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In the late 1990s, Grace Jo was still a child in rural North Korea when her dark black hair turned yellow. "I was so malnourished," she said, "we would spend days without having anything to eat". One of her two brothers, the youngest, had already died of starvation; the other, weak, could barely walk. | By Hugo BachegaBBC News, Washington DC
Her eldest sister had left the family in search of food and had never come back. Her father had also died, Ms Jo said, after being arrested and then tortured as he returned from China where he had gone to buy rice.
The only hope for those still alive to survive, her mother thought, was to escape.
From their north-eastern province of North Hamgyong, Ms Jo, then aged seven, her mother and another sister, Jinhye, 10, walked for three days on unpaved roads and through mountains, until they reached the Tumen River and crossed into China.
Once there, they lived underground, fearful of being caught - China, North Korea's main ally, has a strict policy of sending defectors back. During that time, they learned that Ms Jo's five-year-old brother, who had been unable to travel and so stayed behind, had also died.
"We tried many ways to stay in China," she said. But in 2001, three years after arriving, they were found out, jailed and returned.
Back in North Korea, Ms Jo's mother was sent to a forced labour camp while the girls were put in an orphanage, where they also had to work. Eight months later, as the two children were being transferred to a different shelter, they managed to escape. Their mother had already been released and, shortly after, the three were back together.
In 2002, they managed to flee North Korea for a second time. Ms Jo's mother bribed some border guards but, two years later, they were caught again and sent back. "We thought we would die in prison. We didn't have any hope."
But, while in China, they had started working with an American-Korean pastor to protect North Korean defectors. Now, it was them who needed help. So in 2006, he paid some $10,000 (£7,500) in bribes to the North's secret police to free the family. "Money talks in North Korea," Ms Jo said, and four months later they were released.
For a third time, they escaped to China and, in 2008, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) settled them as refugees in the United States.
Ten years later, Ms Jo, who is now a college student in Maryland, would watch something she thought impossible unfold: the leaders of the US and North Korea shaking hands.
Just months before, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un had been exchanging insults and threats of war. Now, both were holding unprecedented talks in Singapore.
Watching as the two leaders sat alongside each other, Grace Jo felt doubtful that ordinary North Koreans, struggling under tight sanctions imposed on the country over its nuclear and weapons tests, would see any benefits.
"It's a strategy" said Ms Jo, who is now one of the leaders of North Korean Refugees in the United States (NKinUSA), an organisation founded by her sister to help other defectors.
"If he [Mr Kim] wants to get money, he needs to get rid of the sanctions. Then money will come into North Korea and he will keep his regime alive."
Many analysts already see the summit as a victory for Mr Kim, who runs a totalitarian regime with extreme censorship and forced labour camps. North Koreans can be jailed for almost anything, activists say, and there are between 80,000 and 120,000 people in prisons across the country, according to a report by the US State Department.
The economy is also strictly controlled and the government funnels money into its missile and nuclear programme - the focus of the talks - despite widespread shortages of basic necessities.
"I feel very sorry that human rights are not being discussed," said Ms Jo. "We can't separate the nuclear issue from human rights issues. They developed nuclear arms while people were dying of starvation, others in prisons."
At the time when Ms Jo made her first escape, North Korea was facing a severe famine, which killed hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people. When she was five, she said, she was so hungry that she ate six newborn mice that her mother boiled after finding them under some stones next to the family's house.
The situation in the isolated country has improved since then, but the North continues to face significant shortages of food, and an estimated 41% of the total population of 25 million are undernourished, according to the UN.
Meanwhile the country's elite enjoy relatively comfortable lives in the capital, Pyongyang.
"I hope this [meeting] will bring change," said Ms Jo, "open North Korea to the world and allow people to have a free life."
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Linda Fairstein, a former US prosecutor turned crime novelist, has been dropped by her publisher amid renewed outcry over her role in the wrongful conviction of five teenagers for the brutal rape of a female jogger in 1989. | The black and Hispanic teenagers, known as the Central Park Five, were exonerated in 2002.
New Netflix mini-series When They See Us has returned attention to the case.
It has inspired a #CancelLindaFairstein movement on social media.
Also on Friday, Yusef Salaam, one of the five wrongfully convicted men, accused President Donald Trump of putting "a bounty on our heads" by amplifying public outrage at the time.
Mr Salaam was referring to the decision by the then real estate tycoon, to buy full-page ads in several US newspapers calling for the return of the death penalty in the state.
"They had published our names, our phone numbers, and our addresses in New York City's newspapers. Imagine the horror of that," a tearful Mr Salaam said at an American Civil Liberties Union event in Los Angeles.
President Trump - who three years ago said he still believed the five men were guilty - has not commented on the latest developments.
What did the publisher say?
Dutton, a Penguin Random House imprint, said it had ended its relationship with the author amid the backlash.
"I can confirm that Linda Fairstein and Dutton have decided to terminate their relationship. We have no further comment," Dutton Publicity Director Amanda Walker told the BBC.
Ms Fairstein, 72, has reportedly also resigned from at least two not-for-profit boards.
The crime novelist, who has written 20 novels since the 1990s, has not commented on the issue.
What about the Central Park Five case?
Ms Fairstein was the top Manhattan sexual crimes prosecutor when the five teenagers were charged with the attack.
The victim, a white 28-year-old investment banker, was severely beaten, raped and left for dead in a bush. She had no memory of the attack.
Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise - then aged between 14 and 16 - were arrested and interrogated for hours without access to lawyers or their parents.
They confessed to the crime but later recanted, saying their admissions were the result of police coercion.
Ms Fairstein observed the teenagers' 1989 interrogation, which was conducted by another prosecutor and police.
She has since maintained that they were not coerced and defended the authorities' conduct.
The convictions were overturned in 2002 after a serial violent offender named Matias Reyes confessed to the attack and said he had acted alone.
Reyes confessed from inside prison, after having "found religion". He is serving a life sentence for raping four women, killing one of them.
"I was a monster," he said in an interview with US network ABC. "I did some real bad things to so many people and harmed them in so many ways."
The racially charged case shocked the city and provoked fears of gangs of black teenagers going on crime rampages.
A US judge in 2014 approved a $41m (£32m) settlement between the five and New York City.
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Ten days after the Armistice ended the fighting in World War One, the British navy celebrated a decisive victory without a shot being fired when the entire German fleet surrendered in the Firth of Forth. | It was the greatest gathering of warships the world had ever witnessed.
Nine German battleships, five battlecruisers, seven light cruisers and 49 destroyers - the most modern ships of the German High Seas Fleet - were handed over to the Allied forces off the east of Scotland.
The 70 German ships were escorted into the sheltered estuary north of Edinburgh by hundreds of Allied ships and aircraft.
"It must have been some sight in the Firth of Forth that day," says Ian Brown from the National Museums of Scotland.
"It was a sight that had never been seen before and will never be seen again," he says.
Operation ZZ saw the mightiest gathering of warships in one place on one day in naval history.
The man in charge was the Royal Navy's commander-in-chief Admiral Sir David Beatty.
Under his command, in the early hours of 21 November 1918, the Grand Fleet began to raise steam and ease out of its moorings.
More than 40 battleships and battlecruisers set a course due east through the fog for the open water of the North Sea, about 50 miles beyond the Isle of May.
They were joined by more than 150 cruisers and destroyers heading for a final rendezvous with its mortal enemy - the German High Seas Fleet.
Arrangements had been made in advance for the surrender but the British navy was still ready for action and on a war footing.
The Royal Navy was keen not to give the German fleet - the second biggest in the world - the chance to change its mind.
The Germans had been instructed beforehand their guns were not to be loaded and everyone but the engine crew were to be on deck.
In contrast, Admiral Beatty gave orders that his ships were to be ready for action with guns ready to be loaded at a moment's notice.
About 90,000 men of the British, American and French navies were aboard the ships.
As the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet sailed into the North Sea, it formed two massive columns six miles apart.
Just before 10:00 it met the Germans and their hulking crafts were led to their surrender by the British light cruiser HMS Cardiff.
"It was like a tiny little dog escorting in all these young bulls," says Mr Brown of the National Museums Scotland, which has a collection of photographs from the day.
After sailing out beyond the Isle of May, the two Allied columns swung around 180 degrees and formed an overwhelming escort on either side of the Germans as they led them back into the Firth of Forth.
"It was a wonderfully choreographed manoeuvre," says Andrew Kerr, an Edinburgh lawyer and local historian who has studied the handover.
By early afternoon, the German ships were anchored under guard east of Inchkeith.
The rest of the British and allied fleet returned to its anchorage above and below the Forth Bridge, says Mr Kerr.
He says recently-rediscovered anchorage plans for the surrender show the German ships boxed in by British battleships and cruisers, with the destroyer lines extending eastwards into Aberlady Bay.
According to Mr Kerr, Rosyth in the Firth of Forth was the base for the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet.
The fleet had been based at Scapa Flow in Orkney from the beginning of the war until the Forth was made safe enough to defend in early 1918.
"It had taken all that time to make the estuary here safe enough for the ships," he says.
In a mark of the final surrender of the former enemy, Admiral Beatty issued the order for the German ensign to be taken down at sunset and not hoisted again without permission.
"That was it," says Mr Brown.
"'You have surrendered. You are now our prisoners'."
Mr Brown says the two largest naval fleets in the world had been incredibly important in WW1.
As an island nation which was dependent on imports to feed itself, Britain had to rule the waves.
Defeat at sea by Germany could have led to blockade, possible starvation and surrender.
The superpower fleets had met at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and it was "debateable who won", Mr Brown says.
"The Germans say they won because they sank more British ships but the British say we won because the German navy never ventured out of port again," he says.
The Royal Navy's superiority in numbers was designed to make defeat in battle impossible and bottle up the Germans on the other side of the North Sea.
According to Mr Kerr: "Without the navy, the blockade of Germany would not have been possible.
"It was the blockade that led finally to the collapse of the German nation and the seeking of Armistice terms."
The blockade of Germany meant that by 1918 it was the Germans who were hungry, not the British.
'Ultimate humiliation'
Mr Brown says: "Just before the Armistice, the German navy had been planning to come out but there was a mass mutiny, basically the sailors refused to leave port.
"Then you have the Armistice and 10 days later you have the humiliation of having to come to one of the home ports of the Royal Navy."
"It is the ultimate humiliation for the German High Seas fleet."
Within a week the German fleet were escorted to Scapa Flow where they were interned until June 1919.
Having learned of the possible terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which would have shared the ships among the Allies, the caretaker German crew on board the ships scuttled them by opening flood valves and watertight doors and smashing water pipes.
A senior German officer declared at the time that this act had wiped away the "stain of surrender" from the German fleet.
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A new government study released reveals that suicide has been on the rise nationwide since 1999. The figures were released in the week when the deaths of designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain brought the issue to the fore. | By Ritu PrasadBBC News
In the days following Spade's death, the US suicide prevention hotline - 1-800-273-8255 - saw a 25% spike in calls, the Wall Street Journal reported.
International research has shown an apparent "contagion" effect after high-profile suicides.
But what has spurred such a steady increase in American suicides?
In 17 years, 30%
That's how much the overall suicide rate has increased in more than half of US states in that time, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The overall rise nationwide is about 25%.
It means that around 16 out of every 100,000 Americans will take their own life.
Nearly 45,000 Americans took their own life in 2016 alone.
According to CDC data, suicide increased among all sexes, ages, races and ethnic groups.
Lead researcher Dr Deborah Stone told the BBC that the agency had been tracking the rise for some time.
"Knowing the rates were increasing, we [wanted to] look at state level increases and contributing factors," Dr Stone says.
"There were 25 states that had increases of more than 30% - that was a new finding for us."
Nearly all of those states are in the western and Midwestern regions of the US.
Why are suicide rates increasing?
While there is no single factor that leads to suicide, Dr Stone says relationship issues and financial troubles tend to be top factors contributing to suicide across the country.
She also notes that some western states have some of the highest rates of suicide historically, which could be related to the fact that they tend to be more rural.
Rural states, she explained, are still recovering from economic downturns. People also tend to be more isolated, without access to proper care. And, these states have been hit hard by the opioid epidemic.
Prof Julie Cerel, president of the American Association of Suicidology, noted that having better reporting standards could account for some of the increase, but also pointed to a lack of adequate funding for mental health research and preventative care.
"Our mental health systems are just really struggling across the country," Prof Cerel says. "In terms of training mental health professionals, we're not doing a great job."
As of 2018, only 10 states mandate suicide prevention training for health professionals.
And Prof Cerel raised another related, though often sidelined, public health issue - firearms.
"The gun debate in the US has been about the horrific school shootings, and we want to prevent those, but the vast majority of deaths from firearms are suicides," she says.
In fact, two-thirds of gun-related deaths in America are suicides, according to the CDC.
"We just don't talk about that in the US because there are stigmas against mental health. People think suicides are different - why should they want gun control? Nobody in their family is going do that."
Is there a link between suicide and mental illness?
The CDC study found that 54% of Americans who died by suicide had no known mental health illness.
Dr Jerry Reed of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention told the BBC that while there is "definitely a relationship between serious mental illness and suicidal behaviour", experts have found it is not just a mental health challenge.
"Economic conditions or livelihood opportunities in decline could lead people to positions where they're at risk. We need to intervene in both mental and public health cases," Dr Reed says.
Prof Cerel also pointed out that many people diagnosed with mental illnesses never take their own life.
"It's not a simplistic 'they have mental issues, they killed themselves.'"
She added, however, that existing data may be under-representing the true extent of mental illness in the US.
"Whether [officials] think it's mental health or not is based on a box on the forms that a medical examiner checks," she says.
"If they have no family members to talk to at the scene, they have no idea if mental health was the case. Some coroners go back and do a thorough investigation, some don't."
Dr Stone says the CDC study showed loss, substance abuse, physical health, job and legal problems were all important factors.
"If we focus just on one thing we're really missing some of the people who are potentially at risk," she says.
Teaching America to cope
Experts agree that teaching people how to process loss and how to cope with difficult emotions are essential in suicide prevention.
"We can't take for granted that everyone learns this by some magic formula," Dr Reed says.
"We learn how to read, how to write. We also have to help people learn how to cope."
So what exactly is coping from a mental health standpoint?
Prof Cerel described it as having a "safety plan".
"If things go bad in your life, what do you do? Are there things you can do to distract yourself in the moment? Can you look at pictures of your kids or watch funny cat videos?
"Those funny cat videos can't keep someone alive, but they can calm people down to then use other coping strategies," she says.
Prof Cerel also emphasised that encouraging people to go to therapy and using mental health professionals to help "change dysfunctional thinking", is the ultimate goal.
For some people, "feeling connected and feeling like they belong are really important things", says the CDC's Dr Stone.
"We have to get the whole community involved - not just the health care community," Dr Reed says. "We're a nation that needs to recognise that isolation."
Where to get help
From Canada or US: If you're in an emergency, please call 911
You can contact the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255 or the Crisis Test Line by texting HOME to 741741
Young people in need of help can call Kids Help Phone on 1-800-668-6868
If you are in the UK, you can call the Samaritans on 116123
For support and more information on emotional distress, click here.
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The global economy is recovering, but not fast enough for most people to notice the difference. Whether it's growth, inflation or government borrowing, that's the message from the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook. And nowhere more than in the UK.
| Stephanie FlandersFormer economics editor
For the advanced economies as a group, the IMF is now expecting a slightly slower recovery than it was in January, with growth of 1.2% in 2013 and 2.2% in 2014.
The UK forecast has been marked down more than most: to 0.7% growth in 2013 and 1.5% in 2014. It's the only country in the G20 to have the 2014 forecast revised down by more than 0.1%.
Overall, the forecast is not that much worse than it was in January. But with world stock markets up 15% since last summer, you might have expected the growth forecasts finally to be going up.
Unfortunately, the real economy is still quite a long way behind the financial markets, and the IMF doesn't seem to think it will catch up any time soon.
It says "financial conditions remain highly vulnerable to shifts in market sentiment, as evidenced by the renewed volatility in the wake of the inconclusive outcome of Italy's elections and recent events in Cyprus".
There is some good news on inflation - at least, if you're talking the kind of inflation that comes from rising commodity prices.
Though global commodity prices have risen 12% since last June, the Fund expects rising world supplies to bring down global energy prices by 3% in 2013. It also expects food prices to fall by 2%.
We had a taste of some of that today, with the price of Brent crude falling below $100 a barrel for the first time in ages. But the consensus among UK forecasters is that we will see inflation go higher than today's 2.8% - to more than 3% over the summer - before it finally comes back down.
Does the IMF think the Bank of England should worry about inflation staying higher for longer?
Hardly. In fact, like the Chancellor and the incoming Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, the Fund seems to think the Bank of England should be even more focused on supporting growth than it already is. (And, implicitly, even less concerned about above-target inflation).
And the chancellor himself? Any word from the IMF on whether he, too, should be easing up in his plans for squeezing the budget?
I know regular readers will be excited to hear the latest instalment in this saga (for previous ones, see here and here).
The answer is... the IMF seem to have put their UK fiscal advice-making machine on hold. The report merely repeats what it has said before - that "greater near-term flexibility in the path of fiscal adjustment should be considered in the light of lacklustre private demand". It does not say what, exactly, that kind of more flexible path would look like.
That allows the Treasury to claim the chancellor has already followed the Fund's advice, since the Fund now forecasts he will make slower progress cutting the structural deficit over the next few years than previously thought. Also, the pace of the tightening in the UK - at about 1% of GDP a year - is broadly in line with what the IMF recommends for advanced countries generally.
But it's the Treasury making those connections. Not the IMF. In today's press conference, the chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, said explicitly that the UK could consider a more moderate pace of fiscal tightening, beyond what the government had already done. But he didn't press home the point, or expand upon it. Apparently we will have to wait for the Fund's detailed annual report on the UK, in the summer, to get any more.
The report does have one other piece of bad news for the UK: it thinks our current account deficit is going to get even bigger. You'll remember I highlighted last year's terrible deficit, of 3.7% of GDP, when it came out. That was already one of the worst figures on record.
Now the Fund expects the gap between what we earn in the global economy, and what we spend to rise to 4.4% of GDP in 2013, and nearly that high in 2014 as well. That is the highest since 1989 and the second highest on record.
Only six months ago, the Fund thought Britain's current account deficit in 2013 would be "only" 2.7% of GDP. Clearly there is something going badly wrong with Britain's balance of payments which goes well beyond the slow pace of recovery in the eurozone - and has yet to be fully explained.
Whether it's rebalancing the economy or mending the budget, the broader lesson is that the chancellor is not fixing our problems nearly as fast as he hoped. And nor is the global recovery.
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Donations have been sluggish to the Pakistan floods appeals, as they were back in 2005 when the part of Kashmir the country administers was torn apart by an earthquake. The BBC News website asked some experts to comment on possible reasons why.
| By Jude SheerinBBC News
Donor fatigue
Dr Marie Lall, Pakistan expert at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and senior lecturer at the Institute of Education, says: "I think there is donor fatigue all around. The [2004] Indian Ocean tsunami, the Burmese Cyclone [Nargis, 2008], the [2005] Pakistan earthquake, and [this year's] Haiti earthquake. It is getting too much; we are in a recession and people are short of money."
Rebecca Wynn, Pakistan specialist for UK-based aid agency Oxfam, says: "Many donors have made substantial contributions in humanitarian assistance to Pakistan over the years, particularly in response to the conflict-related displacements over the last two years. Of course, the fact that the people of Pakistan have been hit time and again by disaster is even more reason to give."
Dr Elizabeth Ferris, senior fellow at the US-based Brookings Institution, a foreign policy think tank, says: "It should also be noted that the international humanitarian system isn't set up to deal with more than one major crisis a year. USAID, for example, committed one-third of its annual budget to the Haitian earthquake response. And among the general public there may be a feeling of, 'Well, I donated to the victims of the Haitian earthquake and Haiti is a far needier country than Pakistan.'"
Corruption
Yale University economics professor Dean Karlan, an expert on charitable giving, says: "Corruption concerns may explain why giving is lower to developing countries than many would like it to be, but it does not explain why there is less money pouring into Pakistan now than does to disaster relief causes in other developing countries with similar governance issues."
Dr Marie Lall says: "People in Pakistan are sceptical the government will be transparent. But they are giving to philanthropic organisations. In the UK, I think people are sceptical of [non-governmental organisations'] overheads and costs. They don't know which ones are transparent and reliable, even though local organisations such as TCF [The Citizens' Foundation] are doing an incredible job."
Dr Elizabeth Ferris says: "People are always sceptical about their money reaching flood victims, particularly in countries with reputations for corruption. But Haiti didn't have a very good reputation in this regard. [Pakistan] President [Asif Ali] Zardari trip to Europe [during the floods] was not a good move. For a few days, that was the 'story' of the Pakistani floods, which doesn't inspire people to be generous, particularly in this economic climate."
Terrorism
Dr Marie Lall says: "British Prime Minister David Cameron's comments in India [when he said Islamabad promoted the export of terror] did not help."
Dr Elizabeth Ferris says: "People are less likely to donate to any country seen as a haven for terrorism. And more generally, the fact that so much Western news coverage in recent years about Pakistan has been negative, stressing its links with the conflict in Afghanistan. I think this is the major reason for the slow public response - the image of Pakistan in our media. There may also be a feeling, particularly in the US, that Islamic governments and charities should be stepping up to the plate to donate."
Timing
Rebecca Wynn says: "This disaster has come at a bad time, following the financial crisis and the Haiti earthquake. Many donors made huge commitments to Haiti, so may find it hard to fund another major disaster, particularly in the same year."
Dr Marie Lall says: "Timing may be a factor, but I think it's more to do with not realising the scale of the disaster, and the attitude by the British government; the UK should be leading the aid effort, given the Pakistani diaspora here and the fact that we need Pakistan for the war in Afghanistan."
'Wrong' disaster
Professor Dean Karlan says: "Sudden events seem to generate more funds. A flood (and droughts) happen gradually and build. There isn't any one single day in which news is huge. For the same reason, this pushes the story away from the media spotlight. But massive and sudden earthquakes or tsunamis draw our immediate attention and shock us."
Dr Elizabeth Ferris says: "It's important to note that in general people are likely to give more to emergencies occurring in countries geographically closer to them - although this didn't hold true for the tsunami. But when you trace contributions over time, you find that Americans and Canadians are more likely to respond to disasters in the Western hemisphere while Europeans tend to be more responsive to African countries (and their former colonies, in particular)."
Dr Marie Lall says: "This was not one cataclysmic event, but one which grew over three weeks. The fact that 25% of the country was or is under water is not understood. The low numbers of dead, relatively speaking, mask the disaster on the ground. The crisis has destroyed crops, dead livestock and damaged homes and infrastructure. Food prices are through the roof and there won't be a normal harvest. It will get worse. Farmers will starve."
BBC website readers have been sending in their views. Here are some of their comments.
A lot of people I know feel that some of the very wealthy Muslim countries (Saudi Arabia etc) should step in and help those who are their religious brethren rather than always expecting the currently cash strapped countries who always give to keep on giving. Donor fatigue of some type but more that we are fatigued with always being the ones expected to help. Also celebrities such as Bono and Bob Geldof are always banging on about how we should give our money when if they each gave 50% of their money, a lot of help could be given. Fleur, Devon, UK
I believe donations from the West will perk up when we read that it has been confirmed that Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia have donated sizeable sums. I read this morning that India, traditionally Pakistan's 'enemy' , has offered help, but no news of similar offers of help from Muslim countries. C Burns, Longfield, UK
I don't think it's necessary to donate any money to Pakistan because there's enough money - and support - available within the Islamic community (particularly from the oil-rich Gulf states and Saudi Arabia). The Saudis spend millions of petro-dollars every year to help get mosques built all over the world. I'm sure the Saudis alone could fund the whole recovery of their Islamic compatriots in Pakistan, particularly as they employ so many guest workers from Pakistan. However, I'm pleased to see that the Pakistan government have accepted aid from India. I am supporting the Haitian appeal - these desperate people don't have the support of wealthy Islamic countries. Rupert Templeman, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Pakistan has a long history of corruption and military rule. People of Pakistan have been suffring in general from a lack of basic necessities. After 65 years of independence it is still under developed due to bad management. The most likely reason for the slow response for help, I believe, is due to its links to terrorism. Bhupendra Shah, North Bergen New Jersey, USA
There are many good explanations as to why aid has been slow to trickle into Pakistan given the sheer extent of the disaster. However, next to Israel, Pakistan has probably the worst international image around right now. Pakistan is unfortunately associated with Afghanistan, Bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Another important dynamic not quite appreciated is that there is a significant Pakistan-rooted diaspora worldwide in many Western countries and richer Arab Gulf countries. After 9/11 there has been significant tension and unease between the Pakistan-based communities and the host countries, due to the perceived 'homegrown' terror threat. Therefore, in the West, I think the dynamic of negative views towards Pakistanis amongst their communities rather than just a negative view of the nation is at play. Raja Mohammed, Surrey, UK
Donations have been sluggish I think because Pakistan spends billions on its military and yet cries out for help because of a natural disaster. Their government needs to sort its priorities out. Yvette, Kent, UK
This is a civilised country with nuclear power and missiles. A monsoon season comes every year. It's no volcano, no earthquake, and not a one-off natural disaster. Chris Jeffery, Odessa, Ukraine
If they can afford to be a nuclear country and boast about it, then they should be able to look after their own people. Ohanes, UK
Apart from various reasons given, there is the perception that historically the Pakistani government and politicians have deliberately misdirected aid for humanitarian causes to other channels like in military projects. Obviously people and foreign governments somehow lack trust in Pakistan. Satya S Issar, Wraysbury, Staines, UK
I think the fact that Pakistan has spent great sums on nuclear weapons aimed at India instead of preparing for catastrophic monsoons is one part of the explanation why donations are so low. The rest of the world has run out of sympathy for Pakistan. Fredrik Andersson, Gothenburg, Sweden
These "experts" are so far from the mark it's hard to believe. Countries like India and Pakistan are not poor - any country that can fund a nuclear program and have the massive armed forces they have, should be able to look after themselves. Plus there's the ex-pat factor - there's a large community in the UK who think of themselves as Pakistanis first and they will be giving through other ways and means. Tony, Leeds, UK
It is very interesting to see how much fellow Muslim countries are giving in aid, if anything at all. The mega rich Arab oil states have given very little, apart from Saudi Arabia who has donated $40 million or so - which is not a lot considering how wealthy they are. A J Wawn, Bedford, UK
Any country that sends its top politician on a jolly around Europe and insists on wasting money on nuclear weapons in my opinion has money enough to look after its own. James, Cheshire, UK
Lack of media coverage and lack of heart-wrenching stories. It's all very much 'another day in Pakistan'. It needs/needed to be the first and main news story on every news channel, with numbers for people to understand the scale - e.g.,number of cattle or other animals dead, as a proportion of the number needed by the country. Satellite images detailing the flooding perhaps. The news story currently lacks 'drama'. I give regularly to charities and causes such as this but even I didn't fully appreciate the scale until this week. Loz, UK
When the Pakistani government chooses to spend their revenue funding nuclear weapons and maintaining the sixth largest armed forces in the world they have no right to plead poverty when the monsoon is heavier than normal. Haiti were already one of the poorest countries in the world when an unforeseeable earthquake hit them - they deserve charitable giving. It is hard to feel the same way about Pakistan. Dave Fulton, Seaham, UK
The 'elephant in the room' is that Pakistan is not a 'popular' country, because of its negative associations with terrorism. People may also feel negatively towards poor, developing countries which spend billions on arms, including nuclear weapons. C Matthews, Birmingham, UK
While acknowledging the floods exist, the problem is that there are simply too many people living in a flood plain. They chose to live there. The good times were good. This is a bad time. We should make provision in the good times (for the bad will always come - nature's like that). If there were fewer people, there would be more food to go round, more space on higher ground, and the aid agencies would have an easier task. It's a basic problem. Haiti was similar. C A Turner, Salisbury, UK
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A man has been arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment and making threats to kill after a woman was held hostage. | Police were called to reports a woman was being held at a property in Tarrant Grove, Birmingham, at about 17:30 BST on Friday.
The road was cordoned off and police negotiators were at the scene until just before 10:30. The woman received a cut to her arm.
A 35-year-old man, from Selly Oak, was also arrested on suspicion of assault.
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About 100 jobs have been saved at a Denbighshire hotel after it was taken over by new owners a week after it went into administration. | They say all posts at Ruthin Castle hotel in Ruthin are secure and future bookings will be honoured.
The 60 bedroom hotel, which has a spa and restaurant, will continue to be run by the existing management.
It has been bought in a joint venture with private equity firm and Prima Hotel Group, based in Cheshire.
Former owner Anthony Saint-Claire is now acting as a director of the new company, called Ruthin Castle Estates.
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Since 1874, thousands of indigenous people in the province of Ontario have been getting just C$4 ($3.15, £2.40) a year for their land. Now they say it is time to raise the rent. | On Treaty Day back in August, people from Nipissing First Nation were queueing to receive C$4 in cash.
Although it may not seem like much, the money is a symbol of the signing of the Robinson Huron Treaty - a landmark agreement between representatives of the Crown and the Ojibway people in 1850 that became a template for how Canada would draft agreements with indigenous people in the decades to come.
In the treaty, the government agreed to give the signatories and their descendents a yearly payment in exchange for sharing the land. This kind of agreement would become a template for future treaties across the country.
Today, there are about 70 treaties in Canada that represent about 500,000 people in 371 First Nations. Some include provisions for a yearly payment of C$4-5.
Treaty Days are generally observed in late summer, depending on the community, and are typically a happy time to celebrate the relationship between indigenous people and the government of Canada, says Gina Starblanket, who teaches indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba.
But as many First Nations continue to argue with the government over housing, education and healthcare, treaty days take on a double-edged meaning.
"Some see it as a reminder of violence and forms of oppression," she says.
At a time when Canada is engaged in a national conversation about reconciliation with indigenous people, some members of the Robinson-Huron Treaty want to raise the annuity for the first time since 1874, when it was raised from C$2 to C$4.
"If it doesn't start there, (reconciliation) is probably going to be a non-starter," says Mike Restoule, chair of the Robinson-Huron Trust.
Twenty-one First Nations are taking the province of Ontario and the federal government to court. Testimony began in September and could run until March.
They are joined by two other First Nations representing the Robinson Superior Treaty, who are arguing a separate case at the same time.
Plaintiffs in the Robinson treaties lawsuits are arguing that the original agreement contained an augmentation clause that allowed for the annuities to be increased with the land's value "as her majesty may graciously be pleased to order", and that such an increase is long overdue.
The outcome of either case could set a precedent for how the government treats indigenous land claims in the future, says David Nahwegahbow, one of the lawyers representing the Robinson Huron plaintiffs.
"It has some potential for broader implications, because from the First Nations side, treaties are nation-to-nation," he told the BBC. "Those treaty agreements from time to time need to be renewed."
The Robinson Huron Treaty covers a land area of about 100,000 sq km (39,000 sq miles), stretching north from the shores of Lake Huron up to Lake Superior, and is home to about 30,000 First Nations people.
At the time it was signed, William Benjamin Robinson had one goal - get the rights to the land's natural resources. The Ojibway people, who were not accustomed to written treaties, believed that they were agreeing to share the land, Ms Starblanket says.
"Inherent in indigenous political and legal orders was an understanding of treaties as living, breathing agreements," she says.
But over the next 167 years, the annuity would remain stagnant while the Canadian government reaped the benefit of lands rich in minerals and other natural resources.
A yearly sum that was once the equivalent of about $100 is now barely enough to buy a cup of coffee and a doughnut.
Although a value has not been specified, the lawsuit asks the government to make amends for unpaid annuities and set a new yearly rate.
Testimony is currently being heard in courtrooms throughout the region, so that various First Nations may attend.
Historically, indigenous groups have struggled to have their land claims addressed. It was only in 1951 that they could sue the government, Mr Nahwegahbow says, and it was not until the Constitution Act of 1982 that their treaty rights were enshrined in law.
"This is one of those lawsuits that proves why we need to teach more history in this country," says Derek Ground, a lawyer who specialises in indigenous land claims.
Mr Nahwegahbow thinks the Robinson Huron case stands a strong chance, as the Robinson treaties were the only ones to include an augmentation clause, plus the government had previous raised in the annuity once before.
But perhaps what is working most in their favour is the changing political climate.
Since the Truth and Reconciliation Committee's report highlighting the horrors of Canada's residential school system, public favour has turned in favour of reconciliation. Prime Minister Trudeau has made making amends a key tenet of his government's policy.
But both the plaintiffs and the federal and provincial governments have signalled an out-of-court settlement would be ideal.
"Honouring the treaty relationship, based on the recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership, is important to this government and is key to achieving lasting reconciliation," said a spokesperson for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.
"The Government of Canada prefers negotiated outcomes whenever possible, and we are currently engaged in discussions on moving this case out of the Court process."
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Organisers of an annual gathering of thousands of Gypsies and travellers in Cumbria are to hold a meeting online, for people to ask questions.
| June's Appleby Horse Fair is attended by about 10,000 Gypsies and travellers as well as 30,000 other visitors.
Cumbria Police will host the web chat on Wednesday night to give people the chance to speak to members of the Appleby Fair Multi Agency Group.
They include police officers and a Traveller representative.
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The JVP is happy that the LTTE is willing to sit at the negations table but the government should be cautious, warned party leader Somawansa Amarasingha. | He said the LTTE has not only violated the CFA but also used it to strengthen its position.
“Any reasonable person would agree that the LTTE has brutally violated all the conditions of the CFA” said Amarasingha
He further added that ‘Mahinda Chithanaya’ should be the basis of any talks with the LTTE
Mahinda Chintanaya is the election manifesto of President Rajapaksha that the JVP supported during the presidiential election..
General secretary Tilwin Silva said that the CFA initiated by Ranil Wickramasinha is something beyond repair.
“The CFA should be a meaningful one” said Silva
The general Secretary said that there is no use of playing with words of the old agreement in Geneva.
“It is a new understanding among both the parties that is needed “said Silva
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Jeremy Corbyn created a grassroots movement that swept him to the Labour leadership against the odds. But now he has to run Britain's main opposition party - a very different challenge. How will he cope?
| By Brian WheelerPolitical reporter
What is Opposition?
The term Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition started as a joke in the early 19th century House of Commons, but it stuck.
In modern times, the party with the second highest number of MPs is the official opposition - it is their constitutional duty to be an alternative government.
The leader of the opposition is seen as a prime-minister-in-waiting and gets a bigger salary, a much bigger office and has to attend official events.
Mr Corbyn - a staunch anti-Monarchist - is going to be seeing a fair bit of the Queen.
He has joined the Privy Council, the inner circle of advisers to Her Majesty, prompting cries of hypocrisy from his friends in the press.
The worst job in politics
Not for nothing is Leader of the Opposition known as the most difficult job at Westminster - all responsibility and no power.
Taking on the government with a fraction of its resources and trying to get a fair hearing - or any hearing - for your policies can be a frustrating, soul-destroying experience.
Infamy, infamy!
You also have to watch your back.
There are always potential assassins lurking in the shadows - or in Mr Corbyn's case writing opinion pieces for national newspapers.
William Hague, a man who learnt a thing or two about treachery during his time as Conservative leader, had this advice for Mr Corbyn in his Telegraph column: "The new leader cannot afford for long the threat of open discontent or rebellion. He has to keep an eye on every MP who is aggrieved or demoralised while managing three concentric rings of potential enemies."
What's the secret?
Gordon Brown's former spin doctor Damian McBride (pictured) says effective opposition comes down to organisation - and Mr Corbyn risks letting down his army of supporters if he is not able to use the full resources at his disposal to attack David Cameron.
"They elected Jeremy Corbyn as someone who is really going to go at the government and be different and take them on. He will need ammunition from the public but also the ammunition he gets from his own MPs," he tells BBC News.
Attacks on the government have to be carefully-targeted and co-ordinated - and questions have to be watertight. It is no good launching a full frontal assault on David Cameron if it falls apart at the first challenge to some dodgy statistics.
"He needs a research operation and that is always something that is coordinated by ministerial offices and the whips office," says Mr McBride.
How is Corbyn handling it so far?
He steadied the ship with his first Prime Minister's Questions but it has been a bumpy start, with Mr Corbyn's own views on fundamental issues such as Europe, benefits and nuclear weapons sometimes appearing at odds with those of his own front bench.
As a backbench MP, Mr Corbyn could make up his own policies. Not any more.
"He has never had to compromise. But now he is leading a team and you do have to make compromises. It is different to being a backbencher. It is a big challenge," says Ayesha Hazarika, Harriet Harman's former chief of staff.
Getting a grip
Thursday's appointment of Neale Coleman as Mr Corbyn's head of policy and rebuttal, is being seen as major boost to his chances of running a strong opposition.
Mr Coleman is a former adviser to Ken Livingstone, when he was London mayor, and was closely involved in the bid for the London Olympics, and the subsequent staging of the games.
He joins another former Livingstone adviser, Simon Fletcher, who is Mr Corbyn's campaign director.
Even Tory-supporting lobbyist Peter Bingle, not a fan of Mr Corbyn, is impressed, calling Mr Coleman "one of the best advisers I have ever worked with".
The combination of Mr Coleman and Mr Fletcher means the Labour leader has "appointed two of the best political brains," he adds.
Discipline issues
One of Corbyn's first decisions was to keep Rosie Winterton on as Labour's chief whip - seen as another shrewd move.
As a serial rebel Mr Corbyn will know all about her powers of persuasion, even if he was able to resist them.
Deputy leader Tom Watson will also play a crucial role.
He hates being called a "fixer" apparently but, as a former minister and head of Labour campaigns, and the man who played a role in toppling Tony Blair, he knows how to get things done at Westminster.
Money worries
Mr Corbyn can rely on money from the trade unions - he raised £220,000 from them during his leadership campaign.
But wealthy individuals who have previously donated large sums to Labour have been lining up to pull the plug.
One of them, Assem Allam, the controversial owner of Hull City football club, has even offered to bankroll any "moderate" Labour MPs who want to break away and form their own party, according to The Times.
Home shopping tycoon John Mills, Labour's biggest individual donor in recent years, has also offered to funnel money into Labour MPs intent on keeping the moderate flame alight, according to The Telegraph.
It is hard to see abstemious Mr Corbyn squeezing into a smart suit to schmooze City big wigs over brandy and cigars.
But converting some of the 88,449 people who signed up to vote for him for £3 into full members, at £46.50 a pop, might help ease the party's money worries.
Taming the media beast
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told Channel 4 News Team Corbyn did not need mainstream media - it had its own media, by which he meant social media, the secret weapon that propelled Mr Corbyn to the party leadership.
It must indeed be tempting for Team Corbyn to stick two fingers up to the tabloids, figuring they will never get a fair hearing (Ed Miliband tried to tame the beast - even posing with a copy of The Sun - and look where it got him, they might argue).
But that is dangerous thinking, says prominent Corbyn supporter Owen Jones, in The Guardian: "If social media were as politically invaluable as the left would like, Labour would now be in office with a majority of 150," he writes.
Most people are not on Twitter and the vast majority of those that do use the site are not interested in politics, getting what information they need from newspapers and TV news bulletins.
Send for a spin doctor
So how exactly do you get a hearing in the mainstream media, if large swathes of it are hostile to you?
The conventional answer has been to hire a Fleet Street hard man or woman as your press chief.
Damian McBride does not think it is necessary for Mr Corbyn to have an "Alastair Campbell-style Svengali" - but he warns Team Corbyn against thinking they can just carry on where they left off with the leadership campaign, by holding more public meetings and extending their social media presence.
"They may, if they are sensible, rely on regional media, where they may think they will get a fairer hearing, but that can't ever be enough.
"I think they are going to have to accept some of the advice they are getting to at the very least engage with the broadcasters, who will tend to always be more balanced, and to just try and reach out through some of the national newspapers."
If Labour's attacks on the government are eye-catching enough The Sun and The Daily Mail will print them, he argues.
It's early days
Media "tittle tattle" is how Jeremy Corbyn has dismissed the stories - such as the row over his decision not to sing the national anthem - that have swirled around him since he took over.
He is trying to do things differently, he insists.
That is no excuse for "chaotic" media management, sloppy briefings and pulling out of interviews, mutter the Westminster media classes.
Has his refusal to play the media game put a few noses out of joint?
"I think there is a little bit of that," says Ayesha Hazarika.
"If you are in Team Corbyn your primary concern is probably not how the media feel they have been treated. We are in a different politics now.
"These things were much higher up the agenda before. We are in a completely new situation in Labour politics. There has been a cultural revolution."
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For decades Debenhams has been a landmark store for towns and cities across the UK. The BBC visited two branches - one of the newest and one of its long-established stores - to hear customers' views on the retail giant's collapse. | By Laurence Cawley, Mariam Issimdar and Kris HollandBBC News
Jemima Steadman, a mother of four, is feeling quite glum at the impending closure of one her favourite stores.
"I've always shopped in Debenhams," she says.
"It is going to be devastating to lose it because I love the Bluezoo (children's) range and I love Debenhams."
Her local store on Roaring Meg Retail Park in Stevenage only opened in 2017, making it one of the retailer's newest.
It was created as a "test lab" for a new kind of department store housing high street food names along with its traditional fare.
Jemima says she popped in to stock up on children's clothing and toy dinosaurs.
"I am pretty gutted, really. Considering they rebuilt it just for Debenhams it is quite important for Stevenage because it is just going to be left empty.
"It is going to be a derelict town."
About 100 miles (160km) away in Norwich, Sarah Anderson and her husband Terry are sitting outside the city's branch.
"I think it is going to have a huge impact; it is going to leave a huge void in the city," says Sarah.
For years the couple have shopped at the Orford Place store, a fixture in the city centre since the 1950s.
"It is a place we grew up with," says Sarah, who has a background in retail.
"It is terrible news. I think it is a great shame for the high street.
"I know it is probably due to Covid but I just feel really sorry for the workers in there. Times are going to be tough."
Terry says: "I think there is an epidemic of closures. Which one is going to be next? They all seem to be closing one by one and it is going to leave the city quite barren."
David and Rosemary Worby came from Dereham to the Norwich store for their Christmas shopping.
They do all their shopping in person and have never bought online.
"It is very sad, like all the shops that are closing," says Rosemary.
"It is a dying trade, all these big shops," says David. "Everything is online."
You might also be interested in:
Two months ago Robert Brand, from Pulham Market, near Norwich, booked a day off to do some Christmas shopping.
"It is just coincidence that it happens to be today that it has opened up and I thought I'd have a look around lots of places, and as it is quiet I thought I would have a look at Debenhams.
"I come here regularly but it will be interesting to see what is going on and I feel I will be paying a visit while it is here to support it.
"It is terrible, really. Norwich has got a number of key big stores. Not every city has that and it will be a big loss for every city that has a store like this.
"It is a really sad thing because I love the physical aspect of shopping where you can look at stuff, feel stuff and try things on.
"Online is sterile. It is great for kettles because you know what a kettle is like. But when it comes to clothes or things you might need advice on and a level of customer service, you can't get that online.
"This is a real loss and I think people underestimate that."
A potted history of Debenhams
Source: Debenhams
Jacky Tossell and her daughter's boyfriend Jake Jones were the first in the line at the Stevenage branch at 08:00 GMT.
Jacky says the closure will be "a huge loss" to Stevenage and that is is "the only thing here".
"It is a big part of the community here in Stevenage.
"It used to be Toys R Us. I know several people who come here not just for the Debenhams shopping but for the places in there like Nando's. I've always come here for my shopping," she says.
"We heard how good the deals were going to be here today. I lost my job so any bit of money off will help with the Christmas presents this year."
Jake adds: "It is a really good shop and I will really miss if it goes. I'm here today to support it and if I can get a good deal, then that will be great."
Archie Samson emerges from the store with a clutch of bags.
It was, he says, "absolutely manic" inside.
"It is nice to see it go out with a bang, at least," he says.
"I've been buying loads of Christmas presents and there were good deals in there.
"It is so handy being in our town.
"I'm always using it; it is a shame it is going. I think people will miss it - especially with the restaurants in there. It is a real shame.
"A lot of people would say this is the best shop in Stevenage. But what can you do?"
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An 18-year-old is being treated in hospital with a serious head injury after an attack in Glengormley, County Antrim. | The assault happened as he was walking with two females in the Farmley Road area just before 20.00 BST on Saturday.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the teenager was punched and kicked in the face by a man who was with another female at the time.
The attacker then made off towards the Tramways area.
Detectives are appealing for anyone with information about the incident to contact them.
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A 59 year-old man has been charged with selling tickets without authority at the Olympic rowing events. | George Doran, of Hanover, in Germany, was charged following his arrest in Maidenhead Road, Windsor, on Sunday.
He was released on conditional bail to appear before Slough Magistrates' Court on 14 August, police said.
Two other men, aged 36 and 39, held at Eton Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire on suspicion of ticket touting, were cautioned and released from custody.
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A fourth person has been arrested on suspicion of murdering an aspiring lawyer who was attacked as he went to buy a bagel in north-west London. | Sven Badzak, 22, was chased and then stabbed in Kilburn on 6 February.
Scotland Yard said a 19-year-old man who was arrested on Monday morning remains in custody.
A 20-year-old man previously held over Mr Badzak's death also remains in custody. Two teenagers, aged 17 and 19, have been bailed.
His mother Jasna Badzak has described her son as someone "who would never raise a hand unless he was going to lift you up", and said he had a "lifetime of opportunities in front of him".
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"You don't get to say goodbye to anyone, you don't get to phone them up and say 'oh by the way I'm going into witness protection, I'm not going to speak to you'." | By Tomos MorganBBC Wales News
Self-isolation and reduced contact with friends and family has been a necessity during the pandemic, but for some people it's a never-ending reality.
The BBC was given extremely rare access to someone in the closely-guarded and secretive UK Protected Persons Service (UKPPS).
For more than 20 years, Sian (not her real name) says she was a victim of horrendous, sustained, physical and sexual domestic violence.
As a result, she and her children now live in "witness protection" conditions in a state of enforced separation and anonymity.
Having grown up with abuse throughout her childhood, Sian was a teenager when she met the man she would later marry.
But things quickly took a dark turn.
"At first it was sexual violence," she said, pausing briefly after every few words.
"But then physical violence crept in. Within three weeks he was raping me. That led to two decades of domestic violence."
Things got worse after Sian had children.
But - after a particularly traumatic experience - she sought medical help and that led to wider involvement from the authorities - the police deemed the risk to her life was so severe, she had to enter the protected persons service right away.
Life changed immediately.
She and her children were moved to another part of the UK and, to all intents and purposes, dropped off the face of the earth to many people they knew. They were given new identities and asked to start over.
"There's always this constant reminder of what has happened and where we are, so that will never leave us," she told me, hesitating.
"Your old life stopped and your new life has started. You live 'normal', which is normal for us, but not for anybody else."
It's not just witnesses of serious crime that are part of the UKPPS.
It is also for people like Sian, where the threat on their life is so severe, there is no other option.
What is the UK Protected Persons Service?
It is a network of regional police units, led by the National Crime Agency, which deals with safeguarding at-risk people and witness protection.
It provides protection to people judged to be at risk of serious harm, including:
Source: National Crime Agency
In this life, trust counts.
Sian told me there were very few people who knew the secret she has had to keep to ensure her family's safety.
"Apart from the people involved in my case, it's probably less than 10. But I can't honestly say that there is anybody out there that I trust completely."
Sian only agreed to speak to me with her children's blessing.
They have learned to value their isolation and be wary of certain risks, especially in a media-driven society, where something as innocuous as a social media post could give away too much information about their location.
"It's very scary just walking down the street, you know what it's like - people take Instagram videos or Snapchat videos. There have been plenty of times where my children have shoved me out of the way because someone has their camera out.
"It's a daily part of life for us. You're constantly on alert so that you're not caught up in that, and obviously it's [meant] the children can't go to prom, they can't do everyday things that children would normally assume would be a passage of life.
"They can't go to award ceremonies at school, they can't even join sports clubs, because parents will take videos.
"The children are not allowed to be on social media and that's difficult for them because it makes them stand out - every child at school, all their friends - are on social media and the minute a child isn't, you're different.
"We've had a few instances, where children have just taken out their phone in school and taken a photo and they had to delete them."
When I asked whether she had friendships with other children's parents, she took a long pause.
"No."
For safety reasons and not wanting to explain their situation and extend the circle of trust, she felt it was best avoided.
Emergency protocols are in place if the worst-case scenario were to happen, but living a hugely sheltered life has been hard.
Sian said Christmas was when her children felt the isolation the most.
"Their friends are getting together with family and with extended family and we have nobody, it's just us.
"Apart from the food that we eat, it's just a normal day. There's nothing really different. It can be a difficult time for us."
With the curbs on life for many people brought on by the pandemic, Sian said she had seen parallels with the restrictions in her life - and her situation had left her well prepared.
"For once I was rather grateful that life didn't feel so drastically different for us, and we didn't struggle with having to get used to the new way of life as we were already used to it.
"Living in witness protection is similar in ways to the total isolation everyone had to endure during lockdown."
Most of her physical scars have healed, but the mental scars of the years of abuse are still very real.
Sian was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression as a result of her ordeal. She doesn't work and doesn't foresee a time when she'll be able to.
"I have flashbacks all the time, nightmares all the time, I don't sleep well. I am woken up, still, years later with panic attacks, so you know, different things can set off different triggers that I have.
"So for me, the best way that I can do that is obviously to keep myself safe is to stay at home, primarily."
She is also open with me about the toll the years of abuse has had on her. At her lowest ebb, she was driven to attempting suicide.
"I regret not being able to give my children a normal life. I do feel sorry for them, they never asked for this and I think there is definitely some guilt there, but I think any parent would feel that.
"Looking back now yeah, I can look back and say 'I wish I had got out sooner'. I didn't think there was any option to get out any sooner - he had always threatened me, as in most domestic violence cases."
This wasn't the life Sian chose for her family and living under police protection is not something you can easily opt in and out of safely.
"I genuinely focus so much on my kids, and just trying to make a better life for them," she said.
"They're hugely supportive, they are very supportive in whatever I choose to do. "
But there is only one way the family will ever escape their isolation.
"When my husband dies. Until that day, we'll be doing this."
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Each new year brings a frisson of excitement among book lovers as they anticipate the happy hours ahead absorbed in a library's worth of fresh reads. | By Rebecca ThomasArts and entertainment reporter
And 2019 looks to be bumper year.
To whet your appetite we've picked a selection of fiction titles from a range of established and new authors.
The list is by no means exhaustive. It may not even end up tempting you. But take a look - and hopefully you'll find something to enjoy.
Fiction by literary heavyweights
Ian McEwan - Machines Like Me
Credentials: McEwan is the best-selling, Booker-nominated author of works including Atonement, Amsterdam, The Children's Act and On Chesil Beach. Most of his books shoot straight to the top in the charts and many have been adapted for the screen. His last novel was Nutshell.
The new book: In this, McEwan has taken his creativity into a subversive alternative 1980s London. Britain has lost the Falklands war, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony Benn for power and Alan Turing achieves a breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI). But if you've ever wished AI could create you the perfect partner, the young couple at the centre of McEwan's story find out the danger in inventing things beyond our control.
Machines Like Me is published on 18 April 2019 by Jonathan Cape in the UK.
Margaret Atwood - The Testaments (a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale)
Credentials: Though first published in 1985 (and nominated for the Booker Prize), Atwood's Handmaid's Tale is considered to have become increasingly relevant and has acquired a cult following. It's a story about life under a totalitarian regime in the US. Offred is one of many women who have been stripped of their previous identities and rights and forced into sexual servitude by the commanders of the Gilead regime. Two hit series of the story have recently been made for TV.
The new book: Exciting but frustrating in equal measure, all we know is that The Testaments is set 15 years after Offred's final ambiguous scene in The Handmaid's Tale, where the van door slams on our heroine's future. But Atwood has also let on that the story will be narrated by three female characters, adding: "Dear Readers: Everything you've ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we've been living in." The new book will be the 79-year-old's first novel since the Shakespeare-inspired Hag-Seed was published in 2016.
Testaments will be published in September 2019 by Chatto and Windus.
Joanne Harris - The Strawberry Thief
Credentials: Harris is best known for captivating hearts with her 1999 novel Chocolat, the story of Vianne Rocher, who opens an unusual chocolate shop in the sleepy French village of Lansquenet. It was turned into a film starring Juliette Binoche and Harris went on to create a mini-series of Vianne with three more stories. Fans have been holding out for a final instalment (while Harris went off-piste to write fantasy novels under the name Joanne M Harris) - and here it is.
The new book: Vianne and her magical daughter Rosette are well settled in Lansquenet, the place that once rejected them. Even Reynaud, the grumpy priest, has become a friend. But trouble lies ahead, unleashed by the death of old Narcisse, the florist, throwing the village once more into disarray. The arrival of Narcisse's relatives and the opening of a mysterious new shop, uncomfortably like Vianne's, seem to herald impending turbulence, perhaps even murder...
The Strawberry Thief is out on on 4 April 2019 published by Orion Fiction.
Mark Haddon - The Porpoise
Credentials: Haddon's name has become synonymous with the global 2003 hit The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which won him the Whitbread Book of the Year and created a West End stage phenomenon. He went on to hone his art of domestic dramas with A Spot of Bother and The Red House. He then turned to short stories in The Pier Falls, for which he (surprisingly perhaps) reworked two mythical legends to bring them into the contemporary world.
The new book: The Porpoise is Haddon's first new novel in seven years and proves he's found a taste for the ancient. The story is based on the epic tale of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. At its core is a fractured family adrift at sea, desperate to get home while battling against violent forces. The Porpoise is a ship and the story leaps from the modern era to ancient times with a diverse cast, including pirates and ghost women with ghastly teeth. The Porpoise sounds a rough ride. Be brave, don the life jacket and dare to jump aboard.
The Porpoise is published in May 2019 by Chatto and Windus.
Graeme Simsion - The Rosie Result
Credentials: Simsion's 2013 comic novel The Rosie Project became an international bestseller with the unorthodox story of the socially inept geneticist Don Tillman and his scientific questionnaire, schedule-based search for love. He eventually finds the spirited Rosie, who derails his methods and makes him question his secure, technical approach to life. The Rosie Effect followed in 2014 and charts the inevitable strain - and near disaster - brought to the relationship by impending parenthood.
The new book: If you've read the first two Rosie books, you'll jump for joy at this long-awaited finale. Happiness and calm at last might be your wish for Don and Rosie but since when did that make for attention-sustaining entertainment? So, here we see Don's "contentment graph" taking a steep downwards turn. His son is struggling and Don and Rosie have big worklife strife. Can Don trust friends to help him through the turmoil, can he allow his son independence - and will he finally understand himself?
The Rosie Result is out on 4 April, published by Penguin/Michael Joseph.
Jeanette Winterson - Frankisstein
Credentials: Winterson is best known for her award-winning Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against her draconian mother and trying to work out who she really is, in particular in terms of her sexuality. Winterson returned to that material in her painful yet humorous memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Overall she's written 10 novels as well as children's books and screenplays.
The new book: Winterson reboots Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for the 21st Century, launching us into a hold-on-to-your hat modern-day horror story about very modern-day neuroses and issues, including identity, technology, gender and sexuality. Starting in 1915, Mary Shelley writes a story about AI. Zoom forward to post-Brexit Britain and we enter a world of a transgender doctor struggling with his feelings for a celebrated professor leading the AI debate. Elsewhere new generation sex dolls are being mass produced and a cryogenics facility is holding a mass of dead bodies waiting to come back to life. Challenging reading, to say the least.
Out 23 May 2019, published by Jonathan Cape.
Two extras of potential interest: The latest novel from Tracy Chevalier, The Single Thread, will be out on 5 September (Harper Collins) and Ali Smith brings out Spring, the third instalment in the novel cycle the Seasonal Quartet, on 28 March, published by Penguin/Random House.
Fiction by debut writers
Richard Roper - Something to Live For
Credentials: Richard Roper was inspired to write his first book by a newspaper article about the council workers who have the grim task of dealing with the homes and belongings of people who die alone. Searching high and low for clues to next-of-kin is a priority. Otherwise it's the council that pays for the funeral, a send-off that forcibly needs to be "cheap", ending in an unmarked grave.
The debut book: The inspiration for Something To Live For may not sound too appealing. But the story Roper tells is a charming, humorous and life-affirming tale about human kindness that strikes a chord in a world where loneliness is a growing problem.
The protagonist is Andrew, one of the council staff whose livelihoods depend on death. And he goes the extra mile by attending the otherwise mournerless funerals. But Andrew is equally alone. In his dismal flat he eats beans on toast and plays with his toy trains. His biggest problem is the lie he's told people about having a beautiful wife and gorgeous children, to get his irritating colleagues off his back. Andrew could drift on like this forever but when a young woman named Peggy joins the team, his equilibrium begins to shake.
Something to Live For will be published on 27 June 2019 by Orion Fiction.
Beth O'Leary - The Flat Share
Credentials: O'Leary wrote her first novel on her work train commute to a children's publishers. She's now a full-time writer. Her inspiration for The Flatshare came from living with a doctor boyfriend who worked nights. They were in the house for the exact opposite hours so never saw each other. O'Leary started noticing the small things that told her how he was and it got her thinking about how much you could learn about somebody just from domestic clues. She was also inspired by her and her friends' often soul-destroying experiences of renting in London.
The debut book: Tiffy and Leon share a flat. Tiffy and Leon share a bed. Tiffy and Leon have never met. These are the taglines for O'Leary's story, which taps firmly into the current-day housing crisis. The two end up in the same flat out of desperation. Tiffy can only afford somewhere cheap to live. Leon also needs to raise money to help his brother. But since he works nights, he never sees his lodger and bedsharer. Nonetheless, like amateur detectives, they come to know each other very well - through a series of post-it-notes, left-overs and friends. But could Tiffy and Leon finally meet? That's for you to explore.
The Flat Share will be published in April by Quercus.
Soren Sveistrup - The Chestnut Man
Credentials: If you were a fan of The Killing, you probably know Sveistrup, the creator and writer of the Danish Scandi Noir crime series. It revolved around Detective Inspector Sarah Lund and each new series followed a murder case day-by-day. Its fiendish plot twists and bleakness made the show an international hit. With this in mind, Sveistrup has all the ingredients to write novels just as gripping as his TV work.
The new book: The Chestnut Man is set in Denmark and tells the story of Rosa Hartung, minister of social affairs. She's just returned to her job a year after her daughter disappeared. But as Rosa returns to try to rebuild her life, elsewhere another family's is being torn apart. A young single mother is found murdered, with one hand cut off and an ominous chestnut figure hanging nearby. It's just the first in what evolves into a series of similar crimes. And bubbling under the surface is the increasingly urgent question as to whether the murders are linked to Rosa's own personal loss. The answer is for the story's two detectives - and the reader - to discover.
The Chestnut Man comes out on 10 January, published by Michael Joseph (Penguin).
Candice Carty-Williams - Queenie
Credentials: Carty-Williams comes with a strong professional and cultural background from which to launch herself into her first novel - and the topic within. She started out in publishing, then launched a BAME short story prize, became a mentor and still writes for Beat magazine.
The debut book: At its heart, Queenie is about the search for identity, told with a humour and lightness of touch.
Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old black woman living in London, who works in journalism. With great friends, affectionately known as the Corgis, and seemingly oozing confidence, everything seems rosy in Queenie's world. But it's a facade. Underneath, she's struggling with loneliness and her lack of self-worth, stemming from a dark secret in her childhood. A romantic break-up and the resulting change of home sets in motion a downward spiral of self-destruction for Queenie that the reader is willing her to fight against, and learn to be happy.
Queenie is published on 11 April by Orion Books.
Celebrity Extras
Last, but hopefully not least, there is the usual crop of celebrity-written books on the horizon. Here are just a few:
Prue Leith - The Lost Son
She's known as a queen of the kitchen and one half of the judges for TV ratings smash The Great British Bake Off. But when not wielding a spatula, Leith's (metaphorically) brandishing a pen. The Lost Son is the third and final instalment in The Angelotti Chronicles, a decade-sweeping saga about an Anglo-Italian family and their struggle to rise above the turmoil and sadness of the past. (Oh, and the family patriarchs are in the restaurant business.) Published on 18 April by Quercus.
Melvyn Bragg - Love Without End: A Story of Heloise and Abelard
Even without knowing he's a novelist, most of us would see Bragg as a man with a big brain and one oozing culture. It's fitting therefore that the basis of his new book is one of the most enduring love stories in history - the romance between Heloise, "the cleverest woman in France", and the celebrated philosopher Abelard, in Paris during the 12th Century. Bragg's story moves backwards and forwards between the past and the modern day, in which the learned Arthur, who - with his passion for the famous love story - could remind you of Bragg himself. Published on 7 March by Hodder.
Russell Brand - Mentors: How To Help and Be Helped
Never lost for words, Russell's latest book (following his bestselling Recovery) is again full of his own particular "brand" of wisdom. He tells us about the people who have, and have had, a significant positive impact on his life and encourages us to look to others to become better individuals. He says we "are works in progress and through a chain of mentorship we can improve individually and globally". Mentors is released on 24 January by Bluebird.
Also to come later in 2019 is Elton John's autobiography in the autumn, as is one from Louis Theroux, both from Macmillan. And a new novel from Dawn O'Porter called So Lucky reaches us at Halloween, published by Harper Collins.
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Ramsey police station has been relocated in the first stage of long-term regeneration plans for the north of the Isle of Man. | The station can now be found on the first floor of Ramsey courthouse while the lower floor is converted into a Post Office.
Later this year, Ramsey police station will relocate from the courthouse to the town hall.
Insp Richard Power said there will be no disruption to police services.
It is hoped the reshuffle will encourage more people into the centre of the town.
Mr Power added: "The creation of new police station at the town hall represents a very positive step forward in terms of partnership working for the benefit of the northern neighbourhood."
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World War One had many heroines, including 'she-soldiers', spies and martyrs. Their heroism was praised during the war but they were not always remembered in a positive light afterwards, says Prof Alison Fell. | World War One created new kinds of heroes and heroines. The main route to heroism for men was through the bearing of arms. Following the mass mobilisation of civilians into the armed forces, military heroism became more democratised, as any man donning a uniform could potentially be seen as a hero.
Medics, skilled male auxiliaries and members of the labour corps were sometimes seen as heroic, but it was front-line soldiers who were placed at the top of the hierarchy of male heroism.
The shift in the ways that heroism was understood, and the advent of "total war" in which a large percentage of the population were actively engaged in the war effort, meant that women could be seen as heroic, too.
Changing Faces of Heroism
WW1 moved away from traditional views of heroism and created new kinds of heroes and heroines. Prof Alison Fell explores how and why views changed in a free online course (MOOC) from the BBC and the University of Leeds.
Their heroism was sometimes related to the ways they carried out their pre-war roles in exceptionally difficult circumstances - nurses caring for the wounded on trains, ships and hospitals, or bereaved mothers and wives stoically coping with their losses, workers taking on jobs normally reserved for men, and housewives coping with the privations of war. They were all perceived, in different ways, to demonstrate heroic qualities of bravery, endurance and selflessness.
But other women, especially those close to the front lines, took on roles that challenged social expectations about the roles and duties of men and women. Some took up arms, becoming 'she-soldiers'. The name was given in previous centuries to women who dressed up as men in military uniforms and who were popular characters in ballads and folk-tales.
During WW1 some female fighters were claimed as war heroines and were photographed and praised in newspapers, but their heroism was not always remembered in such a positive light once the guns had fallen silent.
When war broke out, these women were keen to prove their worth and join the Armed Services. In Britain, members of the Women's Volunteer Reserve, founded in 1914 by wealthy suffragette Evelina Haverfield, adopted army ranks, dressed in khaki and practised their drills in central London - to the scorn of some journalists.
In France, cross-dressing archaeologist and journalist Jane Dieulafoy, who had already had experience of being at the front in the Franco-Prussian war, petitioned the government to create a women's auxiliary corps. Only in Britain, however, in the manpower crisis of 1917, were such corps founded, and then only to perform non-combatant roles such as domestic and clerical work.
Other fronts saw women get more involved. On the Western Front, individual women were caught up in the action. Emilienne Moreau was a 17-year-old who killed German soldiers while helping British members of the 9th Black Watch during the Battle of Loos. She was awarded medals and nicknamed the "Heroine of Loos" in both the French and British press.
Woman's work?
Later in the war, resistance networks in occupied France and Belgium sought to undermine and disobey the martial laws of the German occupiers. As was to be the case in the World War Two, occupation blurred the line between combatant and non-combatant and resistance networks involved both sexes.
Women carried out tasks such as train-watching, publishing and distributing underground newspapers and smuggling Allied soldiers back to their lines. Edith Cavell, the most famous female member of these resistance networks, helped some 200 French and British soldiers to escape. She was found guilty along with other members of her network of treason and executed by firing squad in September 1915.
Other women worked as spies for the newly formed British and French secret services. Frenchwoman Louise de Bettignies worked as an agent for the British and ran an intelligence network in Lille. After she was arrested and found guilty her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, but she died in a German prison in September 1918.
Unsurprisingly, the Germans objected strongly to the creation of "resistance heroines" during the war. Teenage fighter Moreau was attacked as a "franc-tireur" or "free shooter", as a civilian taking up arms. Just as Allied propaganda headlines condemned Germans for "murdering" Edith Cavell, so the German press condemned Moreau for "murdering" German soldiers and violating the 1906 Geneva convention.
The only officially sanctioned group of "she-soldiers" in the war were the members of the Russian Battalion of Death, led by Maria Bochkareva. She had initially been granted special permission to enlist in the Imperial Russian Army by Tsar Nicholas II. Upon his abdication she was asked to create a female battalion by the minister of war. But they were not considered as an alternative to male soldiers. Part of the attraction of deploying women in Russia's army was their propaganda value as a recruitment tool to "shame" men into enlisting.
There were other women who took up arms. The best-known British she-soldier is Flora Sandes, who changed her uniform as a member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry Corps for that of a captain in the Serbian Army. French athlete, pilot and journalist Marie Marvingt served for three weeks by disguising herself as a French soldier. British journalist Dorothy Lawrence also disguised herself and served for 10 days.
So how were these heroines remembered after the war? Women who had taken on men's roles during the war were subject to suspicion and sometimes to ridicule in peacetime.
Sandes expressed disappointment and dissatisfaction with life in Britain after the war and eventually settled with her husband, a former Russian general, in Serbia. Marie Marvingt attempted to use her skills as a pilot in the interwar period in France but was unable to persuade the French army to employ her in an official capacity.
Lawrence's attempt to find commercial success as a journalist on the strength of her war experiences failed, she eventually died in an asylum in 1925. In Bochkareva's case, her heroism did not protect her for long in the new Russia. Tainted by her connection with the White Army, she was executed by the Bolsheviks in 1920.
What are MOOCS?
MOOCs stands for massive open online courses and are a new way of learning from the world's leading academics. The BBC is launching four WW1 MOOCs, working with leading universities.
Explore the courses by registering here.
Rather than the handful of exceptional women who took up combatant roles, it was the heroines whose role did not contradict or challenge traditional views of femininity who came to dominate memories of the war.
Pride of place was given to nurses. During the war, they had worked close to the front lines undoubtedly displayed heroic qualities. They had braved shells and infectious diseases to care for the sick and wounded. But importantly, their association with a traditional feminine maternal and nurturing role did not jar in a post-war world eager for a return to the status quo. Women were called upon to repopulate the nation through their roles as mothers and to accept a secondary status in favour of returning men in the workplace.
The "resistance heroines" who had died, most famously Cavell, could forever remain heroine-martyrs, eternally fixed in this role in monuments that elevated them above the crowd. But those who survived could dress and act as men in a moment of national or international crisis, but the exceptional acts that had marked them as heroic in wartime were often met with embarrassment or silence in peacetime.
Find out more about MOOCs and register here. Also, discover more about the World War One Centenary.
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Indian IT billionaire Azim Premji recently became India's top philanthropist, sealing his place among the world's top givers. But his generosity has put philanthropy in the spotlight in a country where charity does not appear to match wealth. The BBC's Aparna Alluri reports. | With his recent pledge of $7.5bn, Mr Premji's total philanthropic contribution now stands at some 1.45tn rupees ($21bn; £15.8bn). This puts him in the same league of givers - as philanthropists are called - as Bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffet.
What perhaps distinguishes him even more is that, unlike them, he is not one of the world's five richest people - the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks him at 51.
But the philanthropic world was not surprised at his new status.
"This is not unusual for him because he's been the largest contributor in India and, even the continent, for some time," says Deval Sanghavi, co-founder of Dasra, a strategic philanthropy firm. It works with some of the biggest donors in India, directing their money to various causes and non-profits.
In their universe, Mr Premji is a magnanimous "outlier".
The 73-year-old software tycoon has been giving his wealth away for a long time. In 2013, he became the first Indian billionaire to sign the Giving Pledge, an initiative by Mr Gates and Mr Buffet that encourages wealthy individuals to pledge half their fortunes to philanthropy.
He was just 21 when he dropped out of Stanford University to join Wipro, a company his father started in 1945. (He went back and finished school in 2000). Under him, Wipro, a refinery for vegetable oils, grew into one of India's biggest and most successful IT services firms.
An intensely private man, Mr Premji rarely speaks in public or to the media. Yet, over the years, his unusually modest lifestyle and his generosity have earned him many admirers. Stories about how he still flies economy, or how he has, on occasion, hopped into a rickshaw, impress many in a country that values frugality, especially among the rich.
News of his pledge came in a dry press statement issued by the Azim Premji Foundation and included no personal statement. According to one newspaper, he even asked "what's all the fuss about" when he was told that the pledge was generating headlines and buzz on social media.
Mr Premji is not entirely alone in his generosity. IT billionaires Nandan and Rohini Nilekani have pledged 50% of their wealth to philanthropy; Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw committed 75% of hers; and many other families fund hospitals, schools, community kitchens, the arts and scientific research. All of them, like Mr Premji, are pledging their personal wealth, largely earned in their own lifetimes.
The Tata Trusts, endowed by the personal wealth and profits of one of India's biggest and oldest conglomerates, has been India's biggest philanthropic outfit for decades. It is only now rivalled by Mr Premji's foundation, which funds education, healthcare and independent media among other things.
"Premji's grant for the nation matches only what Jamsetji Tata and Dorabji Tata have done from a historical perspective," Amit Chandra, managing director, Bain Capital, told the Economic Times newspaper. Mr Premji's contributions over the past decade, he added, stand out across more than a century of Indian philanthropy - the first Tata trust was set up in 1892.
Mr Premji accounted for 80% of the money given away by ultra-rich donors in India (anyone who has given more than $1.4m) in the 2018 financial year, according to a recent philanthropy report co-authored by Dasra and Bain.
Philanthropy is growing, says Mr Sanghavi, but it's not growing fast enough. Private philanthropy in India grew at a rate of 15% per year between 2014 and 2018.
The Dasra report sees this as "particularly problematic" since ultra-rich households have grown at a rate of 12% over the past five years and are expected to double in both volume and wealth by 2022.
Compared to the percentage of net worth given away in the US every year, the report estimates that India's rich could give $5bn to $8bn more each year.
What is stopping them?
"There is a great fear of the taxman," says Ingrid Srinath, director of the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy at Delhi's Ashoka University.
"They [the rich] don't want to end up on any radar or become the subject of more appeals for money."
She believes another reason could be that wealth in India is still only one generation old, and those who have it don't feel secure enough to give it away.
But Ms Srinath also cautions against wholly relying on the data as it is incomplete, making it "hard to say anything definitive about philanthropy in India".
There is no centralised directory tracking philanthropy in India. Tax laws are complex and there aren't many incentives for giving. So reports, such as the one by Dasra, rely on multiple sources, from the government to third-party trackers to individual declarations.
And many people give anonymously, which further complicates estimates of philanthropy.
"It's not considered cool to talk about how much you are giving," Ms Srinath says. Ashoka University, she adds, was partly funded by some 100 donors, each of whom gave more than $1.4m but refused to be acknowledged publicly.
But Anant Bhagwati, one of the authors of the Dasra report, says that no matter how weak the data collection, large pledges are unlikely to fall through the cracks.
"If you look at those who have the money, they are not giving it," he says.
Ms Srinath agrees: "The overwhelming sentiment is that we [Indians] could do better."
Charity vs philanthropy
Mr Bhagwati doesn't discount donors who fund individual universities or hospitals, but what Indian philanthropy needs, he says, is people who commit to solving a problem. And not just any problem - preferably, one of the daunting sustainable development goals or SDGs. These range from ending poverty and hunger to giving people access to clean energy.
Strategic philanthropy - which Dasra advocates - makes a distinction between charity and philanthropy. While the former might involve feeding the poor on a single day, the latter would require investing in non-profits that work to decrease or end hunger altogether.
By this measure, rich Indians might be charitable, but not enough of them are philanthropists.
Read more stories from India
More importantly, Mr Bhagwati says, philanthropy needs donors who will invest in the fight itself. By this he means pledges that don't specify how the money is to be spent.
So, for instance, a non-profit that works to improve sanitation could use donor funds to build toilets, hire more people or even buy a laptop or other equipment that might make them more efficient. But most donors, Mr Bhagwati says, will set conditions about how they want the money spent. In other words, they will insist on the toilets being built.
He calls this "restricted giving" and says it's hard to coax people to give any other way.
But some of this is changing. "Earlier you gave as much as you could and hoped something came of it," Ms Srinath says, adding that earlier, most people wanted to fund education.
"Education is to Indian philanthropy what cricket is to Indian sport," she says, laughing.
But now, she adds, Indian philanthropy is finally diversifying into areas beyond education - sanitation, mental health and scientific research.
The biggest challenge has been the gap between what Mr Sanghavi calls "action and intent". Some billionaires are just more willing to give their wealth away than others.
He says he has heard several Indian philanthropists, including the Nilekanis, speak of how they see themselves as "trustees" of their wealth, which, according to them, rightfully belongs to the larger community. That is, they believe they owe the world their wealth.
In a note explaining his decision to sign the Giving Pledge, Mr Premji said his mother was the "most significant influence" in his life and that he was also "deeply influenced by Gandhi's notion of holding one's wealth in trusteeship".
Ms Srinath says philanthropists could be influenced by many things, from parents to community to faith. But generosity as a trait, she adds, is inexorably linked to a way of seeing the world and your role in it.
"It certainly has nothing to do with how much money you have."
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A teenage pedestrian died when he was hit by a lorry on a major dual carriageway in Hampshire. | The 19-year-old, from Billericay, Essex, was struck at 04:45 GMT on the A34 northbound in Winchester between the A33 split and A272 junction.
Police have not given any details on what the teenager was doing on the road at that time.
The A34 has since reopened after being closed for several hours to allow investigators to carry out inquiries.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed.
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A "balding" jogger is wanted by police over the death of a baby swan which was kicked to death. | The cygnet died on Thursday after suffering "severe" head injuries in Richmond Park, Richmond upon Thames, at about 17:30 BST on Monday.
A suspect, a 5ft 6in (168cm), grey-haired white male aged around 60 years old was also seen to kick another cygnet, said the Royal Parks Police.
"Thankfully," they said, the second swan "managed to escape to the water".
The officers further described the suspect as wearing black running shorts and a vest with a logo on it.
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The meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be one of the most important encounters between former enemies, with echoes of President Nixon's 1972 visit to China.
China at the time was isolated from the outside world amidst the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. And just as Kim Jong-un has been telling the North Korean people that they need to co-exist peacefully with the US, the Chinese government had to convince its people that it was necessary to welcome the Americans.
The BBC's Yuwen Wu was a young student in 1972 and reflects on how China prepared for what Nixon described as "the week that changed the world". | On 15 July 1971 at 19:00 local time, US President Richard Nixon walked into an NBC television studio in California and announced to the world that he had accepted an invitation from Premier Zhou Enlai to visit China, "to seek the normalisation of relations between the two countries".
At exactly the same time, 10:00 on 16 July in Beijing, China's national broadcaster made the same announcement, which made it clear that it was President Nixon who had first expressed his wish to visit the People's Republic of China.
This carefully choreographed broadcast was emblematic of both countries' painstaking preparation for Nixon's icebreaking trip to Beijing that sent shock waves across the world.
Mao's strategic calculation
The decision to invite the Americans came as relations between China and the Soviet Union were worsening, and the realisation for China that it faced a greater threat from its ally to the north than from its "enemy" across the Pacific Ocean. Reaching out to the Americans to leverage the existing tensions to China's advantage took on urgent strategic importance.
That realisation led to a series of events that would culminate in the establishment of formal diplomatic relations in 1979.
First, Mao Zedong spoke to the American journalist Edgar Snow in 1970 about his willingness to improve relations with Washington. In April 1971, China invited the US table tennis team for a visit.
A few months later, Henry Kissinger - Nixon's security adviser - made a secret visit to Beijing, during which China extended its invitation to President Nixon.
As is the case with China then and now, once the objectives were set, various mechanisms of state power began working to ensure the success of the trip, including the propaganda machine, the security apparatus and efforts to mobilise the masses.
I was 15 at the time, attending secondary school in Beijing. I don't remember much about the actual visit, and all the friends I have talked with also only have very faint memories.
But we all remember one thing, which is the general stance towards the American visitors that the government had stipulated: "Neither humble nor arrogant, neither cold nor hot."
It was years later that I learned about many interesting and sometimes hilarious examples of this general principle in action.
No insults 'to their face'
Yang Zhengquan, former chief of the Central Broadcasting Station, recalls the general guidance for media reporting being that there had been "no change regarding China's attitude to the USA".
Meaning, "we are still against them, but President Nixon is our guest, so we can't shout 'Down with Nixon' and 'Down with US Imperialists' to their face".
As a result, the "US imperialists" moniker would be changed to "USA" in radio and TV bulletins for the duration of Nixon's visit. Some anti-American content could still be produced but it should not be excessive.
China also understood how the visit was being seen in the US, and how Nixon would want to use live broadcasting to keep the American people informed of the progress in Beijing. US technicians initially wanted to set up a satellite station, but Beijing wouldn't allow it.
To break the deadlock, with Premier Zhou's permission, the Chinese side bought the US satellite equipment, and then rented it back to the US team so they could broadcast their evening news live from China.
Security, security and more security
Security for the visit was of huge concern. The hosts had to ensure the visit would go smoothly without any unexpected incidents; they also wanted to prevent inquisitive Americans from finding out too much about this mysterious country.
As the visit loomed, a big security operation was staged in the capital, with many people classified as "class enemies" put under house arrest or surveillance.
There were also reports of school and work hours being extended in Beijing to make sure not too many people would be outside before eight in the evening.
Back at my school, my teacher recalls that all the staff were told to look after or control their own classes so there would be no trouble in the streets. She also remembers that a student from another class was arrested simply for carrying a knife.
Some students were also told how to deal with foreign journalists who might ask tricky questions such as, "Where is Marshall Lin Biao?"
The former Communist Party leader and Mao's chosen successor had fled China and died in a plane crash in Mongolia. Students were told this was "still top secret and not to be revealed to foreigners".
Other queries they prepared for included: "Do you have enough to eat and wear?" and "Do you like America?".
Students could pretend they didn't understand the questions, or just run away.
Fake tourists on the wall
In order to create a friendly and orderly atmosphere, neighbourhoods were given a thorough clean-up, with unsuitable slogans and quotations removed and new ones more fit for the occasion put up to replace them.
Truckloads of supplies were ferried to shops to fill the shelves, with a wider variety of goods on offer than usual.
Much of the interaction between the Nixon party and "normal" Chinese people also appeared to be staged by Beijing.
American journalist Max Frankel from New York Times was part of the press corps and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for his reports about Nixon's February 1972 visit.
He observed on Nixon's trip to the Great Wall on 24 February that "strategically placed atop of the Great Wall in his path was a group of 'typical' tourists who could just happen to be on hand for a cordial greeting before the cameras and to allow a smartly dressed young woman to extend a special hand of welcome".
It turns out that these "tourists" were especially chosen to perform this political task.
In 2008, a man writing for the Phoenix News website said that he was working in a small factory when he was asked to pick 10 politically reliable people to take part in an event. They were asked to dress well - no work clothing allowed. They would pretend to be tourists on the Great Wall, and they would keep a fair distance from the American dignitaries, while pretending not to understand if they asked any questions.
A breakthrough
It snowed heavily the evening before the Great Wall visit, and thousands of Beijing residents and army personnel worked through the night to clear the streets so the Americans could drive. This deed was greatly appreciated by the visitors, but the wall itself made a bigger impression on President Nixon, who called it a "symbol of what China in the past has been and of what China in the future can become".
He told the journalists and Chinese guests: "As we look at this wall, we do not want walls of any kind between peoples."
Relations between the US and China have gone through many ups and downs since 1972, but it's fair to say the historic Nixon visit made it possible for the relationship to be built and tested in the first place.
Now all eyes will be on the Trump-Kim summit, with the hope that it will mark the beginning of the end of six decades of hostility and the start of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.
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Vulnerable men were forced to pave driveways for little or no money and live in squalid conditions, a court has heard. | Joseph Rooney, 45, from Washingborough, deliberately targeted victims who were homeless or alcoholics, Leicester Crown Court was told.
He denies one count of conspiracy to require persons to perform forced or compulsory labour.
Mr Rooney also denies three counts of causing actually bodily harm.
The prosecution claims he preyed upon five men.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between 2010 and 2014.
Several members of Mr Rooney's family were jailed for similar offences last year, the court heard.
The trial continues.
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Just what is the right age to start talking about masturbation? | By Sam GruetBBC Newsbeat
It very much depends who you ask and this week, it's caused something of a row - involving the hugely popular YouTuber Zoella.
An exam board decided to stop linking to her content for a GCSE media studies course - citing "a whole range of adult-focused content" published on her website.
Some of that content includes a list of the year's best sex toys.
AQA says conversation about this on social media has led to "misunderstandings" about the context of its decision, made about the younger end of GCSE media studies students, to remove "sexual content aimed at adults".
Zoella, whose real name is Zoe Sugg, says her site is aimed at people over 25 - but is worried the AQA thinks 16-year-olds aren't exploring their own bodies.
The exam board says: "Effective Relationships and Sex Education in schools is vitally important and we completely support it.
"All we're saying is that we don't think studying adult-focused lifestyle websites in GCSE Media Studies is the best way to do it."
It's still got a lot of people talking about when is the right time to talk honestly about sex.
"I left school knowing men needed to wear condoms and got erections. I knew absolutely nothing about myself."
You've probably heard of Emily Clarkson's TV presenter dad Jeremy. She has 141K Instagram followers herself - and normally uses her platform to talk about stuff like body positivity.
But this weekend she says she had "a really honest conversation" with her followers about masturbation.
"I just thought back to my own sex education. It never included female pleasure in the narrative at all. Not in biology, not in sex ed, never," she tells Newsbeat.
"I knew I'd have a period and one day, I'd maybe have a baby, that's it."
Emily says she remembers seeing porn aged 12. "All parents know that boys watch porn, and everyone rolls their eyes and sticks their fingers in their ears."
The problem, she says, is if "girls aren't being taught that they're going to like sex - then what sort of sex are they consenting to as teenagers? Because they're not going in there expecting to enjoy it and I think that's quite distressing."
In an Instagram post, Zoella says female pleasure is nothing to be ashamed about.
"None of this is a judgement on Zoe Sugg, her work, or the suitability of her material for her target audience. As she's pointed out herself, she wasn't aware that children were studying her work for our course and we've never had any kind of relationship with her," the AQA statement says.
"The decision was due to the whole range of adult-focused content that the website has started publishing since we added it for in-depth study in 2017".
The statement continues that "it isn't appropriate for us to ask children as young as 14 to study a website that includes sexual content aimed at adults", and that this view "is shared by teachers and parents".
20-year-old Grace says she grew up watching Zoella and has recently started watching her videos again.
"I thinks it's great she's using her platform to discuss taboo subjects," she says "but it's also difficult because she's grown up with her audience."
"I'm glad she's normalising this, but I'm also like go back and show me your lush collection."
Aged 14, Grace says she "knew more than what my parents thought I knew" but at school sex education was "very basic".
She says the boys and girls were split up for sex ed - with the boys "taught about masturbation and the girls left to talk about periods".
"I think that set the tone for males being socially acceptable to do that kind of stuff. That's where the problem stems from."
Grace also worries about the effect this has had on people her age.
"It leads people to go online to places like Pornhub. This generation is being raised thinking sex should be this rough, nasty thing and it's not."
Amelia Jenkinson runs the School of Sexuality Education - and has recently finished teaching a group of 14 to 18-year-olds about sending unwanted sexual images.
"From year seven, we might get questions from students like, 'What's a vibrator, what's a dildo?'"
It's these questions that pupils "really want answered" and Amelia says "it's important we don't shut that down and create a sense of shame".
Before the most recent lockdown, Amelia's lessons involved pupils making penises and vaginas out of modelling clay.
"When it comes to women and girls it's still seen as shameful and taboo" when in fact, she says, it's "something very natural".
"We often share with young people that lots of animals masturbate. Camels masturbate into the sand -it's nothing to be ashamed of."
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As part of our CEO Secrets series, which invites business leaders to share their advice, we are focusing on start-ups that have launched during lockdown. Each week we will look at a different type of entrepreneur. This week, we hear from mothers with young children. | By Dougal Shaw and Lora JonesBusiness reporters
"I always wanted to set up my own business, because I needed to have something that was mine," says Suzanne Pattinson, 35, from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
She's managed to do that in lockdown, despite the challenges of childcare during coronavirus restrictions.
She and her husband, who's in the RAF, have two boys aged two and three.
Suzanne was balancing working as a freelance PR consultant with looking after the toddlers at home before the pandemic hit.
She was forced to rethink her career goals when the freelance work dried up during lockdown.
"All I knew was that it had to be something creative," says Suzanne. It also had to be portable, because of the military lifestyle.
Suzanne had taken a course in silversmithing in 2019 and loved it. So she decided to set up her own business creating handmade jewellery, calling it Soul Purpose.
"The idea of creating something special for somebody that they would wear day in, day out - it just set off something inside me," says Suzanne.
Realising this dream while looking after two children at home was both a challenge and an inspiration.
"The hardest thing I had to overcome was definitely the guilt. They needed extra attention and didn't quite understand what was going on."
The toddlers were also a daily source of motivation (despite choosing lockdown to give up napping).
"I saw how fearless they were, and I thought: 'I'm just going to go for it!'"
Suzanne herself was scared and worried during Covid-19, but wanted her children to see her being positive and focused - starting a business helped her do that.
She's managed to drum up more than 50 orders and several commissions since launching the business officially in mid-May.
"My advice would be to think about the bigger picture. If you've got a goal, and it's the best thing for your family in the future, you have to push through. Your kids will thank you for it in the future as they'll see you living your dream."
Lockdown and working parents
Lockdown and the extra childcare that came with it put an "immense" burden on parents, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies released in May. The average amount of time spent each weekday on paid work dropped from 6.5 hours in 2014-15 to 3 hours during lockdown.
However, women have borne more of this burden than men. Of parents who were in paid work prior to the lockdown, mothers are one-and-a-half times more likely than fathers to have either lost their job or quit since the lockdown began and are also more likely to have been furloughed. Mothers in employment are also working fewer hours than men and their pay has dropped proportionally during lockdown.
We are keen to hear from fathers who have set up businesses during lockdown while juggling this with childcare. If this is you, you can contact CEO Secrets producer Dougal Shaw
More CEO Secrets from business leaders
"The biggest battle was my children," says Sarah Furness. "Though even in the craziness of setting up a business, being a mum was my first role."
The 35-year-old from Ascot has a son and a daughter, aged four and five. She had given up her career as an accountant after starting a family, but decided to get entrepreneurial in lockdown.
She was inspired by an experience with her daughter, who was diagnosed with coeliac disease in June 2019. This means she cannot eat gluten, which is often found in wheat, barley and rye.
Sarah was looking for some pick 'n' mix sweets for her as a treat during lockdown. Unable to find any that could guarantee they were safe, she had the idea of creating Curly Cow, a gluten-free sweets firm.
"I wanted to be able to provide for everybody and make sure nobody's left out," she says.
Sarah says she's been "overwhelmed" since launching the business in July, both by orders and by positive comments from customers.
She's currently turning a profit sending out about 50 to 100 compostable pouches of sweets each week, which are sourced from a range of suppliers.
Balancing being a parent and a budding entrepreneur has been a challenge, especially when home-schooling during lockdown, says Sarah.
"Before the launch, I made the most of my evenings doing research while the kids were in bed, and at weekends my husband would take them out so I could fulfil orders.
Between herself and her husband they were able to juggle childcare during weekdays too.
"There were a lot of late nights from me, but we managed to get there," she says.
For Sarah, the risk paid off - and her daughter is thrilled. The five-year-old even gets involved in the business. She created her own "princess" range of sweets.
"We were playing a game the other day and you had to give a reason why you loved everybody," says Sarah.
"She loves me because I own a sweet shop apparently!"
Lockdown start-ups
Recent figures suggest that many people have set up their own firms during lockdown.
Almost 50% more businesses were created in June 2020 than in June 2019, according to the Centre for Entrepreneurs, which examined data from Companies House.
July set a new record with more than 81,000 businesses registered.
Anna Wilson, 37, and Alice Macfarlane, 36, hope to make their fortune in lockdown from luxury socks.
The friends - and now business partners - first met at a baby and toddler group in Perthshire, Scotland.
Both had stepped back from high-pressure finance jobs after starting families, but were looking for a new challenge on their own terms. So they went into business together just as coronavirus struck, creating Pairs Scotland.
The company wants people to ditch their cotton socks and invest in their alpaca and mohair ones, which retail from £20 a pair. Their business taps into the trend for durable, "slow fashion".
Alice has a one-year-old daughter, so childcare has been a challenge, especially during lockdown, when nurseries were closed.
"When I used to work as a fund manager, my time was my own," she says. "Whereas now, I'm trying to cook fish fingers and I have a small person's hands around my thighs gripping me, while I'm on the phone with Anna talking about two different types of packaging."
Her advice is to take steps to divide your time carefully.
"I have mornings doing business things, and in the afternoon I'm a mother. In the evenings I might catch up with a few emails, that's how I've made it work."
Anna has three boys aged eight, five and one, so is in a trickier predicament.
"When lockdown hit I realised I would have to run not only my business, but a crèche, while also becoming a teacher to two kids at home, and become a chef cooking 500 meals a day!" she says.
Both women's husbands worked from home during lockdown and were able to help "juggling childcare".
Anna is not surprised that many working parents were tempted to "mothball their careers" during Covid-19, but she thinks it is important for people to carry on - especially women, who still take on most of the responsibility for childcare in the majority of families.
"I would highly encourage mothers to set up enterprises. I think it's really important for them to keep something of themselves. There's a huge workforce of skilled women out there who have put aside their careers for children and during lockdown have taken a [further] step back.
"It's really important those skills are not lost."
Additional reporting by Philippa Goodrich
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New fountains near a Cambridgeshire cathedral have been turned on following a £6m project.
| The water features have been installed in Peterborough's Cathedral Square, in a scheme which took 16 months to complete.
The work came under heavy criticism from local businesses who claim it has caused too much disruption.
It is to enhance "the vibrancy and attractiveness" of the city, Opportunity Peterborough said.
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An award-winning musical featuring songs by Sheffield guitar hero Richard Hawley was meant to be on stage at the National Theatre around now. When the pandemic put paid to that, its co-writer penned a new online play featuring some of the city's other musical greats. | By Ian YoungsEntertainment & arts reporter
Chris Bush is struggling to decide on her favourite musical artist from her home city. The choice comes down to Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and The Arctic Monkeys, led by Alex Turner.
"Genuinely I don't think I could pick between Jarvis and the Arctic Monkeys," she wrestles.
"Pulp was introduced to me by people cooler than me when I was still pretty young. And then Alex Turner is very much my generation.
"No," she declares finally, "it's got to be Jarvis."
She suddenly remembers Hawley, however, adding diplomatically that their recent collaboration means she couldn't objectively include him in any such equation. "I don't want to get an angry text from him afterwards!"
Bush worked with Hawley - Cocker's former Pulp bandmate and a Mercury Prize-nominated solo artist - on Standing At the Sky's Edge. Her potent play was set to his melodramatic music, and told the story of the residents of a single Sheffield flat over three generations.
After its debut at Sheffield's Crucible theatre, it won the UK Theatre Award for best musical in 2019 and earned a London transfer. "We would have opened [at the National] in January, and I think we would still be on now, in another world," Bush says. "It's very, very galling."
The show will hopefully return to Sheffield and London. But with the pandemic still with us, Bush started thinking about a spin-off - the "B-sides" to Standing At the Sky's Edge, as she puts it - that could be performed at a safe distance or recorded.
The initial idea was to dip into the rest of Hawley's catalogue, with one idea that he should play a Beatles-style concert on top of Park Hill flats for the people of Sheffield to watch through binoculars.
But that was sadly dismissed and Bush turned her attention to other Sheffield musicians. "Actually there's so much phenomenal music that has come out of the city in modern times that it seems like a shame in a way to not widen the net a bit," she says.
So she came up with The Band Plays On, a streamed play comprising five monologues about people whose stories connect with events from the city's history, each accompanied by a song by a Sheffield artist.
The city has more than its fair share of musical heroes to choose from, including The Human League, ABC, Joe Cocker and Heaven 17.
But for her soundtrack, as well as music from the Arctics and Jarvis - of course - Bush has plumped for tunes by 1980s hair-metal heroes Def Leppard, 1960s pop idol Dave Berry, 1990s dance act Moloko, and 2000s indie band Slow Club.
The stories are all told by women, with a cast including Anna-Jane Casey, Sandra Marvin and and Jodie Prenger.
Their characters include one whose father builds a nuclear shelter after seeing the 1984 TV drama Threads, in which a nuclear bomb is dropped on Sheffield; one who was at former Labour leader Neil Kinnock's infamous pre-election rally in the city in 1992; and one who discovers that Sheffield had the world's first football club.
"I'm really proud of the city," Bush says. "There's something interesting in the way that Sheffield does or doesn't promote itself in the way that maybe some other cities do.
"It feels like it has a very different energy to somewhere like Manchester, which is a city I love, but feels like there's a very Mancunian ethos, which is about telling you exactly how brilliant they are, quite loudly, quite a lot of the time.
"Sheffield has this attitude that you will find that out for yourself, and when you're here you'll be very welcome, but we're not a city that's very good at shouting about itself actually. And I think, maybe because of that, there are stories that don't get told."
In true Sheffield fashion, the monologues are not "overtly celebratory", Bush says.
"We're billing them as stories of solidarity and survival. They are some of - not exactly darkest hours in the city's history - but it's about strength, and it's about resilience. And it feels like they were the kind of stories that felt useful, right now."
Co-director Anthony Lau adds that the stories "take us through the past, into the present, and ask questions of the future", with "a universal appeal". Robert Hastie, artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, says they will appeal beyond Sheffield, just as bands like the Arctic Monkeys and Pulp do.
"They are talking about Sheffield people, Sheffield places, Sheffield stories, but their music is loved and lauded all over the world," he says.
When Standing At the Sky's Edge won best musical at the UK Theatre Awards, it was actually the second year in a row that Bush had won that award.
In 2018, she picked up the honour for the provocatively-titled The Assassination of Katie Hopkins, which shone a light on the age of online outrage. "It's one of those shows that feels more and more relevant sort of by the day," the writer says.
That too deserved a life beyond its original run at Theatr Clwyd in north Wales. But its premise proved problematic.
"There was some interest afterwards, and we did further workshops and things, but I also think people got slightly scared," she says. "I think commercial producers got slightly scared of taking that show on. I'd love to brush it off again."
Like Bush, Sheffield Crucible itself was on a roll when the pandemic rudely interrupted. As well as Standing at the Sky's Edge, its stage adaptation of Yann Martel's best-selling novel Life of Pi was heading to the West End to join another Crucible hit, Everybody's Talking About Jamie.
With the government's roadmap now making the light at the end of the tunnel slightly brighter, are there concrete plans to reopen the Crucible and sister theatre the Lyceum?
"We've learned not to make any of our plans out of concrete," Hastie replies. "The ground has, and is still shifting too much to make concrete the smart material.
"But we are looking forward to opening up." That could happen in the second half of the year, he says.
"Everything indicates that audiences are desperate to come back."
He adds: "I think we will see a real golden age of live performance coming up in the next year or two, as people remember what it is that they missed."
The Band Plays On is streamed online until 28 March.
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St David's Cathedral could become the first Church in Wales site to elect a woman bishop as voting for a new incumbent begins. | An electoral college of 47 people from across Wales will spend up to three days locked in the cathedral from Tuesday while they make their decision.
The decision follows the retirement of Wyn Evans.
The new bishop will be the 129th Bishop of St Davids. There has been a church on the site since the 6th Century.
St Davids diocese includes the west Wales counties of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.
The decision to allow women bishops was made following a landmark vote in September 2013.
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Depending on how you measure it, Justin King has probably avoided the minor embarrassment of winning two accolades from his boss rivals (the chief executive they admire most) and simultaneously being obliged to announce the end of growth. | Robert PestonEconomics editor
In the third quarter of its year, Sainsbury's underlying, or like-for-like, sales grew a tiny bit, 0.2%, excluding fuel, and were flat as a pancake including fuel. This compares with rises of 2.1% and 2% respectively in the strong second quarter of the year.
Is that a bump in the road after an extraordinary 35 quarters of unbroken growth? Yes, but not one such that King is likely to feel desperately uncomfortable.
More interesting is the piece of the jigsaw Sainsbury's provides to explain what happened to retailers and to household consumption in the Christmas period.
As I said on Monday, October and much of November were difficult months for the high street. But the Christmas period itself was strong, with King saying the seven days prior to 25 December were the busiest ever for the business.
The other important trends for all retailers were these:
The confidence of shoppers that online purchases will arrive in a timely way is shown by 22 December being Sainsbury's biggest-ever day for internet sales. In previous years, digital sales had tapered off so close to Christmas.
So what about Tesco, Sainsbury's much bigger rival, which reports tomorrow?
My hunch is that this Christmas will have been good for Tesco, in the sense of how its owners see the course and strategy set by the chief executive Philip Clarke.
This is not to say that the headline numbers will look great. There is bound to have been a fall in like-for-like, or underlying, sales, and so the simple direct comparison with Sainsbury's will not flatter Tesco.
But that disguises Tesco's strengths - especially in online - which Clarke is reinforcing.
Clarke has made a big and expensive bet that the future will be digital, and not about huge out-of-town stores.
The fruits of that are not yet conspicuous, in that there is still a big drag on sales from the way Clarke has permanently rebalanced sales away from less intrinsically profitable general merchandise towards food in the big stores and from the declining popularity of vast superstores.
But internet sales are growing at a remarkable rate - analysts believe digital, from a much bigger starting point than at Sainsbury's, has grown at a double-digit rate and rather faster than Sainsbury's.
And over the course of a year, the share of digital in Tesco's sales is said to have jumped several percentage points from under 5% of sales. For a business of Tesco's size - with its 10% share of the entire retail market - that is quite something.
Clarke has been reinforcing Tesco's "multi-channel" approach with the almost 500,000 own-brand Hudl tablets it sold in just the past few months. He is thought to have plans to follow up with another tablet and a smart phone.
As a result of digital, especially the so-called click-and-collect, approach to sales, Tesco has unrivalled access to UK consumers. For example, the citizens of Stornoway and the Hebrides will shortly be able to order online and collect their groceries from a depot by the ferry port.
All of which is not to say that Tesco will suddenly find itself increasing its profits as it did in the Leahy and Maclaurin years. Those days are gone, probably forever - because Tesco's market share is now so enormous, and is at the limit of what consumers are likely to tolerate.
But after their initial doubts, Tesco's owners may start to feel more confident that Clarke is keeping the giant baby in the bathwater, rather than - as they feared - seeing it disappear down the plughole.
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Passengers travelling with Manx2.com will no longer pay booking or transaction fees, the company has confirmed. | The Isle of Man-based company will also end charges for booking with a credit or debit card so that passengers receive one inclusive price.
Managing Director David Buck, said: "We listen to our customers and anyone booking knows exactly where they are."
Manx2.com carries around 100,000 passengers every year.
The firm provides flights from the Isle of Man to Blackpool, Belfast, Leeds Bradford, Newcastle, Gloucester, Oxford, Jersey and Anglesey.
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Flash flooding has caused huge disruption in Essex. | Some roads in Loughton have been closed and emergency services say they have been inundated with calls for the third day in a row.
Essex Police urged drivers to avoid the area after several motorists became stranded after trying to drive through flooded roads.
There have also been reports of several shops and restaurants on Loughton High Road being flooded.
On Saturday, flash floods also hit Chelmsford where two kayakers were spotted paddling down the street.
Essex Fire and Rescue has advised people worried about flooding to isolate electrics and try to stem water using towels or sandbags.
It urged people to only call if their is an immediate risk to life.
Several roads have been closed and police have warned motorists not to attempt driving through any flooded roads.
Elsewhere, overflowing drains gushed silt and dust into the North Sea off the Norfolk coast on Sunday but it has now cleared.
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The snowsports season has officially ended in the Cairngorms following several days of warm weather. | CairnGorm Mountain was the only one of Scotland's ski centres with enough snow on its slopes at the weekend.
It had benefited from heavy snowfalls in April and early May, before temperatures climbed last week.
In June 2010, more than 100 skiers took advantage of ski tows being open at CairnGorm Mountain for the first time in midsummer.
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When a Republican talks about women and sex, it's usually not good news for his political career (See Akin, Todd and Mourdock, Richard , for instance). And if, in the same speech, he mentions Nazis and the Holocaust when discussing grass-roots conservatives, well, it may be time to draft the political obituaries. | By Anthony ZurcherEditor, Echo Chambers
Such was the case on Thursday, when former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee spoke to a Republican leadership conference.
First, about the Democrats, government, women and their libidos. Here's his full quote:
If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it, let's take that discussion all across America because women are far more than Democrats have made them to be.
The initial media firestorm was based on a misquote of what Mr Huckabee said. Several news correspondents, such as CNN's Dana Bash, said that it was Mr Huckabee who thought women couldn't control their sex drives.
Although the record was later corrected, that didn't stop the story from going viral - and conservatives were quick to cry foul.
The day after, discussion now focuses on what Mr Huckabee actually said, and the controversy has yet to subside.
"Women, you see, are not human beings with agency and volition about their sexuality in Huckabee Land," writes Michael Tomasky for the Daily Beast. "They're nothing more than the cat's paws of the godless, baby-killing Democrats, who want to keep them on the Democratic plantation. The Pill, the welfare check, the Earned Income Tax Credit - all the work of Satan, propagated by the party of Satan."
The Washington Post's Alexandra Petri sees Mr Huckabee's mistake as typical of Republicans who don't know how to communicate with women: "Every single problem the GOP has had with women and messaging comes down the fact that they keep addressing women as though they are not in the room."
Some commentators have enjoyed watching Mr Huckabee's remarks attract national attention, as they feel Democrats can gain a political advantage.
"Media liberals aren't wringing their hands so much as begging Huckabee to explain, in great detail, how respect for women is contingent on believing that women have enough control over their libidos to have no need for contraception," writes Amanda Marcotte for Slate. "If he can get roomfuls of Republicans to applaud him wildly for sneering at birth control, so much the better."
Marcotte also noted that Mr Huckabee once supported mandating free contraceptive coverage when he was the governor of Arkansas.
John Hayward of Human Events counters that Mr Huckabee was correctly identifying what he sees as the condescending way that Democrats treat women: "The entire passage is his firm statement that he thinks women are 'smart, educated, intelligent, and capable,' and he's advising the Republican Party - an important organ of which he was addressing - to treat them as such."
Several conservative writers have pointed to a series of advertisements for health care reform in Colorado that emphases the availability of free contraceptives and includes the lines: "OMG, he's hot! Let's hope he's as easy to get as this birth control."
With that in mind, writes the Weekly Standard's John McCormack, "Huckabee's description seems spot on."
Mr Huckabee issued a statement defending his speech: "My remarks to the RNC [Republican National Committee] today were immediately jumped on and blown sky high by hand-wringing, card carrying liberals from coast to coast, some of them in the media."
If he was trying to rally conservatives to his defence, however, his efforts have been less than effective.
"There really is nothing gained by casually insulting - to no particularly good outcome - large swaths of the American electorate," writes the blogger Ace on Ace of Spades HQ (in a post that has been removed since but can be viewed here). "Now you can insult liberals and Democrats all day long. They're not voting your way, obviously. But 'women' or 'single women' are not all Democratic. Many are, but a fair number aren't. Nothing - nothing - positive is gained by tossing out a casual insult to the group."
Now, about those Nazis. Mr Huckabee said Republicans should back away from attacking members of their own party for being less than ideologically pure. He illustrated his point by making a comparison with the Holocaust, which is almost never a good idea when you're trying to win someone over to your side:
It all started when people were devalued, when people were deemed 'less than someone else. We look back on that time in history and we think, "How can educated people, university trained, how can a nation like Germany with all of its resources, with its vast level of its population with higher education, get to a place where they can do something so heinous?" You realize that the only way you can end up there is when you start with the idea that people just aren't as valuable as you are.
Erick Erickson of RedState took issue. "The differences between conservatives and the Republican establishment are not merely tactical. The differences are fundamental to the direction of the federal government over the next few years," he wrote. "In telling Republicans they should stop using words like RINOs [Republicans in name only] and challenging the Republicans who helped get us to $17 trillion in national debt, Huckabee is upping the ante on the name calling front."
Some have speculated that Mr Huckabee made his remarks as a prelude to another run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Becoming the target of liberal ire is one way to rally the conservative base to your side, particularly after Mr Huckabee's past support for anathema issues like immigration reform and the implementation of federal education standards. Angering the type of conservatives who vote in Republican presidential primaries in droves in the same speech, however, is a great way to crash and burn.
As conservative columnist Michelle Malkin tweeted: "Mike Huckabee is still a Nanny State goof who needs to go away."
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You might well ask what a retired dentist from Berkshire, a businessman from Derbyshire who makes shovels, and a nurse practioner from Lancashire are all doing in the backstreets of Delhi. | Fergus WalshMedical correspondent
Two causes unite them: Rotary and polio.
Dressed in bright yellow shirts, the Rotarians are doing a roaring trade at their impromptu vaccinations booths. The children can't wait to be immunised.
"It's chaos," says Adrian Stabbins, the retired dentist from Windsor. But he has a smile on his face, and is clearly enjoying himself. "We've done 150 vaccinations so far - it's wonderful."
I confess my knowledge of Rotary has been pretty limited. I am used to seeing their symbol on the outside of country hotels in Britain where they meet. I know it's an international network of clubs for professional people who want to serve the community. But that's about it. And why, you may ask, are they concerned about polio?
It began in 1979 when Rotary pledged to immunise millions of children in the Philippines. It was a huge success and the organisation became the first champion of polio eradication.
The group here from the UK comprise many retired couples, a father and daughter and a grandfather and grand-daughter. They pay all their own costs to be here, and spend several days visiting the poorest parts of Delhi immunising children against polio.
Journalists, on the whole, are a cynical bunch. You could argue the money they pay getting here would be better spent in a donation to Unicef or Save the Children. But that would miss the point. When they leave here the volunteers spread the word and help prevent polio from being forgotten about in countries which have long since eradicated the disease.
Rotary has raised $1bn (£630m) to fight polio, and their advocacy has helped ensure that the disease gets a high profile.
Mike and Bernice Yates, from Rotary Club of New Mills and Marple, help organise the trips to India. He says their bright yellow shirts fascinate people and help ensure children are not missed. "The Rotarians who come on these trips really do make a difference. It is about giving something back and there can be no better objective than beating polio".
I'm old enough to just remember polio in Britain. In 1961, around 80 people died from the virus in England and Wales. Ian Dury, who went to my school some years before me, contracted polio as a child and was left disabled by the condition. Even today there are still many people with post-polio syndrome, which can occur decades after initial illness.
What it will take to eradicate polio from Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan - the three worst hotspots for polio - is the same level of political will and organisation seen in India. The world is now at a crossroads - it can build on the success of immunisation in India which has been polio-free for a year. If it does not, the risk is the virus will re-establish itself here and in other countries.
I'll leave the final word from India to 15-year-old Priyanka Kumari. She attends Akshay Pratishthan School in Delhi, which has a mix of children, both able bodies and those with a range of disabilities.
Priyanka got polio as a baby and for the first seven years could only crawl. Then she had repeated surgery and now walks with a crutch and calipers.
Her class performed a dance routine and Priyanka gave a tennis demonstration. "I enjoy tennis and dancing," she said. "But I see my future as a singer. I've never suffered any discrimination having polio. But I will be delighted if no other child has to wear calipers like me."
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The cost of changing to a new system of government is being "kept to a minimum", the chief executive of the States of Guernsey has promised. | The States will move from a ministerial to committee style of government next month following the 27 April general election.
Areas of government responsibilities will be merged and re-named under the new system.
Thousands of pounds have been spent on new signage and stationery alone.
Paul Whitfield said: "We've driven down costs substantially; in fact comparable exercises elsewhere have cost well over £1m.
"We managed to do all our signage and main notices for just over £40,000".
How much to overhaul Guernsey's government structure?
"One-off, essential costs" to set up the committee system is a maximum of £530,000 broken down as follows:
Rebranding following the changes:
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Billie Eilish was the big winner at the 2020 Grammys, winning all four of the ceremony's main prizes. | By Mark SavageBBC music reporter
The 18-year-old was modest in victory, declaring, "so many other songs deserved this," as she picked up song of the year for Bad Guy.
Accepting the award for best new artist, Eilish also gave her fans the credit for her success.
"They have not been talked about enough tonight [but] they're the only reason any of us are here," she reasoned.
The star's sombre performance of the ballad When The Party's Over was one of the night's highlights, but there were several stand-out performances and speeches over the three-and-a-half-hour show.
Here's a selection of the most emotional, breath-taking and funny moments.
Demi Lovato's emotional return
When Demi Lovato took to the stage, it was already a moment loaded with emotional significance. This was to be her first performance since 2018, when she was rushed to hospital after a suspected overdose.
The moment almost got the better of her. She faltered as she began to sing, and asked her pianist to start over, a single tear running down her cheek.
But the 27-year-old rallied round and delivered an astonishingly raw and powerful vocal, as she premiered her new song, Anyone.
Lovato has described the ballad as a "cry for help," written days before she was hospitalised.
"I feel stupid when I sing," she cried in the chorus. "Nobody's listening to me."
We were listening, Demi. Welcome back, and God speed.
Diddy said the Grammys were 'killing' hip-hop
In one of the night's best jokes, Alicia Keys took aim at the multitudinous sobriquets of Sean "Puff Daddy / P Diddy" Combs, who was honoured with a lifetime achievement award ahead of the main show.
"If I was to list all his accomplishments or just his names, we'd be here all night," said the host.
But Combs, or Diddy to his friends, was one of the only artists to address the scandal enveloping the Grammys, after claims the voting process was compromised.
"Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys," Diddy said, accepting his prize at Saturday's pre-Grammy gala. "Every year, y'all be killing us, man."
"This current situation is not a revelation - it's been going on around the world, and for years we've allowed institutions that have never had our interests at heart to judge us. And that stops right now. I'm officially starting a clock. Y'all got 365 days to get this [expletive] together."
Nick Jonas got something caught in his teeth
The Jonas Brothers rocked the stage near the start of the show, playing one new song (tentatively titled Five More Minutes) and their current single What A Man Gotta Do.
But fans were distracted by something about Nick Jonas's appearance.
"Is it me, or did someone not tell Nick Jonas he had something stuck in his tooth?" one person tweeted. "Nick Jonas with spinach in his teeth is my favourite part of the whole show" added another.
But the singer took it all in his stride, tweeting after the performance: "At least you all know I eat my greens."
Camila Cabello made her dad cry
Señorita, Camila's duet with Shawn Mendes, was one of 2019's biggest-selling singles - but she chose to perform an album track, First Man, instead.
A simple, stripped-back piano ballad, the track depicts the moment a father walks his little girl down the aisle, while she whispers: "You don't even know how much it means to me now / That you were the first man that really loved me."
As she sang, the cameras cut to Alejandro Cabello in the front row, wiping away tears. By the end of the song, the father and daughter were in each other's arms, having a big old hug.
I'm not crying, I'm just chopping onions for a lasagne.
BTS made Grammys history
Lil Nas X's cameo-studded performance of Old Town Road was pretty hard to follow; but for 45 glorious seconds, he popped into sync with 14-legged pop phenomenon BTS.
The boy band are the first Korean artists to perform at the Grammys - and with a new album on the way, they could be the first K-pop band to receive a nomination next year.
Map Of The Soul: 7 is due out next month. On the red carpet, the band promised fans it would blow their socks off.
"Whatever you're expecting, it's going to be better and harder," said RM.
"You will know when you hear the album," added J-Hope, "that liking BTS is the best decision ever".
Tyler, The Creator set the stage on fire (literally)
Tyler, The Creator won best rap album for Igor, a visceral, vulnerable story of a doomed love triangle. But he also gave one of the all-time greatest Grammy performances, with a medley that captured the album's mix of romantic entanglement (Earfquake, assisted by Charlie Wilson and Boyz II Men) and its devastating, messy fall-out (New Magic Wand).
The latter half was incredible to watch, with Tyler screaming into a microphone, surrounded by two-dozen clones in Andy Warhol wigs and bright pink suits on a fake suburban street. When they stomped across the stage, the cameras shook and fell over, the houses caught fire and a huge crater opened up in the road.
As the music ended, Tyler fell backwards into the pit, taking everyone's breath away as he left.
Finneas gave hope to aspiring musicians everywhere
Billie Eilish's brother, Finneas O'Connell, was named producer of the year for his work on her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?
The 22-year-old said the record had been made exclusively in "hotel rooms and our parents' house" because "I'm the most creative where I'm most comfortable."
"It's a huge honour to be given a Grammy for making, you know, home-made cookies," he added.
When Eilish won best song for her smash hit Bad Guy, O'Connell held the trophy aloft and declared: "This is to all of the kids who are making music in their bedroom today. You're going to get one of these."
Keith Urban had to make a swift exit
The country star was there to present the first award of the night, best pop solo performance, to Lizzo.
But he ducked out the back door and raced home afterwards to look after his wife, Nicole Kidman.
"My wife is home with the flu," Urban told People magazine. "A lot of that going around."
"She's home with our girls tonight and I'm heading home ASAP," he added, assuring reporters that Kidman was "in good hands" with nine-year-old Faith and her 11-year-old sister, Sunday.
Alicia Keys repurposed Lewis Capaldi's Someone You Loved
Returning for her second year as host, Alicia Keys' musicality and generosity of spirit held the sprawling show together.
An early highlight was her cover of Lewis Capaldi's Someone You Loved, which she turned into a meta-commentary on the year in music and the Grammys itself.
"Rosalía's hot, Beyoncé took us all on safari / We obsessed by BTS, H.E.R, and Lewis Capaldi," she sang, breaking off to ask Capaldi if he was ok with her repurposing his song. He responded with an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
After suggesting Cardi B should replace President Trump in the second verse, she she issued a friendly warning to the winners.
"It's the Grammys / 10,000 hours long," she observed, not incorrectly. "So keep the speeches short / And go for one more song."
Capaldi's original version, a number one on both sides of the Atlantic, was up for song of the year, but lost to Billie Eilish's Bad Guy.
Lizzo gave a motivational speech
Lizzo won the first prize of the televised ceremony - best pop vocal solo performance for her breakout hit, Truth Hurts.
The star, who'd already opened the show by paying tribute to Kobe Bryant, seemed to reference his death in her speech.
"This whole week I've been lost in my problems, stressed out," she said. "And today, all of my little problems, that I thought were as big as the world, were gone and I realised there were people hurting right now."
Turning to the audience, she made a powerful statement about music's healing powers.
"You guys create beautiful music, you guys create connectivity. And, as I'm speaking to all of y'all in this room, we need to continue to reach out.
"This is the beginning of making music that moves people again, making music that feels good, that liberates people."
"If I hadn't have reached out" to other musicians, she added, "I don't know where I would be right now.
"Probably sleeping in my car."
But not everything was brilliant...
Overall, it was a good night for the Grammys - but, good grief, parts of the show were a total shambles.
Let's start with Aerosmith's much-vaunted duet with Run-DMC; which fell to pieces faster than the fake polystyrene wall they kicked down at the start of the performance.
Joe Perry's guitar was excruciatingly out of tune, Steven Tyler had apparently swallowed a jackdaw, and Run-DMC seemed to be struggling to find the beat.
All we can say is it must have sounded better live, judging by the enthusiastic reaction it got from Flavor Flav and Lizzo.
Less abhorrent, but still oddly flat, was Usher's tribute to Prince; which featured precisely zero per cent of the late star's incendiary magnetism.
To make it worse, they roped in FKA Twigs, one of pop's most intriguing and versatile performers, and reduced her to a pole dancer. So much for the Grammys' progressive attitude to women.
After the ceremony, the singer tweeted: "Of course I wanted to sing at the Grammys. I wasn't asked this time but hopefully in the future. Nonetheless, what an honour. Congratulations to all winners."
And finally... Sharon Osborne trying to read out the rap nominees
We don't know whose decision it was to get Sharon and Ozzy to read out the nominees for best rap / sung performance, but we hope they get a bonus.
The couple got a rapturous reception from fans who were delighted to see Ozzy on stage, so soon after revealing his Parkinson's diagnosis,
But Sharon soon had the crowd in stitches, as she theatrically recited a list of artists she'd clearly never heard of before.
As well as butchering names like Lil Baby and Young Thug, she took particular relish in lingering over song titles like "Ballin'" and "Drip Too Hard".
Viewers were enthralled.
We're siding with Billboard magazine's Jason Lipshutz, who insisted: "Give Sharon Osbourne an hour-long television show where she just happily reads rap song titles."
Or, at the very least, book her to do the voice-over at next year's Grammys.
See you then.
Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
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A new citizen science survey aims to shed light on that fixture of summertime in the outdoors: the wasp. Though much maligned, these fascinating creatures perform a vital ecological role, say scientists. | By Prof Adam HartUniversity of Gloucestershire
The only thing more certain to spoil an August Bank Holiday weekend BBQ than a sudden cloudburst? The arrival of wasps.
At this time of the year, it can sometimes seem as if every outdoor activity is plagued by these yellow-and-black striped insects buzzing around your head and landing on your food and drink.
Wasps aren't just annoying - if you are unlucky, you might end up with a sharp reminder that wasps, like their close relatives the honeybee, pack a powerful sting. That combination of nuisance and pain makes wasps many people's least favourite animals.
Perhaps more than any other insect, wasps are badly in need of a change in public opinion. As well as having fascinating lives, they are extremely important in the environment and face problems similar to those of their cherished, but often no less annoying, cousins the bees.
As the summer approaches its end, many will wish for it, but a world without wasps would most certainly not be a better place.
Social types
The insects we most commonly identify as "wasps" are the social wasps. Social wasps (called yellow-jackets in some places) live in colonies consisting of hundreds or thousands of more-or-less sterile female workers and their much larger mother, the egg-laying queen.
The handful of colony-living, nest-building species is just a tiny fraction of overall wasp diversity, estimated at more than 9,000 species in the UK alone. Most wasps are solitary, some are tiny (a few species practically microscopic), none ever bother us and virtually all are overlooked.
Social wasp nests are constructed from wood fibres collected and then mixed with water by industrious wasp workers to make a kind of papier maché capable of producing very strong and long-lasting structures. The nests start to develop in late spring, when queen wasps emerge from hibernation.
Building a small nest of just a few paper cells, the queen must rear the first set of workers alone before the first batch of worker wasps can start to take over the work required by the developing colony.
Wasp workers toil ceaselessly to raise their sister workers from eggs the queen lays, cooperating and communicating in intricate ways to build and defend the nest, collect food and look after the queen. When the colony is large enough the workers start to give some young larvae more food at a much greater rate than usual, triggering genetic switches that cause the development of a potential queen rather than a worker.
Male wasps, who take no part in the social life of the colony, develop from unfertilised eggs in a form of sex determination called haplodiploidy, also found in bees and ants. These male-destined eggs are laid by the queen and rarely by workers, some of whom retain the ability to lay eggs but lack the ability to mate.
Potential queens (called gynes before they head a colony) and males, sisters and brothers of the workers, are the reproductive future of the colony. Mating with males from other colonies, the gynes overwinter before starting a colony of their own the following spring.
They may not make honey, but nonetheless wasps have just as fascinating social lives as the celebrated honeybee.
Vital role
Wasps are also just important in the environment. Social wasps are predators and as such they play a vital ecological role, controlling the numbers of potential pests like greenfly and many caterpillars.
Indeed, it has been estimated that the social wasps of the UK might account for 14 million kilograms of insect prey across the summer. A world without wasps would be a world with a very much larger number of insect pests on our crops and gardens.
As well as being voracious and ecologically important predators, wasps are increasingly recognised as valuable pollinators, transferring pollen as they visit flowers to drink nectar. It is actually their thirst for sweet liquids that helps to explain why they become so bothersome at this time of year.
By late August, wasp nests have very large numbers of workers but they have stopped raising any larvae. All the time nests have larvae, the workers must collect protein, which accounts for all those invertebrates they hunt in our gardens. The larvae are able to convert their protein-rich diet into carbohydrates that they secrete as a sugary droplet to feed the adults.
With no larvae, all those adult wasps must find other sources of sugar - hence why they are so attracted to our sugar-rich foods and drinks. When you combine that hunger for sugar with nice weather and our love of eating and drinking outside, the result is inevitable.
A new study is taking advantage of wasps' love of our drinks to find out more about these fascinating and undervalued insects. Calling on members of the public to help, the Big Wasp Survey is asking people to build a simple wasp trap from a drinks bottle and a small volume of beer.
Scientists from University College London (UCL) and the University of Gloucestershire want to collect and study the contents of these beer traps. The project, in conjunction with BBC's Countryfile and sponsored by the Royal Entomological Society, hopes to find out which species of wasps live where in the UK, and provide some baseline data for an annual Big Wasp Survey over the coming years.
As Dr Seirian Sumner (UCL) says: "The black and yellow wasps that bother us at picnics are social wasps and we would like to find out much more about where they live and how common they are; to do that we need the public's help".
Insects are generally having a hard time; changing environments, changing climate, habitat loss and the use of insecticides are all taking their toll on these vital creatures.
Yet, whilst many take up the cause of the honeybee or extol the beauty of butterflies some of the most fascinating and important insects remain the most reviled. It's time we stopped asking "what is the point of wasps" and started to appreciate them for the ecological marvels that they are.
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Two men arrested on suspicion of murdering a man on a Dorset farm have been released. | The victim, aged 25, was found with serious injuries at Hanford Farm near Blandford at 20:25 BST on Friday.
Dorset Police said an initial post-mortem examination had taken place which indicated the cause of death as blunt force trauma.
A 25-year-old man has been released on police bail, a 27-year-old man has been released while inquiries continue.
Police said all three men were known to each other.
The force is appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
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A yacht has been towed back to harbour after suffering engine failure off the coast of the Isle of Man. | Peel's all-weather lifeboat Ruby Clery was called out at 15:50 BST on Tuesday, after receiving reports of an engine fire on a boat, an RNLI spokesman said.
The vessel, which had earlier set off from Port Erin, was located 8 miles (13km) south of the seaside town.
The boat's engine had overheated but was not on fire and the crewman was "safe and well", the spokesman said.
The yacht arrived back at Peel harbour at about 18:00.
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MPs are to hear calls for a full public inquiry to be carried out into North Sea helicopter transport. | Aberdeen North MP Frank Doran has secured an adjournment debate on 27 November.
It will be answered by a minister from the Department for Transport.
The House of Commons Transport committee is holding its own inquiry into helicopter safety. It follows the Super Puma crash off Shetland in August in which four people died.
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A temporary roof is being installed on Glasgow School of Art's fire-damaged Mackintosh building in a bid to keep it wind and watertight over the winter. | The week-long operation will see a large metal frame hoisted on to the building on Tuesday before white protective panels are fitted.
The Grade-A listed structure has dried out over the summer since fire crews battled to contain a blaze on 23 May.
The art school hopes to raise £20m to restore the iconic building.
Firefighters managed to save about 90% of the structure and 70% of its contents, although the Mackintosh library was among the most badly-damaged areas.
Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is hosting two symposia to explore key questions around the rebuilding of the historically important library.
One will be held in Venice on 18 October, in Querini Stampalia, during the 2014 International Venice Architecture Biennale.
The other will be held in Glasgow next spring.
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So... what happened there? On Friday, after an all-night hackathon at Facebook's Menlo Park campus, Mark Zuckerberg pressed a button to mark the start of trading in his company's shares. Because that button had been "hacked" by some of his very smart engineers, his Facebook status was updated to "listed a company on Nasdaq". | Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter
Then after a hiatus as Nasdaq's systems struggled to cope - perhaps they need to hire some of those smart engineers - the share price began to soar from its already vertiginous $38 to $42. Then it began to sag, and by the time trading ended, it was just a fraction above the starting price, apparently only kept there by the efforts of the underwriters. Predictions of a first day "pop" had been confounded.
The expectation had been that small investors, intoxicated by the excitement surrounding the IPO, would rush to get in on the action, sending the value of Facebook to even more giddy heights.
Instead, it seems they were in a more sober mood, listening to people like the New York financial adviser we featured on the 10 O'Clock News on Thursday night. "We're telling our investors to hold off," Oliver Pursche told us. "We want to wait until we understand the business before we invest."
Now there's a message that tends to get obscured in bubble times - putting money into a company should involve a deep understanding of what it does now and where it is heading. And if you're investing in a business at a price roughly 100 times its current earnings, all the more reason to be confident that it has a plan which will multiply those earnings many times over.
And one more reason why small investors should be cautious.
On Saturday, Mark Zuckerberg updated his status to "married", as he wed Priscilla Chan in a surprise ceremony at his Palo Alto home. Nothing wrong with that - the couple have been together since their student days, and the pictures posted on Facebook of the shy groom - in a suit not a hoodie - and his bride were rather sweet.
But, hey Mark, why did you not do what you tell the rest of us to do, and share your plans with your Facebook friends a few months ago? If you'd made it an upcoming "event", then you and your fiancee would have seen plenty of useful adverts from cakemakers, dress designers, florists and all the other wedding businesses which now find the social network a great place to market their services.
Of course he wasn't going to do that - even if the "event" had only been visible to close Facebook friends, it would have been bound to leak out. But Mr Zuckerberg's whole philosophy - and the future revenues of his business - revolves around the idea of the "frictionless sharing" of every detail of our lives. And if more of us decide, like him, that there is a downside to letting it all hang out, then the advertising cash may grow more slowly than the $104bn valuation implies.
For other technology firms hoping to follow Facebook on the road to IPO riches, any sign that the bubble may burst is deeply worrying. Last week, the day before the IPO, a package was delivered to my office. It was a pinboard - yes, an old-fashioned cork board on which you stick notes. Pinned to it was a press release announcing that Japan's Rakuten had led a $100m investment round in Pinterest, the virtual pinboard social network. Pinterest is now valued at $1.5bn, though there is not much data around about its revenues.
So, an imaginative PR stunt - but perhaps more evidence of the investment bubble that Facebook has helped inflate. Now Pinterest, Spotify and other hot technology firms enjoying sky-high valuations will watch anxiously to see what happens to Facebook shares in the coming days.
For Mark Zuckerberg and his colleagues, there's not too much to worry about in the short-term - they've raised $16bn, whatever happens to the share price now. But perhaps we'll look back on May 2012 as the month when the air started to leak from a technology bubble.
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A bodybuilder. An artist. A scientist. Senior doctors. | Across China, more than 1,800 people who lost their lives to Covid-19 are being mourned - the majority of them in the virus epicentre of Wuhan.
Each death is devastating to their loved ones, but among the dead in Wuhan are some people who were noted figures in their field.
Here are a few of them.
The hospital director: Liu Zhiming
Last week, a senior Chinese health official said that 1,716 health workers had been infected by the coronavirus and six had died.
On Tuesday, Liu Zhiming was added to the list.
Dr Liu, 51, was the director of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital - one of the first hospitals to be a designated virus centre.
His death was initially reported by Chinese media late on Monday, but media outlets later did a U-turn and said doctors were trying to save him.
The next morning his death was confirmed. He was the first hospital director to die from the virus, and it is not known if he had suffered from any underlying conditions to increase his risk.
Not much is yet known about Dr Liu's personal life, but he has been hailed by many on Chinese social media as a hero.
"Farewell to this hero, a soldier in white," said one comment on Weibo.
"There are no illnesses in heaven, thank you for your sacrifice," another said.
The whistle-blowing doctor: Li Wenliang
Dr Li is arguably the most prominent figure to have died.
In December, he had been told by police officers not to spread "fake rumours" after alerting his friends to a new emerging virus. His death, much like Dr Liu's, was confusingly reported.
On 6 February, media outlets reported that he was dead, then later retracted it, saying that doctors were working to save him. They confirmed his death a day later.
Millions have mourned Dr Li, and his death sparked a wave of anger, grief and overwhelming sense of mistrust towards the government.
Many were furious that the government had tried to stifle his earlier warnings about the virus and accused them of also trying to cover up his death.
The film director: Chang Kai
Chang Kai, a director at Hubei Film Studios, died from the virus along with his father, mother and sister.
A note, reportedly written by him and passed around by a friend, revealed the ordeal the 55-year-old had to go through before his death.
According to the note, which was published in full by news site Caixin, his father had come down with a fever, cough and had difficulty breathing.
"He was taken to many hospitals for treatment, but [was] told no beds [were] available," said the note. "[We were] extremely disappointed... [and] went home."
A few days later his father died, followed afterwards by his mother, who was "physically and mentally exhausted".
"The ruthless virus also devoured my wife and my body. I went to various hospitals and begged [to be admitted]. Beds were hard to find... we are nobody," he said in his note. "We missed the opportunity for healing and my breath was weak."
Chang Kai and his wife were later admitted to hospital, but according to local reports, his condition had deteriorated too much.
He died on 14 February, with his wife still battling the illness. He leaves behind a son, who is reportedly studying in the UK.
Some of his last words in his note were: "I [was] a filial child to my father and a responsible father to my son. A beloved husband to my wife and a sincere man in [this] life. To those I love and those who love me - farewell."
The painter: Liu Shouxiang
Prof Liu Shouxiang was a renowned artist in Hubei, known for his watercolour paintings.
According to news site Jiemian News, he died on 13 February aged 62.
Mr Liu was born in Wuhan in 1958. He went on to train at the Hubei Academy of Fine Arts, where he stayed on to teach, eventually become a professor.
He eventually became known for his distinct watercolour style, reported Jiemian News. His works have been displayed in some of the biggest art museums and galleries in the country.
His death was mourned by many on social media site Weibo, with one saying it was the death of a great "talent".
"It takes decades to train a talent and only a few days to end that life," said one comment.
"How many talents have been taken away by this virus?" another asked. "The financial cost of the virus is great but can the value of these people ever be measured?"
The scientist: Duan Zhengcheng
The 86-year-old was a former academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a chief scientist at the National Engineering Research Centre for Digital Manufacturing.
Born in 1934 in Jiangsu, he went on to graduate with a degree from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and later stayed on to teach.
According to news site The Global Times, he went on to develop the world's first whole body gamma knife in 1996 - a type of radiation therapy used to treat tumours. This earned him a national award in 2005.
He was known by his students as the "medical madman" because he never gave up on anything, said the report.
Prof Duan died on 15 February.
The bodybuilder: Qiu Jun
Qiu Jun from Wuhan was thrust into the spotlight last year when pictures showing the 72-year-old bodybuilding started to go viral.
According to Phoenix News, he only began working out after his retirement, joining a gym and eventually going on to coach others and participating in bodybuilding competitions.
He was known to visit the gym religiously and had plans to compete in another bodybuilding competition later this June.
He started showing symptoms on 23 January and was eventually admitted to hospital after testing positive.
But he died days later on 6 February. His son reportedly sent this message to friends and family, informing them of his father's death: "The father who never got sick could not escape the disaster."
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The bells will sound and the doors will be thrown open, but the start of the new parliamentary term will not see eager refreshed MPs crowding back to Westminster to grapple with the challenges which await them. | Mark D'ArcyParliamentary correspondent
Rather the reverse.
The Brexit battling and internal feuding barely stopped in either of the main parties, over the summer, and MPs will barely miss a beat as they resume parliamentary duties.
The coming week's agenda is fairly low-key, and I expect the main excitement will come from the optional extras added, at short notice, to each days' proceedings; a statement or urgent question providing an update on the Brexit negotiations looks likely, but will the latest developments be hailed as a triumph or condemned as a sellout?
Probably both. There may be plenty of other issues which prompt a statement or UQ - the scallop wars, the delay in opening London's new Crossrail link, the financial problems in a series of major local authorities...
Meanwhile, events outside might reverberate in the chamber of the Commons; the Labour NEC and parliamentary party are both due to discuss the anti-Semitism row which dominated much of the summer. Will there be agreement, or a bruising confrontation?
And the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Vince Cable, is due to make a speech in which he is expected to confirm plans to stand down before the next scheduled general election in 2022, and announce his desire to change party rules to allow a successor who is not an MP.
Here's my rundown of the week ahead:
Tuesday 4 September
The Commons returns to action (2.30pm) with the debut of Jeremy Hunt in his new role as foreign secretary at Foreign Office Questions, following his summer tour of European capitals.
And on a day of relatively light legislating, there is plenty of scope for the normal post-holiday crop of ministerial statements and urgent questions.
The day's Ten Minute Rule Bill, from the Stoke MP Ruth Smeeth, pursues a potteries interest, calling for a country of origin marking system for ceramics.
The main legislative action is the second reading debate on the Civil Liability Bill - this does two main things; it aims to curb tens of thousands of spurious whiplash claims, in the hope of cutting insurance premiums for motorists, and it also makes important technical changes to the way compensation payments for injuries are calculated, which could have a huge impact on the level of medical negligence payouts, potentially saving the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds, and, of course, leading to smaller settlements for claimants. The bill has already been through the House of Lords.
Proceedings end with an adjournment debate on the Gilligan report on cycling in Oxford and Cambridge, led by Oxford Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, but rather cheekily also taking in her party's top target seat of Cambridge. The report for the National Infrastructure Commission is by the former Transport for London cycling commissioner, Andrew Gilligan. It calls for £200m worth of improvements to cycling infrastructure, including new separated cycle tracks on main roads, new off-road routes and remodelled junctions, to boost safety and encourage more cycling.
In Westminster Hall, the SNP's Stuart C. McDonald leads a debate (11.30am) on fees for registering children as British citizens - these are facing a legal challenge because the administrative cost of processing an application is estimated at £372, but the actual fee is now £1,012, producing an estimated profit for the Home Office of £94.24 in the past five years.
Labour's Dr Rupa Huq has a debate on women's rights after the UK leaves the EU (1pm) - she wants to point to the gendered nature of the effects of Brexit, arguing that women have the most to lose. She says rights on maternity (and paternity) leave and pregnancy discrimination all came from the EU.
And at 4.30pm the Labour MP, Wes Streeting, has a debate on TOEIC visa cancellations. After the BBC's Panorama programme exposed cheating in some colleges which administer the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) for non-EEA students, the Home Office revoked or curtailed the visas of thousands of students it suspected of fraud. The evidence for those visa decisions has been questioned, and Mr Streeting says the Home Office's actions "ruined the lives of many innocent international students".
Labour MP Karen Buck, who chairs the all-party group on Legal Aid, will lead a debate (6.30pm) on the government's post-implementation review of LASPO, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act , a Coalition measure which substantially reduced the kind of legal actions which qualified for legal aid, leading to criticism that it had curtailed access to justice. After taking a serious battering in the Lords, the Coalition committed to review the impact of LASPO - but a commitment to complete the review before the 2018 summer recess has slipped.
My select committee pick is the Treasury hearing (at 1.15 pm) with the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, and supporting cast, on the Bank of England Inflation Reports. But keep an eye out for the Defence Committee hearing (4pm) on a statute of limitations to protect veterans from prosecutions for historic offences - the witnesses are ex-army officers Colonel Tim Collins and Colonel Jorge Mendonça.
In the Lords (2.30 pm) expect a bout of irritable peer syndrome over the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Bill - this is an important Brexit measure, creating the legal powers needed to allow the UK to establish and enhance trading relationships around the world after leaving the European Union customs union. But it is being treated as a Money Bill, which means that peers can do nothing more than rubber-stamp it, because MPs retain exclusive control of money matters.
Thus it will go through all its stages of consideration in the Lords in a single gulp - although Labour's Lord Tunnicliffe has put down a Motion to Regret. There is some internal Labour politics around this - with anti-Brexit MPs calling for their party to take a harder line against the bill, even in the Lords.
The day ends with a short debate on UK assistance to Afghanistan and the prospects for peace in that country, led by the former Lord Speaker, Baroness D'Souza.
The commons meets at 11.30am for Northern Ireland questions, followed, at noon, by Prime Minister's Questions - with any statements or urgent questions following.
The day's Ten Minute Rule Bill is from the Conservative Pauline Latham - she says it is an anomaly to outlaw forced marriages while continuing to allow children of 16 to be married with the consent of their parents. Her bill would set 18 as the minimum age for marriage.
The main legislating is on the report and third reading stages of the Tenant Fees Bill - which will ban letting fees paid by tenants in the private rented sector and cap tenancy deposits in England.
The aim is to reduce the extra costs that tenants can face which can run into hundreds of pounds. The bill has broad cross party support but a key issue is the proposal to cap deposits at six weeks' rent; Labour are calling for it to be four weeks.
Then MPs turn to the report and third reading of the Voyeurism (Offences) Bill - the fast-tracked measure to ban "upskirting" which the government introduced after a private member's bill from the Lib Dem Wera Hobhouse was blocked.
Look out for amendments reflecting concerns that the bill as drafted would not catch all upskirting offences. At the moment it outlaws upskirting for sexual gratification, but some MPs suggest this could allow perpetrators to argue they were "having a laugh".
Amendments signed by a variety of backbenchers including Women and Equalities Committee Chair Maria Miller would make all "upskirting" an offence including for example paparazzi pictures taken for financial gain, or where the motivation is "group bonding".
A further amendment amendment tackles the issue of distributing upskirting pictures, and makes it an offence to distribute non-consensual upskirting images. Similar amendments could resurface in the House of Lords, if they are not carried by MPs - keep an eye on the influential Crossbench superlawyer, Lord Pannick.
There are some intriguing looking debates in Westminster Hall, starting with the former Attorney-General Dominic Grieve on CCTV for communal areas of care homes (9.30am); Conservative barrister Alex Chalk leads a debate on enforcement of equalities legislation relating to guide dogs (11am); Labour's Lyn Brown has a debate on the government response to organised crime and young people's safety (2.30pm), which will focus on the link between youth street gangs and organised crime; and Labour's Helen Jones discusses the standard of proof for a conclusion of suicide in a coroner's court (4pm).
That is followed by a debate on the findings of the Care Crisis Review (4.30pm) led by the Conservative, Lucy Allan. This is the seven month sector-led review, commissioned after Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales, warned that the care system was facing a crisis. Ms Allan has repeatedly argued that, if more money were spent on early intervention and family support, fewer children would go into care, called for the authorities to focus on keeping families together.
On the committee corridor, watch out for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs hearing (9.30am) with the Fisheries Minister George Eustice - which is bound to see considerable discussion of the scallop wars off Normandy.
At about the same time the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee will be going through the now familiar exercise of getting to know yet another new Housing Minister (9.45am) - this time the new incumbent in what is supposed to be one of the most important ministerial policy briefs is Kit Malthouse, the former deputy mayor of London, who will be questioned on a key technical issue, Land Value Capture.
And, incidentally, Frank Field, now resigned from the Labour whip, will preside at a meeting of his Work and Pensions Committee (9.30am) on pension costs and transparency. One interesting question is whether, having been elected to a chair allocated to a Labour MP, his right to continue as chair of a key committee will now be challenged. There is no precedent since the introduction of elected select committee chairs.
And finally - Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and the PM's Brexit advisor Olly Robbins (a figure high in Brexiteer demonology) are before Bill Cash's European Scrutiny Committee (2.30pm). Get the popcorn in.....
In the Lords (3pm) the main business is detailed consideration of the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill which aims to revamp the current safeguards around deprivation of liberty to prevent harm to the individual.
The government believes the current system is overly technical and legalistic, places significant burdens on people and their families and too often fails to achieve positive outcomes. This bill follows a Law Commission report, and the government says it will create a simpler process with increased engagement with families and other carers, and afford swifter access to justice.
Labour has concerns that the bill fails to secure the rights of autistic people, and is concerned about a legal test of "necessary and proportionate" living arrangement - a change to the current rules which say that a deprivation of liberty has to be in an individual's best interests. This is a committee stage debate - so peers will focus on "probing" the governments intentions and understanding of how their proposals will work, with amendments and actual votes following on in the later report stage, if concerns are not met.
That will be followed by a short debate on the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with particular regard to the role of the security forces - led by the former crossbench peer and former Chief of the General Staff, Lord Dannatt.
The Commons opens (9.30 am) with another dispatch box debut - the new Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Jeremy Wright takes his first question time. Previously he had a relatively low profile role as Attorney General, and now he will be pitched opposite Labour's deputy leader, Tom Watson, who called for an inquiry into Russian interference in the Brexit referendum.
Mr Wright's successor as Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox, then makes his question time debut (10.10am). Expect some mock concern about how the high-earning barrister will scrape by on a ministerial salary.
Then comes the weekly statement on forthcoming Commons business from the Leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom.
After that, the Lib Dem Norman Lamb is in the limelight, first making a statement on his Science and Technology Committee's report on E-cigarettes - which compared their harmfulness with that of conventional cigarettes and concluded that they were 95% less harmful than conventional cigarettes, and were being overlooked as a stop smoking tool by the NHS. The committee called for the regulations around e-cigarettes' licensing, prescribing and advertising of their health benefits to be relaxed and for their taxation level to be reconsidered.
Then Mr Lamb leads a debate on Brexit, science and innovation, based on the Science and Technology Committee's report which called for an early agreement on science and innovation as a 'clear 'win-win' for both the UK and the EU.
The second backbench debate will be on Global Britain and the international rules-based order - led by the Conservative and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat. This focuses on the idea of an alternative post-Brexit approach to world affairs, but in a report in March, the committee suggested it needed to go beyond a "superficial rebranding exercise".
The adjournment, led by Labour ex-minister David Lammy is on the treatment of people under immigration control.
In Westminster Hall (1.30pm) Health Committee Chair Dr Sarah Wollaston leads a debate on the committee's report on Integrated care: organisations, partnerships and systems, which examines efforts to provide more joined up care as people live longer, and calls for a national transformation strategy backed by secure long-term funding.
At 3pm, Labour's Steve McCabe leads a debate on supporting children in need into adulthood.
In the Lords (11am) there are backbench debate on the NHS and healthcare data and how that data could be used to improve the health of the nation; on plans to ensure that prisons and young offenders institutions are safe and able to meet the rehabilitative needs of those imprisoned; on the case for high-quality careers education and advice to be available to all students and on the report from the International Relations Committee 'The United Nations General Assembly 2018' .
The Commons is not sitting, but in the Lords (from 10am) they're reprising a golden oldie, with continued committee stage debate on the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) (Abolition of By-Elections) Bill.
This is the latest attempt by Labour's Lord Grocott to abolish the system of by-elections which top up the contingent of 92 hereditary peers who sit in the Lords, when one of their number retires or ascends to the celestial senate. And whenever Lord Grocott (or indeed anyone else) attempts this, the Conservative ex-minister Lord Trefgarne attempts to block him.
In this instance he has put down a Motion to Regret. And thus the debates that have raged since Lord Steel first attempted to let natural wastage erode the hereditaries will repeat themselves again.
Next comes the second reading of the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill - Baroness Massey of Darwen will pilot the private member's bill from her Commons Labour colleague, Steve Reed.
The bill, sometimes called Seni's Law, would to restrict the use of force against patients in mental health units, and require NHS trusts to increase transparency about the restraint of patients, including making police officers wear body cameras when dealing with vulnerable people. It is named after Olaseni Lewis, who died in September 2010, after being restrained by police officers at Bethlem Royal Hospital in London.
The bill is supported by the government and is expected to become law.
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Set up in memory of the late singer Amy Winehouse, Amy's Place is the UK's only recovery house dedicated to helping young women overcome their addictions. The BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme is the first to go inside and meet the women aiming to go clean for good. | By Jean MackenzieVictoria Derbyshire programme
"I'm not that long sober, but I've come so far. You forget that my life was sitting in a homeless hostel planning how to kill myself," Grace says.
The 19-year-old is one of the first occupants of Amy's Place - a recovery house established by the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
She is a recovering alcoholic, and has been dry for just over a year. It is a marked turnaround from the life she used to lead.
"It started when I had my first drink aged eight, and by 12, I was sneaking around doing things that I shouldn't have been doing," she says.
"Between 13 and 14 I went into care, and that's where [the drinking] took off and I could be more sneaky about it, as I didn't have my parents around."
Grace says she drank as a coping mechanism, but it soon became a habit.
The problem "rocketed" when she began living in a homeless hostel, until one incident shook her into realising the full extent of the damage being caused.
"It was in November 2015, when I took 57 antidepressants on a litre of vodka and a litre of [liqueur], and nearly died. I woke up frothing at the mouth, terrified.
"They were detoxing me in 'resus' [resuscitation area] in hospital and they told me, 'It's a waiting game now to see if your organs are failing or not.'
"It was four days of me sitting in resus hoping and praying I wasn't dying."
Find out more
Watch Jean Mackenzie's full film about Amy's Place on the Victoria Derbyshire website.
Grace decided to take steps to overcome her addiction but living in a homeless hostel meant it wasn't easy.
"When your room was next to somebody who is selling drugs, you can never get well in a sense," she says.
"You're always stuck in the conundrum of, 'Do I go back to my old habits or do I go to a [support] meeting?'
"I was living a life of recovery in a using and drinking world."
It is stories like Grace's that motivated Amy Winehouse's step-mother, Jane Winehouse, to set up the house - designed to help young women stay clean while taking their first steps without drugs and alcohol once they have left rehab.
"We met people in treatment who were scared to death of what was going to happen when they finished treatment [in rehab]," she says.
"For a lot of them, all they could think about was, 'If I have to go back to where I was before, I'm just not going to stand a chance.'"
Set up in partnership with the housing provider Centra, Amy's Place is the only recovery house in the UK designed specifically to help women under 30.
Winehouse died aged 27 in July 2011 from alcohol poisoning. She had previously struggled with drug addiction for many years and had spent time in rehab.
In the London house each of the 16 occupants gets her own flat, paid for using housing benefit. They can stay for up to two years.
There is a strict policy of no drugs, no alcohol and no overnight guests and they must agree to random drugs tests - Grace passed her latest one.
Another resident, 26-year-old Judith Heryka, is also working towards a more stable future, without drugs.
Her main motivation is her children, aged five and seven. The catalyst for her deciding to seek help came when she was told proceedings would begin to take them into the adoption system. She says it saved her life.
Judith had become hooked on crack cocaine and says she had become "very depressed… bitterly, bitterly, bitterly, like suicidal, depressed".
As part of the programme at Amy's Place, the women must take part in activities outside the house that can help them stay clean and prepare them for living by themselves.
It could be re-entering education, doing voluntary work or - in Judith's case - finding a passion, such as kickboxing.
"I can really zone out, do something that I love," she explains, while taking part in a local class.
Judith says the house is "100%" the reason why she is managing to stay clean and the first time she has lived somewhere and felt safe.
House manager Hannah Crystal says she is "really excited" to see the women progress.
"I think the girls here are going to get to a point where they're ready to move on," she adds. "And we'll have new arrivals, and I think we'll keep growing from strength to strength."
The road to recovery, however, is not without its difficulties. Some of the women in the house have relapsed, and Grace admits she recently came close to drinking.
The house is working with Grace to help her achieve her ambitions. She hopes to become a forensic psychologist one day and at the moment she's learning woodwork with the charity the Spitalfields Crypt Trust.
"Before, [the future looked] very black, without anything I was looking forward to. Now I realise I've got a very long life ahead of me," she says.
For Jane Winehouse, giving the women the tools to change their lives "is the most wonderful thing".
Especially, as she says, the house is "in Amy's memory".
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A British team is developing a car that will be capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,610km/h). Powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, the vehicle will first mount an assault on the world land speed record (763mph; 1,228km/h). Bloodhound should start running on Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape, South Africa, in 2019. | By Andy GreenWorld Land Speed Record Holder
Bloodhound roared into life right on cue. Several months ago, we committed to getting the car to Newquay Airport at the end of September, to start our "slow speed" (200 mph) UK runway tests.
Exactly as planned, at 17:20 local on 28 September, the car's EJ200 jet engine fired up for the first time.
Starting the jet engine on schedule is not the half of it, though.
Here's the huge surprise. We got FULL REHEAT!
You can see a clip of the car's massive power at the top of this page.
Reaching full power was completely unexpected, even by the Rolls-Royce team who came down to support our engine tests.
The static tie-down engine tests were designed to "characterise" the jet intake.
The intake is sized to provide the jet engine with just the right amount of air - at 850 mph.
When the car is stationary, or travelling very slowly (anything less than 100mph is "very slow"), there is no "ram effect" from the airflow, and the intake is too small to feed the jet engine with as much air as it would like.
As a result, we were pretty certain that the jet would be power-limited, probably quite severely, at slow speeds.
"Characterising" the intake was all about finding out just how much the engine would be limited.
When I pushed the throttle pedal down to its first detent, trying to select "max dry" power (full engine rpm), we were all expecting the engine to struggle and stop short.
I couldn't quite believe my eyes when the cockpit instruments showed full dry power.
Hardly daring to hope, I pushed the throttle through the detent to select minimum reheat… and sure enough, it lit with no problem at all.
Maximum reheat? Yes, that worked too.
After shutting the car down, I climbed out to discuss the results with the rest of the team.
We've spent years discussing the effects of the expected power limits. How would it affect our runway testing? What speed can we reach in the UK? How will it affect acceleration during record runs in South Africa?
We were so concerned about the possible limitations that we even designed the air intake with the option to fit "auxiliary intakes" if necessary.
If you look closely at the sides of the car, just behind the intake mouth, you'll see two large square hatches, where we can fit additional intake doors if required.
These are now redundant, which is great news.
One thing I can't describe to you is what full reheat sounded like outside the car, because I don't know.
In the cockpit, I can see the engine instruments showing the power setting, and I can feel the car straining against its 10-tonne-rated steel tie-down cables, but I can't feel or hear the reheat at all.
Outside the car it's a different matter.
After the reheat runs, I asked Mark Elvin what it was like for the rest of the team.
Mark is our senior mechanical designer, with a background in both F1 and aerospace, so he's worked with some pretty impressive technology in the past.
Even he was struggling to find words for the shattering power of the EJ200.
After collecting his thoughts for a moment, he said: "It was just astonishing. Simply astonishing."
Now that we've completed the static testing, we need to do some dynamic testing of the car - wheels, brakes, steering, etc - as we prepare for our first big public runs on 26th and 28 October (there are still a few tickets left if you want to come and join us!).
With this much power available, I have to confess to being both excited about the amazing performance on offer and a little nervous about controlling it.
This car is going to be seriously fast and I've got to learn to drive it in a small handful of tests, before our first big (and public) runs.
While we're getting the team and the car ready for our big show at the end of October, interest is growing everywhere.
A couple of weeks ago I was in the Isle of Man, for a Bloodhound day with the local schools, organised by Swagelok.
While the company is a huge multinational, the Isle of Man factory is very proud of its contribution to Bloodhound, as this is where some of the key components of our rocket system were designed and built.
As you can imagine, the island's school kids were hugely excited to hear all about the world's fastest car.
The Isle of Man post office has joined in the excitement, producing a commemorative set of Bloodhound stamps (joining other countries around the world who have celebrated the Land Speed Record with a set of stamps - did you know that Guinea-Bissau in West Africa has also produced some? No, me neither).
One of the Isle of Man stamps is just a plain black silhouette of the Car, which looks a little boring until you rub it - after a few seconds, the thermochromic ink warms up and changes colour, revealing a cutaway diagram of the car.
I've never seen a stamp with technology built into it - buy one and try it!
It's not just youngsters in the Isle of Man that are getting excited.
I was amazed to find out this month that a school in rural Zambia has been studying Bloodhound and making their own rocket cars.
Our "Engineering Adventure" really is becoming a global event.
Bloodhound's long-term aim is to create an "adventure" that will inspire a generation.
It's a fact of life that we will only be able to measure our success after we've finished, but it's looking good so far.
It's been a great few weeks getting Bloodhound ready to run.
Keep watching the Bloodhound website, it won't be long before we're streaming live video and data from the most sophisticated Land Speed Record car ever made.
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There are an estimated one million undocumented workers in the UK. The coronavirus pandemic has presented them with a new set of challenges and fears over how to maintain an income, remain healthy or even stay alive. | By Danny VincentBBC News
On an old square television in a shared house in a suburb of London, Filipina nanny Carla watches the government coronavirus daily briefings well aware the updates are not intended for her.
Carla, whose name - along with others in this article - has been changed to protect her identity, is among an estimated one million undocumented workers living in the UK.
Of the 12 tenants living in the house, only one has the right to work in the country - a nurse working for the NHS on the front line of the pandemic.
"We are worried for her and worried for ourselves," Carla said over an encrypted messenger app.
'I fear for my family'
She was speaking over her six-month-old baby's cries and sporadically broke down in tears herself.
"I fear for my family. If I get sick I won't have anywhere to self-isolate," she told the BBC.
For seven years Carla has worked illegally as a domestic worker in London's grey economy, caring for the elderly and working as a nanny for various families.
Before the lockdown she would send part of her salary to her relatives in the Philippines.
With no access to the financial assistance announced by the UK government, Carla found herself down to her last £3.
"If I get sick, I'm afraid to phone the 111 helpline. They will find out that I don't have papers," she said.
As the lockdown eases across England, charities have said they fear London's undocumented workers could be among the most vulnerable in society.
Despite reassurances from the government that the NHS would not carry out immigration checks in hospitals, many undocumented workers have worried about seeking medical help.
"The consequences have been tragic," said Susan Cueva, from Kanlungan Filipino consortium, an alliance of Filipino nationals in the UK.
"Some refuse to get help despite the fact their situation is deteriorating."
Risk of starving
Ms Cueva estimated there could be as many as 10,000 undocumented Filipino carers and domestic workers in the country.
Charities fear they represent an invisible public health risk.
Undocumented workers are at risk not only of contracting Covid-19, but also starving because of the crisis created by the pandemic.
"We are also front-line workers," said Shell, an undocumented carer from the Philippines.
"We know it's against the law. We do the work people don't want to do.
"We try our best not to be a burden for the country. If they give us a chance to work we will pay taxes."
There are no exact numbers of undocumented workers living in the UK.
In 2017, Pew Research Centre claimed there may have been between 800,000 and 1.2 million unauthorised migrants living in the UK.
"The government lost count a long time ago and never wanted to confront the question of numbers," said Dr Rhetta Moran from Rapar, a human rights charity.
She has been campaigning for the government to provide housing and healthcare for all during the pandemic, irrespective of their status.
Undocumented workers have varied back stories and experiences.
Some have overstayed their visas and begun working in the illegal economy.
Many travelled to the UK to seek asylum but had their applications rejected. Some have been smuggled into the country.
"I was trafficked multiple times and finally boarded a ship which took me to the UK," said Mrs Zhao, a restaurant worker, who has lived in the UK for 12 years.
She spoke to the BBC through the Chinese Information and Advice centre, under the condition of anonymity.
During the lockdown many have been relying on communities for financial support.
"I am glad that I managed to get this far," she said.
"Most of the time my mind is blank but luckily my friends who are in similar situations are being very supportive and caring."
Jean has been self-isolating in a west London house since the lockdown began in March.
The Jamaican national has been living in the UK for more than a decade and pays rent to a family of five who sublet her a tiny room.
She entered the country on a student visa and worked part time to support her studies but when she changed colleges her visa application was rejected and Jean became an undocumented worker.
Via WhatsApp she tells me: "I sometimes feel like I'm British. I talk like them.
"Now I feel if I could run away from here I would, but borders are closed and there are no flights.
"Even if there were flights and if I went home they would treat me so badly and say 'you brought the virus into the country'."
'I don't know how to survive'
As the lockdown eased Jean said she became aware of the risks of returning to work.
"I think now I am becoming more vulnerable to everything," she said.
Last month the domestic worker was called by her long-term employer and asked to return.
She was paid one day's wages for three days of work. After complaining she was asked not to return.
"I don't know what to do. I don't want to get trapped again. I don't know how to survive."
She now faces a greater risk of exploitation and fears she could fall victim to modern-day slavery.
With no income for the duration of the lockdown and no government support, she says she must now accept more risky work.
Jean said she felt unsafe in her own home and her landlord was demanding she paid a lump sum of rent owed that she did not pay during the lockdown.
"He keeps banging on my door and asking me to give him money," she said.
Charities have said illegal workers faced new risks of exploitation when returning to employment.
And charity groups fear undocumented migrants would now face challenges beyond the coronavirus.
"As the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold, many workers have already lost their jobs," said Matt Friedman from Mekong Club, an anti-slavery charity.
Natural disasters around the world usually lead to a rise in modern-day slavery and human trafficking, Mr Friedman says.
He expects to see a rise in the number of people trafficked into cities like London once borders reopen while illegal migrants face greater exploitation.
Mr Friedman says: "With few options available to them, these people often become desperate.
"This combination of factors significantly increases the potential for human traffickers to take advantage of this vulnerability."
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Illegal migrants are not eligible for mainstream benefits.
"However, we have made sure that coronavirus treatment is available on the NHS for free, regardless of someone's immigration status.
"Local authorities may provide a basic safety net especially in cases involving children."
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A Euromillions ticket holder in the Republic of Ireland has won almost 94m euros (£80m), after sharing the jackpot with a player in Belgium. | Both players matched 5 numbers and two lucky stars in Tuesday night's draw, splitting the top prize of 188m euros (160m).
The winning numbers were; 4, 5, 13, 27 and 35, while the lucky stars were 1 and 2.
There is speculation the ticket was bought in County Kildare.
To date, the biggest Euromillions winner in the Republic of Ireland was County Limerick woman, Dolores McNamara, who collected a cheque for 115m euros in August 2005.
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The New York Times' David Carr had a fairly scathing takedown of 60 Minutes on Monday. The venerable CBS News programme recently had to apologise for a poorly sourced story on the Benghazi consulate attack and faced criticism for what was considered an overly complimentary piece on the National Security Agency. | By Anthony ZurcherEditor, Echo Chambers
According to Carr, it all comes down to the correspondents shying away from the sort of hard-hitting journalism on which 60 Minutes' reputation was built.
"In the last few months, there have been significant lapses into credulousness, when reporters have been more 'gee whiz' than 'what gives?'" he writes. "The news that 60 Minutes is calling could be viewed as less ominous and more of an opportunity."
He concludes: "60 Minutes is a calling, not an assignment, and the programme should not be the kind of outfit that leaves its scepticism at the door to get inside."
This caps a week during which the news programme has become a punching bag for both the left and the right.
The National Review's media editor, Elaina Johnson, highlighted another recent 60 Minutes segment, featuring a glowing portrait of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
"Over the past year, the program has made it look as if there is virtually a quid pro quo: If you let 60 Minutes in on the inner working of your affairs, the show's reporters will check their journalistic judgment at the door," she writes.
Scott Shackford in Reason writes: "60 Minutes ran not one, but two full segments about the NSA's data collection and Edward Snowden scandals, told entirely from the NSA's perspective and with absolutely no critical voices."
And Politico's media critic Dylan Byers:
60 Minutes is desperately in need of a news package that earns it praise rather than criticism. It needs to put up a hard-hitting investigation, fact-checked to the teeth, that doesn't come off as a promotional puff-piece. Because its reputation as the gold standard of television journalism has taken some serious hits of late.
It's hard not to detect a certain amount of glee from conservatives on this topic, as they've long viewed 60 Minutes as having a left-leaning bias (of course, they feel that way about most of the mainstream media, but that's beside the point).
In particular, they cite a 60 Minutes II story in 2004 on President George W Bush's Air National Guard service, in which the authenticity of a document used in the report was cast into doubt. The resulting scandal ended with the forced resignation of long-time CBS News reporter and network anchor Dan Rather (who continues to stand by the story).
For the show also to have its credibility questioned from the left does not bode well. The clock is ticking for 60 Minutes to figure out how to recover.
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Prof Tom Pike from Imperial College London is part of the science team on the US-led InSight mission to Mars . His group has supplied seismometers that will enable the Nasa lander to detect "Marsquakes", which should reveal the internal structure of the Red Planet. Over the course of the coming months, Prof Pike will be updating us on InSight's progress. | By Tom PikeImperial College London
"Help… we absolutely need your feedback as soon as possible."
It's not the email you want to get just a few days before your sensors are due to launch to Mars.
Our sensors are microseismometers, part of a Marsquake detection instrument currently sitting upside down on top of a rocket in California.
The last stage, the nose cone, had been winched up to the top of the launch tower a few days before, bolted on securely and the electrical connections completed.
Over the last few weeks we've been seeing the stack slowly growing up the tower at Space Launch Complex 3 of Vandenberg Air Force base, about 100 miles up the coast from Los Angeles.
The nose cone contains our lander, folded up in its thermal protection that allows it to slow down at the other end of our journey, six months and some 90 million miles later.
We're due to launch on Saturday, and the mists that have been swirling around the launch tower should be clear at 4am.
It's an early start but we'll be heading over to be there and see the launch.
Our mission, InSight, should be worth the wait.
I've been working on getting a microseismometer on Mars for more than 20 years, but I'm a latecomer compared with some of my colleagues.
InSight is led by Bruce Banerdt from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Bruce first encouraged me to work on developing seismic sensors back in the nineties when I was working at JPL, and now we hope to finally see them on their way.
The microseismometers are only one part of the Marsquake detection instrument, and Philippe Lognonné has been working nearly as long as Bruce on developing in France a Mars equivalent of the best seismometers we use on Earth.
Just between the three of us, there's nearly 100 years of collective effort. It's good we all started young!
So that email was more than worrying. We'd already tested all aspects of our instrument thoroughly, and so far everything was working very well.
The only part of the instrument that we could still check out on top of the rocket were two of our three microseismometers. These two sensors still worked even if the instrument itself was upside down, while our third sensor and the French seismometer would have to wait at least another six months to operate again once we reached Mars gravity.
But what we were seeing from this last test before launch was unexpected, and this was the very worst time to enjoy a surprise.
The two sensors were not responding to a calibration signal that we used to check they were operating properly. Instead, they were both seeing a much stronger signal.
As we analysed these signals, I remembered seeing something like this before. Our sensors are put together with their electronics and tested in Oxford, and on Sundays we often saw a distinctive signature in the basement of the physics department.
Oxford is famous for its spires and on Sundays the bell towers of the colleges and churches vibrate as the bells are rung.
Unlike the peals of the bells these vibrations are far too low a frequency to be heard, but our microseismometers are sensitive enough to pick them up from hundreds of metres away.
This time we were seeing the vibrations not of bell towers but the rocket itself as it shook our two sensors.
If I displayed the signal they were hearing like a line of music, I could see a steady tone, again too low a frequency to be heard, but deafening to the sensors that were designed to detect the faintest of Marsquakes.
Our sensors simply couldn't hear the calibration signal we were sending to them above the notes the rocket was singing. But the rocket sometimes more gently hummed, and then the distinct chirp of our calibration signal was clearly detected.
On Saturday our sensors will be turned off as we launch.
If the rocket was already too loud for them during the wait on the launch pad, they would certainly not appreciate the roar of the thrusters.
The next time we turned on the sensors, they would be in the profound silence of the journey to Mars.
We hope the sensors will then be able to hear our calibration signal as we check they have survived the launch.
Maybe then they would be able to hear themselves think, or rather we'd see just how quiet the sensors themselves could be.
The silence of deep space would be a much better test for our microseismometers than the song of the rocket that would take them there.
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A man has been charged with murdering woman found fatally injured at a house in Doncaster. | The 26-year-old victim, who has not yet been formally identified, died from her injures after being found at a property on Dryden Road in Balby at about 23:30 BST on Friday night.
Terence Papworth, 45, formerly of Dryden Road, has been charged with her murder, South Yorkshire Police said.
He is due to appear at Doncaster Magistrates' Court on Monday.
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A town near Bristol is to get a new library, new streets, shops and council offices as part of a £34m regeneration. | The work in Keynsham is set to begin in August and Wilmott Dixon Construction has been chosen to carry out the design, demolition and construction.
The firm is to spend the next six months drawing up designs with Bath and North East Somerset Council.
The council said it would submit a planning application in the coming months.
An exhibition will later be held for members of the public to comment on the proposals.
Last week plans were announced for a £50m investment in the former Cadbury factory in Keynsham.
Taylor Wimpey wants to build 700 homes, business units and community facilities at the site.
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Andy Murray is the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years - or so all of the media coverage of his historic win says. But 77 years is a rather harsh way of measuring the drought that Andy Murray has just ended, argues the BBC's James Reynolds. | Magazine MonitorA collection of cultural artefacts
Andy Murray is certainly the first British man to win a Wimbledon singles title for 77 years. But, technically, the drought that he ended was 76 years long - not 77.
The difference is simple to explain - the drought clock did not start in 1936 when Fred Perry won the title. It would be rather unfair to count the entire year in which Perry was the defending champion as the first year of a drought. That drought only began in 1937 when Britain's last male contestant, Bunny Austin, lost his rather exhausting semi-final to Germany's Gottfried von Cramm 6-8, 3-6, 14-12, 1-6. (Fred Perry did not defend his title, having chosen to turn professional at the end of 1936.)
If we stick to the logic of a Murray ending a 77-year drought, then Britain's next drought for a male Wimbledon champion is already several hours old. By this logic, if Murray successfully defends his title next year, he will have ended his own one-year long drought for a Wimbledon title.
This is not the first time that a drought clock has started ticking early. The 1996 football anthem Three Lions by Baddiel and Skinner and The Lightning Seeds has a particularly draconian way of calculating how many years of hurt English football has suffered: "Thirty years of hurt, never stopped me dreaming."
But that calculation only works if you start the hurt/drought clock from 1966 itself - the year that England last won the World Cup. It would seem a bit unfair to start the period of national hurt from the moment that Geoff Hurst scored the winning goal. From 1966 to 1970, England were reigning champions - not carriers of national hurt.
A more charitable calculation might have started the clock from 1970 when England were knocked out of the World Cup by West Germany. (German players and teams apparently have a habit of sparking long English sporting droughts.)
But "26 years of hurt" would have been rather less catchy to sing. By the update of the song for the 1998 World Cup, the songwriters had evidently decided to do away with precise calculations altogether when they sang: "No more years of hurt, no more need for dreaming."
This optimism, however, was a bit premature. The England football hurt/drought clock continues. It's now at 47 years or 43 years, depending on how you count it. Ask Andy Murray.
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A 14-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder after another teenager was stabbed at a railway station. | The incident took place at Rutherglen station in South Lanarkshire shortly after 17:00 on Monday.
The British Transport Police said the victim suffered serious injuries to his chest and lower body. He continues to be treated in hospital.
Two boys aged 14 and 18 were arrested following the incident.
The 14-year-old, from Glasgow, has since been charged with attempted murder and is expected to appear at the city's sheriff court on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old has been released without charge.
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Two hundred federal officers in Brazil are being deployed to the city of Vitoria, in the eastern state of Espirito Santo, where police went on strike on Saturday over pay. | There have been 51 murders in Greater Vitoria since Saturday, compared with four in January, the police union says.
Schools remained closed on Monday and local football matches were also postponed due to the spike in violence.
Officials said they would sit down for talks but only once the strike ended.
Relatives of the striking officers have been demonstrating in front of police stations as the officers themselves are barred from protesting.
They are demanding better pay for military police officers, including additional pay for night work and danger money.
The officers stopped patrolling the streets of the city on Saturday morning.
The commander of the force has been sacked and a new commander has been tasked with "restoring order and discipline", Espirito Santo security chief Andre Garcia said.
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Jersey's new buses will feature the sails of racing boats and the names of parishes in the island's native language. | It was the most popular of two designs put forward by new bus operator CT Plus in a public poll.
The company that will run the bus service next year asked islanders to decide what they should look like.
The sails design received about 80% of the public vote and will feature on all the new buses from January.
The other design, which had arcs of blue and green and was said to be inspired by the island's sea and grass, took only 20% of all votes cast.
Tony Scott Warren, from L'Office du Jerriais, welcomed the addition of the Jerriais words.
He said it was great news that Jersey French was becoming more prominent.
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The public have been warned to stay away from a derelict and "unsafe" former Denbighshire hospital which is the subject of an ongoing legal battle. | Freemont, the owner of Denbigh's former North Wales Hospital, lost a High Court bid in March to overturn the local council's compulsory purchase order of the Victorian asylum.
While Denbighshire council is "one step closer" to owning the building, it does not belong to it yet.
It said it is "fragile and unsafe."
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At first glance it's paradise, a small Caribbean island with palm trees swaying in the breeze, white sands and emerald waters, untouched by mass tourism. But Old Providence has a guilty secret - the huge number of people who have turned to drug-running and then disappeared. | By Hernando AlvarezBBC World Service
On Old Providence nobody rushes. Nobody looks stressed. They never stop smiling.
It's a tiny island, colonised by British Puritans in 1629, and used as a base by British privateers, including Capt Henry Morgan, as they attacked Spanish shipping and trading centres in the New World.
Although Old Providence has long been part of Colombia, and lies close to the coast of Nicaragua, the mother tongue remains a form of broken English.
The islanders, who number between 5,000 and 6,000, feel more Caribbean than they do Colombian. Many are Rastafarians, and for a long time the place remained untouched by Colombia's violent narcotraffickers. You don't see guns or hitmen, there are no bodyguards, or the bling typical of drug lords.
The problem is below the surface, but no less serious for that.
"We are losing our men," one islander told me, asking to remain anonymous.
"According to my research, there are at least 800 men that are imprisoned in different jails abroad or have simply disappeared."
That means more than one in four of the island's menfolk have gone, if this research is correct, and the island's population divides equally into men and women. There are no official figures.
The fact is that Old Providence couldn't remain immune to Colombia's problems forever, and a few years ago, drug smugglers discovered the islanders were excellent mariners, with invaluable knowledge of the surrounding waters inherited from their privateering forebears.
"They are the last rung of the drug trafficking trade," says veteran journalist Amparo Ponton, who has lived on the island for 25 years.
"Islanders read the ocean better than anyone, so they are hired as pilots in the narco-speedboats."
If they successfully deliver a boatload of drugs to the intended destination - which may be anywhere from Honduras to Florida - they make thousands of dollars.
If they get caught they end up in jail.
Things get awkward when a boat is chased by the coastguard. In that case the crew throws the drugs overboard - and then has to explain this to the drug lords. The next job they are asked to do is one they cannot refuse.
"My boy ended up in a jail in Mississippi, USA," one mother told me.
"He had already served a six-year sentence in the United States. But he tried again and failed again.
"I think he tried again because he didn't find any work...
"Most families on the island have been affected by this one way or the other. We are losing our boys."
One way of creating more jobs would be to develop tourism, but this is a path Old Providence has deliberately shunned - in contrast with its neighbour, San Andres, which is now dotted with resorts.
But the researcher who calculates that 800 islanders have disappeared says the lack of opportunities is only one part of the problem.
"There is also a lot of juvenile adrenaline at play," she says. She has often overheard youngsters say: "I've got three options - hit, miss or get." In other words, you score, you get arrested, or you get killed.
"We have already lost 10% of the generation before mine," says 26-year-old fisherman Loreno Bent.
"There are children who wake up daily not knowing their father because he was lost in the high seas when the child was a four-month-old baby.
"Mothers are crying because their boys left and never returned. Nobody knows where they are. They could be in a jail anywhere in the world. We simply don't know."
But he doesn't criticise those who run drugs.
"The sea is our economy, it doesn't matter if it's legal or illegal," he says. "What matters here is that acquiring your money hasn't involved a crime against another human. In Colombia it's considered illegal, but to many of us it's our sole subsistence. So we don't see it as something illegal."
He adds: "People say this is easy money, but no - it's the hardest type to obtain. If you wake up in the morning knowing you're putting your life in danger, then it can't be easy money."
When a son disappears, parents often do not know where he has gone, or if he will return - many seem to feel too ashamed about the crime to make a concerted effort to find out. The number of such inquiries from Old Providence is extremely low, according to Colombia's consul in the US.
But that doesn't mean the absence is not deeply felt.
"There are families," says journalist Amparo Ponton, "where the great-grandfather, grandfather, father and son are imprisoned."
Colombia's narco-business has given rise to many tragedies. This is just one more.
The Caribbean island that scorned tourism
Hernando Alvarez talks to people on Old Providence and admires their laid-back, unhurried approach to life.
This is part of the Island Stories series.
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Forget a dash of tonic with lemon and lime - gin has been spiriting its way into our mealtimes, with supermarkets now selling gin-flavoured foods, from yoghurt to fish. So does gin belong in the pantry as well as the pub? | By Kate PalmerBBC News
Tubs of gin-flavoured yoghurt - containing 0.25% alcohol - went on sale in Sainsbury's this summer, which says more gin foods are on their way.
Meanwhile, gin-infused salmon, gin-flavoured popcorn and sweets, gin and tonic ice cream and gin sauces are stocking supermarket shelves across the UK.
Gin's resurgence in liquid form has been dubbed a "Ginaissance", with sales of the spirit surpassing £1bn last year and micro-distilleries opening across the UK.
Mother's ruin
"Sure, there's an element of gimmickry, but why not?" says cocktail expert and writer Ben Reed, who has 20 years' bartending experience.
It is an "obvious step" for chefs to use gin, he says, adding it can enhance flavours in foods.
"By choosing gins with the appropriate botanical additions you can add complex combinations," he says.
Gin's trendy reputation is now a far cry from the spirit's age-old nickname as "Mother's ruin" - a favourite vice drink of the poor, and thought to bring on a miscarriage if consumed while in a hot bath.
Supermarkets are confident people will tuck into gin-flavoured food as gin's rise continues.
Nicola Bramley, a food development chef at Sainsbury's, says the supermarket's premium gin sales are rising 25% year-on-year, and insists the trend "isn't limited to your glass of G&T".
"There's plenty more to come," she says, adding that the retailer has plans to introduce a smoked salmon paté with a gin & tonic glaze.
Gin, like other spirits such as vodka, has a neutral flavour but gets its character from botanicals used to flavour it - the taste we think of as "gin" comes from juniper, which tastes like pine.
Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) says our love of gin means flavoured food is "selling like hot cakes".
He says the "quintessentially British" drink is supporting a wider industry, with gin-themed gifts and gin-flavoured foods. "It is fantastic to see," he adds.
Gin and... popcorn? Some snacks on sale
It is now commonplace to see flavoured gins from seaweed to tea - but some think using the spirit in snacks is a step too far.
"Gin with yoghurt or gin-flavoured crisps don't seem like natural bedfellows to me," says Barney Desmazery, a chef and BBC Good Food magazine's editor-at-large.
He says food manufacturers are jumping on gin's resurgence to make their products seem more enticing, rather than matching the right flavours.
"It's without doubt got a place in the kitchen," Barney says, instead suggesting gin fans experiment with homemade treats, such as a gin and tonic cake.
He recommends the spirit's alcoholic flavour be "used sensitively".
And Nick King, a spirits teacher at the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, says "you'd have to be some kind of god-like taster" to detect gin flavours in many of these foods.
"They're not necessarily very strongly flavoured - not least because if it's in the yoghurt aisle and it's notably alcoholic, there might be confusion at the till," he says.
He says alcohol-flavoured food is nothing new.
"You've had rum and raisin ice cream for donkeys years, liquor chocolates - and of course my mother's legendary brandy butter."
But he admits the products tap into a booming gin market - mainly comprising people in their 20s and 30s - who like anything quirky.
"As an idea, it makes perfect sense in cashing in on and appealing to those people," he says. "We're looking at a generation that's much more interested in flavour and interesting and exciting things."
He adds: "Gin will be around when our grandchildren are talking about it, but whether gin ice cream will be is another thing altogether."
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A 37-year-old woman has died in a flat fire in Merseyside "caused by discarded smoker's materials", the fire brigade has said. | Firefighters pulled the woman from her burning bedroom in Bowland Drive, Litherland, at 04.40 GMT on Saturday.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) said its crews then performed CPR on her outside but she was pronounced dead by paramedics.
MFRS said an investigation found the blaze was accidental.
Fire engines arrived at the flat just six minutes after a 999 call, MFRS area manager Gary Oakford said.
"This is a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased at this time," he said.
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Australian Twitter users have been sharing photos of what they were doing at 19, in solidarity with an asylum seeker who set fire to herself on Monday, apparently in protest at how she was being treated at a detention centre. | BBC TrendingWhat's popular and why
Hodan Yasin from Somalia, who is actually 21 despite earlier reports that she was 19, is said to be in a critical condition at a hospital in Brisbane after she self-immolated at an immigration centre on the Pacific island of Nauru.
Refugees who have tried to enter Australia by boat are held at the centre in Nauru before being returned to their country of origin or resettled in a third country. An Australian government inquiry found that conditions in the detention centre were "not adequate, appropriate or safe". The 2015 report said asylum seekers housed on Nauru had to live in cramped, hot and unhygienic dormitories with unclean toilets, limited access to water and low-quality clothing and footwear.
Last week another asylum seeker self-immolated in what appeared to be a protest at the conditions in the Nauru centre. 23 year old Omid Masoumali, who was originally from Iran, died in hospital in Brisbane on Friday.
In response to the most recent incident, Australians and New Zealanders have used social media to share what they were doing at 19 - the age Hodan Yasin was initially reported to be. "At #only19 I was holidaying with my family, spending time with friends, imagining the many lives I have the freedom to live. This must end," tweeted Kylie Wrigley. "At #only19 I was making bad hair choices and a few bad life choices - but I knew I had a choice, I had hope," wrote Ali Atkinson-Phillip.
Thousands of people also used the hashtag #BringThemHere in reaction to the news. For example, Elizabeth Clark said "She (Hodan) was a child when she came to us for help… We locked up a child for so long that she set herself on fire. #Nauru #BringThemHere".
The Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton blamed refugee advocates for the situation. In a speech on Monday, he claimed advocates encourage asylum seekers "to engage in behaviours they believe will pressure the government to bring them to Australia" and he said that the recent suicide attempts were an extension of that.
Blog by Kate Lamble
Next story- Superhero fans rally to keep The Flash's love interest black
Fans of TV show 'The Flash' rally to keep lead character black in new film. READ MORE
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Parisians are examining the full extent of a massive fire at Notre-Dame cathedral. | The fire, which brought down the spire and roof, was declared under control almost nine hours after it started.
President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild the 12th Century cathedral, describing the blaze as a "terrible tragedy". Hundreds of millions of euros have already been pledged.
Images from inside and outside the cathedral show the extent of the damage.
All images subject to copyright
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A Leicester city councillor has been charged with sexual assault and is due in court next month. | Labour councillor Paul Newcombe, 48, has been charged with one count of sexual assault alleged to have happened between 1 May 2015 and 18 May 2017.
Mr Newcombe, of Laundry Lane, Belgrave, is chairman of the city council's Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission and represents the Thurncourt ward.
He will appear at Leicester Magistrates' Court on 15 September.
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In 2015 almost every single country on earth celebrated the release of the new Star Wars film, but China had to wait until this weekend. How will the unique world of new orders, rebel forces and evil empires go down there? | By Heather ChenBBC News
Coming (not so) soon to a galaxy far, far away
When the original Star Wars films were at the peak of their popularity in the rest of the world it was the late 1970s and China was just emerging from the Cultural Revolution.
Even this new film will be released in Chinese theatres on 9 January, a month later than the rest of the world. This is mostly due to the fact that foreign studios had already used up China's annual quota of 34 foreign films.
China places strict quotas on Hollywood blockbusters to prevent competition with domestic releases, although one industry official, said the date could work to the film's advantage as it is closer to Chinese New Year.
'I've been waiting for you': How Chinese fans are preparing
"Good things come to those who wait," said another fan. "The one month wait will be totally worth it," said one fan on Chinese microblogging site, Weibo.
One even saw a potential positive to Chinese internet censorship.
"No spoilers please, fans like me can't see the film until next year so this is the one time I am grateful for Chinese internet censorship!" commented Vicky Zhu, a Beijing fan.
The force is strong with them, or at least trying to be
Disney has pulled out all stops to drum up interest in China, the world's second largest film market.
"We are thrilled to bring Star Wars: The Force Awakens to China," said John Hsu, Disney's general manager in China at a promotional event.
The studio staged several publicity stunts ahead of the film's release, even placing 500 miniature stormtroopers at Beijing's iconic Great Wall.
Disney also reached out to Chinese-Korean K-pop group EXO, to release a dance song, a strategic and savv move.
Called "Lightsaber", the music video is set in a Jedi club and sees members carrying lightsabers.
But the studio did not stop there. It enlisted Chinese heartthrob Lu Han - often referred to as the country's answer to Canadian singer Justin Bieber - to sing the movie's official theme song in both English and Chinese.
Director JJ Abrams and lead cast members, including new fan favourite droid BB-8 walked and rolled up the red carpet in a December premiere in Shanghai.
A brand new official verified Weibo account was also set up and an active discussion thread soon appeared on the site, drawing in commentary and engaging thousands of fans.
"The message that Star Wars delivers is one of moral guidance within spirituality. Good always triumphs evil, I think all Chinese can identify with that," remarked one Chinese fan.
But what does China have against Wookies?
But amid all the excitement and Star Wars buzz building up, Disney hit controversy. It unveiled a re-versioned movie poster for the Chinese market - with a few tweaks.
New lead character Finn, played by black British actor John Boyega was shrunken in size, compared to the original poster.
"Star Wars' Finn (who happens to be black) and Chewbacca (happens to be Wookiee) get shafted in China," pointed out US Twitter user Ray Kwong.
"We all know John Boyega has a major role in the new film so who are Chinese authorities to try and dictate his part?" said one angry fan.
Major fan favourite, Chewbacca was also cut out of the Chinese version of the poster.
"Where's Chewbacca? We all know authorities love to discriminate but why is China targeting Wookiees now," said another fan.
Authorities are yet to respond to the social media outcry this sparked.
And when can we expect the first Chinese Jedi?
Star Wars fans in China have also long been vocal in declaring their hope for a Chinese Jedi.
And they want it to be Hong Kong martial arts legend Donnie Yen - famed for his role as a Wing Chun master in the popular 'Ip Man series'.
"If George Lucas is smart, he will know that casting Donnie Yen will be the way to break into the Chinese market," said a Beijing fan on Weibo.
"If John Boyega can be cast as a major character then please consider Donnie Yen as a Jedi," said another fan.
The excitement spiralled further after Shanghai fans caught a glimpse of the Hong Kong action star who showed up at the Chinese premiere.
The sighting soon began trending on Chinese social media and dozens of memes were created.
"Donnie Yen could take on 20 stormtroopers at one go. He would make an awesome Jedi," said a Weibo user.
Another fan summed it up: "Ip Man at the Star Wars premiere! Could this be a sign?"
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A 54-year-old man arrested in connection with a bomb attack on the Shankill Road in 1975 has been released pending further enquiries. | The bomb at the Mountainview Tavern on Grand National Saturday killed five people and injured another 60.
The man was arrested in County Antrim on Thursday.
The investigation into the attack was re-opened following a review by the Historical Enquiries Team.
Five men, aged between 18 and 52 were killed. One of them, William Andrews, was a member of the UDA.
It was the second pub bombing in Belfast that day. Earlier the UVF had killed two people in an attack on a pub in the New Lodge area of north Belfast.
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The United States and United Kingdom have announced that laptops, e-readers and almost any other electronic device that is not a phone will be banned from cabin luggage on some flights. | The US rule only applies to 10 airports, but one of those is the world's busiest international airport - Dubai International.
The UK ban does not include Dubai, and only has six countries on the list.
Which items are affected?
The US rule is broad and wide-ranging, affecting almost anything that is not a phone.
It says: "Electronic devices larger than a cell phone/smart phone will not be allowed to be carried onboard the aircraft in carry-on luggage or other accessible property."
Anything larger will have to go in checked luggage in the hold.
But the advice does not define that size with any measurements, saying simply that "the approximate size of a commonly available smartphone is considered to be a guideline for passengers".
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gave a list of examples, but said it was not exhaustive:
For US-bound passengers, it is not clear if the vague sizing could cause problems with interpretation, especially when it comes to larger phones or so-called "phablets" such as the iPhone 7 Plus.
In an accompanying document, the DHS said "their size is well understood by most passengers who fly internationally".
The examples specifically mention both portable media players and game systems.
But "necessary medical devices" will be allowed on board flights - after a security check.
The UK has offered clearer parameters: nothing bigger than 16cm (6.3ins) long, 9.3cm (3.6ins) wide or 1.5cm (0.6ins) deep will be allowed into the cabin - which means mobiles like the larger iPhone Plus will still be allowed.
Parents dread flight ban for laptops
Which airports are affected?
The new rules apply to 10 airports if you are flying to the US:
The DHS said it had chosen the airports "based on the current threat picture" but did not provide any more details. It said it might add more airports in future.
There is also no time limit on the rules - they will stay in place "until the threat changes".
The rule change also requires no additional Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, US authorities said - any increased security cost will be borne by the affected airports.
For UK-bound travellers, it affects all flights coming from:
This means it affects 14 airlines including British Airways, Easyjet and Monarch.
What about connecting flights?
If you are on a business trip from Asia to the US, it is likely that a Middle Eastern airport like Dubai could be part of your itinerary.
But the document detailing the enhanced security refers to "last point of departure airports" - so if you change planes at one of the affected airports for the last leg of your trip, the rules still apply.
So, for example, going from Dubai to New York - a 14-hour flight - will leave you without a laptop or other device, no matter where you started your journey from.
"TSA recommends passengers transferring at one of the 10 affected airports place any large personal electronic devices in their checked bags upon check-in at their originating airport," the official advice says.
What's the logic behind the ban?
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said it was basing its decisions on "evaluated intelligence".
It said terrorists "continue to target commercial aviation" and are trying to find "innovative methods" to make such attacks - including hiding explosives in consumer electronics.
"We note that disseminated propaganda from various terrorist groups is encouraging attacks on aviation, to include tactics to circumvent aviation security."
"We have reason to be concerned," the agency said - but did not address any specific threat.
Instead, they cited three examples of attacks that caused concern: the 2015 downing of an aircraft in Egypt, the attempt to down an airliner in Somalia in 2016, and the 2016 armed attacks against airports in Brussels and Istanbul.
Some of the banned devices may not be much larger than a mobile phone, adding to the confusion. Homeland Security said they were allowing phones simply because the new rules aim "to balance risk with impacts to the travelling public".
Jim Termini, whose company Redline specialises in airport security, said that laptops could be modified to allow small devices to be hidden inside - as had happened in Somalia.
"The device functioned prematurely and the guy carrying it was ejected from the plane rather violently. But it did demonstrate that this method of operation in concealing an improvised explosive device within a large electrical device is a valid way of attempting to smuggle a threat item onboard an aircraft."
Mr Termini added that laptops could be adapted to create space where the battery is housed in order to allow an explosive device to be placed inside. "If a device is opened and turned on, you can prove functionality while it is still a valid IED (improvised explosive device), and the problem with these devices is that they are incredibly difficult to identify with X-ray technology".
But what is the difference between being in the cabin, or in the hold?
Can an airline or airport refuse?
No. As part of the legal agreements that allow commercial airlines to enter US airspace, they must abide by TSA security rules.
The UK government also says that direct flights can only "continue to operate to the UK subject to these new measures being in place".
The DHS points out that the new rules will apply to a very small proportion of travellers - just 10 of the 250 or so airports which fly to the US.
Meanwhile, the UK says "decisions to make changes to our aviation security regime are never taken lightly" and it will work to "minimise any disruption these new measures may cause".
"A small percentage of flights to the United States will be affected, and the exact number of flights will vary on a day to day basis," it said.
Will insurance cover items placed in the hold?
Asked by readers Mohamed and Richard Simpson
Generally speaking, no.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) says that most travel insurance policies simply will not cover theft of "unattended belongings" which you cannot see or are not close to you.
"Your insurance will not cover valuables that go missing from checked in baggage," it says.
"Your baggage is considered checked in from the time you hand it over to the airline at the airport until the time you pick it up at your destination."
In light of the new restrictions, Mark Shepherd from the ABI said policies vary, and you should check your own.
"Some travellers may find they also have additional cover under a household contents policy for gadgets outside of the home," he said.
"We do know some insurers already take a flexible approach to claims if a passenger has been forced to put items in the hold by circumstances out of their control."
But, he said, "it may be sensible to leave valuables at home" if you're flying through one of the affected airports.
What if the airline damages my belongings or they are stolen?
Asked by readers Graham Philips and Dave Humphreys
If your suitcase or other property is damaged in the hold, do not leave the baggage hall. You must contact customer services to lodge what's called a "property irregularity report".
You can do this with some airlines within a few days, provided you have all your travel documents and the tags are still intact, but it's far better to do so at the airport before you leave.
But you're unlikely to be repaid in full.
The Montreal Convention, which covers international air travel rules, does make the airline responsible for your baggage.
But it's all rather complicated. They even use a special international currency, XDR (special drawing rights), to define how much they owe.
Airline liability is limited to 17 XDR - about $23 or £18.50 - per kilogram of baggage, up to a maximum of 1,000 XDR (about $1,360 or £1,090).
You can get around this by making what's called "a special declaration of interest" for very expensive items at check-in, and paying an extra fee.
But it's still not the carrier's fault if "the damage resulted from the inherent defect, quality or vice of the baggage".
Essentially, they're unlikely to accept responsibility for an expensive laptop in a cheap, soft cloth case - and can argue to what extent things should be well-packed.
And while theft by baggage handlers is not an everyday occurrence, it does happen occasionally.
This should be dealt with in the exact same way as damage, but may be harder to prove if the device is simply missing.
An airline may dispute the claim, and refuse to accept responsibility.
What about lithium-ion batteries - aren't they dangerous?
Asked by readers Louise, and Adam Gorbutt
Lithium-ion batteries are used in many rechargeable consumer electronics, from phones to large laptops.
It's true that the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) has released recommendations on transporting the batteries in the hold, and their US counterpart banned them as cargo.
The US ban was based on fears that cargo holds might not contain a possible fire from a bulk package of many batteries.
The IATA's 2017 guidance, however, says that any battery up to 160Wh rating should be fine - so long as it's packed in equipment.
That should cover all reasonable laptop batteries. But the operator's approval is required for these battery sizes - which may explain why you were asked to keep it in your hand luggage.
Also, it's important to note that spare batteries are not permitted in checked baggage - which includes "power banks" for recharging phones.
Why is the hold any safer than the cabin?
Asked by Mark Lucas, Helen, Paul, and Talal Burshaid
It's true that there are already very strong screening processes in place.
"I spent most of yesterday trying to make sense of the measures," Matthew Finn, managing director of security consultancy Augmentiq, said.
He said the possibility of an automatic trigger means any potential bomb need not be with the bomber "so I can't really understand why that distinction is being made between the cabin and the hold baggage."
But Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International, told the BBC: "Inside the cabin, the terrorist, or duped passenger, can at least be guaranteed a seat next to the fuselage - as on Daallo Airlines last year - improving the chances of destroying the aircraft."
"Always, you separate the bomber from the bomb - that makes people in the cabin a lot safer," said Sally Leivesley, a risk management expert.
"I think this is a very smart move and, actually, it's a little bit overdue.
"The fact that a very small device next to the skin of an aircraft, in the cabin, can cause massive depressurisation - it's certain death for everyone on board," she said.
She also said that screening of checked luggage had improved over the past several years, and it is possible to detect these devices.
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The company behind plans for a £25bn barrage in the Severn Estuary - describe today's report by the Energy and Climate Change Committee as "frustrating" and "unhelpful" - but it is not surprising.
| David CornockParliamentary correspondent, Wales
The MPs' report is based largely on three evidence sessions that made uncomfortable viewing for barrage supporters.
Hafren Power failed to convince MPs of the viability of the project in three key areas - financial, environmental and acceptability to the public.
Its timetable for a new law to pave the way for a barrage was "completely unrealistic".
Hafren Power had previously accepted that a negative report would effectively kill off the project as it would be harder to secure the £25bn of private investment needed.
Today, it says it will continue to work to address the MPs' concerns. Former cabinet minister Peter Hain says the ball is now in the government's court and unless ministers take the lead the project is "going nowhere".
But the report will make it harder for Hafren Power to convince ministers who were already sceptical about what they saw as a lack of detail in the company's scheme.
The idea of a barrage across the Severn Estuary has been debated since 1849. That debate will go on but many will conclude that Hafren Power's current proposal is dead in the water.
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The chief minister of the south Indian state of Telangana is planning to raze a government complex and build a new one at an estimated cost of 3.5bn rupees ($52m; £42m) because he believes the building is unlucky for the state. TS Sudhir reports from Hyderabad. | The story of the "curse" of Saifabad Palace goes back to sometime in 1888.
The sixth Nizam (king) of Hyderabad, Mahboob Ali Pasha, was on his way to inspect the construction of the palace in what was then the kingdom of Hyderabad.
Two nobles, who did not want the Nizam to occupy the palace, ensured that a monitor lizard crossed his path - a bad omen. The Nizam immediately ordered the palace to be locked up.
It was only in the 1940s that a senior government official converted it into the administrative office of the kingdom.
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The Saifabad palace, now a heritage structure, is still at the centre of the present-day secretariat complex which houses the state governments of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad is currently the capital of both states, but will eventually belong only to Telangana.
Bad energies?
Like the sixth Nizam, the Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, also believes that the secretariat complex is unlucky.
So he plans to raze the entire complex to the ground and build a new administrative centre.
He has such a strong aversion to the building that he hardly ever visits it - only once or twice a month for cabinet meetings. He prefers working out of his official residence in the city or from his personal estate, which is 60km (37.2 miles) from Hyderabad.
Mr Rao believes the vaastu (similar to feng shui) of the secretariat is not good for Telangana. Vaastu is an ancient Hindu treatise of construction. Believers consider it a science, but critics dismiss it as mindless superstition.
"Definitely this secretariat has bad vaastu. History is proof that no-one has prospered because of this. Let Telangana not suffer," Mr Rao said.
Critics say this would not have been an issue if the complex was a crumbling, rickety structure that was endangering the life of the thousands of government employees working there. But much of the secretariat consists of recent constructions, which are less than a decade old.
Opposition politicians in the state have criticised the decision to "squander" public money in the pursuit of what they call Mr Rao's personal beliefs. Particularly, they argue that there is no objective standard of vaastu - it is different for every individual.
"If a new chief minister comes in later and he thinks this vaastu does not suit him, will we waste the taxpayer's money again?" Shabbir Ali, leader of the opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council, told the BBC.
'Undeterred'
"We should focus on building good governance but here we focus on building government buildings. The demolition is going to take place for a fancy purpose without assessing the existing facility," said political analyst K Nageshwar.
But Mr Rao is undeterred by the criticism. He has already met the governor of the state and asked him to tell his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu to vacate his part of the secretariat and hand over the blocks for demolition.
The plan is to raze the entire complex by the end of this year and build a vaastu-compliant structure.
The only thing now standing in his way is the Hyderabad high court which has put on hold the demolition following a petition by an opposition legislator.
The Telangana government lawyer has told the court that the complex is being demolished for administrative convenience and because the building is a fire hazard.
Opposition leaders say that is a strange argument since it is impossible to occupy any building in the city without a "no-objection certificate" (NOC) from the fire department.
Several people in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh do follow vaastu to determine the right wind flow and light inside an office or residential space. Others take it further - they use it to determine even little things like the direction the head of a department or ministry should face, and sometimes even the location of the toilets.
And it's not just the office that is on Mr Rao's list. Even his palatial official residence does not pass the test. He is getting a new one constructed and will move into it by the end of this month.
This building was constructed on the advice of vaastu experts by the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in 2005. He died in a helicopter crash four years later.
His successor, K Rosaiah, made some modifications on the advice of a vaastu expert but he lost power in a year.
His successor Kiran Kumar Reddy who does not believe in vaastu, and did not change anything in the office or residence space, survived the entire term.
"I only pray that Mr Chandrasekhar Rao does not decide tomorrow that the construction of the iconic Charminar in Hyderabad was not done according to vaastu principles in 1591 and is thereby declared inauspicious for Telangana," mocks opposition leader Shabbir Ali.
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Singer-songwriter Nadine Shah has been named best performer at an award ceremony honouring the best music, theatre and art in north-east England. | By Ian YoungsArts reporter
The Whitburn-born musician, who released her second album in April, won performing artist of the year at the Journal newspaper's Culture Awards.
She also performed at Tuesday's ceremony at Sunderland Minster.
The Great North Passion, which told the Passion story in South Shields last Easter, was named best event.
Using 12 shipping containers to represent the 12 stations of the cross, it was also broadcast live on BBC One.
The world's first museum with a comedian in residence, Woodhorn Museum in Ashington, Northumberland, was named best museum.
The full list of winners:
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The British government says it has allocated nearly five million dollars to aid projects for Sri Lankan civilians displaced
by recent fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. | The Department for International Development (DfID) says the money will be used to help over two hundred and eighty thousand
people return home.
"Conditions in the camps are improving, but are still basic. There are reports of high levels of malnutrition, overcrowding
and inadequate access to decent water and sanitation facilities," a DfID statement issued on Tuesday said.
It said the funds would help provide logistics, transport, emergency shelters and basic services.
The agency said that it would also give people cash grants so that they could buy seeds and tools.
The British government said that it is part of a nearly 20 million dollar humanitarian funding that the UK has already committed
for Sri Lanka displaced.
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A former Southampton Football Club youth coach has appeared in court facing historical child abuse charges. | Bob Higgins, 64, appeared at Southampton Magistrates' Court charged with 65 counts of indecent assault against 23 boys all aged under 17.
The court heard the alleged offences date from between 1970 and 1996.
Mr Higgins, whose first name is Robert, from Southampton, indicated he would plead not guilty to the alleged offences.
He was given unconditional bail until a hearing at Winchester Crown Court on 16 August.
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As police continue to investigate the deaths of 39 Chinese nationals found in a lorry container in Essex, questions have been raised about how trailers arrive in the UK and what checks border officials carry out to find concealed people. | What checks are made at ports?
Some 3.6m lorries and containers entered the UK in 2018, using 40 main ports.
The Home Office says they are searched on a "targeted basis" by Border Force staff but would not say how many are checked.
A number of methods are used including carbon dioxide detectors, motion sensors and sniffer dogs.
The government did not explain how lorries are targeted for a search, with a spokeswoman saying it was down to "experienced Border Force staff identifying containers to be searched at port".
Lucy Moreton from the Immigration Services Union, which represents customs and border staff, said the sheer number of containers coming into the UK every day made it impossible to look inside them all.
"We don't have the facility to check the vast majority of freight which arrives in the UK," she said.
And she said it was "certainly the case" that "disconnected freight containers", of which there are "hundreds of thousands" a day, are less likely to be searched unless there is "intelligence to the contrary".
A delivery note called a CMR is filled in for each container by the person who has ordered it, although hauliers can fill it it on a customer's behalf, and a driver should if possible check the load matches the CMR upon collection.
"However," says Heather Wallace of the Road Haulage Association, "quite often, the driver will not actually be present at loading and is totally reliant on the customer."
Containers can be accompanied, which means the tractor crosses with the container, or unaccompanied, meaning it is left at a port and loaded by ferry staff with a second driver collecting it at the other end of the crossing.
"It is all down to cost or flexibility and the urgency of the load," Ms Wallace said.
Accompanied is normally quicker because the truck will get on the next available crossing but unaccompanied can be cheaper because you don't have to pay to transport the driver, which also frees that driver to complete other jobs.
Who can be prosecuted if immigrants are found on a lorry?
The deliberate smuggling of people is a criminal offence carrying up to 14 years in jail or a £10,000 fine, but lorry drivers who bring people in unwittingly can still face a civil penalty.
Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the owner of a lorry, hirer or driver can be prosecuted for having a "clandestine entrant" aboard, with fines of up to £2,000 per illegal stowaway.
There is a defence if they can show they did not know or had no "reasonable grounds for suspecting" anyone was aboard, had suitable security to prevent people from getting in the truck or trailer and co-operated with authorities upon discovery.
Border Force has issued a 10-point plan for drivers to follow with advice including:
How did the lorry carrying the Chinese nationals get into the UK?
The Belgian Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said the container arrived in Zeebrugge at 14:29 BST on Tuesday and left the port later that afternoon.
Officials are yet to explain where the container was before it arrived at the Belgian port or how it got there.
The ferry docked at Purfleet, which handles about 250,000 containers a year, at about 00:30 on Wednesday, Essex Police said.
The force said the tractor unit (the front part of the lorry) had entered the country via Holyhead - an Irish Sea port in Wales - on Sunday 20 October, having travelled over from Dublin.
The tractor left with the container at 01:05 on Wednesday, about 30 minutes before the emergency services were contacted.
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Is this 1921 cartoon the first recorded meme? | By Tom GerkenBBC UGC & Social News
When this comic was posted to Twitter, it caused excitement as people began to wonder if it was the first meme - a format-dependent joke, typically of a picture with a caption or subtitle - ever published.
But we've found a version of the joke using the same format printed at least a year earlier in either 1919 or 1920.
Both draw from the same template of the 'Expectations vs. Reality' joke, which contrasts two pictures side-by-side with an obvious discrepancy between them.
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The comic was first posted to Tumblr by Yesterday's Print - a user that shares historical content to "highlight the parallels of past and present".
It was subsequently reposted with new captions such as "you/the guy she tells you not to worry about", referencing yet another contemporary template meme.
Some users created their own takes on the format using other memes such as 'If You Don't Love Me / Can't Handle Me'.
Where does it come from?
The comic was found in a 1921 edition of satirical magazine The Judge, published by the University of Iowa.
Within The Judge, the comic is then credited to a different magazine - the Wisconsin Octopus, published at the University of Wisconsin between 1919 and 1959.
By looking through the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, we were able to view a few early editions of the Wisconsin Octopus magazine, and found this is not the first time the 'Expectations vs. Reality'-format joke appeared in print.
In an edition published in either 1919 or 1920, the following comic (which is very dated by today's standards) can be found:
What is a meme?
Is it 'the first meme'?
According to the definition, a single image cannot be a meme. It has to be copied and spread with variations to the original image.
So on its own, the 1921 comic is not a meme. But coupled with the comic from either 1919 or 1920, it begins to fit the definition, as the two comics are variations on the same style - using two panels and captions to set-up an expectation and contrast it with reality.
While we can't say with certainty that this is the first meme by that definition, we can say that because it was copied and spread with variations this cartoon was genuinely part of a pre-internet 'Expectations vs. Reality' meme.
Clearly the writers of the Wisconsin Octopus magazine were ahead of their time.
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Few deny that the UK is facing a housing crisis, the subject has become a hot political topic. But the best way to solve it is still widely disputed, as national ambition confronts local anxiety and tradition. | Mark EastonHome editor@BBCMarkEastonon Twitter
The Prime Minister David Cameron told his party conference earlier this month that housing was the "one big piece of unfinished business in our economy" and he wanted a "national crusade" to get homes built.
The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told his party conference that housing was "a top priority" and promised the biggest council house-building programme since the 1970s.
Housing policy is on the front-line of UK politics. Both Conservatives and Labour agree there needs to be significant increase in supply, but there is a clear divide on what to build. For the Tories it is about measures to encourage home ownership while for the opposition the focus is on homes for social rent.
Housing is not just about putting a roof over people's heads - it is ideological. Parties accuse each other of 'social engineering' in the policies they are putting forward.
Homeowners are more than twice as likely to vote Conservative as Labour and those in social rented homes are more than twice as likely to vote Labour as Conservative. Housing has always been tribal.
It is generational too. According to the last census, among the over 50s more than 80% are owner-occupiers. But among the under 35s, a majority are in the rented sector. What is more, twice as many pensioners voted Conservative as Labour at the last election.
Few deny that Britain is facing a housing crisis, although its real impact is felt most acutely in the south of England - and nowhere more so than the city of Oxford which, according to the council leader, is facing catastrophe because of it.
Bob Price says Oxford is now the most unaffordable place to live in Britain and warns that the world-famous city's very future is at risk.
"Our University is unable to recruit and retain key people, the city hospitals cannot get enough doctors and nurses, high-tech industries like BMW and Mini are unable to maintain the workforces they need," Mr Price argues. "The major institutions of the city are in danger of grinding to a halt."
It is a vision of a city unable to function. Already the shortage of affordable homes means that 46,000 people commute into Oxford each day, workers coming from as far afield as Birmingham and Swindon.
The average house price is more than 16 times average earnings. To get a mortgage on a mid-priced semi requires an income of at least £70,000 and with rents sky-high too.
The man who runs Oxford Bus Company, Phil Southall, is actively considering building a staff dormitory because he cannot attract enough bus drivers to keep services going.
"We need some more housing for our staff so they can afford to live locally otherwise people have to travel further and further, which means we have to pay more and more, which means people in the city have to be charged more for their bus travel," Mr Southall says.
Oxford can't expand because of what some call the green garotte, a ring of greenbelt land where it's almost impossible to build homes. And even beyond, in David Cameron's Witney constituency there's fierce opposition to government efforts to increase supply.
Under new planning laws introduced by the Conservatives, local councils are required to "boost significantly the supply of housing" and must commission an independent Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) to work out how many homes are needed in their area.
In Oxfordshire, the SHMA calculated that to meet demand and the affordability crisis, the county needed to provide 5,000 new homes each year over the next two decades. West Oxfordshire, including Mr Cameron's constituency, should contribute around 660, the assessment calculated.
But the district council refused to accept the verdict, claiming the numbers were "too high and should be adjusted downward". Councillors agreed on their own figure of 525 a year.
Some parish councils in West Oxfordshire argue that even this number is far too high and have promised to fight what they see as unnecessary development.
The attitude of such local communities is quite understandable. New housing development almost certainly involves disruption, noise and a lot of mess. There are often real issues around the infrastructure to support new neighbourhoods. And, of course, there will be those who worry the arrival of new affordable homes will potentially reduce the value of their own homes.
The housing crisis sets homeowners against private renters, rural heritage against urban expansion. It is where progress collides with tradition and where national ambition must confront local anxiety.
Party leaders at Westminster may say it is a priority these days, but the politics of housing is as multi-layered as a residential tower-block, and the solutions often hard to reach. For decades, politicians rarely talked about housing. Now, it seems, they rarely talk about anything else.
Housing Britain
Interactive: Where can I afford to live?
In video: What the average price will buy you
Q&A: Why are starter homes controversial?
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A police officer was hit over the head with a skateboard by a man he was arresting for setting fire to a car. | The sergeant saw the man starting the blaze in Dartington, Devon, at 05:00 BST and was struck as the suspect escaped, police said.
A helicopter and dog team tracked a 28-year-old man to the garden of a nearby house and he was taken into custody.
The car fire in Ashburton Road was put out by firefighters from Totnes and Paignton.
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Part of a Suffolk beach has been closed to the public amid safety fears after damage caused by unusually rough seas and high tides earlier this month. | The beach between Lowestoft South Pier and Parade Road South has been eroded, and now part of the ramp at Children's Corner is crumbling.
Waveney District Council said it believed the ramp could collapse.
A barrier has been put across the prom at the ramp's entry, and another at a groyne to the south of the ramp.
A spokesman for the council said it would probably be closed for several months.
The council said there were also concerns about part of the shoreline over the Royal Green frontage as far as Parade Road South.
Old sea defence debris, including pieces of steel and timber, littered the beach, the spokesman said.
The risks were being looked at, and it it was possible restrictions over public access could be put in place.
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It's the weekly news quiz - have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world during the past seven days?
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To try last week's quiz click here.
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A group of young women seen sitting on the edge of a cliff on the East Sussex coast would have had no chance of surviving a fall, lifeguards have said. | The woman were photographed by local artist Patrick Goff while they sat on Seven Sisters near Seaford.
The Newhaven lifeboat team told the BBC the actions of the women were "really stupid", and the situation was an accident waiting to happen.
That stretch of coast has seen regular cliff falls as the chalk erodes.
Last autumn, walkers were warned to keep away from the cliffs at nearby Seaford Head after a crack appeared, and in the same year, sections of cliffs fell into the sea at Birling Gap and at Rock-a-Nore near Hastings.
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The entire London Underground network is out of action as drivers strike over pay and conditions related to the planned introduction of all-night services. But what do drivers do and how much do they earn, asks Justin Parkinson. | A driver's starting salary - which follows about six months of training - is £49,673, according to Transport for London (TfL), which adds that this "doesn't alter depending on length of time in role". They typically work a 36-hour week and get 43 days of leave every year, including bank holidays. Six of the days off are compensation for working 36, rather than 35, hours a week throughout the year.
Shifts begin as early as 04:45 and end as late as 01:30, says Finn Brennan, lead negotiator for Aslef, one of the unions taking part in the strike. The early shifts start with safety checks on trains, he adds.
Driving duties vary. On some lines, the continued use of older trains means that drivers themselves use a lever known as the "dead man's handle" to move them between stations.
More modern trains, making up the majority of stock, drive and stop themselves, relying on automatic signalling. On these, it's the driver's job to decide when to close the doors and leave stations. He or she can also override the system in case of an emergency, such as a customer falling on the track. All trains are set to move to the modern system by 2020, TfL says.
Drivers also monitor on-board equipment and use the train's public announcement system to inform passengers of delays and the reasons for them.
"It's a responsible job," says Brennan, who worked as a driver on the Northern Line for 23 years. "Over the years stations have become busier and there's more need for trains to pass through more frequently. It can be repetitive having to check platforms before leaving stations, but it's a vital and important role."
The unions argue that introducing all-night services will make the hours worked more unsociable and say the dispute is not about pay. TfL argues the recruitment of 137 extra drivers will "reduce the impact on our existing drivers". It has offered a £2,000 "transitional bonus" for the drivers affected, but the unions say that this will not result in a permanent pay increase for those having to do overnight shifts.
"As promised, drivers are required to drive and/or operate trains, as rostered, in accordance with rules and procedures to the highest standards of safety and customer service," a TfL spokeswoman says.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association and Unite are also taking part in the strike.
Trains on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria are due to start running throughout Friday and Saturday nights from 12 September.
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Stephen Ward was one of the most controversial figures in 1960s Britain. He was at the centre of an extraordinary sex scandal that brought down the minister for war, John Profumo, destabilised a government and, in August 1963, led to his own suicide.
Now Andrew Lloyd Webber has written a musical about him - but will audiences find Stephen Ward sympathetic? | By Vincent DowdBBC World Service
The life of Ward is complex and full of ambiguities, and Andrew Lloyd Webber says that's what made him want to put him on stage.
"I found this a fascinating story, once I realised I didn't want to write about the Profumo scandal as such," he says.
"Stephen Ward is the centre of our story and in the new show what happened to John Profumo doesn't really take up much stage time.
"There's a growing view that Stephen's death came after a complete mistrial. Huge pressure was put on the police to get a conviction. You may not approve of everything Stephen did but he wasn't a pimp, which is what he was accused of.
"It's a really interesting area of history to delve into and some people will be hearing it for the first time. So why shouldn't we do it as a musical?"
Sideline of history
For a younger generation, Ward stands on the sidelines of British history - vaguely recalled as the man involved 50 years ago in the downfall of senior Conservative politician John Profumo, who died in 2006.
He was a London osteopath who used his practice to make contacts with showbiz figures and high society.
"There's no doubt he was a skilled medical practitioner," says the academic Stephen Dorril, who has just revised the book he co-wrote about Ward. "Otherwise, people as varied as Winston Churchill and Ava Gardner wouldn't have turned to him for treatment."
"His work gave him an entree into the smart set and he relished that. If there was an element of the snob to him at times, that's what English society was like in those days.
"Initially his had been a very fusty, post-war world. The people he associated with were foreign royalty, figures in the film business now largely forgotten and various journalists of the day. And then he found ways to make himself useful to some of his male acquaintances, which had little to do with osteopathy."
Ward introduced selected male clients, and others he met through them, to attractive young women. Sometimes this led to sex.
"But what he did wasn't for money," Dorril says. "I think the best term for it would be social pimping. I imagine it amused him to see some of these relationships develop, or he enjoyed wielding a bit of influence in high places. But he wasn't procuring young women in the sense people usually mean."
Yet at the end of his life, to his horror, Ward found himself charged with living "wholly or in part on the earning of prostitution". By then his name was known worldwide and linked permanently to that of Britain's Minister for War, John Profumo.
Ward lived some of the time in a house in the grounds of Cliveden, Lord Astor's grand Italianate home in Berkshire.
In July 1961, Ward invited the 19-year-old Christine Keeler to Cliveden and took her to a poolside party at the main house. Through him, she met Profumo and soon began an affair with him.
But Keeler was also involved with Yevgeni (Eugene) Ivanov, a naval attache at the Soviet embassy in London, whose real masters were Soviet Military Intelligence.
Accounts vary as to how far the Ivanov relationship went but, says Dorril, "certainly Christine Keeler saw him several times and Ivanov was a visitor to Stephen Ward's London house at a time when she was involved with Profumo".
Dorril says Ward already had connections to British intelligence. "He wasn't an agent but an asset at arm's length who might at some point become useful. It was a relationship MI5 more often had with journalists.
"Even now we don't really know if they encouraged Ward to befriend Ivanov, hoping the Russian could be lured into sexual indiscretion. Or was the connection between Ivanov and Keeler a chance encounter which complicated the affair with Profumo?"
'No impropriety'
The press had their suspicions but the Keeler-Profumo affair was unknown to the public until well after it was over.
In December 1962 Keeler's stormy relationship with club-owner Johnny Edgecombe (in fury he shot six times at the locked door of Ward's mews house in central London) gave journalists an excuse to dig into her background. An astonishing story started to unfold.
Profumo told Parliament there had been "no impropriety whatsoever" in his relationship with Keeler. Two months later he admitted he had lied to the House of Commons and his political career was finished.
In August 1963 Ward was prosecuted for living off immoral earnings. On the evening of the trial's final day he took an overdose at a friend's flat in Chelsea and died. An inquest found he had committed suicide.
In October, the then-Prime Minister Harold Macmillan stood down, partly as a result of the pressures the scandal had created in the country and within his party.
It's a fascinating tale, with some elements still not fully explained. But does it make a musical? The show's lyricist Don Black doesn't doubt it.
He says: "When someone comes to me with a project I always ask, 'Is it a fresh idea and will it work for audiences?' And soon I realised the answer to both those questions was yes.
"Just look at the subject matter. Chequebook-journalism and the role of a free press, the sexual morality of the rich and famous, celebrities who aren't quite what they seem, police corruption, the class system and social change. All those things resonate today.
"Lots of the ideas that people pitch to me are basically re-treads but there's never been a musical like this one.
"The more I learnt about Stephen the more I sympathised
"He may have led an unconventional life but really he did nothing wrong. I was in my 20s when he died so I remembered the basics. But reading about Stephen now I realise what a victim he was."
Stephen Ward opens at the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End on 19 December.
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Rapper Travie McCoy, Katy Perry's ex-boyfriend, says his new album isn't about their relationship, insisting he would "never throw darts" at Perry and her fiance Russell Brand. | By Greg CochraneNewsbeat music reporter
Tabloid press reports have focussed on the lyrics to new song Don't Pretend, where McCoy takes aim at a "little brat".
Speaking to Newsbeat the New York rapper said: "I could see why and how they think what it is about, but I've been in situations over the past two years.
"I would never throw darts at Katy or Russell - I wish them the best."
'Not bitter'
McCoy dated the I Kissed A Girl singer on-and-off for two years before they eventually split at the start of 2009.
"I think people really need to grasp onto the fact that that was two years ago. For them to think that I'm still bitter after two years is kind of foolish and naive.
"[Don't Pretend] is one of the more introspective, personal songs on the record but at the same time it's not about Katy - just so you know."
Travie - real name Travis - is currently taking a break from his US-chart topping band Gym Class Heroes to promote his debut solo album Lazarus.
His current single Billionaire featuring Bruno Mars has already been number one in the US and looks likely to contest top spot in the UK chart (1 August).
He's still getting used to life without his band.
"I just felt so alone," he says.
"It's a transition I feel like I've kind of made. I've definitely gotten more comfortable as each show as the tour progressing definitely a lot more comfortable.
"It's not like being on stage with my boys."
Professor fan
Lazarus features a number of guests and collaborators including the aforementioned Mars, Colin Munroe, Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo and rapper T-Pain.
"I didn't want my first solo effort to be too feature-heavy," he says. "Nowadays when you pick up a record in the stores it's like featuring, featuring, featuring.
"It's like, 'Whose record is this?' It's more like a compilation.
"I didn't want my record to be like that. Everyone who is on it is there for a reason."
But McCoy is also hoping to book time in the studio with childhood hero Andre 3000 from Outkast and the UK's very own Professor Green.
"We were talking about it the other day. We go way back," says McCoy of Green. "About three years.
"I got here and got to my hotel and turn my TV on and it's him and Lily Allen - so I was cheering for him by myself in my room then I hit him up.
"I'd love to just do a record together - just collab (sic) an entire record. I've been a big fan since The Green EP which he gave me on the tour. That dude is just awesome."
McCoy's single Billionaire is out now.
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The decade-long relationship of a politician couple in the Indian state of West Bengal has hit rock bottom - and the headlines - after the wife switched to a rival party and the husband publicly threatened to divorce her. | By Geeta PandeyBBC News, Delhi
On Tuesday, Saumitra Khan, an MP from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sent a divorce notice to his wife, Sujata Mondal Khan, a day after she joined the state's governing Trinamool Congress Party (TMC).
West Bengal is gearing up for a key assembly election due in a few months and the main contest is between the BJP and the TMC.
At a press conference in the state capital, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), on Monday, Ms Mondal Khan announced her decision to leave the BJP and listed several reasons for doing so.
She said the party had not shown any respect towards her, that it had taken in several "corrupt leaders" from rival political parties, promising to reward them at the expense of party loyalists.
"BJP has become Trinamool's B-team. So why should I stay in this party? Why shouldn't I go to the A-team - the TMC?" she said.
A few hours later, at a hurriedly-called press conference which local reporters described as "dramatic", Mr Khan, 40, fought back tears as he bared his anguish and vented his anger while announcing his decision to "sever the 10-year relationship" with his wife.
He asked his wife to drop his last name. "Please refrain from using the 'Khan' surname hereafter, please don't refer to yourself as Saumitra Khan's wife. I am giving you all the freedom to chart your political destiny," the Press Trust of India quoted him as saying.
He then went on to accuse Trinamool of "wrecking his home".
"The TMC has stolen my wife, it has snatched away my love," he said.
A veteran city journalist said it was "a political drama the like of which we have never witnessed before" and the story of the unravelling marriage, being played out on TV news channels, has riveted people.
Since Monday's press conferences, the couple have been sought out by the press and have given several interviews - and the personal and the political have become entangled.
"She was my love. She was a very good wife. She was my only weakness. Of course, I'm emotional. We were together for 10 years," Mr Khan told one journalist.
He acknowledged his wife's role in his election win last year - he was barred from entering his constituency by a court in connection with a criminal case and she had campaigned extensively on his behalf, going door-to-door asking for votes and visiting remote villages to give speeches.
"But our story is over. I have no connection with her anymore," he said. "I have accepted - Sujata is no more for me."
To another journalist, he rubbished his wife's claims that she was not respected in the BJP. "Mr Modi addresses her as his sister. What more can she ask for?" he asked.
Ms Mondal Khan too broke down in interviews as she accused her husband of neglecting her for the past 10 months.
"He's been busy with politics. He has no time for me. For months, he hasn't bothered to ask if I have eaten or how I have slept," she said.
She also accused BJP leaders of "instigating" her husband and trying to "ruin her marriage".
"Who has cast their evil eye that Soumitra is threatening to divorce me?" she asked on prime-time news, fighting back tears.
Defections and counter-defections are not uncommon in India. And they certainly shouldn't come as a surprise to Mr Khan - he started his career in the Congress party, moved to TMC in 2013 and joined the BJP only in January 2019.
Also, it's not unheard of for political rivals to cohabit. In India, and globally, there are instances of family members supporting rival parties and happy marriages across the political aisle.
In Bengal too, as Ms Mondal Khan has pointed out, several local politicians - fathers and sons, uncles and nieces and brothers - who support diametrically opposing ideologies "coexist happily and no-one tells them to divorce".
"It's a BJP conspiracy, they are asking him to leave me," she told one interviewee. "But I think politics and home are separate and should be kept separately."
At a time when Bengal is so polarised and with a key election battle looming, that might be easier said than done.
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A controlled explosion has been carried out after a boat picked up unexploded World War Two ordnance. | Royal Navy bomb disposal experts said a dredger picked up the explosive in water off the south of Scotland.
The alarm was raised shortly after 14:20 and the harbour at Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway was sealed off by police and coastguard.
A Royal Navy spokeswoman said the device was moved to safe location and a controlled explosion was carried out.
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Professional wrestler Bret Hart was attacked by a man while delivering a speech at a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) event in New York. | Video footage showed the attacker charging into the ring, grabbing Mr Hart and pulling him to the floor.
The suspect, identified by police as Zachary Mason, 26, faces charges of assault and trespassing.
Mr Hart, 61, better known by his wrestling name "Hitman", has had a career spanning five decades.
Fellow wrestling stars Shane McMahon, Xavier Woods, Tyson Kidd, and Curtis Axel were among those who rushed to Mr Hart's aid.
The suspect was held by security guards until police arrived to arrest him.
Following the incident on Saturday, Mr Hart did not need medical attention and continued with his speech.
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A fire which killed a woman at a house in South Yorkshire was "likely" started by a cigarette igniting her clothes. | The un-named woman, in her late 70s, was found with "significant burn injuries" by crews called New Cross Drive in Sheffield on Sunday.
The fire service said the flames were out when they arrived at 12:30 GMT.
A spokesman said: "It is believed this fire started when smoking materials, likely a cigarette, set the casualty's clothes on fire."
Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or send video here.
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The political crisis in Egypt has deepened following the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi by the army.
His Muslim Brotherhood supporters say they will not accept his removal, while the military-appointed interim leader has laid out plans to change the constitution and for fresh elections. | Here is a guide to the key players shaping the course of events.
GENERAL ABDUL FATTAH AL-SISI AND THE MILITARY
The intervention by the military has underscored the position of the armed forces - led by defence minister General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi - as Egypt's most powerful institution.
Following days of mass protests against President Morsi, Gen al-Sisi warned that the military was prepared to step in "to stop Egypt from plunging into a dark tunnel of conflict and infighting".
The army issued an ultimatum to Mr Morsi, instructing him to respond to people's demands or step down within 48 hours. When he failed to do so, it removed him from power and placed him under house arrest.
On 3 July, Gen al-Sisi suspended Egypt's constitution and called for new elections. He was backed by liberal opposition forces and the main religious leaders.
The military's reputation was tarnished during the last transitional period, when it governed Egypt after the fall of then-President Hosni Mubarak. It was accused of breaching human rights and continuing authoritarian rule.
This time round it appointed an interim civilian leader and issued a roadmap leading to fresh elections and was viewed by anti-Morsi protesters as the saviour of democracy, rather than the perpetrators of a coup.
MOHAMED ELBARADEI AND THE NATIONAL SALVATION FRONT
The former United Nations nuclear agency chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, had been a favourite to lead a transitional government in Egypt after Mr Morsi was removed from office.
Mr ElBaradei, 71, is coordinator of the main alliance of liberal and left-wing parties and youth groups, known as the National Salvation Front.
It was formed late last year after Mr Morsi granted himself sweeping powers in a constitutional declaration.
Mr ElBaradei defended the army's intervention, saying Mr Morsi "undermined his own legitimacy by declaring himself a... pharaoh".
Presidential officials initially named Mr ElBaradei interim prime minister, but his appointment was rejected by Egypt's second biggest Islamist group, the Salafist Nour party, which said it would not work with him, and he was passed over.
He was then appointed interim vice-president with responsibility for foreign affairs.
TAMAROD (ANTI-MORSI MOVEMENT)
Tamarod, meaning "revolt" in Arabic, is a new grassroots group that called for the nationwide protests against Mr Morsi on 30 June, one year after he was sworn into office. It organised a petition that also called for fresh democratic elections.
After millions of Egyptian took to the streets in Cairo and other cities, Tamarod gave the president an ultimatum to resign or face an open-ended campaign of civil disobedience. It was backed by the army.
Tamarod was formed in late April 2013 by members of the long-standing protest group Kefaya ("enough").
Kefaya successfully organised mass protests during the 2005 presidential election campaigns, but later lost momentum because of infighting and leadership changes.
Two representatives of Tamarod stood alongside Gen al-Sisi when he announced on television that Mr Morsi had been ousted.
One of them, Mahmoud Badr, urged protesters "to stay in the squares to protect what we have won". It has since issued statements supporting the military in its fight against what it calls "terrorism".
ADLY MANSOUR AND THE SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
Adly Mahmud Mansour, the head of Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, was sworn in as interim leader on 4 July.
As he took the oath, he praised the massive street demonstrations that led to Mr Morsi's removal. The revolution, he said, must go on so that "we stop producing tyrants".
Mr Mansour has set out plans to amend the suspended Islamist-drafted constitution, put it to a referendum and hold parliamentary elections by early 2014. They have been rejected by the Muslim Brotherhood and even criticised by the National Salvation Front and Tamarod.
Since the 2011 uprising, the Supreme Constitutional Court, Egypt's top judicial body, has made a series of rulings that have changed the course of the democratic transition.
Mr Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood supporters claimed its judges remained loyal to the former autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak, who appointed them.
Last June, the court dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament saying it was illegally elected. It also rejected a presidential decree by Mr Morsi to have it reinstated.
MOHAMMED MORSI AND THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
Mohammed Morsi was Egypt's fifth president - and the first civilian and Islamist to fill the role. He had been in office for a year until he was ousted.
He is now reported to be under house arrest at an army barracks in eastern Cairo, where his supporters have been staging a sit-in.
Tensions increased dramatically on 8 July after the army shot dead some 50 supporters of Mr Morsi outside the barracks in disputed circumstances.
The Brotherhood said the attack was entirely unprovoked, and has called for "an uprising". The army said it was attacked by a group with live ammunition, petrol bombs and stones.
When he came to power, Mr Morsi promised to head a government "for all Egyptians" but his critics say he concentrated power in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood, to which he belongs.
Opposition grew late last year, after he passed a constitutional declaration giving himself unlimited powers and pushed through an Islamist-tinged constitution. He has been repeatedly accused of mismanaging the economy.
Islamists have dominated the political scene since the 2011 Egyptian uprising, winning the majority in parliamentary and presidential votes. The Muslim Brotherhood has operated under its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party.
The Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928. Although it was officially banned for much of its history, its social work, charities and ideological outreach enabled it to build up a vast grassroots membership
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Justin Bieber will record a public service announcement video in order to resolve criminal charges relating to overcrowding at a New York mall. | The teen singer's manager Scott Braun and label boss James Roppo had been facing charges over the incident which happened in 2009.
Police cancelled an appearance from the singer after thousands of fans arrived.
Roppo was arrested for refusing to disperse the crowd, Braun was later charged with child endangerment.
In order for those charges to be dropped 17-year-old Bieber will record a video highlighting the problems of cyberbullying soon.
The singer is completing his My World international tour.
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The Red Arrows wowed the crowd on each of the thee days of the Sunderland International Airshow. | Despite inclement weather, including heavy rain on Saturday, the event at the Seaburn and Roker seafronts attracted thousands of visitors.
They were treated to aerobatic displays, the RAF Falcons parachute team and wing walkers.
Now in its 29th year, the three-day event is thought to be the biggest free annual airshow in Europe.
Related Internet Links
Sunderland International Airshow
Sunderland City Council
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Australia's policy of detaining asylum seekers in offshore facilities, for months, even years, has attracted strong criticism from bodies such as the United Nations. But government secrecy surrounding the operation of these isolated centres means many Australians know little about what life is like for those detained inside. | By Louise EvansSydney
When journalist Eoin Blackwell needs to find out what's going on inside Australia's immigration detention centre on Papua New Guinea's (PNG) Manus Island, he calls his local contacts.
Mr Blackwell doesn't bother making official inquiries because, in his experience, information or access requests made to the Australian and PNG governments are ignored or forgotten.
"Every request I've made with the government to do with Manus has been denied or delayed until it went away," says Mr Blackwell, a former PNG correspondent for Australian Associated Press.
"One time I tried to get into the centre and the Australian government said it was up to the PNG government and the PNG government said they had to call Canberra. Eventually we were told 'no' but no one would say who was telling us no," says the reporter, expressing the frustration many journalists feel about the secrecy surrounding the centre.
The BBC sent a number of written questions to the Australian Immigration Department for this story but at the time of writing had not received a reply.
No-man's land
Located in the Bismarck Sea and more than 800km (500 miles) north of the PNG capital Port Moresby - or a 3,500 km, 10-hour flight from Sydney - Manus is one of PNG's most remote islands.
Few among the 65,000 population have benefitted from the billions of dollars successive Australian governments have spent converting a navy base into a no-man's land for asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.
Journalists outside PNG can't enter Manus Island without a visa and approval from PNG's Department of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, but permission is rarely given. Following Mr Blackwell's departure in 2013, there was only one Australian media correspondent left in PNG, the ABC's Liam Fox.
The Australian government, under former Prime Minister John Howard, set up the detention centre on Manus Island in 2001 as part of its so-called Pacific Solution to detain asylum seekers offshore while their refugee status was determined.
Manus was closed in 2008 by Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd but was reopened by his successor Julia Gillard in late 2011.
The difficulty of finding out what is going on in the centre was highlighted in early 2014 when riots broke out inside its gates. More than 60 asylum seekers were injured and 23 year-old Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati was killed.
Conflicting reports soon emerged from government and refugee sources about exactly what took place.
It wasn't until May last year that an independent report by Australian former senior public servant Robert Cornall found Mr Berati had died after he was clubbed over the head by a locally-engaged Salvation Army employee.
A year later, conflicting stories emerged about a fresh round of hunger strikes and self-harm at the centre. Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton blamed refugee advocates for encouraging asylum seekers to protest.
'Pit of human misery'
Despite the wall of secrecy, Mr Blackwell, who is now based in Sydney with AAP, has visited Manus Island five times.
He paints a grim picture of what life is like for more than 1,000 male asylum seekers in a centre now infamous for two detainee deaths (in September another Iranian refugee died from septicaemia after cutting his foot), describing hot, harsh conditions, malaria, overcrowding, poor hygiene, riots, hunger strikes, mental illness and water shortages.
The reporter gained entry to the centre in March last year when he accompanied a PNG Supreme Court judge who was doing an inspection as part of a human rights case.
"Foxtrot (one of four Manus compounds) was a pit of human misery," Mr Blackwell recalls.
"The refugees live in shipping containers, there's water everywhere, lights not working, the heat is oppressive, no windows. There was a (detainee) with a bandage over his eye... asking for help in this stinking, hot compound."
Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul says he relies on first-hand, eyewitness reports from people inside the centre, as well as video and images supplied by detainees and staff via mobile phones.
But he says after this year's hunger strike, an estimated 40 to 50 mobile phones were seized in a security crackdown.
"Since the hunger strike, [authorities] have mounted CCTV cameras all through the centre," says Mr Rintoul.
"In some compounds, guards wear cameras on their uniforms. There are routine patrols in the yard and the rooms. Staff are checked with security wands on the way in and out."
Mr Rintoul claims the Australian government doesn't want the public to know what is really going on inside the centre.
"That is why journalists and mobile phones are excluded. But when the footage comes out they can't maintain the pretence," he says.
Australia and asylum
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A gritter which slipped off a snowy Lancashire road and into a ditch has been rescued by a crane. | The vehicle became stuck at about 04:00 GMT while spreading salt on the A682 in Blacko, near Nelson.
A snow plough was sent to clear a path through large snow drifts to the stranded vehicle, followed by the crane, which pulled it back on to the road at about 10:00.
The driver of the Lancashire County Council gritter was not injured.
A second gritter and several other vehicles were stuck behind the one which left the road.
Darren Reynolds, who lives nearby, said drivers "either abandoned their vehicles or stayed for six hours whilst the road was cleared".
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Take That have added extra eight dates to their 2011 tour putting it down to "unprecedented demand". | Phone and internet services have been struggling to cope ever since tickets for the rest of the tour went on sale this morning (29 October).
BT says it's been having to deal with traffic three to four times above normal levels.
Ticket agencies are telling fans they just need to keep trying to get through.
The extra dates are
Tickets for the extra shows are on sale now.
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A jury has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict on whether a man abused a 14-year-old girl.
| Delivery driver Noshad Hussain, 22, of Regent Street, Wellington, Shropshire, had denied the four charges of sexual activity with the teenager.
The jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court was discharged on Friday.
Earlier in the trial Mr Hussain was found not guilty of a separate charge of facilitating child prostitution, relating to a 16-year-old girl.
The Crown Prosecution Service will now decide whether it wants a retrial on the four counts.
The judge will hear from the prosecution on 13 November about whether it wants a retrial.
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Thousands more potholes are being repaired on Oxfordshire's roads than usual, according to a county council.
| Oxfordshire County Council said it had dealt with about 8,000 more "road defects" during the current financial year than during an "average year".
By the end of March it expects to have repaired a total of about 32,000 defects since April 2012. In an average year it would fix about 24,000.
The council said recent heavy rain had "inevitably taken its toll" on roads.
For the current financial year, the council said about £14m had been budgeted for all highway maintenance work, including "defect repairs".
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Whoever is writing the script for the political drama that Americans are currently living through needs to take it down a notch. The number of threads to the story is getting out of hand, and it's becoming difficult for even dedicated Washington-watchers, pundits and journalists to keep up. | Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter
This week alone has seen multiple developments in the swirling morass of controversy that has engulfed the Trump administration and those who have been or are investigating it.
Here's a quick review of the (exhausting) week that was.
Fallout from the Cohen raid
Just under two weeks ago, federal investigators raided the office and hotel room of Michael Cohen, Mr Trump's long-time personal attorney, business associate and all-around fixer of uncomfortable problems.
It represented a new legal front in the investigations into the president - including possible Cohen-orchestrated payments to women alleging affairs with Mr Trump - conducted by the US attorney's office in Manhattan, not special counsel Robert Mueller.
This week the legal battle centred around who gets to review the results of that search and determine what is covered by the protected communications lawyers can have with their clients.
Mr Cohen - joined by the president's legal team - argued that they should have first crack. The judge all but laughed them out of court.
The US attorneys want a special government team not directly connected to the case to do the review. The judge also entertained the possibility of appointing an independent third party to go over the documents and audio recordings.
There's more than a little concern in the White House (anonymously, on background, of course) that the search could expose misdeeds on Mr Cohen's part, perhaps involving personal or campaign finance violations, and he may feel pressure to co-operate with investigators, possibly jeopardising the president.
The search may also have led to the end of two lawsuits this week that could have generated big headlines if they had been allowed to proceed.
Mr Cohen dropped his defamation suit against news outlets that published the so-called Steele Dossier, which suggested that he had unsavoury ties to Russia. He had said the dossier damaged his professional and personal reputation. Now he's saying he has bigger legal fish to fry.
Then there's former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleges she had an affair with Mr Trump in 2005. She just settled her lawsuit to free herself from an exclusive agreement - brokered in part by Mr Cohen - to share her story with the National Enquirer. It was a tale the tabloid magazine with ties to Trump never chose to publish.
In both cases, material from the Cohen search could have proven relevant. It was out there for the taking, and now both cases have been put to bed.
Maybe it's all a coincidence. Maybe it isn't. "Maybe" is the sort of thing that keeps lawyers - and politicians - up at night.
The Comey media blitz debuts
This was supposed to be Comey Week, remember?
It started off with a bang, as former FBI Director James Comey took to the airwaves to accuse the president of being morally unfit for office and share new details of his sometimes awkward interactions with Mr Trump before the president sacked him.
The interview certainly rankled the president's supporters and probably, when Mr Comey defended his handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation, reminded Democrats why they weren't his biggest fans in 2016, either.
After the fifth or sixth interview, the accusations lost a bit of their punch. Was that Mr Comey being interviewed by comedian Stephen Colbert? Did he really appear with Whoopi Goldberg et al on the daytime talk show The View?
Then, on Thursday evening, the Justice Department provided Congress with the memos Mr Comey wrote shortly after those key meetings and, within minutes, they ended up in reporters' hands.
The documents were consistent with Mr Comey's recent comments and testimony before Congress last June. They paint a picture of a president who wanted loyalty from his FBI director in general and to ease off the government investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn in particular.
Mr Trump's critics see the memos as damning corroborating evidence of the ex-director's accounts. The White House and congressional Republicans argue that they're proof Mr Comey was out to get the president from the start.
The battle lines were drawn a long time ago, and no one seemed interested in coming out of their trenches this week.
McCabe (and Democrats) in the barrel
One new bit of information the Comey memos revealed is just how suspicious the president was of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe from the very beginning.
Mr Trump had blasted Mr McCabe on the campaign trail, accusing him of pro-Clinton bias in his handling of the email server investigation because his wife had taken campaign contributions from a Clinton ally during her run as a 2015 Democratic candidate for state office.
Last week a Justice Department inspector general report put the former deputy director in a tough spot, finding that he misled federal investigators under oath about his efforts to leak information to essentially protect his reputation. Mr Trump has cited this as vindication, although Mr McCabe's actions ended up being damaging to the Clinton campaign by revealing an ongoing federal investigation into her family's charitable foundation.
This week we learned the inspector general referred Mr McCabe's file to a federal prosecutor who could bring criminal charges. That would probably put Mr Comey in the position of testifying against a former deputy he has vouched for in the past.
Meanwhile, 11 House Republicans wrote a letter urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to consider a criminal investigation of Mr McCabe, Mr Comey, Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page for various actions during the 2016 presidential campaign.
"Because we believe that those in positions of high authority should be treated the same as every other American, we want to be sure that the potential violations of law … are vetted appropriately," they wrote.
Mr Trump has repeatedly groused that he is being unfairly targeted by investigators, when it's his political opponents who should feel the heat. Past presidents may have felt this way, but Mr Trump is one of the few to say (and tweet) it publicly, time and time again.
Trump's legal team
OK. Take a deep breath. We're not done yet.
This week also saw re-enforcements arrive for Mr Trump's short-handed private legal defence team - and one of the new arrivals is a very familiar face.
Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City and a vocal Trump campaign supporter who was sidelined when the Trump administration was formed, is being brought on board - at least for a short time - to help "negotiate an end" to the investigation.
Mr Giuliani was once, a long time ago, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York - the jurisdiction that is handling the Cohen case - so he has some familiarity with how the government prosecutorial machinery operates.
He also in the last days of the election was vocal about the various government investigation into Mrs Clinton and appeared to have advanced information on the newly discovered emails that led to Mr Comey's election-eve letter to Congress re-opening the investigation. Mr Comey said in an interview Thursday night that he had ordered an inquiry into possible FBI leaks to Mr Giuliani, but he was fired before it concluded.
This whole thing sometimes feels like a snake eating its own tail.
The other addition to the president's legal squad is a husband-and-wife team of former federal prosecutors from Florida who specialise in defending clients accused of white-collar crime. Multiple higher-profile law firms, and lawyers, had reportedly declined offers in recent weeks.
The website for the firm Raskin & (before, it seems, it crashed, perhaps due to massive amounts of traffic) quotes a reviewer who says "they are a good team to get you out of trouble."
Sounds like just what Trump and his team needs.
The case for Trump
Meanwhile, amid all the sturm und drang of various Trump-related controversies and investigations, Texas Senator Ted Cruz - in a glowing Time Magazine tribute to the president published this week - concisely sums up why none of it may matter.
"The same cultural safe spaces that blinkered coastal elites to candidate Trump's popularity have rendered them blind to President Trump's achievements on behalf of ordinary Americans," writes the 2016 presidential candidate who was bested by Mr Trump and once called him a "pathological liar" and a bully.
"While pundits obsessed over tweets, he worked with Congress to cut taxes for struggling families. While wealthy celebrities announced that they would flee the country, he fought to bring back jobs and industries to our shores. While talking heads predicted Armageddon, President Trump's strong stand against North Korea put Kim Jong Un back on his heels."
Trump was elected to "disrupt the status quo," Mr Cruz contends, which is exactly what he's doing. The chaos and the controversy, the gnashing of teeth by establishment lifers typified by people like Mr Comey, are "not a bug but a feature".
That's the Trump re-election pitch in a nutshell. For struggling Americans, Washington chaos isn't a pit; it's a ladder.
Mr Trump and his team have two-and-a-half years to sell that to the US public.
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Visitor numbers at Aberdeen's Union Square retail development have risen by more than a fifth, its bosses have said. | Union Square - which hosts shops, restaurants and a cinema - opened in October 2009 at a cost of £275m.
Management said visitor numbers had increased 22% for the year to 1 July compared with the same period in 2010.
General manager Ryan Manson said Union Square was now Aberdeen's "premier shopping and leisure destination".
He said: "It highlights Union Square's popularity even in the face of a very tough economic climate."
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Ex-Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic has begun appealing against his conviction for genocide and crimes against humanity, in a court hearing where three of the judges are taking part via video link. | The two-day hearing has already been delayed by Mladic's health issues and the coronavirus pandemic.
Mladic was jailed for life in 2017.
He led forces during the massacre of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) during the 1990s Bosnian war.
Mladic, 78, appeared in court on Tuesday, initially wearing a surgical mask before removing it. He will address the court in The Hague for 10 minutes on Wednesday.
As Tuesday's session began, his lawyers told the UN court that the proceedings should not go ahead until a medical team had reviewed his capacity to take part. They argued he was wrongly convicted of "unscheduled incidents" made as accusations during his trial.
Originally convicted on 10 counts, prosecutors say he should also be found guilty of genocide against Bosniaks and Croats in 1992.
The trial appeared to be affected by technical issues. Presiding Judge Prisca Matimba Nyambe, who was among the judges following proceedings by video link, said at one point she was unable to decipher the defence lawyer's words and would have to rely on transcripts. At one point defence lawyer Dragan Ivetic complained he could not communicate with his client "or be assured that he is able to meaningfully follow proceedings".
Mladic appeal overshadowed by Covid restrictions
Perspex screens separate the staff, most of the judges are taking part remotely via video link, security officers are wearing transparent visors and Ratko Mladic started the session in a pale blue disposable face-mask.
These hearings represent Mladic's last chance to secure his freedom. If he loses his appeal, he will spend the rest of his life locked up.
Problems with the video conferencing connection - which at one point had the presiding judge mutter "this is nonsense" into the microphone - and translation audio will feed into the defence's claim that conducting these critical hearings inhibited by Covid-19 restrictions risks jeopardising Mladic's right to a fair trial.
Survivors have their hopes pinned on the prosecution's appeal, which contends that the original verdict didn't go far enough in recognising the true extent of his genocidal intent beyond Srebrenica, in other Bosnian municipalities, where his forces were accused of "ethnically cleansing" Bosnian Muslims in their quest to create a "greater Serbian republic".
Mladic's son, Darko Mladic, told the AFP news agency that his father "hasn't been able to prepare" for the appeal hearing due to his health issues.
"He doesn't have the energy needed for work of this kind and there are questions about how well his memory is working," he said. A verdict is not expected until spring 2021.
The so-called "Butcher of Bosnia" had earlier needed an operation to remove a benign polyp on his colon, and had a request for a delay on health grounds rejected ahead of the hearing.
The Mothers of Srebrenica, a group of women related to victims of a massacre in the town in 1995, said the tribunal "must not lose motivation, and must carry out its mission".
"We hope Mladic will be found guilty for genocide in other towns as well," Munira Subasic, the organisation's president, told AFP.
What was Mladic convicted of?
Mladic was the military commander of Bosnian Serb forces against Bosnian Croat and Bosniak armies. He went on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2012, and was convicted in 2017.
The court found that he "significantly contributed" to the genocide in Srebrenica in 1995, where more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two.
The other charges included war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He was cleared of a second count of genocide in other municipalities. The court will hear an appeal by prosecutors against this acquittal this week.
At the end of the war in 1995 Mladic went into hiding and lived in obscurity in Serbia, protected by family and elements of the security forces.
He was finally tracked down and arrested at a cousin's house in rural northern Serbia in 2011 after 16 years on the run.
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Take two industries trying to adapt to the digital era, music and publishing. One is packed with bright young ruthlessly ambitious people who have to be aware of the latest trends - the other is, well, publishing. So which is coping better? Publishing, believe it or not. | Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter
The latest figures from the Publishers Association make surprisingly positive reading for anyone in the book trade. For some years, readers of specialist, technical and academic titles have been going digital - now the general reader is embracing e-books.
Spending on digital fiction books rose from £23m in the first six months of 2011 to £64m in the same period this year. In total, digital sales now account for more than £1 in every £8 we spend on books.
But what will cause the publishing industry to raise a glass of dry sherry is that the figure for physical book sales is down just 0.4% - and overall physical and digital sales are up 6%. It seems that the move to digital is not eroding the overall value of publishing as it has in the music industry where, as the saying goes, analogue dollars are being replaced by digital cents.
"It looks like unalloyed good news", Richard Mollet, the chief executive of the Publishers Association, told me. It seems that all those people reading Kindles or other e-readers on the way to work are actually consuming more books than they did before.
Of course, the big contrast with the music industry is the extent of online piracy, which has yet to make much of an impact on publishing. "We do send thousands of copyright infringement notices to Google every month," Mr Mollet told me, "but it's not on the scale of the music industry."
The book trade did have the benefit of observing what happened to music long before its own digital transformation got underway. What's more, legal digital platforms like the Sony Reader and the Kindle were around before consumers had the chance to choose an alternative unlicensed "brand": "We didn't have a Limewire or a Napster to contend with," Richard Mollet says.
Maybe pirated copies of digital books were never going to be as popular as their musical equivalents - or maybe times will get harder as the pirates work out how lucrative this market can be. And of course if you're a high street bookseller, squeezed for years by online giants like Amazon and now watching readers use your shops as showrooms before going home to download to their e-readers, it is hard to be cheerful.
But for now, the fusty old publishers are looking rather more comfortable in the 21st Century than the hip young gunslingers of the music industry.
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As violence continues in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip after Wednesday's killing by Israel of the Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari, BBC correspondents around the region and in London have been analysing and bearing witness to the unfolding events. | Jeremy Bowen, Middle East Editor
The danger of the kind of operation Israel has started is that rising casualties on both sides cause a violent escalation that neither side can control. If that happens it could cause a much bigger crisis across the Middle East.
At the moment Israel seems to be calculating that it can damage Hamas without the all-out attacks - and the international condemnation - it faced during the winter war of 2008/2009 in Gaza. Hamas threatens terrible vengeance. But it's hugely outgunned by the Israeli military.
As expected, Israel is being supported from the United States - despite the poor relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama. Even so, the White House will not want a long and bloody episode in and around Gaza, at a time when the entire Middle East is uncertain and unstable.
The Americans used to turn to former President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to push the Palestinians towards a ceasefire. They've lost an ally they - and the Israelis - used to trust above any other Arab leader.
Egypt's current President Mohammad Mursi cannot ignore Egyptian rage at Israel's actions - nor would he want to. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which he is a leader. The Brotherhood is cautious. But its presence in power in Egypt will reassure the leaders of Hamas that they are not alone.
Wyre Davies in Gaza
The overwhelming mood in Gaza is sombre but vengeful. Sombre because few here want another war with Israel - another war in which civilians would undoubtedly suffer as much as the fighters.
But there's anger too. The thousands of mainly young men who carried the body of Ahmed Jabari aloft through the streets of Gaza cried that his death, his assassination could not go unavenged.
And therein lies Israel's problem. Every time it hits back at Hamas and the other militants who fire volleys of rockets from Gaza they seem to recruit more fighters and lay their hands on more rockets, smuggled in through the tunnels from Egypt.
Israel has already threatened all Hamas operatives, junior and senior, to keep their heads down and stay off the streets. But such threats fall on deaf ears in this febrile atmosphere.
The main Hamas leaders were conspicuously absent during the public funeral. But even as the body of Hamas's military commander was being put in the ground, hundreds of rockets were launched towards Israel - three Israelis killed and 15 Palestinians, half of them civilians. A familiar cycle continues.
Yolande Knell in Kiryat Malachi
Sirens continued to wail at regular intervals in southern Israeli towns like Kiryat Malachi, sending residents rushing for cover. Usually when rockets fired from Gaza are heading for a populated area we see interceptor missiles fired by Israel's Iron Dome batteries - there are loud booms overhead and vapour trails cross-cross the sky.
But earlier one rocket did hit a building here. There is a gaping hole on the top floor of an old four-storey apartment building where two Israeli families were living.
A resident, Yerumichael Simon, told me: "I live across the street and I used to live inside that building. We grew up together. It's very hard for me to think about what happened. At eight in the morning we heard the alarm and a big boom. When I went outside I saw the big hole."
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