criticism is justified? And what is the reality behind a politician who gets accused both of being a ruthless Machiavelli and a hapless bungler, like Private Pike in Dad's Army.
Former Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw says there has to be some sympathy for Mr Williamson for facing the overwhelming disruption of the pandemic - and having to defend decisions that were not always of his making.
But the sympathy doesn't go much further.
"Confidence needs to be restored. This is a weak secretary of state. No one knows if he's got the autonomy to make decisions or whether the strings are being pulled by Number 10," says Sir Michael.
"The exams fiasco was a major problem - and he didn't take responsibility."
Sir Michael, aged 74, was back teaching in schools last term, as they struggled with staff shortages because of Covid outbreaks. And he thinks the education secretary has shown no real understanding of the front-line pressures and has not inspired trust.
"Education is in a bad place," says Sir Michael.
But allies of Mr Williamson think he's being unfairly condemned for decisions driven by the changing pandemic.
And political historian Sir Anthony Seldon defends the education secretary for facing competing demands that were impossible to meet - whether from teachers, parents or factions within his own party.
Googling 'Frank Spencer'
Either way his character seems to intrigue the Googling public, because among the most common searches alongside "Gavin Williamson" is "Frank Spencer", the 1970s sit-com character who destroyed everything he tried his hardest to put right.
People are also searching his age - and maybe it's because he looks and sounds younger than his 44 years. That's not necessarily an asset in a political storm - as "youthful" for his supporters will be "immature" for his critics.
He has described himself as "mid-life", according to the woman who sold him a pet tarantula, who recalled that the MP described it as a mid-life choice between the spider and a sports car.
Mr Williamson had been chief whip, a parliamentary enforcer, and in a message that was as hairy and unmissable as his spider, he'd called the tarantula "Cronus", a mythical figure who devoured his own children and castrated his father.
But back to the question of taking responsibility. He has become the lightning rod for criticism of the government's handling of schools during pandemic.
And a fellow Tory MP shares the view privately that Mr Williamson now looks even weaker because he didn't make a dignified exit after the summer exams chaos - when the head of the exams watchdog and the Department for Education's top civil servant were forced out.
How the U-turns started
But it's worth going back to how accusations began about Mr Williamson being the U-turner in chief.
It started when plans were made last summer to bring primary pupils back into school.
Many parents, whose voices often get lost in education debates, were keen to get children back into lessons, particularly among those not able to work from home.
This was going to be the voluntary return of specific year groups in early June - and despite some pushback from teachers' unions, from the government's perspective this would have been seen as a good news story.
Except - and it's an open question to how - the government's wider announcement also included the unexpected ambition for all primary pupils to go back for a month in the summer term, a claim school leaders immediately warned was an impossibility when social distancing had cut classroom capacity by half.
The Department for Education had to go along with a claim that everyone in the school sector knew would have to be dropped.
When this suggestion was inevitably scrapped there was irritation and confusion among families already feeling the frustrations of the lockdown - with a bigger impact than might have been realised.
Around that time, Gary Lineker tweeted a claim that a football game shown live on BBC television had given the English premiership its biggest ever TV audience in the UK, with 5.7 million watching.
But the story on the BBC website about the U-turn on primary schools had been read by almost 6.1 million people - it was important to many people and a narrative had begun.
Late night, last minute
For journalists covering what became a series of U-turn stories - whether on free school meals, exams or closing schools - it's often not been clear whether the decision making, often late night and last minute, has been in the same place as the blame.
You can see how public opinion shifted in a YouGov tracking survey. From the first lockdown last March and through to May, the public mostly thought education was being well handled.
But from June onwards public opinion switched to being unimpressed and stayed that way, with YouGov figures this week showing about 60% think education is being badly handled.
The leader of the ASCL head teachers' union, Geoff Barton, says head teachers have been "exasperated" by so many last-minute announcements and sudden changes in direction.
School leaders, acutely aware of their accountability on results, have not taken kindly to political leaders appearing to shirk accountability for their own.
Mary Bousted, co-leader of the National Education Union, accused Mr Williamson of only being an expert in "putting his head in the sand".
Not about popularity
In many ways Mr Williamson could do with more "big beasts" such as Sir Michael Wilshaw around him, offering a wider range of opinions beyond those already seen as fellow travellers.
Although as Ofsted chief he sparred and often disagreed with the then education secretary Michael Gove, Wilshaw was a strong independent voice on the education landscape.
Under increasingly intense criticism during the pandemic, in political terms, Mr Williamson has been the only tree standing in no man's land and the only visible target for those wanting to complain about schools.
Laura McInerney, a former teacher, education pundit and head of the Teacher Tapp research firm, says what has really damaged Mr Williamson has not been his unpopularity, but a perception that he is also ineffective.
Her survey of teachers showed 92% thought Mr Williamson should resign - but she says education secretaries, particularly Conservative ones who could blame the unions, could still be seen as successful despite a lack of classroom support.
It's the claims of chaos and lack of forward planning that have really harmed the education secretary - and a head teacher who emailed the BBC last week described it as being like the TV comedy, Blackadder Goes Forth, with generals out of touch with the reality of their decisions.
'Slick operator'
Such accusations of incompetence are strongly rejected by Sir Anthony Seldon, biographer of prime ministers and a former head teacher, who says calls to sack Mr Williamson are missing the point.
He says the education secretary is a "canny politician" and a "slick operator", but faced an impossible "maelstrom" in the pandemic.
"It's been an absolute nightmare. I can't think of any time since 1945 when it's been more difficult to make policy."
Education needed its own SAGE-style group of experts to come up with an evidence-based, agreed approach, says Sir Anthony.
But he says England's school system is riven by "very low levels of trust and high levels of suspicion" between government and teachers and there was no chance of the shared decision making that was needed.
Another complaint from Mr Williamson's allies is that he has faced snobbery - that the northern, non-Oxbridge politician from a comprehensive school, is the member of the Cabinet taking more than his fair share of public pressure.
Gone in a reshuffle
A source close to the education secretary says Mr Williamson has stayed positive - and while the media narrative has been about U-turns and politicking, the priority within the Department for Education has been to keep responding to the pandemic and to keep children and staff safe.
But a senior Conservative politician puts Mr Williamson's latest difficulties in a harsher light - the Department for Education is seen as dysfunctional and Mr Williamson will be removed from office as soon as there is a reshuffle or when a head is needed to roll.
He has lost so much political capital he can no longer stand up to other Whitehall departments, even over key issues such as opening schools, says the senior Tory.
Another suggests Mr Williamson will be removed when Boris Johnson wants to re-set his post-pandemic domestic policy and renew his agenda on "levelling up".
Hidden divisions
But how has Mr Williamson survived so far? He was once considered a bright enough star to be a leadership contender and now the questions seem to be about how he has avoided the chop.
Politics works on many different levels. Before becoming education secretary Gavin Williamson was sacked as defence secretary, after an inquiry into leaks from the National Security Council - claims that Mr Williamson denied.
While he was defence secretary he had faced accusations of being out of his depth - including his comments to Russia that it should "go away" and "shut up".
And on his departure from office, the BBC's political editor, Laura Kuenssberg noted how his critics suspected him of being "too quick to seek his own political advantage, too interested in his own future, too entertained by the dark arts of Westminster".
The Ministry of Defence is in a big Whitehall office block, but if you go down into its basement there is a perfectly-preserved Tudor wine cellar, a hidden remnant of Henry VIII's rule, out of sight, but still there.
In politics old enmities can run deep, even when out of sight, particularly among MPs who are meant to be on the same side. And conversations about Mr Williamson often circle back to his time as chief whip.
He knows where the bodies are buried, says one MP.
When he was in deep trouble over exams last summer, Mr Williamson posed for a photo in his office in which a prominent item on his desk appeared to be a large whip.
The message again was there to be seen - and it was also a reminder that he has a track record of surviving in politics with unpopularity.
Another source, close to the inner workings of Whitehall, says there is a balance shifting between those in his party who have been fearful of him and those who are seeing his power ebbing away.
The final decision will be with Boris Johnson, who previously intervened to rescue his career. And it's that relationship which will decide his future.
It's a prime minister who seems to thrive on other people's approval and an education secretary who needs to show he can survive without it.
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With the world's biggest bike race starting in Leeds on 5 July, BBC Yorkshire's Tour de France correspondent Matt Slater rounds up the best of the gossip, opinion and stories, on and off the bike, and also tries to explain some of cycling's unique lingo.
TOP STORIES | News of the Windsor clan's northern excursion continues to spread throughout the worldwide web, which must present something of a quandary for cycling fans and Yorkshire folk who happen to be ardent republicans. They would not normally give two hoots about the leisure plans of Harry, Kate and Wills, but even they must admit the fact those plans include a trip to see the big bike race will guarantee even more media attention on the event and region, which is kind of the whole point. The anti-monarchist lobby will surely be more comfortable with this item from cycling's court circular: five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault will be the official starter for the Otley Cycles Races on 2 July. One of England's most prestigious town-centre race evenings, the event will also have the world's biggest ice cream van.
Full story: The Ilkley Gazette
Big names and big ice creams are all part of what makes Le Tour so attractive to towns, cities and regions eager to boost their international profile. The Grand Depart organisers' most recent polling suggested there was still a significant minority in Yorkshire who remain unconvinced the temporary disruption over the race weekend will be worth the hassle. Ultimately, this is a very personal judgement, and the disruption/benefit equation is not the same for everybody. But how many other Yorkshire events are being broadcast live in dozens of countries around the globe? Australia's public service broadcaster SBS will be showing every minute again this year: a golden opportunity for Yorkshire's natural beauty to shine.
Full story: SBS
Before you can have a Grand Departy, you have got to have a Big Clean. Well, that is what Calderdale Council is calling for in the weeks ahead of the region's moment in the spotlight. A voluntary army clad in yellow bibs, gardening gloves and sturdy boots will be rooting through the undergrowth in Brighouse, Elland, Halifax and so on, clearing away any unsightly rubbish.
Full story: The Huddersfield Daily Examiner
CYCLING ROUND-UP
The big story on Wednesday was the big bump on Mark Cavendish's head after a high-speed crash in the finale of the Tour of Switzerland's fifth stage. He revealed later that he had just backed off the pace a tad because he was worried there might be a crash - he was right to worry, as moments later Danny Van Poppel took out Matt Goss and he took out Cavendish. It looked spectacular and very painful. But the Manx Missile has proved many times before that he is an amateur stuntman, either that or he really is part cannonball, and he tweeted later that he was sore but wanted to carry on in the race.
This crash left only a few riders to contest the sprint to the line, with the chief beneficiaries being Sacha Modolo and Peter Sagan. Italy's Modolo won the dash to the line pretty easily in the end, with Sagan second and John Degenkolb third. Cavendish will be pleased he is not more badly hurt, but he will be annoyed at missing out on a chance to claim another victory.
Elsewhere, Alex Dowsett, who Cavendish often trains with in Essex, has been named in Movistar's 13-man long list for Le Tour. The English time-trial specialist won a stage at the Giro d'Italia last year, but has made no secret of the fact that Tour selection is his prime goal this year.
TWEET OF THE DAY
"Ice spray is like a wonder spray. It helps so much for the football players after they get hit. #WorldCup2014 #BigShow"
Cycling hard man Fabian Cancellara does not sound convinced that some of the injuries on show in Brazil are as serious as they look at first.
TODAY'S TOUR TRIVIA
Cancellara, whose nickname is Spartacus, is renowned for his time-trialling ability and phenomenal record in the sport's biggest one-day races. But the Swiss star also has the distinction of being the active rider who has worn the most yellow jerseys, 28. Sadly, that also makes him the rider with the most yellow jerseys who has never actually won the Tour. He has won eight stages, though, as well as seven "Monuments" (one of the five most prestigious one-day races), four world titles and an Olympic time trial title. Not bad, then.
THE COUNTDOWN - 16 DAYS TO GO
Sweet 16 is the number of Tour starts Dutch legend Joop Zoetemelk made between 1970 and 1986, and it is also the number he finished. He only missed the 1974 Tour during that run, and that was only because he almost died when he crashed into a car at the finish of a race in France. Zoetemelk returned from that injury - a cracked skull - to eventually win the Tour in 1980, but he is perhaps best remembered for his six second-place finishes and pale skin. The old joke was that this was because he was in Eddy Merckx's shadow.
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After experimenting with hip-hop and rock, Norah Jones returns to her signature sound on her seventh album, Day Breaks. She tells the BBC how she rediscovered the piano and why her early success took her by surprise.
| By Mark SavageBBC Music reporter
"I have a kitchen in my piano," declares Norah Jones, somewhat improbably. She pauses. Her eyes roll. "Sorry, I'm so jet-lagged. I mean... I have a piano in my kitchen."
It's lunchtime in London, and Jones is at Ronnie Scott's to preview songs from her new album, Day Breaks, for members of the press.
She's explaining that the bulk of the record was written on a small upright piano next to the pots and pans during "late-night feeding sessions" with her first son, born in July 2014.
"It has tons of bills on top, and mail that hasn't been opened," she tells the BBC later. "It's a breeding ground for clutter.
"I have two pianos in my music room [but] the kitchen is sort of the heart of the house, so the upright gets played much more."
Back at Ronnie Scott's the star swivels on her stool and eases into Carry On, one of those self-same kitchen compositions. Jet lag may have muddled her words, but it hasn't affected her dusky voice, which skims like a warm breeze over the song's languorous, open chords.
The song and the album mark a noticeable return to the twilight jazz of Jones's debut, Come Away With Me. Again, that upright piano, bought on a whim while walking past a New York music store, is responsible.
"I just was inspired to play," she says. "I love the piano but I moved away from it. It's nice to break your patterns by playing other instruments, and just be inspired by other things.
"I find when I do write on piano, the songs tend to go more towards this direction - you know, whatever the feel of this record is."
Released in 2002, Come Away With Me was an instant success, selling 18 million copies and winning eight Grammy awards (a trophy for every category it was nominated in).
Jones was just 23 at the time, and says it took "a few years" to gain perspective.
"It's funny how that works," she says. "You're in this amazing moment that you've fantasised about for your whole life but you don't get to enjoy it. All of a sudden you're like, 'Blargh! I don't know what's going on but this is stressing me out.'"
Things came to a head in the summer of 2002, shortly after the album went platinum. Jones marched into the office of Bruce Lundvall, president of Blue Note Records, and blurted out: "Haven't I sold enough records yet?"
"That was just because I wanted to stop doing interviews!" she laughs. "For me, it was just too much work and I wanted to chill for a minute.
"I look back on that time and it definitely seems like a whole other world."
Come Away With Me was followed by Feels Like Home (2004) and Not Too Late (2007), both of which topped the charts in the US and UK - but as the star's soft-focus jazz became over-familiar, sales started to fall and critics cruelly dubbed her "Snorah Jones".
What turned things around was an instinct for collaboration and experimentation. Jones recorded tracks with Outkast, Foo Fighters and Jack White, and supported Neil Young on tour with her alt-country band Puss N Boots.
A partnership with producer Danger Mouse, aka Brian Burton, saw her dabble with spaghetti Western guitars and swampy electronic grooves on the albums Rome (2011) and Little Broken Hearts (2012).
Jones's interest in jazz was reignited in Washington DC two years ago, when she took part in a concert celebrating the 75th anniversary of the legendary Blue Note record label.
On stage, she got to play with one of her idols, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and all-star rhythm section John Patitucci (bass) and Brian Blade (drums).
Thrilled by the experience, Jones arranged to get the band into the studio with her - but things didn't go to plan.
"I had all these songs I wanted to record for the album, and they sounded great," she explains. "Then we had the Wayne session and we kind of ran out of songs.
"I had a specific idea in my mind for the kind of thing I wanted to do with him - something very modal, without a lot of chord changes, and I wanted to be able to float over the top with the vocal, but nothing quite felt right."
With the recording session looming, Jones's friend Sarah Oda pulled an all-nighter, performing emergency surgery on one of the songs.
"And so I get a voice memo in the morning, and she's basically slashed the song down to a small set of lyrics that can flow better - but there were still too many chord changes.
"So I took her lyrics and I went into the studio before everyone came in and I was like, 'OK, I gotta figure this out before they get here.'
"All of a sudden Wayne comes in and I'm like, 'I'm not ready yet!' But John Patitucci starts playing this bassline, and I started playing the chords under it, and it sort of all happened so fast."
The song was Burn - a sparse, sleepy number with come hither eyes - that eventually became the album's opening track.
Recalling the session, Jones says: "I wasn't as nervous as I should have been, considering I didn't know what the material was going to be.
"The thing I was nervous about, more than anything, was just playing piano with those incredible musicians. Because I basically hired Wayne's quartet without his piano player, who's incredible.
"I'm a bit rusty - but it's my record, and I wanted it to sound like me and that is me."
Days Break finds Jones in a contented state of mind after two consecutive break-up albums; but she sticks her head above the parapet on Flipside, a quietly insistent song that tackles America's gun problem.
"People are getting shot in so many situations now," she says. "It's terrifying, it's sad, and it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense that we can't find a way to help.
"Just a certain small amount of gun control seems the least we can do. It's like the world has gone mad."
It's a rare political statement from Jones, one of music's more modest megastars. When she won all those Grammy Awards, she simply felt bad for her fellow nominees. "I felt like I went to somebody else's birthday party and I ate all their cake," she claimed.
So whose bright idea was it to hand out goodie bags featuring Norah Jones-branded stationery at her London gig?
"I've never been a pencil before," she cringes. "It's pretty weird. I hope you enjoy your pencils."
Day Breaks is out on Virgin / EMI on 7 October.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
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A prisoner who died after being attacked at HMP Hewell in Worcestershire has been named by police.
| Luke Derriman, 39, died at the Alexander Hospital in Redditch on Tuesday, West Mercia Police said.
A 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and has since been charged with manslaughter.
Mr Derriman's family had been informed of his death, police said.
Midlands Live: Former policeman found not guilty of cell attack; Sandeep Samra: Terror accused teen jailed
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There has been a lot of interesting news coming out of the great polar vortex of 2014. A Michigan lighthouse encased in ice . People throwing pots of boiling water into the sub-freezing air. People scalding themselves by throwing pots of boiling water into the air. | By Anthony ZurcherEditor, Echo Chambers
Perhaps most importantly, however, the cold weather has set off a regional boasting match not seen since the great East Coast-West Coast hip-hop showdown of the 1990s.
On Tuesday, Slate's Matthew Yglesias wrote that he greatly preferred extreme cold weather to high heat:
The crucial issue is clothing and adaptability. I went out today wearing a warm hat and warm gloves and a scarf. I had four layers on my torso. I wore some corduroy pants, a warm pair of socks and some boots. All things considered, I was pretty comfortable. Don't get me wrong, not as comfortable as I am on a nice 72 degree day. I am very glad that DC winters don't normally get this cold. Still, I survived.
Contrast that with a very hot and humid day of the sort that we regularly experience in the summertime here and elsewhere in much of the country.
You just can't take off enough clothes to be comfortable, the New York-raised Yglesias writes. And sometimes you have to dress up, and then you just swelter in your nice suit or gown.
That's bunk, replied the Washington Post's resident Heat Miser, Ezra Klein. In true Wonkblog fashion, the native Californian provided a list of five points supporting his assertion that cold-lovers are woefully misguided. Cold kills more people than heat. More people move from cold states to warm ones because of climate than vice versa. You're more likely to fall and hurt yourself in icy cold weather. Staying warm is more expensive, both in clothing and home heating costs. And as for the bundling-up-easier-than-taking-off issue?
The problem with cold is that you have to put on layers and layers of clothing to do anything at all. Weddings and fancy dinners are a lot rarer than walking the dog or getting groceries. But in real cold, any excursion into the outdoors, no matter how minor, requires you to layer on shirts, sweaters, jackets, gloves, scarves, hats. And then, if you have small kids, you have to suit them up in all that, too. It's a nightmare.
The New Republic's Isaac Chotiner (another product of temperate California) scoffed at Yglesias's suggestion that four layers of clothing were enough to survive the recent outbreak of sub-freezing temperatures.
"It is beyond my comprehension how people can be warm if the temperature is beneath 20 degrees and they only have, as Yglesias says, four layers on their torso," he writes. "I had seven on Tuesday."
Meanwhile, Jonathan Chait of New York magazine worries about the plight of the blue collar worker, as he speaks out in favor of the Northern climes in which his employer resides.
"Lots of jobs involve physical activity, which makes you hot," he writes. "If it's freezing, you can easily wear long underwear or a warm hat to make up the difference in body heat. But if it's too hot, you're going to hit the zero clothing bound, or whatever the professional dress standard is in your chosen field."
There's also the fact that New York City smells much more tolerable during the winter - a point that Chait somehow neglects to make in support of his argument.
But this California-born, Texas-raised product of the Sun Belt still tends to agree with his warm-weather compatriots. While walking to work Tuesday morning, the cold-induced pain in my face slowly turning to dull numbness, I couldn't help but think that there is a reason why the deepest level of Hell in Dante's Inferno is a frozen cave.
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The Republic of Ireland is to investigate the homes for children born outside marriage and their mothers, run by religious institutions for most of the last century. It follows concerns over the deaths of almost 800 children at a convent-run mother-and-baby home in Galway over several decades and controversy about whether they were given proper burials.
The BBC's Fergal Keane considers what the inquiry might mean for survivors, and for Ireland. | Growing up in Cork, I was acutely aware of the stigma attached to unmarried motherhood. What teenager in Ireland could avoid the shame attached to pregnancy outside marriage? It was the dreaded scenario in all our minds, but for girls it could mean banishment and anguish.
In 1973, the same year that I moved to the Cork suburb of Blackrock, a young Dublin woman was driven through the gates of a large house about 10 minutes from where I lived. Teri Harrison was 18 years old and arrived at Bessborough House heavily pregnant.
In the language of the time her child was "illegitimate". The choice for an unmarried mother usually fell between giving the child up for adoption or taking the boat to England for an abortion. Secrecy was paramount.
Teri says that at Bessborough, and in another church home where she finally gave birth, she was stigmatised.
"Do you know the one thing that got to most of us, was the times they would say to you: 'You're here because nobody wants you. You're here because nobody cares about you. You're here because you have sinned.'"
'Black pit'
Thousands of babies were adopted over the decades from the network of mother-and-baby homes operated by the Catholic religious orders. A much smaller number of Protestant-run homes may also come under the focus of the inquiry.
From the Catholic homes, hundreds of babies were sent to America, with allegations of children being trafficked to wealthy Catholic families seeking white children.
In Teri's case, her son was adopted at three months by an Irish family. She claims that she did not give her permission .
"He vanished into a black pit. Just a black pit. It's like… it's like his life was stolen and mine… I had three beautiful children after him. They are all adults now with their own children. And I look at them and I say: 'He should be here.' His birthday is every October on the 15th. He was born at 6.30 in the morning, he weighed 6lb 6oz (2.9kg) and he was beautiful. He was beautiful."
After decades of silence around the issue of unmarried mothers, Ireland is confronting the pain that touches families across the country.
Helen Murphy was adopted from Bessborough in 1962 and spent years trying to find her birth mother. Her own childhood was happy but she was conscious of an untold narrative in her past.
After finally discovering the identity of her birth mother, she found out that the woman had died three weeks previously. Her birth sister told her how her mother had wandered the streets of Cork trying to find her.
Helen explained: "There was this yearning in her to find her child. So I suppose she always knew she wasn't going to find me, somewhere deep inside. But she was looking for somebody who looked like the baby she had given up. I don't know because I've never been able to ask her: 'Did you really believe that you'd see me?'"
Some of the issues the commission of inquiry may look at include:
Among defenders of the Catholic institutions, there is a feeling that the good work done by religious orders has been forgotten in a rush to expose and condemn.
A former Mother Superior at Bessborough, Sister Sarto Harney, said there had been good staff at the home who had done their best to help the girls who came there.
"I don't think it's fair… I think it's sad that is has come to this. We gave our lives to looking after the girls and we're certainly not appreciated for doing it."
Ireland has seen a plethora of inquiries over the last two decades from political corruption to sexual abuse in church run institutions. There is a certain weariness among the public at the prospect of more revelations. However, human rights campaigners, as well as the survivors of the institutions, believe the past cannot simply be pushed away.
Mairead Enright of the Faculty of Law at the University of Kent said the inquiry could help to create a new Ireland in which the attitudes of shame and exclusion could never again be fostered.
"There are plenty people in Ireland not much older than me who remember girls who were sitting next to them in school who weren't there the next day because they'd gotten pregnant and they'd been shipped off somewhere," she said.
"These homes were still operating in the 80s and 90s and it is faintly ridiculous to talk about the whole operation of the mother-and-baby homes in the past. That continues.
"It has had influence in families, it has had influence in how parents raised their daughters, in how women were perceived and how women conducted themselves, and it's also a set of issues that needs to be addressed in the present."
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Think of coffee and you will probably think of Brazil, Colombia, or maybe Ethiopia. But the world's second largest exporter today is Vietnam. How did its market share jump from 0.1% to 20% in just 30 years, and how has this rapid change affected the country? | By Chris SummersBBC News
When the Vietnam war ended in 1975 the country was on its knees, and economic policies copied from the Soviet union did nothing to help.
Collectivising agriculture proved to be a disaster, so in 1986 the Communist Party carried out a U-turn - placing a big bet, at the same time, on coffee.
Coffee production then grew by 20%-30% every year in the 1990s. The industry now employs about 2.6 million people, with beans grown on half a million smallholdings of two to three acres each.
This has helped transform the Vietnamese economy. In 1994 some 60% of Vietnamese lived under the poverty line, now less than 10% do.
"The Vietnamese traditionally drank tea, like the Chinese, and still do," says Vietnam-based coffee consultant Will Frith.
Vietnamese people do drink it - sometimes with condensed milk, or in a cappuccino made with egg - but it's mainly grown as an export crop.
Coffee was introduced to Vietnam by the French in the 19th Century and a processing plant manufacturing instant coffee was functioning by 1950.
This is how most Vietnamese coffee is consumed, and is partly why about a quarter of coffee drunk in the UK comes from Vietnam.
British consumers still drink a lot more of that than of fancy coffees, such as espressos, lattes and cappuccinos.
High-end coffee shops mainly buy Arabica coffee beans, whereas Vietnam grows the hardier Robusta bean.
Arabica beans contain between 1% to 1.5% caffeine while Robusta has between 1.6% to 2.7% caffeine, making it taste more bitter.
There is a lot more to coffee, though, than caffeine.
"Complex flavour chemistry works to make up the flavours inherent in coffee," says Frith.
"Caffeine is such a small percentage of total content, especially compared to other alkaloids, that it has a very minute effect on flavour."
Some companies, like Nestle, have processing plants in Vietnam, which roast the beans and pack it.
But Thomas Copple, an economist at the International Coffee Organization in London, says most is exported as green beans and then processed elsewhere, in Germany for example.
While large numbers of Vietnamese have made a living from coffee, a few have become very rich.
Take for example multi-millionaire Dang Le Nguyen Vu. His company, Trung Nguyen Corporation, is based in Ho Chi Minh City - formerly Saigon - but his wealth is based in the Central Highlands around Buon Ma Thuot, the country's coffee capital.
Chairman Vu, as he is nicknamed, owns five Bentleys and 10 Ferraris and Forbes magazine assessed him to be worth $100m (£60m). That's in a country where the average annual income is $1,300 (£790).
The expansion of coffee has also had downsides, however.
Agricultural activity of any kind holds hidden dangers in Vietnam, because of the huge numbers of unexploded ordnance remaining in the ground after the Vietnam War. In one province, Quang Tri, 83% of fields are thought to contain bombs.
Environmentalists also warn that catastrophe is looming. WWF estimates that 40,000 square miles of forest have been cut down since 1973, some of it for coffee farms, and experts say much of the land used for coffee cultivation is steadily being exhausted.
Vietnamese farmers are using too much water and fertiliser, says Dr Dave D'Haeze, a Belgian soil expert.
"There's this traditional belief that you need to do that and nobody has really been trained on how to produce coffee," he says.
"Every farmer in Vietnam is the researcher of his own plot."
Some people from Vietnam's many ethnic minorities also say they have been forced off their land.
But Chairman Vu says coffee has been good for Vietnam.
He is now planning to set up an international chain of Vietnamese-style coffee shops.
"We want to bring Vietnamese coffee culture to the world. It isn't going to be easy but in the next year we want to compete with the big brands like Starbucks," he says.
"If we can take on and win over the US market we can conquer the whole world."
Watch The Coffee Trail with Simon Reeve on BBC Two at 20:00 GMT on Sunday or later on the iPlayer.
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In the Democratic Republic of Congo town of Kamako, seven kilometres (four miles) from the Angolan border, 10 women sit on sofas arranged in a circle by a local non-governmental organisation which helps distressed migrants. | By Thomas HubertBBC News, Kinshasa
Therese Tshanga is one of them. This 38-year-old Congolese woman is among hundreds of thousands of migrants expelled from Angola since 2003.
She cradles a toddler in her arms and has a fresh scar on her forehead.
Ms Tshanga says she was looking for a job in Angola when men in uniform arrested her on 28 September and took her into the bush.
"Three soldiers came to rape me. The first two had their way, then I resisted against the third one and he gave me this wound to the face with his teeth," she says, pointing to the scar.
After being held for three days in the bush and another three days in a prison near the Angolan border town of Dundu, Ms Tshanga says she was finally deported to her native DR Congo with her nephew. She has lost contact with his mother.
No hope
Kamako is full of deportees with similar stories.
Jacquie Kasokome says she was raped by five Angolan soldiers. Another woman reported being stripped and searched for money and diamonds by border guards, who inserted their fingers in each of her body cavities, then stole her clothes and shoes before kicking her out of the country.
As for the men, most of them admit to crossing into Angola illegally to work as diamond miners. They report severe beatings if they are caught by Angolan security services.
"I was beaten up a lot. My ear hasn't been working properly because of a blow I took here," said Mubikay Mupani, as he pointed to the side of his head.
When I asked Ms Tshanga if her attackers explained why they were raping her, she replied: "They said: 'We don't want the Congolese to come to Angola but you don't want to understand, so we're raping you so that you don't come back'."
But Mr Mupani, a young father, says he has no hope of sustaining his family in DR Congo and he plans to return to Angola, despite the risk of being deported again.
Mass deportations
Congolese officials and charity workers say that violent deportations started in late 2003, when the Luanda government asserted control over its territory after the end of the Angolan civil war and banned foreigners from diamond mines.
This happened around the time the conflict in DR Congo was also ending, as a new transitional government - led by President Joseph Kabila, and including former rebels - took office.
It enacted legislation allowing rich individuals or companies to buy exclusive mining concessions, leaving thousands of small miners without an income.
This forced many of them to emigrate to Angola and other countries.
Together DR Congo's immigration authorities, the International Committee for the Development of Peoples (CISP), an Italian aid agency, has been monitoring the crisis along the border.
Since 1 April, they have recorded 38,000 deportations. More than 2000 of the deportees said they had suffered sexual violence, and 7,000 reported other forms of physical abuse.
Nearly half said all their belongings had been stolen during their deportation.
The expulsions have never been high on the diplomatic agenda between Angola and DR Congo, though Kinshasa lodged an official complaint last May, when a man was reported to have had his penis cut off after he was arrested by Angola's security forces.
While Angola transports the deportees to the border in batches of a dozen to a few hundred, reports coming in from the Kandjaji border post in the past week point to something bigger.
"On 5 October, according to several sources reporting to us, the military attacked a village inhabited by Congolese in Angola," said CISP's protection coordinator Antonion Mangia.
He added that more than 3,400 people fled the attack into DR Congo.
"Many of them told us a lot of people died crossing a river. More than 300 women claimed they had been raped, and many people said they had been beaten up."
An Angolan embassy spokesman in Kinshasa, Joao Gomes, dismissed the accusations against his country's security services.
He insisted that Angola had a right to protect strategic diamond mining areas.
"In Angola, as well as in [DR] Congo and other countries, there are laws that must be respected, especially in state reserves such as diamond mining areas. But saying that Angolan troops commit atrocities is not true," Mr Gomes said.
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Bath's famous Pulteney horseshoe weir could be extended as part of a new flood defence scheme on the River Avon. | The plan is among options suggested by Bath and North East Somerset Council and the Environment Agency.
Engineers say the 43-year-old Pulteney sluice gate is outdated and needs replacing.
Other options include infilling the eastern river channel below Pulteney Bridge, or building an additional weir on the east side of the river.
Proposals also include replacing Twerton sluice gates with new ones and raising walls of existing flood defences.
The current V-shaped Pulteney weir and sluice gate were opened in 1972.
A public consultation into the plans is due to be launched in September.
Related Internet Links
Bath & North East Somerset Council
Environment Agency
Pulteney Weir
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On 6 November, American voters get to decide the direction of their country once more in the mid-term elections. | There are local races, and 36 states will choose their governors.
But the key races are for members of both chambers of Congress, that help push through laws in the US.
Mid-terms: You choose what happens
Share this chatbot
Produced by Roland Hughes and Paul Sargeant
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Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has said that if Covid vaccine supplies in Europe do not improve, the EU "will reflect whether exports to countries who have higher vaccination rates than us are still proportionate". | By Chris MorrisReality Check Correspondent
Post-Brexit disagreements between the EU and the UK have been heightened by the diplomatic row over the export of the vaccines.
The European Council president, Charles Michel, claimed last week that the UK had imposed an "outright ban" on the export of vaccines and their components - there is no ban though, and his claim was dismissed by the government as "completely false".
But Mrs von der Leyen says the EU is still waiting for exports from the UK, and it wants reciprocity.
How much vaccine has the EU been exporting?
The issue of vaccine exports from the EU - and a potential ban - is being raised because the EU is struggling to get sufficient supplies to accelerate its own vaccination programme.
And the number one export destination for vaccines manufactured in the EU is the UK.
Mrs von der Leyen says 41 million vaccine doses have been exported from the EU to 33 countries in six weeks.
More than 10 million of them have gone to the UK. That is more than the total number of vaccines administered in the UK in the month of February, and (as of 17 March) more than a third of the total number of UK vaccinations so far.
It is worth emphasising that vaccine exports are not organised by the EU itself, but by companies such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which use its territory as a global manufacturing base.
As of 11 March, 3.9 million doses had also been exported from the EU to Canada, and 3.1 million to Mexico. One million doses have been sent to the US, even though it is a major manufacturer in its own right and has not exported any vaccines to the EU.
The US is using export controls under the Defense Production Act, first introduced during the Korean War in the 1950s, to prevent companies exporting vaccine doses or ingredients without federal government authorisation.
What about UK exports to the EU?
There has been no public announcement of any vaccine exports from the UK, and no evidence that any have taken place.
The Department of Health said it didn't know whether there had been any, and AstraZeneca did not respond to a request for a comment.
"Let me be clear, we have not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine or vaccine components," Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the House of Commons on 8 March.
The government is keen to highlight that the UK has donated £548m to the Covax initiative, set up to distribute vaccines around the world. But that doesn't mean there have been exports of vaccines themselves.
"The British prime minister has made it clear to me that obviously his first priority is to vaccinate his people," Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said on 9 March.
"Until then he won't be in a position to give vaccines to anybody, and he has made that point to me."
No official ban
So, there is no export ban, but publicly available information suggests vaccines are not being exported from the UK. The government argues that is driven by the contractual obligations which vaccine suppliers have to their customers, rather than by the demands of politicians.
In January, the head of AstraZeneca, Pascal Soriot said of his company's contract with the UK that it was a case of "you supply us first".
And after the UK rejected Charles Michel's claim of an outright ban, he said there were "different ways of imposing bans or restrictions on vaccines/medicines". In an interview with news website Politico, he challenged the UK to release its vaccine export data.
Now, Mrs von der Leyen has stepped up the warnings.
"If the situation does not change, we will have to reflect on how to make exports to vaccine-producing countries dependent on their level of openness," she said.
In response, the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government had legally signed a contract for the delivery of the first 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and added that "the supply of vaccines from EU production facilities to the UK is fulfilling contractual responsibilities and we fully expect those contracts to be delivered on".
EU's vaccine rollout
The EU has faced a series of problems with its vaccine rollout and has controls on exports, requiring manufacturers to seek permission from national governments for planned sales.
Earlier this month, Italy blocked a shipment of 250,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia. But it is the only one of more than 300 vaccine export authorisations that has been refused.
The crunch could come in the second quarter of 2021 when supply problems may intensify. Then, as Mrs von der Leyen indicated, the EU may have to decide whether to block other shipments, including to the UK, to protect its own interests.
One possibility being discussed is to use Article 122 of the EU treaty, which allows measures to be taken "if severe difficulties arise in the supply of certain products". Those measures could in theory include export bans and the waiving of patent and intellectual property rights on vaccines.
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It could have been Hillary Clinton's tweet that did it. | Kamal AhmedBusiness editor@bbckamalon Twitter
Just after the US government had given the go-ahead for Shell to restart its exploration in Alaska, the Democratic presidential candidate took to the social media site.
"The Arctic is a unique treasure," Mrs Clinton said on Twitter. "Given what we know now, it's not worth the risk of drilling."
Which seemed to ignore the fact that drilling has been taking place in the Arctic for decades - for example oil was first discovered in one of the main basins, Prudhoe Bay, in 1968.
The area is still producing around 250,000 barrels per day and is one of America's largest producing fields.
Shell knows that its every move in the Arctic is scrutinised commercially, politically and environmentally.
Quite rightly, of course, when it comes to exploration in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the world.
Surprise move
Shell's original position on the Arctic was that exploration of the vast area - much of it untapped - was important.
The oil major argued that demand for fossil fuels was increasing as the world developed, exploration had to continue despite the low oil price and that the Arctic had long been a source of oil and gas.
Monday's announcement that Shell was pulling out of the Chukchi Sea therefore comes as a surprise.
Particularly given it will cost Shell £2.6bn to execute the withdrawal.
And that the company has already spent the thick end of £5bn getting to this point.
Earlier this year, I interviewed Shell's chief executive Ben van Beurden - and he was certainly bullish on Alaska.
"The potential in the Arctic is very, very significant," he told me, saying that "the Arctic probably holds the largest yet to be discovered resource base".
Shell's investors were regular recipients of long and detailed presentations on the potential for the region.
So, what changed?
Certainly, the first findings from the Burger J exploration well 150 miles off the Alaskan coast were not promising.
Second, although President Barack Obama had given the necessary permissions for drilling to start again following the problems of rig fires in 2012, Mrs Clinton's tweet revealed that political risks were still substantial.
Mr van Beurden also has plenty of other issues weighing on his in-tray.
Not least the £55bn takeover of BG Group.
And the halving on the oil price over the past 18 months which has led to a rapid reduction in capital expenditure for all the oil majors.
Share prices have been under pressure, with Shell's dropping over 30% in the last 12 months.
Given that background, the Arctic appears to be one major project too far, for Shell's management as well as investors.
And, frankly, there are easier places to explore for oil and gas, technically and politically.
'High risk'
That was very much the opinion of Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP who is now chairman of the oil and gas business, L1 Energy.
"The Arctic is a very high risk place to explore, and even if you find something, a very expensive place to develop in," he told me.
"The last very big field is Prudhoe Bay, and it's been a very difficult place to find oil and gas.
"There'll be better places, more easy places, to go and explore."
But, with demand for fossil fuels expected to rise over the next decade as emerging market growth continues, Lord Browne says exploration in the area off Alaska could return.
"We should always keep an eye on it, just in case."
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First China, then Russia, now South East Asia. | Karishma VaswaniAsia business correspondent@BBCKarishmaon Twitter
It is starting to sound like a familiar story.
Global taxi-hailing giant Uber enters a new market, with all the brashness and bravado of a bigger, more powerful invader, only to find itself waging a fierce battle on the streets with a home-grown rival, and then ultimately - losing the war.
We had the first inkling that Uber's global strategy of "barging in" was going awry when it lost the Chinese market to Didi Chuxing back in 2016.
At the time, as I wrote the explanation Uber gave for the China retreat was that it made sense for it to pull out of a market that was obviously so well served by Didi, and that it wasn't defeat when you end up with a stake in the company.
But remember, the then boss of Uber Travis Kalanick once famously said success in China meant being number one there.
Words he had to swallow evidently, especially as Uber was reportedly losing something like a billion dollars a year in China.
Bad news
Here, in South East Asia, emerges a similar tale.
Grab and Uber have been fighting to the death for market share on the mean streets of the region. It's not just the ride hailing business for cars that they're competing in - in countries like Indonesia, motorcycle taxi rides are big business too.
By some estimates, Uber has been losing hundreds of millions of dollars every year in South East Asia - along with its rivals.
All bad news for a company looking to go public in 2019.
"Uber is now under pressure to move towards making money for a 2019 IPO, which has been promised to shareholders," writes John Colley, of Warwick Business School. "In China, Russia and now South East Asia it has been out-flanked by local competition with better local knowledge and connections."
That local competition in South East Asia has come in the form of Malaysian business tycoon Anthony Tan. He's not your usual startup kind of guy, hailing from a family business with a well established network to tap into.
Having grown up in the region he understands the different and diverse nature of South East Asian markets.
Motorbike passengers - or Ojek passengers - in Jakarta for instance, are quite different from taxi-hailing Singaporeans. Customers in Bangkok have starkly differing travelling needs to commuters in Kuala Lumpur. Mr Tan says being based in South East Asia gives him the advantage in solving regional problems.
Mr Tan has also got bigger plans for the young startup, a company that has also managed to attract investment from the likes of Japan's Softbank, which also owns 15% of Uber.
In Singapore last month, the young and ambitious boss of what has now effectively become South East Asia's most powerful ride hailing app, told me how he wants Grab to be everything to everyone - across this market of 600 million people.
"We want to be that app that allows you to buy your coffee, earn rewards, then after that you want to buy your lunch and… have your food delivered so you don't have to go through the traffic jam," he said.
"When you're that relevant, that real to every customer across the 600 million base, then you create huge value."
Soul searching
But Mr Tan can't afford to be complacent. Even though he's managed to push Uber out of this market, he's got a hungrier, leaner upstart to face in the form Go-Jek, Indonesia's Google and Temasek-backed ride hailing app.
Right now, it's stuck to home ground, but there are rumours that it might head to the Philippines shortly.
For Uber though, there's sure to be some soul searching ahead.
This is the third market it's pulled out of in the last couple of years. The company has been keen to stress that this deal with Grab is a merger of equals - a partnership of sorts.
But the internal email from Uber's boss Dara Khosrowshahi reveals just how much of a detour the firm may have made in its global strategy.
"One of the potential dangers, of our global strategy," he writes, "is that we take on too many battles across too many fronts with too many competitors."
Uber has been quick to stress that there is no more consolidation on the cards - in fact, Uber's chief says that's out of the question.
But in the Asian markets Uber is still operating in - Japan, South Korea, and India - it is facing local competition.
And if the experience it's had out on these streets with homegrown competitors is anything to go by, Uber may be in for a bumpy ride ahead.
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Panic! At The Disco frontman Brendon Urie is leaping from the gig circuit to a Broadway theatre and joining the cast of the musical Kinky Boots. | The rock singer will don the show's flamboyant footwear to play Charlie Price, the young man who takes over his family's struggling shoe factory.
He said it was "a dream come true" and will appear from 26 May for 10 weeks.
His band had their first US number one and a Grammy nomination for best rock album with 2016's Death of a Bachelor.
Urie is already known for his theatrical stage performances, so it may not be such a big step to become the star of a Broadway show.
Kinky Boots has music by pop star Cyndi Lauper and won six Tony Awards in 2013.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
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"I'm not a sexual predator, I'm an 'offender,'" Jeffrey Epstein told the New York Post in 2011 . "It's the difference between a murderer and a person who steals a bagel." | Epstein died in a New York prison cell on 10 August as he awaited, without the chance of bail, his trial on sex trafficking charges.
It came more than a decade after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender.
This time, he was accused of running a "vast network" of underage girls for sex. He pleaded not guilty.
The 66-year-old in the past socialised with Prince Andrew, President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton.
But who was Jeffrey Epstein?
'Terrific guy'
Born and raised in New York, Epstein taught maths and physics in the city at the private Dalton School in the mid 1970s. He had studied physics and maths himself at university, although he never graduated.
A father of one of his students is said to have been so impressed that he put Epstein in touch with a senior partner at the Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns.
He was a partner there within four years. By 1982, he had created his own firm - J Epstein and Co.
The company managed assets of clients worth more than $1bn (£800m) and was an instant success. Epstein soon began spending his fortune - including on a mansion in Florida, a ranch in New Mexico, and reputedly the largest private home in New York - and socialising with celebrities, artists and politicians.
"I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy," Donald Trump told New York magazine for a profile on Epstein in 2002. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.
"No doubt about it - Jeffrey enjoys his social life."
In 2002, Epstein flew former President Bill Clinton and the actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker to Africa on a customized private jet. He made an unsuccessful bid to buy New York magazine with then film producer Harvey Weinstein in 2003 - the same year he made a $30m donation to Harvard University.
But he also strove to keep his life private, reportedly shunning society events and dinners in restaurants.
He dated women like Miss Sweden winner Eva Andersson Dubin and Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of publisher Robert Maxwell, although he never married.
Rosa Monckton, the former CEO of Tiffany & Co, told Vanity Fair for a 2003 article that Epstein was "very enigmatic" and "a classic iceberg".
"You think you know him and then you peel off another ring of the onion skin and there's something else extraordinary underneath," she said. "What you see is not what you get."
Conviction and plea deal
In 2005, the parents of a 14-year-old girl told police in Florida that Epstein had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home. A police search of the property found photos of girls throughout the house.
The Miami Herald reports that his abuse of underage girls dated back years.
"This was not a 'he said, she said' situation," Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter told the newspaper. "This was 50-something 'shes' and one 'he' - and the 'shes' all basically told the same story."
"He has never been secretive about the girls," columnist Michael Wolff told New York magazine for a 2007 profile piece, as the case against Epstein moved through the courts.
"At one point, when his troubles began, he was talking to me and said, 'What can I say, I like young girls.' I said, 'Maybe you should say, 'I like young women.'"
However, prosecutors forged a deal with the hedge fund manager in 2008.
He avoided federal charges - which could have seen him face life in prison - and instead received an 18-month prison sentence, during which he was able to go on "work release" to his office for 12 hours a day, six days a week. He was released on probation after 13 months.
The Miami Herald says that the federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta - who was Secretary of Labour in the Trump administration - struck a plea agreement hiding the extent of his crimes and ending an FBI investigation into whether there were more victims or more powerful people who took part. The paper described it as the "deal of the century".
Mr Acosta resigned in July 2019 over the scandal, though he defended his actions as guaranteeing at last some jail time for Epstein.
Since 2008 Epstein had been listed as a level three on the New York sex offenders register. It is a lifelong designation meaning he was at a high risk of reoffending.
But Epstein maintained his properties and his assets after his conviction.
In December 2010, Prince Andrew, the third child of the Queen, was pictured in New York's Central Park with Epstein, drawing controversy.
In a BBC interview in November 2019, the prince, who had known Epstein since 1999, said he had gone to New York to break off their friendship. He said he regretted staying at the financier's house while he was there, and that he had "let the side down" by doing so.
An Epstein accuser, Virginia Roberts - now Virginia Giuffre - would later allege that she was made to have sex with Prince Andrew in the early 2000s when she was 17.
Prince Andrew categorically denied having sex with her and said he has no recollection of a photo of the pair being taken together in London.
Epstein was arrested in New York on 6 July 2019 after flying back from Paris on his private jet.
Prosecutors were reportedly seeking the forfeiture of his New York mansion, where some of his alleged crimes occurred.
Epstein always denied any wrongdoing, and pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
After being denied bail by the court, he was being held in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center. He was taken to hospital briefly in July for what was widely reported to be injuries to his neck - which neither prison officials or his lawyers would officially comment on.
At his last court appearance on 31 July, it became clear that he would spend a year in prison, with a trial no earlier than summer 2020. Prosecutors said they wanted no delay, and bringing the trial quickly was in the public interest.
Now, Epstein will never face the trial at all.
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In the more than 45 years since the Middle East war of June 1967, there have been many peace plans and many negotiations. | Some of these have been successful, including those between Egypt and Israel and Israel and Jordan, but a settlement has still not been reached in the core conflict - the dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Here are the main peace proposals since 1967 and what happened to them.
UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967
Resolution 242 was passed on 22 November 1967 and embodies the principle that has guided most of the subsequent peace plans - the exchange of land for peace.
The resolution called for the "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict", and "respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force".
The resolution is famous for the imprecision, in English, of its central phase concerning an Israeli withdrawal - it says simply "from territories". The Israelis said this did not necessarily mean all territories, but Arab negotiators argued that it did.
It was written under Chapter VI of the UN Charter, under which Security Council resolutions are recommendations, not under Chapter VII, which means they are orders. Many peace proposals refer to 242. Resolution 338 is usually linked to it. This called for a ceasefire in the war of October 1973 and urged the implementation of 242 "in all its parts".
Camp David Accords, 1978
There were several peace plans following the 1967 war, but nothing happened until after the 1973 Yom Kippur or October War. There followed a new mood for peace, as shown by a historic visit to Jerusalem by the Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, in November 1977.
US President Jimmy Carter capitalised on the new mood and invited President Sadat and the Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, for talks at the presidential retreat at Camp David near Washington. The talks lasted for 12 days and resulted in two agreements.
The first was called A Framework for Peace in the Middle East. It laid down principles for peace, expanding on resolution 242, set out what it hoped was a way of resolving what it called the "Palestinian problem", agreed that there should be a treaty between Egypt and Israel and called for other treaties between Israel and its neighbours. The weakness of the first agreement was the section on the Palestinians. The plan aimed to set up a "self-governing authority" in the West Bank and Gaza, leading to eventual "final status" talks, but the Palestinians were not party to the agreement.
The second accord was the The Camp David framework for the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. This followed in 1979, after an Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai. This was the first recognition of Israel as a state by a major Arab country. The talks probably stand as the most successful negotiations in the whole peace process. The treaty has lasted, and it substantially strengthened Israel's position. However the peace between Egypt and Israel has not been warm. President Sadat was himself later assassinated.
The Madrid Conference, 1991
This conference, co-sponsored by the US and the Soviet Union, was designed to follow up the Egypt-Israel treaty by encouraging other Arab countries to sign their own agreements with Israel.
Jordan, Lebanon and Syria were invited as well as Israel and Egypt. The Palestinians were also represented, but as part of a joint delegation with Jordan and not by Yasser Arafat or other leading figures in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), to whom the Israelis objected.
The conference eventually led to a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan in 1994, but correspondents say this probably would have happened anyway. Israeli talks with Syria and Lebanon took place after Madrid but have since stalled, complicated by border disputes and, more recently, the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah militants.
The Palestinian track soon gave way to secret talks that led to the Oslo agreement.
Oslo Agreement, 1993
The Oslo negotiations tried to tackle the missing element of all previous talks - a direct agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, represented by the PLO. Its importance was that there was finally mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO.
The talks took place in secret under Norwegian auspices and the agreement was signed on the White House lawn on 13 September 1993, witnessed by President Bill Clinton. The PLO leader, Yasser Arafat, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, shook hands.
The Oslo Agreement stipulated that Israeli troops would withdraw in stages from the West Bank and Gaza, that a "Palestinian Interim Self-Governing Authority" would be set up for a five-year transitional period, leading to a permanent settlement based on resolutions 242 and 338.
The agreement spoke of putting "an end to decades of confrontation and conflict" and of each side recognising "their mutual legitimate and political rights".
Therefore, though not stated explicitly in the text, the implication was that a state of Palestine would one day be set up alongside Israel.
There was an exchange of letters in which Yasser Arafat stated: "The PLO recognises the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security." Yitzhak Rabin said: "The Government of Israel has decided to recognise the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people."
Hamas and other Palestinian rejectionist groups did not accept Oslo and launched suicide bomb attacks on Israelis. There was opposition within Israel from settler-led groups. Oslo was only partially implemented.
Camp David, 2000
Various attempts were made (including at Taba in 1995, Wye River in 1998 and Sharm el-Sheikh in 1999) to speed up the withdrawal and self-government provisions of Oslo. Then in 2000, President Bill Clinton sought to address the final status issues - including borders, Jerusalem and refugees - that Oslo had left aside for later negotiation.
The talks took place in July between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. There was no agreement. However, the negotiations were more detailed than ever before. Correspondents say the basic problem was that the maximum Israel offered was less than the minimum the Palestinians could accept.
Israel offered the Gaza Strip, a large part of the West Bank, plus extra land from the Negev desert, while keeping major settlement blocks and most of East Jerusalem. It proposed Islamic guardianship of key sites in the Old City of Jerusalem and contributions to a fund for Palestinian refugees.
The Palestinians wanted to start with a reversion to the lines of 1967, offered the Israelis rights over the Jewish quarter of the Old City and wanted recognition of the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees.
The failure at Camp David was followed by a renewal of the Palestinian uprising or intifada.
Taba, 2001
Although he was about to leave office, Bill Clinton refused to give up and presented a "bridging proposal" which set up further talks in Washington and Cairo and then Taba in Egypt. These talks were not at the top level, but differences were narrowed without being overcome. There was more flexibility on territory and it was reported by EU observers that Israeli negotiators accepted the concept of East Jerusalem being the capital of a Palestinian state.
A statement afterwards said that "it proved impossible to reach understandings on all issues". The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, fighting an election campaign, said that "nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon". He said that he could not commit a subsequent government to what he called the "ideas" coming out of the talks. With the election of Ariel Sharon in February 2001, time ran out.
Arab Peace Initiative, 2002
After the failure of bilateral talks and the resumption of conflict, the Saudi peace plan presented at an Arab summit in Beirut in March 2002 went back to a multi-lateral approach and in particular signalled a desire by the Arab world as a whole to put an end to this dispute.
Under the plan, called the Arab Peace Initiative, Israel would withdraw to the lines of June 1967, a Palestinian state would be set up in the West Bank and Gaza and there would be a "just solution" of the refugee issue. In return, Arab countries would recognise Israel. The plan was re-endorsed by another Arab summit in Riyadh in 2007.
Its strength is the support given by Arab countries to a two-state solution. Its weakness is that the parties have to negotiate the same issues on which they have failed so far.
Roadmap, 2003
The roadmap is a plan drawn up by the "Quartet" - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. It does not lay down the details of a final settlement, but suggests how a settlement might be approached. It followed efforts made by US Senator George Mitchell to get the peace process back on track in 2001.
The plan was preceded by an important statement in June 2002 by President George W Bush who became the first US president to call for a Palestinian state. It proposed a phased timetable, putting the establishment of security before a final settlement. It is designed to create confidence, leading to final status talks.
The road map has not been implemented. Its timetable called for the final agreement to be reached in 2005. It has largely been overtaken by events, but remains a reference point for negotiations.
Geneva Accord, 2003
While official efforts foundered, an informal agreement was announced in December 2003 by Israeli and Palestinian figures - Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of Oslo, on the Israeli side, and former Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo on the other.
The Geneva Accord reverses the concept of the roadmap, in which the growth of security and confidence precede a political agreement, and puts the agreement first, which is then designed to produce security and peace.
Its main compromise is that the Palestinians effectively give up their "right of return" in exchange for almost the whole of the West Bank, though there could be a token return by a few. Israel would give up some major settlements such as Ariel, but keep others closer to the border, with swaps of land in Israel for any taken in the West Bank. Palestinians would have the right to have their capital in East Jerusalem, though with Israeli sovereignty over the Western Wall in the Old City.
Another unofficial agreement was one drawn up by a former head of the Israeli Shin Bet internal security service, Ami Ayalon, and a former PLO representative in Jerusalem, Sari Nusseibeh. This envisaged a return to the 1967 lines, an open city of Jerusalem and an end to the Palestinian claim to a right of return to former homes.
Annapolis, 2007
Late in his second presidential term, US President George W Bush hosted a conference at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland aimed at relaunching the peace process.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in talks along with officials from the peace-making Quartet and more than a dozen Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Syria. This was seen as significant as they do not officially recognise Israel.
However the Palestinian group Hamas, which had won parliamentary elections and taken control of the Gaza Strip, was not represented. It declared it would not be bound by anything decided.
A joint understanding was issued by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to engage in negotiations with the goal of a full peace deal by the end of 2008. They agreed that implementation would wait until confidence-building measures outlined in the "Roadmap" had been met.
Regular meetings took place between Mr Olmert and Mr Abbas, during which their teams exchanged maps of possible border solutions, but failed to reach agreement. Mr Olmert said his offer was the most generous ever made to the Palestinians - international supervision of Jerusalem's holy sites, the symbolic return of a few thousand Palestinian refugees and reportedly Israeli withdrawal from 93.7% of the West Bank, plus the equivalent of 5.8% of its area from Israel in a land swap. Mr Abbas's team said it produced a map which offered to let the Israelis keep 1.9% of the West Bank in exchange for land in Israel.
The talks came to an abrupt halt with Israel's military offensive in Gaza in December 2008. This coincided roughly with the end of Mr Olmert's time in office and his replacement by Benjamin Netanyahu, who took several months even to back publicly the concept of a Palestinian state.
Washington, 2010
After taking office, US President Barack Obama was quick to try to restart the peace process. Contact between Israel and the Palestinians resumed in May 2009, after a hiatus of 19 months, in the form of indirect "proximity talks" through US Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
In November 2009, Mr Obama persuaded Mr Netanyahu to agree to a 10-month partial freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, which the Israeli leader hailed as "the first meaningful step towards peace". But Mr Abbas said it did not cover East Jerusalem and that he wanted a guarantee of a Palestinian state based on 1967 lines.
After months of hard diplomacy, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas had agreed to "re-launch direct negotiations to resolve all final status issues" and that they believed the talks could "be completed within one year".
The talks, also attended by President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan, began in Washington on 2 September 2010. Expectations were low and deadlock was reached within weeks.
The Israeli and Palestinian leaders met just once more, at Sharm el-Sheikh, before Israel's settlement construction freeze expired on 26 September and the talks were suspended. US negotiators subsequently failed to persuade Mr Netanyahu's coalition government to renew the moratorium, or to convince Mr Abbas to resume negotiations without an end to all settlement activities on occupied territory.
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The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has published an issue which commemorates the victims of last week's shootings in France - using an image of the Prophet Muhammad on the cover. Most Muslims say that pictorial depictions of the founder of Islam are forbidden - but has that always been the case in all of the Muslim world? | By John McManusBBC News
(This article contains a historical image of the Prophet Muhammad)
If you set aside for a moment the issue of whether satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad are insulting, there's a separate and complicated debate about whether any depiction - even a respectful one - is forbidden within Islam.
For most Muslims it's an absolute prohibition - Muhammad, or any of the other prophets of Islam, should not be pictured in any way. Pictures - as well as statues - are thought to encourage the worship of idols.
This is uncontroversial in many parts of the Islamic world. Historically, the dominant forms in Islamic art have been geometric, swirling patterns or calligraphic - rather than figurative art.
Muslims point to a verse in the Koran which features Abraham, whom they regard as a prophet:
"[Abraham] said to his father and his people: 'What are these images to whose worship you cleave?' They said: 'We found our fathers worshipping them.' He said: 'Certainly you have been, you and your fathers, in manifest error.'"
Yet there's no ruling in the Koran explicitly forbidding the depiction of the Prophet, according to Prof Mona Siddiqui from Edinburgh University. Instead, the idea arose from the Hadiths - stories about the life and sayings of Muhammad gathered in the years after his death.
Siddiqui points to depictions of Muhammad - drawn by Muslim artists - dating from the Mongol and Ottoman empires. In some of them, Muhammad's facial features are hidden - but it's clear it is him. She says the images were inspired by devotion: "The majority of people drew these pictures out of love and veneration, not intending idolatry."
At what point then, did depictions of Muhammad become haram, or forbidden?
Many of the images of Muhammad which date from the 1300s were intended only to be viewed privately, to avoid idolatry, says Christiane Gruber, associate professor of Islamic Art at Michigan University. "In some ways they were luxury items, perhaps in libraries for the elite."
Such items included miniatures which showed characters from Islam.
Gruber says the advent of mass-circulation print media in the 18th Century posed a challenge. The colonisation of some Muslim lands by European forces and ideas was also significant, she says.
The Islamic response was to emphasise how different their religion was to Christianity, with its history of public iconography, Gruber argues. Pictures of Muhammad started to disappear, and a new rhetoric against depictions emerged.
But Imam Qari Asim, of Leeds Makkah Mosque, one of the largest in the UK, denies there has been a significant change. He maintains that the effect of the Hadiths, with their injunctions against any images of living things, is automatically a prohibition on depictions of Muhammad.
He says the medieval images have to be understood in context. "The majority of these images relate to this particular Night Journey and the ascension to Heaven. There is a ram or a horse. He is on the horse or something like that.
"The classical scholars have very strongly condemned those depictions as well. But they do exist."
A key point is that they are not simple portraits of Muhammad. Asim also argues that the subject of many of the images is unclear. There is a question of whether all of these depictions actually intended to portray the Prophet or a close companion involved in the same scene, he suggests.
Prof Hugh Goddard, director of the Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World in the University of Edinburgh, says that there has been a change.
"There isn't unanimity in either of the foundational sources - the Koran and the Hadiths. The later Muslim community has tended to have different views on this question as on others."
The Arab scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, whose teachings paved the way for Wahhabism, the dominant form of Sunni Islam in Saudi Arabia, was a key figure.
"The debate has become much more vigorous - particularly associated with the movement of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. You had suspicion of veneration of anything other than God. That included the Prophet.
"There has been a significant change over certainly the last 200 years, but probably 300 years."
The situation is different with sculpture or any other kind of three-dimensional representation, notes Goddard, where the prohibition has always been clearer.
For some Muslims, says Siddiqui, the aversion to pictures has even extended to a refusal to have pictures of any live being - human or animal - in their homes.
The prohibition against depiction didn't stretch everywhere though - many Shia Muslims appear to have a slightly different view. Contemporary pictures of Muhammad are still available in some parts of the Muslim world, according to Hassan Yousefi Eshkavari, a former Iranian cleric, now based in Germany. He told the BBC that today, images of Muhammad hang in many Iranian homes: "From a religious point of view there is no prohibition on these pictures. These images exist in shops as well as houses. They aren't seen as insulting, either from a religious or cultural viewpoint."
Differences in approach among Muslims can be seen along traditional Shia/Sunni lines, but Gruber says that those who claim a historical ban has always existed are wrong.
It's an argument that many Muslims would not accept.
"The Koran itself doesn't say anything," Dr Azzam Tamimi, former head of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought told the BBC, "but it is accepted by all Islamic authorities that the Prophet Muhammad and all the other prophets cannot be drawn and cannot be produced in pictures because they are, according to Islamic faith, infallible individuals, role models and therefore should not be presented in any manner that might cause disrespect for them."
He is not convinced by the argument that if there are medieval depictions of Muhammad that suggests there is no absolute prohibition. "Even if it were that would have been condemned by the scholars of Islam."
Twitter: @JohnMcM1
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Who would you shapeshift into given the choice? | By Steven McIntoshEntertainment reporter
For Percelle Ascott, the star of Netflix's new series The Innocents, which deals with the issue of morphing into the body of somebody else, the answer is obvious.
"Will Smith," he says instantly. "I just like him as a person, as an individual."
But, he adds diplomatically: "I'd like to shapeshift into any person, to understand a new perspective, and hope that that changes my perspective."
That is very much the theme of The Innocents, which tells the story of a teenage girl - June, played by Sorcha Groundsell - who runs away with her boyfriend Harry (Ascott) to escape her repressive parents.
Things get a little more complicated when she finds she has shapeshifting powers, which she doesn't quite know how to use.
It's a device co-creator and writer Hania Elkington says was the perfect way to explore the difficulties of being a teenager.
"Your body is changing, you're trying to figure out who you are," she tells BBC News.
"Some elements of your emerging personality or psyche might frighten you or feel disconnected from you, so it's about self-acceptance, it's about unconditional love for another person, and shapeshifting seemed a very good way to explore that."
Fellow co-creator Simon Duric adds: "Shapeshifting hadn't been explored, and I'm a bit of a genre hound, and I thought 'oh, there's a gap here'.
The series, which is released on Friday, has so far received mostly warm reviews from critics.
"Say hello to your new favourite Netflix show," wrote Ian Sandwell in Digital Spy.
"It works because June's struggles as she navigates the perils of first love are relatable, even if her shapeshifter abilities take them to a whole new level.
"Everyone gets a bit jealous, but imagine how it would be if your first love was technically kissing another girl after you shapeshifted into her?"
Suzi Feay of The Financial Times was less positive, writing: "From the start, it's so disparate and oblique that it's hard to know what's going on."
Variety said the show "gets that sense of dislocation just right," but added its eight episodes could have been "whittled down".
"There's less tension than there is amplification; key points are repeated relentlessly, and the season's overarching plot, involving a cruel doctor (Guy Pearce) who wants to crack the secret within June's genes, has fizzled by season's end."
But Gavia Baker-Whitelaw in The Daily Dot said: "The Innocents is one of the best Netflix Originals to date, partly because it lacks the structural pitfalls of so many other streaming shows.
"With its self-contained episodes, sweeping Northern European locations, and a moody score by composer Carly Paradis, this could easily be airing as a primetime BBC serial."
Sorcha, who grew up in Lewis in the Western Isles, is new to the world of high profile TV series, says she is going to try to avoid reading critics' comments.
"I've never done anything that will be as reviewed as this. I think the last time I had anything to read of a review I was about 16 and I was just excited to be in it," she laughs.
"I personally think I won't [read them], just because it can distract from what you feel happy with, you don't want that to then cast a shadow."
Percelle says the key thing he hopes audiences pick up on is "the theme of identity".
"That's a massive part of the show, and how shapeshifting is used as a device to explore that. Trying to find out who you are. Being comfortable in our own skin.
"We shift in our everyday life, we evolve depending on the circumstances. And it's a question of who we are based on this new dynamic, this new experience, and trying to search for that, I don't think we ever stop searching for who we are in life."
Executive producer Elaine Pyke says she was hooked in by the show's script when she first read it, and helped Hania and Simon develop the show and pitch it to Netflix.
"I was compelled by it, I was moved by it, and I know that that combination is something you just don't read that often, she says.
"I fell in love with it very quickly. And," she laughs, "I didn't want to lose it to another producer."
In some ways, launching it on Netflix means pressure is high, with the company's seemingly endless stream of runaway hits.
Stranger Things and 13 Reasons Why are among the shows to have set a high bar for subsequent dramas, with both developing huge followings and creating breakout stars.
But there's one thing that makes it far less stressful than launching it on a traditional TV channel.
"We won't get viewing figures," Elaine explains. "We'll get feedback from Netflix about how it's been received, and I definitely feel a certain pressure and a certain stress about it, I want it to land and for lots and lots of people to watch it.
"But what I think is really different is you haven't got that overnight, all the pressure on one episode, you've got the whole series and are standing by the whole show."
One way Sorcha manages to escape the pressures of a major TV series, is by helping out on her parents' farm in the Outer Hebrides.
"For me it's the best possible way to manage this craziness, because it means I can leave London, leave the industry and go back home and be around people who have never heard of Netflix and don't have strong enough wi-fi to stream in any way," she says.
"It's sheep and cows and badgers and ducks and it's nothing to do with this, which I personally really love, it can get quite stressful and quite crazy so it's nice to be able to have a break."
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Dundee United's club captain Willo Flood has urged people to share an online appeal to find an Inverness man missing in Hamburg in Germany. | Liam Colgan has not been seen since the early hours of Saturday when he was out on his brother Eamonn's stag do.
Mr Colgan, 29, has been described as a keen Dundee United fan.
In a video on the football club's Twitter and Facebook sites, Flood said: "Liam, if you see this buddy, get in touch."
The footballer said the missing man's family had asked for the message to be shared on social media.
Flood said: "This is an appeal to everyone out there to share this video and help bring Liam Colgan home safe."
Police in Hamburg have been making enquiries and searching for Mr Colgan, who is his brother's best man.
The Foreign Office said it was assisting the family.
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Controversial plans to demolish a former Denbighshire community hospital to make way for social housing have been granted by councillors. | Llangollen hospital closed two years ago with in-patients' beds transferred to Chirk hospital as part of a health service reorganisation.
Work is under way on a new health centre for the town but opponents had hoped to save the hospital.
The Grwp Cynefin housing association wants to build 12 homes on the site.
The proposals were agreed by the council's planning committee on Wednesday.
Some local people had lodged objections, citing traffic dangers, loss of car park spaces and there was a dispute over the ownership of the site.
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Campaigners trying to stop a Powys pub becoming a supermarket say they have been given more time to raise funds. | Punch Taverns had planned to put The Corn Exchange in Crickhowell up for sale to all bidders by mid-August.
But The Corn Exchange Community Investment Group (CECIG) said it has been allowed two more weeks to make a first offer following a "positive" meeting between the two.
Punch confirmed it is in "continued positive discussions" with the group.
Negotiators from CECIG said Punch was "willing to work with the town if we can reach agreement on price".
A Punch spokeswoman said opportunities "which are acceptable for all parties" were being explored.
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Leaders of the five Teesside councils have called for more local input when it comes to a response to coronavirus. | It follows a meeting between Darlington, Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton council leaders, and Middlesbrough's mayor.
They said it was "vital" local circumstances were taken into account in decision-making.
On Thursday the government announced tighter restrictions or Middlesbrough and Hartlepool.
Councillor Mary Lanigan, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough, who chaired the meeting, said: "We all want the same outcome, and we believe more local input would help keep people safe, save jobs and return us more quickly to a more normal way of life."
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Plane-maker Airbus is to pay the wages of staff who will miss out on the UK government's furlough scheme because they were helping to make life-saving ventilators for the NHS. | About 500 staff have been producing parts for ventilators in the AMRC Cymru facility at Airbus's Broughton site in Flintshire.
That work is due to stop at the end of this month.
Workers needed to register for furlough by 10 June.
But about 200 Airbus staff have missed the UK government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme's deadline because they are currently still working on the ventilators.
Airbus will continue to furlough production staff at the end of July for three weeks.
It said it would match the UK government's payment scheme for ventilator workers whose teams end up being furloughed.
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Arizona is at the centre of the US debate over immigration after introducing a tough new law targeting illegal entrants to the country. The BBC's Robin Lustig travelled to the state's border with Mexico, and met those on the frontline of the issue.
| If you look through the bars of the steel fence in Nogales, southern Arizona, you find yourself looking at Nogales, Mexico.
The fence marks the international border between the US and Mexico - and it runs right through the town.
Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans cross this border illegally every year, and an increasing number of Americans want to stop them.
Dealing with illegal immigrants is what Border Patrol Agent Richard Funke does every day.
As he drove me along the high steel border fence, he told me: "You see people watching that fence every hour of every day. Someone tries to get across every day of the year."
And sure enough, within minutes, we had spotted a young Mexican darting through a hole in the fence. But other agents had spotted him too; and he was soon back in Mexico again.
Footprints
Out in the desert, Agent Funke suddenly pulled over to show me a trail leading from the road towards the border.
"Look at those footprints," he said. "They're no more than a few hours old … someone was here earlier this morning, probably dropping off a consignment of drugs from across the border."
Thirty miles north of the border, I met Pat King, round-faced and friendly, at home on the ranch that she runs with her husband John.
With her grand-daughters scampering about as the sun set below the hills and the shadows lengthened, she told me why she wants illegal immigrants stopped.
"They come across the ranch, right up by the house. Our fences are damaged, our gates are left open, the cattle stray.
"We see so much drug-smuggling, the Mexican cartels are getting much stronger. If the men go out and stumble across a group of smugglers, they're convinced they're going to end up with a bullet in the back."
'Under-funded'
The Kings' ranch is used as a local headquarters by a group called the Minutemen.
They go out searching for illegal immigrants - and call in the Border Patrol if they find any.
Their local leader, Mike Vyne, a Vietnam veteran, says politicians want to encourage illegal immigrants because they keep labour costs low.
He has little time for Washington, or for President Barack Obama.
"I reckon Obama is in favour of illegal immigrants because they're the only ones who'll vote for him at the next election," he told me.
"That's why he keeps the Border Patrol purposely under-staffed, under-funded, and under-equipped."
'Not at war'
In the rapidly growing town of Casa Grande, baking in the afternoon sun, I met no-nonsense sheriff Paul Babeu. He's an ex-cop and he wants to hunt down every illegal immigrant he can find.
"We're not at war with Mexico," he says. "But there's a clear link between high crime rates and illegal immigrants.
"This new law is a good tool to send out a clear message: 'If you're here illegally, guess what, you're going to be arrested.'"
There are thought to be half a million illegal immigrants in Arizona. If Sheriff Babeu is right, that means his men are going to be making a lot of arrests.
Robin Lustig presents the BBC's The World Tonight.
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Earthquakes have the power to shake cities to the ground, yet in the UK about 200 a year rumble under our feet mostly unnoticed. Your Questions led us to investigate earthquakes in Herefordshire - where one expert thinks the county is a hotspot for these hidden tremors. | By Danielle HaydenBBC News
"Herefordshire experiences a lot of earthquakes compared to other areas," says David Galloway, seismologist at the British Geological Survey (BGS).
More than 100 have been recorded in the county in the last 40 years - and five small tremors have happened already this year, he says.
Hereford was named twice in the BGS list of the most significant British earthquakes - with magnitudes of 5.2 in 1863 and 5.3 in 1896.
The largest-known earthquake in the UK had a magnitude of 6.1 and happened in the North Sea on 7 June 1931.
Although the majority of earthquakes go unobserved by those not in the know, one or two a month are felt and can cause alarm.
Mr Galloway says the most recent "widely felt" tremor, in Bromyard in 2008, had a magnitude of 3.6 and affected areas between Malvern and Worcester.
He says people described the quake as feeling like "a lorry crashing in to the side of their house" and more than a dozen people contacted the police.
One Malvern resident told the Telegraph: "I saw the wardrobe doors rattle and thought someone was trapped in it. It was terrifying."
"There has been a number of earthquakes in Herefordshire, some only detected by our BGS seismometers but some larger ones which were widely felt all over the region," Mr Galloway says.
"And also bear in mind that some other earthquakes have occurred out of the region but were felt in Herefordshire, for example the magnitude 5.1 Shropshire earthquake on 2 April 1990."
Since 1975, 108 earthquakes have been recorded in Herefordshire, but barely any hit headlines.
This is because they register as low on the seismograph, which measures the magnitude of the earthquake, from 1 for small to 10 for super intense.
This information is gathered from a network of more than 100 seismograph stations across the UK with the closest being in Michaelchurch, Herefordshire.
"We don't really know why so we record so many here, as earthquakes in the UK are random," says Mr Galloway.
"The country is in the middle of [the Eurasian] plate, which is moving all the time, so it sometimes stresses certain areas.
"But it does seem that places such as Herefordshire, Wales and North West Scotland are areas particularly prone to them."
This story was inspired by Your Questions: "Has there ever been an earthquake in Hereford?"
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Voters across America are preparing to take part in the biggest day of the 2020 election so far. | By Roland Hughes & Holly HonderichBBC News
More than a year after the first Democratic candidates joined the race to take on Donald Trump, we've now reached Super Tuesday.
Fourteen states will vote on which Democrat they want to run in November's election. Bernie Sanders is in the lead after the early contests.
By Wednesday, we could have a clearer picture of who the nominee will be.
What's happened so far?
Democrats across the US have been taking part in a series of caucuses (essentially party meetings, where you vote publicly at the end) or primaries (secret ballots) to pick their preferred candidate.
Bernie Sanders's success has come as a bit of a surprise. The Vermont senator lost out to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race, but he isn't a typical Democrat by any means (in fact, he sits as an Independent in the Senate).
He's a staunch left-winger, so may struggle to convince the party's moderates if he becomes the candidate. He's also 78, and suffered a heart attack in the autumn. But he's proven extremely popular in the primaries so far across many age groups and ethnicities, and all the momentum is on his side.
The handful of moderate Democrats running have split the vote, so it's made it hard for any of them to break out (and this has helped Sanders build up a lead).
One of them, former vice-president and early favourite Joe Biden, underwhelmed before winning convincingly in South Carolina on Saturday. However, he has since seen a swell in momentum after centrist rivals Pete Buttigieg, and Amy Klobuchar quit the race to endorse him.
Ask me
Sanders does not have the left lane to himself either - Elizabeth Warren, the experienced Massachusetts senator, shares several of his policy objectives but has not lived up to expectations.
So might any of these candidates win the election in November? Honestly, it's too close to call, and there are so many unknown factors.
Why does Super Tuesday matter?
It's all about the delegates.
Let's say Candidate A gets the most support in one state. Candidate B does OK, but not as well. Candidate A is then awarded the most delegates, and Candidate B fewer. The number of delegates available differs in each state.
Later in the summer, those delegates will then vote for their candidate to become the Democratic nominee. The target for any candidate is to reach an unbeatable majority of 1,990 delegates.
This is where Super Tuesday comes in.
Up to now, only 155 delegates have been awarded in four states. On Super Tuesday, a massive 1,357 delegates will be distributed, and 14 states are voting. The two most populous, California and Texas, will take part - the former for the first time on Super Tuesday.
Here's what is at stake in each state - the smallest to the largest - with some bonus nuggets of trivia thrown in.
Who will do best? A no-brainer: Bernie Sanders. He is one of the state's senators, after all.
Who could do well? Honestly? There's a chance no-one except Sanders will cross the 15% threshold of votes and get any delegates. He is extremely popular in his home state and won the 2016 primary here with 86% of the vote (though he eventually lost the nomination to Hillary Clinton). We could see the first results from here at about 19:00 local time (midnight GMT).
One piece of context In a poll by Vermont Public Radio in February, almost a third of people said the economy, jobs and cost of living were among the main issues on their minds - although Vermont has the joint-lowest unemployment rate in the country, at 2.3%.
State bird? Hermit thrush
Who will do best? We're going to start sounding repetitive, but polls point to Bernie Sanders. In 2016, he won more than double the number of delegates claimed by Hillary Clinton here.
Who could do well? There are more contenders than in 2016 which means Sanders' lead won't be as large. But billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Joe Biden are polling far behind.
One piece of context This isn't the only thing on the ballot on Super Tuesday in Maine. There's also a referendum on whether to reject a law that would block religious and philosophical objections to vaccinations.
State animal? Moose
Who will do best? Clue: his name is an anagram of Desire Banners. Sanders won here convincingly in 2016.
Who could do well? It's unlikely anyone will challenge Sanders. The most recent poll put Bloomberg in a distant second and former Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg in third, before he dropped out. Could Bloomberg win votes that might have gone to Buttigieg, and tighten the gap on Sanders?
One piece of context Utah has not voted for a Democrat in the presidential election since 1964, when it picked Lyndon B Johnson. So whoever comes out on top here may not take the state in November.
State gem? Topaz
Who will do best? A recent poll by Hendrix College in Arkansas suggested Bloomberg's plan of concentrating on Super Tuesday states could pay off here.
Who could do well? Biden and Sanders possibly, although it's a close-run thing. Forecasting site FiveThirtyEight gives Biden a stronger chance - the vote could be split fairly evenly.
One piece of context It might not matter who Democrats pick: Arkansas has opted for a Democrat in a presidential election only twice in 40 years (and even then, it was local boy Bill Clinton, twice).
State dinosaur? Arkansaurus fridayi
Who will do best? It's tough to say. Biden, maybe just.
Who could do well? Bloomberg and Sanders, according to Oklahoma polling group Sooner last week.
One piece of context Fracking is a big issue here, and Sanders and Warren (who was born in Oklahoma City) have both proposed measures to ban it. The underground disposal of waste water used in fracking has led to a rise in earthquakes in this part of the US.
State beverage? Milk
Who will do best? We're in safe Biden territory. He has the support of plenty of senior Democrats in Alabama, and is widely liked among African Americans there.
Who could do well? Biden's lead in the polls looks fairly comfortable, but Bloomberg and Sanders appear most likely to challenge him.
One piece of context Republicans are also deciding who will run in November's Senate race, where they are very hopeful of ousting Democrat Doug Jones (and making it harder for Democrats to win the Senate later this year). The favourite right now is Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump's former attorney general.
State amphibian? Red Hills Salamander
Who will do best? It's close. FiveThirtyEight suggests Biden's chances here have improved a lot over the past few days.
Who could do well? There has been very little polling here, but it could well be Sanders, who was a distant second to Hillary Clinton here in 2016.
One piece of context In Tennessee, who votes may be a bigger issue than who wins - it has one of the worst voter turnout rates in the US. In the last presidential election, just over half of registered voters turned out, 10 points below the national average.
State wild animal? Raccoon
Who will do best? FiveThirtyEight gives Sanders a seven in eight chance of winning most votes here. You may notice that a picture is starting to form.
Who could do well? The site puts Biden in a distant second, with Elizabeth Warren just behind him.
One piece of context Once a Republican stronghold, out-of-state migration and population growth has turned Colorado increasingly "blue" - a Democratic tilt that extends down the ballot. In its latest predictions, election forecaster Sabato's Crystal Ball changed its rating of the state's US Senate race from "toss up" to "leans Democratic".
State cactus? Claret Cup Cactus
Who will do best? It was all set to be Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar until she withdrew on Monday. She has now endorsed Biden, so... maybe Biden?
Who could do well? Sanders had been close behind Klobuchar in second, and is likely to pick up a decent amount of delegates here.
One piece of context This part of the US was badly hit by Donald Trump's trade war with China - advocacy group Tariffs Hurt The Heartland said businesses in Minnesota had to pay $797m (£604m) more in tariffs as a result. Will that translate into more support for Democrats in this election?
State mushroom? Morel
Who will do best? Sanders, maybe. But it will be close.
Who could do well? Elizabeth Warren, but it might be embarrassing if she doesn't win, given she is the senior senator for the state. Buttigieg's withdrawal may help her.
One piece of context A massive 40% of the candidates left in the race (two people) live in Massachusetts - as well as Warren, the other is Michael Bloomberg, who lives in Medford. Despite actor Michael Douglas campaigning for him there, he is not expected to do especially well here.
State fish? Cod
Who will do best? This will be a really interesting one to follow. The vote could be split fairly evenly between Sanders, Bloomberg and Biden.
Who could do well? See above.
One piece of context Watch the results in the Washington DC suburbs. This suburban vote will be crucial across the country in November's election (as it was in the 2018 mid-terms). How will the nationwide favourite, Bernie Sanders, perform there? Will moderates in the suburbs warm to him?
State dog? American foxhound
Who will do best? It's quite a similar picture to neighbouring Virginia, and will also be worth following - it's close between Sanders and Biden.
Who could do well? Bloomberg was polling well here at one point, but is drifting behind a little by now.
One piece of context This will also be a battleground state in November. As with Virginia, watch the crucially important suburbs of cities like Charlotte and Raleigh. But watch who they vote for, and whether that person ends up becoming the nominee. The way the votes go here in November might help decide the election.
State fruit? Scuppernong grape
Who will do best? We're into the big league now. It's very close between Sanders and Biden here. Either way, it looks likely Sanders will claim a large amount of delegates and by the time the results come in from Texas, his lead could be big.
Who could do well? It is likely to be a good night for Biden here too. Elizabeth Warren is third or fourth in most polls.
One piece of context There's reason to think that the so-called sleeping giant of the Texas Hispanic vote - now almost two million voters - is about to wake up. In the 2018 midterms, 46.9% of registered Hispanic voters turned out, a leap from 24.4% in 2014.
State crustacean? Texas Gulf Shrimp
Who will do best? If Sanders really does have an eight in nine chance of winning most votes here, as FiveThirtyEight predicts, you might as well call him the nominee. This is where Sanders' appeal to his "multiracial coalition" pays off - he looks like he could do well with African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans here.
Who could do well? Right now, Biden looks like being a distant second.
One piece of context This will be a Super Tuesday debut for California. Lawmakers moved the state's primary up a month from its traditional spot in June in an effort to increase California's impact. The shift could matter: the country's most populous state will award 30% of the delegates on Super Tuesday.
State motto? Eureka!
*American Samoa (six delegates) and Democrats Abroad (13) are also voting on Super Tuesday
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Arul Kanda, the head of the Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB has an impressive track record of restructuring ailing companies and making a profit from them. A former banker, he's worked in the UK and in the Middle East, and has had a string of successes. | Karishma VaswaniAsia business correspondent@KarishmaBBCon Twitter
So it did seem surprising to me that he would be willing to stake his reputation on turning around the scandal hit fund 1MDB, after it amassed more than $11bn (£7bn) worth of debts.
And what a way to hit the ground running. Within the first six months of him taking on the job, 1MDB was hit by allegations that $700m from companies linked to 1MDB were transferred to Prime Minister Najib Razak's personal bank account.
The claims have triggered investigations by some international authorities including the Swiss.
Both the Prime Minister and 1MDB have denied any wrongdoing and Malaysia's anti-corruption commission said the money was donations from a private donor in the Middle East.
But the questions keep coming - not least from Malaysians themselves who are asking where the money's gone.
Mr Kanda has a ready reply to those who would hold him and the Prime Minister to account.
"1MDB today, through the actions of the government, is now the most investigated company in the country," Mr Kanda told me in his first international television interview.
"Whatever happened in the past is being thoroughly reviewed and investigated".
Restructuring expert
Even before this story broke in July, questions were being asked about the purpose and performance of 1MDB, which has changed auditors twice since 2009.
Malaysia already has a sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah, which makes investments for the country's national development.
1MDB was set up in 2009 by Mr Najib, who chairs its advisory board and also serves as Malaysia's finance minister, with similar ambitions.
The fund borrowed money to buy major real estate and power assets in the country and abroad, with the intention of developing them and turn them into profitable entities.
But it's now in the process of selling off stakes in some of its prized energy assets in an attempt to raise cash and pay down some of its multi-billion dollar debt.
Mr Kanda stressed 1MDB's financials will be fine.
"The value of assets outweigh value of debt," he told me at their office in Kuala Lumpur. The value of assets can be proven given bids we've received".
Mr Kanda told me that the company would start to see a profit sometime next year, after they've sold off some of their key assets.
But as one opposition party member said to me that any business that has to sell off their key assets to stay alive really doesn't have much to show for itself.
Others in the financial circles have said they don't expect to see 1MDB last beyond next year.
Economic woes
And then there's the politics - never far away from the world of business in Malaysia's intricately connected society.
Since the scandal broke, calls for the prime minister to step down have been growing from protestors, and even from the high profile former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who still holds a lot of influence in the country.
This scandal couldn't have come at a worse time for the Malaysian economy. It's been particularly hard hit by the global slowdown and collapse in commodity prices.
Making things worse, the Malaysian ringgit, has lost about 13% of its value this year, making it the worst performing currency in Asia.
Most Malaysians are used to the culture of cronyism and patronage amongst their public officials.
But any hint of mismanagement of public funds - at a time when they're grappling with the soaring cost of living - is likely to lead even higher levels of resentment with their leaders.
With additional reporting by Leisha Chi
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As Bangladesh celebrates 50 years of independence, Qasa Alom reflects on how the country his British-Bangladeshi family still calls home is being affected by climate change. | "Can you turn the air-con on?" I asked over and over but none of the grown-ups seemingly could hear me. "It's so hot!"
My mum shot me a look that suggested I would have more than the heat to worry about if I carried on moaning.
We had come to Bangladesh, the country of my ancestors, to see my grandparents, visit our village and, as I was constantly reminded, to "learn about my roots".
As a child, I had spent my holidays roaming our lands - exploring the rice paddies with my younger brother, watching the farm hands tend to the cows and fishing in one of several fushkunis, or small lakes. It was a giant playground, full of joy, wonder and mischief.
But, that magic had started to wear off as a teen.
One thing I remember vividly about that trip was the moment we were all told to get out of the car that was taking us from the airport to our village.
The road in front of us was completely under water.
We were only about half an hour from our "bari" - village estate - but the journey was about to take an unexpected turn. We all climbed aboard a bamboo boat called a nowka, which then meandered down the murky green water for another two or three hours.
That was 15 years ago - the last time I visited our village.
My mum, Ratna, and I talked about this story as we were going through some old photos, which captured 90s fashion, bad haircuts and our land - "a sea of green" - as she describes it. "Your dad dreams of us retiring there, but that won't happen," my mum says. "You, however, need to know what we have there, because that's your inheritance."
My dad was raised in Bangladesh and regularly goes back to look after our estate, visit the school he set up and catch up with the local villagers. Ever since I was a child I've been told that he plans to pass the old family home to my brother, sister and me to look after - but that's not a topic we talk about much any more.
It often ends in an awkward silence.
Like many British Bangladeshis, my father feels duty-bound to help his village and the people he left behind. He has raised funds to build roads and a mosque, for farming equipment, and even to help people with medical bills.
Half the money he earned over the years working in Birmingham's restaurant trade has been sent back to invest in the land and the village, which was named after his great-great-grandfather.
Every summer he would suggest that I return with him to help, but I used to shrug and say, "I don't have time."
My grandmother is the only member of the family who still lives in the bari now - one by one everyone else emigrated abroad, to the UK, Canada, and the United States.
But according to my father, "Everything is falling into ruin. It's all going to pieces, nobody is living there and it's just becoming desolate."
My mum explains that generations of my father's family have lived there and that he has worked hard to build it up. "He doesn't want it to be lost."
I've heard these words hundreds of times - but they've never really sunk in until now.
Perhaps that's because I'm starting to appreciate my own history and lineage more. As British-Bangladeshis we are now more comfortable with our dual identity and want to find out more about the Bangladeshi part of ourselves.
Or perhaps I just wasn't ready in my late teens and early 20s. I was more interested in conquering the world, rather than preserving our little piece of it.
I am now ready to help my father preserve our home. But there is something else to think about, and it's a far greater threat than neglect and apathy: climate change.
Bangladesh is at the epicentre of the global climate crisis - 80% of the country is floodplain, and it is affected by floods, storms, riverbank erosions, cyclones and droughts. It ranks seventh on the Global Climate Risk Index of countries most affected by extreme weather events.
"I jokingly say, Bangladesh is God's laboratory for natural disaster - we have all the disasters except volcanic eruption," says Prof Ainun Nishat, an environmental expert for the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research, who advises the Bangladeshi government.
Prof Nishat believes that unless we start to control greenhouse gas emissions today, the situation will become unmanageable.
Bangladesh at 50
The Asian Network's Qasa Alom presents a series of programmes marking Bangladesh at 50
The monsoon season from June - October sees incredible rainfall on the lush and fertile land, much of which flows away into one of the three huge rivers that run through the country like giant arteries: the Meghna, the Padma (the Ganges) and the Brahmaputra-Jamuna.
Flooding has always taken place during monsoons - my mum remembers how 30 years ago, she and my dad took a nowka all the way to their front porch.
But the rainfall pattern is becoming more erratic, says Prof Nishat. "It is raining when it is not supposed to rain and it is not raining when it is supposed to rain."
With rainfall fluctuating across the year, flash floods now occur more frequently and ferociously. And our region is particularly susceptible.
Like the majority of the 500,000 British-Bangladeshis, we come from Sylhet, in the north-eastern part of the country. It has high levels of rainfall and it's near the Haor Basin, a large saucer-shaped floodplain, 113 km wide, an area that is undergoing persistent subsidence - in some places it has sunk by 12m over the past 200 years, and it is still sinking.
In 2020 Sylhet was hit by huge flash floods that affected thousands of families, whose homes, belongings and livelihoods were swept away by this unforgiving natural disaster.
In fact over a quarter of the country was flooded that monsoon season. Nearly 1.3 million homes were damaged, hundreds of thousands of people were marooned and hundreds died.
Bangladesh is one of the world's most densely-populated countries, and many people live in high-risk areas. That is because much of the higher land in Bangladesh has already been built on. At the time of Partition in 1947, Bangladesh - or East Pakistan as it was known then - had a population of about 40 million. Many of those houses were on higher ground, often built by the rich or left by the British.
As time has gone on though, the population in Bangladesh has increased to around 170 million people. Newer communities in developing areas are having to be built closer to floodplains and on lower ground, thus putting more people at risk.
The UN estimates that by 2050 about 20% more of Bangladesh will be under water.
Vast areas of land, homes and memories are disappearing forever - including, potentially, my ancestral home. When I asked my parents how the floods have impacted them, my dad turned away. Not through apathy - but pain. My mother told me why.
"Over the years, I hear your dad talking to his mum. The rice crops and everything, it's getting less and less. During the monsoon season it gets flooded, so there's a loss."
That came as a surprise to me. I'd seen flooding on the news and pictures of tin shacks being swept away, but our house is solid. It's on a raised platform and built on strong foundations. But there is a concern for the villagers around us, who depend on us and also on our food, crops and produce.
"The weather is getting more extreme," says Shipu Thakder, a friend of my dad's who helps us out in Sylhet. "It is getting too hot. We don't understand when there will be rain and when there will be thunderstorms. Sunshine is difficult - we can't go outside without an umbrella or protection."
And now that the supply of water can't be relied upon, my father's land is getting drier, leading to village arguments about access to water.
About two-thirds of the country works in agriculture - rice, vegetables, fruit, fishing and farming. It's fertile land, but Prof Nishat is concerned about how a rise in temperature could affect crops and food production.
"It is felt by the ecosystem and biodiversity, so it is going to challenge the productivity of food and that is where we are fighting and struggling," he says. "We are afraid that bad days are ahead."
The concerns about drought and flooding mean that it's harder to predict how much crop people will yield. That, along with the growing population in Bangladesh, means that it's becoming a priority for the government.
Unlike in the past though, Prof Nishat thinks it's something the country is well-equipped to deal with.
"Maybe 20, 30 years back we were dependent on external support for recovering from any natural disaster, but now the economic condition has improved, people's resilience has improved, and their capacity to withstand or manage natural disaster has improved.
"We are one of the most vulnerable countries, we admit, but possibly we are one of the most prepared. We suffered through these disasters regularly, so the people have their own resilience systems to cope with it."
That togetherness and spirit is something every Bangladeshi I have spoken to is very proud of. "Our neighbours are good. We help each other," Shipu told me.
But while people in Bangladesh are doing their bit, it is vital that those of us in Bangladeshi diasporas all over the world to not forget the people who are still there.
"I'll come back with you next year," I told my dad in Bengali. He'd heard me say it a number of times before, but not like this. There was certainty in my voice and he could feel it.
After the pandemic is over and it is safe to travel, I intend to keep my promise.
The older I get, the more I understand the significance of my ties to my ancestral home, and the more I realise that the land that my father, my grandfather and so many generations before them were raised on, could be flooded and lost forever.
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Members of the public have a new way to influence what is debated in Parliament - a re-launched and beefed up e-petitions system. Will it improve engagement between the people and their representatives - or is it all just window dressing? | By Gary ConnorPolitical Reporter, The Westminster Hour, Radio 4
Camilla Goddard maintains over 60 hives across London and is just one of many in her industry concerned about the effect that neonicotinoid pesticides can have on bees.
"Bees are having a hard time anyway, with parasites and variations in the weather every year. I've had instances of bees being killed by pesticides. It's a horrible thing to see."
The government temporarily lifted a ban on neonicotinoids in certain parts of the country, earlier this year - a decision which was described as "scandalous" at the time by environmental groups.
Now that cause has been taken up by Liz St. Clair, an "amateur gardener" who is using the new system to raise awareness of the plight of bees and has gathered over 85,000 signatures for her e-petition.
"I saw that there were several campaigns out there to try to stop these pesticides from being reintroduced into British fields.
"The government isn't obliged to take notice of anybody else's petition, but they'll be obliged to take notice of something on their own website."
E-petitions - a brief history
Downing Street launched an e-petition site in November 2006
It proved instantly popular with 2,860 active petitions being set up in the first six months
Almost 1.8 million people backed a petition calling on Tony Blair's government to "scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy"
An unnamed government minister branded the site an own-goal thought up by a "prat" - but road pricing disappeared off the government's agenda
More than 50,000 people backed a petition calling for Jeremy Clarkson to be made prime minister prompting a jokey YouTube response from No 10
Other spoof petitions on the now defunct Downing Street e-petitions site included a call for Spandau Ballet's Gold to be made the national anthem
In 2011, the coalition government launched a new e-petition site, with the prospect of a debate if 100,000 signatures are reached
In the same year, the Obama administration launched its We the People e-petitions site, although it has been criticised as a PR exercise
Listen to Gary's Westminster Hour piece on e-petitions
Under the previous system, petitions were directed to government departments rather than MPs - just over 30 were debated in four years.
Now when a petition that passes 10,000 signatures, it receives a response from the government, and there's a new cross-party committee of MPs which will look at each petition that gets 100.000 signatures and consider it for a parliamentary debate.
Labour's Helen Jones, who chairs the Petitions Committee, said the difficulty at the moment was juggling the volume of petitions submitted with the amount of time available for debates to take place.
Ms Jones also said the committee will also be able to consider whether to hold debates on subjects that fail to reach the 100,000 threshold but are "worthy of debate but would not get time elsewhere".
"We're going through a process of learning ourselves how to deal with petitions, but also of engaging the public to allow them to understand what can be done and what can't be done.
"That's a two-way process and will take some time."
'Secret ballot'
Lord Lisvane, the former clerk of the House of Commons, and an now a crossbench peer, said that petitions had been around for "almost as long as parliament has been around".
"Petitions were the origin of legislation, and were a way of saying 'fix this'.
"The secret ballot, universal male suffrage, the abolition of the slave trade - they took a long time to come about, but they started through a process of petitioning."
Anyone can start a petition, as long as they are a British citizen or a UK resident.
More than 1,400 have chosen to so far, on topics as diverse as the introduction of mandatory drugs tests for MPs, the introduction of a UK national day, and minimum prices for milk.
Campaigns can quickly go viral on social media, gathering thousands of supportive signatures in a few hours.
But some question whether responding to this form of campaigning, however popular, is an effective use of politicians' time.
'Raising a topic'
Philosopher Roger Scruton argues that we elect our MPs to represent our interests and think seriously about issues.
"People are social animals who respond to collective emotions, they can respond to crowd feelings.
"We all know that we can feel these crowd emotions at one moment and retire to our private quarters and recognise that we were wrong.
"We want MPs to be the same, not just to be driven along on the whims of collective emotion, as though they were not duty bound to think things through."
Several parliamentary debates which were prompted by e-petitions have already taken place, on contracts and conditions in the NHS, the legalisation of cannabis and immigration.
Currently the ten most popular petitions on Parliament's website have collectively attracted some 1.7m signatures of support.
A debate in Parliament is a good way to raise the profile of an issue with law makers but it does not automatically follow that there will be a change in the law.
Labour's Helen Jones warns that signing a petition is only the first move towards achieving change.
"It's not the end, it is a way of raising a topic, getting it on the radar and getting it talked about.
"But I think it's very important that people realise that getting a debate is often only the beginning of the process."
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Couples who struggle to conceive a child are sometimes given the option of using a donated embryo. In the US this is commonly referred to as "embryo adoption", particularly at Christian clinics, where it is regarded as saving a life - and where the future parents may have to be married and heterosexual to be eligible for treatment. | By Jasmine Taylor-ColemanBBC News, Tennessee
When Jennifer and Aaron Wilson found they could not get pregnant, they knew exactly what they wanted to do.
The couple from North Carolina had the choice of starting in vitro fertilisation (IVF), in which mature eggs are fertilised with sperm in a laboratory. Or they could have tried to adopt a child already in need of a home.
Instead they applied to a specialist Christian fertility clinic in Knoxville, Tennessee - the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) - which promised to help them "adopt" an embryo.
Doctors often create extra embryos when a couple undergoes IVF, in case multiple rounds of treatment are needed. But this can leave many left over. More than 600,000 are currently being held in frozen storage in the US, most of them waiting to be used by the couple that created them the next time they want to try to have a child.
But not all of these embryos are needed, and it is estimated that one in 10 are available for embryo donation.
For many couples who have had IVF treatment, what happens to those no-longer-needed frozen embryos is a question that requires careful consideration - should the embryos be kept indefinitely in cryo-preservation or discarded? If the couple believes human life starts at conception, this can be an urgent moral dilemma.
A similar dilemma confronts pro-life couples seeking fertility treatment. Should they opt for IVF, and add to the ranks of frozen embryos preserved in liquid nitrogen? Or should they instead "adopt" a frozen embryo from a donor?
"We're Christian and we're very pro-life so we thought, 'Oh my goodness, this is a great way of putting our pro-life beliefs into action by giving these frozen babies a chance to be born,'" says Jennifer Wilson.
From the couple's point of view the embryos represent tiny lives, frozen in time, that need saving.
"We believe the Bible has several passages that speak to the fact that life begins at fertilisation," says Aaron.
"For us, you take something like IVF, which typically produces a lot of embryos - we view that as a lot of children. Our concern, as Christians, is how do we respond to that, how do we care for this life?"
In November 2010, Jennifer Wilson got pregnant at the NEDC's small clinic in an out-of-town retail park with twins from donated embryos. Abel and Belle have just turned five.
The Wilsons recently returned to the centre in the hope of adding to their family.
Sitting in a hospital bed at the NEDC, Jennifer was handed a photo of three donated embryos that had been carefully thawed - ready to be transferred into her womb.
"The procedure is not comfortable but it's quick," says Jennifer.
Aaron had to wait outside as his wife was wheeled into the operation room. Lying back, with her legs in stirrups, Jennifer watched ultrasound images on a screen as Dr Jeffrey Keenan, president of the NEDC, used a catheter to insert the three clusters of cells into her womb.
It was over in a matter of minutes. All Jennifer and Aaron could do next was wait to find out whether any of the embryos would become a foetus and then, with luck, a baby.
They knew very little about that potential baby apart from its race. The embryos transferred did not come from the same genetic parents as Abel and Belle, and the Wilsons had chosen not to have any contact with them. The only thing they knew about them was the state they lived in.
Other families have different arrangements, however. After undergoing IVF, Andy and Shannon Weber from Alabama had two children, now aged eight and five, and wanted to donate their leftover embryos.
"Our belief is that life begins at conception and the little embryos, they are human life, not just a couple of cells put together. We definitely couldn't destroy them or let them sit there in cryo-preservation forever," says Andy.
But he and his wife were also keen that they should go to a "good, solid Christian" family.
"We wanted a married couple - a man and a woman. We didn't really want a single parent or any sort of alternative lifestyle," says Andy.
"By no means did we care about race or ethnicity. We just wanted the embryos to go to a good home."
Unlike in the UK where equality laws mean clinics have to treat all patients equally, centres in the US can help donors select parents for their embryos based on criteria such as race, sexuality and religion.
The Webers had Skype conversations with their potential recipient family before deciding that they were suitable. Their chosen couple, Amber and Jerry Lacey, now have a one-year-old son, named Sawyer, from the embryos the Webers donated and the two families spent last Thanksgiving together.
"We see them as uncle, aunt and cousin," says Andy. He and his wife have not yet told their two children that their baby "cousin" is in fact a genetic sibling. "We're going to wait until they can grasp the whole idea."
Since 2002, the US government has been giving between $1m and $4m every year to organisations that promote awareness of embryo donation and "adoption" (the government's own website uses this term).
The NEDC, which has brought about the birth of nearly 600 babies using donated embryos, has been one of the main recipients of these funds. Another is the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption programme, run by the Nightlight Christian Adoption Agency, which has led to the birth of more than 400 children, and helped introduce the term "snowflake baby" into the lexicon, as a way of referring to someone born in this way.
While using donated embryos remains far less common than using donated sperm or eggs, the popularity of this treatment has doubled over the last 10 years, much of it driven by conservative Christian and pro-life groups.
Asked to explain why the NEDC bars same-sex couples and single women from receiving donated embryos, Dr Jeffery Keenan says: "So many people think, 'It's my right to have a child,'... I don't see that. Just because we can do something medically, doesn't make it right."
But other fertility experts disagree with the centre's approach.
"I do not think that here in the US we should be allowing these organisations to make these decisions about who can become a parent and who can't," says Barbara Collura, head of Resolve, the National Infertility Association.
Embryo donation
Meanwhile, Dr Owen Davis, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), warns that organisations refusing treatment to single women or same-sex couples could be vulnerable to anti-discrimination lawsuits.
"Medical societies certainly feel that one should not discriminate in a medical practice based on sexual orientation, religion or marital status," he says.
He is also concerned about language that portrays the embryo as a human life, rather than a group of cells.
"Terminology is very important," says Davis. "These frozen embryos could not possibly survive outside the body. Their cells have not differentiated, not become a foetus, and certainly not gestated and delivered."
Attributing "personhood" to donated embryos has "dangerous" implications for both abortion rights and other forms of fertility treatment, says Barbara Collura.
"If embryos are viewed are a human being, does that mean destroying or abandoning them after IVF is murder?" she asks.
In fact in both IVF and embryo donation it's likely that a certain number of embryos will die - which is one reason why the Catholic Church is opposed to them.
But while the Webers regard embryos as human lives - and there are reports of others like them holding funerals for discarded embryos - they stop short of describing the destruction of an embryo as murder.
"I don't know," says Andy. "I guess that's a question that only our God can answer."
Jennifer and Aaron know too well that there is no guarantee a donated embryo will become a child in their arms.
Their pregnancy tests after the latest round of treatment came out negative.
They cannot have any more embryos transferred at the NEDC, as they have now had the maximum three cycles of treatment without success, so for now their hope of having babies through embryo donation has run out.
Jennifer says the outcome was a "sad" end to a "hard" six years of attempts to get pregnant. But she says they still feel their "mission" to save the frozen embryos has been accomplished.
"Even if we lose them, we believe those lives are with the Lord in Heaven, and that's better than being left in cryo-preservation," she says.
And despite the loss, Jennifer and Aaron do have what many others who have struggled with infertility dream of. They have two healthy, happy children.
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Union leaders have warned they will pursue tribunals for hundreds of members at Aberdeen City Council if a row over pay is not resolved. | Legal and industrial action was earlier threatened over the plan to scrap a 1% annual rise in pay for workers to help make savings.
A new offer in a bid to settle the dispute will go before the full council next week.
GMB Scotland warned demands would have to be met to avoid action.
The council is trying to make about £120m of savings over the next five years.
Janet Adams, GMB Scotland's regional organiser for Aberdeen City Council, said: "Until we reach a satisfactory conclusion we will continue to actively pursue these claims at the tribunal."
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England's first blue plaque scheme started with a tribute to a controversial poet in 1867 and now, almost 150 years later, it has celebrated by unveiling a plaque to a food writer. So who qualifies for a plaque? | By Duncan LeatherdaleBBC News
The country's first blue plaque no longer exists - the disc marking 24 Holles Street as the birthplace of Romantic poet Lord Byron was removed when the building was replaced with a department store.
But the scheme started by the Society of Arts is still going strong, and has been replicated in hundreds of towns and cities around the country.
Even within the capital there is a plethora of plaques by other organisations, but the original programme, now managed by English Heritage, has seen more than 900 installed, the latest of which was to food writer Elizabeth David.
And they are very strict about who gets a plaque.
Recipients must have been dead for at least 20 years and must have lived at the location they are being connected with for either a long time or during an important period, such as when writing their seminal work or creating their key invention.
"The 20-year rule is quite important to us," said Alexandra Carson, national PR executive for English Heritage.
"It gives us the benefit of hindsight and allows us to better judge their long-term legacy.
"Also, the building has to be the same as it was when they lived there because a big part of it is bringing history to life.
"It's a really nice way of detailing the history of London and linking people and places."
There are thousands of blue plaques around England noting significant people and the places they were born, lived, worked, visited or died.
But, as there is no national body governing such commemoration, the criteria used to determine who and where gets a plaque vary widely from place to place.
It is left to local councils, charities and history organisations to police the plaques issued in their areas.
Outside of the original scheme, the majority of plaques can be loosely grouped into four categories: birthplace, residence, visited by and place of death.
For example, a house on Prince's Street in Bishop Auckland is marked as a childhood home of Stan Laurel; Guy Fawkes' birthplace in York and the home of his parents are both labelled and the house in Southwark where Boris Karloff was born has a plaque - it is now a fish and chip shop.
Perfecting the plaque
Cornwall-based ceramicists Frank and Sue Ashworth have been making the plaques since 1984.
It is a painstaking process of precision and patience, Mrs Ashworth says.
"You owe it to the person named on the plaque to get it right, and people will notice if anything looks wrong, the finished plaque has a beauty and symmetry about it."
The font was designed by Harry Hooper and each plaque, made from a secret mixture of clays, takes about three and a half weeks - assuming there are no mishaps.
"Things do go wrong occasionally, for example a crack might appear," Mrs Ashworth said.
"On one occasion I forgot to put the English Heritage logo on, another time we were given the wrong dates. They could be salvaged though without having to remake them."
Each letter is made by hand and the plaque goes through two three-day long firings in kilns reaching 1,200C (2,192F).
The couple, who have since been joined in the business by son Justin, have made more than 300 plaques for both schemes and private individuals.
"You have to be very patient but it is enjoyable. Some people might think it is repetitive but as soon as you see it that way you are done."
For some places, fleeting visits are as worthy of note as long-time residence.
Malcolm X's visit to Marshall Street in Smethwick in the West Midlands nine days before his assassination in 1965 is commemorated, while in Norwich there is a plaque marking the day in 1971 when Muhammad Ali visited a supermarket as part of a promotional tour by Ovaltine.
Malvern is home to a number of plaques marking famous visitors.
There is the inn where Chronicles of Narnia creator CS Lewis "frequently met literary and hill-walking friends", the favoured hotel of exiled Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie between 1936 and 1941 and the rooms used by a seven-year-old Franklin D Roosevelt when he convalesced in the town in 1889.
"Our plaques are for people and places that had an impact on the history of Malvern," said Brian Iles from the Malvern Civic Society.
"But they are not just for people who everybody knows, we also want to introduce important people who everybody should know about.
"We want to celebrate our history and make sure people don't forget it."
Florence Nightingale and Charles Darwin are also commemorated for having visited Malvern for hydrotherapy in the town's famously low-mineral water.
When it comes to being remembered for visits, Dickens is one of the most prolific subjects with at least 44 plaques around the country, including at the Portsmouth house where he was born, the Barnard Castle rooms where he spent two nights in 1838 while researching Nicholas Nickleby and the Assembly Rooms in Scarborough where he gave readings in 1858.
There are even plaques for his characters such as in Market Square in Dover where David Copperfield apparently "rested on the doorstep and ate a loaf" while searching for his aunt Betsey Trotwood.
There are two chief types of people being commemorated - famous figures, such as actors, writers and politicians, and relative unknowns who invented, created or achieved something remarkable.
"The majority fall into the second category," said Ms Carson.
"Being famous is secondary, it is more about what they contributed to society and whether that is worthy of being commemorated.
"And that's what really makes the plaques so interesting, it's people you haven't heard of but who have made some giant contribution to our lives."
One such example is on the former home of meteorologist Luke Howard in Tottenham who invented the names given to clouds.
His inscription simply reads: "Namer of clouds".
Life in a plaque house
Since 2007 Walle Ogunyemi and his family have lived in Chislehurst at the former home of William Willett, renowned house-builder and the initiator of British Summer Time.
A plaque to Willett was installed in the 1970s and Mr Ogunyemi said several people a week stop to look at it.
"It's an honour to live there with the history associated with the property," he said.
"You get used to people standing and staring at your home, we allow two or three people in a year from the local history society or relatives of William Willett.
"But people standing outside have never really bothered us, they are always very polite and there is never any malice."
In Birmingham there are plaques to the inventor of plastic and the discoverer of oxygen, while Norwich has commemorations for Britain's first black circus owner and the woman who devised one of the most famous methods of teaching music.
In very rare cases a property becomes a "double-plaquer", having hosted two notable people.
A house on Paulton's Square in Chelsea was the home first of playwright Samuel Beckett in 1934 and then, from 1953 to 1974, physicist Patrick Blackett.
Places from moments in history are also often commemorated with plaques.
For example, Frome station has a plaque celebrating the fact that Leonard Woolf took the 10.29 train from there to London, on 11 January 1912, to propose to writer Adeline Virginia Stephen, later known as Virginia Woolf.
In Saltburn there is a plaque commemorating the world speed record attempts made by members of Leeds and Middlesbrough Motor Clubs on the beach in the early 20th Century and in Wolverhampton the country's first set of traffic lights are celebrated.
Although the plaques are awarded by organisations, they are more often than not suggested by the public.
"We look at every application," Ms Carson said.
"We are always looking for new and interesting people worthy of being remembered."
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MPs voted on Wednesday night on whether the UK should join US-led coalition air strikes against so-called Islamic State militants in Syria. | The government motion was passed 397 to 223 after a 10-hour debate in the House of Commons. Below is the breakdown of how each MP voted.
Find out how your MP voted
Find out which constituency you live in
*The Commons is made up of 650 MPs but the Speaker and his three deputies cannot vote while Sinn Fein's four MPs do not take their seats and did not take part.
*There is also currently no MP for Oldham West and Royton, with a by-election taking place on Thursday.
MPs who voted for the motion
Conservatives:
Adam Afriyie (Windsor)
Alan Mak (Havant)
Alberto Costa (South Leicestershire)
Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell)
Alex Chalk (Cheltenham)
Alistair Burt (North East Bedfordshire)
Alok Sharma (Reading West)
Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan)
Amanda Milling (Cannock Chase)
Amanda Solloway (Derby North)
Amber Rudd (Hastings and Rye)
Andrea Jenkyns (Morley and Outwood)
Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire)
Andrew Bingham (High Peak)
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire)
Andrew Griffiths (Burton)
Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Andrew Mitchell (Sutton Coldfield)
Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire)
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole)
Andrew Rosindell (Romford)
Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire)
Andrew Stephenson (Pendle)
Anna Soubry (Broxtowe)
Anne Main (St Albans)
Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot)
Anne Milton (Guildford)
Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury)
Ben Gummer (Ipswich)
Ben Howlett (Bath)
Ben Wallace (Wyre and Preston North)
Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex)
Bill Wiggin (North Herefordshire)
Bob Blackman (Harrow East)
Bob Stewart (Beckenham)
Boris Johnson (Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth)
Byron Davies (Gower)
Caroline Ansell (Eastbourne)
Caroline Dinenage (Gosport)
Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North)
Caroline Spelman (Meriden)
Charles Walker (Broxbourne)
Charlie Elphicke (Dover)
Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West)
Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham)
Chloe Smith (Norwich North)
Chris Davies (Brecon and Radnorshire)
Chris Grayling (Epsom and Ewell)
Chris Green (Bolton West)
Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry)
Chris Philp (Croydon South)
Chris Skidmore (Kingswood)
Chris White (Warwick and Leamington)
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth)
Claire Perry (Devizes)
Conor Burns (Bournemouth West)
Craig Mackinlay (South Thanet)
Craig Tracey (North Warwickshire)
Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley)
Craig Williams (Cardiff North)
Crispin Blunt (Reigate)
Dame Angela Watkinson (Hornchurch and Upminster)
Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe)
Damian Green (Ashford)
Damian Hinds (East Hampshire)
Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Daniel Poulter (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
David Amess (Southend West)
David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate)
David Cameron (Witney)
David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford)
David Gauke (South West Hertfordshire)
David Jones (Clwyd West)
David Lidington (Aylesbury)
David Mackintosh (Northampton South)
David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale)
David Mowat (Warrington South)
David Mundell (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
David Nuttall (Bury North)
David Rutley (Macclesfield)
David T. C. Davies (Monmouth)
David Tredinnick (Bosworth)
David Warburton (Somerton and Frome)
Derek Thomas (St Ives)
Desmond Swayne (New Forest West)
Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield)
Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton)
Edward Argar (Charnwood)
Edward Timpson (Crewe and Nantwich)
Edward Vaizey (Wantage)
Elizabeth Truss (South West Norfolk)
Eric Pickles (Brentwood and Ongar)
Fiona Bruce (Congleton)
Flick Drummond (Portsmouth South)
Gareth Johnson (Dartford)
Gary Streeter (South West Devon)
Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central)
Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire)
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds)
Geoffrey Cox (Torridge and West Devon)
George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth)
George Freeman (Mid Norfolk)
George Hollingbery (Meon Valley)
George Osborne (Tatton)
Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire)
Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West)
Graham Evans (Weaver Vale)
Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness)
Grant Shapps (Welwyn Hatfield)
Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells)
Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham)
Guto Bebb (Aberconwy)
Guy Opperman (Hexham)
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire)
Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire)
Heidi Allen (South Cambridgeshire)
Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald)
Helen Whately (Faversham and Mid Kent)
Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk)
Henry Smith (Crawley)
Hugo Swire (East Devon)
Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle)
Iain Duncan Smith (Chingford and Woodford Green)
Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South)
Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock)
Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset)
Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen)
James Berry (Kingston and Surbiton)
James Brokenshire (Old Bexley and Sidcup)
James Cartlidge (South Suffolk)
James Cleverly (Braintree)
James Davies (Vale of Clwyd)
James Duddridge (Rochford and Southend East)
James Gray (North Wiltshire)
James Heappey (Wells)
James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
James Wharton (Stockton South)
Jane Ellison (Battersea)
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley)
Jeremy Hunt (South West Surrey)
Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford)
Jeremy Quin (Horsham)
Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth and Southam)
Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire)
Jo Churchill (Bury St Edmunds)
John Glen (Salisbury)
John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings)
John Howell (Henley)
John Penrose (Weston-super-Mare)
John Stevenson (Carlisle)
John Whittingdale (Maldon)
Johnny Mercer (Plymouth, Moor View)
Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon)
Jonathan Lord (Woking)
Joseph Johnson (Orpington)
Julian Brazier (Canterbury)
Julian Knight (Solihull)
Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon)
Julian Sturdy (York Outer)
Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon)
Justine Greening (Putney)
Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands)
Karen Lumley (Redditch)
Karl McCartney (Lincoln)
Keith Simpson (Broadland)
Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood)
Kevin Foster (Torbay)
Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton)
Kit Malthouse (North West Hampshire)
Kris Hopkins (Keighley)
Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne)
Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury)
Liam Fox (North Somerset)
Lucy Allan (Telford)
Lucy Frazer (South East Cambridgeshire)
Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate)
Maggie Throup (Erewash)
Marcus Fysh (Yeovil)
Marcus Jones (Nuneaton)
Margot James (Stourbridge)
Maria Caulfield (Lewes)
Maria Miller (Basingstoke)
Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster)
Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford)
Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest)
Mark Harper (Forest of Dean)
Mark Lancaster (Milton Keynes North)
Mark Menzies (Fylde)
Mark Pawsey (Rugby)
Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford)
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin)
Mark Spencer (Sherwood)
Mary Robinson (Cheadle)
Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness)
Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk)
Matthew Offord (Hendon)
Mel Stride (Central Devon)
Michael Ellis (Northampton North)
Michael Fabricant (Lichfield)
Michael Fallon (Sevenoaks)
Michael Gove (Surrey Heath)
Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Michelle Donelan (Chippenham)
Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green)
Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead)
Mike Wood (Dudley South)
Mims Davies (Eastleigh)
Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon)
Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire)
Neil Carmichael (Stroud)
Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton)
Nick Boles (Grantham and Stamford)
Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Nick Herbert (Arundel and South Downs)
Nick Hurd (Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Nicky Morgan (Loughborough)
Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and Abingdon)
Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty)
Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley)
Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire)
Nigel Mills (Amber Valley)
Nusrat Ghani (Wealden)
Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Oliver Dowden (Hertsmere)
Oliver Letwin (West Dorset)
Owen Paterson (North Shropshire)
Patrick McLoughlin (Derbyshire Dales)
Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Paul Scully (Sutton and Cheam)
Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire)
Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North)
Peter Aldous (Waveney)
Peter Bone (Wellingborough)
Peter Heaton-Jones (North Devon)
Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden)
Philip Davies (Shipley)
Philip Dunne (Ludlow)
Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge)
Phillip Lee (Bracknell)
Priti Patel (Witham)
Ranil Jayawardena (North East Hampshire)
Rebecca Harris (Castle Point)
Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane)
Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham)
Richard Bacon (South Norfolk)
Richard Benyon (Newbury)
Richard Drax (South Dorset)
Richard Fuller (Bedford)
Richard Graham (Gloucester)
Richard Harrington (Watford)
Rishi Sunak (Richmond (Yorks))
Rob Wilson (Reading East)
Robert Buckland (South Swindon)
Robert Goodwill (Scarborough and Whitby)
Robert Halfon (Harlow)
Robert Jenrick (Newark)
Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst)
Robert Syms (Poole)
Robin Walker (Worcester)
Rory Stewart (Penrith and The Border)
Royston Smith (Southampton, Itchen)
Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove)
Sam Gyimah (East Surrey)
Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth)
Sarah Wollaston (Totnes)
Scott Mann (North Cornwall)
Seema Kennedy (South Ribble)
Shailesh Vara (North West Cambridgeshire)
Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall)
Simon Burns (Chelmsford)
Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire)
Simon Hoare (North Dorset)
Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown)
Sir Alan Duncan (Rutland and Melton)
Sir Alan Haselhurst (Saffron Walden)
Sir Edward Garnier (Harborough)
Sir Gerald Howarth (Aldershot)
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire)
Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex)
Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire)
Sir Paul Beresford (Mole Valley)
Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West)
Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet)
Stephen Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire)
Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon)
Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Stephen Phillips (Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Steve Baker (Wycombe)
Steve Brine (Winchester)
Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay)
Stewart Jackson (Peterborough)
Stuart Andrew (Pudsey)
Suella Fernandes (Fareham)
Tania Mathias (Twickenham)
Theresa May (Maidenhead)
Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet)
Therese Coffey (Suffolk Coastal)
Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham)
Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East)
Tom Pursglove (Corby)
Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling)
Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford)
Victoria Atkins (Louth and Horncastle)
Victoria Borwick (Kensington)
Victoria Prentis (Banbury)
Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills)
Will Quince (Colchester)
William Cash (Stone)
William Wragg (Hazel Grove)
Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park)
Labour:
Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West)
Alan Campbell (Tynemouth)
Alan Johnson (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Alison McGovern (Wirral South)
Angela Eagle (Wallasey)
Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Ann Coffey (Stockport)
Anna Turley (Redcar)
Ben Bradshaw (Exeter)
Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South)
Caroline Flint (Don Valley)
Chris Bryant (Rhondda)
Chris Leslie (Nottingham East)
Chuka Umunna (Streatham)
Colleen Fletcher (Coventry North East)
Conor McGinn (St Helens North)
Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central)
Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East)
Frank Field (Birkenhead)
Gareth Thomas (Harrow West)
Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West)
George Howarth (Knowsley)
Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Gloria De Piero (Ashfield)
Graham Jones (Hyndburn)
Harriet Harman (Camberwell and Peckham)
Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East)
Helen Jones (Warrington North)
Hilary Benn (Leeds Central)
Holly Lynch (Halifax)
Ian Austin (Dudley North)
Jamie Reed (Copeland)
Jenny Chapman (Darlington)
Jim Dowd (Lewisham West and Penge)
Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse)
Joan Ryan (Enfield North)
John Spellar (Warley)
John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness)
Keith Vaz (Leicester East)
Kevan Jones (North Durham)
Kevin Barron (Rother Valley)
Liz Kendall (Leicester West)
Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside)
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree)
Lucy Powell (Manchester Central)
Margaret Beckett (Derby South)
Margaret Hodge (Barking)
Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood)
Mary Creagh (Wakefield)
Michael Dugher (Barnsley East)
Neil Coyle (Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton South East)
Peter Kyle (Hove)
Phil Wilson (Sedgefield)
Ruth Smeeth (Stoke-on-Trent North)
Simon Danczuk (Rochdale)
Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden)
Stella Creasy (Walthamstow)
Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth)
Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South)
Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Tom Watson (West Bromwich East)
Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Vernon Coaker (Gedling)
Wayne David (Caerphilly)
Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford)
DUP:
David Simpson (Upper Bann)
Gavin Robinson (Belfast East)
Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry)
Ian Paisley (North Antrim)
Jeffrey M. Donaldson (Lagan Valley)
Jim Shannon (Strangford)
Nigel Dodds (Belfast North)
Sammy Wilson (East Antrim)
Lib Dems:
Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland)
Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West)
John Pugh (Southport)
Nick Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam)
Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington)
UUP:
Danny Kinahan (South Antrim)
Tom Elliott (Fermanagh and South Tyrone)
UKIP:
Douglas Carswell (Clacton)
Independents:
Lady Sylvia Hermon (North Down)
MPs who voted against the motion
Labour:
Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test)
Albert Owen (Ynys Mon)
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North)
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish)
Andrew Smith (Oxford East)
Andy Burnham (Leigh)
Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough)
Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith)
Angela Rayner (Ashton-under-Lyne)
Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South)
Barry Gardiner (Brent North)
Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield)
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central)
Carolyn Harris (Swansea East)
Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green)
Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Chris Evans (Islwyn)
Christian Matheson (City of Chester)
Christina Rees (Neath)
Clive Betts (Sheffield South East)
Clive Efford (Eltham)
Clive Lewis (Norwich South)
Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge)
David Anderson (Blaydon)
David Crausby (Bolton North East)
David Hanson (Delyn)
David Lammy (Tottenham)
David Winnick (Walsall North)
Dawn Butler (Brent Central)
Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)
Derek Twigg (Halton)
Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North)
Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Edward Miliband (Doncaster North)
Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury)
Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields)
Fabian Hamilton (Leeds North East)
Fiona Mactaggart (Slough)
Gavin Shuker (Luton South)
Geraint Davies (Swansea West)
Gerald Jones (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South)
Graham Allen (Nottingham North)
Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton)
Grahame Morris (Easington)
Harry Harpham (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood)
Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore)
Iain Wright (Hartlepool)
Ian C. Lucas (Wrexham)
Ian Lavery (Wansbeck)
Ian Mearns (Gateshead)
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South)
Imran Hussain (Bradford East)
Ivan Lewis (Bury South)
Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington)
Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington)
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North)
Jess Phillips (Birmingham, Yardley)
Jessica Morden (Newport East)
Jim Cunningham (Coventry South)
Jo Stevens (Cardiff Central)
John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead)
John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne)
John Mann (Bassetlaw)
John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington)
Jon Cruddas (Dagenham and Rainham)
Jon Trickett (Hemsworth)
Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South)
Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde)
Judith Cummins (Bradford South)
Julie Cooper (Burnley)
Julie Elliott (Sunderland Central)
Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Karen Buck (Westminster North)
Karin Smyth (Bristol South)
Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East)
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston)
Kate Hoey (Vauxhall)
Kate Hollern (Blackburn)
Kate Osamor (Edmonton)
Keir Starmer (Holborn and St Pancras)
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North)
Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East)
Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West)
Liam Byrne (Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South)
Lisa Nandy (Wigan)
Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton)
Louise Haigh (Sheffield, Heeley)
Lyn Brown (West Ham)
Madeleine Moon (Bridgend)
Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West)
Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston)
Mark Hendrick (Preston)
Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside)
Mary Glindon (North Tyneside)
Matthew Pennycook (Greenwich and Woolwich)
Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby)
Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Naz Shah (Bradford West)
Nia Griffith (Llanelli)
Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe)
Nicholas Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent)
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Torfaen)
Owen Smith (Pontypridd)
Pat Glass (North West Durham)
Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central)
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Paul Flynn (Newport West)
Paula Sherriff (Dewsbury)
Peter Dowd (Bootle)
Rachael Maskell (York Central)
Rachel Reeves (Leeds West)
Rebecca Long-Bailey (Salford and Eccles)
Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield)
Richard Burgon (Leeds East)
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West)
Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South)
Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham)
Roger Godsiff (Birmingham, Hall Green)
Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley)
Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton)
Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow)
Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth)
Sadiq Khan (Tooting)
Sarah Champion (Rotherham)
Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston)
Shabana Mahmood (Birmingham, Ladywood)
Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West)
Sir Alan Meale (Mansfield)
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton)
Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow)
Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon)
Stephen Pound (Ealing North)
Stephen Timms (East Ham)
Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby)
Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Steve Rotheram (Liverpool, Walton)
Sue Hayman (Workington)
Teresa Pearce (Erith and Thamesmead)
Toby Perkins (Chesterfield)
Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn)
Valerie Vaz (Walsall South)
Vicky Foxcroft (Lewisham, Deptford)
Wes Streeting (Ilford North)
Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East)
Yvonne Fovargue (Makerfield)
SNP:
Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Alex Salmond (Gordon)
Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central)
Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East)
Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Angus Robertson (Moray)
Anne McLaughlin (Glasgow North East)
Brendan O'Hara (Argyll and Bute)
Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South)
Calum Kerr (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West)
Chris Law (Dundee West)
Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West)
Corri Wilson (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith)
Douglas Chapman (Dunfermline and West Fife)
Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan)
Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
George Kerevan (East Lothian)
Hannah Bardell (Livingston)
Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West)
John McNally (Falkirk)
John Nicolson (East Dunbartonshire)
Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire)
Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North)
Lisa Cameron (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw)
Martin John Docherty (West Dunbartonshire)
Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Mhairi Black (Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Mike Weir (Angus)
Neil Gray (Airdrie and Shotts)
Owen Thompson (Midlothian)
Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran)
Patrick Grady (Glasgow North)
Paul Monaghan (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire)
Peter Grant (Glenrothes)
Philip Boswell (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire)
Richard Arkless (Dumfries and Galloway)
Roger Mullin (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Ronnie Cowan (Inverclyde)
Stephen Gethins (North East Fife)
Steven Paterson (Stirling)
Stewart Hosie (Dundee East)
Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Glasgow South)
Stuart Blair Donaldson (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Stuart C. McDonald (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Ochil and South Perthshire)
Tommy Sheppard (Edinburgh East)
Conservatives:
Andrew Tyrie (Chichester)
David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden)
Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
John Baron (Basildon and Billericay)
Julian Lewis (New Forest East)
Philip Hollobone (Kettering)
Stephen McPartland (Stevenage)
Plaid Cymru:
Hywel Williams (Arfon)
Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
SDLP:
Alasdair McDonnell (Belfast South)
Margaret Ritchie (South Down)
Mark Durkan (Foyle)
Lib Dems:
Mark Williams (Ceredigion)
Norman Lamb (North Norfolk)
Independents:
Michelle Thomson (Edinburgh West)
Natalie McGarry (Glasgow East)
Greens:
Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion)
MPs who abstained
Conservatives:
Adam Holloway (Gravesham)
Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight)
Christopher Chope (Christchurch)
John Redwood (Wokingham)
Kenneth Clarke (Rushcliffe)
Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes)
Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough)
Labour:
Jo Cox (Batley and Spen)
Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Rosie Winterton (Doncaster Central)
Steve Reed (Croydon North)
Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall)
MPs who did not vote
Conservatives:
John Bercow (Buckingham) - Speaker
Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) - Deputy Speaker
Labour:
Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) - Unable to attend
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) - Unable to attend
Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley) - Deputy Speaker
Mike Gapes (Ilford South) - Unable to attend
Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) - Deputy Speaker
Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) - Unable to attend
Thangam Debbonaire (Bristol West) - Unable to attend
Sinn Fein:
Francie Molloy (Mid Ulster)
Mickey Brady (Newry and Armagh)
Pat Doherty (West Tyrone)
Paul Maskey (Belfast West)
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Biffy Clyro have confirmed details of a new UK tour | Following the release of their fifth album Only Revolutions last month the Ayrshire trio will take to the road in April 2010.
The dates begin in Perth on 29 April before concluding at London's Hammersmith Apollo on 6 May.
Tickets go on sale at 9am on 9 December.
The full dates are:
Perth Concert Hall - 29 April
Sheffield O2 Academy - 30
Blackpool Empress Ballroom - May 1
Leicester De Montfort Hall - 2
Portsmouth Guildhall - 4
Bristol Colston Hall - 5
London HMV Hammersmith Apollo - 6
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It's been a long three months, but US President Joe Biden has now finalised his White House cabinet - the top aides that will guide his administration's oversight of the federal government. On Thursday, the president sat down for the first time with his assembled team. | Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter
With Labour Secretary Marty Walsh's Senate confirmation last week, Biden filled all 15 of his presidential cabinet secretary positions.
The confirmation process began slowly, with delays in appointees being named and Senate confirmation hearings conducted in part because of drawn-out Republican challenges to Biden's presidential victory and Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
By roughly the 60-day mark of his presidency, however, Biden has caught up with most of his recent predecessors in having his department heads installed in office. He is also the first president since Ronald Reagan in 1981 to have all his original cabinet nominees successfully confirmed.
Here's a look at five key takeaways from the process.
A diverse team - with an exception
Of Biden's 15 cabinet secretary picks, only five are straight, white men. That's the lowest percentage of any presidency. (Donald Trump, by contrast, had 11; Bill Clinton, the previous record-holder, had six out of 14.)
Biden's cabinet has a number of firsts, as well. Janet Yellen is the first woman Treasury secretary. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is the first Native American woman to lead a department.
Pete Buttigieg became the first openly LGBT cabinet secretary. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is the first black person to head the Pentagon. Xavier Becerra and Alejandro Mayorkas are the first Hispanic chiefs of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, respectively.
The graphic above shows all of Mr Biden's nominees - those with black and white photos are white men, while those with colour photographs are in one or more of these categories: women; people belonging to ethnic minorities; member of the LGBT community.
One absence from Biden's top cabinet appointments is anyone of Asian American or Pacific islander (AAPI) heritage - the first such omission in 21 years. It's a development that has generated a critical reaction from some Democrats, even though Vice-President Kamala Harris is of South Asian descent.
"To be told that, 'Well, you have Kamala Harris - we're very proud of her; you don't need anybody else' is insulting," said Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth.
Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies President Madalene Xuan-Trang Mielke warned in a January statement that Biden risked alienating the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the US electorate.
In the 2020 presidential election, 11 million Americans of AAPI descent cast ballots, supporting Biden over Trump by a two-to-one margin according to exit polling.
"The brazen exclusion of AAPIs in this incoming administration abandons and erases the AAPI community," she said.
Narrow victories
The average margin of victory for Biden's nominees in the Senate was 48 votes - a comfortable, bipartisan majority.
Only two cabinet secretary nominees faced serious tests in the chamber - Interior Secretary Haaland and Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra.
Haaland, a former congresswoman from New Mexico, received staunch opposition over her past views on energy policy.
During confirmation hearings, she was repeatedly pressed on her opposition to oil shale "fracking" on public lands as well as her past support for the "Green New Deal" plan to address climate change.
In the end, only four Republicans voted for confirmation.
Becerra, a former member of Congress and attorney general of California, had the closest vote of any Biden appointee - 50 to 49. Anti-abortion groups dug in against the nominee for his past support for legal cases defending abortion rights and regulating conservative "pregnancy counselling" centres.
Becerra also faced opposition for his outspoken defence of Democratic-passed healthcare reforms and support for the rights of undocumented migrants.
Although Republicans criticised Becerra's relative lack of health-policy experience, that hadn't been much of a consideration in past health secretary nominees.
Rather, both confirmations indicate that hot-button political issues like abortion, immigration and environmental regulation can continue to move votes within the Republican Party - something the Biden team will have to keep in mind in the policy battles to come.
That these nominees were people belonging to ethnic minorities was also duly noted by some liberals.
"There seems to be a pattern here," Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii told Politico.
A Neera Miss
Although all of Biden's department secretaries were confirmed, he didn't post a clean sheet when it came to cabinet-level appointments.
Neera Tanden, chosen to head of the White House budget office, was the only nominee Biden had to withdraw in the face of a losing confirmation vote.
Back before Democrats swept the two Georgia runoff elections and it appeared that Republicans were going to maintain control of the US Senate, Tanden was considered by some to be a sacrificial lamb of sorts - a more controversial nominee that Republicans could vote down, proving to their base they were opposing the Biden administration without jeopardising any of Biden's higher-level picks.
With Democrats in control, it seemed for a time that Tanden - a longtime Democratic operative with close ties to former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton - might squeak through.
She didn't.
The proximate cause of Tanden's political demise was her history of inflammatory tweets directed at her political opponents on the progressive left and the right. It didn't help that she focused her online ire at some moderate Republican senators by name, including Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who might otherwise have been cajoled into supporting her. When moderate Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and those in-play Republicans came out against confirmation, her fate was sealed.
The larger lesson from the Tanden affair is that political moderates are going to hold Biden to his "new tone" rhetoric when it comes to administration staff.
Tanden's defenders were quick to identify Trump-era appointees who were even more confrontational on social media (not to mention the Trump himself), but - for centrist senators, at least - the "what about" defence didn't fly.
"Neera Tanden has neither the experience nor the temperament to lead this critical agency," Collins wrote in a statement announcing her opposition to Tanden. "Her past actions have demonstrated exactly the kind of animosity that President Biden has pledged to transcend."
The Republican "no" brigade - and "yes" contingent
Over the course of 15 votes on Biden's cabinet choices, clear patterns began to emerge about who in the Senate will vehemently oppose the new administration and who might be open to outreach.
At the top of the former list is Missouri's Josh Hawley, who voted against every one of Biden's top appointments. He's positioned himself as the hardest of hard-liners against the president, having also led the push to challenge Biden's election certification in Congress just hours after the Capitol was stormed by pro-Trump rioters.
Just behind Hawley in lockstep opposition are Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida - both of whom only voted for Defence Secretary Austin. Both, like Hawley, are also eyeing 2024 White House bids.
Presidential ambitions, in fact, seem to be the best predictor of whether a Republican senator would vote against a Biden nominee, suggesting a political calculation that any co-operation with the new administration will be political poison in 2024 Republican presidential primaries.
On the flip side, the group of Republicans most likely to cross the aisle to vote with Democrats has also revealed itself - although their identities shouldn't be much of a surprise.
Collins of Maine supported all of Biden's nominees. Murkowski did for every one except Becerra. They, and Mitt Romney of Utah (with 13 "yes" votes), also backed Trump's impeachment conviction in February and are clearly beyond worrying about angering their party's base.
A number of other moderates (Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Dan Sullivan of Alaska) and old Senate hands (Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley of Iowa) also approved a double-digit number of Biden picks.
If the Biden is going to cobble together any kind of bipartisan coalition to support his legislative agenda, that former group might be a good place to start.
Just the beginning
Rod Rosenstein wasn't exactly a household name when Donald Trump nominated him to be deputy attorney general - but that changed quickly when Rosenstein, acting in place of recused attorney general Jeff Sessions, appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate Russia's alleged 2016 election meddling.
Biden still has to fill out much of his administration with the people who do the actual work in the various government departments and agencies.
Although the public may not be paying attention, politicians are. On Monday, Biden pulled the nomination of Elizabeth Klein - a liberal law professor and climate activist - to be deputy interior secretary because of objections from Republican Senator Murkowski.
Democratic Senator Duckworth threatened to block all straight, white male Biden nominees unless Asian-Pacific-Islanders were given more appointments.
Political skirmishes like these fly below the public's radar, but they can go a long way toward setting the tone for relations between the executive and legislative branches of the US government even when, as today, one party controls both.
These lower-level appointments can also be cause for celebration among various constituencies within the Democratic Party, such as when Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine recently became the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate.
The Washington Post is tracking 790 Senate-confirmed executive positions. Of those, only 29 have been confirmed, 37 are awaiting a vote and 458 have yet to be filled. There will be plenty of other opportunities for history - and controversy - in the days ahead.
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Engineers assessing flood damage in a south Shropshire village estimate that a bridge, which partly collapsed, could be closed for three months.
| Heavy rain and floodwater hit homes and businesses in Neen Sollars on Saturday.
The River Rea was about 20ft (6m) higher than normal and part of the Grade II listed bridge fell away.
Engineers have yet to fully assess any damage below the waterline, but hope the bridge can soon reopen to pedestrians.
Structural engineer John Williams said: "The flood levels have completely over-topped the bridge, the parapet walls on either side of the road have been washed away.
"Assuming that the bridge foundations are okay, my initial gut instinct is that the bridge is likely to have to remain closed for about three months."
He also said the side walls would need to be rebuilt.
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Nearly 2,000 athletes from all over the world descended on Pembrokeshire for one of sport's most gruelling challenges. | Some 1,850 men and women from 49 countries competed in the Ironman Wales triathlon in the picturesque seaside town of Tenby on Sunday.
Over the day they swam 2.4 miles in the sea and rode 112 miles on bikes before completing a 26.2 mile marathon run.
Crowds lined the streets to cheer on the athletes, with South African Matt Trautman winning the event in nine hours, seven minutes and 28 seconds.
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Welcome to the internet in 2018 - which has already given us people eating laundry detergent, a man asking if a butterfly was a pigeon and an audio version of #TheDress (it said "yanny", by the way). | It's now given rise to the newest and weirdest and most important question so far: Who has "big dick energy"?
By the way, physical endowment has nothing to do with it.
Let us explain. Because there is a lot to unpack here.
It starts with the whirlwind romance between recently-engaged couple Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson.
Allegedly, Ariana tweeted and then deleted a fan about her fiance's sizable - ahem - gift.
Fans - and internet users more generally - seem to universally agree that Pete Davidson exudes big dick energy, which can basically be described as a confidence: a swagger and a charisma which means you're comfortable being yourself.
It's said to have originated with Twitter user @imbobswaget, but has recently taken on a life of its own.
The Cut clarifies the definition: "It's not cockiness, it's not a power trip - it's the opposite: a healthy, satisfied, low-key way you feel yourself."
But who else has it?
Well, even if you don't actually have a penis, you still have to worry about whether you have big dick energy.
Unless you're Rihanna. She definitely has big dick energy.
So does Cate Blanchett. In fact, the whole cast of Ocean's 8 probably has it.
Harry Styles? Yes.
Idris Elba? For sure.
Beyonce? Yes - but apparently at Jay Z's expense.
Piers Morgan? Not so much.
Here are some more controversial ones. The Kardashian/Jenner men?
Beckham? Apparently not.
But the internet is way past thinking about what real people have BDE.
And then there's the even more out-there, conceptual stuff.
The debate rages on.
Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.
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In April 2011, the UK's banks lost an attempt to thwart new regulations on how they should sell payment protection insurance (PPI). | Crucially, the rules laid down how the banks should deal with past cases of potential mis-selling of PPI, which will lead to an extra compensation bill running into billions of pounds.
The High Court heard a judicial review brought principally by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) against the recently updated rules of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
The judges rejected the BBA's arguments that the rules were unfair because they were retrospective.
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A body has been found during searches for a missing hillwalker in Sutherland. | Stuart Campbell, 33, from Dornoch, was reported missing by his family on 27 July.
His car was found the following day in a car park used by hillwalkers for trips up Ben Loyal, near Tongue.
Police said the body has still to be formally identified, but Mr Campbell's family have been informed.
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Avengers: Endgame, the fourth instalment in Marvel's superhero crossover franchise, made an unprecedented $1.2bn at the box office last weekend. | By Mark SavageBBC Entertainment reporter
It's the biggest three-day haul in movie history; and a testament to the strength of Marvel's serialised approach to story-telling.
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo said they were "definitely surprised" by the film's "runaway success" - but also announced they were taking a break from the superhero genre, after making two Captain America and two Avengers films in the space of seven years.
"One of the most important things we learned is that when you're shooting two of the largest movies ever made, and you're shooting them back to back… is don't shoot 'em back to back," Anthony told BBC News, confirming the duo's departure.
Joss Whedon experienced similar emotions after writing and directing the series' first two instalments.
"Why on Earth would I make another Avengers movie? They're really hard," he mused on the DVD commentary for Age of Ultron. "It was ill advised. I see that now."
But Marvel's Cinematic Universe will continue - with new instalments of Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy already confirmed; and a new configuration of The Avengers almost a certainty.
If you somehow end up in the directors' chair, how should you prepare? Here are 11 key lessons from the people who made the originals.
This article does not contain spoilers for Avengers: Endgame, but will discuss plot details from the preceding films.
1) Start out on a TV show
All three directors of The Avengers made their names in TV. Joss Whedon created Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly; while the Russo brothers worked on cult comedies Community and Arrested Development.
Those experiences were invaluable when it came to wrangling a cast of more than 20 characters, "because they are all ensemble shows," says Joe Russo.
"Those were shows that had to be executed in 21 minutes, they had to be funny, and they had to have a plot. And sometimes, like in an episode of Community, you'd have 30 speaking parts - so that's an exercise that certainly trained you in trying to contain as many characters as we do in two hours."
"We're drawn to multiple points of view and group dynamics, because we grew up in a very large Italian-American family," adds Anthony, "so we've always loved working with ensembles."
2) Know the characters inside-out
The joy of the Avengers is seeing how these disparate characters, and the actors who play them, interact.
"There is a natural competition when the leads from two different franchises get together and it plays right into the competition of two heroes getting together - so it is delightful," observed Infinity War script-writer Chris Markus last year.
"A very compelling element of crossovers is who has primacy. They're all leaders, they're all used to leading their own worlds, and once you put them into the same room, who gets to call the shots? That is a notion we revisit several times."
Still, it's a challenge to give 23 separate characters a distinct voice in the confines of a three-hour film.
Luckily, there's an old screenwriting tip that comes in handy: If your characters are well-written, you should know how each of them would react if they accidentally fell into a swimming pool.
"Thor from Infinity War would mess that pool up," says Anthony. "Whereas Rocket - he's not exceedingly self-deprecating, so I think I could see him gag and spit. He'd be a little irritated."
3) Take a lot of toilet breaks
Scott Derrickson recently tweeted how he "ran into Joe Russo outside the men's room," while he was editing the Doctor Strange film in 2015.
"He pitched me the basic story for both Infinity War and Endgame [and] I told him that if he could make the first movie work, the second movie would be incredible."
Which begs the question: How long did Joe keep his colleague waiting for the loo?
"I think it was like a 10-minute pitch," he laughs.
"But the funniest thing is that people are like, 'Do you guys get together at Marvel all the time and have meetings about the storylines?'
"And the answer is, 'No, it all happens on the way to the bathroom'. That's where everyone runs into one another and starts exchanging information."
In other words, don't hold it in.
4) Keep the story simple
For all of the acclaim heaped on Infinity War, the plot can be boiled down to three words: "Thanos wants stones".
"We have so many characters in the movie that we knew if the plot was complicated, it would take too [long] to explain and that would take away from the characters and the action," said screenwriter Chris Markus on the DVD commentary.
Even the number of Infinity Stones caused a headache, said co-writer Steve McFeely.
"Had we invented the idea of Infinity Stones in a vacuum, I'm sure we would not have decided there were six of them. Six MacGuffins is a lot for one movie."
To keep things moving, the Russos dictated that every scene "had to do more than one thing".
So the opening sequence - in which Thanos crushes the Hulk, kills Thor's brother Loki and steals one of the Infinity Stones - conveys three plot points in two minutes.
"It establishes Hulk's journey - he's been defeated and doesn't particularly want to help [Bruce] Banner over the course of the movie," explained Anthony Russo.
"It establishes a vengeance story for Thor by taking out his brother, and it establishes the plot for stone collection."
5) The odds should seem insurmountable
"I wanted to make a movie where being a superhero wasn't a free pass," said Joss Whedon, about scripting the first Avengers film in 2012.
"Where things were tough enough that you would be as strong as you could possibly be and still not be enough to deal with what was going on.
"The stakes," he added, "are always the same.
"The stakes are: You could die."
6) Acknowledge the ridiculous
When your heroes are up against a sentient robot who's ripped an entire city off the face of the planet, it pays to acknowledge that everything's a bit far-fetched.
And so, at the climax of Age of Ultron, Hawkeye takes stock of the situation and says: "We're fighting an army of robots and I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense."
"I refer to that as 'inoculation,'" Whedon explained. "He says the thing we're all thinking, and it plays."
7) Talk to the animators
The Avengers films are some of the most effects-heavy movies in history, with four major characters - Thanos, Hulk, Rocket and Groot - created by computer animation.
Making them believable is a crucial task, so both Whedon and the Russos started working with artists before the scripts were written.
"Thanos was difficult," says Joe Russo. "We knew we were sunk if Thanos wasn't photo-real, so we spent two years doing research and development on Thanos and making sure that he would work correctly."
For his debut as the Hulk, actor Mark Ruffalo even wrote a letter to the effects team, stressing that his motion-captured performances were only the first stage of creating the character.
"We are all playing this part," he wrote. "I have taken it as far as I can and you guys have to use what you can and then forget about me and become the Hulk."
"It was incredibly inspiring to the animators," recalled Whedon, who set aside a day to explain how the movie portrayed two different aspects of the green-skinned monster: "The one Bruce Banner becomes unwittingly and the one he decides to be".
"What I found out later was that most of them - in fact all of them - had not been able to see the script, so they were just animating things in a vacuum," he said. "So it was incredibly productive."
8) Always put the raccoon on a chair*
Have you ever noticed that Rocket - the CGI raccoon played by Bradley Cooper - is almost always standing on a chair?
"That's a great point," says Anthony. "When you're dealing with characters of radically different sizes, it presents a lot of framing challenges.
"You start to learn tricks in blocking [staging the scene] to keep everyone in the same relative plane, so you can actually shoot them."
(* or on a table, or positioned in the foreground, or just film everything in a wide shot.)
9) Ban t-shirts
When we first meet Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow in Avengers Assemble, she's tied to a chair, barefoot and in a vest top, apparently being interrogated by shadowy Russian forces.
Of course, she breaks free in spectacular fashion... but her outfit made it one of the hardest stunt scenes to choreograph.
"Whenever you say 'she has no sleeves' to your stunt co-ordinator he cries man tears," Joss Whedon noted afterwards.
"It's very difficult to do a lot of these things if you can't pad up the knees and elbows."
10) Embrace the darkness
Making these films is "incredibly physically demanding," says Joe Russo, and there will inevitably be dark days.
"When you start out, it's all perfect in your head," Whedon told BBC News in 2015, "and when you work with the actors, it gets better.
"Then at some point you've been editing for so long you start thinking. 'Who am I? What's happening?' and you forget why you ever showed up, and what you're trying to say. And you despair. It's a very bleak experience.
11) Emotion > action
Adding character beats to action sequences has been Joss Whedon's calling card since Buffy - and he pulls it off perfectly in Age Of Ultron's climactic battle, where Hawkeye stops whaling on the bad guys to discuss home improvements.
"You know what I need to do? The dining room," he tells Black Widow. "If I knock out that east wall, it'll make a nice work space... What do you think?"
"That sequence is, for me, the reason I show up," Whedon said in the commentary. "Where two people in the apocalypse are talking about re-doing the dining room, that says more about their relationship than anything else I could have done."
The Infinity War team made a similar decision. Their film doesn't end with a battle but the emotional fallout of Thanos's "snap" - scenes that left some viewers in tears.
So what will they feel when they walk out of Endgame?
"Catharsis," says Joe Russo.
"We realise how impactful the Infinity War ending was," adds his brother.
"We saw how difficult it was for many people and that's something that we really respect. So we were very committed to paying off that kind of a story."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
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About 200 people dressed as Father Christmas set a new record for the Isle of Man's annual Santa Dash, held in heavy rain in Douglas. | In total, 206 people completed the one mile (1.6km) race, with Stephen Garret winning in four minutes 27 seconds.
Last year's record of 131 people was well beaten despite the weather.
Race organiser John Lindon said: "It was a fantastic spectacle and quite remarkable that so many braved the weather to compete."
Last year's event raised about £14,000 for a variety of local charities.
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Beacon Hill Fort was once a testing ground for prototype weapons designed to keep England safe from potential invaders. Long since abandoned, this sprawling five-acre complex at the end of a dirt track in Harwich has now been bought by a pair of friends who want to turn it into a major attraction. | By Laurence CawleyBBC News
A love story lies at the heart of how Paul Valentine and Barry Sharp came to own their very own fort.
About 45 years ago, the estate agent and his then-girlfriend would spend time together on the grounds of Beacon Hill Fort, whose giant guns once stood guard out over the sea.
More than four decades later, while visiting his former flame, he was reminded of their trips to the now-derelict site when he spotted plans for the fort there on her table.
Her family had inherited the site and had an offer in for it from Tendring District Council.
"I told her there and then I would double whatever they were offering," said Mr Valentine.
Eventually a deal was struck and Mr Valentine and Mr Sharp, a retired car restorer, became owners of a hugely overgrown plot, peppered with 25 separate buildings, a warren of underground tunnels and debris left behind by generations of trespassers.
The plot, which dates back to the Tudor period, was the first testing ground for "invisible" defences.
Before 1889, coastal defence batteries were meant to be seen by the enemy. But their near monumental presence also made them easy targets for bombardment.
Beacon Hill is thought to be the first battery to employ guns mounted on carriages which would rise to fire and then disappear down into their pits.
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Mr Valentine and Mr Sharp, who are still discovering new buildings on the site, want to refurbish the complex - a designated scheduled ancient monument - into an adventure attraction, possibly aimed at school groups.
"We want to create something that will really put Harwich on the map, that will create new jobs and protect this part of our history," said Mr Valentine.
"It would be great to be able to open it up for people to visit, explore and enjoy. Eventually, we would like to create some kind of heritage trust and to give this site back to the people of Harwich."
A brief history of Beacon Hill Fort
Source: Tendring District Council
Photography: Laurence Cawley
Related Internet Links
Tendring District Council
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The devil - as always - is in the detail. | Nick TriggleHealth correspondent
The pledge by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to end year-long waits for routine treatment seems to make perfect sense.
After all, the NHS has already made great strides on this issue.
Three years ago the numbers of patients waiting over 52 weeks were hovering around the 20,000 mark. Now there are fewer than 600.
So what could be wrong with the health secretary giving the NHS a last little shove over the line?
Nothing, of course. But it is important to see this in context of the wider pressures on the system.
While the number of patients facing long waits has dropped significantly since 2011 - when ministers first ordered action - there are signs the tide has begun to turn.
The numbers facing long waits have actually started to creep up in the past year or so.
In May last year 434 people had been waiting for 52 weeks, compared to 574 in May this year.
There is a similar story for those waiting over half a year. A year ago it stood at 51,562, but now it is 65,394.
In fact, whichever way you slice the waiting time figures there are warning signs.
The numbers on the waiting list overall (once you add those waiting over 18 weeks to those who are still within deadline) have been going up.
This year they have topped 3m for the first time in six years.
The average wait for treatment has also been high in recent months - and in February hit its highest level since the 18-week target was introduced.
While this has been going on, the NHS has still managed to keep to its official target.
That is measured not by the numbers on the waiting list or the average wait, but by the proportion of patients seen within 18 weeks.
For patients who need to be admitted - those undergoing hip and knee replacements, for example - the NHS has to see 90% in 18 weeks.
Apart for February and March when it was missed ever so slightly, the 90% target has been met this year - as it has for most of the time since it came into place under Labour.
But within the health service it has been widely acknowledged that this achievement - met despite the squeeze on spending and rising demands - could only be maintained for so long.
That threat - I am told - has been causing a lot of angst at the Department of Health.
So the acknowledgement that the 18-week target will be missed in the coming months in a "managed breach" is a critical detail.
This is unheard of. The 18-week target is enshrined in the NHS Constitution and was personally committed to by the prime minister in June 2011 when the controversy over the government's NHS reforms were at their peak.
What is more, the big improvements made from late 2011 through to early 2013 when the number of year-long waits fell 40-fold did not lead to a breach in the 18-week target.
Instead, by making it clear the target is going to be missed at this stage and pinning it to the desire to tackle long waits the government - it could be said - has got its excuses in early.
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As thousands of Christian pilgrims and tourists visit Bethlehem, the site where it is believed Jesus was born, the local authorities are warning that unless urgent repairs are carried out to the centuries-old Church of the Nativity, they may have to restrict visitor numbers in future. | By Wyre DaviesBBC News, Bethlehem
Visitor numbers are up again this year, as evidenced by yet another group of pilgrims who stoop to enter the Nativity Church through its extraordinarily small front entrance.
First built in the 4th Century, the iconic church has been damaged by wars and natural disasters, but has always been rebuilt.
The place marking the spot where most Christians believe Jesus was born is controlled and jealously protected in an uneasy agreement between three Churches - the Greek Orthodox, the Franciscans and the Armenians.
Frequent in-fighting and disagreements between the various sects is one reason why parts of the centuries-old church are in a state of disrepair.
The 500-year-old lead-and-wooden roof is giving greatest cause for concern.
Qustandi Shomali from Bethlehem University says that local religious politics are standing in the way of critical repairs.
"Water pours in through holes in the roof, affecting not just the structure itself but damaging frescoes and mosaics inside the church," he says.
Tourism fears
With religious leaders unable to agree over who should carry out or pay for the repairs, the Palestinian Authority has now had to step in and take charge of the process.
Ziad Bandak, who advises President Mahmoud Abbas on Christian issues, says the Palestinian Authority gave the religious leaders an ultimatum to agree on how to do the work.
"Unfortunately they couldn't agree, so we're now making an international appeal for donations and plan to begin restoration work some time in the New Year," said Mr Bandak.
Historical disputes between priests notwithstanding, the local municipality would like to see even more visitors spending their dollars to boost the local economy and staying in the town itself.
Nabil Jackman is a local shopkeeper with a prime site on the edge of Manger Square.
He admits that increased tourism this year is good for business, but says that the overall picture is still bleak because of the severe practical restrictions placed on the numbers of visitors who are able to come to Bethlehem throughout the year.
Many here bemoan the absence of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
In effect, Israel controls access to the holy town, through checkpoints and the huge separation wall that skirts around the edge of Bethlehem, meaning the town's potential may not be realised for some time.
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It didn't much look like a protest. | Katya AdlerEurope editor@BBCkatyaadleron Twitter
Lots of casually dressed, smiley very middle-class Germans - some with children, others with dogs, chatting animatedly in beautiful parkland on the outskirts of Hamburg on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
But this was indeed a protest group, putting together a petition in an attempt to stop a new refugee centre being built on the green.
People here were keen to emphasise that they were not anti-immigrant. Their main aim, they said, was to protect an area of natural beauty. But once we got talking, broader worries soon surfaced.
Birgit said finding a home was difficult enough for Germans. Hamburg has an acute housing shortage at the best of times. With the arrival of tens of thousands of immigrants, the port city threatened to burst at the seams.
In desperation, the authorities have been turning shipping containers into refugee homes and repossessing empty commercial properties and open spaces to build new migrant centres.
"I don't think Angela Merkel has any idea what she started," Birgit concluded.
Hanno kept shaking his head when he said, "I just don't think Germany can integrate this number of people. It's a real worry. A real worry."
This was no demonstration of the minority anti-immigrant far right in Germany, so adept at grabbing headlines.
These were Angela Merkel's core voters: the comfortable middle classes. Now plagued by doubt and insecurity.
To be clear: most Germans don't question a duty to help those fleeing war or human rights abuses but they do find the huge number of arrivals unsettling.
More than a million refugees are expected here by the end of the year. Some experts we spoke to told us the figure could reach 1.5m.
Like the captain of a football team, Chancellor Merkel keeps repeating: "Wir schaffen es!" ("We can do it!").
It's her version of Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" - but increasingly Germans are asking: How?
Only one in three here say they agree with Mrs Merkel's migrant policy, according to the most recent poll. And she's slipping in popularity ratings.
The joke used to be that she was a politician of 'little steps' who made decisions only once she'd studied the opinion polls.
But a summer of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean and desperate crowds thronging at the gates of Europe seems to have changed all that.
Mrs Merkel completely surprised her countrymen a month ago by unilaterally declaring all Syrian refugees welcome and refusing to put an upper limit on how many Germany would take in.
It seemed like a passionate outburst, a spontaneous throwing of caution to wind by a woman traditionally admired by Germans for her stable, strong and stoic disposition.
All sought-after attributes here.
'Hers is a solid brand'
Florian Juerg, a branding consultant, wonders whether Angela Merkel is now expressing her "other self".
"Until now she has acted like the sensible scientist that she is," he told me (Mrs Merkel is a trained physicist). "But suddenly she's transformed back into the moral-driven pastor's daughter of her youth."
Hamburg is the German hub for marketing and brand imaging.
I asked Florian if "Brand Merkel" would be dented by the migrant crisis.
"Not in the long-term," he told me.
"Building up a brand takes a long time and the last 10 years of Merkel as Chancellor have been good for Germans. Hers is a solid brand."
For now. But if her refugee policy backfires, it will stain her political legacy.
Mrs Merkel's nickname here is Mutti, or Mummy.
Election after election, Germans have put their trust in her to decide what's best for them. She's seen as key in making Germany the success story it is today.
The way she's handling the migrant crisis is the biggest gamble of her political career.
Brand Merkel may have helped make Brand Germany great but she could now inadvertently damage her country.
The arrival of so many asylum seekers in one go will impact Germany's economy, its society and its politics.
Already there are well-chronicled splits within Mrs Merkel's own conservative bloc.
"We have to get the balance right," said Lorenz Caffier, CDU Interior Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
"The German constitution demands that we look after refugees but the benefits we give them are too generous.
"Frankly, I'm amazed at any migrant who doesn't choose to come to Germany. Our benefit system acts like a travel agency. We must put the wellbeing of our own people first."
Cucumbers, bananas - or greater matters?
German newspapers are full of reports about the benefits refugees receive compared to German citizens on welfare, leading, in some quarters, to a sense of injustice.
There's also a more widespread worry about strains on the national health and education systems.
"Germany can't take everyone in," Mr Caffier told me. "Up till now we had no choice. Angela Merkel didn't open the door to the refugees. They were already at the door.
"What was she going to do - send tanks to the Austrian border? Actually it's impossible to close borders. Any politician who suggests that is lying."
He insisted vehemently that the rest of Europe play its part.
"We Germans can't do this alone. Brussels has to decide whether it's going to focus on the curvature of cucumbers and bananas or tackle European issues of importance."
In the meantime, other European leaders are not queuing up to take in asylum seekers by the hundreds and thousands.
Chancellor Merkel's lead role in the migrant crisis is as controversial in the rest of Europe as it is at home.
The queen of consensus politics is no more.
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| By Victoria KingBBC News
UK cracks down hard
First it was advice, now it's an order. Boris Johnson has issued a stark message to the country: "At this moment of national emergency... stay at home." Speaking after the UK death toll reached 335, the prime minister introduced unprecedented restrictions on everyday life, meaning people must leave their house for one of only four reasons - to exercise once a day, to travel to and from work where "absolutely necessary", to shop for essential items, and to fulfil any medical or care needs.
Shops selling non-essential goods have been told to shut, along with libraries and children's playgrounds, and gatherings in public of more than two people who do not live together will be prohibited. The restrictions will be in place for at least three weeks and police will have the power to enforce them, including through fines. Read the prime minister's statement in full and get a more detailed breakdown of the new rules.
The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg says it's still not quite the kind of total crackdown seen in other countries, at least not yet - no curfews, for example - and there will be a time on the other side of this crisis to analyse whether the government made the right decisions at the right time.
A reminder here of the symptoms of coronavirus and how you can minimise your risk. And here we answer 10 of your most-asked questions.
Latest worldwide
The World Health Organization says the pandemic is "accelerating", with more than 360,000 cases globally and more than 16,000 deaths. But WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was still possible to "change the trajectory" with rigorous testing and contact-tracing strategies.
Many other nations have now imposed lockdowns along the lines of that in the UK. France is strictly limiting physical exercise and closing outdoor markets, and South Africa's government is preparing for the worst. India is stopping all domestic flights, but there are particular fears surrounding one textile city.
In Italy, the worst-hit country, the latest daily increase in deaths was the smallest since last Thursday, raising hope that stringent restrictions on public life are starting to have an effect. The BBC's Sima Kotecha describes the haunting experience of Rome under lockdown.
In the US, where 481 people have died, state governors and city mayors are pleading for more help from the federal government. However, the BBC's Anthony Zurcher explains why the president may be having second thoughts about following suit with a large-scale lockdown.
Our live page has all the latest developments, while health correspondent James Gallagher looks at when and how life might return to normal.
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning
A closer look at business
Coronavirus is an economic emergency as well as health one, and our colleagues in BBC Business have pulled together the guidance on how to apply for government business support. Lots of measures have been announced, but still, freelance and self-employed people tell us they feel forgotten.
Companies are attempting to help in the fight against the disease. Carmakers are answering calls from governments to help make more ventilators and face masks, while several tech giants are teaming up to accelerate delivery of testing kits. At the opposite end of the economic scale, we meet some of the workers keeping our essential services running.
US-China contagion: The battle behind the scenes
By Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent
It is clearly not a good time for the world and it is not a good time for relations between the US and China. President Donald Trump has repeatedly chosen to call the coronavirus the "Chinese virus". The president and his secretary of state have both denounced China for its failings in the initial handling of the outbreak. Meanwhile, social media in China has spread stories that the pandemic has been caused by a US military germ warfare programme. But this is not just a war of words, something more fundamental is going on.
Read the full article
One thing not to miss today
Why is the Olympic decision taking so long?
Listen up
In the BBC's latest Coronavirus Newscast, Adam Fleming and the team discuss the newly imposed lockdown. Bake Off champion Nadiya Hussain joins them to offer some tips for cooking while cooped up.
What the papers say
The drastic measures announced by Boris Johnson are reflected in dramatic headlines. "End of freedom", the Daily Telegraph declares. "Britain shuts up shop", the Daily Mail says, while the Sun has a picture of a giant padlock with the headline "House arrest". As the Financial Times puts it, the prime minister has been "forced to close Britain". While there's widespread support for the measures, there's also a feeling that, as the i puts it, the prime minister has dragged his heels. The Guardian says he significantly "escalated his language" after days of being accused of "sending mixed messages about what the public should do". Leo McKinstry, writing in the Daily Express, says the imposition of these "savage rules" will have been particularly difficult for the PM, who is "an optimistic liberal at heart, with a deep suspicion of the big state", but he had no alternative.
From elsewhere
The conversation we should have with our loved ones now - leading medic (The Conversation)
Policy vs Pandemic: Contagion outpaces consensus on response (Reuters)
Stuck in a cramped space? This astronaut has some advice (National Geographic)
Preparing to give birth in a pandemic (Refinery 29)
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Need something different?
Amid all the gloom, lose yourself in some beautiful wildlife photography, including stunning drone shots of seals and sheep. The 2020 Tokyo Games may be in doubt, but watch the teen figure skater from Latvia with Down's syndrome who dreams of competing at the 2021 Special Olympics. Our business desk have a couple of pieces you might find interesting too, including this one looking at whether synthetic fish grown in a lab could eventually replace the real thing. And if you're finding yourself stuck in a lot of video meetings these days, this fun film offers you seven tips to make them work.
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Music venues across England have remained largely silent for the past nine months after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to close their doors. As the unwanted anniversary of a year without live music approaches for some, musician Frank Turner is once again picking up his guitar to help. | By Oliver WrightBBC News
"If you had told me back in March last year," says Frank Turner, "that this issue was going to go on for this long I would have been very depressed."
The folk-punk singer has played more than 2,500 gigs in his 15-year solo career and sold out venues across the world, including Wembley Arena.
But he has also performed in scores of small independent venues and credits each one with getting him to where he is.
So when amplifiers and microphones fell silent in 2020, he livestreamed 14 free gigs from his home in aid of those venues, raising nearly £200,000 in donations.
"The bottom line is that venues have not been able to open their doors," says Turner.
"They've not been able to sell tickets, they've not been able to sell alcohol to punters, and therefore their business model remains completely on ice."
Now, as the third lockdown bites, he is restarting his weekly shows in support of the Music Venue Trust's #Savethe30 campaign to help UK venues identified "at imminent danger of permanent closure".
"It's the same predicament that pubs are in but with an extra added layer of awfulness," says Turner.
"It's difficult to exaggerate how difficult it is for these places."
Turner is not alone in his efforts to support struggling businesses and last year the government unveiled the £1.57bn Cultural Recovery Fund (CRF), but not all venues have been eligible.
'It doesn't work without the music'
Opened in November 2017, owner and session musician Ben Adey said he set up The Lantern as "there was never anywhere to play in Halifax".
The purpose-built, 130-capacity venue - which Turner will perform in support of later - was unable to apply for a grant as it had not been trading for long enough.
Mr Adey said it had been "successful, going well", before Covid hit.
"Everything just stopped, there was nothing coming in, but the rent and the overheads don't stop," he said.
An attempt to reopen as a bar when restrictions allowed was not viable.
"It was built as a live music venue as opposed to being a bar," he said.
"Without the live music element it just doesn't work."
A crowdfunding campaign launched last year has so far raised more than £20,000, and Mr Adey said he hoped Thursday's show would help with "getting to dry land" and give people something to look forward to.
'Twenty people better than none'
Elisabeth Carley-Leonard owns The Shed, in Leicester, which has been closed since 20 March due to extra restrictions in the city.
Turner's livestream last April raised more than £11,000 for the venue.
"We were hoping to raise maybe £5,000 or £6,000 and it kept going up and up; even after the livestream finished donations kept coming in. I still get goosebumps thinking about it," she said.
The funds raised "took the pressure off significantly" and "made the world a better place for a fleeting moment", she added.
However, with monthly overheads nearing £6,000, the money soon went and the joy of not having to make staff redundant in April became a "horrible" reality in September when the venue had "about £20 left in the bank account".
But, the following month it was awarded a £50,000 grant from the CRF.
Ms Carley-Leonard now has her sights set on reopening on 1 April "come hell or high-water" to mark the fourth anniversary of the Shed's reopening under her stewardship.
She hopes to welcome punters back to the venue on Friday and Saturday nights at first, though with capacity reduced from 100 people to 20.
She said she was trying to see lockdown as a chance to "start from scratch", adding: "Even if it's only 20 people at a time, that's better than no people."
'When can we have live music back?'
The 150-capacity Windmill, in Brixton, is another venue named on MVT's "at risk" list and was also ineligible for CRF support.
But while The Lantern and The Shed either chose to or were forced to stay shut, venue booker Tim Perry said he was keen to put on as many gigs as possible last year.
When restrictions in the capital allowed it, the venue took advantage of London's tier two status and staged about 90 reduced-capacity gigs, sometimes fitting in two a day.
Mr Perry said: "We knew we were going to lose money but we thought we would be losing less money if we put on some gigs.
"It felt like an important thing to do.
"We were crowdfunding, asking people to support the venue so if we sat there with the doors closed it would have been a bit hypocritical."
He said the venue had set a target of £56,000 to see it through to the end of March, though that figure had not included a third lockdown.
Like Turner, Mr Perry said the issue for venues now was a need for clarity from the government on when they can reopen.
"It's not just when either," he said, "it's when can we have live music, what will the capacity be, will there be a curfew?"
'A guerrilla warfare operation'
Turner, who last year took part in a socially distanced trial show aimed at exploring how venues might reopen, said the industry needed a definitive restart date and called for a coronavirus insurance scheme to protect against "false dawns".
Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust, said his team was working on a case-by-case basis to help all 900 venues it represents, with particular focus on the 30 most at risk.
Reacting to the potential impact of each new announcement was like running "a guerrilla warfare operation", he said, and they feared the worst-affected would be gone before Christmas.
But thanks to the Save Our Venues campaign launched last April and other projects, none of the 900 venues had closed and about half were "safe" till 31 March, Mr Davyd said.
And while there was a "dark air" around the return of large-scale gigs and festivals returning in 2021, the possibility of events at smaller venues felt "a lot more likely", he said.
He hoped socially distanced events could return in March or April while full reopening, with restrictions in place, may be possible "by the middle of the year".
A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said more than £168m has been awarded to 650 music venues from the CRF and applications were being accepted for the latest round until 26 January.
Meanwhile, talks about insurance between government officials and music industry representatives continue.
For Turner, helping the venues he cares so much about with his livestreamed performances had helped him through the first lockdown, giving him "structure and purpose".
But they also taught him a painful lesson.
"Drinking a beer and watching some live music is a magic, magic thing and I miss it terribly".
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Related Internet Links
The Lantern, Halifax
Windmill Brixton
The Shed
Music Venue Trust
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