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An exclusive, weeks-long BBC investigation inside filthy hospitals in South Africa has exposed an extraordinary array of systemic failures showing how exhausted doctors and nurses are overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients and a health service near collapse. | By Andrew HardingAfrica correspondent, BBC News
With key staff on strike or sick with coronavirus in the Eastern Cape province, nurses are forced to act as cleaners, surgeons are washing their own hospital laundry and there are alarming reports of unborn babies dying in overcrowded and understaffed maternity wards.
As doctors, unions and management fight over scarce resources, one senior doctor described the situation as "an epic failure of a deeply corrupt system", while another spoke of "institutional burn-out… a sense of chronic exploitation, the department of health essentially bankrupt, and a system on its knees with no strategic management".
The revelations come just as South Africa - which held the coronavirus back for months with an early, tough, and economically devastating lockdown - now sees infection rates soar nationwide, prompting President Cyril Ramaphosa to warn that "the storm is upon us".
Fear and fatigue
The health crisis, focused on the city of Port Elizabeth, raises fundamental questions about how those extra months were used, or wasted, by officials.
"There's a huge amount of fear, and of mental and emotional fatigue. We were working with a skeleton staff even before Covid-19 and now we're down another 30%," said Dr John Black.
"Services are starting to crumble under the strain. Covid has opened up all the chronic cracks in the system. It's creating a lot of conflict," he said, confirming reports that patients had been "fighting for oxygen" supplies in a ward at Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth.
Dr Black - one of only two infectious disease specialists in a province with a population of about seven million - was the only doctor in Port Elizabeth who agreed to talk to us on the record, but a dozen nurses and doctors spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing they would lose their jobs if they were identified.
Rats feeding on red waste
At Livingstone Hospital - designated as the main Covid-19 hospital in the district - doctors and nurses described scenes "like a war situation" with blood and waste on the floors, a lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), oxygen shortages, a severe shortage of ambulances, no ventilation and patients sleeping "under newspaper".
Rats have also been spotted feeding on dark red hospital waste pouring into an open drain.
"Doctors scrabbled to do the most urgent of surgeries, portering, scrubbing the floors, working with one or two remaining nursing staff. Matrons were washing linen," one doctor wrote by email.
"Every day I come to work in fear," said a senior nurse who had just finished her shift.
"The [infection] numbers are going up. Every day we've got chaos. There are a lot of pregnant women all over the wards," said another nurse.
'Mothers and babies dying'
Several doctors said staff had been left deeply traumatised by a recent episode where a maternity ward at Port Elizabeth's Dora Nginza Hospital became so overwhelmed that several mothers and infants died.
"I was personally involved in the delivery of two dead infants and know there were more. This is very unusual. To have several mummies and babies dying in one week in one hospital is totally unheard of and unacceptable," said one medic.
They were convinced the deaths were almost certainly the result of severe understaffing, which left many pregnant women waiting for days, sometimes lying in corridors, for urgent surgery.
Three other medical officials with knowledge of the relevant wards confirmed the reports of an unusual number of stillborn infants in recent weeks.
The sense of a deepening crisis - also reported by South Africa's Daily Maverick, and other local media - has been compounded by a lack of proper management, which has seen departments turning on each other, and using Covid-19 as an "opportunity to air every grievance that ever happened", according to one official.
Livingstone Hospital has been without a permanent chief executive officer or management team for a year and a half, after the last team was sacked for alleged corruption.
"We've been rudderless for some time now," said Dr Black bemoaning the lack of "strong leadership" to stabilise escalating conflicts between different departments at the hospital, and, in particular, with local unions.
South Africa's powerful unions have been extremely active in Port Elizabeth during the crisis. Laundry workers, cleaning staff, porters and some nurses have all - at various times - gone on strike.
The sudden, union-backed, closure of smaller clinics, in particular, has pushed more patients towards the city's three big hospitals, quickly overloading them.
"We have seen unions shut down hospital after hospital. Each time one staff member or patient tests positive, all staff down tools. While all these union demands are being met, nothing happens… for up to two weeks," one doctor complained.
'We cannot risk nurses' lives'
Union officials have vigorously defended their members' actions.
"It's not true at all that we're exploiting the situation," said Khaya Sodidi, provincial secretary of the nurses' union, the Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa.
"Our nurses are overwhelmed, having to clean floors or cook because kitchen staff are not working. We cannot risk the lives or nurses. They're human beings."
Several doctors defended the strike action, saying that frontline staff had been pushed to the limit, not just by Covid-19, but by years of exploitation.
"I'm grateful to the unions right now. Sometimes they focus on the wrong issues but at least they're highlighting the problems," said one senior doctor.
Another criticised the repeated closure of community clinics because of "one or two infections" as an "over-reaction," but said the situation needed to be put in context.
"[Staff] have been chronically exploited, abused and neglected for years and now they're being asked to do something that could potentially kill them. There's an institutional burn-out," said the doctor.
There is general agreement among unions and medical staff that the current crisis is the direct result of many years of systematic underfunding, mismanagement and corruption in one of South Africa's most notoriously badly-run provinces.
Estimates vary, but Livingstone Hospital is currently fighting the pandemic with about a third of what's considered appropriate staffing numbers.
"We have historic issues of staff-shortages, labour problems, lack of leadership and, sadly, corruption, cronyism, and fiscal mismanagement. Health services were circling the drain for 10 years. Now they've collapsed," said Cole Cameron of the Igazi Foundation, a local health non-governmental organisation.
'We are on track to fight Covid-19'
Asked about these criticisms, the secretary general of the Eastern Cape's Health Department, Dr Thobile Mbengashe, acknowledged "a number of very critical structural issues that are really affecting our response", and said staff were "anxious, fearful… and overwhelmed."
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But he cited historic issues of underfunding dating back to white-minority rule, and insisted that his department was rising to the challenge of Covid-19.
"It's very true that some of our teams are very stretched and actually stressed. But the health system in the Eastern Cape has not collapsed. We've really been building up [for the pandemic] and I think we are still on track and need to be given an opportunity to show we can do this," he said.
The provincial government has cited the rapid construction of a giant new coronavirus field clinic in Port Elizabeth by the German car manufacturer, Volkswagen, as a sign of effective public-private partnership.
But doctors at Livingstone hospital expressed some scepticism.
"They've got 1,200 beds, but only 200 are oxygenated, and there are currently only enough staff for 30 beds," said one doctor, complaining that new staff were now being poached from Livingstone and other hospitals and that the VW facility had been opened before it was ready.
The speed with which VW built the facility has, in the eyes of many, simply underlined the provincial government's own failings.
Inability to take tough decisions
Two people with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the provincial health department was generally seen as so inept and dysfunctional that private donors, businesses and charitable funds anxious to help in the fight against Covid-19 were refusing to deal directly with it.
Bought 100 ambulance motorbikes for $600,000 (£480,000)
Motorbikesfailed to meet criteria to transport patients
Billsof $180m unpaid in 2019/2020 financial year
Facing medico-legal claims of nearly $1.8bn this financial year
More than50,000 Covid-19 cases and nearly 700 deaths in province
"You can't administer anything through them because it'll go missing. It all boils down to the fact that the department is dysfunctional beyond belief and has no money," said one source.
As infection numbers rise across much of South Africa, the dire situation in the Eastern Cape offers some important lessons for other provinces.
One doctor cited a "culture of not wanting to discomfort your superiors which means people don't often tell it like it really is.
"People just pretend everything's fine."
Others spoke of a desire by government "to be seen to be doing the right thing", rather than making tough decisions, citing the recent decision to resume community testing for Covid-19, despite the fact that it immediately pushed the entire testing system - including, crucially at hospitals - into a week-long backlog that rendered it almost useless.
But the clearest lesson from Port Elizabeth may well prove to be about human nature, and how we respond under extreme pressure.
The dutiful, the fearful and the obstructive
It appears that staff at Livingstone hospital, for instance, have split into three distinct groups:
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Britain's first national trail, the Pennine Way, celebrates its 50th anniversary on 24 April. Presenter Paul Rose took a journey along the "Backbone of England" and considered the post-war social revolution which helped open it up to the public. | There's something deep within our DNA that makes us want to explore.
I've been lucky enough to spend years running expeditions in Antarctica as well as diving some of the world's great oceans, but nothing prepared me for the challenge that's not far from my own front door.
The Pennine Way measures 268 miles, from the Peak District to the Scottish Borders, and takes in three national parks and one area of outstanding natural beauty. It's 50 years old, but its roots go back much further than that.
In 1935 a letter from the United States landed on the desk of Daily Herald journalist Tom Stephenson.
He was the countryside correspondent for the paper and was being asked if there was a long-distance route - similar to the 2,500-mile-long Appalachian Trail - that could be tackled by two American women on a walking holiday in England.
Tom knew only too well that the answer was a big no.
Much of the uplands remained in private hands, but the mood was changing. The mass trespass at Kinder Scout in 1932 had shown that some walkers weren't prepared to back down from confronting landlords and gamekeepers.
Hiking was becoming more popular. With more leisure time on their hands, workers wanted to stretch their legs in the countryside. Tom - who would later become secretary of the Ramblers' Association - spotted an opportunity.
With social attitudes changing after World War Two he prodded, cajoled and convinced the authorities that a "long green trail" could be established across the North's rugged uplands.
But even as the last footpaths and rights of way were being joined together, some landowners remained deeply sceptical of the whole idea. Walkers couldn't be trusted to cross wild areas of land without causing damage and leaving litter.
Sylvia Franks was one of Tom Stephenson's close friends and she remembers the battle to get the route recognised.
"They didn't want the hoi polloi walking on their land, that was the top and bottom of it.
"But we'd fought for this country, we'd fought for the rights to be free men and we wanted to walk our countryside."
On 24 April 1965 - 30 years after Tom Stephenson had the idea - the Pennine Way became a reality. At an opening ceremony in the Yorkshire Dales village of Malham, hundreds of hikers gathered.
Sylvia Franks was there. "You could see hundreds of ramblers congregating and because the site was in a hollow you could see them coming down the hillsides to meet. It was exciting. It really was."
Tom wanted the Pennine Way to be a significant test: an escape from the buzz of modern life. Fifty years on it certainly still achieves that and will take a fit, committed walker two to three weeks to complete.
Most hikers tend to do the route south to north; starting in Edale in the Peak District and ending at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.
It takes in the Yorkshire Dales, Teesdale, the North Pennines and the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland.
But the beauty of the Pennine Way is you don't have to do it all in one go. Some people do it in stages, taking a lifetime to complete the whole route.
The Pennine Way comes with a fearsome reputation; after all, it's a journey along the backbone of Britain.
The weather is legendary too. The Pennines get more than their fair share of rain, but the paths are now much better, and the signage has improved.
For someone like me, who's been lucky to have adventures all over the planet, the Pennine Way was an eye-opener. It's beautiful and still retains an essence of the wilderness that Tom Stephenson wanted to capture.
I think he would have been proud of what he achieved.
The Pennine Way is broadcast weekly in four episodes from Friday 10 April on BBC One Yorkshire & Lincolnshire, North East & Cumbria, and the North West. It is also available nationwide on the iPlayer for 30 days thereafter.
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Schools across Norfolk have been shut for a third day due to the severe cold weather. | Staff are blaming ice and poor travel conditions among the reasons to close but some are staying open for student exams.
Greater Anglia is reporting rail delays between Norwich and London and Norwich and Great Yarmouth due to broken down trains.
Temperatures in Norfolk are expected to remain below freezing all day.
A full list of school closures can be found here.
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Regina Ip wants to become Hong Kong's most powerful politician - and she's not shy about it. The BBC's Helier Cheung profiles the straight-talking "Iron Lady" as part of a series on the Asian women likely to make the news in 2017. | Her uncompromising stance and her former role as Hong Kong's first female secretary for security is what prompted the media to nickname 66-year-old Regina Ip the "Iron Lady".
While many of her likely competitors have been coy about their aspirations, Ms Ip has been openly ambitious for years. But then, she's always been more colourful - and confrontational - than many politicians.
She has described Hitler as proof that democracy doesn't solve all problems, accused Filipino domestic workers of being sex workers for foreign men, and brushed off animal rights activists who criticised her for wearing fur, calling it "the same as eating beef".
She went from being Hong Kong's most popular government minister to its most reviled, left Hong Kong for the US after a row over national security legislation drove 500,000 to the streets, and then returned to lose, and then win, popular elections.
Asian women to watch in 2017
Now, many opposition politicians have rallied against her bid to be Hong Kong's next chief executive, saying she would spell "RIP" (a pun on her initials) for Hong Kong.
But, Ms Ip told the BBC her unpopularity with some doesn't bother her, since she's "used to criticism" and has been "doing tough and thankless jobs for a long time".
Pragmatic student
The daughter of a trader and an actress, Ms Ip says her family struggled financially after her father's business ran into trouble.
She studied English literature at the University of Hong Kong and the University of Glasgow, but despite her love of WB Yeats, she was pragmatic even as a student.
"I wanted to be an academic," she says, "but academic jobs in that area were very hard to come by."
So she applied to work in Hong Kong's civil service, knowing it would provide the "security of tenure and pay well", and eventually became Hong Kong's first female director of immigration.
Mass protests
But it is for her role as security minister, where she advocated for Article 23 - a controversial piece of national security legislation - that she is most well known.
Article 23 would have prohibited acts of treason and sedition and given Hong Kong the power to outlaw groups banned in mainland China.
Ms Ip was seen as out of touch when defending the bill. Ahead of a planned protest, Ms Ip said some might join the march for fun because it was a public holiday, rather than because they were actually opposed to the proposal.
In the end, half-a-million protesters rallied in one of the territory's largest-ever demonstrations.
Many chanted "Broomhead - step down!" - using a nickname Ms Ip had been given after critics mocked her bushy hairstyle.
The government was forced to shelve the bill and Ms Ip resigned as security minister and went abroad to study at Stanford University.
"People remember me for the national security law I championed and failed, but people have forgotten the contributions I made," she laments.
She admits she "did not do a good enough job" explaining it to the public, but has few regrets. What concerned her more was the impact on her daughter, who was a teenager at the time.
Ms Ip's husband died in 1997 and she describes balancing work and home life in the early 2000s as "truly very difficult, because I was a single parent".
She says her daughter was teased at school, with classmates calling her "little broomstick".
In the end, she sent her daughter to boarding school in the US, saying it offered a "less controversial environment", while she herself studied for a Master's - her third - at Stanford University.
She says she needed the "three years outside government… to do some normal parenting", and her relationship with her daughter improved as a result.
On her return from the US, she started a think tank and stood in legislative council elections. She lost out to Anson Chan, a popular pro-democracy candidate, on her first attempt, but went on to win seats in the next three elections - coming out top in her constituency in the most recent vote.
Open ambition
Ms Ip made a bid for the Chief Executive role in 2012 but had to drop out after failing to receive enough nominations. In March 2017's elections, she'll be competing against former judge Woo Kwok-hing.
Two political heavyweights, ex-Finance Secretary John Tsang and Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, are also expected to throw their hats in the ring.
So what sort of Chief Executive would Ms Ip be?
She has pledged to improve Hong Kong's housing policy and narrow the income gap. More controversially, she has promised to revive the Article 23 bill, arguing that it does not threaten Hong Kong's freedoms.
She also intends to implement a contentious political reform package proposed by Beijing - that would give Hong Kongers the right to vote for their leader - but only from a list of candidates approved by a committee dominated by pro-Beijing groups. That proposal was voted down by parliament in 2015.
On social issues, she would like to legislate against LGBT discrimination, and supports Hong Kong's bid to host the Gay Games in 2022 - but has stopped short of stating her position (link in Chinese) on same-sex marriage.
She says sexism still exists in Hong Kong politics and criticises the media for "focusing on a female politician's hairstyle, clothing and make up" rather than her work.
She'd like to see more young women enter politics, and would consider reserving some seats on Hong Kong's election committee (the 1,200-member panel that chooses Hong Kong's leader) for women.
Murky elections ahead
If this were a popular election, Ms Ip's biggest challenge might be the perception that she is cold and out of touch.
John Tsang is considered more popular with the public and his Instagram page is peppered with photos of locals taking selfies with him.
By contrast, Ms Ip looked reserved and a little uncomfortable while doing a Facebook Live with the South China Morning Post, and her campaign logo was mocked on social media after people pointed out part of the logo looked like a Chinese word that means "slowness due to old age".
Ms Ip has brushed off questions about Mr Tsang's popularity, saying that those who play nice aren't always the best leaders.
She points out that out of all four expected candidates, she is the only one to have been through popular elections.
But this is an election that will be decided by a small committee, and a majority of the electors will almost certainly vote for whichever candidate Beijing backs.
The Chinese government hasn't made its intentions clear, but many analysts believe Ms Lam or Mr Tsang are more obvious choices for Beijing, with Ms Lam likely to be the favourite.
It is clear that success for Ms Ip in next year's elections is far from guaranteed.
On the other hand, the "Iron Lady" has shown time and again that she isn't someone who gives up easily.
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You may think that once Earls Court's caretaker has swept all the ticker tape away, they've packed up Lily Allen's sparkling zeppelin and herded Florence's army of harpists back into the tour bus that might be it for Brit Awards night. | By Greg CochraneNewsbeat music reporter
Not the case. Once the curtain goes down a fleet of blank windowed people carriers whisk the great and good of the music world to the hot night spots of London.
Newsbeat spent a long night going with them.
THE OFFICIAL AFTERSHOW
Taking into account the height of Lady Gaga's heels you wouldn't blame some of the girls heading to the official Brits after show as it is literally hosted a short stroll behind the stage.
Whilst the celeb-count is low the entertainment is extravagant. A giant inflatable octopus, crazy golf, a dressing-up stall and, of all things, ukulele karaoke.
Weirdly, shortly after Robbie Williams has wrapped up the official ceremony, a bunch of pearly kings and queens are stood watching a cabaret act.
More of a theme park than a party then, and most people appear to have headed elsewhere.
Best spot:
Radio 1's Aled shouting down a phone.
WAR CHILD
Topping last year's party was always going to be War Child's biggest challenge this year.
2009's bash ended with members of U2, The Killers, Coldplay and Take That all on stage together.
Tonight's show at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire isn't rivalling that - we get La Roux dueting with Heaven 17 and The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding joining Kasabian - but it's still an all-star set up.
Tom Meighan arrives will a sore backside after he took a tumble running to pick up Kasabian's award for best British group earlier in the evening.
"I feel human for doing that," he laughs afterwards. "It's like Bambi on ice, it's like a Disney film."
The gig itself is a celebratory lap for one of Britain's biggest rock bands.
Best spot:
Gemma Arterton and Sheridan Smith both dancing to Kasabian's Fire.
WARNER MUSIC
Meanwhile back in central London rumour is there are 800 invites circulating for this 350 capacity venue.
The toilets have more mirrors than Alice In Wonderland, a DJ playing 90s rave and the finger food is exceptional.
All the talk is of whether Jay-Z is going to show - and he does, surrounded by a ring of security but greets fans in a corner.
Others who've turned out? Marina and the Diamonds, sporting a glittering all in one suit, is tucked in a corner eating mini burgers. Foals are here, Friendly Fires' Ed MacFarlane, Mike Bailey (Sid from Skins) and Tom Clarke from the Enemy all making the most of the free bar.
Best spot:
Jay-Z swaying to his own song Empire State Of Mind.
UNIVERSAL
The dozens of paparazzi bun-fighting outside tells you everything you need to know about the Universal party.
It's an oriental themed bash, the room is decorated with bird cages, lanterns and there's a kitchen set up in the middle of it all, churning out duck pancakes.
There's a lot to celebrate too. Florence Welch totters down the carpeted staircase, Lee from Blue, Calum Best, Keith Lemon, Last Shadow Puppet Miles Kane and Geri Halliwell are all milling about in the decadent surroundings.
Louis Walsh, with now familiar bow tie, is the unlikely late entrant to the do, no doubt drinking to the the success of JLS.
Nervous recipient of the critcs' choice award earlier in the evening, Ellie Goulding summed up the feeling felt by most people by tweeting: "Lady Gaga held my hand and we talked and I think I died."
Best spot:
Florence and the Machine lovingly clutching her Brit award for best British album.
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The coronavirus lockdown has added thousands more cases to the backlog faced by courts in England and Wales. It could take up to 10 years to clear this backlog, a new report says. So how does this affect people already tied up in the criminal justice system? | By Zoe ConwayReporter, BBC Radio 4 Today
Emma describes herself as stubborn. She says it's the reason why she hasn't given up on the justice system.
It's been nearly three years since she went to the police to allege she'd been raped. The suspect was arrested soon afterwards but it would be another two years before he was charged.
She says the police have been incredibly supportive throughout but she still doesn't understand why the investigation has taken so long. "It's never been explained. Just that they're very busy."
Her trial, which was finally due to start in June, has now been adjourned as a result of the pandemic, and she's been warned it might not start for another year. "It's really difficult. How are we supposed to move on when it's never finished? And it's not just me, it's my family and friends. It affects others."
Through it all Emma has been supported by the charity Solace Women's Aid. They say there's nothing unusual about the delays she has faced. Even before the pandemic, government figures show that it's been taking, on average, 511 days to complete a case. For rape, robbery and fraud it's been taking on average even longer.
When asked what she would like to say to those who might be in a position to do something to speed up the system, Emma starts to cry and says: "Please don't forget about us."
'Zombie case'
John describes himself as a composed, professional person. But after three years of being tangled up in the courts system, he says he felt battered and calls the system broken. John's barrister nicknamed his case "the zombie case".
John was charged with actual bodily harm in 2016. Having never been in trouble with the law before, he was desperate to get to court and clear his name.
He was told to be on standby for a trial in March 2017. It didn't happen. Then he was put on standby for a trial the following month. Again it didn't happen. Then it got postponed for a whole year but it didn't happen in 2018 either.
"I asked my barrister, is this normal? And he said, 'sadly, yes'. It was astonishing really," he says.
The delays in John's case caused him so much stress that he thought about pleading guilty to a lesser offence. "I seriously considered it, even though I was innocent, just to end the matter."
He was finally acquitted late last year, three years after the legal process began. In total his trial was postponed eight times. On seven occasions it was because of a lack of court time. He says each time he would build himself up for a court date. "There is anxiety, as you can imagine, and to have to do that nine times over, it brings unnecessary stress upon yourself and your family."
The pandemic has exacerbated existing delays in the courts - even before it struck there were some 37,000 cases waiting to be heard in the crown courts and nearly 400,000 were in the queue for the magistrates' courts.
Thousands more trials than usual have been delayed since the UK went into lockdown on 23 March. And a report by the watchdog, Her Majesty's CPS Inspectorate, says social distancing measures in courtrooms "will not allow" the existing backlog to be reduced. "Some estimates show that the current scale of increase in the backlog would take 10 years to clear at pre-pandemic rates," the report adds.
The Criminal Bar Association, which represents criminal barristers, says that some trial delays have been caused by government cuts to the court budget which forced court rooms to stay shut last year.
But the Ministry of Justice points out that the court backlog is not exceptional and has fallen markedly in the crown courts over the past 10 years. They also say that they planned before the pandemic to increase the number of days the courts sit.
'Hiding at home'
Matthew hasn't been able to go to work in his public-sector job for the last three years because he's being investigated for allegedly committing a serious offence.
He was arrested in 2017 but rather than being released on bail, which is time limited, he was released under investigation or RUI, which isn't. He then waited two-and-a-half years before being charged. He says that his mental health has drastically suffered as a result of what he calls an abusive process. The government is currently reviewing the use of RUIs.
Matthew's lawyers fear that his trial, due in the autumn, will get postponed to next year as a result of the pandemic.
But he is desperate to clear his name and get back to work. "Prior to the false allegation, my life was built around helping others in any way I could. During the pandemic, I have felt as if I'm hiding at home whilst my colleagues battle on the front line to beat this virus."
Names in this article have been changed.
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Two men who appeared to mimic Nazi-style salutes outside the Oxford Union while Steve Bannon was giving a talk are being sought by police. | Hundreds of protesters gathered in St Michael's Street on Friday during the former Donald Trump aide's appearance.
Two men tried to goad the protesters, causing "alarm and distress to those who were present", police said.
They are being sought on suspicion of a religiously-aggravated public order offence.
Det Sgt George Atkinson said officers were investigating after videos of the protests had circulated on social media.
He said: "As part of the investigation I would like to speak to the two men shown in the images."
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A motorcyclist is found dead on the central reservation of the M4. Piecing together his final moments proves to be a painstaking challenge for The Crash Detectives. | By Ceri JacksonBBC News
David Evans had been working the Christmas Day shift monitoring CCTV at a power station on the south Wales coast.
In a gesture of seasonal goodwill, a colleague had told him to leave early and get home to his family; he'd take over from here.
As Mr Evans, 49, set off on his Honda CB 500 motorcycle for the hour-long ride home in the wind and rain, his wife and two young daughters were putting the finishing touches to Christmas dinner, awaiting the familiar rumble of his bike pulling up outside.
The call came through to the police control centre 40-or-so minutes later at about 18:00 from a member of the public.
"Just before junction 24 eastbound on the M4," he said. "There's a motorbike right against the central reservation… It's actually on the floor. But there's no sign of the driver."
Bob Witherall, a forensic collision investigator, was with his family finishing his turkey dinner at home when he heard the report go out over his police radio.
When he arrived at the scene the motorway was shut, a stream of backed up headlamps stretched further into the distance by the second, frustrated motorists sighed and drummed their fingers on steering wheels. They had places to be - the long-awaited sanctuary of home, family and friends to visit, Christmas dinners to be eaten.
He was told the motorcyclist had been located.
He had been thrown some 100m and was lying close to a lamppost in the void between the concrete girders of the central reservation. He had hit the concrete pillar after being thrown from his bike. He was dead. He was one junction away from home.
"What I found was a vast scene of about 400-500m along the motorway with debris and marks all along the central reservation," Bob says.
"A vast, complicated scene made even more poignant by the fact it was Christmas Day."
Every fatality on UK roads is treated as a suspicious death and Bob had "one shot" at a forensic examination before the road re-opened and crucial clues were lost forever.
The investigators are under constant pressure to do their job efficiently and quickly; it is estimated that every hour the motorway is closed costs the economy £1m.
Walking around the debris, making his initial assessment, one question looped over and over in his mind - why would a motorbike just collide with the central reservation for no apparent reason?
"I'm not sure what it was about the scene," Bob says, "but at the time I recall saying that it didn't feel right".
A self-confessed 'petrol head', Bob had joined up as a patrol officer on road policing some 10 years before, and part of the family liaison element of that role is breaking the news of road deaths to loved ones and being there for them in the aftermath. He at least had some idea of that grief, having lost a friend in a crash when he was a teenager.
Then, three years ago, he had fulfilled his ambition of becoming a forensic collision investigator, like his father before him who had helped set up a dedicated Collision Investigation Unit at Gwent Police 17 years previously.
As a boy he would listen in awe as his dad relayed stories of high-speed car chases. The "family business" was one he took great pride in.
"There may be no evidential marks at the scene which allow you to find out what happened - there aren't any witnesses or CCTV and sometimes it's frustrating," he says.
"I like to get to the bottom of things, like to find out the truth, to pull the puzzle together and find out what has happened. I enjoy the puzzle and putting the final pieces into place. And when that final piece is missing, it is difficult."
The motorcyclist's death was a case in point. It would prove one of the most challenging of his career to date.
A collision on one of the busiest stretches of motorway in the country, CCTV was thankfully an option.
"We went through it, and immediately picked up the motorcycle and then just prior to the collision picked up a car that was travelling very close to it...
"And at that point these vehicles go out of shot on the CCTV which is immediately prior to the point of collision. These vehicles are literally side-by-side which immediately started alarm bells ringing.
"That feeling I had about this second vehicle, another vehicle being involved… now there was some evidence that might be the case. So the question's asked 'has this bike crashed because of this other car?'"
Colleagues set about the painstaking task of analysing the video, frame by frame, and picked out the car's distinctive headlights and a black roof, deducing the vehicle could be a Mini.
Automatic number plate recognition technology was then used to trawl the records to detect if any Minis had passed the cameras around the time of the crash.
They found a possible match - a car belonging to a local man, Nigel Sweeting, a 49-year-old factory worker and father of two.
Three days after the crash, he was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
"I don't understand," he told police on the way to the station. "I have not hit anything. I hope I didn't cause anything."
That night, he told interviewing officers, he had driven a short distance, about four miles, to pick up his girlfriend from her waitressing job at Newport's Celtic Manor Golf Resort.
That afternoon he had visited his children, a grown up son and daughter. They had chatted and eaten mince pies, no arguments, no drinking. Then at 17:30 he left "feeling happy" to collect his partner, arriving at the hotel at 17:55.
Was there anything significant about this journey? "Yes," he replied.
What did he remember? "Motorbike trying to swap lanes," he said.
The road was busy, he said, the weather treacherous, with hammering rain so heavy his windscreen wipers were on the fastest setting. He was driving slowly, his maximum speed about 60mph.
The radio was on; he had just tuned into Heart FM which was playing Christmas songs. The volume was not loud, just a normal level.
Sweeting told officers he did not have any medical conditions, did not need glasses for driving, just for reading, and considered himself a good driver "a slow, calm driver… doesn't rush anywhere".
Driving in the fast lane he said he noticed a motorbike come up beside him which seemed to "swerve a little bit" as if the rider had gone to pull out into the fast lane without checking it was clear.
That was the first he had seen of the motorbike, he insisted.
When pressed, he said he recalled being a bit frightened and had taken his foot off the accelerator, dropping down to 55, maybe 57mph, before accelerating away.
"I just carried on with my journey," he said, assuming the bike had "backed off". He was adamant he did not see it again as he turned off the M4 just a few hundred yards on at the next junction.
"Did you see a collision involving a motorbike on the 25.12.2015?" he was asked.
Without hesitation, Sweeting shrugged and replied: "No."
By this stage Bob had begun an inspection of the impounded white Mini. There was a dent on the near-side wing and a long scratch mark along the side which looked like it might have been re-touched.
"The whole car itself is covered in a traffic film of dirt other than this area which has quite recently been cleaned," Bob says. "You've still got the sweep marks where he's been cleaning it. So the question is: Why has he just cleaned one side of his car?"
Lining the motorbike up with the Mini, the mark was "bang on" the height of the motorbike's red-trimmed, hard plastic pannier. On closer inspection of the dent, Bob found minuscule traces of red paint.
Sweeting's explanation? The car was damaged by a "psycho ex" who had keyed the bodywork and kicked off his wing mirror, which was now strapped on with tape.
At least that was the initial explanation - it would change over subsequent interviews - someone had driven into him or he had driven into a bush.
And what about traces of red paint found on the dent? Residue from a kitchen scouring pad he'd used to clean the area before applying some colour restorer and varnish some months before.
"Immediately I thought there'd been a collision between the two which would have resulted in the collision with a motorcycle in the central reservation," Bob says.
"Obviously it's my job to probe that, or to locate the evidence to prove that's the case which started this massive forensic investigation in terms of trying to match the red paint found on the car to the red paint of the motorcycle.
"He tried to clean it but hadn't done quite enough of a good job of it. I think had we not identified the vehicle so quickly he may have taken some more measures to do a better job but it was a very crude attempt to try to rid the damage."
Hopeful of a breakthrough, the tiny paint scrapings were dispatched for analysis. But there was bad news. The residue of red paint was not sufficient to conduct laboratory tests to confirm a match.
"It was a bit of a blow," Bob says. "You know… it's not just a crash, it's not just a bump. Someone has died and we will find out why that person has died and I'll go to the nth degree. I wasn't going to stop there."
Sweeting was released from custody.
As the investigation continued over weeks and months, his primary concern appeared to be getting his car back. His repeated requests for its return were turned down.
So in terms of evidence, it was back to the drawing board.
Bob returned to the CCTV. Earlier that evening the footage showed Mr Evans riding along "no issue at all".
Marking the timings of when both of the vehicles were located on CCTV, he used a computer system to calculate the speed they were travelling at.
Mr Evans is travelling at an average speed of 72mph between junctions 27 and 26.
Sweeting's Mini has joined at junction 26 and is "plodding along" with the traffic at an average speed of 52mph.
Before long the motorbike catches up with the Mini. He overtakes. And it is at this point that the picture quickly changes.
"They start to accelerate; they start to get a bit quicker. The bike comes out to overtake the Mini, they start to accelerate," Bob explains.
"Now the Mini is in close proximity to the bike… less than half a second."
Before long the average speed of both vehicles reaches 86mph.
"Just prior to going out of shot, they are literally right next to each other. It looks like the Mini is right next to the bike in lane three. Unfortunately in the next half a second they disappear and the collision happens… we just miss it on camera."
The Mini is seen emerging through the next section of CCTV coverage, there is no trace of the bike.
Just a second after disappearing from CCTV view, Mr Evans has been killed.
In June, six months after the collision, Sweeting is brought in again for interviewing and is confronted with the footage.
It is obvious the bike had been travelling in front of the Mini for some time and in very close proximity but Sweeting remains adamant, he never saw the bike until it pulled alongside him and swerved.
Why had he accelerated so dramatically to an average speed of 86mph? "I didn't realise I was," Sweeting says, shaking his head in apparent confusion.
Had the motorbike angered him by overtaking? Did he want to catch him up? "No."
A woman who had been driving along the M4 that night with her husband recalled a Mini passing at speed, driving dangerously close to the bike, probably only a foot apart. She recalled calling the driver of the Mini "an idiot".
The vehicles move out of view. The next thing she sees of the bike it is spinning clockwise on its side in the near distance. She screamed at her husband who swerves to avoid it, the bike still spinning as they pass.
When pressed if he had seen anything resembling this scene, Sweeting replies: "Nothing, no sparks, nothing."
It is the first time anyone has mentioned sparks.
He says he picked up his girlfriend and knew nothing about the fatal crash until officers called at his home to arrest him.
But his then-girlfriend told police after Sweeting was first arrested: "Nigel did not mention anything that day and has not mentioned anything to me about the accident on the motorway.
"I saw there was a fatal accident on the M4 motorway on Christmas on the Argus (local newspaper) website and I asked Nigel if he had seen it whilst picking me up because the police were looking for any witnesses.
"He told me 'no' as far as he was aware he had not seen anything."
Just like everything else, Sweeting responded to her account with the now familiar refrain - "I don't know… I can't remember."
But he was about to be confronted with some irrefutable evidence of exactly what did happen the second the two vehicles were lost on CCTV.
Undeterred by the lack of results from the marks of red paint on the Mini, Bob took another look at the motorbike foot peg which had been ripped off in the collision and retrieved from the carriageway.
He had already matched its height to possibly fit with scuff marks around the vehicle's alloy wheel.
"We looked at the foot peg and under a magnifying glass found these very faint traces of black material," he said.
"I first thought it was road grime, dirt. And then we found this very faint trace of orange within the black paint. But it was an aluminium foot peg so it couldn't be rust… there was an orange undercoat on the black alloy of the Mini so I thought 'that's a bit of a coincidence'."
Bob set off with the wheel and foot peg to a forensic laboratory at Sheffield Hallam University to see if it could be proved scientifically that the orange paint on both items was a match.
"I've tried numerous things so far and they've all turned out to be inconclusive," Bob said. "I just want to get to the bottom of what's happened. I'm convinced this vehicle's involved. I just need to prove it.
"This was the last throw of the dice really, in terms of forensic opportunities."
Chris Sammon, a professor of polymer science, used infrared spectroscopy to get a reading of the paint samples on both items.
There was no question; the paint was a definite match.
Bob now had indisputable evidence linking the two vehicles.
Under police questioning, Sweeting finally admits contact with the motorcycle could have been a possibility but, again, says he cannot remember. If it happened he was not aware of it.
Pleading not guilty to the charges against him - causing death by dangerous driving and attempting to pervert the course of justice - Sweeting went to trial at Newport Crown Court in May last year.
The court heard he had been warned not to drive by his optician because of a problem with his peripheral vision. He had been given a referral letter to give to his GP. When asked why he had not seen his doctor, Sweeting had said he "couldn't be bothered".
His defence barrister called the charges "a reaction to something appalling that has happened and nobody wants a death to go unmarked".
"Looking for scapegoats is in our nature," he said.
He added that Sweeting had been diagnosed as depressed and had suffered while serving as a soldier in Northern Ireland some years before.
"He is a man who bears scars," he said. "He cannot cope with working. He cannot cope with many things.
"He cannot cope with the enormity of December 25, 2015."
Mr Evans' elder daughter, Isabella, told the court of her difficulty in coping with the enormity of that day too as she read aloud her victim impact statement.
"I relive throwing his Christmas dinner in the bin, every Christmas Day will remind me of that," she said.
"Since he has gone, no-one is the same. Everyone is a ghost of themselves.
"I feel the loneliest I have ever felt, despite having all my family around me. My dad, David Evans, was and still is mine and my sister's hero.
"He was such an amazing man and a loving husband. Anyone who ever met him would tell you what a funny, kind hearted and hardworking man he was."
A statement read out on behalf of Mr Evans' wife, Rachel, said: "On Christmas Day 2015, my life changed forever. David was a perfect husband and the most brilliant dad.
"I thought me and David would grow old together. He always said to me our time would come."
And if anyone in the court was in any doubt as to what had happened the evening of Christmas Day 2015, Judge Daniel Williams provided excoriating clarity.
Sentencing Sweeting, he told him: "You knew there had been a collision and you left David Evans by the side of the road. This trial was focused on the actions of that day, it's time this court focuses on the consequences of these actions.
"You caused the death of a trusted father to his two daughters, prized friend and companion to many others; a proud, hardworking man with an infectious sense of humour."
'Horrendous, dangerous pursuit'
Referring to the moving words of Mr Evans' daughter Isabella, he added: "You have deprived those people of that man. I have seen you give evidence. It's clear you feel no remorse at all, just odious self-pity.
"Your staged apology to this whole room was entirely hollow. If you are motivated by anything other than self-motivation you would have admitted what you have done. Not made this process longer by your decision to contest guilt.
"You were driving along the M4, driving within the speed limit. Whether this caution was because of being over the legal limit to drive, we will never know.
"He was travelling quicker than you, and overtook you. That was enough for you to embark upon a horrendous, dangerous pursuit.
"It would appear your ego is so frail that the mere fact of being overtaken was too much to withstand.
"This was an aggressive course of driving intended to intimidate and bully David Evans. Your past suggests that bullying is in your nature.
"You accelerated harshly, going from 52mph to 86mph in a pursuit of the bike. You must've dropped down the gears and accelerated hard.
"You exaggerated the poor weather conditions to say you were not aware of the collision.
"One can't imagine how David Evans felt in the moments before the collision. You were travelling along behind him at great speed, less than half a second behind his rear wheel.
"You drove into him, clipping his foot peg, causing him to lose control and in the resulting collision, lose his life.
"You know you contributed to his death. Having driven him off the road, and to his death, you drove off. Even for someone with your record for dishonesty, this was absolutely shameful.
"Your yearning for self-preservation was sickening... You drove off and went to remove the evidence that proved you had been in a collision.
"No sentence can recompense those who have lost David Evans or undo the wrong."
Sweeting, of Bettws, Newport, who had had 21 convictions across 35 offences dating back to 1979, was given seven years in prison for death by dangerous driving, 12 months for attempting to pervert the course of justice, and was disqualified for driving for six years.
For Bob it was one of the most challenging yet, given the outcome, the most rewarding cases he had worked on.
"Sweeting didn't think he would face so much overwhelming evidence," he said. "I don't think he realised the lengths we go to get to the truth.
"For me the most important thing is getting to the truth and getting justice for the family.
"It won't change things for them, they can't bring their husband and father back but hopefully it will just answer some of the questions they may have had.
"There's no two ways about it. The driver of that car has intimidated and bullied this motorcyclist and has driven him to his death."
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Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has called for the voting age in UK elections to be lowered to 16 by the 2015 general election. Labour leader Ed Miliband has said his party would give all 16 and 17-year-olds the vote. So should the voting age be lowered? | By Vanessa BarfordBBC News
Speaking in the Scottish parliament for the first time since Scotland rejected independence, Mr Salmond said 16 and 17-year-olds had shown themselves to be "serious, passionate and committed citizens" in the referendum and there was an "overwhelming, unanswerable" case for giving them the vote in all future elections in Scotland and across the UK.
"There is not a shred of evidence for arguing now that 16 and 17-year-olds should not be allowed to vote.
"All parties in parliament should make a vow to urge Westminster to make it happen in time for the next general election," he said.
Speaking at the Labour conference, Mr Miliband also addressed the issue, saying: "It's time to hear the voice of young people in our politics." He pledged to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote if elected.
There has been a long-standing debate on lowering the voting age to 16 - which would affect more than 1.5 million teenagers in the UK.
The Lib Dems promised the change in their 2010 manifesto. The Conservative Party has historically opposed the move.
Proponents of the reduction argue 16-year-olds can live on their own, get married, pay taxes and join the British army.
They point to countries such as Austria, Germany, Norway, Argentina and Brazil where voting at 16 is common practice.
Others argue there has been a generational shift in terms of slowing down the development of young people. People are going to school for longer, joining the workforce at an older age and getting married later.
They also point to figures that suggest turnout tends to be lower among younger voters.
It's too early to know exactly how many 16 and 17-year olds voted in the Scottish referendum.
There were 109,533 youngsters aged 16 and 17 registered to vote - but the number who turned out on the day hasn't been tallied up yet.
Nor do we know how they voted.
A snap poll by Lord Ashcroft the day after the referendum - when Scotland voted against independence by 55% to 45% - found that 71% of that age group voted "Yes". But the sample size was only 14.
There simply isn't any reliable data on how that age group - who were expected to make up about 2.5% of the electorate - voted because surveys that have been conducted so far won't have had a big enough sample size, according to polling expert Prof John Curtice, from Strathclyde University.
However, he says it's not surprising that Mr Salmond has called for change following the referendum.
"If you are looking for evidence to support the supposition that 16-year-olds should vote, you are going to do it when there's a high turnout - and this was the highest turnout in Scottish national history.
"But what would happen in the UK government elections - when turnout is normally about 60% - is debatable," he says.
Dr Jan Eichhorn, from Edinburgh University's School of Social and Political Science, agrees it's too early to take any lessons from the Scottish referendum results.
But he says there are definitely signs things can be learned from the process.
"There was a suggestion 16 and 17-year-olds would vote differently, be governed by national identity and ideology, but surveys ahead of the vote showed the most important thing to them was exactly the same thing that was most important to adults - the economy," he says.
Some of the other criticisms - that young people would simply copy their parents - also didn't materialise.
"More than 40% of 16 to 17-year-olds had a different view to their parents - young people made up their own minds," he says.
He also credits the 16-year-old vote with increasing engagement among adults. "Young voters learned about the issues at school and went home and talked to their parents - it was dinner-time conversation," he argues.
However, Philip Cowley, professor of parliamentary government at the University of Nottingham, thinks people should be very wary of trying to draw lessons from the Scottish referendum.
"What we had in Scotland was very high-octane, very simple, an existential system where the stakes were incredibly high on both sides. You don't get that in general elections," he says.
He also argues 18 is a "main indicator" in the UK. "You can't buy a firework until you are 18, you can't buy cigarettes until you are 18 - things are being nudged upwards rather than downwards."
Cowley says he understands why it would be "a bit strange" to deny 16 and 17-year-olds a vote in the 2016 Scottish parliament election now, but argues it would be "bizarre" to make a UK-wide decision based on what's going on in Scotland.
"There are 10 times more people in the rest of the UK than Scotland - the momentum is clearly growing but I cannot think of a better example of the tail wagging the dog," he says.
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Nevada made history when it became the first state in the US with a female-majority legislature, with women holding 51% of the seats, in December 2018. | By Helier CheungBBC News, Las Vegas
The moment was hailed as a great victory for women - but did having more women in power make a practical difference?
Here are five areas Nevada legislated on in 2019 - which commentators say were helped by the fact there were more women at the table.
1. Compensating firefighters who develop breast, uterine and ovarian cancer
Firefighters can be exposed to toxic contaminants and carcinogens at work - and studies like this one from the CDC show that firefighters have higher rates of cancer compared to the general population.
Nevada's law provides compensation for firefighters who develop cancers as an occupational disease - but certain types of cancer - including breast, womb and ovarian cancer - were not covered until recently.
"It had never been something that people thought of - but we have a lot of women serving as firefighters now," says Nicole Cannizzaro, the Senate majority leader. "They were exposed to the same types of chemicals - often cancerous - but were not covered for the same type of work as their [male] counterparts."
The gap in the law had very real consequences for Las Vegas firefighter Robin Lawson, who was diagnosed with breast cancer twice - first in 1997, and again in 2005.
When the cancer returned, her doctor believed it was due to her work as a firefighter. However, the government initially denied her workers' compensation claim - saying she could not prove there was a link - and it took a court battle of almost six years before Nevada's supreme court sided with her.
"It was very hard physically and emotionally," Ms Lawson says. "I didn't do it for the money - I did it for the principle, that I had worked my butt off to get to where I was at, especially as a female firefighter."
She thinks breast cancer hadn't been included in the statute because "back then it was seen as a man's job - who would have thought that women could do the job, and do it just as good as men?"
Firefighters' unions argued that Ms Lawson's case showed that the legislation was out of date - and the list of cancers associated with firefighting was expanded in 2019.
"I'm happy it's changed," says Dina Dalessio, deputy chief of fire operations at Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, who has worked as a firefighter since 1999.
"Once you've had a 20-year-plus career, you look back and think of everything you've been exposed to, and just hope you can get through this career, and your life after your career, and be healthy... The language that has been changed gives us another level of protection and support."
Of course, female politicians don't all share the same beliefs, and a large number of male legislators also voted for the bill, which additionally provided more protections for fire investigators and trainers.
Nonetheless, Ms Cannizzaro believes having a female majority in the legislature meant there was a more considered debate.
2. Paid leave - including sick leave - for employees
Five years ago, Jose Macias' mother collapsed from a stroke while she was cleaning toilets at a convention centre. She was rushed to hospital, but died shortly afterwards.
"She felt sick that morning, but she still went to work," Mr Macias says, adding that she had worried about "who's going to pay the rent, who's going to buy the groceries?"
"She never had the chance to go see a doctor, or take time off work and get a check up, and then it was too late... she was just working until she collapsed."
In January, a new bill passed by the legislature took effect - requiring all companies with 50 or more employees to provide at least 40 hours of paid leave per year to workers.
The leave can be used for any reason - including sick leave - and activists say this will help workers who would otherwise have to lose a day's wages to see a doctor or look after family members.
Sondra Cosgrove, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada, and president of the League of Women Voters of Nevada, describes the law as one of the legislature's most important achievements.
There's often an incorrect assumption that "women's issues [just] means abortion and equal pay", Prof Cosgrove says.
She thinks the female majority helped the paid leave bill pass, because the "power that comes from being a legislator" enabled women to negotiate directly with the business community, and there was a recognition that workplaces "needed to be more family friendly".
Meanwhile, Marlene Lockard from the Nevada Women's Lobby describes 2019 as "a banner year in legislation helping women and children", adding: "I think it definitely was because we had the majority."
"Some of these issues, like paid time off, we'd been fighting for for years."
3. Equal pay legislation
According to rights groups, Nevada women earn about $0.86 for every $1 that men make.
Legislation that took effect in January means that companies who knowingly practise gender pay discrimination can now be subject to fines - and they'll also be required to pay workers for lost wages.
Ms Cannizzaro says equal pay was discussed in the previous 2017 session but it was not until 2019 that there was a wider understanding of why legislation was needed, because most of the female lawmakers had seen real-life examples of the pay gap, she says.
The bill's been welcomed by women in Nevada, including Brooke Malone, 29, who works in the non-profit sector, and Shelley Lyons, 57, a former chef who now works as a driver.
Ms Malone remembers running a fundraising team of about 40 people - and finding out through office chatter that the three men she directly supervised made at least a third more than her.
When she raised this with her superiors, one said it was because one of the men had a family - even though Ms Malone was also a parent.
She managed to negotiate a pay rise - but says the experience was still damaging, and she opted to leave the company shortly afterwards.
"I was so scarred I wasn't able to perform," she says. "Knowing that my bosses knew my situation - I had just divorced - and the fact they could have paid me more but didn't, affected my performance."
Meanwhile, Ms Lyon recalls working in a kitchen where all the men, including a man she had hired, got a raise - while she was told she did not qualify because she was pregnant.
"I've been fighting this fight my whole life," she says. "We cannot expect men to know the problems we have - it's time we went out and did it ourselves."
4. The 'Trust Nevada Women Act'
The legislature passed a bill - nicknamed the "Trust Nevada Women Act" - that decriminalised some activities linked to abortion, such as providing miscarriage-inducing drugs.
It also removed the requirement that physicians need to certify a woman's age and marital status, and explain "the physical and emotional implications" of the procedure, before performing an abortion. Instead, the physician simply needs to explain the "discomforts and risks" that could result.
During the bill hearings, different views on gender and rights came to the forefront, but the bill ultimately passed almost completely along party lines, with all but one Democrat voting for it, and all but one Republican.
Nonetheless, it made headlines - as it bucked the national trend during a year when several US states enacted abortion restrictions.
The Guttmacher Institute says a total of 17 states passed anti-abortion laws that year - although most of the laws have been temporarily blocked by federal courts.
Nevada's "bill sent a huge message - it's taking a pretty firm stand, especially when the national political environment is moving the opposite way," says Rebecca Gill, a political science professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who focuses on gender and politics.
5. Measures on sexual assault and domestic violence
A series of laws related to domestic violence, sexual assault and sex trafficking had bipartisan support, and were passed unanimously.
One bill increased penalties for domestic violence and the battery of pregnant women, while another doubled the length of time a temporary protection order for a victim of domestic violence could last.
A third bill removed the statute of limitations for sexual assault prosecutions, where the identity of the accused person is established by DNA evidence. And the legislature also allocated additional resources to help victims of sex trafficking.
Prof Gill says the fact that Nevada had the US's first female-majority legislature was "very prominent in legislators' minds" - particularly due to the media attention it received. "I think it did offer an opportunity to catch up on the kinds of legislation that, had women been at the table all along, would have been done before."
She also argues that the sheer numbers of female legislators would have helped influence the debate: "When there are a whole bunch of women who can attest to why an issue is important, it gives these types of issues the gravitas they deserve."
There were also more bills looking at sex trafficking and domestic violence, says Senator Julia Ratti.
"With all of those issues, they just start a little further down the line when you have women sitting in the legislature - because they're not just a concept, but something many of us have experienced."
How did we get here?
Female representation in Nevada has been edging upwards for a number of years - the legislature was 39.7% female in 2017, and 33% female in 2015.
However the growth so far has only been on the Democratic side, and there hasn't been a female governor yet.
Experts say there have been concerted efforts to recruit and train more female candidates - and that the fact there are term limits in Nevada's legislature means there are more openings.
There's also another factor - Nevada's legislature only meets for four months every other year, which means its representatives are part-time lawmakers who also juggle other jobs.
"It's a lot of work, it's not much pay, and unfortunately these are the kinds of positions that women tend to be overrepresented in," says Prof Gill.
Nonetheless, activists say the female-majority legislature has had a positive impact by inspiring more women to run for office.
For example, the number of women running for judicial seats has already "increased over this cycle", says Prof Cosgrove.
Judicial filing reports show that more than half of the candidates in Nevada's largest county, Clark County, are female, while women make up more than 40% of candidates in the second-largest county, Washoe.
Electra Skrzydlewski from Emerge Nevada, a training programme for Democratic women who are running for office, says applications have increased.
"This renewed sense of duty to get involved is not going to go anywhere," says Ms Skrzydlewski. "Women are taking stock of how they can shape the future."
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A man has been charged with murdering a 41-year-old woman who was stabbed to death at a house. | Linda Vilika, who lived in Great Saling, was discovered at a property on The Street in the Essex village shortly before 14:25 BST on Monday.
Wilfred Jacob, 42, of The Street, has been charged with her murder and will appear at Colchester Magistrates' Court on Saturday.
A post-mortem found her provisional cause of death was stab wounds.
Related Internet Links
HM Courts & Tribunals Service
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The nominees for the 63rd Grammy Awards have been announced. Here's a summary of the key categories.
Album of the year | Record of the year
Song of the year
Best new artist
Best pop solo performance
Best pop duo/group performance
Best pop vocal album
Best progressive R&B album
Best rap song
Best rap album
Best melodic rap performance
Best dance recording
Best dance/electronic album
Best rock performance
Best metal performance
Best rock album
Best alternative album
Best R&B performance
Best country album
Best Country Solo Performance
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
Best musical theatre album
Producer of the year, non-classical
Best music video
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
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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 mount an assault on the world land speed record. Bloodhound will be run on Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape, South Africa, in 2015 and 2016.
Wing Commander Andy Green, the current world land-speed record holder, is writing a diary for BBC News about his experiences working on the Bloodhound project and the team's efforts to inspire national interest in science and engineering.
| By Andy GreenWorld Land Speed Record Holder
"Data is key to pushing the boundaries - work out what you need and build it in from the start."
That was the advice we got from former Nasa astronaut Neil Armstrong when he visited the Bloodhound Technical Centre back in 2010.
This was very much our plan, but it was great to hear it confirmed by the first man to walk on the Moon. The reality seemed a long way off at the time, but suddenly it's here and we're building the sensors into Bloodhound SSC.
The plan for the whole car involves around 400 high-speed sensors, measuring everything from air pressure (in over 100 places, to validate our airflow modelling), through to structural loads, and even my heart rate while I'm driving at 1,000mph (I voted against this one, but I lost).
Each one of these sensors will be recorded at 500 Hertz (500 times a second), so we can analyse the data in incredible detail.
At peak speed in Bloodhound SSC, the air will be tearing past my "office window" at 450m/s, so working out what happens on each run will be vital. It was this sort of approach that got Neil to the Moon in 1969.
Our previous world record, back in 1997 when Thrust SSC went supersonic, was the first time that this sort of data-intensive approach had been used for record breaking.
The technology was a bit more basic, with just over 100 sensors measuring temperatures, pressures and loads at only 80 Hertz, or less. Still, that was enough for us to be able to keep the car safely on the ground, and to set the first supersonic World Land Speed Record.
Data helps with more than just keeping the car on the ground. The straight line performance of the car - in other words, how fast it will actually go - can also be determined from the data.
Since this is the whole aim of the World Land Speed Record, it's important stuff. But it's more fundamental than that. Our performance expert Ron Ayers has spent over two decades analysing performance data from every available source, going back to the 1920s.
As a result, I believe he can predict more accurately than anyone alive just how fast a land speed car will go, and how long it will take to stop.
It's Ron's huge expertise, honed during the Thrust SSC project, which gives us the confidence that we can reach the astonish speed of 1,000mph.
His performance programme is based around a calculation spreadsheet 100 columns across and well over 1000 lines deep (yes, you did read that right, it's over 100 x 1000 = 100,000 cells in size). Have a look at our "Performance Curve" video to see how we can use the results.
It's also based on real-world data, which makes it incredibly accurate, as I discovered. When we were record-breaking in Thrust SSC, Ron would give me very detailed figures about when to deploy the drag chutes and use the wheel brakes.
The car stopped exactly next to the turn-round crew, every time. No-one else had been able to do that before - it was simply amazing.
At this point you may be harbouring a small "so what?". Why does it matter where we stop?
The reason is in the rules for the World Land Speed Record. In order to set a record, you have to do two runs within 60 minutes. For Bloodhound, that means doing a racing pit-stop on something as complicated as the space shuttle, in a desert. Stopping a mile or two from the right place will cost time you just don't have, which then puts the crew under huge pressure to hurry, which isn't safe when you're getting ready to do 1,000mph (again).
Something as simple as stopping in the right place can make my job a lot safer.
However you look at it, the data is key - Neil Armstrong was right in so many ways. Even before we run the car, it's going to be hugely useful.
Our resident expert Mark, supervised by Steve from Straintek, has just finished fitting strain gauges inside the air intake, which will feed huge volumes of high-pressure air to our EJ200 jet engine.
This is a safety-critical part of the car, as it will be subject to huge pressures at 1,000mph (around 1.7 Bar/25 psi), which will exert a "bursting load" on the intake of around 29 tonnes.
If the intake bursts, then it will take the upper bodywork with it, which could then leave me… poorly placed. To make sure that the intake is up to the job, we're going to pressure-test it. As we inflate a huge air bag inside the intake, the strain gauges will measure the movement (or "strain") in the carbon fibre structure.
This will confirm that it can cope with the full 1,000mph load, and more. These strain gauges (and a huge number of others) will remain in place for the life of the car, so that we can monitor structural health at every stage of its life.
I've just been down to the Bloodhound Technical Centre to finalise the details of the drag parachute system, which will now undergoing final testing by Marlow Ropes and SES, before we fit the first system into the car.
While I was there, we had a delivery - the first desert wheel has arrived!
This 95kg disc will spin at around 10,300 times a minute (170 times/second) at 1,000 mph, subjecting it to loads of 50,000 times the force of gravity. Ouch.
Wheels are another safety-critical item, so of course we're now going to test this one, before Castle Precision finishes and delivers the rest. Rolls-Royce is going to spin the wheel on its old engine test rig and, as you would expect, we'll fit it with instruments.
This will validate all of our computer modelling and prove that the wheel will cope at over 1,000mph.
When the wheels are fitted and we start running the car, we'll be monitoring them on every run.
This will allow us to build up a picture of the normal "noise" that they generate running on the desert. By filtering this out, we can then listen for any changes or unusual "events" which might indicate a problem.
Yet again, data is key to reaching this spectacular speed. Every key part of the car has been tested, is being tested, or will be tested, and they'll all be monitored during every run of Bloodhound SSC.
There's a data mountain to build, and then to climb, over the next two years. It's a huge effort, but it's what will keep the car safe, so it's what we're going to do.
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I have always been fond of China, having gone there on holiday from time to time over the years, but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I started going on business trips there for Jaguar Land Rover. | By Des ThurlbyGlobal human resources director, Jaguar Land Rover
Des Thurlby has been director of human resources at Jaguar Land Rover since 2007, and helped negotiate the establishment of the firm's first overseas manufacturing joint venture, in mainland China.
I immediately found the pace, the buzz and the excitement of the place intoxicating. The market there is growing extremely fast, so obviously there are huge opportunities, especially for upmarket Western brands.
They simply love British luxury marques, with all their heritage and design history, and they want it all right away.
In spite of this, though, I soon learned that you have to be patient to do business in China.
Negotiate differently
To begin with I found it daunting to operate in a country with a culture so dramatically different from that in the West.
Everyone in business here is very considered and thoughtful, and they are very long-term in their outlook. You can't just fly into China in the morning and expect decisions by the afternoon, then leave.
Meetings are very disciplined and everyone's very formal and polite, so I've had to learn to negotiate differently. It is vital that your opposite number does not lose face, so banging the table to get things done simply doesn't work. All negotiations must be win-win.
One thing I learned early on is that when they ask a question, you'll have to go back [to them] to find out what they're actually concerned about. To them, asking questions is a way of exploring broader issues, so I'm always trying to work out what they actually want to know.
At the end of the day, we want the same thing, though: They want us to make cars in China and so do we.
We're working with Chery Automobile, one of the biggest carmakers here, on a joint venture to assemble cars in China.
Negotiations have been concluded and we're waiting for government approval, so we're in the hands of Beijing now. But the authorities really want us to invest in China, so I'm pretty optimistic about the outcome.
Made in China
It's been great to see how we've evolved in China. We started out out as a sales organisation, importing cars from Britain. But demand is growing so fast that we could do with local production capacity.
All our competitors are also localising, and that's another reason why we'll need to do it. Imported cars are more expensive than locally-made cars because of high tariffs and duties, so if we don't make cars locally we won't be able to compete.
To begin with, we'll start with paint shops and an assembly line, though the cars won't be made from scratch in China. Design and research and development will stay in the UK, which is important given our identity as a British carmaker. Chinese authorities and customers recognise that Jaguars and Land Rovers are British designs.
In time we'll probably do more in China, though, such as making engines, and perhaps we'll do some R&D as well.
But it's important to point out that we're not shifting capacity from Britain; we're expanding at home too and about 80% of the cars we make there are exported to markets around the world. Anything we do in China comes in addition.
Better understanding
Expanding in China obviously means we'll need more and more Chinese people to come and work for us. Recruitment is done in very different ways here, though, and there's a real war for talent, so we have to do all we can to attract and hang onto the best people.
Many of them are very ambitious and extremely hard working, and they expect the same from you. If you don't deliver, they'll go somewhere else.
And it's not all about pay either. The family is very important here, and with the one child policy you'll often see one young person supporting two sets of grandparents.
So as an employer, we do a lot for the families of our employees, for instance family fun days such as go-carting or football matches, or community activities such as helping decorate local schools.
Many of our young employees get married while working for us, and we like to let them have a Jaguar with a chauffeur as a wedding car.
Education and training is also both welcomed and expected; they just love to develop as people, and obviously we're keen to train our workforce and encourage good engineering or management.
We are increasingly promoting Chinese staff into our senior management teams, not least because they understand the market and the consumer better, and many of them come to the UK to learn about the company and the country the cars come from.
It is absolutely clear to me that the better we get to know one another the more we can learn from each other, and everybody will benefit.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated.
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It is 20 years since foot-and-mouth disease ravaged the countryside for seven months. It led to six million animals being culled across the UK, costing the taxpayer £3bn.
In Wales, more than a million animals were destroyed, with the Army called in to help.
BBC Wales' Gilbert John was among those who reported on the crisis, with his coverage affecting the official response.
Here, he reflects on the outbreak of the highly infectious disease, which mainly affected cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, and plunged the agricultural industry into chaos. | By Gilbert JohnBBC News
It was the distant pillars of smoke from hillside and valley as I drove through mid Wales which brought home the extent of the foot-and-mouth impact.
Each pillar represented scores of animals killed and their carcasses burned in an attempt to prevent further spread of the disease.
Each one a mini-version of the huge fire pits on the Epynt mountain near Sennybridge where tens of thousands of cattle were hauled, dumped and burned, leaving hot ash so thick it took months to cool.
Controversial because it was argued simply carrying them from further afield was a risk. Worrying because the water table could be contaminated.
And photographs of the piled animals in black silhouette against the flame became a symbol of the carnage.
Lorry breach
I was woken one Sunday morning by a phone call from farmers north of Llandovery in Carmarthenshire - alarmed because they had found a frightening breach of restrictions.
There on an A40 lay-by north of town stood a lorry dripping pink liquid. To me it looked like blood.
Later I was told it might have been disinfectant, but this was clearly a lorry which was travelling empty from the Epynt - potentially carrying foot-and-mouth into the huge disease-free dairy fields of south- west Wales, taking a shortcut on a route banned for such lorries.
My broadcast, I understand, led to swift action.
It was a time of wellies and disinfectant at the farm gate and grim moments like standing in an empty milking parlour near Brecon with a farmer.
He was finding it hard to speak. He had known every one of his dairy cattle by name. Known them since birth and he had stood and watched them shot, one by one, and their carcasses hauled away.
All were healthy. None had the disease, but an animal in an adjoining field had tested positive.
Some farmers tried locking and barring their gates but they were futile gestures.
We had no Royal Welsh Show at Llanelwedd in Powys. A rugby international was postponed and walkers and tourists were banned, so tourist businesses closed.
Empty mountains
I learned a new word - hefted - linked with sheep whose flocks had grazed the mountains for so many generations they knew exactly where their farm's common land boundaries lay, without fences, and grazed to that point. It was a word I heard the Prince of Wales use during a visit.
Now the hills were bare of hefted sheep. How would any new replacement sheep become hefted with no older sheep to show them?
I remember stopping at Libanus, near Brecon, by the bus stop and a roadside bench where two elderly women were sitting and looking up at the vast spread of the mountainside before them.
They were dabbing the tears from their eyes.
They had never seen the mountains empty of sheep before.
"Will they ever come back?" they asked me.
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Sex is a touchy subject - not least among Israel's highly conservative ultra-Orthodox Jews. But an Orthodox therapist and an Orthodox teacher in Jerusalem have co-written a sex guide aimed specifically at this community. | By Daniel EstrinPRI's The World, Jerusalem
There used to be a sex shop on the way to David Ribner's office in central Jerusalem.
The sign is still there - with big red letters spelling out "Sex Shop, Sex, Love" - but you can barely read it because it's been scratched out.
The shop went out of business. Now there's just one sex shop left in Jerusalem. No surprise for a city brimming with the pious.
Things are quite different in Ribner's discreet office. Here, there is a row of boxes packed with lubricants, vibrators and massage oils, and an unusual collection of books on the wall - The Joy of Sex and The Guide to Getting It On sit side by side with volumes of Jewish religious texts.
I tell Ribner I've never seen a bookshelf quite like it. "There probably aren't any," he says.
Ribner was born in the US. In New York, he received both rabbinic ordination and a doctorate in social work. Then he moved to Israel, where he has been counselling devout Jewish patients for the past 30 years. He also founded a sex therapy training programme at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv.
He says publication of a sex manual for Orthodox Jews was long overdue.
Ultra-Orthodox boys and girls are educated separately, and have little interaction with the opposite sex until their marriage night, when they are expected to consummate their union.
Physical touch with the opposite sex - even something like a handshake - is only permitted with one's spouse and close family members. Access to films and the internet is often restricted.
"We wanted there to be a place where people could say, 'I know nothing and I want to know something,'" says Ribner.
The Newlywed's Guide to Physical Intimacy, which Ribner co-wrote with Orthodox teacher Jennie Rosenfeld, starts with the very basics - explaining, for example, how the body shape of men and women differs.
Ribner says Judaism regards sex as something positive, but it has become taboo to discuss it openly.
"Sex is only appropriate within a marital context," he says. "Beyond that it's not talked about. Because of that, it's become very difficult for people to have any kind of dialogue about it."
Orthodox couples often see pre-marital counsellors before their wedding to learn about sex and about Jewish religious laws of menstrual purity. But on their wedding night, many newly-weds still find themselves unprepared.
"It's embarrassing to have to call a [pre-marital] teacher in the middle of the night... but many people do," says the book's co-author Jennie Rosenfeld. "Others suffer in silence and try to muddle through."
In Israel's Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox community, there are manuals written for brides and grooms to be, to help guide them on the subject of intimacy in married life, but they employ allegorical, vague terminology and no explicit how-to instructions on matters of sexual intercourse. So Ribner and Rosenfeld's book enters uncharted territory.
Flip through it though, and you see no illustrations.
Instead there is a sealed envelope on the back flap, with a warning to readers that it contains sexual diagrams. If you don't want to look at them, you can rip off the envelope and throw it away.
Ribner opens it up to show me what's inside.
There are three diagrams of basic sexual positions.
"We wanted to give people a sense of not only where to put their sexual organs, but where to put their arms and legs," Ribner says. "If you have never seen a movie, never read a book, how are you supposed to know what you do?"
The sketches are simple: outlined figures with no faces.
"We wanted this to be acceptable to the widest possible population with the least risk of it being offensive," he says.
"We did consult many other sex manuals to see what kind of illustrations they use, and we felt they were just too graphic to be comfortable for people who had really had no contact with this aspect of their lives."
Jerusalem-based sexologist Nachshon David Carmi has begun to keep copies of the book in his office and has recommended it to some of his patients.
"It's a very useful book for people who were raised religious and have never received any form of sexuality education," he says.
"What's unique about this book is that it speaks to the Jewish religious audience openly about sexuality."
Sex is a fundamental part of a marital relationship for Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews - and having a lot of children is desirable.
But most ultra-Orthodox children are educated at special religious schools, where they receive little or no sex education.
This "silence" creates a "barrier of shame" over issues to do with sex, says Carmi - and those who seek to educate themselves on the subject can be seen as "subversive and rebellious".
Ribner and Rosenfeld's book was released last year in English, and is about to be published in Hebrew - which will make it much more accessible to an Israeli audience.
It took a while to find an open-minded translator of Orthodox Jewish background who could translate the book using language that would appeal to a devout reader, says Ribner.
The book is direct in its language and touches on subjects that may be uncomfortable for some, including oral sex and masturbation.
When the Hebrew edition is released in a few weeks' time, it could create quite a storm, says Menachem Friedman, a professor and sociologist who has written numerous books on Israel's ultra-Orthodox community.
"I suspect it will meet tremendous negative reaction - at least within the most extreme elements of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community," he says.
But he agrees that such a book is sorely needed, and foresees brisk behind-the-counter sales .
For a newly married couple, it can be very traumatic, he says, to go from a lifetime of near-separation from the opposite sex to a full sexual relationship in just one night.
To test out reaction, I take a copy of the book to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish study centre, where I meet a 22-year-old man in signature black hat and beard. We enter a side room and I show him a copy.
"I don't know any books like this out there. But I think there is a need to explain this topic and to understand it, and to do it in the right way," he says.
He takes me upstairs, where no-one else is around, to take a look at the illustrations.
Just as he starts removing the diagrams from the envelope in the back flap, he changes his mind and stuffs them back into the envelope.
"I'm not married yet," he says. "I'll wait until it's my time."
Daniel Estrin was reporting for The World - a co-production of BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH in Boston - and for Vox Tablet
Additional reporting by Cordelia Hebblethwaite
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A father and son who tried to sell a piece of "whale vomit" they found on a beach for £65,000 have been told it is actually a worthless lump of fat. | Alan Derrick and son Tom found a rock they believed to be ambergris on a beach near Weston-super-Mare.
Used in perfume manufacture, the wax-like rock, which smells like rotting fish, is very valuable.
But lab tests proved negative, leaving Mr Derrick, who had put the item on eBay, "disappointed and very sad"
"It smelled like it, looked like it, the colour was right and the aroma was right," said Mr Derrick.
Despite being thwarted by boffins, the 67-year-old would-be vomit pedlar claimed he was taking the outcome in his stride.
"I kept an open mind about it all anyway. I wasn't going to get too excited until the money was in the bank.
"I'm sad but it's going in the deep fat fryer and I've had a whale of a time," he added.
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One of the most shocking and heart-rending stories to emerge from the Indonesian tsunami is that of rock band Seventeen, who were performing in a marquee on the beach when waves came crashing through and swept them away. | If a lot of the soul-searching and commentary in Indonesia right now is about how there was absolutely no warning for the killer waves, this is the starkest illustration of that.
The footage of the event is startling for how quickly a scene of about 200 people gathered around tables listening rapt to the band, became one of surging waves as the singing turned into screams.
Three members of the band - the bassist, road manager, guitarist - and a crew member have been killed. The band's drummer remains missing.
The lead vocalist of the band is the only known survivor from the band so far and has been posting heartfelt updates on his Instagram account.
"We lost Bani [bassist] and Oki Wijaya [road manager]," said Riefian Fajarsyah in an Instagram video as he held back tears.
"Please pray that my wife Dylan and Herman [guitarist], Andi [drummer] and Ujang [crew] will be found soon."
One day later, he posted another picture to Instagram - with an update. Herman and Ujang had been found dead.
"Rest in peace Herman and Ujang," he said in the caption. "Andi, hurry back. I'm living alone... bro, please..."
Mr Fajarsyah's wife - Dylan Sahara - still remains missing.
"Today is your birthday, I want to be able to wish you [face-to-face]," said Riefian in an Instagram post on Monday. "Hurry back darling."
Others also posted about the ordeal with one crew member, named as Zack, reportedly describing his struggle underwater on Instagram Stories, saying he survived by clinging onto the stage that had been washed out by the wave.
Seventeen were well known on the Indonesian rock scene with several popular songs. Tributes have been pouring for the band who are originally from Yogyakarta, including from other Indonesian music celebrities such as Tantri, vocalist of the band Kotak.
The band had been performing on Tanjung Lesung beach in West Java on Saturday night. They were hired by state utility firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) to perform for 200 company employees and their loved ones for an end-of-year party. According to Mr Fajarsyah they were two songs into the set when the waves came.
Some 29 PLN employees and their relatives were killed and 13 remain missing, PLN said in a news conference.
"The water washed away the stage which was located very close to the sea," the band said in a statement to news agency Reuters.
At least 281 people are dead and 1,106 injured after coastal towns on the islands of Sumatra and Java were hit by the tsunami on Saturday night.
It is believed that undersea landslides from the Anak Krakatau volcano had triggered the tsunami. Anak Krakatau erupted again on Sunday - and there are fears that it could trigger a new tsunami.
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An ambulance driver has denied causing serious injury to an elderly woman by driving dangerously during an emergency call in Exeter. | The 88-year-old suffered an injured hip and ribs in the crash at a pelican crossing in Cowley Bridge Road on 22 November.
Student paramedic Paul Marder denied the charge at Exeter Crown Court, where he wore his ambulance service uniform and NHS lanyard.
He will next appear on 27 November.
The 47-year-old, of Beech Close, Crediton, is expected to face trial in July 2021.
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The news that former Celtic captain Billy McNeill is suffering from dementia has sparked more debate about whether footballers damage their brains when they repeatedly head the ball.
The McNeill family say they don't know if the player's condition is definitely linked to the sport - but they want to see more research done.
Now, the relatives of two footballers who played for Kilmarnock FC in the 1960s have called on the football authorities to pay more attention to the issue. | The story of Kilmarnock FC's 1964-1965 squad has gone down in club legend.
It was the year the team won the Scottish League Championship on the last day of the season, with a 2-0 victory over Hearts.
The winning goal in the final match - a header - was scored by Davie Sneddon.
The player's son, David Sneddon, said he knew of five members of that team who went on to develop Parkinson's Disease, dementia - or both.
That includes his 80-year-old father who was diagnosed with vascular dementia about five years ago.
Training headers
"We can see every day that his memory is getting really, really bad," he said.
"Dad didn't head the ball much during the game, but during training they headed the ball a lot."
Sneddon went onto manage Kilmarnock, but winning the league would have been difficult to beat as a career highlight.
"They were a great team in 1965", his son told the BBC.
"They had Frank [Beattie] who was the centre half. He obviously died from Parkinson's and dementia.
"And you have Jackie McInally who died last year. He was unwell as well with that same sort of illness.
"Jim Mcfadzean was part of the squad and he had Parkinson's as well. Joe Mason who was another squad member - he's currently in a home at the moment and he doesn't keep very well."
Beattie was the captain of Kilmarnock in 1965 and spent his entire playing career at the club.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson's when he was 65 years old, and with dementia a few years later.
According to the Alzheimer's Society, one in six people over the age of 80 has dementia - but far fewer develop it in their 60s or 70s.
Beattie died in 2009 aged 76 and his widow Betty says she is convinced his condition was linked to football.
"When he was diagnosed with Parkinson's, the doctor said right from the beginning the Parkinson's was due to heading the ball," she told BBC Scotland.
"He used to say he could believe it was with heading the ball."
Brain function
Mrs Beattie said that her husband had wanted to remain independent even as his condition worsened, but would often get lost on walks.
"He was quite independent wanting to go out on his own so you got that you put his name in his pocket just in case," she added.
There is a growing body of anecdotal evidence of the link between heading footballs and dementia - but precious little science.
Last year, a study by the University of Stirling showed that repeatedly heading a football could significantly affect a player's brain function and memory for 24 hours.
And Alzheimer Scotland has just announced that it intends to hold a "football and dementia summit" with key researchers and representatives from Scottish football.
The Scottish FA has pointed to its work producing the world's first consensus guidelines on concussion management.
The body also said it would work with partners at the UK and world level to examine current scientific evidence on whether heading the ball caused brain injuries.
Neuropathologist Dr Willie Stewart, who co-authored the Stirling study, said: "The science is way behind current public concern and the anecdotes we're seeing coming through from tragic case examples.
"The reality is we have very little science to link the act of heading to any long term problems.
"What we know is that in a small number of former footballers, when we've looked at their brains, we find a pathology in their brains that we've seen in people who have been exposed to brain injury in the past."
That includes boxers, rugby players and American footballers, he said.
Dr Stewart, from the University of Glasgow, told the BBC a "concerted effort" from sport and the research community was now needed - starting with a study about the incidence of dementia among former footballers.
"That's something in Scotland we could do reasonably easily if we could just identify the population of former footballers and look at that against the data we have," he said.
"If we do that and find that the incidence of dementia is no different then I think we can relax a bit and begin to take a step back and think more rationally about it.
"If however, as the anecdotes and the fears would suggest, the incidence of dementia is higher then I think we need to pursue quite aggressively what the link is there. What's causing that increased risk?"
Amateur players
Mr Sneddon and Mrs Beattie can name former footballers at other clubs who they know developed dementia at a younger age than normally expected.
And both agree that the footballing authorities need to be doing more.
"They're ignoring it to be quite honest. I don't think they realise just how many footballers are suffering at the moment," Mr Sneddon said.
"Not just professional players. There's a lot of amateur players who'll be suffering as well and you won't hear about them."
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He's a Jewish multi-billionaire philanthropist who has given away $32bn. Why does the hard right from America to Australia and from Hungary to Honduras believe George Soros is at the heart of a global conspiracy, asks the BBC's Mike Rudin. | One quiet Monday afternoon last October in leafy upstate New York, a large manila envelope was placed in the mailbox of an exclusive country mansion belonging to multi-billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
The package looked suspicious. The return address was misspelt as "FLORIDS" and the mail had already been delivered earlier that day. The police were called and soon the FBI was on the scene.
Inside the bubble-wrapped envelope was a photograph of Soros, marked with a red "X". Alongside it, a six-inch plastic pipe, a small clock, a battery, wiring and a black powder.
More than a dozen similar packages were sent to the homes of former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats.
None of the devices exploded. The FBI traced the bombs to a white van covered in pro-Trump and anti-Democrat stickers, parked in a supermarket car park in Florida.
Immediately the right-wing media claimed it was a "false-flag" operation intended to derail President Donald Trump and the Republican campaign, just two weeks before the crucial US mid-term elections.
Fox Business host Lou Dobbs tweeted: "Fake News - Fake Bombs. Who could possibly benefit by so much fakery?" Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh added: "Republicans just don't do this kind of thing."
Soon the internet was awash with allegations that the bomb plot was a hoax organised by Soros himself.
President Trump condemned the "despicable acts", but when a member of the audience at a White House reception shouted "Soros! Lock him up!" the president seemed amused.
Then a 56-year-old Florida man called Cesar Sayoc was arrested.
Conspiracy theories claimed he wasn't actually a Republican. But Luigi Marra, a former work colleague, told me how Sayoc used to deliver pizzas in his van plastered with pro-Trump stickers and argue with customers if they had Democratic posters at their homes.
"Everything for him was a conspiracy theory, everything. George Soros was the one behind everything, he was the one buying the whole Democratic Party, he was the epicentre of what is going wrong in the United States of America."
Sayoc's social media revealed more. On the day the pipe bomb was discovered at George Soros's house, Sayoc reposted a meme claiming, "The world is waking up to the horrors of George Soros."
Sayoc later pleaded guilty to 65 counts, including intent to kill or injure with explosives, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
So how did George Soros come to be regarded by so many as the evil mastermind at the heart of a global conspiracy?
Find out more
Watch Conspiracy Files: The Billionaire Global Mastermind on BBC Two at 21:00 on Sunday 8 September
Viewers in the UK can catch up later online
In the UK, Soros is known as "the man who broke the Bank of England" in 1992. Along with other currency speculators, he borrowed pounds, and then sold them, helping to drive down the price of sterling on currency markets and ultimately forcing the UK to crash out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. In the process he made $1bn.
The Hungarian emigre, who survived the Holocaust and fled the Communists, is thought to have made in total about $44bn through financial speculation. And he's used his fortune to fund thousands of education, health, human rights and democracy projects.
Established in 1979, his Open Society Foundations now operate in more than 120 countries around the world. But this bold philanthropy in support of liberal, democratic causes has increasingly made him the bogeyman of the right.
The first conspiracy theories about George Soros appeared in the early 1990s, but they really gained traction after he condemned the 2003 Iraq War and started donating millions of dollars to the US Democratic Party. Ever since, American right-wing commentators and politicians have gone after him with increasing fury and vitriol, and often with scant concern for the facts.
But it was Donald Trump's election victory that took the attacks on Soros to a new and dangerous level.
Eight months into Trump's presidency, in August 2017, neo-Nazis held a torchlit procession in Charlottesville, Virginia. Clashes with counter-protesters ended in tragedy, when a white supremacist drove a car into a crowd and killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
Among US right-wingers it was soon claimed that the violence was orchestrated and financed by Soros, in order to tarnish the reputation of President Trump. And they said the key to the secret plot was a man called Brennan Gilmore, who filmed the car being driven into the counter-protesters. Right-wing radio host Alex Jones claimed Gilmore was paid $320,000 a year by Soros and was part of a deep-state coup to oust the president.
But any connection was extremely tenuous.
While it's true that Soros gave $500,000 to the political campaign of Tom Perriello - a Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia whom Gilmore had worked for - there's no evidence Soros or the Open Society directed or paid protesters at Charlottesville. Gilmore, who never received any money from Soros, is now suing Alex Jones and several others for defamation.
Since then, the attacks on Soros have kept coming, and only intensified.
Last autumn thousands of migrants left Honduras bound for the USA, just a month before the mid-term elections that threatened to weaken Republican control of Congress.
Immediately the so-called migrant caravan was blamed on Soros. Fox News repeatedly broadcast claims that Soros wanted open borders and unrestricted immigration.
Jack Kingston, a former Republican Congressman, told me: "It is a very organised effort and somebody is behind this, somebody is paying for some of this and it would be typical of George Soros to get involved in that."
For his part, President Trump retweeted a video that claimed to show cash being handed out to people in Honduras to "storm the US border", with a suggestion that the cash might have come from Soros.
When asked outside the White House whether Soros was funding the migrant caravan, he replied: "I wouldn't be surprised. A lot of people say yes."
Cindy Jerezano, who travelled with the caravan from her home in Honduras to the US, told me that she was not offered any money and made her own decision to travel nearly 3,000 miles to San Diego.
Cindy was supported, once she arrived in the US, by the Catholic Charities for the Diocese of San Diego. Nadine Toppozada, the charity's director of refugee and immigrant services, explained that their lawyers interviewed asylum seekers in great detail but had never heard Soros's name mentioned. Nor had they seen any evidence of Soros involvement.
What's more, the video President Trump retweeted quickly turned out to be flawed.
Within hours, journalists discovered the footage was not filmed in Honduras as originally claimed, but in the neighbouring country of Guatemala, and a closer look at the clip showed at least one of the supposed aid workers was armed.
The migrant caravan was filmed throughout its entire journey. Local charities were seen helping the migrants. But there is no evidence of Soros funding at any point.
On 27 October 2018, 11 days after the first conspiracy theory surfaced about the migrant caravan, and five days after the pipe bomb was delivered to Soros's house, a white man armed with an assault rifle and three handguns walked into a synagogue in Pittsburgh. There he murdered 11 Jews.
It was the worst act of anti-Semitic violence in US history - and it was carried out by a man obsessed with George Soros.
The social media posts of the gunman, Robert Bowers, revealed he believed in a dark anti-Semitic conspiracy theory called "white genocide", with Soros as the mastermind.
The theory claims white people are being replaced by immigrants and will ultimately be eliminated. It explains the neo-Nazis' chant, "Jews will not replace us!" as they marched through Charlottesville.
Joel Finkelstein, director of the Network Contagion Research Institute, discovered one post where Bowers referred to Soros as "the Jew that funds white genocide and controls the press", and claimed that he pushed for gun control and open borders.
Finkelstein, who has received Open Society funding to investigate what he believes is a growing threat, concludes that white supremacists like Bowers see Soros as a Jewish mastermind pulling the strings. "These violent actors are justifying their violence by pointing to Soros as a supreme form of evil," he says.
The vilification of George Soros has spread far beyond the US, to Armenia, Australia, Honduras, the Philippines, Russia and many other countries.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Soros of being at the heart of a Jewish conspiracy to "divide" and "shatter" Turkey and other nations.
In Italy, former deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini accused him of wanting to fill the country with migrants because "he likes slaves".
The leader of the UK's Brexit Party, Nigel Farage, has claimed Soros is "actively encouraging people… to flood Europe" and "in many ways is the biggest danger to the entire Western World".
But one country, and one government, has gone further than any other to attack Soros. It is his birthplace, Hungary, where he has spent hundreds of millions of dollars funding free school meals, human rights projects and even a new university.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his populist nationalist government claim that Soros has a secret plot to flood Hungary with migrants and destroy their nation.
Leonard Benardo, vice-president of the Open Society Foundations, protests that this is an outright lie: "The allegation is false. Neither George Soros nor the Open Society Foundations are proponents of open borders."
That hasn't stopped the Hungarian government, which has spent 100m euros on a media campaign warning voters not to let Soros "have the last laugh" and introduced what it calls "Stop Soros" laws, criminalising help for illegal immigrants and taxing support for organisations "promoting migration".
"There's a lot of money going into the Soros empire, billions of dollars for the past couple of decades and years," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told me. "Now that's a lot of money, and nobody can be as naïve as to believe that that money goes without weight and goes without any intention."
As Michael Ignatieff, the president and rector of the Central European University that Soros founded, puts it: "The Orban government has decided to make Mr Soros public enemy number one".
So how did this happen?
The answer lies in upstate New York.
In 2013, when the Hungarian leader needed advice on getting re-elected, he approached a legendary political consultant, called Arthur Finkelstein (no relation of Joel), who used to work in a small office above a hairdresser's in Irvington, just 20 miles down the road from Soros's country mansion.
Arthur Finkelstein, who died in 2017, worked for Donald Trump, George Bush senior, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and is renowned for making "liberal" a dirty word in politics.
Finkelstein created a new style of politics dubbed "Finkel Think", says Hannes Grassegger, a reporter for the Swiss publication, Das Magazin.
"Arthur Finkelstein always said, 'You don't go against the Taliban, you go against Osama Bin Laden.' So it's about personalisation, picking the perfect enemy and then [you] go full on against that person, so that people are actually scared of your opponent. And never talk about your own candidate's policies, they don't matter at all."
Finkelstein realised the best way to get Orban elected was to find a new enemy. He suggested Soros, and it was a perfect choice, Grassegger says. "The very right hated him because he was Jewish, people at the very left hated him because he was a capitalist."
The irony is, Arthur Finkelstein was himself a Jew. "This Jewish gentleman creates this Jewish monster," Grassegger says.
The Hungarian Government denies they needed anyone to "invent" Soros. In a statement it said: "George Soros invented himself as a political actor as long as two decades ago. George Soros's network of institutions exercises a great deal of power without a mandate coming from the people."
But Orban seems to have implemented Finkelstein's advice to the letter and gone even further.
In a speech weeks before the 2018 general election, Orban rounded on Soros and appeared to revive anti-Semitic stereotypes.
"We are fighting an enemy that is different from us. Not open but hiding. Not straightforward but crafty. Not honest but unprincipled. Not national but international. Does not believe in working but speculates with money. Does not have its own homeland but feels it owns the whole world," he said.
Viktor Orban won by a landslide. After the election, the crackdown on Soros-funded organisations intensified. Last May the Open Society closed its office in Hungary.
Michael Ignatieff has battled to keep the Central European University open in Budapest. He is determined to counter what he claims is dangerous propaganda in a country in which more than half a million Jewish Hungarians were exterminated by the Nazis in just two months in 1944.
Ignatieff says the anti-Soros campaign "is a faithful reprise of every single trope of anti-Semitic hatred from the 1930s... The whole thing is a complete fantasy. This is the politics of the 21st Century, if you haven't got an enemy invent one as fast as you can, make him look as powerful as possible and bingo - you mobilise your base and win elections with it."
Prof Deborah Lipstadt, who won a famous legal battle to expose a Holocaust denier in the British courts, is deeply uneasy too.
"It terrifies me that this kind of rhetoric, which used to be heard in beer halls and dark corners, is being spoken by politicians, by leaders of countries, the deputy prime minister of Italy, the prime minister of Hungary. That this kind of language is being used is shocking."
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The New Yorker reviving Jewish life on a holiday island
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Young people acting irresponsibly along a stretch of the River Witham in Lincolnshire have been given a police warning.
| It follows complaints from boat owners about incidents of anti-social behaviour in the Boston area.
Officers said there were increasing concerns for the safety of teenagers who may also be entering the water after consuming alcohol.
Police foot patrols will be increased in the area to help tackle the problem.
Insp Phil Clark said: "The behaviour of this predominantly adolescent group interferes with the legitimate use of the waterways by boat owners and they should be aware that their actions may result in prosecution".
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Dennis Oland has been cleared of bludgeoning his millionaire father to death. For nearly a decade, the case turned one of the wealthiest families in the Canadian province of New Brunswick into the cast of a real-life soap opera. | By Robin Levinson-KingBBC News, New Brunswick, Canada
Richard Oland was found face-down in a pool of his own blood on the morning of 7 July, 2011. He was 69 years old.
Forensic evidence suggests he was killed the evening before by 45 sharp and blunt blows to the head, neck and limbs. He was still wearing his Rolex watch, but his mobile phone, as well as the murder weapon, disappeared.
Two years later, his son Dennis Oland, now 51, was charged with second-degree murder. In 2015, he was convicted by 12 jurors of killing his father.
But that was just the beginning. Along the way, he won an appeal, appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, and had a mistrial. His case captivated the community of Saint John, New Brunswick, who followed the twists and turns of the case closely.
"It's a bad soap opera - Days of Our Lives makes more sense," says taxi-driver Paul Savoie, who knows the rumours of Saint John almost as well as he knows its roads.
It was Richard's mistress who was the first to notice that something was amiss. For the past eight years, married realtor Diana Sedlacek had been having an affair with the tycoon. The relationship was, by most accounts, an open secret and when he didn't pick-up the phone for their nightly chat, she called his wife Connie to ask her where he was.
Connie became a key figure in the case, as she steadfastly stood by her son, contrasting his "gentle" and "caring" ways with her deceased husband's propensity for picking fights with his family.
"Dick Oland was an extremely prominent Saint Johner, that does not say that he was a well-liked Saint Johner from everything that I've heard," says Saint John criminal lawyer David Lutz. "People are concerned about whether or not poor Dennis is going to be convicted, as opposed to poor Dick."
The Olands weren't just rich - they were one of a handful of dynasties who had for the past century controlled the economy in the province like the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts had once controlled New York City.
At the top of that hierarchy is the Irvings, who own a vast network of petrol stations, oil refineries, shipping docks and paper mills in the province and beyond. Next would be the McCains, who run the ubiquitous frozen food company.
Third or fourth on the list of New Brunswick dynasties would be the Olands, whose matriarch Susannah Oland founded Moosehead Brewery in Saint John 1867. Today it is the largest Canadian-owned brewery, and the Olands have repeatedly turned down offers to sell it to international companies.
That commitment to staying local has earned the Olands a lot of goodwill in the city of Saint John, which has shrunk from a population of about 90,000 in the 1970s to under 70,000 in accordance with the decline of major industries such as shipping and ship-building.
But the family's local profile has also made them an easy target for gossip, especially as the trial revealed details about the family's inner workings, its feuds and its finances.
"People felt 'oh here's that poor little rich guy'," says local history professor Greg Marquis. Growing up in Saint John, Marquis was an altar boy at the same church as the wealthy Olands, although he did not move in the same elite circles. He has since gone on to write two books about the case, and says Dennis's many trials have polarised the city along class lines.
When he was convicted during the first trial in 2015, Marquis says many of Dennis's defenders felt he was the victim of a kind of reverse-class bias. "Some people felt it was a blue-collar jury having their vengeance on an elite defendant," he says.
At the time of his death, Richard was worth an estimated C$37m ($28m, £22m) - and he didn't hide it. He raced yachts, was heavily involved in high-profile local philanthropic projects, and lived on a secluded estate not far from his son Dennis. But while the two were physically close, and indeed Dennis was named one of the executors to his will, they often clashed.
"He just barks and barks and barks," he said during an interview with police shortly after his father died. One Christmas in particular, he remembers his father screaming at him because he let the flame on a rum cake blow out before the dessert reached the table. "He could do things that could be hurtful."
Strife between father and sons seemed to run in the Oland family. Richard's father Philip Oland, had been a strict disciplinarian who valued the family's legacy over its inner harmony.
When he chose Richard's older brother Derek to take over as president of the brewery in 1981, it left an irreparable rift between the two brothers. Richard spent most of the 1990s battling his brother in court for control of the company, and the two were on cool terms at the time of his death.
Despite his personal wealth, Richard could be stingy with those close to him - prosecutors say Connie was kept on a $2,000-a-month allowance, and expected to provide her husband with receipts of her purchases.
Meanwhile, he was having a new yacht built in Spain just a couple of years after he had purchased his "old" one.
He was willing to shell out cash to keep things in the family however. When Dennis nearly lost his house in his divorce, his father gave him a $538,000 loan. That loan became a key piece of evidence for the prosecution, who said in court that Dennis murdered his father over money.
The truth was Dennis, a financial adviser, was deep in debt. He had maxed out a $163,000 line of credit and a $27,000-limit credit card. The day before his father was killed, Dennis's monthly cheque to cover the interest on the loan bounced. But Dennis told the court money troubles didn't worry him. "It's stuff we always did and it was a continuation of that."
Lutz, a former vice chair of the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers, estimates Dennis's legal defence is the most expensive murder defence in Canadian history.
Just days before Justice Terrence Morrison was due to deliver his sentence, the accused was calmly mowing the front lawn of his Rothesay estate. Wearing a T-shirt and shorts and riding a lawnmower, an observer might be forgiven for thinking Dennis was more concerned about the height of his grass than the impending decision.
On Friday, that decision was given. In a courtroom packed with friends and family, media and local onlookers, Justice Terrence Morrison pronounced Dennis Oland not guilty of murdering his father.
Though his decision exonerated Dennis, it did so with an asterisk. "There is much to implicate Dennis Oland in this crime," Justice Morrison said. "But more than suspicion is needed in order to convict someone of murder - probability is not enough."
The prosecution didn't have a murder weapon, a clear time of death or significant DNA evidence to tie Dennis to the crime. A few bloodstains matching Richard's DNA were found on Dennis's brown Hugo Boss sportcoat, but no blood was found in his car or on his shoes
His legal team says no other suspects were found because police had tunnel vision when they investigated him. He was the last person known to see his father alive. If the judge's not-guilty verdict was not a resounding endorsement of innocence, it will have to do. "In this case there are too many missing puzzle pieces," Justice Morrison says.
We know that on the night Richard died, Dennis stopped by his father's uptown Saint John office to talk about family history. Then Dennis got in his Volkswagen Golf and drove off towards his mansion located in the toney neighbourhood of Rothesay.
On the way, he made a stop at a nearby wharf. Sitting on the edge of the dock, he must have looked as if he was in a moment of philosophical introspection.
But what he thought about is still anyone's guess.
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An appeal has been lodged against a council decision to reject plans for a Borders wind farm which have twice been reduced in size. | E.On originally proposed 21 turbines at Corsbie Moor near Westruther.
However, that number was reduced to 12 and then further cut to just nine after the company "considered all the views from the local community".
Scottish Borders Council rejected the scheme in September but an appeal has now been lodged against that decision.
Council officials said walkers using the Southern Upland Way would have experienced "adverse cumulative impact" if the nine new turbines were added to existing schemes.
E.On said the project had been "carefully redesigned" to produce "a significant amount of renewable energy using a smaller number of turbines".
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Urban rap videos should be closely monitored and even removed from online platforms such as YouTube to save lives, officials say. The BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme met the rappers and directors who say they are just describing their lives. | By Andy JonesVictoria Derbyshire programme
A rapper performs in front of a Lamborghini for a music video, not in a swanky studio but in the car park of some flats in east London.
As the engine revs, concerned residents peek out of the windows. Others get closer to the action.
S-Rose, who changed his name from Scumz, used to be involved in gangs and has spent time in prison.
The car and location are intended to reflect his transformation.
"I can't rap about anything positive because I haven't seen more of that life yet, but I'm going to rap about what I've been through and actually let it change other people. That's the only way I can express myself really," he says.
Filming the video is Pacman, who as well as producing online music videos runs his own YouTube platform, which profiles up-and-coming rappers.
He has previously worked with gangs, but he wanted to show another side of his work, the young music stars who want to make an impact online. Some of his videos have as many as 2.8 million views.
'Bring to the table'
He started off filming some videos for friends, but his services are now in demand across London.
This is about more than just filming each other with camera phones. Pacman uses drone cameras, top of the range visuals and hires all sorts of gadgets to make each video look as good as possible.
"It's about them broadcasting themselves showing what they've got to offer and what they bring to the table. Everyone wants good exposure at a high standard and that's what I'm offering to them."
Although he says he is careful to stay out of any rivalries, his video shoots are not always drama-free.
"I've been filming people and seen people pull out some serious weapons. I've seen guys get shot but that's always a personal issue, it's never to do with me so I'm not particularly scared but obviously to a normal civilian or bystander it is going to be a serious situation," he says.
'Causing tensions'
Without mentioning any specific content, the mayor of London's office says it is not targeting general rap and music videos but wants online outlets to do more to remove quickly those that include extreme graphic content.
Sophie Linden, the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, said: "Gangs are using YouTube to make very specific threats and intimidation and harassment and sometimes incite violence."
She said some videos could look "fairly innocuous" to people who were not in gangs but the police were experts at spotting things in films that were causing tensions.
YouTube rap videos were cited in the murder of Marcel Addai, 18, who was killed after a chain of video exchanges between gangs in London erupted into violence. His four murderers were sentenced to a combined 97 years in prison.
The Met Police says there has been an increase in videos glamorising gang violence and since the beginning of the year, seven of the 16 videos it has flagged have been removed.
Harsh reality
Although they might rap about it in their videos, none of the people the BBC spoke to condones violence and they all say they are not members of any gangs. Pacman says he knows where to draw the line in his videos.
"If you film anything that is too graphic or seriously targets an individual or community or anything that is seriously controversial, YouTube just take it down," he says.
"If it is within reason, then fair enough - but if someone is just rapping and it isn't violent or doesn't attack anyone, it is unfair for that person to try to have their content removed."
Pacman says people make assumptions and need to be shown that the videos he shoots represent people doing something constructive and trying to build a business.
We also watch him film a video for a rapper called J Gang, in Brixton.
Pacman lets off a purple smoke bomb behind the artist, who is busy delivering his new track, Choices, all about avoiding bad decisions in life, and suddenly curious locals are gathered around to watch the impromptu music scene.
"I've got a lot of music talking about the streets. People like to see the negative side of everything. I help the homeless, I help youths that are doing crime, in a way that telling them it is not good to do the crime, try to get them into football. There are all types of things that can get them into legitimate things," J Gang says.
He says rapping about drugs and guns does not glamorise the lifestyle but reflects the "harsh reality of living an illegal life".
"It's not a good way to live. Obviously people die, people doing drugs - a lot of things come of it. So you can see the light to it but there's also a dark to it. It's me trying to talk to the people and make them understand it's not all glamorous it's not all nice," he says.
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
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A team at Harper Adams University are trying to grow and then harvest a field of barley using only robots and drones. If they succeed it will be a world first and we're following their progress. | David Gregory-KumarScience, Environment & Rural Affairs Correspondent
Last time we watched as the team from Harper Adams started to prepare for this year long experiment.
They were using a small robot, not much bigger than a toy car, to refine the steering system they wanted to use.
But at that point they were still waiting on their tractor to be delivered and couldn't find a suitable combine harvester.
Since then things have moved on pretty quickly with triumphs and also some sleepless nights.
Huge achievement
A tractor was sourced and fitted with the team's self-driving technology.
The Hands Free Hectare team - Kit Franklin, Jonathan Gill and Martin Abell - have managed to spray off the weeds on their field and then successfully plant the barley using a compact seed drill that was actually designed for use in vineyards.
The hectare itself is now surrounded by a safety fence and only the machines are allowed inside. Well, that's the theory.
In practise the safety system on the robot tractor has proved a bit over zealous.
It has shut the tractor engine down on a couple of occasions which meant the team had to go into the field to restart the machine.
To avoid even this limited access to the field in the future it's hoped to get a remote starter for the tractor.
Nevertheless all this is a huge achievement.
It is extraordinary to watch a tractor happily rolling a field of barley with no one at the wheel.
It's one of the points of this experiment to show you don't need to spend millions on bespoke cutting-edge tech to do all this but that you can instead grow and harvest a cereal crop using affordable, off-the-shelf parts and software.
Of course the team now have a growing crop to worry about.
For a team who has spent a lot of time focussed on machinery this is a whole new headache.
They've got some high-tech solutions to familiar farming problems, using drones to keep hungry pigeons away for example.
But soon they'll have to work out how to get pictures and samples from the centre of the hectare for the agronomist to study... all using robots and drones of course.
Making beer
It has been a bit of a scramble but now the team have the seed in the ground and a few weeks to focus on their next really big mechanical challenge.
And that's to fit their driving system to the combine harvester they've managed to source.
And at the end of all this the hope is to use the barley to make beer.
Which I am heavily hinting should borrow a brilliant idea from our office and be labelled "Robocrop".
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The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a "roadmap" to lift England's lockdown restrictions in stages - starting with the reopening of schools. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said there will be a "progressive easing" of its rules. | By Ben ButcherBBC Reality Check
Over the course of the past year, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has advised the authorities on the pandemic, assessing the risks of transmission of coronavirus in many areas of daily life.
This advice looks at how closing or opening certain sectors could affect its spread - although with varying degrees of confidence, as the precise impact of each measure is difficult to assess.
Scientists are still trying to understand the full impact of the vaccines and the new variants of coronavirus. These have not been factored in yet in the assessments from Sage, which have been publicly released.
We have looked at what they say about the risks in a number of areas.
Schools
Sage has said (with "moderate confidence") that schools have a "moderate" impact on transmission.
The phased opening of schools has already started in Wales and Scotland. In England, the prime minister says all schools will reopen on March 8.
But the role schools have played in the spread of the virus is not clear-cut.
One report from Sage notes, perhaps unsurprisingly, that cases were highest among children when schools fully reopened in September 2020.
There is no clear evidence that schools are the driving force behind broader community spikes.
"It is difficult to quantify the size of this effect and it remains difficult to quantify the level of transmission taking place specifically within schools compared to other settings," Sage reported in November.
Its evidence suggests that primary school children are "less susceptible to infection than adults," but the risk increases among older children.
Sage concluded that closing secondary schools was "more effective" than closing primary schools due to this.
In fact, some recent research from the University of Warwick concludes that there is no hard evidence that primary schools spread the virus.
When announcing the reopening of schools in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "The key risk in reopening schools is not transmission of the virus within schools; instead, the risk comes from the increased contact that the reopening might spark among the wider adult population."
This could include parents gathering at the school gates, or people returning to work.
All recent Sage documents agree that the risk of serious illness to children is very small compared to adults over 60.
Outdoor gatherings
Sage has said (with "high confidence") that outdoor gatherings have a low impact on transmission.
Wales is relaxing its outdoor rules and small outdoor gatherings will be allowed in England from March 29 and in Scotland from March 15.
Currently, you are only able to exercise outdoors with one other person.
Sage has long been confident that small outdoor gatherings have a lower impact on transmission because coronavirus "does not persist in well-ventilated outdoor areas for long" and the virus's "survival on surfaces is reduced under UV light [the sun]".
But despite being considered low-risk, the virus is still able to spread outdoors. This is why when a lot of people had the virus in January, the government stopped gatherings outside.
And, as ever, the closer you are to someone - for example, standing close to them and chatting - the higher the chance of droplets passing between you. So social distancing measures will still be encouraged.
Non-essential retail
Sage has said (with "low-moderate" confidence) that retail has a low impact on transmission.
Most non-essential retail, such as clothes stores, is due to reopen in England from April 12 - at the earliest.
People in Scotland will need to wait until at least the end of April for this.
Before the first lockdown was lifted, Sage recommended that "opening non-essential retail safely would require a significant effort to ensure that environments are appropriate to minimise transmission (for example social distancing and hygiene measures, ventilation)".
This follows the idea that contacts between people are more dangerous indoors as particles in the air are replaced less slowly with clean air.
Sage estimated that opening non-essential retail such as clothes shops would see a 10% increase in indoor contacts between people.
This is why when shops reopened we saw crowd control, one-way systems and designated spaces for people to queue.
Sage thinks that in general non-essential retail is "low risk" when these measures are in place and masks are worn.
But once again, if coronavirus is already highly prevalent in a community as it was in December, these "low risk" actions can become riskier as more people have the virus to begin with.
Pubs and restaurants
Sage has said (with "moderate confidence") that hospitality has a moderate impact on transmission.
Without restrictions, the hospitality sector can see people from different households mixing indoors for long periods of time.
Throughout the pandemic, Sage has said:
Sage has also noted that alcohol can have an impact on people following social distancing measures.
Because of these risks, hospitality is being opened up in stages.
On April 12 - at the earliest - customers in England will be able to drink or eat outside.
"Allowing customers to sit outside only [is] likely to be much lower risk," Sage reports.
This will be followed by groups being allowed to meet indoors as early as May 17.
Another restriction previously implemented in England was a 10pm closure for hospitality, but as Reality Check has previously reported, the evidence-base for this was minimal. This curfew has now been scrapped.
People will need to wait until at least the end of April for hospitality to open in Scotland.
Holiday homes and rentals
Sage has not issued specific advice on the risk of transmission in this sector.
Self-catering accommodation or holiday lets will be allowed from April 12, a full month before other types of holiday accommodation. This hasn't been announced in Scotland.
In the past, Sage has briefly mentioned the need for greater understanding of "travel patterns and existing levels of seeding (or spreading from one region to another)" before making conclusions on restricting travel between UK nations and between regions within them.
Last year, Reality Check looked at whether large gatherings of tourists on Bournemouth beach had an impact on case numbers, but found no evidence of it leading to a spike.
What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch
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For some diners, a meal out cannot start without first taking a photograph of the meal and sharing it on social media. But can how a restaurant's food appears on a mobile phone screen make a difference to its profits? | By Sarah LeeBBC News
A few years ago, choosing a restaurant was simple. A friend would recommend it, or you would read about its good reviews in the paper.
Now the internet is awash with Instagram posts or foodie blogs praising the latest hot restaurant where you live.
People's timelines are filled with sharp, bright images of rainbow bagels, "freak shakes" or technicoloured smoothie bowls.
Some chefs and restaurateurs have adjusted their menus to produce meals that look good on a smartphone camera.
Teddy Robinson, a creative director for London café-bar chain Grind, has spent five years making the company as "Instagramable" and savvy as possible.
"The most interesting thing is that people are just more aware than ever of what the food looks like," he said.
"Before Instagram, the only way you'd see what a restaurant's food looked like would be by looking at their own photos, or if they had them printed on menus - I know, the horror - but now it's often how you're introduced to a restaurant.
"It's a refreshing change to see the food put front and centre like this, and it's definitely one of the things that's allowed independents to get a leg up on the chains on Instagram."
Menus and interiors have also been redesigned for Instagram.
"Last year we replaced every table in the company with white marble, just because it looks good on Instagram."
Lifestyle blogger Angie Silver has noticed the growing trend.
"Nowadays, dishes are created especially for Instagram," she said.
"Bright colours, unusual and unique dishes work well hence the rise of rainbow bagels, freak shakes and unicorn ice-cream."
"A bowl of cereal or slice of toast isn't exciting enough.
"An Instagram friendly breakfast will be smashed avocado, a mouth-watering stack of pancakes or a brightly coloured smoothie bowl."
The trend reached a new peak recently when one London business launched a "Selfieccino" - a cappuccino with your face imprinted on it - using a printer that scans the selfie on to the froth of the drink.
"For us, today's dining experience is no longer just about having great food and drink," said Ehab Shouly, director of the Tea Terrace on Oxford Street, where the beverage is served.
"It's all about creating unique experiences that our customers can document on Instagram and social media.
"Millennials today form more than 50% of our customer base and we have to give them what they want. Today's customers want great food, great service and great photos."
Elsewhere in London, the Fox Under The Hill pub in Shooters Hill is offering customers the chance to "upgrade" their Christmas dinner with glitter gravy. The gravy, developed for "Generation Instagram", gives the traditional dinner that extra dazzle, says general manager Ashish Patel.
Fine dining is still largely resisting the trend, however.
"There is a growing number of people who will judge food based solely on a photo, which is a little crazy," said James Lowe, head chef and owner of Lyle's in east London.
"It's led to chefs doing what I call 'cooking for pictures' - which is where someone will put a dish together without any concern for whether or not is actually tastes good, just as long as the aesthetic is right.
"The most important thing with any dish is how it tastes. However, one aspect of building a great dish is, undeniably, how it looks - and if something looks good and is photogenic it could be said to be 'grammable'.
But it's not just wacky cuisine becoming a social media craze. Interior design also plays an important role in seducing the "happy snappers".
The Tower Bridge restaurant Coppa Club said it had phenomenal success with its "dine in an igloo" concept on Instagram, with photo-loving folk quickly filling up bookings for the riverside huts.
"I think with any social media platform it forces businesses to be more original," says Coppa brand manager Lucy Watson.
"Instagram is a much more visual experience than what we've seen previously and it's important to have engaging and consistent content."
But other restaurants are looking to stand out from the crowd by rejecting the insta-food trend entirely.
Darren Yates, runs Japanese deli Auradaz in Leamington Spa, has banned diners from using mobile phones in his restaurant.
"When people come out to eat these days, they put phones or tablets on the table, and it's rude", Mr Yates said,
"If you're coming out to eat it's about conversation and breaking bread, not about social media."
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Three men have been been charged with attempted murder following an assault in Ballymoney at the weekend. | A man in his 30s was injured in the attack at the back of the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre on the Garryduff Road on Sunday night.
The victim, who had a head injury, was found on a pathway, close to football pitches.
The three men charged, aged 54, 28, and 24, will appear via videolink at Coleraine Magistrates on Friday.
The 24-year-old also faces two charges of making threats to kill.
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Genocide is an emotive and powerful accusation to make against anyone but it is exactly what some indigenous leaders in Brazil say is happening to their people because of their government's ignorance, if not its compliance. | By Wyre DaviesSouth America correspondent
For the past week hundreds of members of the Guarani-Kaiowa tribe have been mourning the death of a 24-year-old man, Semiao Vilhalva. He was killed - shot in the face - during an invasion, or re-occupation, of three farms in the western state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
I looked on as elderly members of the tribe chanted tributes in their native tongue and led mourners across fields they say have belonged to their people for centuries - long before their present white so-called owners arrived, cut down the trees and populated the area with cattle.
Semiao was buried on this land, now occupied by the Guarani but also claimed as legally theirs by several influential and powerful farming families here in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
Guarani men showed me the very spot, on the bank of a small river, where Semiao was shot and died. The gunman, say my guides, was a hired "pistoleiro" brought in by the farmers to intimidate and scare off the Guarani.
But, if anything, the murder of their young leader has made these indigenous people even more resolute to remain.
"This is a deliberate policy of genocide. It's a long legal process designed to kill our people, slowly but surely," says Guarani elder Tunico Benites.
He goes on: "Our rights are being violated and we don't have even the basic conditions to survive. So we have no choice but to occupy, to retake our lands - otherwise we can't survive as a people."
One of those farmers whose land is claimed by the Guarani, under a legal ruling dating back to 2005, is Roseli Ruiz. She is also the chairwoman of the local farmers' syndicate, or union, and is completely mistrustful of the way the dispute has been reported in the international media.
In her office in the rural town of Antonio Joao, Roseli Ruiz dismisses any suggestion that farmers had a hand in the death of Semiao.
Arguing that that there was no obvious gunshot wound on his body (in contrast to a video I was shown which suggested otherwise) the combative Ms Ruiz offered an explanation that the Indians themselves brought someone who had died earlier, and presented it as a murder, just to discredit the farmers and advance their claims to the land.
Roseli Ruiz paints a picture of a hitherto mutually beneficial relationship between indigenous and farmer.
"I was known as Roseli of the Indians," she cries. "I took them to hospital if they were ill and even built them a school."
It was a relationship that, according to Roseli, only started to deteriorate when the Guarani began to pursue claims to the land - claims which she insists are baseless.
Ranchers have long been part of Brazil's drive for development - deep into the interior of the country and into conflict with indigenous people.
While some farmers have taken their cattle and moved on from the disputed land, others are refusing to move.
Gino Ferreira, like many farmers, has legal titles to his fazenda - or farm. He blames the government for doing nothing while an inevitable conflict loomed.
"This is my family's land," says Gino. "If the Indians arrive and take it over what do you think I'm going to do? Lose all I've worked for?"
He too, dismisses any allegations that farmers had a hand in the death of the Guarani leader, Semiao.
"We're not bandits and we don't hire gunmen," says the 50-year-old farmer.
He goes on, "There are political reasons why they to try and make us look bad but none of it is true."
But the Guarani's reputation for dogged determination and their struggle has attracted attention beyond this rugged border region between Brazil and Paraguay.
Survival International, one of several pressure groups to criticise the hitherto unexplained death of the tribe's leader said, "What is particularly harrowing about this murder is that the Guarani knew their reoccupation was likely to end in bloodshed."
The mood among the Guarani is militant. As other Brazilians this week celebrated their independence day, the land's original inhabitants mourned what they had lost.
For now the Brazilian army is doing a good job of keeping the two sides apart - preventing new land invasions and more retribution.
Occupying these 10,000 hectares the Guarani may have succeeded in recovering some of what was historically theirs.
But it has come at a high price and their lives are still burdened by poverty and discrimination.
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Rail services were disrupted after thieves stole signalling cables. | The overnight theft of 100 yards (91m) of cable, between Walsall and Rugeley Trent Valley, was noticed at the start of services on Saturday.
Services were disrupted until the afternoon with passengers having to use replacement buses in the meantime.
A Network Rail spokesman said thieves risk serious injury or death and their actions can cost the taxpayer a lot of money in repairs and compensation.
"We continually seek to develop ways to protect the network from thieves and work with the British Transport Police to prosecute anyone caught carrying out metal thefts," they said.
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The sweet flavour of tomatoes has been accidentally bred out of mass-produced varieties that ripen at the same time, scientists have found. But in order to be able to buy "perfect" produce year-round, are consumers missing out on something else? | By Anna-Louise Taylor BBC Food
"I happen to like green tomatoes, when they are ripe, like green zebra, (which has a) beautiful flavour," says Chris Smith of Pennard Plants, a nursery in Somerset.
But he says most people do not like them, "because people eat with their eyes".
"You look at a green tomato and then in your own mind it's not ripe - and so therefore you don't think it has the flavour," Mr Smith says.
Consumers typically "match more rounded forms... with sweet tastes", according to research in Flavour journal, and it is this inbuilt predilection for buying ripe fruit and vegetables that has helped shape the global fresh produce markets, where crops are harvested and stored weeks ahead of their sale in shops.
The UK's homegrown fruit and vegetable market is worth £1.8bn, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), but its figures show vegetables worth £1.9bn (excluding mushrooms and potatoes) and fruit worth £2.4bn are also imported each year.
In order to achieve large-quantity crops that ripen simultaneously, certain varieties have become exceedingly popular with growers, to the detriment of others.
In the US, more than 15m tonnes of tomatoes are harvested each year. US researchers have found that the breeding process to produce tomatoes that can be harvested at the same time and turn an even shade of red, has inadvertently
turned off a key gene during photosynthesis which produces sugars in commercial varieties
.
This reduction in sugar "compromises the flavour", the study in the journal Science found.
"Now that we know, some of the qualities that people value in heirloom tomatoes can be made available in other types of tomatoes, farmers can have access to more varieties... that produce well and and also have desirable colour and flavour traits," says lead author Ann Powell, a biochemist from the University of California, Davis.
Heirloom fruit and veg varieties are celebrated by gardeners as having strong, distinctive flavours.
They had been forced to the margins in recent decades by EU rules, like the introduction of an expensive seed registration process. But last year rules were relaxed, and Victorian varieties are once again being grown.
"It didn't matter if the skins were thin, it didn't matter if the plants were large, or the fruit was large or not regular shaped - they (the Victorians) were worried about the flavour and not anything else," says Chris Smith.
Some supermarkets are now selling heritage tomatoes "as taste is becoming much more of an issue" says Tom Sharples from Dobie Seeds in Devon.
However the EU still dictates the size and shape of produce that can be sold, and for some, their look doesn't quite fit.
Tom Sharples says skins still need to be thicker for transportation to avoid bruising, and so major producers have breeding programmes under way to develop the perfect hybrid.
But it's not just flavour and looks that consumers are concerned with.
One recent study in Appetite journal found the second most important factor in purchasing specific fresh produce like cherries was shelf life, after price.
Tom Sharples says: "The home gardener just wants the taste, and of course a reasonable yield, and the supermarkets want the shelf life."
To get it right, scientific studies in to the time fruit and vegetables should be put in to cold storage are needed.
Research in to the cold storage of avocados found nutritional compounds and antioxidant activity in early harvested fruit that had been in storage for 35 days was much higher than it was in late harvested fruit stored for 21 days.
It concluded that avocados could be harvested earlier for economic benefits without losing nutritional value.
However a study of grapefruit harvesting shows the date they are picked has a clear influence on decay, with 30.7% of fruit picked before flowering rotting, but only 5.5% rotting if picked during full bloom.
It concluded growers should harvest grapefruit after flowering, but not too late, and to store them at 10C (50F).
Meanwhile, the difference of a week in harvesting time for kiwi-fruit stored for six months had a clear difference on their nutritional value.
Vitamin C and carotenoids were higher in fruits gathered first, but these were reduced after six months in cold storage. However fruits harvested a week later actually seemed to "improve their quality after a long storage".
Tom Sharples agrees the scientific techniques that have been developed, like pre-chilling on the fields can maintain more vitamins.
"If you take something like spinach for instance, you can lose 70% of vitamins within seven hours of harvest," he says.
While science remains focused on commercial crops, gardeners hope there we will soon see more old varieties crossed with modern hybrids, that have the flavour but are more disease resistant.
Because as Chris Smith says: "We are now so worried about the transportation of fruit and vegetables... they are not bred for flavour anymore."
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When the Labour peer, Lord Hain, used parliamentary privilege to name Sir Philip Green as the businessman at the centre of a legal action about harassment, did he open a parliamentary Pandora's Box? | Mark D'ArcyParliamentary correspondent
The ancient right of parliamentary privilege gives MPs and peers unrestricted free speech in their debating chambers - this enables them to name names without any fear of being dragged before the courts and sued for defamation.
It is, potentially, a powerful tool for righting wrongs, but, as they say in teen epics, with great power, comes great responsibility.
And there are some in Westminster who now fear an epidemic of social media-driven injunction busting in Parliament.
This week, I attended a meeting convened by a newish think-tank, the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, where an audience mostly composed of senior lawyers, judges and constitutional scholars, thought Lord Hain's actions an outrage.
"It cannot be right," thundered superlawyer Lord Pannick, that any parliamentarian could simply set aside the rulings of a court and name a name that it had ordered should not be disclosed.
Worse still, it might reveal details of a live court case, so breaking both the injunction and the sub judice rule, under which parliamentarians do not discuss actions before the courts.
Rare events
So should this right be curtailed in some way?
The first point to make is that these events are fairly rare. The last few years have seen a handful of cases, mostly involving the former Lib Dem MP, John Hemming, who in March 2011, used parliamentary privilege to reveal the existence of a super-injunction granted to former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Fred Goodwin and later mentioned Ryan Giggs as the footballer whose name was protected by another injunction.
The clerks of the Commons and Lords are kept aware of live court cases, so that they can alert the chair to prevent breaches - sometimes they will be forewarned; perhaps the MP or peer concerned will have attempted to put down a question or an EDM and been blocked from doing so.
But if not, they have to react pretty rapidly, or the name will be uttered, and broadcast live on BBC Parliament, and thence released into the wilds of the twittersphere, in a matter of seconds.
This kind of thing could become a problem.
There have been legal challenges to the use of parliamentary privilege in the European Court of Human Rights, but the ECHR has thus far always upheld the right of freedom of speech within a parliament; but there is also the implication that if a parliament fails to police the actions of members effectively, then the court might begin to look at this differently.
Were Sir Philip to bring an action saying Lord Hain had infringed his right to a fair trial, under Article 6 of the European Declaration, the result would be a rather interesting case.
How, then, might the Commons and the Lords deal with MPs or peers set on breaking the terms of an injunction, to name some name?
The current rules advise against such actions unless the parliamentarian in question "thinks it right". This is not exactly a high bar. Peers are also supposed to act "on their honour".
One suggestion on toughening up this system, made at the Bingham Centre meeting, was that an MP or peer contemplating breaking an injunction should discuss the idea with the Speaker or Lord Speaker, and could be open to some kind of disciplinary action if they went against their advice.
They would then have the chance to justify their action, perhaps before a committee, or maybe even the whole House. And at the end of the process there would have to be the possibility of a significant sanction - including suspension or expulsion.
Whether MPs or peers would be prepared to accept such a restriction, and vote through the rule changes needed to underpin it, is another question.
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Police are at the scene of an ATM raid at a Co-op store on the outskirts of Aberdeen. | Officers were called to the Kingswells store in the early hours of Monday morning.
The incident, which left the ATM badly damaged, took place at about 01:00.
Police Scotland Det Ch Insp Alex Dowall said it had still to be established if any money was taken, and they were keeping an open mind as to it being connected to other incidents.
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Church leaders have warned the spire of one of Leicester's oldest churches could collapse unless £500,000 is raised for repairs. | Several large cracks have appeared in brickwork at the 900-year-old St Mary de Castro Church, on Castle View.
The spire has been reinforced with steel bands but experts say a more extensive repair is needed, involving more than 500 stones being replaced.
Fundraising plans include asking people to "sponsor a stone".
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India has more than 630 million internet subscribers. But for every Indian who has access to the internet, there is at least one who does not and that person is most likely living in a rural area. Smriti Parsheera writes on the country's continuing digital divide. | There is an exuberance around India's digital story.
The country is home to the world's second-largest internet user base, consisting of more than 630 million subscribers. That is more than the total population of the US, the United Kingdom, Russia and South Africa put together.
It also has the cheapest mobile data prices, which has allowed a large population to use the internet just in the last four years.
Besides the size of the pie, data consumption is also on the rise.
The average internet user now consumes more than 9GB of data per month. That translates to watching 16 hours of video a month compared to just 15 minutes in 2015.
Other positive trends include a competitive e-commerce market, a booming video streaming industry and a choice of affordable devices.
Rural population66%
Internet density 25.3%
Urban population34%
Internet density97.9%
At the government's end, electronic governance, mobile health and digital finance are at the heart of many policy discussions.
All of this excitement is, however, surrounded by the sobering reality of India's continuing digital divide.
This refers to the gap between those who have access to the internet and other digital technologies and those who do not.
The divide is shaped both by the availability of internet services in different regions and the ability of individuals to tap into those services. A person's location, income, gender, education, language, and age are some of the factors that define their access.
As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the country has an internet density of 48.4. This represents the number of internet subscribers per 100 people in the population.
Even though 66% of the country's population lives in its villages, rural internet density is just 25.3. In comparison, urban areas have a significantly higher density of 97.9.
This means that for every Indian who has access to the internet, there is at least one who does not and that person is most likely living in a rural area.
We see stark variations in the access levels across the country's 28 states and nine union territories. States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the north and Orissa in the east are known to perform poorly on human development indicators, and they also fare badly in internet use density.
The availability of internet infrastructure is also affected by geographic conditions.
For instance, the remote mountainous areas of Himachal Pradesh, sparsely populated deserts of Rajasthan and dense forests in Madhya Pradesh face greater digital exclusion. It so happens that many of these remote locations are also home to India's tribal and marginalised communities. Poor connectivity can therefore unwittingly end up perpetuating existing disadvantages.
Gender is another important factor that shapes digital access. Only 16% of Indian women were found to be using mobile and internet services, a 2019 report from the GSMA, a body which represents mobile operators, said.
On a comparative scale, women were 56% less likely to use mobile internet than men. This situation stems from a mix of economic, social and cultural factors placed against the backdrop of a deeply patriarchal setup.
On the economic front, while data access charges have gone down drastically, the cost of internet-enabled handsets is still a barrier for many households.
The financial dependence of women and their lower position in the household pecking order naturally reduces the likelihood of them owning such devices. Besides ownership, lower literacy rates and digital awareness among women are some of the other limitations. Many of these factors also contribute to reduced access among the elderly population.
Digital empowerment is known to create greater awareness and independence, which may be perceived by some as a threat to the established social order.
This thinking has manifested itself in several reports about some village-level community bodies imposing restrictions on the use of mobile phones and social media by women, particularly younger women.
Finally, when it comes to the educated classes, the issue shifts from that of basic access to the chronic under-representation of women in various ways. From online spaces to research labs to meeting rooms, India mirrors the global trend of digital technologies continuing to remain the primary domain of men.
The Indian government has not been immune to these problems. One of its flagship programmes, the Digital India project, identifies universal access to mobile connectivity as one of its main pillars.
The government is trying to achieve this by providing broadband connectivity to the country's 250,000 village councils. This project has been in effect from 2011 but so far a little less than half of that target has been achieved. The number of locations where the completion of the work has led to functional internet is even lower.
The government's National Digital Communications Policy acknowledges that much more effort is needed on this front.
It speaks about the need to bring connectivity to all under served areas and identifies specific groups, like marginalised communities, women and persons with disabilities that merit specific attention. The policy also lays emphasis on solving last-mile connectivity issues in both urban and rural areas, through the use of public Wi-Fi infrastructure.
The policy discourse is clearly moving in the right direction.
From broad claims about the need for universal access, it has evolved to recognise some specific factors, like location, gender, and marginalisation, that shape the digital divide.
What India needs next is for policymakers to undertake a rigorous data-driven exercise to measure which factors are causing what level of exclusion and the reasons behind it. Only when we fully understand the beast of India's digital divide can we design targeted solutions to tame it.
Smriti Parsheera is a Delhi-based technology policy researcher
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A police sergeant has been charged with rape and sexual assault and is due to appear in court later this month, police have said. | Sgt Ben Lister, of West Yorkshire Police, will appear at Bradford Magistrates' Court on 24 March.
He has been suspended from the force, West Yorkshire Police said.
A force spokesman said: "A West Yorkshire Police officer has been charged with one count of rape and one count of sexual assault."
Sgt Lister was based at the force's Bradford District, police added.
Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
Related Internet Links
West Yorkshire Police
HM Courts & Tribunals Service
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Ewan Morrison has in the past been called a "purveyor of erudite filth". The award-winning Scottish novelist admits he used to live a life as "extreme" as the characters in his books but he claims he is finally trying to live in the "normal world". | By Steven BrocklehurstBBC Scotland news website
Morrison is a hugely successful author who has written four much-lauded novels as well as other critically acclaimed works such as last year's Tales From a Mall, but he says he finds it very hard to believe that people like or appreciate him.
He says: "I find it so hard to accept that in the last few years I have given up alcohol and put myself in therapy because I have to grapple with my belonging in the normal world. I find it upsetting that I'm here and I'm doing well."
'Incapacitating stutter'
Now 46, Morrison puts his inability to fit in down to his childhood in Caithness, where his hippy parents struggled to live the Utopian cultural life they had fled to the far north to build.
His father David was the local librarian and ran the Wick festival of poetry, folk and jazz which attracted cultural giants such as Norman MacCaig and Iain Crichton Smith but often failed to find audiences to match.
"My father hit the bottle when he realised the festival would not work. It was this big 60s dream, one that ruined our family economics," Morrison says.
"Watching your parents fail is pretty crushing."
In his 30s, he says, he had to deal with "severe anger and rage" against his "irresponsible" parents who tried to live outside the real world but abandoned their son to deal with the bullies from the tough working-class town who made his life a misery.
Morrison told BBC Scotland's Stark Talk: "I had an incapacitating stutter where I could not say my own name from the age of about nine to 13.
"I was systematically bullied for about three or four years to the point where I gave in and just accepted it would be a daily phenomena."
Morrison says he was kicked in the head, forced to eat dirt, stripped and on one occasion he remembers having to stand with his mouth open while the bullies attempted to spit into it from a distance.
He says he used to long for the day when the nearby Dounreay nuclear power station would blow up and the entire community would be destroyed.
The teenage Morrison found some kind of relief in making figures from modelling clay.
"On a bad day I would literally crush a Plasticine model and kill someone," he says.
His self-confidence grew through his talent for art and he went on to Glasgow School of Art, which he says was "a wonderful place for freaks".
He was a good artist but too impatient, always moving on to the next thing like a "butterfly".
At first he was a portrait painter, then changed to photography and he graduated making art documentaries.
One of his novels, Menage, sees his protagonists learning how to express their art.
Morrison says: "One of the pieces in the book was my actual graduation piece where I slapped about a good friend of mine.
"He's now a really successful artist living in Finland by the name of Charles Sanderson and he sat still for an hour while I slapped him and my friends kissed him and that became a portrait."
Love triangle
Menage, as the name suggests, features a love triangle, and it is not only Morrison novel in which explicit sex is a feature.
It was his first book, a collection of short stories called The Last Book That You Read, which had him dubbed a "Scottish purveyor erudite filth" by Arena magazine.
A couple of years later his first novel, Swung, told of the swinging scene in Glasgow, a lifestyle choice with multiple sex partners, into which Morrison delved after his marriage broke down.
He says he "cracked up" in New York at the turn of the millennium when a film project he had been working on for two years collapsed.
His "dangerous, alcohol-fuelled behaviour" resulted in him losing his wife, his two children and his home.
"I went nuts," says Morrison.
"I had so much resting on wanting to make this film in America to show that I could stand on my own two feet, put all my past behind me, almost start again in another world.
"When all that fell through I was stuck back in Scotland. I felt I was stuck in this place I had so desperately wanted to escape from."
Back in Glasgow, he turned to writing and in order to get material for his books, he lived "more extremely" than he would have done other wise, examining the swinging scene by spending a "year in perverse".
"I think most people who are involved in swinging are troubled," he says.
Happy-ending
However, in its defence he says swinging "demystifies" the rituals around sex and crosses cultural and class boundaries.
In 2006 when he met his future wife, Swung was still in draft form and he gave it to her to read.
He says his now-wife, who was a lesbian for 10 years, was not really afraid of the content.
"If anything I think she might have thought it was too bourgeois and heterosexual, " he says.
Morrison's 2008 novel Distance tells of two people clinging on to a long-distance relationship.
The male character Tom is unstable, volatile, suicidal, needy, feels inadequate, and he is an alcoholic.
"All my characters are a bit of me but pushed to limits so there was part of me that was all those things," Morrison says.
"I probably made the mistake of digging as darkly as I could into the rot inside myself for that book."
Like the characters in Distance, Morrison and his American wife Emily conducted a long-distance relationship for two years before she eventually moved to the UK.
Morrison says it has resulted in a happy-ending which he could not have dared to write in his novel.
So, is Morrison finally happy?
He says: "I used to wonder why I hated Henri Matisse when I was in art school and I think it was because Matisse was happy.
"I think I would like to be a bit more like Matisse in future, more calm and self-assured and to create things which are not just about being screwed up."
Stark Talk is on BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday 20 May at 13:30.
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A wedding-cake-shaped tree has been planted at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to celebrate the royal wedding. | Prince William marries his university sweetheart Kate Middleton on Friday.
Gulf War veteran Major General Patrick Cordingley planted a Cornus Controversa or Wedding Cake tree on Tuesday.
The Major General is leading an £8m fundraising appeal, of which Prince William is a patron, for a memorial hall at the Alrewas remembrance site.
Related Internet Links
The National Memorial Arboretum
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A convicted murderer who has been on the run for more than two years has been arrested by gardaí (Irish police). | Thomas McCabe, 56, was released from prison on licence and had been "unlawfully at large" since it was revoked in January 2018 following several breaches.
He had been imprisoned for killing a teenager in London.
In June, a reward of up to £5,000 was offered by the Crimestoppers charity for information leading to his arrest.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the PSNI thanked members of the public who responded to the appeals for information.
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Forty years ago today Harold Wilson returned to power as Labour Prime Minister. But it could have all been different if Conservative Ted Heath and Liberal Jeremy Thorpe had succeeded in their coalition talks. | By Robert OrchardFormer BBC Political and Parliamentary Correspondent
Voters had gone to the polls to give their answer to a stirring challenge from a Conservative prime minister: Who Governs Britain?
That was the battle cry of Ted Heath. His government was in the grip of an energy crisis, and facing a crippling strike by the miners and other key workers.
Oil prices were rocketing. Industry was restricted to working a three-day week to save power. TV channels shut down early. Children did their homework by candlelight.
The energy minister, Patrick - now Lord - Jenkin, suggested novel ways to save electricity, even urging people to brush their teeth in the dark.
The National Union of Mineworkers had provoked a major government crisis.
'Razor's edge'
Lord Carrington, the Conservative Party chairman at the time, recalls: "We would have run out of coal by the beginning of March... no hospitals, no lights... it would have been an impossible situation."
Mr Heath called a snap election, and went on national television with a stark message for the British people: "It is time for you to say to the extremists, the militants, and to the plain and simple misguided... we have had enough."
The Conservatives began the election campaign well ahead but the gap began to narrow as the Liberals, led by the charismatic Jeremy Thorpe - a latter-day Edwardian dandy in his trademark three-piece suit and jaunty trilby hat - picked up votes from disillusioned Tory supporters.
By the time the polls closed, experts were predicting a "razor's edge" election and, as the final results straggled in the next morning, the country was waking up to a new political landscape - a hung parliament, with no party having enough MPs to vote down all its opponents in the new House of Commons.
Nothing like this had happened since 1929 and, with mutterings about a constitutional crisis, the Queen cut short a state visit to Australia and flew home.
Labour's leader, wily former Prime Minister Harold Wilson, had laid elaborate plans to slink away quietly, evading the press and media, if, as he expected, the Tories had won.
But Wilson was wrong.
The voters' dusty answer to Mr Heath's defiant challenge "Who Governs Britain?" was clear enough: "Not you". However, they seemed less sure whom they wanted instead.
Labour had the most seats - four more than the Conservatives - but Heath's Tories had won more votes overall, and neither had a majority in Parliament so could be defeated if all their political rivals combined together.
The Liberal Party had its best election result since the 1930s - winning six million votes, almost one in five of the electorate and establishing a beach-head, in terms of its vote share, from which the party and its successor, the Liberal Democrats, have rarely had to retreat.
But the vagaries of Britain's first-past-the-post electoral system translated those votes into just 14 MPs, not the 120 it might have had under a proportional voting system.
Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe was outraged, commenting: "I think there will be millions of angry people who will feel they have been cheated of parliamentary representation by an iniquitous electoral system."
With no clear election winner for the first time since the 1920s, Heath decided not to resign straight away but to stay on in Downing Street and invite the Liberal leader in for urgent talks on forming a possible coalition. Sounds familiar!
Many Tory MPs and activists were appalled at the prospect, and said so. And they were not the only ones. Most Liberal parliamentary candidates were outraged too.
One of them was a young Scottish lawyer, Menzies Campbell, now Sir Menzies - a Lib Dem grandee and former party leader. He says there was a "peasants' revolt" by the party's candidates.
"I have no doubt that Jeremy Thorpe harboured ambitions of getting into government but we had spent the past three or four weeks knocking and attacking the Tories, so we didn't think it was a good idea for him to march into Downing Street.
"A lot of the foot soldiers were ringing the party's high command saying under no circumstances should this go any further."
But it did go quite a lot further.
A secret memo about that extraordinary weekend, written by Heath's private secretary at the time, Robert - now Lord - Armstrong, reveals how he helped smuggle Thorpe into Number 10 on the Saturday afternoon after the election, avoiding most of the waiting journalists, TV cameras and protesters.
'Don't you dare'
Thorpe then regaled a bemused Heath, and his private secretary, with how he had eluded the press as he set off from his North Devon constituency: "He had sent his car, with a bag, to a neighbouring farm to await him.
"Then he had donned a country coat and Wellington boots over his town suit, walked across three wet fields to the farm, and driven from there to Taunton, where he caught the train to London."
But Thorpe was cautious in his talks with Heath and, knowing the strong feelings in his party against any deal with the Tories, he had kept some of his closest colleagues in the dark.
His right-hand man, the party's chief whip at the time, was David - now Lord - Steel, who would later lead the Liberals himself.
When he belatedly found out about the talks, Steel headed for London, from his home in the Scottish borders, with the warning of a key local Liberal ringing in his ears: "Don't you dare come back as a minister in Ted Heath's government."
Heath and Thorpe held a series of talks at Downing Street and by telephone.
The Liberals were offered a coalition with a cabinet seat for their leader but only a Speaker's Conference - a talking shop - on their political holy grail: electoral reform.
It was a very tense few days inside Number 10, "a horrible time", as Lord Carrington recalls.
Throughout these coalition talks the Labour leader, Harold Wilson - beaten by Heath in 1970 - kept his head down, during what he famously called "that longest dirty weekend".
But he was not totally in the dark over what was going on.
One of his advisers, Bernard - now Lord - Donoughue, has revealed he was getting inside information from a senior Liberal Party source: "I had a friend at the top of the Liberal Party who I was phoning every few hours and who was reassuring me that the Liberals would not join with the Conservatives... even though Jeremy Thorpe was, in his words, very keen to get his knees under the cabinet table.
"He said the party's grassroots, especially in the West Country, would not have it."
The constitutional role of the Queen in these unusual circumstances was what was worrying some of the most senior political mandarins and Palace advisers.
But the agreed view was that the sovereign had nothing to do as long as she had a prime minister - the rest of it was not her problem.
Not that anyone could be really sure. Britain's unwritten constitution remained shrouded in mystery.
But, fortunately for the Palace perhaps, many Liberals feared a coalition would see their party swallowed up by the Tories and the talks with Heath finally collapsed on the Monday after the election, as a crowd outside Number 10 chanted: "Heath must go."
The experience scarred the defeated prime minister who turned to his friend and party chairman, Lord Carrington, in bewilderment, asking him: "Why do people hate me so much?"
Lord Armstrong recalls how he alerted Buckingham Palace that the prime minister would be coming to tender his resignation, but he felt he had one last duty to perform as Heath's private secretary.
"Because Mr Heath was a bachelor and at that point a very lonely man, I thought somebody must go with him in the car to the Palace. He was very downcast."
And it was a journey that Lord Armstrong recalled in that secret, often poignant, Downing Street memo, now in the public domain: "At 6.25pm the prime minister left Downing Street for Buckingham Palace. I went with him; and on the drive we neither of us said a word. There was so much, or nothing, left to say."
Harold Wilson returned to power, heading a minority Labour government.
In his autobiography years later, Heath defended his decision to hold talks with the Liberals, and could not resist a pointed dig at one of his former cabinet colleagues and bitterest rivals: "It was our duty to negotiate with the Liberals even if this might give ill-disposed people an opportunity to claim that we were trying to hang on to office.
"Mrs Thatcher wrote in her memoirs that the horse-trading was making us look ridiculous. The alternative was to give up without a fight. She certainly did not advocate that at the time."
Thorpe later defended his actions too, saying: "The attitude I took, and the reaction I gave to Mr Heath's offer was that which I thought was right for the country and right for the Liberal Party."
But the failure of those coalition talks was not only down to tribalism in the Liberal and the Conservative parties.
Already, rumours were swirling around Westminster about Thorpe's private life.
Five years later, he would be acquitted, in a sensational trial, of conspiring to murder a former male model, Norman Scott, after allegations - strongly denied - of a homosexual affair.
Labour's Lord Donoughue has no doubts that this could have scuppered any deal with the Tories: "Thorpe was a landmine waiting to go off." He adds that it was a landmine Labour would have been willing to detonate.
Lord Armstrong says Downing Street was also aware of the rumours already circulating about the Liberal leader: "I think he thought of being home secretary in any coalition, but there was already enough known about his own personal problems for us to be aware that this could be very difficult."
After the trial, Thorpe left politics and public life, becoming something of a lost leader of the Liberals, one who, supporters claim, has been virtually airbrushed from his party's history.
Yet he led the Liberals to their best election result for decades, a result which signalled the beginning of the end of the post-war, exclusive Labour/Conservative, Tweedle Dum/Tweedle Dee duopoly of power.
As Sir Menzies Campbell explains: "The scale of our success in that 1974 election, winning nearly 20% of the vote, took the Liberal Party by surprise. That was the election in which we cast aside the old music hall joke '... and the Liberal lost his deposit'. Thorpe was the leader who did that."
Thorpe has suffered for decades from Parkinson's Disease and has rarely been seen in public for the past 30 years. He will be 85 this year, and lives quietly in London with his second wife. He told me: "The February 1974 election was indeed a turning point - six million votes nationwide but only 14 seats.
"I quite agree that the record of that period should be historically registered but, in my state of advanced Parkinson's Disease, I do not feel able personally to take part in your project."
It is down to the voters to deal the electoral cards but, if next year's poll produces another hung parliament, will it be 1974 all over again - with a minority government because activists in the largest party and the Lib Dems want nothing to do with each other?
Or will the comfort and cuddliness of coalition with the Tories, or even misty-eyed memories of the Lib-Lab Pact in the 1970s, help Nick Clegg to avoid Jeremy Thorpe's mistake 40 years ago, and take his party with him as he tries, once again, to make common cause with either Conservatives or Labour?
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Immigration may not be as hot a topic as it was, but post-Brexit, there are big questions about the numbers of people allowed into the country, and under which rules Scotland has a consensus political approach, though public views on the issue are close to those in England and Wales There is a case being made for Holyrood to have the right to issue its own visas and work permits, to meet Scottish recruitment and demographic needs | Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland
Immigration has dropped down the list of voter priorities. They may think as they did about it, but not as strongly. It's not the same priority.
That may be because immigration numbers have dropped since the Brexit referendum. It may be because voters expect Brexit to ensure an end to the free movement of EU citizens in and out of the UK.
Or perhaps the post-Brexit referendum discussion of immigration has raised the public's understanding of the importance of non-British nationals to running public services.
In Scotland, the debate about immigration plays differently. Since the middle of last decade, there has been cross-party consensus at Holyrood that immigration is an important part of the answer to Scotland's demographic challenge. Without new blood, Scotland's workforce will age, and it would become more difficult to support public services for those in retirement.
That consensus began when Labour's Jack McConnell was first minister, and the SNP has enthusiastically made the case for immigration since it took office in 2007. Retaining free movement and recruitment of EU nationals is one of its main reasons for supporting continued EU membership.
Aussie rules
Public opinion does not follow Holyrood's consensus. Scottish attitudes to immigrants' impact on the economy and on British culture were found to be very similar to those in England and Wales, in the most recent social attitudes survey.
While more than 40% of Scots surveyed thought immigration was good for both the economy and for culture, 17% thought it bad for the economy and 20% undermining of culture.
Asked in two YouGov polls in 2017 if there are too many or too few immigrants in Scotland, there were very similar results: 37% saying "too many", 40% saying "about right" and 10% saying immigration is too low.
Immigration policy comes under Westminster control. Since 2010, there has been a drive (unsuccessfully) to cut net immigration numbers, much of it driven by Theresa May as home secretary and then prime minister.
There have been some moves to relax that approach under Boris Johnson, but the precise direction of Conservative is yet to become clear. In a BBC interview with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, it was also unclear whether he wants immigration up or down.
Business and universities are pressing for a post-Brexit migration policy to be sufficiently flexible that they can recruit the workers they need, at specialist level and at other levels of skill.
Some sectors are dependent on temporary migrant workers, led by farming. EU nationals form a large part of other sector's permanent workforces, from finance in the City of London to fish processing.
The NHS is also highly dependent on foreign nationals to fill vacancies, while many British-trained health professionals choose to work overseas.
There has been criticism of a Conservative government plan to limit immigration to those coming to jobs paying above £30,000. But the points-based system, drawing on Australian experience and being developed by the Home Office, is one that could win more support, depending on how the points are applied.
Rural challenge
Expert advisers to the Scottish government reckon that the current UK government policy would see immigration fall to between 30% and 50% of recent levels. Population would continue to grow, but more slowly, while the workforce would shrink.
The group pointed to a particular concern if post-Brexit immigration means fewer people from overseas settling in rural areas and islands, which are particularly vulnerable to declining population. Lower average pay in these areas would make it harder to attract incomers who could reach the immigration pay threshold.
It also suggested that would bias immigration in favour of men, and the policy could lead to a wider range of different nationalities, and shorter stays in the country.
The big immigration question for Scotland, while in the UK, is whether it could and should have its own migration powers - being able to grant residency and work rights to foreign nationals, on condition that they work only in Scotland.
A version of that applies in Australia, where state governments can issue work permits. It is argued that it would be harder to make it work in a smaller country, and could let migrants into England by the back door.
But there has been increasing traction for the idea, particularly as businesses have felt frustrated by the Theresa May approach to cutting numbers. It has been suggested also for north-east England and for the City of London.,
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Record spring rainfall has led to warnings that rats may have been flushed out of overflowing sewer systems and hunting around for new lodgings. BBC Panorama has been investigating whether the squeeze on council budgets could be affecting our ability to keep ahead of the vermin population. | Last year in the UK, a survey by the industry found that local council pest controllers made roughly 300,000 rat-related visits to people's homes. There is no official statistic to measure the rat population, but councils are also being routinely called out to grapple with the return of the bed-bug to Britain - after being all but eradicated half a century ago - as well as the ever-present cockroach.
And they are feeling the pressure.
Over the past two years, amid tightening budgets, 29 councils have pulled out of the pest control business entirely and others have started to charge for their services.
Councils are obliged to keep their own land free of rats and mice and have some powers to intervene to make private landowners do the same, but they are not legally required to provide a pest control service.
In Stevenage, the council has introduced a £47 charge for pest control, which initially resulted in a 50% drop in rat-related calls, although those numbers have begun to recover.
DIY dangers
Chris Woodard of the council's pest control team said that when faced with the one-time charge, people were giving more thought to tackling the problem on their own: "I think people just thought, 'oh, we'll try to deal with that ourselves and we'll go out and buy some poison for a few pounds'."
But he warned that the DIY route can be dangerous.
"Most people I see putting it down do it in a totally inappropriate manner, thereby poisoning wildlife and doing themselves some harm," he said.
Private companies are often the choice for domestic pest problems, but Simon Forrester of the British Pest Control Association said even competitively-priced private firms are sometimes beyond the reach of the most vulnerable.
"Local authorities are the safety net for society, and many people who can't afford pest control need to find some sort of support, they're often the ones who have the worst pest problems near and in where they live."
Graham Jukes of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health said he believes cutbacks will lead to more problems with pests.
"Resources to actually deal with the problem around the country are actually diminishing and so I believe the problem is getting worse," he said, adding, "populations will increase... damage and the potential loss of wellbeing will increase as well."
Council fees 'lazy'
But that view is countered by private contractors such as David Channon, of Microbee Ltd.
He said in areas where private pest controllers have taken over, infestations have not gone up.
"There hasn't been a sudden collapse in confidence or a sudden outbreak of pests in any of the locations that have had private contractors," said Mr Channon.
But Chris Woodard from Stevenage said the view from the front line is that budget-cutting by councils will lead to pest populations increasing.
"As far as public health pests go, they will be out of control… none of this is measurable quickly, it'll be a long term approach, if something is going to happen over the next three, five, maybe 10 years."
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said pest control was a matter for individual councils and that given the amount of overall budget spending that goes to local councils, they have to play a part in spending cuts.
He added: "There are many ways for councils to make sensible savings rather than the lazy option of introducing charges. Councils can protect front-line services through better procurement, greater transparency and sharing back office services."
Mr Jukes also thinks there is also a wider issue of co-ordination among the varying government departments or agencies that have an interest in public health, particularly with regard to pest control.
"The question is, are they being co-ordinated in any shape or form and my view is no, they're not."
Panorama: Rats, traps, bugs and cutbacks, BBC Two, Monday, 6 August at 20:30 BST then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.
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Bomb disposal experts were called to a house in West Sussex after police found a number of guns during a search. | Sussex Police say they conducted a firearms warrant at a property in Hastings Road, Crawley, on Thursday 14 May.
Specialist teams were seen to carry away a number of weapons.
Police say no arrests have been made and an investigation continues. A spokesman said there was no threat to the public.
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When Apple chief Tim Cook declared the iPhone X "the biggest leap forward since the first iPhone" at his latest launch extravaganza, you couldn't help but wonder if he was referring to its features or its price. | By Leo KelionTechnology desk editor
With the top-end model costing £1,149, customers are paying a premium to swap their fingerprint sensor for a facial scanner and the ability to make an animated monkey or poo emoji copy their bemused looks.
In opting to refer to the model as "ten" rather than "x", the firm has also thrown its naming convention into a bit of confusion - will there ever be an iPhone 9 - or indeed IX?
Of course, that's a problem for another day. And the internet has had plenty else to chew over in the meantime...
Cnet
The two biggest questions for me focus on the iPhone X's most daring design change, ditching the home button. Will it actually make the phone more convenient to use? And will using your face to unlock the phone benefit you, or is it just a workaround?
The Verge
The iPhone X may be the most powerful iPhone ever, but compared to almost any other Android flagships, it's hard to pick out a category where it leads the pack - at least on paper when comparing raw specifications. But if Apple has shown one thing time and again with every iPhone generation, it's that optimisation of hardware and software matter just as much - if not more.
Wall Street Journal
The iPhone X's new design - a 5.8in, edge-to-edge display -has raised hopes that it can reverse Apple's fortunes in China, where sales have fallen six straight quarters. Chinese consumers are more influenced by a phone's appearance than consumers in other markets, and Apple had kept the same appearance for three years.
Bloomberg
A $1,000 iPhone could add as much as 6% to Apple's 2018 earnings per share... but that depends on the iPhone X being a hit, and there's more competition from lower-cost Chinese competitors such as Huawei and Xiaomi, which timed the introduction of their new phones around Apple's launch to attract customers who may be deterred by the iPhone X's price.
Slashgear
Apple has crafted a stunning new flagship. In a time when existing iPhones were starting to look a little - dare I say - pedestrian in comparison to what Samsung, LG, and others were doing in hardware, the iPhone X has accelerated through and can spar with the best of them.
Engadget
What did bother me a little more than expected were the bezels that run around the screen... Given that Apple's competition has done an incredible job trimming the cruft from around their displays, I can't help but feel that the iPhone X's design doesn't have the same kind of impact as, say, the Essential or Samsung's recent Galaxys.
Wired
The very notion of using your face as the key to your digital secrets presents some fundamental problems... It's very hard to hide your face from someone who wants to coerce you to unlock your phone, like a mugger, a customs agent, or a policeman who has just arrested you. In some cases, criminal suspects in the US can invoke the Fifth Amendment protections from self-incrimination to refuse to give up their phone's passcode. That same protection doesn't apply to your face.
Financial Times
All the focus today was on the innovations in the X.But it all made the new 8 look like a rather boring, "plain old" iPhone - and the price for that has just gone up $50 as well.
Techcrunch
The X is the best iPhone, no questions, and it's quickly jumped to the top of the best phones, period. Yeah, it's going to cost you, but you already knew that.
Twitter:
"I gaze into the iPhone and the iPhone gazes back at me" - Nietzsche. @ericasadun
I'm not sure how the iPhone X face recognition will distinguish between me with make-up and without make-up. Because the difference is real. @kandeejohnson
So if you were sleeping and your girl picks the iPhone X and puts it in your face, it just unlocks it yeah? Lol. Thanks Apple. But no, thanks. @DrOlufunmilayo
I think the leaks spoiled the iPhone X keynote, but Apple also didn't do enough to show why augmented reality matters. @tomwarren
The choice is simple: The iPhone X or 363 coffees. @joshtgoossen
Releasing the iPhoneX and 8 at the same time is strange, surely those who get the 8 will feel they've not got the latest iPhone. @Mr_Iconic
The iPhone X is over a thousand dollars but I get to make myself into a poop emoji, so ya, it's worth it. @donaldcookie
Facebook
iPhone X has facial recognition. It'll look at your face and tell you that you can't afford it. - Abhimanyu Singh
Face ID seems like an over-engineered fix that they were forced to include because they couldn't integrate a fingerprint scanner into the screen - Nick Farina
How on earth can they justify the same price in $s as in £s... utterly shameful! I won't be buying on that basis alone. - Darren Taylor
They made the 8 almost identical to the 7 so people would have to spend the extra money for the X. And I'm sure I'll buy one even though I know what they did. - Patrick Michael
Google has just been given a gift. Apple could have really done something that would have caused Android fans angst today. It did not. Instead, we're looking toward the Pixel 2 launch in October with renewed interest. - Robert Scoble
Reddit
Apple isn't the first in facial recognition (by a long shot) but they will without a doubt make facial recognition competitive by making it better. This is how they always work. - Leprecon
The lack of any fingerprint reader could cause problems for people who either cover their face for religious or professional reasons as well as for blind people. Really hoping Apple thought about these issues. - danius353
The iPhone home button was what made it look like a iPhone. The little round button was so iconic. Now the iPhone X looks like any other phone really especially if you put a case on it. - Ihavefallen
X2? XS? What are they going to call the next one? - Alteran195
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The Englishperson's lack of interest in the national seaside is so dire calls have been made for a special "tsar" to be appointed to deal with our apathy. But no matter how the issue is tackled, are we really going to flock to the grey, windswept expanses of gritty sand to frolic in icy brown ankle-deep water? | By Bethan BellBBC News
Perhaps a leaf can be taken from Scarborough's book - it's one of the few domestic beach resorts bucking the national trend and actually attracting holidaymakers and day trippers.
So what does it have to offer?
Scarborough is a place of two halves. The south has a funfair and arena - the Sun Court - for an orchestra to put on open-air concerts. The north is quieter in terms of attractions, but has a wilder, more rugged feel and is popular with surfers.
Clinging to the cliffs above the North Sea on England's east coast, the town was enormously popular in the 19th Century for those seeking spa cures.
Out and about with holidaymakers around England
Now, although the wide sweeping beaches are still beautiful and the harbour bustling and picturesque, any residual glamour has faded.
It's hard to imagine well-to-do Victorian ladies demurely taking the waters.
Beachfront shops sell confectionery in shapes which could be described by some as "saucy" and others as "smutty".
Some are so explicit they're covered in bubble wrap or only stocked on the top shelf.
BB guns are displayed alongside buckets and spades, and giant games arcades and a casino dominate the main road between the South and North Bay.
But alongside the more salacious elements, there are traditional activities.
Donkey rides are available - so long as you're aged 12 and under and weigh seven stone or less.
End-of-the-pier entertainments - such as The Billy Pearce Laughter Show - are "here all season", and dressed crab is sold from kiosks along the front.
It's a proper seaside resort.
First thing in the morning street-sweepers remove the traces of late-night revelry, making the town feel clean and new.
Dog-walkers briskly follow their charges, throwing tennis balls into the surf. The fishing fleet comes in and cafes and stalls bustle into life.
As soon as the sun falters from behind the clouds, the beach fills up with barely-clad children digging holes and squealing.
Some admire fish-heads left on the sands after a day's catch has been hauled in.
Parents in jeans and anoraks huddle behind wind-breaks. Teenage girls take the least opportunity to pose in bikinis, their male counterparts making the most of the view.
Older couples, wrapped up warmly, gingerly paddle.
There's an open-air theatre and a castle that overlooks the bay.
There are modern attractions too, such as the newly-opened water park, and a sea life centre. Flamingo Land is not far away. The Tour de Yorkshire cycle race sped through here, and a sea festival has been held.
But despite these newfangled introductions, there's an air of stepping back in time. The hotels are unfashionable yet most are fully booked for the summer season.
According to Visit Scarborough, the majority of tourists come for the day, although there has also been a rise in overnight stays - the average is between two and three nights.
Stag and hen parties drive up the numbers - and the popularity of anatomical confectionery.
The soon-to-be-wed emerge mid-morning, drinking coffee and heading for the funfair.
Sara Jones is a bride-to-be. She says she picked Scarborough for her pre-wedding celebration because "it's relatively cheap and fun".
"We're mainly here just to have a good time," she says. "Have a drink, go on the beach and go clubbing at night.
"I wasn't after anywhere to have a grown-up time, just a place to let our hair down".
The appreciation of Scarborough's lack of refinement is echoed by many other visitors.
At lunchtime Pat and Dave Gammon, both in their 70s, sit on the harbour wall eating chips. They say they enjoy the old-fashioned atmosphere of a traditional seaside holiday.
"We like walking along the promenade and the cliff gardens," says Mr Gammon.
"Yesterday we went to watch the orchestra play and had a coffee. Then later fish and chips or whatever - although I was accosted by a seagull which stole my crabstick," he adds, somewhat ruefully, while his wife rolls her eyes.
"He's being going on about that crabstick all day," she good-humouredly grumbles.
Although the vast majority of adult holidaying visitors are Britons, some overseas tourists also make their way here.
Carla and Luise are two friends in their 30s from Austria, who are staying in York.
In the late afternoon they plod up the steps from the beach to the town, looking weary. They're heading back to their car.
Carla says Scarborough "is fun. It is not nice, but it is fun", while Luise says she preferred Whitby, which is just along the coast.
In the early evening, school-age children, many local, roam the seafront and arcades before gathering in McDonald's.
Zoe, who lives in Scarborough, says "it's an all right place to be, I suppose. Kind of boring. I like it when it's proper summer and people are around all night.
"In the winter I pretty much know everyone around here. But in the summer we get the exchange school kids and that. That's more interesting, when they're about."
The people she mentions are usually on a trip to learn the language at the Scarborough International School of English. One of them, Giulia, says she likes the town because "it's alive".
A fair proportion of people staying at one of the hotels are couples with young children. Jason Philips and Jodie White have a three-year-old daughter, Scarlett, and another on the way.
Ms White is too far advanced in her pregnancy to fly and Scarlett gets bored on long journeys, the couple say.
They decided on Scarborough because they wanted to visit somewhere "with a holiday feeling".
What's Scarlett's favourite thing about the trip?
Mr Philips laughs resignedly: "She likes pressing the buttons of the lift in the hotel and loves the tram down to the beach. We've been up and down on it three times now.
"In the end we told her it was closed."
Near the harbour, where their three dogs are sniffing at the stacked-up lobster pots, Sue and Michael Chandler, from Leicestershire, are having sundowners. They've been visiting Scarborough annually for 20 years and believe its star is rising.
"It's getting really busy again," Mr Chandler says. "It's not as busy as after the financial crash in 2008, mind you.
"I'm expecting it to pick right up after the whole Brexit business.
"Not that we came because of that, we just like it here. We like being able to bring the dogs. I think they like the way it smells."
The couple, along with Mitzi, Bruno and Pie, saunter off to their B&B.
As the day draws to a close, the character of Scarborough begins to change.
The die-hards on the beach pack up their flasks and wind-breaks, the young children and their adults wend their ways back to the hotels - sandy, sticky hands clutching helium balloons and soft toys won by granddad at the grabber machine.
The music from the games arcades increases in volume, as Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston howl at the world.
The pavement is coloured with pulsating red lights - now a runway for people dressed up for a night on the town.
Jade, 18, is one of a pack of young women who've emerged from a budget hotel. She's on holiday with three of her friends - their mums wouldn't let them go abroad and Scarborough was a compromise.
It's the first time any of the girls have been away without adults. All four are wearing enormous grins, tiny shorts, high heels, and vest tops. It's drizzling but they don't seem to have noticed.
"We're having an awesome time," Jade says. "We're here for a week, just hanging about. We met some lads at the fair earlier, probably going to meet up again later, like.
"It's a bit of fun, nothing serious. We're here just to have a laugh. We're all staying in the same room, it's crazy but we're having the best time ever."
Jade's friend Millie says the four of them plan to go abroad next year "for a bit of sun".
"And hot foreign boys," Jade adds, while the others giggle and agree.
Would they ever come back to Scarborough?
"Yeah - let's come back for our 40th birthdays," Millie laughingly suggests, as if 40 was an age far too distant to comprehend.
The group totters off to town.
Later, in the early hours of the morning, Jack and Tom stagger back along the main street of the town, looking slightly worse for wear.
They've had a good time, they say, and "lots of beer".
Then, over the next half hour, the town goes quiet once more - until the street-sweepers, dog-walkers and cafes begin their daily cycle, ready to do it all again.
Perhaps Ms White has it in a nutshell.
Scarborough, unashamedly old-fashioned and unsophisticated, is a place where you feel like you're on holiday.
There's sand, sea, donkeys, fish and chips, arcades, candyfloss and a funfair.
Everyone, regardless of age or interests, appears out to have a good time. It seems everyone is with someone - it's rare to spot people alone, unless they're queuing for ice-creams or waiting for their family to clamber off the Ferris wheel.
Maybe that determination to enjoy life is the reason Scarborough remains so popular.
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A man has been arrested after a woman was found dead at a house in a Cotswold village. | The woman, in her 40s, was found dead in Great Rissington, near Bourton-on-the-Water, at about 11:35 GMT on Sunday.
Police were called to the scene by the ambulance service and say they are treating her death as "unexplained".
A man in his 40s has been arrested in connection with the woman's death and is in police custody.
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Trees touching overhead power cables after being weighted down with snow caused major disruption on rail services out of Birmingham.
| London Midland said services to Redditch are running again with delays. A replacement bus between Redditch and Longbridge, had been running.
Trains between Birmingham and Hereford were delayed by up to an hour, Network Rail said.
Engineers have cut back branches on the trees, to remove the problem.
"The weight of the snow has loosened some trees and brought branches closer to the rail line," a spokesman said.
Engineers also removed ice from power cables in a tunnel.
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| By Victoria KingBBC News
UK latest
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital on Sunday night, 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus. Downing Street said he was suffering from "persistent symptoms" and therefore would have further tests as a "precautionary step". Officials insist the PM remains in charge of the government.
The news was announced shortly after the Queen delivered a televised message to the nation, thanking people for following government rules to stay at home and praising those "coming together to help others". BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond said it was an address designed to reassure and inspire in hard times. She spoke after the number of people to die with coronavirus in the UK reached 4,934.
Scotland's chief medical officer also resigned on Sunday night after being criticised for breaking social distancing rules. Dr Catherine Calderwood had already apologised for making two trips to her second home, but initially she and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would continue in the role. However, she later quit, admitting that the "justifiable focus" on her actions risked distracting from the pandemic response.
Elsewhere, the supply of personal protective equipment continues to cause concern, with The Royal Pharmaceutical Society warning its members on the high street don't have the right gloves, masks and aprons. The National Domestic Abuse helpline is also reporting a 25% increase in calls and online requests amid fears that restrictions could heighten family tensions and cut off escape routes.
Global picture
We're bringing you all the latest developments from around the world via our live page. Among those is the news that Japan is set to declare a state of emergency as the number of confirmed infections continues to rise.
In the US, President Donald Trump has warned there will be "a lot of death" in the next week or so, but also expressed hope coronavirus cases were "levelling off" in US hotspots. The number one hotspot though, New York, continues to suffer, with 594 new deaths reported on Sunday. However, that figure - and the figure for new infections - was lower than the day before.
The US is looking to Italy and Spain for positivity where the daily death rates continue to fall. In Italy, there's hope that one tiny village, quarantined in its entirety, could help solve some of the mysteries around the coronavirus.
Elsewhere, there are fears the virus could wipe out Brazil's indigenous communities altogether. Respiratory illnesses - such as those that develop from the influenza virus - are already the main cause of death for native communities. And in India, the BBC's Soutik Biswas looks closely at the efforts to contain the disease's spread in Asia's biggest slum.
Finally, read why conservation experts believe the coronavirus pandemic, which likely originated at a market selling wild animals in China, could be a watershed moment for curbing the global wildlife trade.
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Personal stories
How should you care for someone in your home who gets coronavirus? The BBC's Laura Foster can help. And what is it like to be pregnant at such a trying time? Watch and find out.
We hear the phrase "underlying health conditions" a lot right now, but what is it like to be someone in that category and fear your life would not be saved if you caught the virus? Read a personal account from disability advocate Lucy Watts, who is facing those sorts of worries.
All of our analysis and explanation on coronavirus is gathered together here for you. It includes key reminders on symptoms and on the social distancing rules currently in place.
Families in lockdown feel the psychological tension
By Sean Coughlan, BBC family and education correspondent
We may never forget the coronavirus lockdown. But are we still going to be talking to each other at the end of it? Because apart from worries about the virus, there are likely to be rising tensions in some families having to live on top of one another at home. In ordinary times, couples spend on average two-and-a-half hours together each day, says researcher into relationships Prof Jacqui Gabb of the Open University. But that was in the BC era (before coronavirus).
Read the full article
One thing not to miss today
When will we know the UK lockdown is working?
Listen up
In BBC Ouch's The Isolation Diary podcast, this week's highlight, The Food Delivery, creates both euphoria and a bit of a household debate. And also on the theme of food, NHS doctor and nutritionist Dr Hazel Wallace joins the Fit and Fearless team to answer your questions.
What the papers say
Late-breaking news of the prime minister's admission to hospital appears on several front pages. The Metro says he had looked "poorly" in a video message last week. The Daily Telegraph reports that ministers are expressing concern privately that the PM is insisting he must remain in charge, while also trying to "sleep and rest a lot". Along with Boris Johnson, the Queen appears widely after what the Daily Mirror calls a "heartfelt rallying cry" which drew on her experience of the Blitz. The Sun and the Daily Mail both note that she evoked the words of Vera Lynn, telling a nation in shutdown "We will meet again" once the crisis is over. Elsewhere, there are pictures of well-populated parks alongside reports of the health secretary's warning that exercise outside the home could be banned completely if the public fail to heed social distancing rules. "No lingering" is the headline in the Financial Times.
From elsewhere
The other frontline - inside the classrooms still operating (Huffington Post)
New York City in the coronavirus pandemic (New Yorker)
Passover, Easter and Ramadan become virtual holidays of renewal (Bloomberg)
20 ways to get your football fix during lockdown (Scotsman)
Sign up for a morning briefing direct to your phone
Need something different?
Get the latest recommendations for some cultural hidden gems from our arts editor Will Gompertz. Or read more about the virtual Grand National, which raised more than £2m for the NHS. Elsewhere, our colleagues in BBC Business have spoken to explorer and motivational speaker Mike Horn for this week's The Boss interview.
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Firefighters are continuing to deal with a major blaze at an agricultural shed in Perthshire, which broke out on Sunday night. | The shed near Blackford, containing 1,500 bales of hay, 300 tonnes of grain and farm equipment, was well alight when emergency services arrived.
Firefighters were alerted shortly before 20:00 and used portable pumps to divert water from a river.
Seven fire appliances attended the incident.
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Supermarket Lidl is to create more than 300 jobs in Scotland. | The company plans to open four new stores in Paisley, Dumbarton, Giffnock and East Kilbride.
The country's first Lidl metropolitan store will open in Edinburgh in the next 18 months.
A further 100 people will be employed at Lidl's new regional distribution centre at the Eurocentral industrial estate in North Lanarkshire.
The roles include operations, maintenance, logistics and office support.
A further 250 jobs are planned in the future to take the warehouse to full capacity.
And more positions will be created in modernised and expanded stores in Glasgow, Motherwell, Aberdeen and Ayr.
Ross Millar, regional director for Scotland at Lidl UK, said he was "delighted to be in a position to create new jobs" and expand the firm's 2,200 workforce in Scotland.
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With the world's biggest bike race starting in Leeds on 5 July, BBC Yorkshire's Tour de France correspondent Matt Slater rounds up the best of the gossip, opinion and stories, on and off the bike, and also tries to explain some of cycling's unique lingo.
TOP STORIES | Monday's diary included a gruesome tale about a cyclist "marking" his territory in a farmer's field in Wensleydale, so it with some relief, no pun intended, that I am able to tell you about more pleasant markings by cyclists in the Aire Valley. A group of mountain-bike riders, including our very own Cathy Killick, followed a narrow track around a field above Oxenhope last week to make the outline of "The Leap", one of 12 pieces of land art in the Fields of Vision project. Designed by local artist Louise Lockhart, it signifies the freedom women were given by the advent of the bike. Among the other Fields of Vision creations are a shepherd with his dog, and some very clever geometric patterns made with different shades of grass. Best seen from a helicopter, these giant artworks will look a treat on the Tour's TV coverage.
Full story: Telegraph and Argus
There is an artistic bent to today's musings with the next item being news of a cycling strand at this week's Sheffield Doc/Fest. Under the "Hell on Wheels" banner, there are three documentaries for you to immerse yourself in, with the most enjoyable being "the only one not about Lance-sodding-Armstrong". That film is "Slaying the Badger", an account of the 1986 Tour de France that saw teammates Bernhard Hinault and Greg LeMond battle each other for victory. In light of the recent hoo-ha about Chris Froome and Sir Bradley Wiggins, this race is often cited as what happens when teams go into the Tour with more than one leader. This is a mistake. It should really be remembered as the exception to the rule, as LeMond won, with Hinault coming second, and it has gone down as one of the greatest Tours of all time: something for Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford to consider, perhaps. Anyway, Slaying the Badger is based on an excellent book by Richard Moore and it is has the effortlessly charismatic Hinault in it, so it is bound to be good.
Full story: The Guardian
There really is no escaping the Tour in Yorkshire now, with all of the region's major institutions getting into the spirit of the event. The latest to join in are the Leeds Rhinos, who will be wearing a one-off, "maillot jaune"-style, all-yellow kit for the home Super League game against Catalans Dragons on the Sunday before the Grand Depart. Their visitors, from the foothills of the Pyrenees, will be sporting a King of the Mountains-themed, polka-dot number. The Rhinos kit features the logo of the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity and a percentage from any sales of the shirt will go to the cause.
Full story: Yorkshire Evening Post
CYCLING ROUND-UP
You have to hand it to the spin doctor in Chris Froome, he knows how to manipulate a news cycle. With most people still eager to talk about Sir Bradley Wiggins' plans for this summer and beyond, the 2013 Tour de France champion keeps serving up new stories for us to write about. Tuesday saw the Team Sky leader put on an exhibition of attacking cycling at the Criterium du Dauphine that only Alberto Contador could live with. The Spaniard was able to just about hang on to Froome's back wheel on the climb of the Col du Beal, but for him it was a second straight defeat to the man he must beat at Le Tour.
As impressive as Froome was, and he was very impressive, special mentions should also go to two young British riders with Tour ambitions of their own. The first is Bury's Adam Yates, who continued his superb form in his debut season to finish eighth on the day, just 42 seconds behind the leader. And the second is Burley-in-Wharfedale's Scott Thwaites, who is riding in the Dauphine for a place in his team's Tour line-up. Thwaites was back in 123rd, nearly 19 minutes behind Froome, but there were more than 40 riders behind him, including some solid Tour riders and three of his NetApp-Endura teammates. Thwaites is no climber, but he is hugely improved on the uphill sections and if he can continue to finish with the bulk of the non-specialists in the Dauphine's hilly stages he will do his Tour chances the power of good.
TWEET OF THE DAY
"He does it again!!! #dauphine #masterclass Brilliant @chrisfroome #VaVaFroome"
I wish Michelle Cound would get off the fence when she tweets during bike races involving her fiancé.
THE COUNTDOWN - 25 DAYS TO GO
And 25 is how many Tour stages Mark Cavendish has won in his seven appearances in the race since his debut in 2007.
That is good enough for joint third on the all-time list, alongside France's Andre Leducq, and just three behind Hinault. Belgian great Eddy Merckx leads the way on 34.
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On-island testing for coronavirus is now available in Jersey. | The "rapid" testing kits arrived on Tuesday and will give patients their results on the same day they are tested.
Previous tests had to be sent to the UK for analysis, which took about 48 hours for a result.
Priority will be given to patients who are admitted to hospital with coronavirus symptoms and healthcare staff who need to continue working.
The test assesses whether a person is carrying the severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 virus, the infectious agent which causes Covid-19.
The on-island laboratory which will process the tests will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A total of 150,000 antibody tests, which determine if someone has had coronavirus and developed immunity, are due to arrive this month, according to the government of Jersey.
Adrian O'Keeffe, pathology manager at Jersey General Hospital, said: "The ability to test for Covid-19 in Jersey means that people admitted to hospital can promptly be put onto the most appropriate treatment and they don't need to be held in isolation rooms for 48 hours pending their result."
The Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Richard Renouf, said the arrival of the kits was "wonderful news" and said they would provide "a fuller picture on how best to tackle the coronavirus outbreak in Jersey".
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In 2019 we saw the tragic death of journalist Lyra McKee and a crunch election.
| By Gareth GordonBBC News NI political correspondent
Some things stayed the same - with the Stormont stalemate continuing - but change came too, with the decriminalisation of abortion.
Here is my alphabetic run-down of the last 12 months in politics.
A is for Abortion
When is direct rule not direct rule?
When decades of deadlock over this most sensitive of issues is broken due to a vote in Westminster by MPs.
They set a deadline of 21 October for the assembly to return.
It did, but for less than an hour, and failed to halt the changes hailed by some as a momentous step forward for women's human and reproductive rights.
Others called it a "sad day" for Northern Ireland.
B is for Betrayal
The fact the DUP-Conservative love-in ended in "betrayal" (quote, unquote) surprised no-one - except, it seems, the DUP.
Before he became prime minister, Boris Johnson told a DUP conference that no unionist could sign up to a border down the Irish Sea.
Then he became prime minister.
You know the rest.
C is for Childcare
When a photograph of the SDLP MLA Nichola Mallon taking her new son to a meeting with the secretary of state at Hillsborough Castle appeared on Twitter, she was accused by an internet troll of "acting like a bimbo".
Politicians - and others - from across the divide expressed their support.
She said it was the kind of misogynistic abuse women in politics have to put up with.
Her accuser did not respond.
D is for Donation
Sinn Féin's ability to raise vast amounts of cash has long been the subject of wonderment, and not a little scepticism, from other parties.
More so now after the party was left almost £2,000,000 (and possibly rising) by an eccentric from Wales who lived a nomadic life, much of it in a caravan.
Billy Hampton was said by one former friend to have acted out of spite and to say "up you" to the British establishment.
E is for Event
Karen Bradley's parents ran a pub.
Hopefully with more success than she had when she invited Stormont's politicians to a drinks' reception.
The NIO did not actually call it that - they called it an "event".
Apparently, she thought it would be a good idea to bring the parties together for an informal "do" alongside the latest round of seemingly never-ending talks.
They didn't agree.
F is for Soldier F
The case of the Army veteran charged with two murders on Bloody Sunday became a cause célèbre which will run and run.
On the one hand, it was a touchstone for the movement opposed to the prosecution of former soldiers for historic cases linked to service in Northern Ireland.
On the other hand, families of the victims condemned the fact he was the only one being prosecuted.
The case has already had ramifications well beyond the city.
Banners supporting Soldier F began appearing in many towns and villages and a band from Larne took part in the annual Apprentice Boys' parade wearing Parachute Regiment insignia along with the letter F.
G is for G*bsh**e
Ian Paisley is used to being called names, but this was among the rudest.
The then SDLP MLA, Claire Hanna, went full potty-mouth after Ian Paisley said he would be telling Theresa May he wanted "milk but no sugar" when asked if he would be sympathising with her about another difficult day.
H is for Health
The Royal College of Surgeons said Northern Ireland's healthcare system was "at the point of collapse".
More than 300,000 people are waiting to see a consultant.
Add in industrial action by healthcare workers and nursing staff and the lack of any apparent political oversight and the word "crisis" hardly seems adequate.
It was probably the issue which, more than any other, saw Sinn Féin and the DUP lose votes during the general election.
I is for Iceland
If you thought a bridge to Scotland was a bridge too far, how about a 700-mile cable bringing us power from an Icelandic volcano?
The idea was floated in the DUP manifesto.
J is for Julian
At last, a secretary of state who seems fully engaged with Northern Ireland.
K is for Karen Bradley
In case you are wondering she used to be secretary of state.
She isn't any longer.
Gone and quite possibly forgotten.
L is for Lyra
A promising life cut short by a dissident republican New IRA bullet was a tragedy which re-opened a chapter of life in Northern Ireland most people hoped we had left behind.
Lyra McKee did not live long enough to fulfil her potential.
But the impact of her death could yet be immense.
A priest at her funeral asked: "Why in God's name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman, with her whole life in front of her, to get to this point?"
"This point" being politicians from all sides uniting as they hadn't done for years.
Talks aimed at restoring devolution soon resumed but broke up a few weeks later without success.
M is for Maldives
In 2018, DUP MP Ian Paisley was suspended from Parliament for 30 sitting days after he failed to declare two family holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government.
This year, the BBC Spotlight programme - which revealed the Sri Lankan story - reported that a former government minister in the Maldives paid for another family holiday for the Paisleys.
The difference now is new rules mean the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is unable to say if she is investigating the North Antrim MP.
So we are indebted to Mr Paisley's party leader Arlene Foster for revealing she is.
He, however, has since said the former first minister "slipped up".
N is for Nigel
As the rock band XTC once said: "We're Only Making Plans For Nigel."
Sinn Féin had plans for him, too. His North Belfast seat was their number one target and they took it with with the help of the SDLP and the Greens standing aside.
Nigel Dodds' loss was a devastating blow for the DUP.
O is for O'Dowd
Leadership challenges are a normal part of the political game, except in Sinn Féin (or for that matter the DUP).
So there was much licking of lips when it emerged the Sinn Féin MLA John O'Dowd was challenging the party's vice president, Michelle O'Neill.
And then... virtually nothing.
No hustings, no juicy interviews. Silence.
The party wasn't even going to reveal how many votes each candidate received, except to say Mrs O'Neill had won.
And then, under pressure, it did. It was 493 votes to 241.
Sinn Féin says it will review how it conducts leadership elections in future. Which may mean they expect more. Then again, it may not.
P is for Pact
The UUP stood aside for the DUP in North Belfast. The DUP stood aside for the UUP in Fermanagh-South Tyrone.
The Greens stood aside for the SDLP in South Belfast. So did Sinn Féin.
The SDLP did the same for Sinn Féin in North Belfast.
But remember - "We don't do pacts!" Unless you're Alliance, who really, really don't do pacts!
Q is for Queen
Arguably, the comeback of the year.
The Queen's portrait is now back on the walls of Stormont House after being removed in July.
Lord Maginnis claimed a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) employee was awarded £10,000 compensation for having to walk past portraits of the monarch.
The new Secretary of State, Julian Smith, had them returned.
R is for Rodgers
The veteran Ulster Unionist councillor, Jim Rodgers, had the party whip withdrawn over an election leaflet claiming Alliance had a record of "voting with the Provisional IRA's political wing".
S is for Surge
After years of treading electoral water, the Alliance party is, well, surging.
The local government election delivered them more councillors than any election since the 70s.
Naomi Long became the party's first MEP; and Stephen Farry its first MP for North Down.
The party's vote share put it third, ahead of the SDLP and Ulster Unionists.
T is for Tayto cheese 'n' onion
Or smokey bacon? Free state or Nordie?
Boris Johnson made his choice when he visited Tayto Castle in Tandragee - the perfect place to prepare for a crunch election.
U is for Union
The law of unintended consequences may be kicking in here.
The DUP supported Brexit. But not any of the versions the government has come up with.
Boris Johnson's version creates "an economic united Ireland" say unionists who cry "betrayal".
Calls for a border poll grow louder.
V is for Venezuela
Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy defended his attendance at the inauguration of Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro and denied the election was fraudulent.
He said Sinn Féin "wanted to show solidarity with the democratic choice of the Venezuelan people".
Many countries, including the UK, the US, Australia, Spain France and Germany, recognise the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
W is for Wells
Another big year for the one-man headline factory that is Jim Wells.
Outraged by the election of the DUP's first "openly gay" councillor Alison Bennington, he clashed with party colleague Gavin Robinson over the issue on live TV.
Later in the year, he said he was "guilty as charged" of being the health minister who broke with pay parity for health staff in 2014.
But the really big story was his decision to boycott Strictly Come Dancing because it said it would allow same-sex pairings on the series for the first time.
X is for X marks the spot
The Westminster election ended the DUP's pivotal role, lost them two MPs (see N for Nigel) saw their vote share drop markedly (though marginally less than Sinn Féin's) and delivered two MPs for the SDLP and one for Alliance.
So, memorable then.
Y is for Yesterday
...as in "all my troubles seemed so far away".
Insert any one of Nigel Dodds, Elisha McCallion, Danny Kennedy etc.
Z is for Zippergate
It's also referred to as Pee-gate - in which it emerged the then Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast, John Finucane, had been cautioned for indecent behaviour after being found urinating in the street after a night out.
He said he was "caught short" while going to his office when he discovered he had not got his keys with him.
He apologised.
Men across the political divide felt sympathy, though whether they were prepared to admit it or not depended on which side of that divide they found themselves.
The TUV leader Jim Allister dubbed him a "street urinator" and reported him to the Local Government Commissioner for Standards.
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The ancient Greeks called it "the sacred disease". | By Fiona GrahamTechnology of business reporter, BBC News
Epilepsy affects about 50 million people around the world and is the most common serious brain disorder, according to the World Health Organization.
Diagnosis isn't easy.
A seizure has to be recorded while a patient is hooked up to an electroencephalography (EEG) machine.
"Epileptic symptoms vary widely and... many different types of epileptic disorders exist that react differently to various medical treatments," says Dr Vincent Navarro, a neurologist at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris.
"Moreover, seizures happen at an irregular rate. It is therefore rare to record a seizure while doing a standard EEG recording of 20 minutes to one hour.
"Finally, non-epileptic events are in nearly 20% of cases wrongly considered to be linked with epilepsy when they could be of a completely different origin, for instance loss of consciousness that can be cardiac or psychiatric."
The hospital is working with a start-up on something it hopes will make diagnosis easier and faster.
Instead of being hooked up to a machine via an array of cabling, patients wear a t-shirt and optional cap at home, and biometric sensors feed information to a smartphone app.
"Instead of using desktop computers that force patients to remain in bed, we can use smartphones and use a wireless connection," says Pierre Frouin, the chief executive of Bioserenity, which makes the Wemu system.
"You need to record the brain's electronic activity, an electroencephalogram. That signal is actually very, very hard to catch - it's a signal that's a microvolt, as opposed to an electrocardiogram which is a millivolt, so it's a thousand times smaller."
"The smartphone will do the first level of intelligence, and the internet connection will send that information to a cloud system [to be analysed]."
A firm diagnosis can be reached in a matter of days or weeks instead of potentially years - giving access to appropriate treatment.
"Epilepsy is not simply a one-off diagnosis. It can severely disable people in terms of their capacity to live meaningful, independent lives," says Carol Ireland of Epilepsy Action Australia, who are backing the project.
Developing technology like this means navigating complex regulatory frameworks.
Working with clothing also brings particular challenges. "The limitation would be on the sensors, how durable they are," says Paul Sonnier, publisher of the Digital Health Post.
"When you integrate electronics into clothing, you've got to think about the use case, is it alright washing? And how do you have it in the clothing so you can use it all the time?"
Complex technology also takes time.
A bra to detect breast cancer has been debated in various quarters over the past 20 years.
Then a company called First Warning Systems announced a prototype in 2012 that claims to use thermal dynamic measurement - which records differences in body temperature that are then analysed using a predictive algorithm - to find tumours.
Despite some initial scepticism from some in the field, the company remains confident the technology is sound, and has continued to develop the bra further. This includes using a removable insert for the version intended for use in healthcare institutions rather than embedded sensors, and further refinements of the algorithm that reads the data.
"Our technology [during clinical trials] was able to detect cancers in cases where mammography missed the diagnosis in tumours which were smaller than mammography would normally detect, or in those cases where the patient was listed as 'technically difficult to image', or those patients with dense tissue," says company president Rob Royea.
A fourth round of clinical trials is planned for October, and the company is in the process of applying for a CE mark (product approval) in the EU, and for FDA clearance for the current iteration of the product in the US.
Another problem can be persuading the medical profession of the merits of this type of technology, according to Paul Sonnier.
"The big challenge is doctors didn't want to look at that stuff in the past because... they didn't trust the data."
OMsignal manufactures a range of smart exercise clothing with biometric sensors that measure performance and gives you an electrocardiogram (ECG) reading.
The data is collected by a separate device, which communicates with an app on a smartphone, which then connects with the cloud where it can be analysed by a series of complex algorithms.
The company has carefully placed sensors with patented technology in the fabric. It claims that as the sensors will read vital signs when both wet and dry, it is more accurate than a wristband, for example.
"We need to wear clothes and so we figured that that's the best place to put these sort of sensors," says Dr Jesse Slade Shantz, OMsignal's chief medical officer.
"It is right in the clothes that you wear on a day to day basis."
Dr Slade Shantz was originally tasked with exploring whether the technology could replace the Holter monitor - a wearable heart tracker.
"The idea was that there's such a huge market there for us. It's something you would think that's like a golden goose right?" he says.
"But I know what doctors are like because I am one. And to get a doctor to accept that sort of technology, to replace something they're already using that fits into their daily routine is very difficult.
"Not to mention the fact that, particularly in the US, which is one of the major markets for these technologies, the physicians actually make money putting Holter monitors on people. They won't make money unless we somehow cut them in.
"So we had to be realistic and figure out what would make a sustainable business and then bridge into that."
Shipments of smart wearables are expected to grow from 9.7 million in 2013 to 135 million in 2018, according to CCS Insight.
As we get better at embedding technology into our clothing, and arguably become more comfortable with the idea that our knickers could know where we're going and what we're doing, smart clothing might just prove to be the most accessible and familiar way to sell wearable tech to the man in the street.
Wemu's Pierre Frouin is banking on it. Diagnosis is just the beginning - he wants the technology to tell the people around an epileptic what to do during a seizure.
"The final step is to get it to a point where it can predict when a seizure is likely to happen. This would revolutionise the life of patients and what those patients are allowed to do," he says.
Epilepsy Action Australia's Carol Ireland agrees.
"In many countries there is still misunderstanding and even stigma surrounding the condition," she says.
"Many people who have epilepsy are confronted by the dilemma of whether to 'go public' and risk the negative reaction of others in the community. Depression and even suicide is more common in those with a diagnosis of epilepsy than for the general public.
"Accurate diagnosis of epilepsy and seizure syndrome and effective management of the condition is core to patients achieving the best possible life quality and outcomes."
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A man has been charged with murder after a woman's body was found at a National Trust beauty spot. | The remains of Carole Wright, 62, from London, were found by police in woodland on the Watlington Hill estate in Oxfordshire on 23 October.
Daniel O'Hara-Wright, 23, of Regent Avenue, Hillingdon, was charged following an investigation by Thames Valley Police's major crime unit.
He is due to enter a plea at Oxford Crown Court on 8 January.
Police said Ms Wright's family was being supported by specially-trained officers.
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Kenya sees itself as a technology giant in Africa and has embraced the nickname "Silicon Savannah" - now it has set up a special team to look into how to take advantage of the latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and blockchain. | By Dickens OleweBBC News
"We missed the internet wave, caught up with mobile technology... blockchain is the next wave - and we must be part of it," the team's chairman, Bitange Ndemo, told the BBC.
A blockchain is a shared database with a provable, auditable and verifiable record of all changes. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the use of computer systems to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence.
Information Minister Joseph Mucheru, the man who the team will report to, says that, among other uses, blockchain could help organise land records stored by the government, which are a constant source of frustration for people who want to buy, sell or verify information about land.
Possessing a title deed in Kenya does not necessarily guarantee ownership because fraudsters in cahoots with land officials have been known to change land records.
In fact, to buttress their land ownership claims beyond having a certificate, many Kenyans paint "This Land Is Not For Sale" on their property to warn off potential land grabbers.
In 2015, Kenyans witnessed a sad spectacle when pupils of a public primary school in the capital, Nairobi, were tear-gassed while protesting against attempts by a top hotel to grab the school's playground. Reports said that the school did not have a title deed.
The confrontation led activists to form the Shule Yangu Alliance - a pressure group - whose aim, it says, is to have 10,000 public schools issued with title deeds and fences built around 5,000 schools.
At the time, an official from the land commission advised all state institutions, which are usually easy targets for land grabbers, to get title deeds but also to put up fences.
Lack of trust
If land records were housed in an immutable blockchain, proponents say, it would reassure people that their records are intact and that the title deeds they own match government records.
According to Mr Mucheru, the platform provides "security, efficiency and transparency".
Caine Wanjau, the technology officer at Twiga Foods, a Kenya-based food distribution company, says: "In a relationship where two parties don't trust each other, then blockchain makes sense."
The company recently announced a partnership with IBM Research to create digital profiles of informal small-scale traders - to be stored in a blockchain - to help them access credit.
"Seventy percent of Kenyans work in the agriculture sector but only 2% get credit from banks. We want to create an immutable - trustworthy - database of the vendors and suppliers we deal with to help them, and banks to have access to information they can use to negotiate credit," Mr Wanjau adds.
Can technology create enough jobs for Kenya?
Sources: World Bank, KNBS, ICT Board
June Okal, from technology site Techweez, says that the conversation should not be limited to the technology but should also include people's privacy and data protection.
This is a big concern considering the country was caught up in the scandal involving British company Cambridge Analytica, which is accused of using people's personal data taken from Facebook, without permission, for its controversial micro-targeting election campaign strategy.
Kenya's constitution guarantees the right to privacy but its parliament is yet to pass a law that gives unambiguous protection.
Mr Mucheru, who left tech giant Google to join the government, says that the absence of laws should be seen as an opportunity to spur innovation.
He has, for instance, been a proponent of trading in Bitcoin - the highly volatile and unregulated cryptocurrency which operates on a blockchain platform - even though the country's central bank governor has described it as a ponzi scheme.
Blockchain is also being touted as a possible solution to various challenges in other countries in Africa.
In South Africa, it is being proposed as a tool to fight corruption.
Mining giant De Beers also plans to use the platform to provide a foolproof record of the source of diamonds to ensure they are not from conflict zones where gems could be used to finance violence.
The decade-old concept is however not a silver bullet - its vulnerability was recently exposed after hackers accessed $400m (£253m) worth of digital coins from a Japanese crypto-currency.
Some people have also questioned whether blockchain is the technological game-changer its proponents are selling it to be. Financial expert Kai Stinchcombe argues: "It's true that tampering with data stored on a blockchain is hard, but it's false that blockchain is a good way to create data that has integrity."
'World's freelancing headquarters'
Mr Mucheru dismisses concerns that Kenya has other pressing needs to deal with, saying that not investing in the new technologies now would only leave the country at a disadvantage.
"We already have people who are writing software for autonomous drones and experimenting with Artificial Intelligence and that number will only grow," he says.
"We want to be the freelancing headquarters of the world," he adds.
Despite his optimism, there are signs everywhere that it will take a long time for Kenya to fully feel the impact of AI-powered robots in their daily lives.
For example, hundreds of Kenyans still work as pump attendants at petrol stations across the country - a job that could easily be automated.
Mr Mucheru insists that investing in AI technology will create new opportunities, even though he admits that it will kill other jobs.
Entrepreneurs like Mary Mwangi, from Data Integrated Limited, remain optimistic about the future.
The company launched a device called Mobitill which aims to bring "financial accountability and security" to Kenya's notoriously anarchic public buses known as matatus.
"The device uses sensors to track the bus and collects data on passenger numbers and ticketing to ensure full accountability," Ms Mwangi says.
Even though the device was built by local software developers, she says that there are not enough engineers in the country to fully power an AI industry. "But we have a lot of upcoming talent," she adds.
The talent will be needed to fill thousands of skilled jobs expected to be created after the completion of a $5bn (£3bn) technology city called Konza City, which is part of Kenya's ambitious development plan known as Vision 2030.
The technology hub will sit on 5,000 acres of land and aims to be the centre of innovation which will attract top technology companies to set up shop.
If Konza City turns out as planned, Kenya will really live up to its title of the "Silicon Savannah".
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Here is Prime Minister David Cameron's speech on why Britain should vote to keep its current "first-past-the-post" voting system for Westminster elections when it goes to the polls on 5 May.
| "It's been nine months since the coalition came together in the national interest.
In that time, Nick Clegg and I have discovered we agree on key elements on programmes for national renewal.
From cutting the deficit and restoring responsibility to our finances…
…to getting behind businesses and helping them create more wealth and jobs…
…to redistributing power away from Whitehall to individuals, families and communities.
And we have tried to deliver this agenda in a different way.
Rational debate, not tribal dividing lines.
Reasoned announcements, not headline grabbing statements.
And where there are differences of opinion between us - not rancour but respect.
It's one of those differences that I want to speak about today.
In less than three months, this country will decide whether or not to change our voting system from First Past the Post to the Alternative Vote.
Nick believes we should - and is campaigning for a 'yes' vote.
I profoundly believe we should not - and will campaign for a 'no' vote.
So yes, there is a real difference of opinion between us.
On this one, I don't agree with Nick.
But this is not a source of tension.
And it's not a coalition breaker either.
Far above our beliefs about how the voting system should work, we share a much more important belief - a belief in democracy and the voice of the people being heard.
Once the votes have been cast and once a decision has been made, we will accept the result of this referendum and continue to work together in the national interest.
But now, this country is facing a hugely important, future-deciding vote.
So I'm here today to explain as clearly as I can why AV is completely the wrong reform…
…why it would be bad for our politics…
…and bad for our democracy.
For me there are three big problems with AV.
One - it would lead to outcomes that are unfair.
Two - it is a voting system that is unclear.
And three - it means a political system that is unaccountable.
Let me take each in turn.
First, let me take on this myth that AV is more fair and more proportional than the system we have currently.
This is really important.
Those arguing for AV claim it will make every vote count, end safe seats, encourage smaller parties…
…and that the final result will better reflect the will of the people.
On every measure, that is simply not true.
It won't make every vote count.
The reality is it will make some votes count more than others.
There's an inherent unfairness under AV.
Supporters of unpopular parties end up having their votes counted a number of times…
…potentially deciding the outcome of an election…
…while people who back more popular parties only get one vote.
Why?
Because if you vote for a mainstream candidate who is top of the ballot in the first round, your other preferences will never be counted.
But if you vote for a fringe party who gets knocked out, your other preferences will be counted.
In other words, you get another bite of the cherry.
I don't see why voters of the BNP or Monster Raving Loony Party should get their votes counted more times than supporters of the Conservatives or for that matter Labour or Liberal Democrats.
The idea that everyone has an equal voice and an equal vote is deeply enshrined in our existing electoral system
The principle of one person, one vote is what makes our democracy fair.
AV flies in the face of that.
So AV doesn't make every vote count like its supporters say it will…
…and neither will it end safe seats.
Of course, there is an argument that some MPs having ultra-safe seats can create a 'jobs-for-life' mentality and reduce accountability, though they can also be incredibly hard-working.
But AV is not the answer.
At the last election, 225 MPs - one in three - were elected with more than fifty percent outright.
AV would not have made a difference in these places.
And if you look at Australia, where they have AV, nearly half of all seats are considered 'safe'.
What's more, AV will not increase the chances of smaller parties winning a seat.
On the contrary, it could harm them.
Caroline Lucas, the country's first Green Party MP, only got thirty-one percent of the vote in her constituency.
It's the same with the Welsh and Scottish Nationalists.
None of their current MPs got over fifty percent of the votes in their constituencies.
Would these parties be able to hold on to their seats if the threshold was put up to fifty percent?
The evidence from Australia suggests no, where smaller parties have been all but obliterated.
Added to all this, AV is not as proportional as you might think either.
As Roy Jenkins, who chaired the Independent Commission on the Voting System, said: "On its own, AV would be unacceptable because of the danger … it might increase rather than reduce disproportionality."
The evidence shows that AV would have produced even larger Labour landslides between 1997 and 2005…
…and larger Conservative ones in the 1980s.
Let's just look at one example - 1997.
Back then, the Conservatives won twenty-five percent of seats despite recording thirty-one percent of the vote.
Disproportional? Yes.
But under AV, we would have been punished further, getting in all likelihood just fifteen percent of seats.
That's even more disproportional.
The simple fact is, AV could exaggerate the inherent biases in the current system…
…giving Labour an even bigger advantage than they already have at General Elections.
The truth is, for all their arguments for change, campaigners for AV really only have one point - that an MP does have to get the theoretical backing of fifty percent of the voters.
But even this is flawed.
The fifty per cent threshold applies to the votes counted - not the number of votes cast in the election.
For example, let's say a voter decides to only mark one preference on their ballot paper - as many end up doing under Alternative Vote.
If the person for whom they cast their vote is eliminated, then this vote is discarded and doesn't count.
The only ones that count are the votes that make it to the final round - from which the fifty percent has to be reached.
So this majority is a complete fix.
It's not so much that the winner has half the electorate behind them...
...as that by virtue of a weird counting system, they have crawled over the finishing line.
And isn't this the point?
This backing is not actual approval. It's passive acceptance.
It can mean someone who's not really wanted by anyone winning an election because they were the least unliked.
It could mean that those who are courageous and brave and may not believe in or say things that everyone agrees with are pushed out of politics…
…and those who are boring and the least controversial limping to victory.
It could mean a Parliament of second choices.
We wouldn't accept this in any other walk of life.
Can you imagine giving the gold medal to someone who finishes third?
No. Of course not.
And we shouldn't accept it with our democracy either.
Second, AV is unclear.
There's a brilliant simplicity to first-past-the-post.
You walk into a polling booth, put a cross against someone's name, drop the paper in a ballot box - and the person who gets the most votes wins.
That goes out the window with AV.
It's not my job to tell you exactly how the system works - that's for the 'yes' campaign to explain.
But even if it was my job, I'll be honest with you, I don't think I could.
Yes, there's a superficial simplicity in getting people to rank candidates in an order of preference...
…and redistributing votes until someone gets fifty percent.
But it's a lot more complicated than that.
Here's a passage from a book detailing how the Alternative Vote system works:
"As the process continues the preferences allocated to the remaining candidates may not be the second choices of those electors whose first-choice candidates have been eliminated. It may be that after three candidates have been eliminated, say, when a fourth candidate is removed from the contest one of the electors who gave her first preference to him gave her second, third and fourth preferences to the three other candidates who have already been eliminated, so her fifth preference is then allocated to one of the remaining candidates."
Do you understand that?
I didn't. And I've read it many times.
And I don't think we should replace a system that everyone gets with one that's only understood by a handful of elites.
This complexity spawns other problems.
It increases the cost of politics.
A whole machinery of bureaucracy will have to be built to explain the system to people.
You can imagine it already.
A quango overseeing the whole process.
Consultants drafted in to construct a message.
Leaflets printed and advertising slots booked.
A monumental waste of time, money and effort.
And quite apart from all this, we may have to buy and install electronic voting machines to make sense of all the different outcomes and possibilities…
…machines which aren't even reliable.
This complexity also leads to uncertainty.
It goes without saying that under AV, it takes longer to count votes - which means weeks can go by before you know who has won and what the government will be.
Last May at our General Election, the country voted on the 6th, we knew the result on the 7th, discussions began later that day and the coalition was formed on the 12th.
In Australia last summer, that whole process took seventeen days.
And it also encourages negative campaigning.
In Australia, voters are lectured at polling stations by party apparatchiks with 'How to Vote' cards.
These cards are the product of number-crunching by party pollsters, telling people the exact order in which to rank each candidate.
That's what politics becomes: people not voting so much in droves, but as drones....
...going into the polling booth with no idea who they are ranking or why.
I don't think the best way of restoring faith in politics is to lumber the public with a confusing system which is more expensive, more uncertain - and leads to them being harangued at polling booths.
Third, and to me most importantly, AV will actually make politics less accountable and make it much harder to kick out governments.
You want to know the best thing about First Past the Post?
It is often decisive - and sometimes ruthlessly so.
It has a habit of rising to the occasion.
Be it 1979. And yes, 1997.
It recognised that the government of the day, had had its day, and it was time get rid of them.
There's nothing more powerful than that - when people see their vote had led to the removal vans driving down Downing Street.
That's real accountability. Real democracy. Real people power.
The problem with AV is that it makes this all the more unlikely.
Hung Parliaments could become commonplace.
Now, it won't surprise you to hear me say that is not necessarily a bad thing and that, as happened last May, it can bring parties together in the national interest.
But let's be clear, when there are more hung Parliaments there will be more haggling and horsetrading between politicians - both before and after elections.
There will be gamesmanship between parties in different constituencies as they try to stitch up second preference votes.
And there could well be an occasion where we have a genuine second-choice government.
If the last election was under AV, there would be the chance, right now, that Gordon Brown would still be Prime Minister.
Ok, the last election was not decisive in terms of who won.
But it was certainly decisive in terms of who lost.
And I think any system that keeps dead governments living on life support is a massive backward step for accountability and trust in our politics.
So for all these reasons, I think AV is the wrong reform.
And I'm not alone.
The truth is that AV is a system that no one actually wants.
No one wants it at home. No one wants it abroad.
In the weeks ahead you're going to hear from a lot of people in the 'yes to AV' camp saying how this is the reform they always called for.
Believe me, they didn't.
One of the board members of the Yes Campaign once said: "I'm sorry but I'm no fan of AV".
The Electoral Reform Society, which is bankrolling the Yes to AV campaign, has called AV a "very modest reform" and said it would not be "suitable for the election of a representative body".
Ben Bradshaw, who is leading Labour's Yes campaign, once said "if one of the reasons that we want reform is to rebuild public trust and confidence in politics, make MPs more accountable, give more power to people…then AV doesn't deliver that".
And last April, even Nick Clegg called it a "miserable little compromise".
The point about AV is that even the people calling for it really want something else…
…whether it's a regional list system or the Single Transferable Vote.
For most of them, it is their fourth, third, or at best second choice.
And, as so often happens in elections using the AV system…
…on May 5th they want their second preference to come first.
I'm sorry.
When it comes to our democracy, Britain shouldn't have to settle for anyone's second choice.
And this argument that no one really wants it, it's as true abroad as it is at home.
Only three countries use AV for national elections: Fiji, Australia and Papua New Guinea.
In Australia, six in ten voters want to return to the system we have - first past the post.
Indeed, over sixty countries and almost half the world's electors use our voting system.
Are we really going to abandon something that is used around the world for something so obscure and so unpopular?
But let me be clear.
My rejection of AV is not a rejection of reform.
I passionately believe that politics has to change.
It has to change because frankly, in too many ways the political system is broken.
And that's why this coalition is committed to sweeping reform.
We are making votes fairer - by levelling up the size of the constituencies so that every vote weighs the same.
We are making politics cheaper - by cutting the size of Parliament, cutting Ministers' pay and sorting out expenses.
We are making politics - and government - more accountable, by removing the Prime Minister's power to set the date of an election…
…and introducing new rights for constituents to recall MPs who break the rules and new powers for Parliament to oversee the Executive.
But above all, and most importantly, we are putting power directly into the hands of people.
Real transparency - so people know how government works, what it's doing, the results it's getting the money it's spending.
Real engagement - with a new Public Reading Stage for government bills, so people can directly write legislation.
And real empowerment - by devolving decision-making down to mayors, local councils and neighbourhoods, so people call the shots on the things that matter to them, not politicians in Whitehall.
Over the next eleven weeks, the debate over AV is going to heat up right across the country.
But throughout this time, I'll be making my case loud and clearly:
Yes, our politics needs reform.
Yes, we need to shift more power down across the country.
But no to AV.
It means a voting system that is unfair…
…processes that are unclear…
…and politics that is unaccountable.
It is, put simply: the precise opposite of what we need right now.
And that's why I urge the country to vote 'no' in May's referendum."
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The House of Commons that resumes business on Tuesday will be neither virtual, nor normal. | Mark D'ArcyParliamentary correspondent
After several weeks when MPs were actively discouraged from attending Westminster, they will be back, but the strictures of social distancing will mean normal parliamentary socialising - chats in the Tearoom, coffee-filled gossip sessions in Portcullis House, meals in the Members' Dining Room, and all the rest, will still not be possible.
Mr Speaker Hoyle has already made clear that he will not permit a crowded chamber, either. So the atmospherics will be a bit weird and MPs may feel more isolated in the Covid-19 Parliament than they ever did participating from home.
The first business will be to find some kind of middle ground that allows MPs to perform one crucial function - voting - while avoiding the dangers of infection posed by their normal method of trooping through the division lobbies.
To this end, the government has recalled the House a few hours early to debate the issue, although, as I write, no motion has emerged.
Depending on how long those deliberations take, this manoeuvre could have knock-on effects on the rest of the week. The early recall (an 11:30, rather than 14:30 start) means the business previously set down is lost, starting with Justice Questions, which are definitely cancelled, and possibly extending to the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill, although it could be put back again, if there is time for a Second Reading debate.
If not, there could be a cascade of rescheduling through the rest of this short Commons week - so the programme described below is subject to change.
And there is quite a lot of important law-making to get through, including emergency legislation to protect Covid-19-hit companies from their creditors, due to be rushed through on Wednesday, and a very important measure to help the courts, by tidying up the hopelessly confused law on sentencing.
Of course, there will doubtless be major statements from ministers on the pandemic and its ramifications, and possibly something on the ominous state of affairs in Hong Kong. Plus a goodly helping of important committee hearings, not least a fascinating-looking session of the Treasury Committee, with three former chancellors giving their view on what their successor should do. Bring popcorn...
Here's my rundown of the week ahead.
Tuesday 2 June
The Commons is back, earlier than usual (11:30) and will plunge straight into considering a motion on its method of voting. Nothing has been published yet, but the word is that the government is insisting that voting must be restricted to those physically present, while nodding to Mr Speaker's insistence that the advice of Public Health England, that the normal process is unsafe, must be respected.
This makes no concession to those MPs unable to attend during the pandemic, although, if they are no longer to be permitted to vote remotely, it may be that opposition parties will press for them to be allowed to use the proxy voting system already available for pregnant MPs. It seems highly likely there will be opposition amendments of some kind.
There will be considerable pressure to reach all-party agreement on the solutions, but the atmosphere is more than a little unpromising, because opposition parties were annoyed by the way the government forced through the ending of the virtual parliament.
So what if there is no agreement? MPs could be in the awkward position of having to vote on how they should vote, before having agreed a safe method of voting, which may require Mr Speaker to step in and ordain a safe voting method on his own authority.
The Speaker's role is so shrouded in custom and practice that he would be able to do this.
And keep an eye on the politics of this vote. This is House rather than government business, and it may provide an opportunity for Conservative backbencher angry at the Cummings affair (60-plus have called for the PM's adviser to go) to blow off a bit of steam and signal that they should not be ignored.
It is certainly possible for ministerial statements to be taken on a Recall day - I'm not so sure about Urgent Questions.
All this will probably still leave time for consideration of the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill, which finally kills off the Cameron government's attempt to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600. It was based on the complaint that Labour seats tended to have smaller electorates than Conservative ones, skewing the electoral system in Labour's favour.
This has been stalled since the Lib Dems joined Labour to block the new constituency boundaries needed, and has always been unpopular with the troops. Labour has an amendment down to oppose the bill, even though it welcomes the move to keep 650 MPs.
Its complaint is that the rules on constituency size are too inflexible and that attempting to base boundaries on the next electoral register would mean using an incomplete list, thanks to the pandemic.
On the (still virtual) Committee Corridor, Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs (09:30) takes evidence on how to remove another constitutional legacy of the Cameron years, the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, with evidence from academic experts, while Justice (14:30) has a series of panels giving evidence on the impact of the pandemic on the courts, prisons and probation service.
In the Lords (11:00) questions to ministers cover removing the five-week wait for Universal Credit payments (a subject that may be raised with Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey when she appears before the Lords Economic Affairs Committee at 15:00) and free TV Licences for over-75s. The main legislating is the detailed committee stage scrutiny of the Telecoms Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill.
Wednesday 3 June
The Commons opens (11:30) with half an hour of Welsh Questions, followed by half an hour of PMQs - where the Covid-era solemnity may break down a bit as MPs get their first chance to tackle the prime minister about the Cummings affair. Mr Speaker will be continuing to limit attendance in the chamber, but, even so, noise levels may increase.
The day's ten-minute rule bill, from Conservative Fiona Bruce, aims to amend the 1967 Abortion Act to exclude correctable conditions like cleft lip, cleft palate and clubfoot as qualifying physical abnormalities for the purposes of medical termination of pregnancy.
Then comes the day's main business, the rushing through of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill. This includes a series of long-term reforms that had been in the pipeline before the pandemic, but the main focus now is a series of measures to provide temporary protection for otherwise viable companies hit by the pandemic - it suspends parts of existing insolvency law.
It gives companies that are insolvent or in danger of insolvency a 20-day moratorium to allow them to seek new investment and restructure, subject to supervision by a "monitor" who must certify that the company could be rescued as a going concern. There will be restrictions on winding-up orders and aggressive tactics by landlords.
On the Committee Corridor, the Treasury Committee (14:30) ponders the economic impact of the pandemic with the aid of Lord Darling, the last Labour Chancellor, George Osborne and Philip Hammond. This should be interesting from a number of points of view, and may provide a useful glimpse of the economic medicine that may follow the pandemic.
I imagine an early questions will be about the PM's comments before the Commons Liaison Committee, ruling out income tax rises or an end to the "triple lock" on the state pension.
My eye was also caught by the Education Committee session (09:30) on the impact of the pandemic on education and children's services.
In the Lords (11:00) questions to ministers cover the impact of the pandemic on local democracy, and the timings, chair and terms of reference of the proposed Royal Commission on Criminal Justice - that's from the former Chief Inspector of Prisons, Lord Ramsbotham.
The main business is the continued committee stage scrutiny of the Private International Law (Implementation of Agreements) Bill. This deals with the process for adjudicating disputes between individuals in different countries, notably over child custody, and is shaping up to be pretty controversial. The snag at the moment is that the Lords do not yet have an online voting system in place, so it may be a while before they can move beyond the "shadow boxing" phase at Committee, and hold actual votes at Report Stage.
Thursday 4 June
The Commons day opens (09:30) with 40 minutes of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport questions, followed by a mini-question time for Attorney General Suella Braverman. And then the Leader of the House, Jacob Rees Mogg, will announce forthcoming Commons business.
Then comes a rather technical-sounding, but highly significant measure, the Sentencing (Pre-Consolidation Amendments) Bill. This is a measure which paves the way for the new sentencing guidelines created by the Law Commission to be put into action, finally sorting out the massively confused law on sentencing in the courts.
This is Secret Barrister territory, an area where the legal system is deep in the mire, and a huge chunk of cases sent to the Appeal Court are to sort out mistakes in sentencing by judges mired in complex and conflicting law.
As a Law Commission Bill, this is subject to a special fast-track process involving a joint parliamentary committee, to speed it onto the statute book.
Then comes an interesting parliamentary curiosity, a 90-minute debate under Section 13A of the European Union Withdrawal Act, on a motion from Sir Bill Cash and the European Scrutiny Committee, calling on the government to report back to MPs regularly on the progress of the "future relationship" talks with the EU.
The European Scrutiny Committee has produced a report which sums up the concerns of all the select committees about their aspects of the talks - and the motion simply asks ministers to respond to them. But there's always the chance of an amendment, for example, calling for an extension the transitional period before the UK leaves the EU Single Market.
The day's committee hearings include Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (09:30) looking at the impact of the pandemic on business and workers, and the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Sub-Committee on Online Harms (looking at the proposals in the government's Online Harms White Paper) quizzes witnesses from Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (14:30).
The other interesting committee action is the opening of the committee-stage consideration of the Domestic Abuse Bill (11:30 and then 14:00. These are the early hearings involving evidence from witnesses, before the process of line-by-line consideration kicks in, and there has been some controversy over the refusal to allow victims of domestic abuse to give evidence remotely.
This is now routine for select committees, but no provision has been made for public bill committees to do the same.
In the Lords (11:00) question time includes Baroness Benjamin asking about how 18-to-25-year-olds can be prevented from becoming online child sex predators.
The main debate is on the economic lessons of the pandemic, and has attracted a healthy 57 speakers, including former Chancellor Lord Lamont and former Home Secretary Lord Blunkett.
There's also a short debate on the situation in Hong Kong, and the impact on human rights of the Chinese government's new national security legislation.
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Seven men and one woman have denied murdering a man who was stabbed during a disturbance in a Warwickshire street. | Carl Moorhouse, 34, from Coventry, died in hospital after being injured in Lower Leam Street in Leamington Spa on 28 May 2020.
Nine people appeared at Warwick Crown Court on Friday and pleaded not guilty to various charges, including aggravated burglary.
They were all remanded in custody to reappear at the same court on 2 July.
The defendants are:
A provisional trial date has been listed for 8 November.
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A 19-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after a teenage girl was stabbed in the neck. | The 16-year-old suffered "significant" injuries during the assault at All Saints Church on Branston Road, Burton-upon-Trent.
Claudiu Lucien Vacaru, of no fixed address, has been charged with her attempted murder, as well as threats to kill and possession of a knife.
He is due to appear at Cannock Magistrates Court later.
The 16-year-old was stabbed in the church grounds at about 19:00 GMT on Monday and was treated at Queen's Hospital in the town.
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For those who commit violent crimes while suffering from a mental illness, treatment at a secure hospital often replaces imprisonment. If the patients get better, they can be released into the community under supervision, but that is always a complex decision. | By Sanchia BergToday programme
The Ministry of Justice approves each step of the process for releasing a secure hospital patient who has committed a crime. First, there is time spent on the hospital grounds with a member of staff. Then time spent alone, then time in the community, and so on.
Mental health tribunals generally decide on whether someone can be finally discharged. In all this, doctors' advice is crucial.
The Bethlem Royal Hospital, part of the South London and the Maudsley NHS Trust, occupies a huge site in south London - low buildings scattered in nearly 300 acres of gardens, park, and woods. It's very different from its foundation in central London, as the crowded "Bedlam" - Europe's first psychiatric institution, where in past centuries patients were on show for wealthy visitors to gawp at.
The hospital treats in- and out-patients with a range of illnesses. Since 2008, it has also had secure beds for over 100 patients - typically men who've committed serious crimes while mentally ill.
Those include violent offences like murder, or rape, while in the grip of severe illness - often paranoid schizophrenia or psychosis. Many will stay in these units for years, on medication, going through therapy.
The smaller ward, Chaffinch House, is the patients' gateway to the outside world. They're transferred there when their condition stabilises, and doctors consider they might be safe to release. It's a staged process, every step approved by the Ministry of Justice. If all goes well, they can be discharged permanently.
If a forensic patient does reoffend, it's inevitably headline news. Such was the case with Leslie Gadsby in Liverpool, who murdered his mother, having spent two years in a secure unit after killing his father.
At the Bethlem Royal, they've had no such incidents so far. Of 150 patients released since 2008, 20 became ill again and had to go back to hospital - four were involved in an offence, but according to consultant psychiatrist Dr Tim McInerny "nothing more serious than assault". Considering the patients' original crimes, and their illnesses and vulnerabilities, he sees those figures as a success.
On a Thursday morning in Chaffinch Ward, a small conference room fills up with doctors, psychologists, nursing staff, social workers and therapists. This is the weekly ward round, where the team assess the patients' progress. There are cameras. There's also a red panic button and notices on the wall advising how to call for help.
On the table is a pile of chocolate doughnuts - this is a long, gruelling meeting, looking at each case in detail.
McInerny says their approach is cautious and careful - he doesn't worry when releasing patients.
"Behaviour is the best way of monitoring what's happening inside their minds," he says. "It's our almost 24-hour monitoring and observation which gives us the best indication of whether they're achieving maturity responsibility and safety."
One of the first patients up for review is a man who due to be discharged after a lengthy stay. He had been moved to a hostel in his home borough, prior to being released. It's part of the staggered approach adopted by the hospital. But the patient had smoked heroin and cocaine with another resident and was seen by staff dancing around with "glazed eyes". Now he's back in the unit.
He is tremendously apologetic. "I'm so sorry Dr Tim - I promise it won't happen again," he says, walking sheepishly through the door.
Drugs and alcohol are triggers for many of the conditions that brought the patients to hospital - they have to avoid them as a condition of release. The patient is told that he has to stay clear of drugs for the next week - and then he can try another night in the hostel.
McInerny suspects the patient doesn't really want to leave. The average stay in secure hospitals is four years, and some patients have been transferred from prison. Leaving the institution can be daunting. But there's tremendous demand for beds in the unit, especially for patients who become ill in prison.
I speak to one patient, "Fred", who has spent four-and-a-half years in the hospital and is preparing for release. He says intensive group therapy helped him "unlock" his emotions - he used to "put them in a box in my head and forget about them. Or I'd use drugs and alcohol to disguise them."
He says he could now "empathise" with people who were sad - which he hadn't been able to do before.
"Fred" says he would manage without the intensive therapy and support available in the hospital. I ask him whether he'd be "safe" for others in the community. "I hope so," he says. "I can't say that I'm going to be a completely normal personality because nobody is normal." Wryly, he adds: "If you find a normal person, let me know."
The doctors say their service has been relatively well funded - especially compared with some other psychiatric services - because of the risk to public safety. However demand is rising, especially from prisons, where charities have warned about the lack of mental health provision, and where suicide and self harm rates are rising.
Whenever a patient leaves Chaffinch, their bed is very quickly filled.
Pictures by Ed Ram
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Benazir Bhutto was the first woman to lead a Muslim country. The decade since an assassin killed her has revealed more about how Pakistan works than it has about who actually ordered her death. | By Owen Bennett JonesBBC News
Bhutto was murdered on 27 December 2007 by a 15-year-old suicide bomber called Bilal. She had just finished an election rally in Rawalpindi when he approached her convoy, shot at her and blew himself up. Bilal had been asked to carry out the attack by the Pakistani Taliban.
Benazir Bhutto was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first democratically elected prime minister. His political career was also brought to a premature end when he was hanged by the military regime of General Zia-ul Haq. Benazir went on to become prime minister twice in the 1990s, but she was always distrusted by the military, which used corruption allegations to remove her from power.
At the time of her death she was making a bid for a third term as prime minister. The assassination caused widespread civil unrest in Pakistan. Bhutto's supporters took to the streets, putting up road blocks, lighting fires and chanting anti-Pakistan slogans.
The general and the 'threatening' phone call
A decade later, the general in charge of Pakistan at the time has suggested people in the establishment could have been involved in her murder.
Asked whether rogue elements within the establishment could have been in touch with the Taliban about the killing, General Pervez Musharraf replied: "Possibility. Yes indeed. Because the society is polarised on religious lines."
And, he said, those elements could have had a bearing on her death.
It's a startling statement from a former Pakistani head of state. Normally military leaders in Pakistan deny any suggestion of state complicity in violent jihadist attacks.
Asked whether he had any specific information about rogue elements in the state being involved in the assassination, he said: "I don't have any facts available. But my assessment is very accurate I think... A lady who is in known to be inclined towards the West is seen suspiciously by those elements."
Musharraf has himself been charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder and facilitation for murder in relation to the Bhutto case. Prosecutors say that he phoned Benazir Bhutto in Washington on 25 September, three weeks before she ended eight years in self-imposed exile.
Long-serving Bhutto aide Mark Seighal and journalist Ron Suskind both say they were with Bhutto when the call came in. According to Seighal, immediately after the call Bhutto said: "He threatened me. He told me not to come back. He warned me not to come back.
Musharraf said he would not be responsible for what would happen to Bhutto if she returned, Seighal told the BBC. "And he said that her safety, her security was a function of her relationship with him."
Musharraf strongly denies making the call and dismisses the idea that he would have ordered her murder. "Honestly I laugh at it," he recently told the BBC. "Why would I kill her?"
The deadly plot
The legal proceedings against Musharraf have stalled because he is in self-imposed exile in Dubai. Benazir Bhutto's son and political heir, Bilawal, has rejected his denials out of hand.
"Musharraf exploited this entire situation to assassinate my mother," he said. "He purposely sabotaged her security so that she would be assassinated and taken off the scene."
While Musharraf's case is on hold, others have been acquitted of the crime. Within weeks of the assassination, five suspects had confessed to helping the 15-year-old Bilal assassinate Bhutto at the behest of the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda.
The first person to be arrested, Aitzaz Shah, had been told by the Pakistan Taliban that he would be the suicide bomber chosen to kill Bhutto. Much to his annoyance he was kept in reserve in case the attempt failed.
Two others, Rasheed Ahmed and Sher Zaman, confessed they were mid-ranking organisers of the conspiracy and two Rawalpindi-based cousins, Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat Hussain, told the authorities that they provided accommodation to Bilal the night before the killing.
Find out more
You can download Owen Bennett Jones's 10-part podcast on the murder of Benazir Bhutto. It is called The Assassination.
Even though these confessions were subsequently withdrawn, phone records showing the suspects' locations and communications in the hours before Bhutto's murder seem to corroborate them. Hasnain Gul also led the police to some physical evidence in his apartment.
DNA from Bilal's body parts gathered after his attack and tested in a US lab matched the DNA on some training shoes, cap and a shawl Bilal had left behind in Hasnain's residence when he put on his suicide vest.
Just a few months ago prosecutors were confident these alleged plotters would be convicted. But in September the case collapsed, with the judge declaring that procedural errors in the way the evidence was gathered and presented to the court meant he had to acquit them.
The five are still in detention pending an appeal.
Who was Benazir Bhutto?
A dominant figure in Pakistani politics, Ms Bhutto served twice as the country's prime minister, from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996.
Young and glamorous, she successfully portrayed herself as a refreshing contrast to the male-dominated political establishment.
But after her second fall from power, she became associated in the eyes of some with corruption and bad governance.
Ms Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999, but returned in October 2007 after then-President Musharraf granted her and others an amnesty from corruption charges.
She was set to take part in an election called by Mr Musharraf for January 2008.
But her homecoming procession in Karachi was bombed by suspected militants. She survived the attack, which killed well over 150 people, but would be assassinated two months later.
The husband who became president
In Pakistan it is commonplace to hear people accuse Benazir Bhutto's widower Asif Zardari of having organised the assassination. The claim is normally based on the observation that since he became president after her death he was the one who benefited most.
The conspiracy theorists, however, have not produced a single shred of evidence to indicate that Asif Zardari was in any way involved in his wife's death. He has denied the allegation in the strongest possible terms. Those who make the allegation, he said, should "shut up".
Asif Zardari faces another accusation: that despite having the powers of the presidency, he failed to properly investigate his wife's murder. Secret official documents relating to the investigation and obtained by the BBC show that the police inquiries were so poorly managed as to suggest they never wanted to find guilty parties beyond the low-level plotters they had already arrested.
The inadequacies of the police investigations were especially apparent after an unsuccessful attempt on Bhutto's life on 18 October 2007 - two and a half months before she was killed. Two suicide bombers attacked her convoy and killed more than 150 people. It remains one of the deadliest attacks ever mounted by violent jihadists in Pakistan.
The police work was so half-hearted that the bombers were never even identified.
The leader of the inquiry, Saud Mirza, has said that one man he established to have been a bomber had distinctive features, suggesting he came from a long-standing but small Karachi-based community of people of African descent. This potentially significant clue about the suspected bombers identity was never released to the public.
Former President Zardari answers criticisms about the thoroughness of the police work by pointing out that he encouraged the work of Scotland Yard in relation to the murder and secured the appointment of a UN commission of inquiry to examine the circumstances of her death.
That inquiry, however, says it was repeatedly and blatantly blocked not only by the military but also Zardari's ministers. "There were many people in the establishment that we wanted to interview but they refused," said Heraldo Munoz, the head of the UN commission.
And he said some of the obstacles came from the politicians as well as the military. As the investigation progressed, he said, the safe house the UN team used was withdrawn, as were the anti-terrorist personnel who were protecting the UN staff.
A trail of dead people...
That there was a cover-up is beyond doubt. A BBC investigation found evidence suggesting that two men who helped the teenage assassin reach Benazir Bhutto were themselves shot at a military checkpoint on 15 January 2008. A senior member of the Zardari government has told the BBC that he believes this was "an encounter" - the term Pakistanis use for extra-judicial killings.
Nadir and Nasrullah Khan were students at the Taliban-supporting Haqqania madrassa in north-west Pakistan. Other students associated with the seminary who were involved in the plot also died. One of the most detailed official documents obtained by the BBC is an official PowerPoint presentation given to the Sindh provincial assembly.
It names Abad ur Rehman, a former student at the madrassa and bomb-maker who helped provide the suicide jacket used to kill Benazir Bhutto. He was killed in one of Pakistan's remote tribal areas on 13 May 2010.
Then there was Abdullah who, according to the Sindh assembly presentation, was involved in the transportation of the suicide vests ahead of the Rawalpindi attack that killed Bhutto. He was killed in Mohmand Agency in northern Pakistan in an explosion on 31 May 2008.
One of the most high-profile deaths related to the assassination was that of Khalid Shahenshah, one of Bhutto's security guards. Shahenshah was within a few feet of Bhutto as she made her final speech in Rawalpindi. Phone footage shows him making a series of strange movements for which no one has offered any reasonable explanation.
Although he kept his head completely still, he raised his eyes towards Bhutto while simultaneously running his fingers across his throat. Pictures of his gestures went viral and on 22 July 2008 Shahenshah was shot dead outside his home in Karachi.
The next victim was the state prosecutor, Chaudhry Zulfikar. A lawyer with reputation for high degrees of both competence and doggedness, he told friends he was making real progress on the Bhutto investigation.
On 3 May 2013 he was shot dead on the streets of Islamabad as he was being driven to a legal hearing on the case.
... and one who turns out to be alive
Finally, there is a man who was said to be dead but, in fact, is still alive. In their confessions the alleged plotters said that on the day of the murder a second suicide bomber named Ikramullah accompanied Bilal. Once Bilal had succeeded in his task, Ikramullah's services were not required and he walked away unharmed.
For years Pakistani officials insisted that Ikramullah had been killed in a drone strike. In 2017 chief prosecutor Mohammad Azhar Chaudhry told the BBC evidence gathered by Pakistani investigating agencies, relatives and government officials established that "Ikramullah is dead".
In August 2017, however, the Pakistani authorities published a 28-page list of the country's most wanted terrorists. Coming in at number nine was Ikramullah, a resident of South Waziristan and involved, the list said, in the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto.
The BBC understands that Ikramullah is now living in eastern Afghanistan where he has become a mid-ranking Pakistan Taliban commander.
So far the only people punished in relation to the murder of Benazir Bhutto are two police officers who ordered the murder scene in Rawalpindi to be hosed down.
Many Pakistanis regard those convictions as unfair, believing that the police would never have used the hoses without being told to do so by military.
It suggests, once again, a cover-up by Pakistan's deep state - the hidden network of retired and serving military personnel who take it upon themselves to protect what they consider Pakistan's vital national interests.
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South Africa's ruling African National Congress is choosing a new leader to succeed Jacob Zuma this weekend. It starts on Saturday, and is arguably one of the most important conferences in the history of the party and the democratic country. Whoever wins would be well placed to become president of the country in the next general election in 2019. | So why is it such a big deal?
Well, the country is at something of a crossroads.
The ANC has overwhelmingly won every election since 1994. That was the first election where people of every race were allowed to vote, and it brought white minority rule to an end.
But Jacob Zuma's presidency has been mired in allegations of corruption.
And for the first time in more than 20 years, there is a possibility that South Africans might turn their backs on the party that many see as having led them to liberation.
Whoever wins this vote will either lead the ANC to its first national electoral defeat, or become president of the country.
Who is voting and how does the vote work?
The voting is done by party delegates, which are sent by branches to the conference. A branch needs to be "in good standing" to send delegates.
Every branch with at least 100 members gets to send one delegate. For every 250 more, they get another.
The party's various other sections, such as Youth, Women's and Veterans' Leagues, will each send 60 delegates. The leagues' delegates will come to 10% of the total number of delegates.
The branches have already expressed their preferences by nominating who they would like for the top posts.
In theory the delegates are supposed to vote in line with this.
But it is a secret ballot, so it's impossible to know for sure which way it will go.
Why is Jacob Zuma standing down?
It is the end of his second term as leader of the the ANC.
The rules of the party say he is not allowed to stand again, so he must stand down.
Whilst both the ANC and the country elect a president every five years, those terms are not aligned, with the ANC choosing its president roughly 16 months before the national election.
The next general election is in 2019, and Mr Zuma can stay on as president of the country until then.
Why the fuss about Jacob Zuma?
He has been the focus of much controversy, and there have been several attempts both from within his party and the opposition to remove him as president of the country through parliamentary votes of no confidence - all of which he has defeated.
At issue is the allegation that he has a corrupt relationship with a wealthy Indian family, the Guptas, which has allowed them to influence ministerial appointments and exercise undue control over government departments.
Both the President Zuma and the Gupta family deny any wrongdoing.
Mr Zuma is also facing the prospect that 18 charges of fraud and corruption relating to a 1999 arms deal could be reinstated.
There are many who argue that whoever takes over might affect whether those charges end up in court.
Who might replace him?
There are two leading candidates: Cyril Ramaphosa, who is currently the Deputy President, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is also Mr Zuma's former wife.
Mr Ramaphosa is running on an anti-corruption ticket. But some analysts argue he is most popular with the middle class, and question whether he can galvanize the support of grassroots voters.
However, he gained the most support from the ANC branches around the country.
Ms Dlamini-Zuma is promising to put more of the country's economy - and land - back in black hands.
But critics say she's too close to Jacob Zuma, and that chances of him being made to answer to the courts on those corruption allegations are slim if she wins.
What might happen next?
This has been a very bitter race, and the ANC is deeply split between Mr Zuma's supporters and those who want him gone as leader of the country.
What the ANC leadership wants to avoid is two competing centres of power - the president of the country and the president of the party.
There is also the issue of whether the ANC can afford to go into the next elections with someone who has been the subject of so much controversy still in such a powerful role.
So the ANC leadership may choose to recall Mr Zuma as president of the country, as they did with Thabo Mbeki in 2008.
How might a recall happen?
The ANC can take a decision to recall its nominee from the position of president.
After that, the constitution says there should be a vote in parliament, where the ANC has a huge majority, so any decision taken by the party is likely to be backed.
Mr Mbeki was in a vulnerable position because he was no longer president of the ANC. He had also fallen out with the new president of the party - who was, ironically, Mr Zuma.
In 2008, the ANC's highest organ - the National Executive Committee (NEC) - held a meeting through the night.
Afterwards, a delegation was sent to Mr Mbeki's home to tell him he was being removed.
Mr Mbeki then resigned as president of the country in a televised address to the nation.
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For more than 50 years, young Europeans have been crossing the sea to Britain to become au pairs. But with the UK's imminent departure from the European Union and impending changes to immigration laws, there are fears the system is under threat. | By Kate ScotterBBC News
Au pairing originated in Europe with an agreement between European nations signed in 1969 regulating placements.
The reciprocal arrangement allowed au pairs to work short stays of between three and 12 months, often attending a language school, with their board and lodgings covered by the host family.
They perform childcare duties and do light household tasks but are not allowed to work more than 30 hours a week, for which they are paid an average of about £90 a week to cover personal expenses.
More than 44,000 British families rely on having an au pair every year, according to the British Au Pair Agencies Association (BAPAA).
But, as it stands, the government has no dedicated visa route for au pairs and after Britain leaves the EU, the freedom of movement European au pairs currently enjoy from will be lost.
How will it affect those who rely on the programme?
'It's a practical solution to a big problem'
The Barnes family from Ipswich have relied on the au pair system since 2014.
Dennis and Lilli work shifts and they have no family nearby, so the programme gives them the flexibility they need for childcare arrangements for their 11-year-old daughter Melody.
They are currently hosting their eleventh au pair - Pauline Bremont from Blois in France, who has been with them since September.
Mr Barnes, a train driver, says the system enabled his wife to train as a nurse, which she has now been for four years.
With the EU Settlement Scheme, available to those from Europe already in the UK, they know they can continue to host Pauline until August.
But beyond that, they fear Mrs Barnes may have to reduce her hours or even give up her job.
Mr Barnes says: "We always need nurses so we don't like the thought of withdrawing services in an important profession because of childcare.
"You've got somebody at home when your shifts are extended, so, without that, key workers like ourselves - we're stuffed.
"Au pairing is a practical solution to a big problem."
Mr Barnes says over the years they have had a "great time" with their au pairs, and have been invited to previous ones' weddings or over to their homes in France.
"Melody has had a big sister in the house, she is an only child so that's been nice, it's been good all round," he adds.
Melody said: "She cooks really well - pancakes and chocolate cakes. And she's funny."
'It's a very good experience'
Living with the Barnes family is Pauline, a 22-year-old Strasbourg university project design student and it is her first placement as an au pair.
"It's a good experience to discover all of the traditions and to improve my English," she says.
"It will help with my CV and it's a good experience for meeting people."
Pauline says English is "very important" for her to work in graphic design because "we need to talk with many people to make a project, in another country, for example".
She says it will be "very bad" if others like her do not get the same opportunity.
'We are flummoxed by it all'
BAPAA has been lobbying the government for visa rights for au pairs since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016.
And while the Home Office says "there are a number of ways in which au pairs can work in the UK", BAPAA argues they are not enough.
The Home Office says those from Europe who are already here can join "the millions who have secured their rights through the EU Settlement Scheme".
It says in addition to the new points-based immigration system, for those from around the world wishing to come to the UK, "the generous Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) welcomes approximately 20,000 migrants a year, with capacity within existing quotas for approximately 15,000 more migrants".
It says the UK currently has YMS arrangements with Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Korea, San Marino and Taiwan.
But according to BAPAA, the large majority of au pairs come from Europe.
Furthermore, under YMS, those entering the UK have to prove they have £2,530 in savings and they are not limited to au pairing.
BAPAA chairwoman Jamie Shackell says tens of thousands of British families will struggle without support for the au pair system between Europe and the UK.
"Families have said they might have to give up work and claim benefits because they cannot afford to have a nanny, and breakfast and afternoon clubs don't work if you work shifts," she says.
"We are flummoxed by it all. It's a mutually-beneficially cultural exchange programme.
"They are not a financial strain on the UK state - we don't understand why the government won't put forward an au pair visa."
There is a petition calling to "save au pairs" that has been signed by almost 28,000 people.
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A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with a body found in a house fire. | Fire crews found the man's body at an address in Firethorn Close in Gillingham, Kent at about 10:30 GMT on Thursday.
A man in his 30s from Gillingham was arrested shortly after midnight.
The two men are thought to have been known to each other and the deceased man's next of kin has been informed of the death, Kent Police said.
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A 72-year-old man has been told he faces an inevitable jail sentence after he admitted killing a three-year-old girl on a pelican crossing. | Poppy-Arabella Clarke was struck by John Place's car as she and her mother crossed Chester Road in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, in July.
Her mother, Rachel Clarke, was also seriously injured.
Place admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
He will be sentenced on 20 March.
The court heard Poppy-Arabella's parents are unable to have any more children, which made them thankful for every second they had spent with her.
They said Place had so far shown them no remorse.
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A woman is in a critical condition in hospital after she fell from a bridge over the M18 and was then apparently hit by a lorry, police have said. | The 46-year-old is thought to have fallen from the bridge at Ruddle Lane, near Braithwell, in South Yorkshire, at 16:45 BST on Saturday.
She is in Northern General Hospital, in Sheffield, in a critical condition.
Officers are appealing for witnesses and dash cam footage from the incident between Junction 2 and Junction 1.
The southbound carriageway was closed until late on Saturday night while investigations continued.
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A hospital serving Norfolk and Suffolk, criticised for its methods of updating paperwork, is to introduce an electronic records system. | Last year, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) criticised the James Paget Hospital, in Gorleston, Norfolk, for deficiencies in records on medication.
The CQC's latest report in January said the problem had been remedied, but more needed to be done.
The hospital said the new system will go live this summer.
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Two bombs ripped through the Kuta area of the Indonesian tourist island of Bali on 12 October 2002, leaving 202 people dead. Among those killed at Paddy's Irish Bar and the nearby Sari Club were people from 21 countries, including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians and 28 Britons. BBC News looks at the background to the bombings 10 years on. | The seeds of the October 2002 Bali bombing plot were probably sown in a hotel room in southern Thailand 10 months earlier.
At a secret meeting of operatives from South East Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI), Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, was believed to have ordered a new strategy of hitting soft targets, such as nightclubs and bars rather than high-profile sites like foreign embassies.
But it was not until August 2002 that Bali was chosen as the place to strike.
According to Ali Imron, who was jailed in 2003 for life for his part in the attacks, it was at a meeting in a house in Solo, Central Java, that "field commander" Imam Samudra announced the plan to bomb Bali, and the main agents in the plot first came together.
Bali was chosen "because it was frequented by Americans and their associates", Ali Imron said. He quoted Imam Samudra as saying it was part of a jihad, or holy war, to "defend the people of Afghanistan from America".
In fact, more Australians and Indonesians died than Americans, prompting speculation that the plotters were poorly informed or manipulated by other people.
Hambali, who is currently in US custody in Guantanamo Bay, is believed to have been the South East Asian contact for Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
But he is not thought to have played an active part in the Bali plot.
Terror attack
Instead, 43-year-old Islamic teacher Mukhlas - also known as Ali Ghufron - was convicted as the overall co-ordinator of the attacks.
Prosecutors said he approved the targets and secured financing for the bombings. Mukhlas himself claimed he just gave the bombers religious guidance.
He also recruited two of his younger brothers, Amrozi and Ali Imron, to play key roles in the attack.
Mukhlas and Imam Samudra are said to have chaired preparatory meetings in western Java during August and September.
Ali Imron said that the Bali attacks were originally planned for 11 September, to mark the first anniversary of the terror attacks on the US.
But the bombs were apparently not ready in time, and the plans had to be postponed.
The details of the attack were finalised in Bali between 6 and 10 October.
Suicide mission?
The bombers apparently all had separate roles.
A man called Idris, who was later jailed for another bomb attack, was accused of gathering funds and arranging transport and accommodation for the bombers.
Amrozi admitted to buying the chemicals and the minivan used in the Sari Club blast.
He also named Dulmatin as the man who helped assemble the bombs. He also said that a man called Abdul Ghoni mixed the explosives. Another man, Umar Patek, was also convicted in June 2012 of helping make explosives.
Ali Imron said he helped make the main bomb that was used at the Sari Club.
He said a van loaded with explosives had been driven to Sari by a man called Jimi, who died in the blast. A man called Iqbal wore a vest with a bomb in it, which he detonated at Paddy's Bar.
"Their duty was to explode the bombs," Ali Imron had said. "They were ready to die."
Iqbal is known to have died in Paddy's Bar. But Ali Imron also told police that the two bombs exploded prematurely, which could have caught Iqbal out, so it is unclear if he was on a suicide mission.
Different reactions
All the individuals detained for playing a major role in the attacks have been sentenced - and Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra were executed in November 2008.
Other key suspects are believed to have been killed by police before facing trial.
Azahari Husin, a Malaysian who was alleged to be JI's top bomb-making expert and to have helped assemble the Bali bombs, was killed in eastern Indonesian in November 2005.
Another alleged bomb-maker, Noordin Mohammad Top, was killed in a raid in November 2009.
Dulmatin was killed by Indonesian police on March 2010 during a raid at a Jakarta internet cafe.
Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, seen as the spiritual leader of militant Islam in Indonesia, was jailed for conspiracy over the bombings, but his conviction was later quashed. He is currently behind bars on different charges.
While the Bali attacks were a team effort, its aftermath provoked different reactions from those involved.
Police said Imam Samudra stayed in Bali for several days after the bombing to survey the devastation he wrought and observe the reactions of people he affected.
Ali Imron shed tears in court, and repeatedly expressed remorse for his actions.
Amrozi laughed and joked about his case, giving a thumbs-up sign when he was convicted. He said he was happy to die a martyr.
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Eight abortions were carried out in hospitals in Northern Ireland during 2018/19, according to figures from the Department of Health. | By Catherine SmythBBC News NI
That compares to twelve terminations carried out the year before.
Last autumn, the law on abortion changed. It was decriminalised and women who require an abortion can continue to be financially supported to avail of services in England.
A new framework giving lawful access to services will be in effect by 31 March.
Government figures released last June showed that 1053 women from Northern Ireland travelled to England and Wales for abortions in 2018.
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A man has died after being hit by a lorry on a street in the centre of Swansea. | The 56-year-old pedestrian from the city was injured in the incident at 20:05 BST on Monday in Wellington Street next to Tesco.
He was taken to Morriston Hospital but was later pronounced dead.
South Wales Police has asked anyone who saw the incident or the pedestrian before it happened, or who has dashcam footage, to get in touch.
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A man has denied the murder of a man who died after being found with a stab wound to the leg. | Lee Farrington, 29, was found seriously injured at a property on Tarnsyke Road, Lancaster on 27 August and died in hospital the following day.
Connor Reece, 24, of Tweedale Street, Rochdale, pleaded not guilty to murder at Preston Crown Court.
He was remanded in custody and is due to appear before the same court on 2 March.
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This is a full transcript of 'We should all be allowed to say "this is really hard"' as first broadcast on 1 May. It is part of the Isolation Diaries, presented by Kate Monaghan
| KATE -Oh my goodness, what a week. What a long, difficult, painful in every sense of the word, week. Okay, I didn't want to start on a downer but I did always promise to be completely honest in this podcast. Now, for those of you listening, I'm Kate Monaghan, I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which means I have chronic pain in all my joints. It's caused by the joints being too hyper-mobile, hyper flexible, and so yeah, that causes pain. I've got endometriosis so that causes pain, and the pain is chronic so it's always there, but at a level that I can cope with usually, and then some days it's not, as you will hear soon enough.
Myself and my family, that's my wife, Holly, who's on immunosuppressants, so she's had a kidney transplant 11 years ago, and three year old daughter, Scout, have been isolating now for, oh, seven? Eight? Six? Seven…? Who knows? I think it's seven weeks, and I honestly think this week has been the hardest. I guess the first few weeks it was a bit of a novelty staying in, spending lots of time together as a family, watching these, you know, just unbelievable updates happening on the news, wondering how it was all going to pan out. The whole time there's been a level of anxiety, but it was at times as if we were in our own little bubble, but this week, oh man, it's been such a different story and my pain has really flared up and my emotional fed up-ness, if that's even a word, has just reached new heights, I tell you.
So, as always, my recording equipment hasn't left me this week as I bring you an honest audio diary, and I'm going to warn you, it's not the most upbeat one I've ever made I'm afraid, but if anyone is feeling upbeat in all of this then I salute you. So let's start with a thoroughly miserable Monday morning.
[music]
KATE -I need you to get me dressed.
HOLLY -Okay. Do you want to wear this top?
KATE -Yeah.
HOLLY -Okay, well put your arm up.
KATE -No, because it really hurts. Argh.
HOLLY -It's all right, all right… Just, gently does it.
KATE -Oh don't, you're not being gentle though.
HOLLY -This is the only way to do it.
KATE -Ah…
HOLLY -We could put a shirt on you today and then that might be easier than kind of going over your neck and shoulders. What shirt do you want?
KATE -Well, I think I literally possess one shirt, so that one will be fine.
HOLLY -What, the butch one or the really butch one? [laughter] Is that really homophobic? This one? This is nice.
KATE -Yeah, that's fine.
HOLLY -It's cute. There you go. Put your arm out.
KATE -The weather's rubbish. I can't do anything. Scout's already being a misery guts and I won't be able to get her out of the house because I can't push the buggy, I can't do anything.
HOLLY -I don't know, we'll have to do some indoor playing or Lego or a Disney movie, that kind of thing. You might feel better if you have a nap.
KATE -It's like nine o'clock in the morning, I'll just go back to bed. [laughter] I actually would like to do that. We'll just eat cake all day instead.
HOLLY -Why do you think you're so sore today?
KATE -Oh, I don't know.
HOLLY -Did you sleep funny or…?
KATE -No, I think it's just like the build-up of like…
HOLLY -Not being able to do your usual thing?
KATE -Yeah, like none of my normal pain management things are available to me.
HOLLY -And also it's hard to tell Scout not to jump on your back when you're not looking and things like that.
KATE -Yeah, and she wants to be picked up and I just find it so hard to say no because it feels like that's part of what you should be able to do as a mum is pick your kid up. Normally it's fine because we're normally together a few days a week in terms of she's at preschool quite a lot, but if she wants to rough and tumble play that's…
HOLLY -All the time.
KATE -Like on the trampoline we love play fighting, horsey rides, you know, piggy backs, that kind of thing. It's hard because you do it once and then she's like next day…
HOLLY -Do it all the time.
KATE -"Why can't you do it?" Exactly, and you can't really say, "Well today, Scout, I'm in loads of pain so I can't really do it." And she said to me, "Have you broken your bone, Mumma?" and I was like, I'm going to say yes. And I was like, "No, I haven't broken my bone but I've got bad bones." She doesn't really get it.
HOLLY -She told me the other night she wants a wheelchair like yours. I thought that was really sweet.
KATE -Did she?
HOLLY -Yeah.
KATE -That's cute.
HOLLY -I know.
KATE -I love her to death and I want to pick her up and I want to do all those things.
HOLLY -I know, you're really great at playing all those kind of like rough and tumble, I'm a doggie, I'm a horse games.
KATE -But normally it's doable because it's like for like half an hour after preschool…
HOLLY -Yeah, if that.
KATE -If that, and you know, it's like little bits but now it's just constant, constant, constant.
HOLLY -But, you know, we just need to manage it today and that involves you not doing physical play.
KATE -Well, today and the next however long until this feels a bit better I guess.
HOLLY -All right, Milo. [cat meows] I know, Milo, yeah.
KATE -Oh, I read a BBC article the other day about how cats don't get Coronavirus.
HOLLY -Oh, good.
KATE -So that's really good, but they could spread it on their fur.
HOLLY -Yeah…
KATE -You're like I'd die for the cat. I'd rather cuddle them than have to… I'll take a risk with the cats.
HOLLY -Shall I bring you some breakfast in bed?
KATE -Oh my god, as if that is ever going to happen. [laughs]
HOLLY -Oh, gosh.
KATE -You couldn't even keep a straight face when you said it. [laughter]
HOLLY -I do.
KATE -When?
HOLLY -Okay, maybe not breakfast but I do when I come and wake you up after you've slept in, I bring you a cup of tea.
KATE -Yeah, that is true. Oh god, she's shouting us. You go ahead.
[music]
KATE -Right, tell me where we are, Hol?
HOLLY -Yeah?
SCOUT -I did baa…
KATE -Is the dog saying baa?
SCOUT -Yeah, that one.
KATE -I think it's sheep.
HOLLY -Oh.
KATE -We are in the countryside.
HOLLY -In the countryside, yeah, walking round a beautiful reservoir and it's sunny and it's amazing. And there are trees and a blue sky. Yeah, I have left the house in the first time in six weeks.
KATE -Six and a half.
HOLLY -Six and a half and it feels amazing.
KATE -Isn't this against the rules?
HOLLY -Well, we've discussed this haven't we and you're allowed to drive for exercise, so we drove, what ten minutes?
KATE -You're not allowed to drive anywhere. You're not allowed out of the house are you?
HOLLY -I guess… I guess not no, but you've got to weigh up everything and I think we did, we weighed up everyone's mental health, including Scout's. The fact that we literally haven't bumped into anybody, because we're in the middle of nowhere. Like I haven't even walked past one single person. I don't know, like I'm not a rule breaker, but I think it's an individual thing.
KATE -Yeah.
HOLLY -And it's felt so good to be out, like the air feels different, there are new sounds, and I can't stop looking at everything, like oh a tree! Oh, look at this, a duck. And Scout's made up about it and it's also like it's really good to get my legs moving.
KATE -Yeah, it felt like you were turning into stone before.
HOLLY -Yeah. Oh, we've come to a gate.
KATE -Yeah, it's locked. This will be interesting. What are we going to do now? If we turn back it's going to be too much for your little legs isn't it?
HOLLY -Yeah, I definitely can't go back.
KATE -Scale a wall?
HOLLY -[laughs] Yeah.
KATE -Yeah, because Scout was feeling really… She couldn't sleep the last few nights and we saw our neighbours, Scout and I saw our neighbours, and she kept saying, "The doctor says mummy's not allowed out of the house. The doctor says mummy's not allowed out of the house," and we could just tell that that was her anxiety.
HOLLY -Yeah, well once I had a chat with her, it was about nine o'clock and she just was unable to sleep and she just wanted to be cuddled and chatted to her and I said, "You know, people are getting better, it will get back to normal at some point." And I told her that, you know, the doctors and nurses were fighting really hard to make people better and the scientists and stuff and that maybe soon I could go on a walk with her. And her face just lit up and she was asleep within five minutes.
KATE -It's what she needed wasn't it, a bit of normality.
HOLLY -Yeah, exactly.
KATE -And that's what we're giving her, so yeah, it's against the rules, we are renegade rule breaker rebels in the middle of the countryside.
HOLLY -Plus we're about to now climb over a wall.
KATE -Oh god. Okay. This is not going to go well.
[music]
KATE -So it's about 2 am and I am feeling pretty crappy. I'm in my bathroom and having to whisper because Holly and Scout are both asleep in the bed [furniture scrapes] oops, god… next to me. Well, in the bed next door. And I'm eating sweets. It's a night time sugar thing. I'm in a lot of pain and I can't sleep and anyone with chronic pain knows this really crappy cycle that you get into which is you're in more pain so you can't sleep because of the pain and sleep is when your body heals you.
With EDS your joints over extend in normal everyday life, so whatever you're doing your joints kind of move too much and then that causes like little tears of the bits around your joints because they've gone too far. And they get mended overnight and you start to feel… Oh, I'm dropping my sweets on the floor… And your body mends itself in sleep is what I'm trying to say. But if you don't get that sleep your body doesn't have the chance to heal itself. You can't sleep because you're in pain and then you don't sleep which means your body can't heal itself and make you feel better, so you're in more pain. And you're in more pain so you can't sleep. You don't sleep so you can't heal yourself and then you're in more pain.
So it's a really bad cycle, which I am currently in. I kind of know why. I feel like my base level of pain has been increasing over the last few weeks. I feel like I've got like a base level that I'm used to and that I can cope with and then the last few weeks that's gone up, for various reasons like not being able to go swimming, not being able to do my normal activity, having to take Scout out for a walk on occasions which is really quite hard for me. EDS is a weird thing where you're in pain whether you do something or don't do something. You're in pain all the time but if you don't do something then your body seizes up and it really hurts and you get pain from that. And if you do too much then your body seizes up and you get pain from that.
So you have to like walk this line which I'm really expert at walking now. I know how much I can do, I know how much I can't do. I know how to pace and plan my life, and all of that has just gone out the window. These last couple of months it's all gone and I can't get it right because I can't do the stuff that I need to do. And I love Holly and Scout to death, I absolutely do, but there's just no break from them, like even at night time Scout's in our bed so there's no break from her there. If I go out I have to take Scout with me because that's the only way she'll get out of the house because Holly can't go and take her out and give me a couple of hours off.
I used to love the days when Holly would go to London for work and Scout would be at preschool and I'd have the house to myself and I would just do whatever I wanted to do, like potter around, do my work, just have quiet. And that just feels like a dream at the moment. This is really hard. It's really hard. I think we should all be allowed to say this is really hard.
[music]
KATE -Hey, Hol.
HOLLY -Hey.
KATE -Thanks for letting me use that space.
HOLLY -It's that time of the week again. What is it?
KATE -Go on, you do it.
HOLLY -Isolation issues, issues, issues. Is that it? [laughter]
KATE -That's close enough.
HOLLY -Okay.
KATE -Nice. So do you want to go first or do you want me to go first?
HOLLY -You can go first as long as you don't talk about what I think you're going to talk about.
KATE -That really horrible, mean, awful thing you did to me?
HOLLY -Oh, no!
KATE -Because that is definitely going to…
HOLLY -It was a joke.
KATE -So I was feeling pretty low the other day and Holly had been cooking and I came downstairs having put Scout to bed and Holly turned round to me and said, "Would you like a glass of pineapple juice?"
HOLLY -And there was a glass on the counter.
KATE -And there was a glass on the counter, and we had a pineapple in the fridge.
HOLLY -Which I forgot.
KATE -And so I thought, oh pineapple juice? That sounds delightful.
HOLLY -Hmm-hmm. And then before I knew it, literally it was one of those kind of, I don't know, slow motion things, but you grabbed the glass and you started like downing it.
KATE -I was really thirsty and I was really excited about having pineapple juice.
HOLLY -And I was frozen to the spot, like literally inside I was like, nooooooo…
KATE -Yeah, because it wasn't…
HOLLY -But then you started gagging because it wasn't pineapple juice, it was chickpea water. I'm a horrible person.
KATE -And it was the most disgusting thing.
HOLLY -You see I kept it because you can make chocolate mousse out of chickpea water.
KATE -Oh, no.
HOLLY -That is a real thing. Google it, it's a real thing.
KATE -Oh my god, it was awful. And it was like the straw that broke the camel's back wasn't it?
HOLLY -Yeah. First of all you started spitting it out in the sink and then…
KATE -And then I was gagging.
HOLLY -And then you were gagging.
KATE -And then I just burst into tears and ran upstairs.
HOLLY -Yeah.
KATE -In the way that I can run. [laughs] Yeah.
HOLLY -Yeah. And obviously I followed you up and I think it had been the straw that broke the camel's back, because by the time I got up there you were like, "It wasn't about the chickpea water, it was everything."
KATE -I had such a good cry though.
HOLLY -You did, and you don't cry very often.
KATE -No, so sometimes it's needed.
HOLLY -Yeah, and normally when you have that stress you're like right, "I'm going off for a couple of hours. I'm going to go to the gym or to the pool," and then you come back and you're like, "Oh my gosh, I feel so much better."
KATE -Yeah, I have a bit of time to myself. I have a swim and sit with my book.
HOLLY -Read a book. Yeah, you come back and you're like, "Yeah, I feel loads better," and I was thinking this thing is bothering me because of this and whatever, you go through it in your head.
KATE -Yeah, and I work it out and then I come back and talk about it.
HOLLY -But instead there was like this explosion.
KATE -Because there's no time for that. There's just no time for me to have space anywhere. Yeah, I mean the cry helped, but still, not nice.
HOLLY -I'm really sorry.
KATE - I know. It's fine. Right. Do you have an issue?
HOLLY -Throwing away perfectly good stuff.
KATE -Oh, no.
HOLLY -Yeah.
KATE -It's not perfectly good though.
HOLLY -I have to go through the bin and I often find like my actual possessions. Childhood treasures.
KATE -Childhood treasures. Like what?
HOLLY -Yeah. Anyway, I was sorting out Scout's clothes in the bottom of the wardrobe and I found a, you know, nice rucksack which I opened and I was like okay, it's just full of your stuff and you're like oh yeah, cool. Anyway, five minutes later I go into the bedroom and what's sitting in the bed is this full rucksack not even opened, just like sticking out of the bed. So I went and sat and got it out and what did we find?
KATE -Well, you found an old watch of mine, which is good because I did want to keep that watch so I'm very glad because I didn't think I'd ever find it.
HOLLY -Yeah, but also like, go through it. My god.
KATE -But have you ever noticed anything that's gone missing?
HOLLY -Yeah, of course. I'm always like where's this? Where's that?
KATE -No, because you've got so much stuff. I reckon I could throw away a third of your belongings…
HOLLY -No.
KATE -And you would never know.
[music]
SCOUT -Will you watch me?
HOLLY -What am I watching you doing?
SCOUT -My trick downstairs on the sofa.
KATE -Your trick downstairs on the sofa.
SCOUT -Yes.
KATE -Okay, so if I watch the trick on the sofa will you let me get back to work?
SCOUT -It won't take long.
KATE -Do you promise? Is that a deal?
SCOUT -Promise. It will just take four minutes.
KATE -Four minutes. Okay, come on then.
SCOUT -Four minutes isn't long.
KATE -Okay, four minutes isn't long. Holly?
HOLLY -What did you say?
KATE -Aren't you meant to be looking after our child?
HOLLY -Yes, she didn't want me to play with her or anything.
KATE -Yes, but she came up and is disturbing me.
SCOUT -It's going to be amazing, this.
KATE -Okay, so you're holding the handles of the door. Wow! And then you jumped off. Brilliant. Good job.
[music]
KATE -Right, okay. Back to the emails. So we have had some really lovely emails this week and I have not felt well enough to do them justice I'm afraid because you guys have come with so much great advice. And just, oh I feel so lucky to have you all, like honestly, it's brilliant. Andrea Kierstead, thank you so much for… She sent me a link with a load of scavenger hunts on Facebook that we could do with children. There's like a senses scavenger hunt. A rainbow one, so you find something red, something yellow. Name a fruit that's red. All of this is so useful, in fact I might go and try doing one of these this afternoon because Scout's stopped wanting to leave the house completely now. So we're going to have to find inventive ways of getting her out at all. So yeah, this could be just what I'm looking for, so thank you so much, Andrea.
But the final email that has been really lovely to get was from a lady called Liz. "Just started listening to your podcast. I became hemiplegic in September 2018 when I randomly had a brainstem haemorrhage at the age of 22, two days before my last year of university. I was in neuro rehab for a year and trying to get independent enough to go back to finish uni this year using a wheelchair. I am trying to educate myself as a newly disabled person and very much enjoy the podcast."
It is great to have you along, Liz, apologies that it has to be in this fashion. Now she says, "When lockdown happened what was weird for me was I had my own lockdown last year in care. I've already had to get used to an inaccessible world and revise how I entertain myself and be creative. It's strange seeing people having to wrestle this for what is a reality for lots of people."
Now that is something that I've seen time and time again. A lot of disabled people talking about that this is a reality for a lot of us and now all of a sudden everybody's having to get used to it. All these things that weren't accessible to people before are suddenly becoming accessible to everyone. For example, working from home. I mean, how often have you been told in the office, "It's not possible to work from home. You can't do this job from home," and now all of a sudden it's oh, everybody's able to do their job working from home. These are things that should have been accessible to disabled people long, long ago. And part of me does wonder, is this going to be a sea change? Is this going to be the moment that things change for people? I don't know, I don't know if it is, but I really, really hope so.
Liz goes on to tell me how she's trying to do her physio at home by walking with her flatmate doing laps of her 3 x 2 bathroom, which I think is excellent because I haven't even bothered doing that and I'm going to have to start doing something. And Liz, you being able to keep going with your rehab, I need to probably be keeping going with my stuff as well because I am really not doing it at the moment and it's a tough-y but, you know, we need to keep going don't we? We really do.
Now Liz also says something that I think is very poignant, and this is I think that this is a time of great humility where everyone has to accept that nothing is in their control and there's sort of a lightness in accepting that. Liz, you are very wise. You are my Yoda of the week, and I'm going to try and take some of the lightness of not being in control of this situation and let it go because that's what I've really struggled with recently, is just letting go, that this is the situation we're in. I keep thinking I have to find ways around stuff, and I can't, I can't find answers to things, I can't find ways to make everything better, as much as I'm searching for it.
So Liz, my Yoda, I appreciate everything you've told me. So yeah, thank you, Liz. And if you want to send me an email please do. I read all of them and I appreciate every single one. My producer gets the emails for me and her email address is [email protected]. Amy is A-M-Y. If you've got ideas for exercise that would be really helpful, and I'm going to go now and start some laps of my own bathroom I think.
[music]
Fortunately I am feeling a bit better today, so I managed to play a scavenger hunt game with Scout that was recommended. It is super simple, you just write a list of items to be found in the house and off they go. I mean, Scout always wants us with her but still, off we all go to find it. And we had something crunchy, something smooth, something soft, something white. You get the idea. And then once the rain goes away we'll try it again, but in the garden.
I'll be back next week with more documentation of my life, I mean, as egotistical as that sounds, but I actually do like sharing it with you all. And please remember to recommend the Cabin Fever Ouch series to anyone who might be a little bit lonely, stir crazy or in a similar boat to myself and Holly, because hopefully listening in can make them feel just a little bit less alone. Have a good week.
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To no-one's surprise, the NHS dominated the first prime minister's questions of 2015*. To some slight surprise, it took four questions from Ed Miliband before David Cameron decided to deploy the Welsh card. | David CornockParliamentary correspondent, Wales
Annoyed by the Labour leader's questions about the NHS in England, the prime minister accused Mr Miliband of having no solutions on the NHS: "Presumably if he had any solutions he would have implemented them in Wales."
Mr Cameron did strike a (slightly) conciliatory tone - when faced with criticisms of the NHS in England - in acknowledging there were "challenges" facing the service across the UK. (Funnily enough, "challenges" is the word Ed Miliband uses when asked about Labour's NHS record in Wales).
He added: "If Labour has an answer to the NHS can they explain why they cut the budget in Wales by 8%. That is where Labour is in charge. All parts of the United Kingdom face a health challenge but the real risk to the NHS is the risk of unfunded spending commitments bringing chaos to our economy which would wreck our NHS."
Later, he told MPs the NHS in England was outperforming the NHS in Wales, although - possibly to the relief of Conservative MPs - there was no mention of Offa's Dyke. in the House of Commons even if there was in his Radio Wales interview this morning.
Just before Christmas, Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb told the Western Mail that he had asked cabinet colleagues to mind their language when talking about the NHS in Wales.
One can only imagine Mr Crabb's frustration over the way the prime minister's defence of his remarks has generated headlines that overshadowed what the secretary of state saw as his most significant political and economic speech since taking the job.
*(News from Paris emerged in time for the party leaders to condemn events there although there was little debate on the issue).
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The term "net neutrality" was first deployed 15 years ago, and is commonly used to refer to the idea that all internet traffic should be treated equally. | Dave LeeNorth America technology reporter
But later this Thursday, a vote will almost certainly reinterpret an older law used to underpin how it is applied in the US - ending a ban on internet service providers (ISPs) being able to put the brakes on some websites' data and accelerate others'.
Some believe that threatens the very fabric of the internet.
Like many of the great American laws, the Communications Act of 1934 was written by a bunch of men who had absolutely no idea what they were doing.
That's not a criticism. Who could have foreseen, as they put pen to paper, that one day their words would be used to govern how bits and bytes are streamed and downloaded, through copper, glass and radio-waves, under and overground, across our oceans and even into space?
Sometimes, though, the most effective laws are about establishing a broad principle - in this case the idea that companies providing telecommunications must do so without discrimination.
Should that rule - known as Title II - apply to the companies that provide Americans with the internet?
It did, but now it won't.
The pioneers of the internet are unequivocal: losing net neutrality will be nothing short of a catastrophe, for innovation, free speech and free expression.
Yet the man orchestrating the change calls that notion "hysteria".
We're about to find out who's right.
Will untying the ISPs hands foster innovation, or cause the wider industry to hit the buffers?
Verizon's puppet?
The decision will be made on Thursday by the five-person board at the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It will almost certainly, barring a last-minute unexpected twist, vote to overturn a decision in 2015 that said Title II should apply to internet service providers.
Since President Trump took office, the balance of power at the FCC has shifted to the Republicans. And this vote was brought to the front of the agenda by Ajit Pai, the president's pick to be the FCC's chairman.
Mr Pai has been on the FCC board for more than five years. He's had a career mostly in government, aside from a period beginning in February 2001, when he worked at Verizon as a lawyer.
"Ah ha!" say campaigners, who believe Mr Pai's past is an obvious conflict of interest and the motivation behind this move. Verizon, one of the biggest telecoms companies in the world, stands to benefit greatly from a loss of net neutrality.
But conversely, who better to know how the companies will react than a man who knows the business intimately?
The perceived line between expertise and vested interest is extremely thin.
In a brazen after-dinner speech last week, Mr Pai responded to the negative claims by mocking them. He showed a video comedy skit in which he attends a fictional meeting with a Verizon lawyer.
"We want to brainwash and groom a Verizon puppet to install as FCC chairman," the lawyer says to Mr Pai.
"Awesome," he replies.
Hopes and fears
Net neutrality campaigners say losing net neutrality will mean internet service providers will be free to trample all over the open web, slowing down services they don't like, and speeding up ones they do.
Campaigners fear we now face an internet where you pay more to use things like Netflix, or that companies may be strong-armed into paying ISPs in order to maintain good access to their product, making things difficult for new companies who can't afford to pay for preferential treatment.
On a broader level, those who support net neutrality argue that free speech could be adversely impacted, with ISPs able to hinder access to things the firms' owners do not agree with, or are under pressure to quash. The internet, for all its faults, has thrived as a level playing field.
But supporters of removing net neutrality - the ISPs, mostly - argue the regulation stifles their ability to invest and innovate. They say concerns about unfair throttling and control are overblown.
Besides, this is a free market - consumers can dictate what corporations do by voting with their wallets.
A throttled future
The notion that there is meaningful competition for internet access in America is laughable.
The big players, Verizon, AT&T and Comcast, connect almost every American to the internet, but do so without significant overlap. In its most recent data (June 2016), the FCC determined that more than 50 million homes in the US had only one choice of internet provider if they wanted fast broadband, considered to be 25Mbps or above.
"The marketplace isn’t sufficiently combative to make those kind of arguments," said Doug Sicker, head of engineering at Carnegie Mellon, and the FCC's former chief technology officer.
It's unreasonable, then, to think that typical forces will mean ISPs are compelled to make choices that please their customers in case they up and leave for another ISP.
It paves the way for campaigners' nightmare scenario, best illustrated by a tweet from Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna.
He shared, as others have in the past, a "menu" from Portuguese provider MEO. It showed how unlimited use of certain services, such as "social" and "music", were offered as paid add-ons for mobile data subscriptions.
Will ISPs in the US try to create parallel bundles-with-benefits for broadband? They insist not.
"Will Comcast block or throttle access to internet sites? No." reads a pledge from the company.
It adds that it will not engage in any paid prioritisation - that is, deals with companies to make their services faster at the expense of others.
Verizon too has promised to uphold principles of the "open internet", arguing net neutrality isn't changing at all.
But FCC's wording is perfectly clear. If internet providers want to throttle traffic, there is nothing stopping them - as long as they are transparent.
"Those obligations include publicly providing information concerning an ISP’s practices with respect to blocking, throttling, paid prioritization, and congestion management," the FCC explained.
"Should an ISP fail to make the required disclosures - either in whole or in part - the FCC will take enforcement action."
Trickle-down internet
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, $101m (£75.2m) has been spent by the telecoms industry in wooing the 535 members of Congress for a variety of reasons, not just net neutrality.
There is no obvious partisan divide when it comes to campaign contributions - of the top four highest "earners", two are Republicans, and two are Democrats. The man who has received the most money from the industry is Republican John McCain, though there's a simple explanation for that: he's been there the longest.
Though when it comes to arguing on net neutrality, Democrats have typically been in favour of net neutrality, while Republicans, with a few exceptions, haven't.
Republicans like to be considered the pro-business party, and the pro-business argument for ditching net neutrality is one of investment and innovation.
The ISPs, and trade organisations that represent telecoms interests, argue that until 2015, when the Democrat-controlled FCC went down strict on net neutrality, the internet was doing just fine.
"For decades, the internet flourished under a bipartisan regulatory approach that allowed it to operate, grow and succeed free of unnecessary government controls," Verizon says.
Investment could mean faster roll out of super-high speed fibre internet. Or, more pressingly, it could improve connections for people in rural America who barely have any kind of internet at all.
But this would require that the ISPs choose to spend money in this way. The FCC's move doesn't involve any requirement to commit to investment in internet, rural or otherwise.
The new players
Another argument put forth by Mr Pai is that new internet providers could emerge, widening the choice for Americans getting online. He said he spoke to five small ISPs that all welcomed his plans.
"One constant theme I heard was how Title II had slowed investment and injected regulatory uncertainty into their business plans," Mr Pai said in a statement.
"In short, heavy-handed regulation is making it harder for smaller providers to close the digital divide in rural America."
Yet that view contradicts the one expressed by no less than 30 small ISPs this past summer. In a letter to Mr Pai, they collectively said they had "long supported network neutrality as a core principle for the deployment of networks for the American public to access the Internet".
Mr Sicker, formerly of the FCC, told the BBC he did not see small, local ISPs sweeping the nation to offer Americans better choice.
"It would only likely happen in the same places where there is the most competition already," he said.
"That doesn’t solve the problem for rural America and other areas that don’t have the same density. There might be some segments of America where people stand up, but I don’t think this will be nationwide."
Also unclear is how this might impact the global picture, given the US's important role in dictating trends and governance of a platform it ultimately invented.
European Union rules to protect net neutrality, put in place in 2016, were heralded as a "triumph" by digital rights campaigners. The changes in the US will not directly affect users outside of the country, but will further underline the philosophical differences between the American and European approach to digital rights.
A vicious campaign
The process leading up to this change has been grubby. New York's district attorney alleges that there were two million "fake" submissions, some using identities of dead New Yorkers, made to the FCC consultation. It accused the FCC of refusing to investigate - and demanded the vote be postponed until the "massive fraud" had been looked into.
In May, as TV comedian John Oliver ran a segment about the issue urging viewers to send the FCC their view, the commission's website was inaccessible. The FCC said it was "attacked".
In a joint letter this week, internet pioneers called for the vote's cancellation, saying the move was pushed through without consultation with appropriate experts and managed by people who simply did not know what they are doing.
Mr Pai received threats towards his family, including signs outside his home. A man in Syracuse was arrested after making death threats against a senator.
In short, the subject has very quickly became extremely politically charged and vicious.
The undeniable result: a complete shut down of constructive dialogue on what could be a defining decision in the internet's history.
Stopping the pendulum
Several things could happen from here. Court challenges could delay implementation of the FCC's rules, or overturn them altogether. If President Trump - or another Republican candidate - fails to win in 2020, a Democrat-controlled FCC could simply overturn this ruling once again.
Creating a political football out of net neutrality, a pendulum that swings with each new administration, could be causing the most harm to the internet economy.
"Congressional action is the only way to solve the endless back and forth on net neutrality rules that we’ve seen over the past several years," argues Senator John Thune, a Republican.
"So many of us in Congress already agree on many of the principles of net neutrality.
"If Republicans and Democrats have the political support to work together on such a compromise, we can enact a regulatory framework that will stand the test of time."
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC
You can reach Dave securely through encrypted messaging app Signal on: +1 (628) 400-7370
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When the first valleys initiative was launched nearly 30 years ago, there was a strong theme running through these south Wales communities - the sharp decline in coal and the loss of many, many thousands of jobs. | By Sarah DickinsBBC Wales economics correspondent
However, there is a big question about whether an all-Valleys approach makes sense today.
What unites them? Does it still make sense to have an economic strategy with such a geographical identity?
Life in various valleys communities today is varied and within each community there are pockets of poverty and pockets of prosperity.
This was highlighted by a recent so-called "deep place" study into Pontypool by Dr Mark Lang.
However, there are clearly still serious economic challenges in the valleys and the taskforce has been gathering the opinions of people living in those communities.
The minister responsible, Alun Davies, who represents one of the poorest valleys constituencies in Blaenau Gwent, has already said one message from communities was that there are not enough jobs near enough to home and there are too many zero-hour contracts and agency work.
He has clearly listened not just to people on the ground but to academics such as Prof Karel Williams and Dr Lang, who for several years have been arguing for more emphasis on what they call the foundational economy.
In other words, the sectors that exist in all communities: health, education, care, food and energy.
Perhaps this is a new thread to weave communities together in the way that coal once did.
Mr Davies has now outlined six economic or growth hubs - an idea suggested by the Bevan Foundation think-tank, although this is double the number it suggested.
The charity has calculated one in 15 jobs in the valleys is temporary, one in four are paid below the living wage and there are 67,000 fewer jobs than you would expect from the age profile of its communities.
But be careful with statistics - averages can be misleading. They can hide both extreme deprivation and wealth and can lead to sweeping statements about a whole community.
Averages can still help to paint a picture. In the case of Blaenau Gwent, it is a depressing one. It is one of the most deprived local authorities in the UK where the rate of unemployment is 50% higher than the Welsh average.
About one in six adults have no qualifications and for those who are working, wages are more than £60 a week less than the Welsh average.
Changing statistics such as those are a real challenge and are complicated, with many influences beyond Welsh Government control and the impact of Brexit.
We should remember the 1993 Valleys initiative was derailed by a UK-wide recession.
But this initiative does feel different from those in the past with the emphasis on more bread and butter - jobs closer to home and growth hubs.
The big question is how quickly the impact will be felt.
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Crofters and Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (Hial) are in dispute over an area of land near Stornoway Airport in Lewis. | Hial wants to release the land for a housing development, but a group of crofters argue that they have a right to use it as common grazing.
Common grazing is land shared by crofters for raising livestock.
The Scottish Land Court is due to sit in Stornoway on 6 December to hear the issue.
A Hial spokesman said: "Hial has sought to release a parcel of land close to Stornoway Airport for homes which will be available to local people.
"A small number of individuals with crofting interests have objected on the basis that the area is common grazing. Hial's legal advice does not support that position."
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The warning from the South Korean President Moon Jae-in of the potential threat from North Korean chemical and biological weapons is timely, underscoring that Pyongyang has invested heavily in a variety of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programmes. | Jonathan MarcusDiplomatic correspondent@Diplo1on Twitter
Mr Moon also warned of the danger of a North Korean electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) attack that could cripple a country's electrical grid and critical infrastructure.
So while attention focuses on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme and the long-range missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, how much do we know about these other secretive WMD programmes?
North Korea makes no secret of its nuclear weapons ambitions. In marked contrast, it does not admit to having chemical or biological weapons. It has signed up to a treaty banning biological weapons, but it has not acceded to the equivalent agreement banning chemical weapons.
US and South Korean experts believe that, in fact, North Korea does have a significant chemical weapons programme, with stockpiles of munitions containing nerve, choking and blister agents; such substances as phosgene; hydrogen cyanide; mustard; and sarin.
North Korea has a huge artillery and rocket force capable of delivering such munitions, though it remains unclear if it is able to produce chemical warheads that would survive the stresses of a flight on a ballistic missile.
Much less is known about North Korea's activities in the biological weapons field. South Korean intelligence believes that the North is well-able to produce and weaponise pathogens like anthrax, botulism and typhus, but it is far from clear if these programmes have gone beyond the research stage.
The EMP threat is something that is widely written about - it has especially been taken up in US conservative circles - and the debate has gained added currency in the wake of North Korean threats to mount such an attack.
In essence, this would involve the detonation of a small nuclear device in the atmosphere - you would not even need a nuclear missile, a balloon could be released from a cargo ship - which results in a massive power-surge that damages and disables electrical circuitry over a huge area.
Crippled infrastructure that might not be repairable for months could lead to death, chaos and lawlessness on a vast scale. In 2008, a US commission investigating the threat concluded that "the electromagnetic pulse generated by a high-altitude nuclear explosion is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences".
Experts differ on the likelihood of such an attack emanating from North Korea, whatever the threats. Of course, in the Korean context there is already a nuclear threat and, to the extent that an EMP attack involves the detonation of a nuclear device, Pyongyang would be risking catastrophic reprisal and potentially the end of the regime.
All these fears underscore the problem of dealing with Pyongyang. There is a tension between keeping the international community united behind UN sanctions resolutions and applying the scale of pressure that the Trump administration wants (and which it believes can only come from China).
In the meantime, North Korea's programmes advance. A senior US general now warns that Pyongyang's recent test may well have been a hydrogen bomb, marking a significant advance in the North's capabilities.
And all the while, the danger of a test going wrong - of debris landing on Japan or Guam - or of miscalculation grows, and with that the threat of crisis turning into conflict.
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A hot air balloon crash which killed 19 people near Luxor has cast a further pall over Egypt's hard-hit tourism industry.
In the aftermath of the apparent accident, fears are being raised about the impact on one of the most popular activities among visitors drawn to the country's ancient sites, as the BBC's Yolande Knell reports. | A dawn flight in a hot air balloon over the River Nile taking in the ancient temples, monuments and tombs is supposed to be the highlight of a tourist's trip to Luxor.
But for a group of European and Asian holidaymakers the adventure with an operator called Sky Cruise ended in disaster.
An investigation into how the balloon caught fire and exploded in mid-air is now under way by Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority and general prosecutor. It is thought that a gas cylinder may have blown up.
The terrible accident looks set to deal another blow to the Egyptian tourism industry, which employs one in 10 workers and is one of the economy's main sources of foreign revenue.
It has already seen two years of political turmoil since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.
"The industry has been slowly starting to recover this year. In 2012 there were 10.6m tourists, up from 8.9m in 2011 but still significantly down on the 13.5m we saw in 2010," says economist Moustafa Bassiouny of Cairo-based think-tank Signet Institute.
Media coverage showing continuing violence and unrest have put tourists off.
"There has been a failure to market Egypt as multiple destinations. Most problems have been in Cairo and the Suez Canal cities. South Sinai is safe for tourists and up to now there have been no major incidents in the South," Mr Bassiouny says.
Flights grounded
But this explosion will increase fears about Egypt's public safety standards. Already there is widespread anger in the country over recent fatal transport and construction accidents.
This is not the first time that a hot air balloon has crashed. There were a spate of crashes between 2006 and 2009 in which passengers were injured.
In April 2009, 16 people were hurt when their balloon struck a mobile phone mast.
After that accident, there was a temporary suspension of hot air balloon flights while safety measures were improved.
Pilots were given extra training, limits were placed on the number of passengers a balloon could carry and a new hot air balloon airport was opened.
The measures however did not prevent an even worse incident just three years later.
"We have never seen anything quite like this in Luxor before. It is an awful thing," the Luxor governor, Ezzat Saad, told me after visiting two survivors of the latest crash at local hospitals and surveying the sugar cane fields where bodies were being recovered.
"For the safety of the tourists and the Egyptians I have ordered all the companies dealing with balloons to stop flights until we know exactly what happened and the reasons for it," he said.
Tourism slump
Upper Egypt is one of the poorest regions of the country. Many locals are poorly educated and unskilled, working in agriculture.
It has been badly affected by the recent downturn in tourism. Luxor's hotels are currently about 25% full at what is supposed to be the peak of the winter season.
The main attractions in the city are the Karnak and Luxor temples as well as the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of the Nile.
Officials say they hope that the latest accident will not have a further adverse effect on locals' livelihoods.
"We have been unlucky in Luxor and Aswan as the so-called cultural tourism has been down this year and last year also," Mr Saad says.
"This is an isolated incident, it is not a terrorist act or something like that. I hope it will be looked at in that context. We don't need more problems to stop tourists coming to Luxor."
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In the two years since he died, we've learnt more and more about the occasionally troubled private life of George Michael. Now an auction and accompanying exhibition in London give an insight into one of the musician's big enthusiasms - visual art. | By Vincent DowdArts reporter, BBC News
The coincidence in timing was perfect.
In the late 1980s, George Michael's lucrative solo career was taking off post-Wham!
And at the same time the media and art-buying public were fascinated by a new phenomenon attracting levels of coverage normally associated with major rock-stars - the Young British Artists.
The best-known YBAs included Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. Their names became familiar to the general public to a degree which hadn't been seen in British art for years.
By his mid-20s, Michael was in a position to buy art extensively and at the highest levels.
Cristian Albu of auctioneers Christie's says Michael became a truly serious collector from 2004 onwards.
"And it stretched all the way to 2009 - that was the most intense period," he tells BBC News.
"I think his finesse as an artist in music made it very easy for George Michael to make the journey into visual art. And it all started with Tracey Emin.
"She was doing a commission for a particular collector and George happened to be staying with the collector. So George knocked at the door where he knew Tracey was working and asked to be allowed in. But Tracey said she was far too busy and George said, 'well fine but I'm George Michael' - and Tracey said 'I don't care who you are, just go away'.
"So the relationship had a tricky start but eventually they were close and it was Tracey who introduced George to the work of the YBAs, who mainly had studied at Goldsmiths College in London under Michael Craig-Martin. So without an Emin influence probably there wouldn't have been this exhibition and this auction now."
The 60 most important works from the singer's collection are to be auctioned at Christie's in London on Thursday (14 March).
The piece with the biggest advance estimate (up to £1.5m) is by Damien Hirst.
The Incomplete Truth features a white dove suspended in formaldehyde in a large glass case.
It's the first thing you see as you enter the pre-sale exhibition. (The public can visit Christie's in St James's London to see the artwork for themselves until the day of the auction.)
In addition, an online auction is already under way for the 100 or so other works described by Christie's as "more accessibly priced".
A few of these carry advance estimates in the low thousands of pounds - although the George Michael association could boost the selling price hugely.
But Albu insists that the estimated prices haven't been boosted because of the connection.
He says the singer was an active and informed buyer.
"I'm sure he had advisors but I think he pleased himself and made up his own mind what he liked. And you can see that he had a sense of humour.
"We all remember that 20 years ago he was caught doing certain things in a public park in Los Angeles which then came to involve the police. Later he was dealing with Michael Craig-Martin and he bought three paintings called Urinal and Sex and Handcuffs. So he transformed his own experience into a triptych of humour."
Craig-Martin was also commissioned by the singer in 2007 to create a computerised portrait of him which features in the sale. It's set up so that the colours on the screen change constantly
Not all of the pieces for sale represent the YBA era; longer established artists crop up too. There's a 1997 image by Gilbert & George (honorary godfathers of the YBAs) called Shadow Blind.
And there's one of Bridget Riley's attractive striped images which used to hang above Michael's fireplace in Texas - Cristian Albu speculates that maybe Michael was attracted by the title, Songbird.
But not all of the images can have hung on the singer's walls at the same time. So do we know which other favourites were permanently on show?
"You have to remember that George had homes in England and in the USA. There's also the Goss-Michael Foundation in Dallas, where some of the art had its home," Albu says.
That foundation was set up by the singer and his boyfriend Kenny Goss.
All the proceeds of the sale will go to charities. Other artists whose work is for sale include David Bailey, Mat Collishaw, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Sarah Lucas and Chris Ofili.
Albu doesn't deny bidders will be attracted by the celebrity connection.
But he says the fact his choice of art was so focused in its origins means it sums up perfectly a phase of British art which seems recent, yet is on the verge of becoming history.
The George Michael Collection will be auctioned at Christie's in London on the evening of 14 March. The work is open for viewing daily until 15:00 GMT on Thursday.
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The trial of Daniel Holtzclaw, a police officer accused of sexually assaulting more than a dozen poor, black women, has failed thus far to make a large impact on the national stage. Now one local group of activists is determined to fill the void. | By Jessica LussenhopBBC News Magazine
A little over a year ago, after multiple felony sexual battery and rape charges were filed against former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, the story made national headlines.
The allegations were shocking - the uniformed officer allegedly sexually assaulted multiple women after stopping them in the course of his duties, targeting ones from a poorer, predominantly African-American part of the city. Over the course of the investigation, the number of accusers grew to 13. Holtzclaw currently faces 36 charges, including felony sexual battery, rape, forcible oral sodomy and stalking.
He was fired from the force in January.
The story was huge when it broke, so local FOX25 reporter Tom George was surprised when he walked into the courtroom for the first day of Holtzclaw's trial last week.
"The first week, it was almost empty," says George. "I think there was an assumption that it would be packed."
There has also been minimal national media attention for the trial, as pointed out many times on social media, sometimes with the hashtag #BlackWomenMatter.
"13 women have accused former police officer #Daniel Holtzclaw of sexual misconduct/rape. Where's the outrage?" wrote one person on Twitter.
"I'm disappointed that many women's orgs came out to support other victims of police brutality but have remained silent on this case," tweeted activist Feminista Jones.
The alleged victims - who range in age from 17 to 57 - are all black. They have accused Holtzclaw of fondling their breasts, forcing oral sex, and in two cases, rape. Some told investigators that Holtzclaw implied that he would help them with their cases if they performed sexual acts.
Holtzclaw has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
The first alleged victim to come forward was a 57-year-old grandmother who called the police after Holtzclaw allegedly pulled her over, searched her under her bra, then forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Some of the other women have criminal records, worked as prostitutes or were using drugs. The prosecution has argued that none of them came forward because they were afraid no one would believe them - and that they were targeted for this very reason.
That background may also explain why the courtroom looked so empty in those first days, says Pastor Jesse Jackson Jr of the East 6th Street Christian Church in Oklahoma City.
"All these victims down there didn't have that kind of family - the courtroom was not packed," he says. "Some of these ladies - they aren't little old church ladies. But all of them are victims."
Concern about the absence of supportive faces in the court was compounded by the fact that the jury in the case is all white and mostly male - eight men and four women.
"These are the women that even among women, we say disparaging things. They're not as valued," says Grace Franklin, a co-founder of the group OKC Artists For Justice, which has been organising around the case since the beginning. "He knew people would have a hard time believing them."
The founders of OKC Artists also say that since the news broke over a year ago, they've reached out to many, larger national groups (they declined to name any) about joining their protest movement around the case, but received little response. The lack of interest from media, from the general public, from local churches and from other activist movements has been baffling for Franklin, and is playing out once more in the mostly empty rows in the courtroom.
"It kind of fuels the feeling of separation between black so-called feminists and white feminists," she says. "Why aren't there more women out here of all shades, of all backgrounds for these women? Why are we doing this alone?"
Blogger and cultural critic Mikki Kendall has written about the lack of support for the alleged victims in this case in the past.
"I think that a lot of people perceive this as risky to bet on because these women are not perfect victims," she says. "Particularly when you bring in factors of race, we've seen that white women are not necessarily going to dig in on behalf of black women."
In an effort to push back, Jackson and OKC Artists For Justice held a meeting to make sure that the rows are filled with supporters for the rest of the trial, which could last as long as a month. They are scheduling volunteers in morning and afternoon shifts, in part using a Facebook event page and in part with a handwritten sign-up sheet.
The group's presence is not meant to be an aggressive protest action. Participants are instructed to remain silent in the courtroom, turn off their mobile phones and wear teal, a symbolic colour in support of victims of sexual violence. Candace Liger, another co-founder of OKC Artists For Justice, says that they have a contact within the group of alleged victims who are aware and appreciative of their actions. But that is the extent of communication - their presence is meant to be one of silent support.
"I think it absolutely helps, it just helps to sit there and say, 'I believe you,'" she says.
Two victims have testified so far in the case, and in addition to describing their assaults in detail, they have faced vigorous cross-examination by Holtzclaw's defence lawyer. He questioned one about how much marijuana she had been smoking the day of the alleged assault. He asked the other about her PCP use and about the fake names she has given to police in the past. He reminded the jury she has three or four felony convictions on her record.
But while the first alleged victim told her story to a mostly empty courtroom, the second saw a sea of sympathetic faces when the trial resumed on Tuesday, thanks in part to the efforts of Jackson and OKC Artists.
"Big change from last week - almost every seat at #DanielHoltzclaw trial now full," tweeted George.
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A 25-year-old has been charged with the murder of a man who died after being found unconscious in Sheffield city centre last month. | Xiangyu Li, 26, was found with head injuries on Union Street on 24 March. He died at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics to save him.
Yongqi Liang of Broomhall Street, Sheffield has been remanded into custody charged with murder.
He will appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Friday.
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Two weeks ago, Olu was preparing to climb down from the 14th floor of Grenfell Tower on a makeshift rope of tied-together bed sheets, with his daughter on his back. Thankfully, he survived, after firefighters told him to run to safety - but what does his life hold now? | By Ashley John-Baptiste and Owen KeanBBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme
"My life wasn't perfect, but I was happy with it," Oluwaseun Talabi tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, reflecting on times before the fire.
When Grenfell Tower set alight, in the early hours of Wednesday 14 June, Olu was in his flat, where he lived with his partner and four-year-old daughter.
He was awoken by screams of "fire! fire!" from his neighbours.
"We tried to run out of the house. But the first thing that hit us was this massive thick smoke, so we shut the door straight away," he says.
Olu began creating another escape route - tying bed sheets together in the hope of climbing down the outside of the building.
'My daughter's choking'
Desperate to save his four-year-old daughter, he then tied her - using cloths - to his back.
His intentions were broken only by the entrance of firefighters.
They had earlier moved five other residents into his room.
Now, they told Olu to run to safety.
"I grabbed my missus, and I just went for it," he says.
"When I got in that smoke, I thought I was going to die. I thought I wouldn't make it down those stairs.
"My daughter is choking, I'm choking, my partner is falling down the stairs - I'm trying to hold her hand," he says, recalling his frantic search for the exit.
"I do not know how we made it down there."
Olu now feels very fortunate that he - and his family - survived.
He says he thinks of those that died every night.
Scared of the dark, he sleeps with the television on to light up the room.
He says it stops him from seeing those that died.
Asked if he has been offered mental health support, he responds: "I think I need help."
'Everyone loved him'
Several days after the fire, Olu - who is staying at a hotel with his family - is surprisingly keen to return to the west London tower block.
"I just want to see what I've come out from," he says.
As he walks through the streets in the surrounding area, he sees "missing" posters for his neighbours - many of whom he knew.
"I know Steve, he lived on the 15th floor - a very nice guy. We were always chatting and bumping into one another," he says, looking at one of the images plastered on the brickwork of a pillar of a nearby bridge.
"Everyone loved him, the whole community loved him," he says, speaking of another.
But it is a third image that affects him the most, taking him aback.
It is a photo of Zainab Deen - one of the residents firefighters placed in his flat - and her two-year-old son Jeremiah.
Olu battles to find the words.
"This little kid here," he says, pointing to Jeremiah - who has been missing since the fire - "now he's gone".
Of the other three people placed in Olu's flat, Syrian refugee Mohammed Alhajali died after being separated from his brother Omar - who was also in the flat, and survived.
Denis Murphy, 56, is still missing. His family say they last heard from him in the early hours of Wednesday sometime between 01:30 and 02:00.
Soon after, Olu sees a poster of another resident, a woman named Debbie, who he did not know was missing.
"Wow, I feel funny, man. Wow," he says, raw with emotion, as he visibly struggles to digest the news.
Find out more
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
After a few minutes, Olu says he is ready to continue the walk to Grenfell Tower.
As he turns the corner, he sees what is left of his home for the first time.
"I can smell it. It brings back the memories," he says.
"It looks like something out of Syria. I guarantee there's dead bodies in there right now."
For Olu, seeing the building is part of the healing process - to somehow make sense of what happened that night.
"I think it would actually make me happy if I could go in there - but I know it's not possible."
Olu is now keen to start rebuilding his life.
He has been left with no possessions, and no home.
He is clearly exhausted, on occasion struggling to walk, but is visiting local centres that provide money, clothes, food and drink to survivors - using donations from the public.
Olu, however, is understandably keen to regain his independence - and provide for his family.
"I don't want to have to keep coming back here for money," he says, outside one of the centres.
"I'm happy that people are willing to help us, but I'm a hardworking guy.
"We don't want to feel like a charity case."
The most important thing for Olu now is to find a suitable new home.
He recently turned down an offer to be re-housed, because it was too far from his daughter's school.
He is trying to stay upbeat, however, and describes himself as a "naturally positive guy".
He hopes to go back to university to finish a master's degree in construction management.
But perhaps the more pressing concern is to find some time to escape recent events, to digest all that has happened.
"I think I need to get away from all of this. Maybe just a little holiday or something," he says.
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This Sunday will see the start of a Synod of Bishops in Rome that could become one of the defining moments for the Papacy of Pope Francis, just six days after he landed back in Italy from his nine-day trip to Cuba and the US. | Caroline WyattFormer religious affairs correspondent@CarolineWyatton Twitter
The diplomatic complexities that he navigated on that journey may come to seem relatively simple compared with the journey that awaits for representatives of the world's 1.2bn Roman Catholics at the Synod on the Family.
It starts on 4 October and ends on 25 October, following on from last year's Extraordinary Synod.
It has been hailed as a key test of this Papacy, and of the Pontiff's own authority and direction for the Church.
The meeting will involve 279 bishops from more than 120 nations, as well as 17 married couples and 17 auditors, as well as other non-voting representative.
Intense lobbying
Ahead of it, Roman Catholic traditionalists and reformers have been lobbying: releasing books, petitions, interviews and articles seeking to outline their positions.
Gay Catholics, female theologians and churches in Africa opposed to homosexuality have all sought to communicate their differing hopes.
An interim document during last year's Synod had led some to believe that the Vatican might ultimately agree a more liberal approach towards homosexuality and perhaps the taking of Holy Communion by remarried divorcees who had not first been granted an annulment.
The hopes of gay Catholics and their families were also raised by Pope Francis's own words in 2013 in response to a question about a gay priest.
"If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" he said, which some took as the prelude to a softening of the Church's attitude.
However, Pope Francis has not sought to change Catholic doctrine on the issue, which still deems homosexuality "intrinsically disordered", even as many western countries - including America and the UK - have legalised same-sex marriage.
Controversial working paper
Nonetheless, the working paper ("Instrumentum Laboris") released ahead of the Synod has managed to arouse the ire of both traditionalists and reformers.
For those who do not want to change the Church's ideals, such as the indissolubility of marriage and the ban on artificial contraception, the document already goes too far in opening up the possibility of change, not least in taking the family as it is today as its starting point.
However, the document also suggests taking the Gospel's words on the family as a starting point. Some suggest these may be two mutually contradictory places to begin.
Pope Francis in his own words
On child abuse: "When a priest abuses it is very serious because the vocation of the priest is to make that boy, that girl, grow towards the love of God. Instead this is squashed and this is nearly a sacrilege... One must not cover these things up. Those who covered this up are guilty. Even some bishops covered this up, it is a terrible thing."
On Africa and the migrant crisis: "They went to pick up the slaves there, then its great resources. It's the exploited continent. And, now the wars, tribal or not. But they have economic interests behind them. And I think that instead of exploiting a continent or a nation, make investments there instead so the people are able to work and this crisis would have been avoided."
On rejecting migrants: "You know what happens to all walls. All walls fall. Today, tomorrow or in 100 years, they will fall. It's not a solution. In this moment, Europe is in difficulty, it's true. We must find solutions. We must encourage dialogue between nations, to find them. Walls are never solutions. But bridges are."
On the notion of creating "Catholic divorce": "That doesn't exist. Either it wasn't a marriage, and this is nullity - it didn't exist. And if it did, it's indissoluble. This is clear."
On women priests: "That cannot be done. Pope St John Paul II after long, long intense discussions, long reflection said so clearly. Not because women don't have the capacity... I must admit we are a bit late in an elaboration of the theology of women."
Source: Vatican Radio
Yet for those who want the Church to change its teaching or attitudes towards contemporary families, and take its lead from western liberal democratic societies that accept contraception, abortion, and same-sex unions, the working paper is not nearly open enough to radical change.
The working paper stresses the importance of teaching Catholics to value the beauty of marriage as indissoluble, as well as re-iterating the Church's opposition to gay marriage and the adoption of children by gay couples, while the church teaches that: "although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder."
LGBT views
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics will gather in Rome on Saturday, among them activist Martin Pendergast from the UK. He says he hopes that the views of LGBT Catholics will be heard.
"The high point of Synod last year was the interim document, which was very affirming, but got lost before the end.
"We hope they'll get back to the kind of sentiments behind 'welcome, value and respect, and have concern for LGBT people' this year."
And, he says it may be significant that the delegates include more bishops known to be supportive of gay Catholics.
Many are already pointing to the make-up of the Synod - decided by the Pope - as key.
A leading traditionalist, the US Cardinal Raymond Burke, seen as the champion of the traditionalist camp last year, will not be there, while German Cardinal Walter Kasper and others on the progressive side will be.
However, African bishops may step into the role played by Cardinal Burke in asserting traditional teaching.
Some African bishops plan to re-affirm their traditional views on the family, and warn against LGBT activism in many parts of the world.
Pope Francis is not necessarily saying anything new in the run-up to this gathering, according to English Cardinal Vincent Nichols, one of the voting delegates, "but he is saying things in a way and with a passion that says he would like to see the Church starting from a different place in its proclamation of the Gospel, and in how it helps people on their journeys."
He admits not every issue will see a meeting of minds.
"Some people say that when people form a family, let's take it as it is, and let's see if we can't help that family, whatever its shape.
"Other people look at it and see immediately what's wrong. So these tensions are there."
Risk of irrelevance
Others believe the most crucial issues facing families globally today are not sexuality or sexual mores, but the gap between rich and poor, the environment, as well as disability.
The problem some see for the Catholic Church in much of the west is that its teachings banning artificial contraception and asserting the indissolubility of marriage are becoming increasingly irrelevant to many Catholics, and are often simply ignored.
And few parents in liberal western societies with gay children view their family members as 'intrinsically disordered'.
It may be impossible for Pope Francis to find a way ahead that satisfies all in this critical debate.
However, a Synod is not a democracy.
All it can do is discuss and put forward recommendations and a summary of its findings.
After that, it will be up to Pope Francis to weigh up the opinions expressed, and to write an "Apostolic Exhortation" to the entire Roman Catholic Church.
That may well not change doctrine, but some hope that in the 'Year of Mercy' starting this December, Pope Francis may wish to apply a more compassionate pastoral approach to those who do not live up to the Vatican's ideals on family life.
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Social issues like gay marriage and abortion have taken centre stage in the lead up to Canada's autumn election, as the Liberal Party tries to convince voters that the Conservatives want to backtrack on LGBTQ and abortion rights. | Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party has fired an early salvo against Conservative party leader Andrew Scheer, and his past record on gay marriage and abortion.
But whether it will wound his primary opponent remains to be seen.
A Liberal minister released footage last week of Mr Scheer in 2005 opposing same-sex marriage during a debate in parliament.
Although his remarks have been a matter of public record for some time, the footage renewed concerns that he would let his personal beliefs influence policy decisions.
For days Mr Scheer avoided commenting on his past statements, but on Thursday he gave a press conference where he tried to assuage concerns.
Just before, the Liberals launched another attack, this time with footage taken during the 2017 Conservative leadership contest.
In it, an anti-abortion activist says Mr Scheer has promised him that Conservative MPs who oppose abortion would be allowed to vote with their conscience if the matter were to come up in parliament.
During his press conference, Mr Scheer accused the Liberals of "dredging up divisive issues" in order to distract people from Liberal scandals and poor economic policy.
He reiterated that his Conservative Party considered both same-sex marriage and abortion to be "settled law", meaning the party would not seek to make either illegal again.
However, he was a bit hazy on how he would deal with members of his own party who wished to pass socially conservative legislation.
What were Mr Scheer's views on same sex marriage?
In 2005, about a year after Mr Scheer was elected to parliament, he voted against same-sex marriage. He was one of 133 members, from all parties, who voted against the law, which passed with 158 votes.
"There is nothing more important to society than the raising of children, for its very survival requires it. Homosexual unions are by nature contradictory to this," Mr Scheer, who is Catholic, said during a debate on the proposed legislation.
That clip was tweeted out by Liberal public safety minister Ralph Gooddale last week.
Since 2005, the Conservative Party has largely given up on making same-sex marriage illegal. In 2016, Mr Scheer voted in favour of removing the heterosexual definition of marriage from the party's policy book.
Also in 2016, he voted against a bill to protect gender identity and expression under the Human Rights Act. The bill passed with 248 in favour, including many Conservatives, and only 40 opposed.
What were his views on abortion?
Mr Scheer is personally opposed to abortion, but says he will keep the party's current policy on the issue, which is to not support legislation that would regulate abortion or reopen the debate.
But on Thursday, another Liberal minister tweeted out a video from 2017 that seemed to contradict this promise.
In the clip, a member of RightNow, an anti-abortion group, tells conservative television host Faytene Grasseschi that Mr Scheer - who was running for party leadership at the time - had promised that he would allow a "free vote" on abortion if it should come up in parliament.
This would mean he would allow his party members to vote with their conscience.
This policy stands in stark contrast to Mr Trudeau, who has said no Liberal Party member is allowed to vote against abortion rights, regardless of personal beliefs.
"The Liberals showed how intolerant they are, and how they don't actually believe in people's rights to hold personal beliefs," Mr Scheer told the Globe and Mail in 2018.
What does he say now?
On Thursday, after mounting calls for him to clarify his previous statements, Mr Scheer gave a press conference where he accused the Liberal Party of using socially divisive issues to distract from their own scandals.
"Trudeau can't run on his record. He can't possibly defend all his broken promises, massive deficits, tax increases and ethical and corruption scandals," he said.
When asked about his personal views on gay marriage, Mr Scheer said he supported it, legally speaking.
"My personal views are that LGBT Canadians have the same inherent self-worth and dignity as any other Canadian and I will always uphold the law and always ensure they have equal access to the institution of marriage," he said.
He said that while he does not attend pride parades, he supports the community in other ways, such as his motion last year to condemn Russia for its treatment of LGBTQ people.
On abortion, his stance was less clear.
He reiterated that he would not reopen the abortion debate.
"I will oppose measures or attempts to reopen this debate and Canadians can have confidence in that," he said.
But he also reaffirmed that individual MPs would be allowed to "express themselves on matters of conscience", which seems to leave the door open for backbenchers to introduce private members bills on the issue.
When asked how he personally would vote if such a bill were to be tabled, Mr Scheer declined to answer the "hypothetical" question.
Why is this an issue now?
There is nothing new about Liberals attacking Conservatives for allegedly being anti-gay or anti-choice.
When a dozen Conservative MPs attended an anti-abortion rally in May, Liberals called on Mr Scheer to defend his position.
Earlier in August, three federal party leaders - Mr Trudeau. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party leader Elizabeth May - marched in the pride parade.
Mr Trudeau did not let Mr Scheer's absence go unnoticed.
"It's just unfortunate that there are still some party leaders who want to be prime minister, who choose to stand with people who are intolerant instead of standing with the LGBT community," he said.
Both abortion rights and same-sex marriage are popular in Canada.
A 2017 IPSOS poll found 77% of Canadians supported legal abortion. Two-thirds of Canadians also support same-sex marriage, according to a recent Research Co. online survey of 1,000.
Mr Trudeau has made progressive issues an integral part of his own brand, and his party's platform. The Liberals' slogan for the campaign, "Choose Forward", speaks to this perception, along with the unwritten implication that to choose Conservative would be a step backward.
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Devolution is not a gift. It is a responsibility | By Pippa BartolottiWales Green Party leader on why she backs a Scottish Yes vote, but believes Scottish independence would have little impact in Wales.
Greens are not especially concerned by national boundaries, but we do believe that decisions should be taken closest to the people who will be most affected, and that sometimes, but not necessarily, means devolution.
A strong Scottish government can have a big impact on sustainability and equality; a weak one wouldn't make a dent.
A Yes vote for Scottish independence is a matter for the people of Scotland, yet people wonder how this might affect Wales. Right now, I don't believe there is an appetite for more powers in Wales, because since devolution the governments in place have shown neither leadership nor inspiration.
Tragically Wales has badly managed the powers we do have - particularly on energy, health and education - and have not in any way roused the people of Wales into thinking there would be any benefit to greater devolution.
If Wales wants to value greater equality, strong welfare provision and a dynamic economy which is based more and more on clean energy creation, then it must, like Scotland, show greater intellectual originality.
Wales needs stronger assembly members and a more imaginative civil service in order to deliver economic viability.
Energy security
We need to invest in the potential of this resource-rich land and restore pride and spirit and joy in our future development.
Top of the list has to be the specific issue of repatriating powers to the assembly for energy generation plants over 50 megawatts. In 16 sorry years of muddled devolution we have gone nowhere on this, and backwards on almost everything else.
Community owned energy means profits stay in the locality, price stability and self-reliance. It also means exports. North Wales already exports energy to England.
By contrast Scotland is well on the way to energy security. Currently more than 50% of its electricity comes from renewables and Scotland is well on target to reach 100% by 2020.
In Wales we have access to more than twice the renewable energy we can use (Planning for Renewable Energy 2011). The implications for jobs, security and prosperity seem to be lost on Welsh AM's, but they are not lost on the Scots who are actively forging a sustainable future for themselves.
An independent Scotland could do well. Successive Scottish governments have taken firm strategic steps to place Scotland on track to achieve the needs of its future, both in terms of political astuteness, and in terms of environmental, economic and social progress.
In Wales we have yet to see vision and leadership. The inability of the Wales government to take us out of neo-colonial dependence on England, and create a coherent long-term energy policy to secure the future for every woman, man and child, for generations to come, is one of the main reasons a Yes vote in Scotland would have next to no impact in Wales.
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies makes his case for Scotland remaining in the UK here.
In response to Pippa Bartolotti's criticism of the way devolved powers have been used in Wales, the Welsh government said in a statement:
"We are committed to creating a low-carbon economy and unlocking Wales' energy potential.
"The first minister leads on our Energy Wales: A Low Carbon Transition programme and we are working closely with the industry and communities to achieve its aims.
"This includes regular meetings of the Energy Wales Strategy Delivery Group, chaired by the first minister and attended by representatives from across the sector, to look at ways to maximise Wales' energy potential.
"The low carbon and renewable sectors employ over 30,000 people in Wales and support £5.5 billion in sales annually.
"At the end of 2012, there were over 36,000 renewable developments in Wales producing 18% of electricity used in Wales. This number is growing substantially with many GigaWatts of capacity, being constructed, in planning or proposed.
"We wholly agree that decisions should be taken closest to the people most affected, this is already the case for energy in Scotland, but not for Wales. While the UK government have agreed to giving us enhanced energy powers in response to Silk II, we believe there is a strong case for going further to achieve our energy ambitions."
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The last flood warnings along the River Severn in Worcestershire have been lifted, the Environment Agency says. | A total of 11 warnings were issued for the river in the county but the threat of flooding has now been downgraded.
Canoeists were seen in the flood water at Worcester Racecourse on Saturday and the city's cricket ground was also flooded after the recent wet weather.
More wet weather is expected in parts of southern England, Wales and Scotland on Monday, the Met Office said.
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Three students were robbed at knifepoint of their mobile phones while were playing Pokemon Go in Manchester, police have said. | Police said on Twitter the students were robbed playing the game in Hulme.
The popular smartphone game, released in the UK on Thursday, involves catching digital characters at real-life locations using GPS.
Police also warned parents the location tracking used in the app could be used by criminals to target children.
Det Supt Joanne Rawlinson said: "There have already been incidents in America where young people are thought to have been targeted through the app.
"I would urge parents to speak to their children about the app and the best ways to make sure they stay safe."
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Wiltshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson remains in a "serious but stable condition" after suffering a heart attack. | The 60-year-old was taken to hospital after being taken ill at an event in Trowbridge on Friday morning.
He is being looked after in the intensive care unit at Bath's Royal United Hospital
Mr Macpherson had previously served as a Swindon borough councillor and as a member of the police authority.
He was elected to the office of commissioner in November 2012.
Earlier on Monday Pat Geenty, Chief Constable of Wiltshire, tweeted the force's thoughts are with Mr Macpherson's family and friends.
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The third Don crossing in Aberdeen is to open next week, following months of delays. | The £22m road bridge linking Danestone and Tillydrone is aimed at easing congestion in the north of the city.
It was supposed to be completed late last year but issues with re-routing underground utilities have caused a series of delays.
The new crossing, which is expected to the called 'the Diamond Bridge' - will be opened on Thursday 9 June.
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The UK has voted to leave the EU - a process that has come to be known as Brexit. Here is what is likely to happen next. | The story so far
At exactly 06:00 BST on 24 June it was confirmed that the UK had voted to leave the European Union. The first thing to stress is that the UK will not leave immediately. The UK is still a member of the EU and will probably remain so for several years. But the vote has already triggered an extraordinary chain of events.
A new prime minister needed
In a statement outside Downing Street, David Cameron said the government would respect the result and carry out the instructions of the British people, reassuring the 2.9 million EU citizens in the UK that they will not be adversely affected.
Although it was his responsibility to remain in No 10 to "steady the ship", he announced he would step down in the autumn as he was not the right "captain to steer the country to its next destination".
A new Conservative leader and prime minister is expected to be elected by 9 September.
Under the party's existing rules, Conservative MPs would hold a series of ballots, with all but the two most popular candidates being eliminated. The final two will then go into a run-off in which all Conservative Party members will get a vote. This was the system used to elect Mr Cameron in 2005.
Will Labour follow suit?
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has come under huge pressure from within his party to consider his position but he has insisted he will not step down.
MPs have passed a motion of no confidence in Mr Corbyn, accusing him of weak leadership during the referendum campaign and he is trying to fill gaps in his shadow cabinet following a wave of resignations.
This is not a formal mechanism for removing Mr Corbyn and he could survive even if the vote, should it take place, went against him.
He has warned: "Those who want to change Labour's leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate."
His critics had hoped the vote and resignations might force him to either step down voluntarily or precipitate a formal challenge - which would require 50 MPs to write to the party's general secretary and a challenger to come forward with sufficient nominations to get on the ballot paper.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has effectively challenged the would-be challengers, saying that even if Mr Corbyn was forced to stand for re-election, he would win when it came to a vote of the party members and supporters. This one looks set to run for a while yet.
The markets react
Market reaction to the referendum result was immediate and dramatic.
The FTSE 100 index of leading shares fell 8% after opening in London on Friday. There was a big sell-off of bank shares and housebuilders, with Barclays and RBS at one point down by more than 30%. By the end of trading, the index had bounced back, closing 2.8% down. The FTSE 250 index closed down 7% on Friday.
The value of the pound has also been hit hard on the foreign exchange markets, tumbling to lows not seen since 1985. At one stage, it hit $1.3305, a fall of more than 10%, although it too slightly recovered to close down 9% at $1.36.
Chancellor George Osborne made a statement before the UK stock market opened on Monday in a bid to calm the markets. He said the UK was ready to face the future "from a position of strength" and indicated there would be no immediate emergency Budget.
He said there would still need to be an "adjustment" in the UK economy, but added it was "perfectly sensible to wait for a new prime minister" before taking any such action.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney - who is likely to emerge as a key figure in the coming days - said some "market and economic volatility" could be expected in the wake of the Brexit vote but the Bank was well prepared. He said it stood ready to offer all necessary assistance to ensure financial stability, including £250bn of extra liquidity for the banking system and potential support for sterling.
Business leaders have appealed for calm but also more clarity over how the process of leaving the EU will proceed and who will lead it. A number of firms have said they will review their investment in the UK. Sources within Morgan Stanley have told the BBC that the bank is stepping up a process which could see up to 2,000 of its London-based investment banking staff being relocated to Dublin or Frankfurt.
European leaders respond
All EU leaders wanted the UK to stay in the bloc and a Leave vote has been met with disappointment and dismay across the Channel.
Hastily-convened meetings are taking place in Brussels and across foreign capitals on how to deal with the fallout of the UK's decision, with the leaders of Germany, France and Italy meeting on Monday ahead of a wider EU summit later this week.
European Council President Donald Tusk has appealed for unity among the EU's 27 other members, saying the vote is historic but "not a moment for hysterical reactions". German leader Angela Merkel said the vote was "regrettable" and a "watershed moment" for the EU.
What will happen next is difficult to predict. A long, hard road of negotiations between the UK and EU beckons although it is unclear when this process - likely to take years - will begin. The German government said Britain should be given a reasonable amount of time to negotiate its withdrawal.
EU leaders are particularly worried about the prospect of "contagion", with the UK's decision already fuelling demands from populist, anti-EU parties in France and the Netherlands for referendums of their own on EU membership.
Pushing the exit button
There is a formal legal process for withdrawing from the EU - enshrined in Article 50 of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty - although it has never been invoked before.
Mr Cameron has said it should be up to his successor to decide when to activate Article 50 by notifying the European Council. Once this happens, the UK is cut out of EU decision-making at the highest level and there will be no way back unless by unanimous consent from all other member states.
Quitting the EU is not an automatic process - it has to be negotiated with the remaining 27 members and ultimately approved by them by qualified majority. These negotiations are meant to be completed within two years although many believe it will take much longer. The European Parliament has a veto over any new agreement formalising the relationship between the UK and the EU.
Leave campaigners have said there is no need to trigger Article 50 immediately, suggesting that first there should be a period of informal discussions with other EU members and the European Commission to iron out the main issues and a feasible timetable.
Some have even suggested that Article 50 should not be invoked until after the French presidential elections in May 2017 and the German parliamentary elections next year to avoid Brexit becoming an issue in the campaigns.
The idea, they say, would be to allow other EU leaders the time to realise they need a "friendly" trade deal with the UK to continue exporting their consumer goods into the British market without tariffs.
Any such trade agreement - separate to the negotiations over the "terms of divorce" - would need to be approved separately by the UK and by every remaining EU member, with Leave supporters envisaging this could be completed by 2020.
Britain could, technically, ignore all of this and simply write the EU out of its laws, although that wouldn't make future negotiations any easier. The BBC's legal correspondent Clive Coleman says this would mean ripping up the UK's obligations under the Lisbon Treaty and therefore, while it was possible, remained very unlikely.
As only one part of one country has ever left the European Community - Greenland more than 30 years ago (read Carolyn Quinn's feature on how they left) - we are in uncharted territory here. While Article 50 negotiations are taking place, the UK is bound by all existing EU laws and treaty obligations. But after two years, this would no longer be the case and British membership could cease.
Remain campaigners warned this could see the UK revert to trading with the EU under World Trade Organization rules, which would involve exporters being hit by import taxes, or tariffs.
Parliament will not stay silent
The process of extricating the UK from the EU will ultimately involve rescinding the 1972 European Communities Act, the brief piece of legislation that brought the country into the European Economic Community, as it was then known, and which gives primacy to EU law in the UK.
It will also mean sifting through an estimated 80,000 pages of EU agreements, which have been enacted over the past five decades, to decide which will be repealed, amended or retained - a process which Parliament will want to oversee.
Parliament will ultimately have to ratify the treaty authorising UK withdrawal.
The majority of the UK's 650 MPs were in favour of Britain staying in the EU and while they will have to respect the will of the British people, they will not be silent bystanders. There have already been moves among the 450 or so MPs who want to stay in the EU, across the Labour, Conservative, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green parties, to keep the UK in the single market in any exit negotiations.
This, dubbed "reverse Maastricht", would mean Britain would have to keep its borders open to EU workers and continue paying into EU coffers - which is likely to be unacceptable to most of the 17 million people who voted Leave in the referendum.
They say it would be legitimate for MPs to do this because the Leave campaign has refused to spell out what trading relationship it wants the UK to have with the EU in the future - and it would demonstrate the sovereignty of Parliament the Leavers were so keen to restore.
Who will lead Britain's negotiations?
Then there is the question of who will do the negotiating for Britain.
The most senior members of the government - David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Home Secretary Theresa May - are all Remain supporters and some of them may choose to depart when the PM stands down.
During the campaign, the Leave side said that it would be happy for existing ministers and senior civil servants - including cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood - to lead the negotiations although they would expect senior Leave figures to play a very prominent role, as well as figures from other parties, business, law and civil society.
Now, however, it seems certain the next prime minister - whoever they may be - will take charge of the process. Could this be either Boris Johnson or Michael Gove - both of whom were tipped for major promotions whatever the outcome of the vote.
The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also want to be represented in the process.
The UK's future up for grabs?
The Brexit vote will fuel concerns in Westminster that the future of the United Kingdom is now in serious doubt.
The SNP warned during the campaign that if - as has happened - the UK overall voted to leave the EU but Scots voted to remain, Scotland would be taken out of the EU "against its will" and this could be the trigger for another independence vote.
Senior SNP figures have said the vote shows Scotland sees its future in the EU and the issue of its own constitutional status could be revisited.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the issue is now back "on the table" while her predecessor Alex Salmond has gone further, saying a second vote could take place within the next two and a half years, depending on how long it takes the UK to depart.
The SNP's failure to win a majority in last month's Holyrood elections means a second vote will be harder to achieve, with the UK government less disposed than it was in 2012 to accept the idea. There are, of course, no guarantees that an independent Scotland would be admitted into the EU.
There are also concerns in Northern Ireland about the implications of the Brexit vote for its relationship with the Republic of Ireland. Remain campaigners warned that a Brexit vote could herald the return of "hard" border controls between the North and South. The Irish government has said the future of the border is one of a number of priority issues in its contingency planning.
Sinn Fein has called for a vote on the reunification of Ireland but this has been rejected by the UK government.
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A 650-name petition to save a local authority-run day centre for the elderly in Derby has been handed into the city council by protesters.
| The Whitaker Centre is earmarked for closure with the users due to be sent to the Morleston Street centre.
Derby City Council has said numbers attending had fallen and closing it would save up to £300,000.
But local campaigners believe demand is likely to rise in the next few years due to an ageing population.
A council consultation into the proposed closure finished on Monday and a decision is due to be made by the council's cabinet in November.
The city council, which is run by a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition, is implementing a £27m savings plan over two years.
More than 620 posts have already been lost from a workforce of about 10,000.
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Usually around this time of year we start getting pictures of our politicians on their summer holidays - David Cameron admiring fish, Theresa May staying on brand with a low-key walking holiday or Gordon Brown really staying on brand by looking slightly uncomfortable by a lake. | By Kate WhannelBBC News
But like so much about 2020, the situation has changed.
This year, our leaders seem reluctant to show off their holiday snaps.
With the country in recession, many facing uncertain job prospects and others having had to cancel their foreign holidays, it is not hard to see why politicians have opted to keep their holiday pics to themselves.
The pandemic also seems to have changed where MPs are going on their holidays with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps serving as a cautionary tale to those seeking a bit of foreign sun.
He flew out to Spain for a family holiday, but quickly headed back home when the 14-day quarantine rule was imposed on those returning from the country.
"I think it's right to get back to work in the UK as soon as possible in order to help handle the situation," he said.
"Best turn to gin," was the reaction of London Minister Paul Scully who was holidaying in Lanzarote when the quarantine rules for Spain were introduced - although he also added that he would "still be able to work" despite the requirement to self-isolate.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove chose instead to cancel his planned holiday to the Balearic Islands.
And although his wife, the columnist Sarah Vine, headed off with their children to North Devon to fulfil "an absurd Famous Five fantasy" - it is not clear if she was accompanied by the secretary of state.
'Invisible man'
So like many others, politicians have chosen to holiday in the UK.
Labour leader Keir Starmer is taking a break in the New Forest, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson has opted for a camping holiday in Scotland with his partner Carrie Symonds and their son Wilfred.
But a prime minister is never able to switch off completely - and Mr Johnson has faced criticism for failing to publicly intervene in the recent A-levels crisis.
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted "where is the PM? Not a good look hiding in the middle of a crisis" while the Daily Star mocked up a picture of Mr Johnson as "The Invisible Man" for its front page.
Acting Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey called on Mr Johnson to cut short his holiday, adding that the PM "cannot be bothered to get back to work during the biggest exams crisis in a generation".
However, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood defended the prime minister arguing that despite being on holiday he would still be aware of "every aspect" of the situation and "probably will be intervening".
"Boris Johnson has had his own personal tough year - suffering from Covid-19 as well - therefore he is allowed to recharge," he added.
Some politicians have decided the safest route is to just forego a holiday all together. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon told a press conference: "I'm fully occupied with what we're doing at the moment."
'Covid-compliant'
However, despite the risks of revealing too much about their holiday - or going on holiday at all - a few MPs have been happy to share some details.
Conservative George Freeman let his followers know he was taking a "covid-compliant" honeymoon.
And Labour's shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry posted pictures of her and her sister looking delighted to be on a pedalo in France.
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In February 1930, Adolf Hitler was in a jubilant mood. "Our biggest success we had in Thuringia," he wrote. "There we are the most significant party. The parties in Thuringia trying to create a government cannot secure a majority without our co-operation." | By Jenny HillBBC Berlin correspondent
Germany may have pledged "never again". But 90 years on, the far right has once again played - albeit briefly - the role of kingmaker in the eastern German state.
Thuringia's AfD - led by a man who can, a German court ruled last year, be reasonably described as a fascist - has caused a political earthquake which has brought thousands of Germans on to the streets in the protest.
Until a few days ago, many of those protesters had never heard of Thomas Kemmerich.
The regional politician was, for 24 hours or so, unexpectedly elevated to the role of state prime minister thanks to the support of regional AfD politicians who ignored their own candidate in order to oust existing prime minister Bodo Ramelow who, following inconclusive elections last year, had been widely expected to continue as leader over a newly negotiated left-wing coalition.
After countrywide outrage, Mr Kemmerich stood down. But not before the Free Democrat came to symbolise the vulnerability of what the Germans call the Brandmauer - the firewall which, by decades-long political convention, is supposed to keep the far right from exerting real influence over German politics.
For many it's a mark of national shame that the AfD has found such fertile electoral ground in the former east of the country. It's one of the reasons for the inconclusive election result in Thuringia.
At national level, the party's presence in the Bundestag has coarsened parliamentary debates and, arguably, its campaigns centred around migration and national identity have broken old German taboos and shifted politics to the right, as the political centre struggled to deal with the electoral challenge.
But what happened in Thuringia has sent a particular shudder down the country's spine.
Mr Kemmerich, of the liberal and business-minded Free Democrat Party (FDP), may have voiced his opposition to the AfD. But he took the job anyway - on a majority secured with their support.
Up the federal ladder, FDP chief Christian Lindner initially appeared to accept the result, despite the horrified response of senior members of his party.
Accused of seeking power at any price, Mr Lindner was reminded of his own words when in 2017 he walked away from coalition negotiations with Angela Merkel at federal level saying: "It's better not to govern than to govern badly."
And the affair has raised uncomfortable suspicions within Angela Merkel's CDU.
The chancellor, who described what happened as "unforgivable", sharply rebuked regional politicians from her own party. They had also voted for Mr Kemmerich, eliciting accusations that - locally at least - the CDU was ready to break a pledge to never join forces with the far right.
The head of Mrs Merkel's CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, will discuss the matter with her coalition partners this weekend. Her ever reluctant Social Democrat partners will no doubt want assurances that the CDU has no intention of working with AfD at any level and that she - and her party - can control its regional politicians.
She herself is under pressure. Having forbidden Thuringia's CDU leader from seeking a local alliance with Die Linke (the Left party), some are unsurprised that the party aligned itself, knowingly or otherwise, with the AfD. The German government is also painfully aware of the changing political landscape - and the part AfD plays within it.
In Thuringia, fresh elections are now expected. Even so, for many, the case has raised painful parallels.
Belgian ex-Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt was among those who took to social media in protest, circulating a photograph of a newly elected Mr Kemmerich shaking hands with Thuringia's hard-right AfD leader Björn Höcke, and juxtaposing it with one of Hitler greeting the then German president Paul von Hindenburg.
Barely a week ago, this country reflected on the atrocities of World War Two, during commemorations to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
That the far right has been able to wield such influence, that a mainstream political party accepted its support and that, knowingly or otherwise, Angela Merkel's CDU appeared to align with them is, for many, the source of great shame.
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I've learned that as it became clear that BHS was going into administration, Dominic Chappell, the majority shareholder of BHS owner Retail Acquisitions, moved £1.5 million on Tuesday of last week to a company called BHS Sweden. | Simon JackBusiness editor
BHS Sweden was owned by a friend and fellow board member of Mr Chappell at Retail Aquisitions. Despite its name it had no connection with BHS.
On learning of this, BHS chief executive Darren Topp demanded its return on Wednesday and on Thursday.
It was returned minus £50,000 - to reflect the foreign exchange costs.
Dominic Chappell has also claimed in the press tonight that a £60m loan - a crucial part of the BHS refinancing - fell through because Philip Green refused to allow an IOU of £40m to be considered lower priority (be subordinated) to the new loan.
This claim is refuted by BHS who maintain that the loan was unacceptable in the first place due to its high upfront arrangement costs. The decision never got to the point where the pecking order of loans was discussed.
At the time of writing Dominic Chappell has not returned calls from the BBC.
As far as the future of BHS is concerned, the administrators have received 50 expressions of interest in the company - some for all of it, most for parts of it.
Rumours that a sale of 50 stores had been agreed with Sports Direct were denied tonight by the administrators.
In better news, BHS reported its strongest day of trading since it was acquired by Retail Acquisitions with trading up 80% compared to the same day last year. BHS sources dismissed the theory this was a result of gift voucher holders rushing to redeem.
BHS sources tell me they estimate there is enough cash to continue trading for up to a month and are encouraged by the show of loyalty from BHS customers.
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My Money is a series looking at how people spend their money - and the sometimes tough decisions they have to make. Here Zak Hoblyn from London takes us through a week in his life as a first-time buyer during the coronavirus pandemic. | Originally from Wiltshire, Zak is 27 and lives in North London with his fiancée Leah who is a radio presenter. He works as a lift and crane engineering surveyor and loves his job. However, he says it is made hard by his height; reaching for door releases can be difficult at 5ft 6". The couple hope to get married in July 2021 in Glastonbury.
He enjoys running so much he describes himself as "addicted" to it. He is running both the rescheduled Tokyo and London marathons (last year he completed the Paris marathon - his first ever.) Another hobby is finding bars and pubs in an attempt to soak up the London vibe. He is a Liverpool fan, so residing and working within Arsenal and Tottenham can be challenging.
This week Zak and Leah bought and moved into their first home.
Over to Zak...
A 06:30 alarm rudely awakens a deep sleep, I check my emails and BBC Sport on my phone with the screen brightness on full to help wake myself up. Whilst checking my emails I have a confirmation email from the van hire company which Leah and I will be using tomorrow to move out of our apartment (£86) for 24-hour hire.
I head to Kings Cross on the bus, my travel is all paid for by my company so no expenditure. Once at Kings Cross I have to walk past a Pret A Manger which was closed last week due to coronavirus but is open today! Without doubt due to the fact all the coffee at home is packed away somewhere, I go in and order my normal filter white coffee (99p) for the caffeine boost I am desperately needing.
I finish my first two sites opposite Paddington station which were on the same road in quick time so I see a small independent café (on the hunt for more caffeine) but unfortunately the card minimum is £5. Not to worry, nothing a vegetable samosa can't sort out.
I am in North London come 14:00 and I am left waiting for a client. Whilst doing so I order a circular saw online as I need to cut my 3m long oak table to be able to move it out of the apartment (£39.99). I buy a sparkling water (99p) from a petrol station and use the toilet, two birds, one stone! Public toilets are gold dust in London.
Total spend: £132.97
I am up early again as I need to pick up the hire van from just outside Camden. I buy an avocado and some breakfast muffins from Lidl for a pre-move breakfast (£1.24). I pick up the hire van and pay (£2.50) for an hour's parking in Haringey, enjoy the avocado and muffins and start loading the van.
One trip to the new place with the van full, unload with help from the seller which was greatly appreciated then we were back in the van going back to the old place for round two! Whilst lugging a washing machine and fridge into the van Leah hears the sweet, sweet sound of an ice cream van. I had the audacity to order a 99 with an ice lolly plopped right in the middle whilst I got a usual 99 with a flake for the other half [£4.20.]
Once the new place was full at 19:00 we could not even fathom the thought of going to the shop to buy ingredients, so we get on Uber Eats and hunt down the closest highest reviewed fish and chip shop. Two cod and chips... [large of course] comes to £24.59. This included delivery. It did take us five minutes to remember to change the home address on our Uber Eats account. The day ends with me returning back to the old flat to cut my table with my new circular saw at 23:30... the now old neighbours will not be happy, a 15-hour day, I am still wondering if my wallet or body will ever recover?
Total spend: £32.53
Five hours sleep and I am up, scrambling around boxes and bags trying to hunt for my toothbrush, I am out the house by 07:00 as I need to drop the van back before 08:00 to ensure I do not exceed the 24-hour hire. The traffic is very calm and I make good time. I stop at a petrol station to top the van up. Luckily, due to coronavirus and the issue Opec are having with balancing the price, £15 is more than enough. Once the van is done I get a bus to Kings Cross, I am working with a colleague today and he is a little late so I head to Pret and stock up on coffee and food because our fridge is still empty. I opt for an avocado and egg baguette, oat cookie and white filter (£4.93).
We work hard and have a lot done by 12:00. Luckily the premises, usually extremely busy with human traffic using the lifts, is absolutely silent again due to coronavirus - this makes our job a lot easier. We stop for lunch, back to Pret (creature of habit, I know) for a duck wrap, sparkling water, another cookie and a white filter. I also buy my colleague a fizzy drink as he is doing the hard bits today as he can see how broken I am from the move yesterday (£8.83).
I get home around 15:30 and remember that we have to use a portable BBQ on the balcony as we have no oven! I take a three-minute walk to Tesco to pick up halloumi, Heineken beer and some caramel ice creams. We have a freezer for the first time in two years so this is a novelty (£7.20). We enjoy the BBQ and catching up on the day, whilst blissfully ignoring the boxes on the floor, despite Leah's monstrous effort at getting through a lot of it. How do two people have so much stuff?
Total spend: £35.96
My day starts a little later today. I head to Finchley Road. I of course stop at the Pret outside the station (99p). I get an email from my boss telling me to go home at lunch to crack on with the house - what a star! I get home for 12:30 and begin my DIY on the leaking sink and the flush that does not flush! Diagnostics done, jog to B&Q to pick up spares (£15.57), a new outlet valve for the toilet and a new basket strainer for the sink. Repairs worked a treat until I remember I need a new flush for the toilet. Another jog to B&Q and I spend £5.25. I also buy Rug Doctor formula for £11.
When I go outside I get a call from Leah asking me to meet her at Asda Home. We buy a portable stove, super glue and a mop and bucket (£30.33) - they were all fairly essential items. The food consumed tonight was tortellini.
Total spend: £63.14
My day starts at 06:30. I head to the North Circular to cover a colleague's patch and then come back into London to the Whittington Hospital. After this I stop at Lidl for two packs of sushi and a Diet Coke (£3.97). My day ends at 15:00. Once home we begin decorating, sanding down the bathroom and then we head to Tesco to pick up some Rug Doctor (£31.98). We are home in under an hour and begin the process of cleaning the stairs. After two hours we begin to tire so I jog to Lidl and pick up two bottles of beer (£3.95).
Total spend: £39.90
My Money
More blogs from the BBC's My Money Series:
Working overtime today so I am back in Kings Cross for 08:00 and without hesitation head to Pret for the white filter (99p). Our work is done by 12:30 so I head home and begin painting the bathroom walls whilst my partner is just waking up from a nap after her morning shift. We continue decorating together until around 18:00 when we decide food supplies are needed. I swap my painting t-shirt for something a little more presentable and head to Lidl. I pick up some empanadas, arancini and four tins of lager (£6.97).
We work late into the night fuelling off lager, red wine and prosecco which our lovely new neighbour brought round for us yesterday. With the bathroom half gold and half pink we gingerly head to bed and consider, have we been too garish? Bed by 01:00.
Total spend: £7.96
Sunday started with a poor attempt at a lie-in. We got up just before 10:00 for a final coat of pink for the bathroom. Breakfast wrap on the move whilst we head out the door to drop off the Rug Doctor at Tesco. The queue was pretty small considering it is a Sunday and we only had to wait five minutes before making it into the store and dropping the Rug Doctor off.
We purchase sweets and fizzy drinks (£3.50) as we require a little pick-me-up whilst heading down to Vauxhall for the Black Lives Matter protests. We get home for 15:15 and head straight to Asda from the station to pick up a smaller paint roller (£2). We then go next door to Lidl and purchase gnocchi for dinner and some tortilla wraps for the week, as well as some lagers as tonight is my partner's night off (£13.32). We continue with the bathroom whilst enjoying gnocchi and lagers late into the night. Nice way to end a busy, emotional week.
Total spend: £18.82
Total spent this week: £331.28
How does Zak feel about his week?
If it was not for the move I think it would have been a very cheap week. That being said there were no scary hidden costs that we did not expect. The fixes within the house were basic maintenance to some extent so that could have been a lot worse. I definitely spent more on coffee this week but I think that is due to Pret finally opening.
The beer runs were cheaper as we live next to a Lidl now so no more paying corner shop prices. I think this saved me £10 over the week. Whilst life is cheap due to the virus it is also cheap on experiences and social interactions. I would prefer to spend more money on a nice cold draft with the people I love.
We're looking for more people to share what they spend their money on. If you're interested, please email [email protected] or get in touch via our My Money (World) Facebook group, or if you live in the UK, please join our My Money (UK) Facebook group and we'll aim to contact you.
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Passenger numbers across Scotland's 11 regional airports increased by more than 10% in November.
| Highlands and Islands Airports Limited said the rise to 101,701 passengers was largely the result of significant activity in the oil and gas industry.
Sumburgh in Shetland had 50% more passengers last month than it did in November 2011.
Hial also runs Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Dundee, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Tiree and Wick.
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Sony has announced the closure of the UK's Evolution Studios. | By Leo KelionTechnology desk editor
The Cheshire-based video games development house dates back to 1999, and had most recently worked on the troubled PlayStation title Driveclub.
Sony has confirmed that there will be at least some compulsory redundancies as a consequence of its decision.
The announcement closely follows Microsoft's announcement of plans to close another British developer, Lionhead Studios.
Sony said that its decision had followed a review of its European operations.
"We accept that this decision will mean that we risk losing high calibre staff, but by focusing on other studios that already have exciting new projects in development we believe we will be in a stronger position going forward and able to offer the best possible content of the highest quality for our consumers," it said in a statement.
"Where possible we will try to reallocate people onto other projects. If appropriate opportunities are not possible within the company, we will assist staff in any way we can, including speaking with local employers and with other development companies."
Racing games
Evolution had specialised in racing games for Sony games consoles. Its first title was World Rally Championship, released in 2001, which was followed by several sequels.
Then in 2006, it launched the off-road racer franchise Motor Storm.
However, its last title - Driveclub - had a troubled birth.
The game - which was designed to let six players form a club and race rival teams via the internet - was originally supposed to be a launch title for the PlayStation 4 in 2013, but was repeatedly delayed.
When it did finally become available in October 2014, its computer servers struggled to meet demand and plans to offer a free cut-down version to PlayStation Plus subscribers had to be delayed further.
Since then, however, it has been improved and the news site Eurogamer described it as "one of the best racing games available". Last July, Evolution announced the game had surpassed more than two million sales.
Driveclub's community manager has issued a statement saying the title will "continue to thrive" under the guidance of Sony's other developers.
Its director also issued a statement of his own via Twitter.
"It truly has been an honour to work with such a talented, passionate and determined group of people," wrote Paul Rustchynsky.
"I hope you will all join me today in celebrating Evolution by picking up a pad, throwing on your favourite Evo game, and giving us a victory lap."
Sony's announcement came three weeks after Microsoft announced it was cancelling the release of Fable Legends, an action role-playing game, and was in discussions to close the Guilford-based studio behind it.
"I think it's coincidental that there have been announcements about both Evolution and Lionhead so close together," commented Rob Crossley, UK news editor of Gamespot.
"The games industry is in a growth period right now and there are lots of signs of positivity.
"But these are two studios that aren't succeeding as much as they needed to.
"You hear that some of the 'triple A' [big budget] games now sometimes have to sell above five million units to get into the black."
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We do not know much about GCHQ. A journalist once jokingly asked one of its staff if they could tell her the colour of the sky - they declined. But we do know that the officers spend a good deal of their time listening. | By Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter
Now it seems that they want to listen to a little bit more as the issue of extending internet surveillance raises its head again.
It is an issue that all governments grapple with at some point. The spooks would argue that they need greater powers in the ongoing fight against terrorism. The police would add that such powers could help their battle with organised crime.
Details of what the government wants are vague at this stage but appear to be two-fold - to extend the current laws about internet service providers (ISPs) holding data to cover social networks such as Facebook, and to increase the ability for real-time snooping.
"The chaps in Cheltenham think this is a good idea and every time there is a new minister they twist their arm into agreeing with them. If they can collect more data it will build bigger haystacks when they are looking for needles," said Richard Clayton, a security researcher at the University of Cambridge.
He is clearly not a huge fan of such surveillance but, as someone who has sat on many parliamentary consultations about the issue, he is an expert.
And there is plenty of technology available to help the government achieve its objective, he said.
Website monitoring
Deep Packet Inspection equipment is basically black boxes which sit on the network and watch the traffic go by.
It is currently used by ISPs for traffic management - for example spotting file-sharing activity and slowing down a connection that is engaging in the activity. However, it could be adapted for more intrusive purposes.
"It is possible with this sort of kit to see if someone is using Hotmail, to pull out a list of their emails, who it is from, the date and how big the email is," said Mr Clayton.
He added that the government could also turn to NetFlow, an add-on to routers which collects data about which websites someone has visited.
"It can see what IP address has visited which site, and can tell you how many bytes they have viewed," he said.
In theory it would enable someone using it to see, for example, which stories a user had viewed on the BBC website by comparing the number of bytes used with the size of stories on the site.
None of the technology is new but what might be different this time around is the way the government collects the data.
When the previous Labour government mooted a similar idea the greater controversy hinged on the giant database it planned to create.
"I suspect what they will propose this time is that Cheltenham has a log-in to one of the data centres that ISPs already use," said Mr Clayton.
Encryption
ISPs are already required to keep data logs for 12 months under a 2009 EU directive. Extending this responsibility to firms such as Facebook would not be a huge change or "particularly onerous because it keeps everything anyway," said Mr Clayton.
Facebook has declined to comment on current government proposals, saying it would rather wait until there was more detail of exactly what it wants to do.
But it has made no secret a security feature launched last year which allows all Facebook communications to be carried over
a secure connection known as HTTPS,
which could render government snooping plans useless.
The tool basically encrypts data. Currently it is an option that people have to sign up to but the firm hopes eventually to make it default.
Noa Bar Yosef is a senior strategist at security firm Imperva. She thinks the government needs to think harder about encryption.
"How will monitoring be performed for encrypted communications?" she asked.
"It is reasonable to assume that the information that the government is interested in - and for which this initiative has been put forward - will not appear as public communication, but rather encrypted. This quite defeats the purpose of monitoring the suspicious communications," she said.
Mr Clayton agrees.
"Encryption makes it very much harder," he said, "But the biggest stumbling block is likely to be the cost."
When Labour considered greater surveillance powers the Home Office estimated it would cost around £2bn. Even without a huge data centre costs are likely to run into millions, and in such cash-strapped times it may mean the idea is put to bed for another few years.
"When the cost is revealed the politicians tend to slink away. I don't think we can afford it," said Mr Clayton.
Data requests rise
Whatever the government ultimately proposes the measures are effectively an extension of what is already happening, rather than a break with the past.
2010's annual report from the UK's interception of communications commissioner, published last June, revealed that the UK's police, intelligence agencies and other public authorities
submitted 552,550 requests for information about users' data over the year
.
Furthermore it noted that requests had risen by a rate of about 5% year-on-year since 2008.
Two thirds of the queries related to information about subscribers, which could be used to identify who owned a particular mobile phone.
But officials could also ask for a user's incoming and outgoing call data, web activity logs and the contents of emails, faxes and web pages visited if the information was deemed to be in the interests of national security.
If ISPs do not already store the information, they can be forced to secretly fit surveillance equipment in specific cases.
A new law could extend officials' reach further, but users should be under no illusion that much of their data use is already potentially available to prying eyes.
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