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Ford is in the technology business. | Kamal AhmedEconomics editor@bbckamalon Twitter
Yes, it makes cars but that is now only part of its operations.
The company's chief executive has revealed that it's working on the assumption that its major rivals in the future may not be General Motors or Chrysler.
But Google and Apple.
And that the latter is probably building a car.
"Our working assumption is that they are," Mark Fields told me.
"And that provides us with the right motivation to make sure we stay very focused not only on the product but overall on the experience that the customer has interacting with the product and the services that we have."
"Staying focused" means launching a new Ford technology business in Palo Alto - the capital of Silicon Valley - working on "autonomous cars" that can drive automatically and teaming up with technology companies to see how the "internet of things" changes how people interact with their vehicles.
Last week it was revealed that Apple has hired former Tesla vice president of vehicle engineering and Aston Martin chief engineer, Chris Porritt.
It is believed he will be working on Titan, Apple's car project.
Alongside Google's self-driving cars, technology companies have recognised the value of "mobility" as a market in the future.
It is estimated the traditional car market is globally worth about £1.6 trillion in revenues every year.
Add to that all the other forms of road based ground transport - taxis, car sharing, Uber-style businesses, bikes, buses, coaches - and the market increases to £3.8 trillion.
And Mr Fields would quite like a chunk of that.
I ask him whether the biggest threat to his company comes from General Motors or Google.
"There are a lot of traditional competitors that we have in our business who we know and we respect," he said.
"There are a lot of new non-traditional competitors who are looking at the automotive space and looking at that addressable market and saying 'gee can we get a piece of that'.
"We are viewing that as an opportunity not as a threat and there will be some things [we can do] on our own to be able to satisfy those customer needs that technology enables.
"And at other times we will partner with others and that's the reason we set up a big research and innovation centre in Palo Alto because we want to collaborate with and participate in that environment."
Does that mean making cars for Google?
No, he says, Ford is not into "contract manufacturing", or the "handset, commodity base business" as Mr Fields puts it.
But the company could link up with Google and other technology companies for joint projects.
Ford, which made record profits of $10.8bn last year, says that "Level 4" driverless cars will be available by the end of the decade.
Peak car?
"Level 4" cars can drive autonomously in a pre-defined area fully mapped by computers.
"Level 5" cars, much further away, can take over completely from the driver and "take you home", wherever that may be.
"A Level 4 vehicle is where the passenger does not have to take control of the vehicle, but it's a vehicle that's in a pre-defined area, that's been 3D mapped, and what we call geo-fenced," Mr Fields said.
"And we believe when we look at the advancements in the sensors and advancements in the software algorithms which are necessary for the vehicle to navigate, that probably by the end of the decade, in the next four years or so, someone in the industry may have a Level 4 vehicle.
"It may not be us, but we are working very, very intently on this."
With low fuel prices, cheap finance as a result of hyper-low interest rates and a growing middle class, particularly in Asia, car sales are rising to new heights despite concerns about pollution.
Mobility is key
Mr Fields says it is unlikely we have yet reached "peak car".
"The global auto industry will continue to grow and the reason it will grow is you will see the global middle class double in the next 15 years," he says.
In some cities and congested urban areas, though, private car use will be increasingly curtailed - such as in Oslo - and even outlawed.
"You could argue that in major urban areas there could be a lower density of vehicles, either because it's regulated out by the various legislatures or it's too expensive," Mr Fields says.
"As we stand back and we look at the overall approach, it's one in which I think you will see some parts of the world actually tighten regulations on 'personal use vehicles' in down town city areas."
Ford, with its small and growing bike business, wants to be ready for that. "Mobility" is now about more than building cars.
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So, he's done it. | By Chris MasonPolitical correspondent, BBC News
The 500-1 outsider. The career outsider.
The man whose entire time at Westminster has been defined by opposition to his own party.
He is now leader of Her Majesty's Official Opposition.
No one but no one, least of all Jeremy Corbyn, would have predicted this just a few months ago.
Whoever said politics was boring?
So what on earth does Mr Corbyn's victory mean for the Labour Party?
Make no mistake. I know exaggerations tumble from the mouths of political journalists rather frequently.
But this is nothing short of a political earthquake.
Speak to people at Westminster and they cannot find adequate historical comparisons with what has just happened.
"This is not even like Michael Foot leading Labour in the 80s, or Iain Duncan Smith in charge of us a decade or so ago," one Conservative minister mused to me the other day.
"They were both serious men. It'd be like us electing..." he went on, before discreetly namechecking a handful of colleagues he would place in the "nutter" category.
So let's take a look at a handful of issues that will face Jeremy Corbyn and Labour in the coming weeks and months.
National security
Expect the government to go hard on this and quickly.
Jeremy Corbyn has spent his life opposing foreign military adventures, chairs the Stop the War coalition and is highly likely to oppose the UK extending airstrikes against the Islamic State group into Syria.
He's not keen on the UK having nuclear weapons or being in the military alliance NATO.
The Prime Minister and Chancellor have already rehearsed the argument that all this amounts to a threat to the UK's national security.
Expect that argument to crank up a few notches.
Party discipline
When you have built your entire reputation around being independent minded and willing to ignore what your party leadership tells you to do, asking others to toe the party line could prove a little tricky.
Particularly when a good number of them have spent the entire summer saying, in public, how much they disagree with you.
That old adage that in the House of Commons your opponents sit opposite you, whilst your enemies are behind you, may prove to be true rather quickly for Jeremy Corbyn.
The European Union
For many of Jeremy Corbyn's supporters, it is the clarity of his position on so many issues that attracts them to him.
But on one of the biggest political issues of the next year, whether the UK stays in or leaves the European Union, Mr Corbyn's position is less clear.
Plenty of those sitting behind him in the Commons are itching to make the case for the UK's EU membership.
But Jeremy Corbyn has previously refused to rule out campaigning to leave, and also said he had "mixed feelings" on the issue.
Over the summer he sought to sound a bit more positive about Brussels -- but only after he came under pressure to do so from his own side.
Labour winning again
The morning after the general election in May, where Labour was crushed, plenty of people within the party were certain they knew why.
The party was seen to be too left wing, they said.
So, why has the Labour movement elected Jeremy Corbyn?
Well, plenty came to the opposite conclusion.
They looked at the result in Scotland, where Labour were nuked by the SNP - and concluded they were convincingly beaten by a party more left wing than them.
There are threats everywhere for Labour.
But there is another twist here.
Not long ago, Jeremy Corbyn didn't instantly say yes when he was asked if he wanted to prime minister, usually the very reason for becoming Leader of the Opposition.
And when you challenge Mr Corbyn's supporters - and suggest his victory will amount to a moment of lunacy for the Labour Party - plenty will shrug and say his Labour opponents would all have lost the next general election anyway.
So, in summary, where does the Labour Party find itself?
Many Labour types already fret Jeremy Corbyn's election will consign their party to the unelectable fringes of British politics; too left wing for many to touch.
And yet those around Mr Corbyn - and the thousands enthused by his campaign - are energised by a politician they see as authentic, principled, different, and so appealing.
All in all, life for the Labour Party is about to get rather interesting.
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A chronology of key events
| 1524 - Spanish adventurer Pedro de Alvarado conquers El Salvador.
1540 - Indigenous resistance finally crushed and El Salvador becomes a Spanish colony.
1821 - El Salvador gains independence from Spain. Conflict ensues over territory's incorporation into Mexican empire under Creole general Agustin de Iturbide.
1823 - El Salvador becomes part of the United Provinces of Central America, which also includes Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Independence
1840 - El Salvador becomes fully independent following the dissolution of the United Provinces of Central America.
1859-63 - President Gerardo Barrios introduces coffee growing.
1932 - Some 30,000 people are killed during the suppression of a peasant uprising led by Agustine Farabundo Marti.
Civil war
1961 - Right-wing National Conciliation Party (PCN) comes to power after a military coup.
1969 - El Salvador attacks and fights a brief war with Honduras following the eviction of thousands of Salvadoran illegal immigrants from Honduras.
1977 - Guerrilla activities by the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) intensify amid reports of increased human rights violations by government troops and death squads; General Carlos Romero elected president.
1979-81 - Around 30,000 people are killed by army-backed right-wing death squads.
1979 - General Romero ousted in coup by reformist officers who install a military-civilian junta, but this fails to curb army-backed political violence.
1980 - Archbishop of San Salvador and human rights campaigner Oscar Romero assassinated; Jose Napoleon Duarte becomes first civilian president since 1931.
1981 - France and Mexico recognise the FMLN as legitimate political force; US continues to assist El Salvadoran government whose army continues to back right-wing death squads.
1982 - Extreme right-wing National Republican Alliance (Arena) wins parliamentary elections marked by violence.
1984 - Duarte wins presidential election.
1986 - Duarte begins quest for negotiated settlement with FMLN.
1989 - FMLN attacks intensify; another Arena candidate, Alfredo Cristiani, voted president in elections widely believed to have been rigged.
Peace and natural disasters
1991 - FMLN recognised as political party; government and FMLN sign UN-sponsored peace accord.
1993 - Government declares amnesty for those implicated by UN-sponsored commission in human rights atrocities.
1994 - Arena candidate Armando Calderon Sol elected president.
1997 - FMLN makes progress in parliamentary elections; leftist Hector Silva elected mayor of San Salvador.
1999 - Arena candidate Francisco Flores beats former guerrilla Facundo Guardado in presidential election.
2001 January, February - Massive earthquakes kill 1,200 people and render another one million homeless.
2002 July - US court holds two retired, US-based Salvadoran army generals responsible for civil war atrocities, orders them to compensate victims who brought case.
2003 August - 360 Salvadoran troops despatched to Iraq.
2003 December - El Salvador - along with Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala - agrees on a free-trade agreement with the US. The government ratifies the pact in December 2004.
Saca presidency
2004 March - Arena candidate Tony Saca wins presidential elections.
2005 March - OAS human rights court votes to re-open an investigation into the 1981 massacre of hundreds of peasant farmers in the village of El Mozote, regarded as one of the worst atrocities of the civil war.
2005 October - Thousands flee as the Ilamatepec volcano, also known as Santa Ana, erupts. Days later scores of people are killed as Tropical Storm Stan sweeps through.
2006 March - El Salvador is the first Central American country to implement a regional free trade agreement with the US.
2006 April - El Salvador and neighbouring Honduras inaugurate their newly-defined border. The countries fought over the disputed frontier in 1969.
2007 January - 21 inmates are killed in a riot at a maximum-security prison west of the capital.
2007 February - Three members of the governing Arena party are murdered in Guatemala. There are suspicions that an organised crime syndicate is behind the killings.
2008 January - More than 400 judges hold a street protest over corruption allegations made against four of their colleagues.
2009 January - Former FMLN rebel movement emerges as largest party in parliamentary elections, although short of a majority. Seen as preparation for presidential election in March.
2009 February - Ruling party Arena wins largest number of places in local elections despite polls favouring the opposition FMLN.
Funes elected
2009 March - Former Marxist rebel Mauricio Funes of the FMLN party wins presidential elections, marking the first time in two decades that a leftist president has been voted in.
2009 June - Mauricio Funes sworn in as president. Restores diplomatic relations with Cuba.
2009 November - More than 140 people are killed and thousands left homeless in mudslides and floods.
2010 June - Fourteen people killed in two attacks by suspected gang members on public buses in capital, San Salvador, on the same day.
2011 September - US adds El Salvador and Belize to its list of countries considered major producers or transit routes for illegal drugs.
2011 October - Torrential rains cause flooding across Central America, killing several people in El Salvador.
2011 December - Government apologises for civil war massacre of more than 1,000 poeple in the town of El Mozote.
2012 March - Funes government suffers setback in parliamentary polls which give the right-wing a narrow victory.
2012 December - Human Rights Court for the Americas finds El Salvador guilty over the civil war massacre at El Mozote in 1981.
2013 April - A year-long truce between street gangs has saved the lives of thousands, the government says.
2014 March - Vice-President Sanchez Ceren scores narrow win over conservative candidate Norman Quijano in presidential election. He takes office in June as the first former left-wing rebel to become president.
2014 June - The US boosts aid and speeds up deportations to cope with the growing number of migrants from Central America. El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala are to receive millions of dollars to combat gang violence and help citizens repatriated from the US.
2014 September - Former president Francisco Flores is placed under arrest after he hands himself in to the authorities over charges of misappropriating funds from Taiwan during his 1999-2004 term in office. He denies the charges, which he says are politically motivated.
2015 May - Murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero is beatified, after Pope Francis approved his status as martyr in January.
2017 January - Police say the country has gone 24 hours without any murders - a rare occurrence in a nation plagued by gang warfare.
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The Fempire is striking back. | By Regan MorrisBBC News, San Diego
Women who attend comic book conventions, many dressed as their favourite comic characters, are tired of being manhandled as they pose for photographs. And they're sick of having their geek credentials questioned.
Once a world mainly inhabited by so-called "fanboys," nowadays half of Comic-Con's 130,000 attendees are female. And if a woman chooses to dress as her favourite superhero or villain, that can mean some skimpy outfits. It's not just Wonder Woman who fights crime in a tiny bodysuit and stilettos.
"You get a lot of harassment when you're in costume," says Brittany Fonseca, who attended the event dressed as Rogue from X-Men, in a green and yellow bodysuit she sewed herself.
"What are you doing in costume? You're just trying to get attention. You don't know anything about that character. Why are you here? You're not a real geek - get out of here."
Ms Fonseca says she also gets a lot of positive feedback on her costumes, a practice known as "cosplay", and that most people are friendly and ask for photographs with her out of respect for her creativity.
It's common at Comic-Con for male and female cosplayers to be photographed in the crammed halls of the San Diego Convention Centre.
"All of the effort that we put into sewing and dying and painting, walking in the boots and high heels, it's all an expression of how much we love the content and the characters," she says.
"The fact that we still do it even though there's all these, shall we say social obstacles, is really a credit to how much we love the comics and the characters."
'More costumes changes than Rihanna'
So why do women dress in costumes? Despite the groping tales and irritation at having their geek credibility questioned, women overwhelmingly described the experience as "empowering."
And the serious cosplayers at Comic-Con have more costume changes than Rihanna or Madonna during a concert.
Luna Lanie, 20, dressed as Suicide Squad's Harley Quinn, the bubbly and psychotic Batman super-villain. Throughout the four-day convention, she plans to also dress as Rikku, from the Final Fantasy X-2 video game and also as Katarina, an assassin in her favourite video game League of Legends.
She makes all the costumes herself. As Harley Quinn, armed with a baseball bat, sequined red and blue "booty shorts" and ripped fishnet stockings, she was mobbed by fans asking for photographs.
"I didn't have a lot of friends in high school so I just played video games. It was an escape from reality. So this is what I think Cons are: you become someone else to escape every day life, the grind of 9-to-5 working jobs and school. So it's a fantasy outlet," she said.
"I love it. But cosplay doesn't equal consent."
That phrase is often tweeted and published on social media groups for cosplayers. But women say the online attention to their cause has not translated into change in the non-virtual world.
While manhandling is not the norm and most fans are respectful, the problem is pervasive enough that the men who grope are widely known as "con-creepers."
Lauren Bregman, a corset maker dressed as Emma Frost "if she were a punk rock anarchist," says she thinks people are used to making lewd comments anonymously online and forget that the characters they see in corsets and bodysuits have real women inside them.
"I've never been grabbed but I had people with selfie sticks taking up-my-skirt pictures at Dragon Con last year," she said. "People get nasty online because there's the anonymity thing and it's reflecting how people behave in real life."
Like most women we spoke to, Ms Bregman did not report the incident.
Claws out
Con-creepers are certainly not the majority of fans, but plenty of women who attend conventions have at least one creeper story. They say men treat them like they're asking for it because of their costumes. Comic-Con says 130,000 people attended the event in 2014 and that 44% were women.
Women say the disrespect is tied in with the question of nerd credibility. As so-called geek culture becomes more mainstream, it's become common to quiz both men and women about their credentials and boasting is a given.
The late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien, who is broadcasting live from the convention, boasted that he knows more than any fan and even took a "Comic-Con citizenship test" on his show answering questions like: "Wolverine's claws are made of which metal?"
The answer is adamantium. He got it right.
A new hope
Nerdist writer Amy Ratcliffe, who is an authority on Star Wars, thinks there has been a pop culture shock for some fans as their sci-fi and fantasy worlds become beloved by a broader audience.
"I think part of it is a little gatekeeping," she said. "There's a little 'should we be protecting our territory?' - and instead of doing that or talking about it they go more towards demeaning women sometimes."
Ms Ratcliffe says women need to get better at standing up for themselves and assert that they don't need to prove their fandom.
"I used to be more shy, but they are micro-aggressions and they add up."
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Pry-mark or Pree-mark? | How to pronounce the budget retailer's name has caused a basket-load of debate.
Some claim "Pry-mark" is an upmarket affectation. Others say "Pree-mark" is a northern thing.
But Primark have tried to settle the matter once and for all, writing on their website: "We like to use Pr-Eye-Mark."
But Primark isn't the only brand that people mispronounce...
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning
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Now it's serious. | Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
Handling the coronavirus is plainly at the top of the government's to-do list. Boris Johnson came under attack in recent days for not being visible enough at a time of a potential health emergency.
No 10 clearly now wants to show they are trying hard to contain the outbreak. But the government will be tested on many different fronts. First off, they want to appear to be taking the disease as seriously as it ought to be.
With some cities around the world in lockdown and the rate of the spread picking up here too, the prime minister's words today don't leave you in much doubt about how serious a situation the country could face.
But managing the outbreak is a balancing act with lots of factors. The government wants the public to take the virus seriously, but it doesn't want panic. Ministers want the option of closing schools, or cancelling big events, or changing the numbers of teachers schools have to have on duty per child.
But they do not, at this stage, want to use those kinds of measures straight away and cause widespread disruption to people's daily lives.
The government wants, of course, to protect as many people's health as possible but also to protect the economy, the prime minister acknowledging that there may well be an "economic downside", here at home as well as in the countries that have already been much more affected.
The Treasury is publishing a Budget next week too, which not so long ago government aides were vowing "had to be big, and had to be bold". But in this context - and of course with a different politician in charge - No 11's big day next week might be rather different.
They are already making some extra taxpayers' cash available for the health service. Boris Johnson promised he would allocate the NHS whatever it asked for which, with the scale of the outbreak as yet impossible to predict, could be rather a large blank cheque.
Behind closed doors in government there is a realisation that an outbreak of coronavirus could go on for many months and cause a lot of disruption to many people's lives.
Many of us might be asked to work at home. There are questions too about how self-employed people or those on zero hours contracts can make a living. What happens to the local elections in May? Can the NHS, already under a lot of pressure, really cope?
There is a lot that neither the public, nor our politicians, can be sure of. The science will guide the approach that ministers take, but that is understandably changing by the day.
Boris Johnson's government is certainly no longer in the position of surveying the new political landscape and wondering which of its priorities it can choose to deal with first. Instead, it faces an immediate and highly complicated question it needs to answer.
Get it wrong and there could be serious political damage too.
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Is it possible? Is there life on Mars? | By Jonathan AmosBBC Science Correspondent
Ever since the Mariner 4 probe made the first successful visit to the Red Planet - a flyby in July 1965 - we've sent a succession of missions that have given us all sorts of fascinating information about Earth's near neighbour - but not the answer to the only question that really matters.
So, take a look at the technology that may finally change the game.
This is the Analytical Laboratory Drawer, or ALD - a sophisticated three-in-one box of instruments that will examine rock samples for the chemical fingerprints of biology.
On Thursday, it was gently lifted by crane and lowered into the ExoMars "Rosalind Franklin" rover, the six-wheeled buggy that will carry it across the Oxia plain of Mars in 2021.
The 300kg robot, which is being developed jointly by the European and Russian space agencies, will have a drill that can dig up to 2m below the planet's dusty surface.
The tailings pulled up by this tool will be handed through a door to the ALD, where the various mechanisms inside will then crush and prepare powders that can be dropped into small cups for analysis.
It will be a forensic examination, looking at all aspects of the samples' composition.
All previous rovers have skirted the big question. They've essentially only asked whether the conditions on Mars today or in the past would have been favourable to life - if ever it had existed. They haven't actually had the necessary equipment to truly detect biomarkers.
Rosalind Franklin will be different. Its 54kg ALD has been built specifically to look for those complex organic molecules that have their origin in life processes.
Thursday's integration was slow and deliberate, understandably: the ALD is in many ways the key element of the Rosalind Franklin mission.
"It is wonderful to see the heart of the rover has now been installed," said Sue Horne, the head of space exploration at the UK Space Agency.
"The Analytical Laboratory Drawer is the key location for Martian sample testing on the rover, allowing us to understand the geology and potentially to identify signatures of life of Mars. I can't wait to see what discoveries lie in store for this British-built rover."
Engineers at Airbus UK are now working three shifts a day to get the rover finished.
Although it doesn't look much like a vehicle at the moment, virtually all the components have now arrived at the Stevenage factory.
They're sitting on shelves around the edge of the cleanroom in bags, waiting their turn in the assembly sequence.
There are one or two outstanding items, however, including the rover's British "eyes".
This is the camera system, or PanCam, which will sit atop a mast and guide the robot on its trail of investigation.
"We've just held the delivery review board this week and PanCam should be coming to us in the next few days," said Chris Draper, the flight model operations manager at Airbus.
"We know everything will go together; that's the beauty of systems engineering. Every single part of the rover has been modelled in 3D, and everyone works to interface control drawings. Assuming we all do that then we know the ALD, for example, will fit perfectly into the rover."
The Stevenage team has a hard deadline of the beginning of August to get the finished Rosalind Franklin rover out the door.
It has to go to the company's Toulouse facility for a series of tests that will ensure the design is robust enough to cope with the severe shaking experienced on a rocket ride to Mars.
Further fit-checks then follow in France before shipment to the launch site at the famous Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Lift-off has to occur in July/August next year. This date is immoveable: you only go to Mars when it's aligned with Earth and the windows of opportunity have an interval of 26 months.
The rover's name: Who was Rosalind Franklin?
In 1952, Rosalind Franklin was at King's College London (KCL) investigating the atomic arrangement of DNA, using her skills as an X-ray crystallographer to create images for analysis.
One of her team's pictures, known as Photo 51, provided the essential insights for Crick and Watson to build the first three-dimensional model of the two-stranded macromolecule.
It was one of the supreme achievements of 20th Century science, enabling researchers to finally understand how DNA stored, copied and transmitted the genetic "code of life".
Crick, Watson, and KCL colleague Maurice Wilkins received the 1962 Nobel Prize for the breakthrough.
Franklin's untimely death meant she could not be considered for the award (Nobels are not awarded posthumously). However, many argue that her contribution has never really been given the attention it deserves, and has even been underplayed.
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
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A chronology of key events:
| 10th century - Kingdom of Denmark unified and Christianity introduced.
1397 - Union of Kalmar unites Denmark, Sweden and Norway under a single monarch. Denmark is the dominant power.
1729 - Greenland becomes Danish province.
1814 - Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden.
1849 - Denmark becomes constitutional monarchy; two-chamber parliament established.
The modern period
1914-18 - Denmark is neutral during World War I.
1918 - Universal suffrage comes into effect.
1930s - Welfare state established by governments dominated by social democrats.
1939 - Denmark signs 10-year non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany.
1940 - Nazi invasion meets virtually no initial resistance. Government accepts occupation in exchange for measure of control over domestic affairs.
1943 - A determined campaign by the Danish resistance prompts Germany to take over full control of Danish affairs. Thousands of Danish Jews manage to escape to Sweden.
1945 - Germany surrenders and occupation ends. Denmark recognises Iceland's independence, which had been declared in 1944.
Postwar recovery
1948 - Faroe Islands granted self-government within the Danish state.
1949 - Denmark joins Nato.
1952 - Denmark becomes founder member of Nordic Council.
1953 - Constitutional change leads to a single-chamber parliament elected by proportional representation; female accession to the Danish throne is permitted; Greenland becomes integral part of Denmark.
1959 - Denmark joins European Free Trade Association.
1972 - King Frederick IX dies and is succeeded by his daughter Margrethe II.
European integration
1973 - Denmark joins the European Economic Community.
1979 - Greenland is granted home rule. Denmark retains control over Greenland's foreign affairs and defence.
1982 - Poul Schlueter becomes first Conservative prime minister for almost a century.
1985 - Legislation passed banning construction of nuclear power plants in Denmark.
1992 - Danish voters reject the Maastricht Treaty on further European integration in a referendum.
1993 - Schlueter resigns after being accused of lying over a scandal involving Tamil refugees; social democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen becomes prime minister.
Danes approve the Maastricht Treaty after Denmark is granted certain opt-outs.
1994 - Poul Nyrup Rasmussen returned to power in general election.
1998 - Poul Nyrup Rasmussen again returned to power.
2000 - Danes reject adoption of the euro as their national currency by 53% to 47%.
New bridge and tunnel link Copenhagen with Malmo in southern Sweden. The new road and rail link makes it possible to travel between the two countries in just 15 minutes.
Rasmussen elected
2001 November - Elections put right-wing coalition led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen into government. Rasmussen campaigned on a pledge to tighten immigration rules and put lid on taxes. The election saw the far-right Danish People's Party win 22 seats and become the third largest party in parliament.
2002 February - New government measures aimed at reducing immigration spark controversy.
2004 August - US and Denmark sign deal to modernise Thule air base on Greenland.
2005 February - Liberal Party leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen wins second term as prime minister in coalition with Conservative Party. Far-right People's Party strengthens presence in parliament by two seats.
2005 July - Diplomatic dispute flares up with Canada over the disputed tiny island of Hans in the Arctic.
2006 January - February - Cartoon depictions of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, published by a Danish newspaper in 2005, spark belated mass protests among Muslims in a number of countries as well as unofficial boycotts of Danish goods.
2007 February - Government says Denmark's 470 ground troops will leave Iraq by the end of August. Denmark was one of the original coalition countries to take part in the 2003 invasion.
2007 November - Government of Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen wins third term after early elections.
2008 February - Police uncover a plot to kill one of the cartoonists whose depictions of Muhammad sparked outrage across the Muslim world in 2005. Major papers reprint one of the cartoons, prompting some protests.
Referendum
2008 November - Greenland referendum approves plans to seek more autonomy from Denmark and a greater share of oil revenues off the island's coast.
2009 April - Finance Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen takes over as prime minister and acting Liberal Party leader on the resignation of Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who had been elected NATO secretary-general.
2009 July - Denmark plans to set up an Arctic military command and task force because the melting ice cap is opening access to Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
2009 December - Denmark hosts UN climate change summit. Great hopes are invested in the Copenhagen summit but it ends without a legally binding global treaty being agreed.
2010 January - A Somali man is charged with trying to kill the Danish artist whose drawing of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in 2005 sparked riots around the world.
2010 December - Three men are charged with planning to attack the offices of a newspaper which printed cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. A fourth is released and a fifth is held in Sweden.
2011 February - Denmark approves underwater tunnel from Lolland island to the German island of Fehmarn, at a cost of $5.9bn. It will be built in 2014-2020 and speed up transport links between Scandinavia and continental Europe.
Somali man Mohamed Geele is found guilty of attempted murder and terrorism over trying to kill Muhammad cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
Immigration issues
2011 July - Denmark reimposes border controls in bid to curb illegal immigration. Many question the legality of the move under the 1995 Schengen agreement, which abolished internal borders within much of western Europe.
2011 September - Social Democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt became Denmark's first female prime minister after her left-leaning alliance secured a narrow majority at parliamentary elections.
2012 June - Same-sex marriage legalised.
2013 April - Schools shut for a month because of an industrial dispute involving teachers' unions.
2014 January - The small Socialist People's Party quits the ruling coalition following splits over plans to sell off a stake in state-controlled Dong Energy to investment bank Goldman Sachs and others.
2014 May - The anti-immigration Danish People's Party wins European election with four seats and nearly 27% of the vote.
2014 December - Denmark submits a claim to territory around the North Pole to a United Nations panel gathering evidence to determine control of the region.
2015 February - Islamist Omar El-Hussein shoots dead a film-maker at a free-speech debate and then a synagogue guard, before being killed by police. Security service faces criticism over its anti-extremist strategy.
Minority government
2015 June - Lars Lokke Rasmussen returns as prime minister at the head of a Venstre (Liberal) minority government after right-wing parties defeat the centre-left coalition of Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
2016 January - Asylum seekers must surrender cash or valuables worth more than 1,340 euros (£1,000; $1,450) to cover housing and food costs.
2016 November - Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expands his minority government by forming a coalition with the Liberal Alliance and the Conservatives.
2017 January - Parliament approves controversial plans aimed at deterring asylum seekers and which allow border police to confiscate their valuables.
2017 May - Denmark bans one Christian and five Muslim foreign preachers it accuses of spreading hatred.
2017 June - Parliament votes to repeal an ancient blasphemy law which forbids public insults of religious beliefs or worship.
2018 May - Denmark bans the wearing of face veils in public.
2019 June - Social Democrats return to power under Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
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Winter is officially here. | How do we know? Not the grim weather, the dark nights or mince pies in shops. No - I'm A Celeb's back on telly.
This year's contestants include TV presenter Vernon Kay, actor Shane Richie and BBC Radio 1's own Jordan North.
But it was the way one contestant introduced herself that got fans talking - step forward "Hollie Arnold, MBE". And cue an "ooh" from Victoria Derbyshire.
Here's what you need to know about Hollie. She's 26 and competes in F46 javelin, having been born without her right forearm.
"Holly possesses an inner strength… she's strong, she's powerful," says her friend and training partner Dan Greaves.
Her first Paralympics was in Beijing in 2008, when she was just 14 years old.
She went on to compete in London in 2012, and Rio in 2016 - and that's where she won gold, setting a new world record at the same time.
Full house
There's more: In 2018. Hollie won gold in the Commonwealth Games and European Championships (where she beat her own world record).
"Not many athletes can really turn it turn it on for the big events, but Holly can," says her friend Dan.
He would know all about that - he's won gold medals in the Paralympics, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and European Championships himself in the F44/46 in the discus throw.
Oh yeah, we're not done with Hollie's achievements yet.
She's also won every World Championship since 2013.
"She's got what's called the full house in athletics," says Dan.
"She's got Paralympic, World, European and Commonwealth champion. So there literally is nothing else that she can win."
Ooh indeed.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
We should also point out that another British athlete introduced himself to the audience as "Sir Mo Farah" on last night's show.
Shane Ritchie declined to mention that when he introduced Sir Mo to the other contestants down a walkie talkie.
We're pretty sure you can get locked up in the Tower of London for that.
Although that might be more comfortable than his current accommodation in Gwyrch Castle.
Anyway, Hollie did mention the MBE down the walkie, and it's something she's "especially proud of," according to Dan.
He does realise how it might have come across, though.
"Bless her. I know how she would have meant to say that. She loves it," he adds.
And he admits he's just a little bit jealous of the honour, which Hollie got in 2017 for services to field athletics.
"She's done exceptionally well in her sport so hats off to her for being recognised for it," he says.
Dan's looking forward to seeing Hollie in the rest of the series.
"What people don't see behind the scenes is how she adapts and how she gains strength from her disability," he says.
"Holly's got great personality... she'll make some great friends and I think she'll get stuck into the challenges as well."
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A chronology of key events:
| 1300s - Tutsis migrate into what is now Rwanda, which was already inhabited by the Twa and Hutu peoples.
1600s - Tutsi King Ruganzu Ndori subdues central Rwanda and outlying Hutu areas.
Late 1800s - Tutsi King Kigeri Rwabugiri establishes a unified state with a centralised military structure.
1858 - British explorer Hanning Speke is the first European to visit the area.
1890 - Rwanda becomes part of German East Africa.
1916 - Belgian forces occupy Rwanda.
1923 - Belgium granted League of Nations mandate to govern Ruanda-Urundi, which it ruled indirectly through Tutsi kings.
1946 - Ruanda-Urundi becomes UN trust territory governed by Belgium.
Independence
1957 - Hutus issue manifesto calling for a change in Rwanda's power structure to give them a voice commensurate with their numbers; Hutu political parties formed.
1959 - Tutsi King Kigeri V, together with tens of thousands of Tutsis, forced into exile in Uganda following inter-ethnic violence.
1961 - Rwanda proclaimed a republic.
1962 - Rwanda becomes independent with a Hutu, Gregoire Kayibanda, as president; many Tutsis leave the country.
1963 - About 20,000 Tutsis are killed following an incursion by Tutsi rebels based in Burundi.
1973 - President Gregoire Kayibanda ousted in military coup led by Juvenal Habyarimana.
1978 - New constitution ratified; Habyarimana elected president.
1988 - Some 50,000 Hutu refugees flee to Rwanda from Burundi following ethnic violence there.
1990 - Forces of the rebel, mainly Tutsi, Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invade Rwanda from Uganda.
1991 - New multi-party constitution promulgated.
Genocide
1993 - President Habyarimana signs a power-sharing agreement with the Tutsis in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, ostensibly signalling the end of civil war; UN mission sent to monitor the peace agreement.
1994 April - Habyarimana and the Burundian president are killed after their plane is shot down over Kigali; RPF launches a major offensive; extremist Hutu militia and elements of the Rwandan military begin the systematic massacre of Tutsis. Within 100 days around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus are killed; Hutu militias flee to Zaire, taking with them around 2 million Hutu refugees.
1994-96 - Refugee camps in Zaire fall under the control of the Hutu militias responsible for the genocide in Rwanda.
1995 - Extremist Hutu militias and Zairean government forces attack local Zairean Banyamulenge Tutsis; Zaire attempts to force refugees back into Rwanda.
1995 - UN-appointed international tribunal begins charging and sentencing a number of people responsible for the Hutu-Tutsi atrocities.
Intervention in DR Congo
1996 - Rwandan troops invade and attack Hutu militia-dominated camps in Zaire in order to drive home the refugees.
1997 - Rwandan- and Ugandan-backed rebels depose President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire; Laurent Kabila becomes president of Zaire, which is renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo.
1998 - Rwanda switches allegiance to support rebel forces trying to depose Kabila in the wake of the Congolese president's failure to expel extremist Hutu militias.
2000 March - Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu, resigns over differences regarding the composition of a new cabinet and after accusing parliament of targeting Hutu politicians in anti-corruption investigations.
2000 April - Ministers and members of parliament elect Vice-President Paul Kagame as Rwanda's new president.
2001 October - Voting to elect members of traditional "gacaca" courts begins. The courts - in which ordinary Rwandans judge their peers - aim to clear the backlog of 1994 genocide cases.
2001 December - A new flag and national anthem are unveiled to try to promote national unity and reconciliation.
2002 April - Former president Pasteur Bizimungu is arrested and faces trial on charges of illegal political activity and threats to state security.
2002 July - Rwanda, DR Congo sign peace deal under which Rwanda will pull troops out of DR Congo and DR Congo will help disarm Rwandan Hutu gunmen blamed for killing Tutsi minority in 1994 genocide.
DR Congo pull-out
2002 October - Rwanda says it has pulled the last of its troops out of DR Congo, four years after they went in to support Congolese rebels against the Kabila government.
2003 May - Voters back a draft constitution which bans the incitement of ethnic hatred.
2003 August - Paul Kagame wins the first presidential elections since the 1994 genocide.
2003 October - First multi-party parliamentary elections; President Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front wins absolute majority. EU observers say poll was marred by irregularities and fraud.
2003 December - Three former media directors found guilty of inciting Hutus to kill Tutsis during 1994 genocide and receive lengthy jail sentences.
2004 March - President Kagame rejects French report which says he ordered 1994 attack on president's plane, which sparked genocide.
2004 June - Former president, Pasteur Bizimungu, is sentenced to 15 years in jail for embezzlement, inciting violence and associating with criminals.
2005 March - The main Hutu rebel group, the FDLR, says it is ending its armed struggle. FDLR is one of several groups accused of creating instability in DR Congo; many of its members are accused of taking part in 1994 genocide.
Mass prisoner release
2005 July - Government begins the mass release of 36,000 prisoners. Most of them have confessed to involvement in the 1994 genocide. It is the third phase of releases since 2003 - part of an attempt to ease overcrowding.
2006 January - Rwanda's 12 provinces are replaced by a smaller number of regions with the aim of creating ethnically-diverse administrative areas.
2006 November - Rwanda breaks off diplomatic ties with France after a French judge issues an international arrest warrant for President Kagame, alleging he was involved in bringing down Habyarimana's plane.
2006 December - Father Athanase Seromba becomes the first Roman Catholic priest to be convicted for involvement in the 1994 genocide. The International Criminal Tribunal sentences him to life in prison.
2007 February - Some 8,000 prisoners accused of genocide are released. Some 60,000 suspects have been freed since 2003 to ease prison overcrowding.
2007 April - Former President Pasteur Bizimungu is released from jail three years into his 15-year sentence after receiving a presidential pardon.
2007 October - Inquiry launched into 1994 presidential plane crash that sparked the genocide.
2007 November - Rwanda signs a peace agreement with Democratic Republic of Congo under which the latter will hand over those suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide to Kigali and to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Arrests abroad
2008 January - French police arrest former Rwandan army officer Marcel Bivugabagabo who is on list of war criminals wanted for trial by the Rwandan government.
2008 February - A Spanish judge issues arrest warrants for 40 Rwandan army officers, accusing them of genocide, terrorism and crimes against humanity.
2008 August - Rwanda accuses France of having played an active role in the genocide of 1994, and issues a report naming more than 30 senior French officials. France says the claims are unacceptable.
2008 September - President Paul Kagame's Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) wins large majority in parliamentary elections.
2008 October - Rwanda decides all education will be taught in English instead of French, officially as a result of joining the English-speaking East African Community.
Genocide trials
2008 December - One of Rwanda's most famous singers, Simon Bikindi, is sentenced to 15 years in prison for inciting violence during the genocide.
UN report accuses Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo of directly helping Tutsi rebels fighting in eastern DR Congo. Rwanda denies supplying aid and child soldiers.
Theoneste Bagosora sentenced to life imprisonment at UN tribunal for masterminding genocide.
2009 January - Former Justice Minister Agnes Ntamabyariro is jailed for life by a Kigali court for conspiracy to plan the genocide and speeches inciting people to take part.
2009 February - Rwandan troops leave the Democratic Republic of Congo five weeks after entering to attack Hutu rebels.
UN war crimes court finds former army chaplain Emmanuel Rukundo guilty of genocide, sexual assault and kidnapping during genocide, sentences him to 25 years in jail.
2009 March - Rwandan MP and governing party member Beatrice Nirere found guilty of genocide and sentenced to life imprisonment in a traditional gacaca community court.
2009 November - Rwanda is admitted to the Commonwealth, as only the second country after Mozambique to become a member without a British colonial past or constitutional ties to the UK.
France and Rwanda restore diplomatic relations, three years after they were severed over a row about responsibility for the 1990s genocide.
2009 December - Rwanda is declared free of landmines - the first country to achieve this status.
2010 April - Opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, who planned to run against President Kagame in the August elections, is arrested.
2010 June - Ex-army chief of staff Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former ally turned critic of President Kagame, is wounded in a shooting while in exile in South Africa.
Kagame re-elected
2010 August - President Kagame wins new term in elections criticised at home and abroad for violence and the disqualification of candidates.
2011 June - Former family minister Pauline Nyiramasuhuko becomes first woman to be found guilty of genocide by an international court.
2011 December - Hutu rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana becomes the first suspect brought to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be freed after finds rules that there is insufficient evidence for charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
2012 June - Rwanda shuts down "gacaca" community courts that for 10 years tried those accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide.
2012 July - The US, Britain and the Netherlands halt aid to Rwanda over UN accusations that it is fuelling a rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo by training rebel troops. Rwanda denies the charge.
2012 October - A court sentences opposition leader Victoire Ingabire to eight years in jail on charges of threatening state security and "belittling" the 1994 genocide.
2012 December - The UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) convicts former government minister and key organiser of the 1994 genocide Augustin Ngirabatware to 35 years in prison.
2013 February - The ICTR overturns the 2011 genocide convictions of former ministers Justin Mugenzi and Prosper Mugiraneza, to the dismay of Rwandan prosecutors.
2014 March - Former Rwandan intelligence officer Pascal Simbikangwa is becomes the first man to be convicted in France in connection with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
2015 April - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda holds its last hearings, 10 years after opening, and having convicted 93 individuals in connection with the 1994 genocide.
2016 January - President Kagame announces that he will stand for the presidency again in 2017, after winning a December referendum on constitutional changes allowing him to serve a third term.
2017 August - President Kagame re-elected with 98.8% of the vote in polls denounced as unfair by independent observers.
2018 September - Rwanda pardons more than 2,000 prisoners, including opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, who was jailed in 2012 on charges of threatening state security and "belittling" the 1994 genocide that she says were politically motivated.
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Remember the millennium bug? | Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter
I certainly do - in the late 1990s, I interviewed a number of experts warning many computers would not cope when the date flicked over to 01/01/2000.
Huge sums were spent to prepare for the consequences of this bug - or rather feature - in the way some older systems handled dates.
But midnight passed on the 1 January and the crisis failed to materialise - planes did not fall from the sky, power stations did not melt down.
So was the Y2K bug all a fuss about nothing?
That is certainly the view of Sir Bernard Jenkin MP who has compared what he believes are exaggerated fears about a no-deal Brexit to the bug.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday: "We will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about - a bit like the millennium bug, remember all the experts on the millennium bug?"
On Twitter, I asked people who had been involved in battling the bug for their response to this remark.
There followed a tidal wave of tweets, nearly all of them hostile to Sir Bernard's analysis.
IT experts recalled their work in the late 1990s.
"I spent months during 1998-99 checking and fixing software to make sure that radio systems for emergency services et cetera didn't fail," said Peter West.
Frances Coppola, who was working for an insurance company running teams of analysts and programmers, said: "We found bugs and we fixed them. It's because we did such a good job that people who weren't involved think there was never a problem."
Richard Gaywood, who worked as an intern on Y2K testing in the nuclear industry for three summers, said: "We tested every scrap of software we had. I, personally, spent weeks and weeks on just one of them. I didn't find bugs. Colleagues did. They were fixed in good time."
James Christie, who was working as a test manager for IBM at an insurance company, said: "I wrote a report warning that without remedial Y2K work the company [one of the biggest UK insurers] couldn't produce credible accounts that would pass the annual audit. The share price would have crashed. I was believed."
And Matthew Hackling said: "I climbed through the roof spaces of maximum security prisons doing inventory of PLCs [programmable logic controllers] for Y2K - 80% of systems worked fine, 15% date-rolled over to [the] 1970s, 3% failed, maybe 2% catastrophically."
Now, I did get one response from an IT consultant in the City, John McGregor, who thought the introduction of the euro had been a much bigger problem.
He said: "[The] millennium bug was largely a myth. Everything [was] checked. Only [a] tiny proportion of very badly written software had [an] issue."
'Hard work'
But just about everyone else said it was only thanks to huge amounts of effort and years of planning that the real threat from the bug had been mitigated.
Alec Muffett, who worked at Sun Microsystems from 1992 to 2009, said: "Anyone saying the millennium bug was in some sense a damp squib is ignoring that its being a squib was due to hard work."
Of course many of those involved made a great deal of money from the Y2K preparations and you would not expect them to look back and reflect that their employers had bought into a myth.
But whatever the true scale of the threat, it seems clear that doing nothing about the millennium bug in the late 1990s was not an option that industries dependent on the smooth running of computer systems could afford to take.
Just by comparison, imagine telling the NHS and other organisation in 2016 that there was no need to update ageing Windows systems to counter the threat from ransomware.
Sensible advice about a mythical danger - or reckless complacency? You decide.
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WhatsApp is now free to use. | For the last few years, you've had to pay a subscription after 12 months. But the company says that fee is being scrapped immediately.
At the moment, it costs around 69p-a-year. But if you've just paid it, you won't get your money back.
WhatsApp will still have to make money but the company says it doesn't mean you'll start seeing adverts on the site.
It might seem strange to get rid of a fee that isn't exactly crippling.
But WhatsApp only introduced the charge a few years ago and says it hasn't been working out that well.
A company blog post says: "Many WhatsApp users don't have a debit or credit card number and they worried they'd lose access to their friends and family after their first year.
"So over the next several weeks, we'll remove fees from the different versions of our app and WhatsApp will no longer charge you for our service."
WhatsApp promises no adverts
WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, already has one billion users and the company hopes this move will bring in even more people.
But how will it make money when there's no subscription and it's committed to being ad-free?
According to the company: "We will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from."
That means you might soon be able to send your bank a message asking about a recent transaction or checking an airline for flight information.
For more stories like this one you can now download the BBC Newsbeat app straight to your device. For iPhone go here. For Android go here
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"Mohamed Salah! Go Mo, go!" | By Rabiya LimbadaBBC World Service
The shouts echo around my house as Mohamed Salah scores a sublime opening goal against Roma in the UEFA Champions League semi-final on Tuesday night.
My children, Hanaa, aged eight, and Muhammad, six, beam from ear to ear as we all watch Salah lay face down on the ground, in his trademark goal celebration.
The rise of Liverpool's Egyptian King hasn't gone unnoticed in homes like mine across the country, if not the world.
At the top of his game, Mohamed Salah is uniting communities.
He will pray on the pitch, he will sport his beard with pride and he will play some of the best football you have seen this year.
Do you have any idea how powerful that is to children like mine? He's a role model of our time.
I was born and brought up in east London, England to parents that emigrated here from Yemen and Burma.
Unlike many people my age, I never struggled with the notion of belonging to this country.
However, I am more than aware that in today's climate children from faith and minority backgrounds don't feel the same.
They are exposed to a news agenda that makes them apprehensive about displaying their Islamic heritage.
So it's not surprising when a player like Salah comes along it sparks pride in their hearts.
My daughter Hanaa watches in awe when Salah raises his hands to the heavens and prays after scoring a goal.
"Mamma, we do that too!" she says.
As with Islamic tradition, many men of the faith have beards. Salah is no different.
So when I catch my six-year-old son standing in front of a mirror trying to pick at tiny baby hairs on his chin and proclaim he too has a beard now just like Salah, my heart soars.
He is arguably the best player in the world right now.
Mohamed Salah is bringing communities together and I for one am relishing it.
Banners depicting him as a Pharoah are held aloft around Anfield.
Songs and chants about mosques and Muslims ring out around stands up and down the country by Liverpool fans who have taken him to their heart. They're full of love and admiration, and Muslims around the world are excited to see it.
In his home country of Egypt, Salah is King.
The jewel in the crown of his national team, his status was cemented when he scored the winning penalty that saw his side through to this summer's World Cup finals in Russia.
Whether he plays for Liverpool or Egypt, for 90 or so minutes he unites a fractured nation and political rivalries are set aside as cafes and homes across Egypt cheer on this mega star.
As a hijab-wearing woman, it is fantastic watching women in headscarves of Liverpool red or the Egyptian flag celebrate alongside Salah's male fans.
And that's why for families like mine, it's more than just a game of football.
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A few weeks ago, Hanaa came home from school visibly distressed. There had been talk amongst her group of friends of a campaign to attack Muslims on the 3 April. She was scared and upset.
We spent the next few days explaining that it was a tiny minority of people who didn't understand Islam and Muslims, and the majority of people in this country didn't feel like that at all.
Unfortunately when 3 April came around, she didn't want to go out - she was still too frightened. As parents, it broke our hearts.
How do you explain to young children that there isn't anything to be afraid of, when the reality is, we think about these risks almost daily?
But Mohamed Salah is changing the perception of Muslims, and it's wonderful to see. For the first time in a long time, Muslims aren't the bogeymen.
My Liverpool-supporting friends who aren't Muslim echo the sentiment.
They tell me his status and character is important to celebrate because it challenges the views of the narrow-minded.
I don't profess to be an expert on football tactics or the history of the game.
All I know is that Mohamed Salah has done more for interfaith relations in his short sweet time at Liverpool than any campaign I can remember.
He is unapologetically Muslim. That's how I like to think of him.
Who is Mo Salah?
In an interview earlier this week, Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp talked about how Salah, and the other Muslim players, Sadio Mane and Emre Can, prepare for a game by performing the Islamic ritual of ablution.
Klopp said the rest of the team wait for them and respect the time they need to do that.
It's hard to sum up how important that is to hear for me and my children.
We perform ablutions before we pray our five daily prayers - it's a form of purifying the body and then standing before God.
For such a small act to be talked about openly and respected by a wider community sends out a powerful message to my children and many like them all over the world.
In Islam we talk a lot about respect and hard work.
It's the backbone of our parenting, and bringing up our children to be well-rounded individuals.
So it's no surprise that Salah's clean sheet as a player is often used by my husband as an example of honest hard work.
Salah's brief spell at Chelsea is also a tale of dedication paying off - he kept trying and he got better.
Hanaa, Muhammad and millions of children like them can look to that for inspiration.
We have a glorious summer ahead of us watching and praying for this young man as he heads for the heights of super-stardom.
Rabiya Limbada is on Twitter @Rabiya
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The office smells of new paint. | Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
The leader of the opposition's lair in one of Parliament's more faded buildings still has the same vintage Labour posters on the walls, but the decorators have been to in to freshen up the place.
What Sir Keir Starmer is aiming for is more than a bit of smartening-up. Above all right now, five months into post, the Labour leader wants to draw a line under all the controversies of the Corbyn era, to draw the bitterness out of the party's quarrels and to shout as loudly as he can to the public that things have changed.
This means, in contrast to his oh-so-careful language during the leadership campaign, that he is being blunt - very blunt.
On Tuesday, he told the party and the public that Labour deserved to lose the last election.
On Wednesday, he told us that the party had "betrayed" voters by failing to win and "gifted the Tories a decade or more in power".
Drawing a line under the last five years in order to move on is achingly obviously his priority. Many on Labour's left are irritated by his now very public attitude to the past. But for some of Sir Keir's backers, they are annoying precisely the right people.
What is less clear is the kind of conclusions the Labour leader wants the public to draw about what he would actually do if he won power.
His attack on the government is on competence. His increasingly harsh criticism of the prime minister, of his character.
The job is huge to get Labour in the kind of state it needs to be in 2024, and it's understandable that right now he is reluctant to give more than vaguely pleasant sounding promises about his and the party's values. There are four years to the next general election after all.
There's a huge "but", however.
2021 will also see an enormous set of local elections, elections for mayors around the country and in London, elections in Wales and critically elections in Scotland.
Audible fudge
Sir Keir refused repeatedly to say whether he would back another independence referendum. The party is officially a unionist party, and will argue against the question being put to the people again.
But there is an audible fudge around whether the party would stand in the SNP's way if it wins next year. Despite his contention this is a "hypothetical" question, it is in fact likely to be the central question in the Holyrood elections next year.
Repeatedly refusing to answer the question "If not now, what about never?" allows, for now, the Tories to present themselves as the only definitive backers of the union - and the SNP as the only clear supporters of independence.
It is easy to see why Labour right now is reluctant to avoid being tied to definitive positions on anything. The country is living through a very uncertain moment.
Sir Keir has a huge job sorting out the party's woes, and trying to cut through to the public. But leaving blanks on Scotland, or on any other issue creates a risk for the party too.
Politics is not always willing to wait.
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The talks are back on. | Katya AdlerEurope editor@BBCkatyaadleron Twitter
The government says it is now "ready to welcome the EU team to London to resume negotiations" after studying the address given on Wednesday morning by the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, to the European Parliament.
Talks re-start in London in less than 24 hours' time.
As the European Commission President tweeted: "Hard work needed, no time to lose."
But that is hardly news.
So, what was this five or six day Big (metaphorical) Walk Out from negotiations all about? Has anything fundamentally changed?
On Friday, Boris Johnson pronounced negotiations over unless the EU fundamentally altered its position.
But it hasn't really. Not in terms of substance.
The Downing Street statement even admitted as much. It said, "it is clear that significant gaps remain between our positions in the most difficult areas", and warned that no deal was still a real possibility.
But what Michel Barnier has done this week in tweets, in calls with the UK's chief negotiator, Lord David Frost, and during his statement to the European Parliament, is directly acknowledge a number of key UK concerns.
The government has been very critical of the EU this autumn for not engaging in intense negotiations, even though it had promised to.
This week, Michel Barnier said the EU is willing to work "night and day", "round-the-clock" and "until the very last moment" to reach a deal.
Sovereignty 'legitimate concern'
UK negotiators expressed repeated frustration that the EU thus far has refused to start writing joint legal texts, even though the large majority of the deal (on goods, transport, social security and much more) has been agreed. Mr Barnier has now spoken of working on legal texts.
And importantly on Wednesday, Mr Barnier also nodded in his speech to the issue of sovereignty.
The government has often accused the EU during these negotiations of not accepting or respecting the UK's post Brexit independence. Of seeking to keep the UK tied to Brussels' regulatory apron strings.
Instead of rubbishing that concern, as EU figures have often done in the past (noting, amongst other things, that all trade agreements involve two parties signing up to common rules or principles in one form or another), Mr Barnier told the European Parliament that sovereignty was "a legitimate concern," for the UK prime minister.
He hastened to add, though, that the EU's key principle of fair competition in future trading was "fully compatible" with the idea of British sovereignty.
This issue will play large in talks in the coming days.
Fishing compromise?
Most significantly perhaps, Mr Barnier openly acknowledged to the European Parliament that compromises would have to be made by the EU as well, if a deal could still be reached with the UK.
Downing Street was furious last week when EU leaders concluded in writing at their summit that the UK would have to take the necessary steps to reach a deal.
In truth, it's an open secret that the EU has to compromise, as the UK was surely aware. Germany's Angela Merkel has said as much.
And Michel Barnier has pushed EU leaders for ages to give in on their fishing demands. In Brussels, everyone knows, that is where they will have to concede most of all.
Cover for concessions
So, all in all, you could be forgiven for thinking what we've witnessed over the past days was a bit of political theatre.
Cover for the government - post chest-beating, for the benefit of a domestic audience - to return to the negotiating table, where they know the time has now come for difficult compromises.
Cover too for EU leaders.
They went out of their way at last week's summit to sound tough on Brexit. Privately, a number of EU figures now admit it was a misstep.
But EU leaders play to the domestic gallery too. They wanted to show they were "standing up to the UK" - that leaving the EU doesn't pay and that EU interests would be defended.
They accept they must compromise too now, if this trade and security deal with the UK has a chance of being agreed.
Time is short and trust is in low supply.
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It started with a fax. | By Mark SavageBBC Music reporter
"Dear Mr DeRogatis," it began. "I'm sending this to you because I don't know where else to go."
Mr DeRogatis, Jim to his friends, was the rock critic at the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. He'd recently reviewed TP-2.com, the fourth album by R&B star R. Kelly, and one of his readers had some feedback.
"You compared him to Marvin Gaye," they wrote. "Well, I guess Marvin Gaye had problems, too, but I don't think they were like Robert's.
"Robert's problem - and it's a thing that goes back many years - is young girls."
Initially, DeRogatis dismissed the letter, throwing it in a "slush pile of press releases and hate mail" on the corner of his desk.
But later, at home, the letter "gnawed" at him.
"There was a level of detail, of specificity," he tells the BBC. "Names, dates, a lawsuit that had never been reported by the media and the fact that the Chicago police department had been investigating Kelly for sex with underage girls for some time."
DeRogatis and his colleague Abdon Pallasch started to investigate and, six weeks later, on 21 December, 2000, the Chicago Sun-Times published a story about Kelly's alleged predation on underage girls.
It was the first of many.
For 19 years, DeRogatis has doggedly reported the accusations against R. Kelly, doing more than any other journalist to tell the stories of the women and girls who say they've been abused, victimised and assaulted by the singer.
"I know the names of 48 women, I believe there are many more," he says. "All of these women cannot be lying."
The writer lays out the case against Kelly in his new book, Soulless. He details not just the accusations of sexual abuse, but Kelly's complex history of out-of-court settlements, the music industry's complicity in his actions, and law enforcement's failure to bring him to justice.
"It was never a book I wanted to write," he says. "That darkness will eat you alive.
"But you are not a journalist if you don't follow a story through to the end. And the women have never stopped calling since November 2000."
'Brother needs to stop'
Kelly has always denied the accusations against him, both in court and in the press - including a remarkable TV interview with Gayle King in which he tearfully and angrily protested his innocence.
DeRogatis, however, argues that "nothing I've ever reported in 19 years has ever been retracted, corrected or become the subject of [a] lawsuit".
He believes not just the women who came forward, but the people around Kelly who spoke on and off-the-record about the star's desire for teenage girls.
What's striking, however, is how few of them were prepared to condemn Kelly. They simply wanted him to be cured.
"That first fax was not, 'R Kelly is a monster, he's evil,'" says DeRogatis. "The fax was, 'Robert has a problem. Robert needs help.'
"That's the most often-heard comment in 19 years of reporting on this: 'Brother needs help. Brother needs to stop'."
It's not just the victims that fell under Kelly's spell, DeRogatis argues. Chicago's churches, radio stations and even its justice system have been "reluctant to turn on him".
"I think that people were aware of Kelly's upbringing - he was a victim of sexual abuse himself, he was illiterate, and he rose from busking for change on the street corners to become the dominant voice in R&B for two generations," says the writer.
"Nobody hated this man. Everybody cheered him on."
Behind the scenes, though, people were disturbed by Kelly's behaviour.
In 2002, DeRogatis received a video that appeared to show the singer having sex with, and urinating on, an underage girl.
The tape was handed to the police, and Kelly was indicted on 21 counts of child pornography (later reduced to 14).
But the case didn't come to trial for six years and, when it did, the girl in the video and her parents declined to testify.
Unable to identify the victim definitively, the jury found Kelly not guilty on all 14 counts.
The case coincided with one of the most successful periods of R. Kelly's career. Between his indictment and acquittal, he released the global number one Ignition (Remix), made a joint album with Jay-Z, and played at ceremonies for the World Cup and the Winter Olympics.
Despite his legal troubles, he doubled-down on sexually promiscuous lyrics, even adopting a new nickname: "The pied piper of R&B".
Speaking to GQ in 2016, Kelly claimed to be unaware of the connotations. "I started calling myself the Pied Piper, when I started using the flute sound in my music," he said - but DeRogatis suspects he was deliberately taunting his critics.
"Whether he's aware or not, this myth from the middle ages describes a man who uses music to lure children to their death. It's horrifying."
DeRogatis argues that Kelly star has "flouted his obsessions in his music" since the start of his career.
It's there, he says, on songs like (It Seems Like) You're Ready, and Age Ain't Nothing But A Number - written for R&B star Aaliyah, who Kelly married when she was just 15 (her age was falsely listed as 18 on the wedding certificate, and the marriage was quickly annulled).
"I've interviewed several psychologists and they say there's an element where it's almost as if he wanted to be caught," he notes.
Kelly certainly sails close to the wind, if you're to believe the two sources who told DeRogatis that the star "documented his sexual encounters and carried the tapes in a gym bag he kept with him at all times".
If that's the case, how has he evaded the law for so long?
"I think nobody took seriously the fact that young black girls were being hurt," says the writer.
"I say this and it sounds like hyperbole - but if you talk to any three women in Chicago, one of them will have a story. Either about herself, or her cousin or her aunty or a friend having been approached by Kelly."
"And I'm only ever amplifying the many women I've interviewed when I say, 'Nobody matters less in society than young black girls.'"
Self-aware enough to know how it looks for him, as a white man, to have pursued the case against a black celebrity for two decades, he adds: "To be clear, it is not a vendetta or hatred against this man. It's the desire to make him stop hurting other young women."
New charges 'are weak'
For his efforts, DeRogatis has been vilified and threatened by Kelly's supporters. Pictures of his ex-wife and daughter have been circulated on social media. In 2002, someone shot out his porch window.
Since leaving the Sun-Times, DeRogatis has broken further stories about Kelly at Buzzfeed, and is currently a contributor at The New Yorker's website, where he continues to write about Kelly.
As we talk, the star is awaiting trial on new charges of sexual assault and abuse involving four alleged victims, three of whom were minors - including the victim at the centre of the 2008 case.
DeRogatis says the charges are "serious, but not serious enough," and expresses doubt that Kelly, who has pleaded not guilty, will be convicted.
"It's still just a few accusers - and those are very brave women - but the defence will destroy them on the stand.
"Such is rape culture," he says. "Sadly, in the States and many other countries, we do not believe the accusers."
He holds out more hope for the concurrent investigations by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS - which he believes may result in charges "within the month".
"My understanding is that they're looking at 30 years of tax evasion, 30 years of sex trafficking," he says.
"So maybe R Kelly finally is disabled from hurting more young women because of tax evasion and the Mann act," he says - referring to the 1910 law that made it illegal to "transport any woman or girl" across state lines "for any immoral purpose" (the same law sent Chuck Berry to jail in 1959).
Would he consider that justice?
"I don't know what justice looks like," says DeRogatis. "Of the 48 women whose names I know, most of whom I've spoken to, it's too little, too late. They can't get their lives back. Some of them tried to kill themselves. They were scarred by this.
"So I would hope, at the very least, he's never able to hurt another young woman.
"There should be no more names to add to that list."
Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly is out now.
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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10th October 2007 | Madame Louise Arbour
High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
Geneva
Dear Madame Arbour:
Independent Human Rights Monitoring Mission for Sri Lanka
We are sure that you are well aware of the history of human rights violations in Sri Lanka and of the various recommendations made over the years by special mechanisms of the UN human rights system. Most recently, recommendations have been made by the Special Rapporteur on Extra - Judicial Executions, the Working Group on Disappearances and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children in Armed Conflict.
In Sri Lanka , human rights violations have been committed by the state as well as by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Violations have also been committed by a range of other armed non-state actors. A pervasive climate of impunity, the existence of draconian laws that facilitate human rights abuse and the slow and steady erosion of democratic freedoms, have created a situation in which those who are victims of human rights abuse and who are human rights defenders have few channels through which they may seek justice and redress.
Over the past two years, as a result of the escalation of the conflict, there has been a significant increase in the intensity and magnitude of the violations of human rights and humanitarian law, both by state and non-state actors. These violations have been well documented in other communications addressed to your office.
Sri Lanka has also witnessed a steady erosion of the independence and effectiveness of many of its democratic institutions including the police, the public service, Parliament, the Attorney General's Department, the judiciary; and most recently, the Human Rights Commission and the Police Commission.
The failure to implement the 17th Amendment to the Constitution which enabled a multi-partisan Constitutional Council to recommend members to the independent Commissions, has contributed to the deterioration of human rights and democratic practice in the country. Moreover, the many different Committees and Commissions of Inquiry set up by the government, including the Commission set up in November 2006, have had no impact in reversing the deteriorating human rights situation.
At the moment there is no national institution that commands the credibility and respect of all sections of Sri Lankan society and it is in this context that human rights defenders have turned to the international community and to the OHCHR for support.
It is a matter of urgency to create such a national institution that will be independent and objective in its composition, in its mandate and in its practice.
We, as members of civil society, believe that the most effective way of paving the way for such a national institution and of addressing the culture of impunity that has existed for over 30 years is through the independent monitoring of human rights on the ground. This can only be done by an international field presence that has the credibility and the stature to win the confidence of victims of human rights abuse and break the cycle of silence and impunity that we live in.
For such an office to be effective and to be able to reverse the deteriorating human rights situation it should be able to perform a broad range of functions. These must include:
Investigations
Its mandate must include the capacity to investigate all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, either at its own initiative or on the reception of a complaint from a victim or other person.
Physical Access
It should have the capacity to access all areas of the country, including those areas under the control of the LTTE, the Karuna Faction and other para-military forces and visit police stations, army camps, places of detention (both acknowledged and unacknowledged) and other installations which are under the control of government forces or non-state actors.
Advocacy
It should be enabled to engage with all government officials, including members of the armed forces, the police, other special forces, the Human Rights Commission, the Police Commission, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, members of civil society and other institutions either through written or verbal communications and share its findings with these officials and institutions and make recommendations and offer advice. It should be able to perform a similar role with regard to the LTTE, the Karuna Group and other non-state actors.
Public Reporting
It should be mandated to document all violations of humanitarian law and human rights law and to disseminate these reports to those responsible for such violations; to the organs of the United Nations; to civil society and to the public.
Composition
It should consist of trained and experienced human rights monitors from the global north and the global south with a field presence in different parts of Sri Lanka, but especially in those areas that have been the venue of serious human rights violations.
We would urge you to raise this issue, as a matter of priority, with the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE during your visit to the country.
Sincerely,
1. Association of War Affected Women, Kandy
2. Agromart Outreach Foundation
3. Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), Colombo
4. Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Colombo
5. Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (CPR), Jaffna
6. Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation (Cpbr), Colombo
7. Centre for Women and Development (Jaffna)
8. Centre for Society and Religion (CSR), Colombo,
9. Civil Rights Movement
10. Christian Alliance for Social Action (CASA), Colombo,
11. Commission for Justice, Peace and Human Development and Human Rights Secretariat – SETIK-Caritas Kandy,
12. Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA)
13. Dabidu Collective
14. Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT)
15. Equal Ground Sri Lanka, Colombo
16. Home for Human Rights (HHR)
17. Human Development Organisation
18. Human Rights Media Resource Centre, Kandy
19. Institute of Human Rights (IHR)
20. International Centre for Ethnic Studies
21. IMADR
22. INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre, Colombo
23. Janasansadaya, Panadura
24. Law & Society Trust (LST), Colombo
25. Mannar Citizens' Committee, Mannar
26. Mannar Women's Development Federation, Mannar
27. Mannar Women for Human Rights and Democracy, Mannar
28. MMDR
29. MONLAR
30. Mothers and Daughters of Lanka
31. Muslim Women's Research and Action Front (MWRAF),
32. Muslim Information Centre – Sri Lanka (MIC) , Colombo
33. Nadesan Centre for Human Rights Through Law
34. Penn Wimochana, Gnanodayam, Hatton
35. Resources for Peace and Reconciliation, Mannar
36. Rights Now Collective for Democracy, Colombo
37. Social Scientists' Association
38. Suriya Women's Development Centre
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Primary: | Ebbw Fawr Learning Community
Secondary:
Ebbw Fawr Learning Community
Abertillery Learning Community
Primary:
Pantside Primary
Park Primary
St James Primary School
Secondary:
Cwmcarn High School
Primary:
Trelai Primary School
Trowbridge Primary
Secondary:
Glyn Derw High School
Michaelston Community College
Eastern High School
Special:
Woodlands High School
Primary:
Ysgol y Fro
Primary:
Ysgol Gymunedol Llannon
Primary:
Ysgol Swn Y Don
Ysgol Llanddoged
Secondary:
Blessed Edward Jones High School
Special:
Ysgol Tir Morfa
Secondary:
Ysgol Treffynnon
St. David's High School
John Summers High School
St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School
Primary:
Ysgol Glanadda
Ysgol Gynradd Rhosgadfan
Primary:
Ysgol Gynradd Carreglefn
Primary:
Magor V A Primary School
Primary:
Eastern Primary School
Llansawel Primary School
Primary:
Milton Junior School
Secondary:
St Julian's School
Special:
Maes Ebbw School
Primary:
Haverfordwest V.C.
St. Mary's Catholic Primary School
Secondary:
Sir Thomas Picton School
Tasker-Milward V.C. School
Primary:
Llandrindod Wells C.P. School
Secondary:
Llanfyllin High School
Llandrindod High School
Primary:
Penrhys Community Primary
Secondary:
Abersychan Comprehensive
Cwmbran High School
Primary:
High Street Primary School
Secondary:
Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School
Secondary:
Ysgol Bryn Alyn
Ysgol Rhiwabon
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A chronology of key events
| 1493 - Voyager Christopher Columbus claims Puerto Rico for Spain.
1898 - Under the Treaty of Paris, Puerto Rico is ceded by the Spanish to the US at the end of the Spanish-American War.
1917 - Jones Act grants US citizenship to Puerto Ricans.
1947 - Partial self-government granted, enabling Puerto Ricans to elect their own governor.
1950 - October - President Truman signs the Puerto Rico Commonwealth Bill, paving the way for a Puerto Rican constitution. Nationalists oppose the new law and resort to violence. In November two US-based nationalists attempt to assassinate President Truman in Washington DC.
1951 - Puerto Ricans vote overwhelmingly in favour of US commonwealth status in a referendum.
1993 - Spanish and English declared as official languages.
2006 March - US Supreme Court rejects an appeal calling for Puerto Ricans to have the right to vote in US presidential elections.
2006 November - Puerto Rico adopts its first sales tax, aiming to address major budget deficits.
2012 November - Voters back a non-binding referendum to become a full US state. The measure requires US Congressional approval, but President Barack Obama says he will respect the vote. US Congress begins to consider at least two bills on the status of Puerto Rico.
2013 October - Puerto Rico faces a mounting debt crisis, raising the possibility that it might require federal assistance.
2014 July - Governor Alejandro Padilla pledges to hold another plebiscite on Puerto Rico's status by 2016.
2017 May - The US territory declares bankruptcy - the largest ever by a local US government - after being unable to pay its debts.
2017 June - Puerto Rico votes overwhelmingly in favour of becoming America's 51st state in a non-binding referendum, though only 23 percent of voters take part.
2017 September - Two hurricanes leave a trail of devastation and generate a political row over allegedly tardy US relief efforts.
2019 July - Governor Ricardo Rosselló resigns after days of street protests over a group text message scandal involving offensives comments.
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A "damage limitation exercise"? | Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
At any time over the last two years, you've always been able to hear the faint jangling of Brexiteer nerves, a suspicion that the prime minister doesn't really believe in leaving the EU.
Some Remainers would even brand it paranoia.
Her usual backers, and the prime minister, would say that she has an unwavering commitment to taking us out of the EU.
But from one of those who know her best, there is evidence that she is indeed, rather reluctant about the whole thing.
As part of a BBC 2 documentary, where I've been following every dip and peak of Brexit's rollercoaster, I've been speaking to Nick Timothy, Theresa May's former chief of staff.
He had to quit his job after the election disaster of 2017, but was long regarded, alongside Fiona Hill, as one of the most influential thinkers around Theresa May and one of the tiny handful of people who really know her mind.
In his reflections, he says the prime minister has seen Brexit as a problem rather than an opportunity, and that is one of the explanations for the government's struggle.
He told me the prime minister actually sees Brexit as a "damage limitation exercise", that she and other ministers have "struggled to see any economic upside".
That has meant, he believes, that the government has struggled, because they have been trying to manage what they see as problems, rather than seeing the opportunities.
"If you see it in that way, then inevitably you're not going to be prepared to take the steps that would enable you to fully realise the economic opportunities of leaving," he said.
His remarks are, frankly, likely to rattle both sides of the Tory Party, given his role and record in helping setting out Theresa May's early path in Number 10, and then in the disastrous election campaign.
But his assertions might confirm some of the doubts in Brexiteers' minds about her personal view on the whole thing.
Mr Timothy also questions whether Number 10's efforts to keep the Tory Party on board have made things worse. He said: "One of the difficulties she's had is that she's tried to take every part of the party with her at different points … it would have been better to be clearer that not everybody in the party was going to get what they wanted."
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Given that he was an instrumental part of those early decisions, that won't win him any new friends.
But as we grind towards the date of our planned departure in a political mess, for Mr Timothy at least, that relates back to early mistakes.
Mr Timothy, a Brexiteer, also didn't hold back when describing the attitude of many in Parliament.
He told me that many MPs write off Leave voters as "being racist, stupid or too old to have a stake in the future" and warned that the government's mishandling of Brexit risked "opening up space for a populist right wing party … this is one of the dangers of where we are right now".
Mr Timothy, who many MPs consider to have been responsible for some of the mistakes of the 2017 general election campaign, also said that Theresa May's premiership had "not been bad, but unlucky".
The interview is part of Inside the Brexit Storm, a behind-the-scenes programme following the twists and turns of the Brexit process, to be transmitted shortly.
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CATE BLANCHETT | A look at the best actress nominees for the 88th Academy Awards, announced on 14 January 2016.
Age: 46
Nominated for: Carol
The character: Carol Aird, a glamorous older woman going through a difficult divorce who begins an affair with a young aspiring photographer.
Oscar record: Won best supporting actress for The Aviator in 2005 and best actress for Blue Jasmine in 2014. Two best actress nominations for Elizabeth in 1999 and Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2008. Two best supporting actress nominations for Notes on a Scandal in 2007 and I'm Not There in 2008.
The critics said: "Carol ultimately belongs to Blanchett, and rightly so... As searing as [she] was in her Oscar-winning turn in Blue Jasmine, she arguably achieves something even deeper here by acting in a much quieter, more underplayed register." [Variety]
BRIE LARSON
Age: 26
Nominated for: Room
The character: Joy, aka "Ma", a woman abducted and held captive in a room with only her young son for company.
Oscar record: No previous nominations.
The critics said: "Larson has been threatening for years to truly break out, and Room should be the film to make it happen. She's so raw as to verge on unwatchable, the pain she conveys just too upsetting to sit with." [Empire]
JENNIFER LAWRENCE
Age: 25
Nominated for: Joy
The character: Joy, a divorced single mother who seeks to change her circumstances by inventing and marketing a revolutionary new mop.
Oscar record: Won best actress for Silver Linings Playbook in 2013. Best actress nomination for Winter's Bone in 2011. Best supporting actress nomination for American Hustle in 2014.
The critics said: "Lawrence has played larger-than-life characters in Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, but in Joy she's dialled down appreciably, playing a woman who once considered herself special but has been systematically beaten down by adulthood enough to believe that her creative spark has died." [Screen Daily]
CHARLOTTE RAMPLING
Age: 69
Nominated for: 45 Years
The character: Kate Mercer, a married woman who learns shattering news about her husband just as they are about to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.
Oscar record: No previous nominations.
The critics said: "Rampling... is a symphony of physical cries and whispers, her worried eyes and strained smiles choreographed with breath-taking precision." [The Guardian]
SAOIRSE RONAN
Age: 21
Nominated for: Brooklyn
The character: Eilis Lacey, a young woman from rural Ireland who leaves her home to find job opportunities in the US in the 1950s.
Oscar record: Best supporting actress nomination for Atonement in 2008.
The critics said: "Ronan captures brilliantly her character's strange mix of vulnerability and steeliness. Her Eilis manages to maintain her dignity [even] when throwing up into a fire bucket during a stormy Atlantic crossing." [The Independent]
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"The government was to blame." | Patrick BurnsPolitical editor, Midlands
It's one simple, chilling sentence in the suicide note left by Stephanie Bottrill from Solihull early on the bank holiday weekend before the 53-year-old was hit by a lorry on the M6 near her home.
Because of the government's changes to housing benefit, she had been told that she would have to find an extra £80 per month in rent.
On the face of it this was a classic example of the under-occupancy on which the government is determined to clamp down.
Her children had moved away from the three-bedroom house. She now lived alone so the taxpayer had, in effect, been subsidising her spare rooms.
But the house had been her home for 18 years. She had become increasingly worn down by illness and money worries and the reduction of her housing benefit appears to have been the last straw.
Her tragedy has inflamed still further the argument raging over the government's welfare changes in general and in particular, over what Labour call "the bedroom tax" and the government call "the spare room subsidy".
The Department for Work and Pensions say they do not comment on individual cases but in broad terms they are trying to introduce fairness into the system.
Their concept of fairness includes discretionary payments to local councils to help them cushion the effects of the changes for those individuals who find themselves at the sharp end of these measures.
In the West Midlands alone these payments total over £11m.
And when ministers use that word "fairness" (increasingly the major F-word in the debate about benefits as we head towards the next general election) what they also mean is fairness to the general taxpayer.
They point out that the cost to the Exchequer of housing benefit has doubled over the past 10 years. It now stands at £23bn, some £10bn less than the entire defence budget.
Recent opinion polls suggest the government's benefit changes are broadly supported by two-thirds of the electorate and the more Labour oppose them the more David Cameron is emboldened to ridicule the Opposition.
"It's supposed to be the Labour Party. But now it's the Welfare Party," he declared in a heated exchange with Ed Miliband during a recent session of Prime Minister's Questions.
But so often the real impact of politics comes not on the floor of the House of Commons but out in what we like to call "the real world".
Tragedies such as the one that befell Stephanie Bottrill have the potential to cut clean to the heart of a debate that has the potential to intensify still further.
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This is a story of money and power. | By Ross HawkinsToday programme
It is a tale of billions of pounds for schools, hospitals and transport projects.
At its heart is a question: if we leave the EU, will the cash dry up?
The answer lies with a little-known bank that commands vast resources.
Stand on the new tram stop in Exchange Square in Manchester and you can watch workers tear up concrete to lay tram lines.
The EIB lent more than £5bn to the UK in 2015
Greater Manchester is set to receive half a billion pounds to help develop its tram system.
Walk away from the EU - say remain campaigners - and wave goodbye to fresh loans for schemes like this.
Not so, say the Leave side; there is nothing the European Investment Bank (EIB) does in its Luxembourg offices that the UK couldn't do for itself at home.
The EIB is handy for governments and councils because it helps pay for major projects, lends at cheap rates and guarantees those rates for years into the future.
It lent more than £5bn in the UK in 2015.
EU bank could fund big NI projects
£230m loan for Welsh Water agreed
The UK's EU vote: All you need to know
No surprise then that it's a hit with some local politicians. Remain supporter and Labour leader of the City Council Sir Richard Leese says leaving the EU could put a stop to similar schemes in the years to come.
"That would mean in the future that if we needed to do something on this scale, and we undoubtedly will need to do more things on this sort of scale in Greater Manchester, it would make it very difficult, if not impossible, to do so in a way that gives good value for Council Tax payers," he says.
But the bank is just that: a bank, not a fairy godmother.
It doesn't magic money from thin air. Instead, it uses capital from EU members including more than £3bn of the UK's cash, alongside guarantees that it could demand much more from them, to borrow on the markets. Then it lends out the money to individual projects.
Mancunian and UKIP MEP for the area Steven Woolfe says there is no reason the UK couldn't create a British bank to do just the same thing if necessary.
Surveying a new tram stop, Woolfe says: "Richard Leese is wrong to suggest that big infrastructure projects, whether it's here or in other places in Europe, wouldn't get funded. It just wouldn't get funded by the EIB."
Where the bank makes loans to private companies, he says, it nationalises the risk of lending but privatises the profit; if a firm defaults EU taxpayers pick up the bill, if it prospers then shareholders benefit.
The bank's vice president Jonathan Taylor is a former British Treasury official. I ask him why the UK couldn't simply establish its own bank, on its own terms, under its own control.
He says: "Board members of institutions like mine, all of whom are nominated by the governments concerned and all of whom are accountable to those governments, will be making those decisions taking full account of what those governments want."
If the UK left the EU, current funding deals would continue but it would, he says, be "vanishingly unlikely" that the EIB would do the same scale of business in the UK as it does now.
Other EIB-funded projects
David Cameron recently highlighted the EIB's work, including trains for the East Coast Main Line, the extension of the M8 motorway and new facilities at Oxford University. Alternative funding if we left, the PM said, would be unlikely.
At this, some Brexit campaigners roll their eyes. They believe the EIB is not merely a financing tool but a way of wielding the EU's power, letting it paint itself as a bountiful provider.
Yet on the new tram station partly funded by the EIB in central Manchester I could find no attempt to advertise its contribution. Unlike other arms of the EU, it doesn't make a habit of plastering its logo on projects.
Sir Richard accepts it's unlikely the passengers in Exchange Square have any idea of the EU bank's role.
With Britain's EU membership in the balance, it is hard to believe the Luxembourg financiers will get much of a PR bang for their not insubstantial buck.
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Elizabeth Truss | As David Cameron reshuffles his cabinet, a guide to female Conservative high-fliers who have been given promotions.
Age: 38
Education: Brought up in Yorkshire, Ms Truss attended Roundhay, a comprehensive school in Leeds, and read philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford.
Career so far: Previously deputy director at the think-tank Reform, Ms Truss also worked for Shell and Cable & Wireless. A qualified management accountant, she became MP for South West Norfolk in 2010 and was appointed education minister in 2012.
What was she tipped for? Seen as a potential future leadership candidate in the longer term - in the shorter term she could possibly take over David Willetts' job as universities minister.
What job has she got? Promoted to the cabinet as secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs.
What do her supporters say? One senior Conservative praised Ms Truss in the Daily Mail for her "poise and control", adding: "She is still young but people make the Thatcher comparison, and not just because she's an education minister. There is a touch of the Thatcher steel."
Personal life: Married with two daughters.
Nicky Morgan
Age: 41
Education: Ms Morgan grew up in Surrey and studied law at Oxford University.
Career so far: She worked as a solicitor specialising in corporate law advising a range of private and public companies from 1994 until her election as MP for Loughborough in 2010. In April this year Ms Morgan became financial secretary to the Treasury and minister for women.
What was she tipped for? A full cabinet post.
What job has she got? A senior cabinet post as secretary of state for education. She will continue in her role as minister for women.
What do her supporters say? Described by the Daily Mail as a protege of Chancellor George Osborne, her confidence at the dispatch box has won her many fans, although some detractors describe her as "headgirlish".
Personal life: Married with a son.
Esther McVey
Age: 46
Education: Liverpool-born, Ms McVey was educated at Belvedere School in the city before studying law at Queen Mary and Westfield University, London, and radio journalism at City University.
Career so far: Employment minister since the 2013 reshuffle, Ms McVey is a former GMTV presenter and a TV and radio personality. She helped her friend Kate McCann set up the Madeleine McCann Fund and started her own business, providing training and office space for start-up firms. She became MP for Wirral West in 2010, and is the only Tory MP in Merseyside.
What was she tipped for? If you believed everything you read, Ms McVey could have found herself in any number of roles - ranging from minister without portfolio to work and pensions secretary or culture secretary.
What job did she get? Despite all the speculation, Ms McVey is remaining in her post as employment minister. However, she will now attend the cabinet in that role.
What do her supporters say? Former Culture Secretary Maria Miller says: "Esther is working the department that I used to work in with Iain Duncan Smith and I think has proven herself to be a formidable advocate for employment and the employment programmes that are going forward. I would imagine she will continue to rise on up with her credentials and her clear talent."
Personal life: Unmarried and without children, Ms McVey shares a London flat with fellow Conservative MP Philip Davies.
Priti Patel
Age: 42
Education: London-born Ms Patel was educated at a Watford comprehensive school before studying economics at Keele University and completing her postgraduate studies at the University of Essex.
Career so far: After assisting her parents in running a number of small businesses around the South East and East of England, she worked in corporate communications for a variety of international companies, including Weber Shandwick. She became MP for Witham in 2010, is an elected member of the Conservative Party board, the 1922 Committee executive and the Public Administration Select Committee. Independently minded and known as a straight-talker, she is also a member of the Downing Street policy board and the prime minister's Indian diaspora champion, with the task of forging closer ties with Indian communities in the UK.
What was she tipped for? A number of papers suggested she could be a surprise inclusion in the reshuffle winners, although there was no specific role suggested.
What job did she get? She has joined George Osborne's ministerial team at the Treasury, as exchequer secretary.
What do her supporters say? Chancellor George Osborne is believed to be a fan, having described Ms Patel - who accompanied him on a recent visit to Mumbai - as a "champion of the British Indian community".
Personal life? Married with a son.
Amber Rudd
Age: 50
Education: She grew up in London and Wiltshire and graduated with a history degree from the University of Edinburgh.
Career so far: She worked in investment banking and venture capital before moving into corporate recruitment and financial journalism. She was elected to Parliament as MP for Hastings and Rye in 2010 as one of the so-called "A list" group of candidates. She became a ministerial aide to Chancellor George Osborne in 2012 and an assistant whip in 2013.
What was she tipped for? A ministerial job in the Treasury or another department
What job did she get? She has become a junior minister in the Department of Energy and Climate Change with responsibility for energy efficiency, fuel poverty and the green industry.
What do her supporters say? Party chairman Grant Shapps has said Ms Rudd is among the "brightest and best" of the party's rising stars.
Personal life? Has two children from her marriage to the journalist AA Gill, from whom she is divorced. Her brother Roland, a public relations executive, is a prominent Labour supporter.
Penny Mordaunt
Age: 41
Education: Born in Torquay, Ms Mordaunt was educated at Oaklands RC Comprehensive School in Waterlooville and studied drama at the Victoryland Theatre School in Portsmouth. She worked as a magician's assistant for Will Ayling, a former Magic Circle president, before studying philosophy at the University of Reading.
Career so far: Ms Mordaunt is a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve, and was director of communications for the National Lottery; head of campaigns for Diabetes UK; head of foreign press for George W. Bush's 2000 and 2004 presidential election campaigns; and chief of staff for fellow Tory David Willetts. She was elected for Portsmouth North in 2010, and has been parliamentary private secretary to Philip Hammond at Defence.
What was she tipped for? There were suggestions that Ms Mordaunt, who recently made the headlines by taking part in ITV's diving contest Splash!, could be in line for a ministerial role at the MoD.
What job has she got? She becomes a junior minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as taking on a new role as minister for coastal communities.
What do her supporters say? Mr Cameron described Ms Mordaunt as a "real parliamentary star" after she became only the second woman in the Queen's reign to propose the loyal address about Portsmouth in the House of Commons.
Personal life? Lives with her partner; no children
Margot James
Age: 56
Education: Ms James was born in Coventry and went to school in Leamington Spa and Somerset before attending the London School of Economics, where she read economics and government.
Career so far: Ms James has had a career in business - starting work at her father's business before setting up her own company, Shire Health, which she sold in 2009. She was elected as MP for Stourbridge in 2010 and is parliamentary private secretary to Trade Minister Lord Green. She works on the Number 10 policy advisory board, focusing on the economy, business and trade.
What was she tipped for? According to the City AM newspaper, Ms James could see her stock rise, especially given her strong background in business.
What job did she get? Ms James has not been given a new role.
What do her supporters say? Maria Miller says Margot James is among a "hugely rich talent pool" from which David Cameron could pick. She also praised Ms James as "a very successful businesswoman".
Personal life? Lives with her partner; no children.
Harriett Baldwin
Age: 56
Education: Born in Watford, Mrs Baldwin was educated at the Friends School, Saffron Walden, in Essex; Marlborough College in Wiltshire; and read modern languages (French and Russian) at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She also has an MBA from McGill University, Montreal.
Career so far? Harriett Baldwin was a pension fund manager with JP Morgan and was elected as MP for Worcestershire West in 2010. She was a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee before serving as parliamentary private secretary to Employment Minister Mark Hoban until February this year, when she joined the government as assistant government whip.
What was she tipped for? There was a suggestion she could take over from deputy chief whip Greg Hands if he was promoted.
What job has she got? She remains a government whip
What do her supporters say? Maria Miller told Sky News's Murnaghan programme: "I think [Mr Cameron] has got a hugely rich talent pool to draw from - people like Harriet Baldwin, who was a leader in her field in the City before she came to Parliament."
Personal life? Married with a son and two stepdaughters
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Is the smartphone app doomed? | By Mark WardTechnology correspondent, BBC News
To look at the stats you wouldn't think so: Apple has two million of them in its App Store and Google Play has a few hundred thousand more than that. Total app downloads have passed the 150 billion mark.
But some are wondering whether apps are about to be replaced by something smaller, smarter and faster.
Bots.
These programs, thanks to AI [artificial intelligence] software in the cloud, can chat to humans via text, extract the meaning and then act on it.
They are little digital helpers.
Any time you see a live chat box open up on a retailer's website, or order a taxi or flowers through chat platforms such as WeChat and Facebook Messenger, you're most likely talking to a bot.
App fatigue?
Despite the vast choice of apps open to us, the average number we use is 27, according to research by Nielsen. This hasn't changed for years.
And the problem with apps - and their seemingly endless updates - is that they eat up our smartphone storage capacity alarmingly quickly.
Developers often get a raw deal as well. One estimate suggests that 94% of the cash generated by apps in Apple's App Store goes to just 1% of publishers, and those firms also get 70% of all downloads.
"One of the worst things about the App Store is the App Store itself, because it's such a walled garden," says Ted Nash of Tapdaq, who was a veteran app developer while still a teenager.
Apple's oversight of all apps slows down development and forces programmers to include specific chunks of code that look after adverts, usage statistics and other metrics, he says.
Add to this the trouble of making apps work across lots of different devices and keeping up with changes to Apple software, and it's no wonder some people are disillusioned, he says.
So is app fatigue setting in?
The joy of text
"Apps used to be the big thing," says Kriti Sharma, head of mobile development at accounting software firm Sage. "But many more people are messaging than are posting on social media these days."
This is why she thinks bots are the natural successors to apps - the interface is instantly familiar to customers.
Ms Sharma started her coding career at Barclays, where she co-created its Pingit banking app and oversaw its mobile portfolio.
For companies or brands that want meaningful interaction with customers, a conversation mediated by a bot could work well, she believes.
Sage is developing a bot called Pegg that acts as a smart business assistant. It will help small business owners keep track of outgoings and expenses, making tracking cashflow easier.
"Bots don't have to be super-complicated," says Ms Sharma. "But over time they must add a lot more value for a customer."
Bots are more credible because good progress has been made in writing artificially intelligent software, she says. And also because many companies now have huge amounts of data they can use to fine-tune bot responses.
Another advantage bots have over apps is the speed with which they can be developed, deployed and updated, she argues.
'Bots are the new black'
This growing interest is being inflated by work at Facebook, Microsoft and Google, as well as by newer firms such as Slack and HipChat. And start-ups such as Begin, Growbot, Butter, Wisdom and Operator are also helping to take bots mainstream.
One catalyst for the interest was Facebook's announcement earlier this year of a bot framework that streamlines the bot-creation process.
One report suggests that this massive amount of interest has unleashed a $4bn (£3bn) flood of venture capital funding into big and small bot developers.
"Bots are the new black," says Jon Moore, chief product officer at rail ticket booking service, The Trainline.
Although most people now use The Trainline via a smartphone and many regular users have installed its app, the company is keen to investigate what bots can do, Mr Moore says.
For booking train tickets, a website or an app is profoundly better than using a bot, he maintains, but there are times when an app falls short and a conversation handled by a bot may be better.
"We're just at the point of saying it's another interesting piece of technology," he tells the BBC. "We expect that they are going to be useful to us, though it won't work for every context and circumstance."
'Immensely complicated'
Tapdaq's Ted Nash warns that though bots might look straightforward, they're not necessarily an easier option.
"A bot is a much more simple technology from a customer perspective, but the AI that powers it is immensely complicated to do," he says.
That difficulty often means that bots are pretty crude.
"A lot of them now have pre-defined inputs and responses," says Mr Nash. "The only way they are going to become truly ubiquitous is when they can respond as a human would."
But even before they do that, says Nick Lane, chief analyst at consultancy MobileSquared, bots are likely to be useful for smoothing out the interactions between customers and companies.
"We'll see bots helping out with customer engagement, queries and product enquiries," he says.
But there is danger in relying too much on a technology still in the early stages of development, he warns.
"Some companies are wondering if they can put their business and reputation in the hands of a computer program."
There is another reason why technology firms are keen to use text-based chatbots, says Mr Lane.
"It could be that they see this interaction as another form of data mining," he says. "People should ask how that information and conversation is going to be used.
"One way or another there is a model evolving around that communication that will see it being monetised."
Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter
Click here for more Technology of Business features
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A chronology of key events:
| 1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visits Tanzanian coast.
1506 - Portuguese succeed in controlling most of the East African coast.
1699 - Portuguese ousted from Zanzibar by Omani Arabs.
1884 - German Colonisation Society begins to acquire territory on the mainland.
1886 - Britain and Germany sign an agreement allowing Germany to set up a sphere of influence over mainland Tanzania, except for a narrow piece of territory along the coast which stays under the authority of the sultan of Zanzibar, while Britain enjoys a protectorate over Zanzibar.
1905-06 - Indigenous Maji Maji revolt suppressed by German troops.
British rule
1916 - British, Belgian and South African troops occupy most of German East Africa.
1919 - League of Nations gives Britain a mandate over Tanganyika - today's mainland Tanzania.
1929 - Tanganyika African Association founded.
1946 - United Nations converts British mandate over Tanganyika into a trusteeship.
1954 - Julius Nyerere and Oscar Kambona transform the Tanganyika African Association into the Tanganyika African National Union.
Independence
1961 - Tanganyika becomes independent with Julius Nyerere as prime minister.
1962 - Tanganyika becomes a republic with Mr Nyerere as president.
1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent.
1964 - Sultanate of Zanzibar overthrown by Afro-Shirazi Party in a violent, left-wing revolution; Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to become Tanzania with Mr Nyerere as president and Afro-Shirazi leader Abeid Amani Karume as vice-president.
Socialism
1967 - Mr Nyerere issues the Arusha Declaration, which launches drive for socialist economic self-reliance.
1977 - The Tanganyika African National Union and Zanzibar's Afro-Shirazi Party merge to become the Party of the Revolution, which is proclaimed to be the only legal party.
1978 - Ugandans temporarily occupy a piece of Tanzanian territory.
1979 - Tanzanian forces invade Uganda, occupying the capital, Kampala, and help to oust President Idi Amin.
Multi-party politics
1985 - Mr Nyerere retires and is replaced by the president of Zanzibar, Ali Mwinyi.
1992 - Constitution amended to allow multi-party politics.
1995 - Benjamin Mkapa chosen as president in Tanzania's first multi-party election.
1998 August - Al-Qaeda Islamist terror group bombs US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.
2000 - Mr Mkapa elected for a second term, winning 72% of the vote.
Zanzibar violence
2001 January - At least 31 people are killed and another 100 arrested in Zanzibar in protests against the government's banning of opposition rallies calling for fresh elections; government sends in troops.
2001 March - Governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi and main Zanzibari opposition Civic United Front agree to form joint committee to restore calm and to encourage return of refugees from Kenya.
2001 April - Tens of thousands of opposition supporters march through the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, in the first major joint demonstration by opposition parties in decades.
2001 July - Huge new gold mine, Bulyanhulu, opens near northern town of Mwanza, making Tanzania Africa's third largest producer of gold.
2001 November - Presidents of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya launch regional parliament and court of justice in Arusha to legislate on matters of common interest such as trade and immigration.
2001 December - Britain approves controversial deal to sell military air traffic control system to Tanzania. Critics say it is a waste of money.
2005 March-April - Political violence in semi-autonomous Zanzibar ahead of voter registration for October poll.
2005 October - Governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi wins Zanzibar elections. Opposition Civic United Front claims vote-rigging and announces an indefinite boycott of Zanzibar's parliament.
Kikwete elected
2005 December - Jakaya Kikwete, foreign minister and ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi candidate, wins presidential elections.
2006 August - The African Development Bank announces the cancellation of more than $640m of debt owed by Tanzania, saying it was impressed with Tanzania's economic record and the level of accountability of public finance.
2008 January - Central Bank Governor Daudi Ballali is sacked after an international audit finds the bank made improper payments of more than $120m (£60m) to local companies.
2008 February - President Kikwete dissolves cabinet following corruption scandal which forced the prime minister and two ministers to resign.
2009 November - Main opposition party in Zanzibar, Civic United Forum, ends five-year boycott of the island's parliament ahead of upcoming elections.
East African Common Market
2010 July - Tanzania joins its neighbours in forming a new East African Common Market, intended to integrate the region's economy.
2010 September - President Kikwete says construction of highway through Serengeti game reserve will go ahead, despite criticism from environmental experts.
2011 January - Two killed as police try disperse demonstrators demanding release of Chadema opposition party leader Freeman Mbowe, detained ahead of a rally against government corruption.
2011 July - British arms and aircraft firm BAE Systems admits setting up sham compensation arrangements worth £8m for the sale of an overly-complex air-traffic control system, and agrees to pay Tanzania £30m in compensation.
Gas find
2012 March - The Statoil and Exxon Mobil oil exploration companies make major discovery of gas reserves off the coast of Tanzania.
2012 May - President Jakaya Kikwete sacks six ministers after the inspector of public finances notes the "rampant misuse of funds" in at least seven ministries. The ministers of finance, energy, tourism, trade, transport and health lose their jobs.
2012 August - Tanzania confirms 36 Iranian oil tankers have been using Tanzanian flags to evade US and EU economic sanctions on Iran's crude oil exports. The US warns Tanzania that it could face sanctions unless the flag operation stops.
2013 December - Four cabinet ministers are sacked over allegations of human rights abuses during a campaign against ivory poaching.
2015 April - Referendum on a new constitution is postponed after delays in registering voters.
2015 November - Works Minister John Magufuli of the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi wins presidential election by large margin over former prime minister Edward Lomassa.
2016 April - Tanzania and Uganda agree to build East Africa's first major oil pipeline.
Anti-gay campaign
2017 February - Government bans several private health centres from providing HIV and AIDS-related services, accusing them of promoting homosexuality.
The Mwanahalisi newspaper becomes the second paper to be banned in recent months. Rights groups says press freedom is under increasing threat.
2017 October - Police detain a group of foreign lawyers discussing whether to challenge a government decision to limit the provision of health services which allegedly promote homosexuality.
2018 November - Authorities deploy army to buy cashew nuts from farmers to solve a row over prices.Major donor Denmark suspends aid over anti-gay campaign.
2020 October - President Magufuli wins re-election by a large margin, amid opposition allegations of fraud.
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BBC Radio 1 has a problem. | By Steven McIntoshEntertainment reporter
But it's not the playlist, its listening figures or social media following that controller Ben Cooper is concerned about - it's where the next generation of presenters is coming from.
"It's everyone's favourite game at Radio 1 to try and second guess me and come up with their fantasy schedule," he laughs as he speaks to the BBC on Wednesday morning.
Cooper is chatting to journalists as he unveils Radio 1 Vintage - a pop-up station which will broadcast old shows from across the decades as part of the station's 50th birthday celebrations in September.
He describes the new venture as a great way of celebrating Radio 1's history - but what about its future?
"I'm not planning any schedule changes at the moment," he says, "but I'm always looking for fresh new talent, for the next set of presenters, but I think it's really weird how it's getting harder.
"It's getting harder because you don't have the likes of MTV presenters like Cat Deeley, Edith Bowman, Trevor Nelson or Zane Lowe.
"You don't have T4 with Vernon Kay and Dermot O'Leary. You don't have CD:UK or Top of the Pops. So it's really hard to find that next group of presenters that are coming up."
With fewer platforms and avenues for presenters to make a name for themselves, where could the next generation of radio presenters come from?
TV stars
In recent years, Radio 1's line-up has sometimes resembled a Sunday morning TV schedule.
Fearne Cotton, Nick Grimshaw, Jameela Jamil and many more were hired to present on the station after first cutting their teeth on TV.
But Cooper says the issue now with hiring from TV is the fundamental change in the type of personalities which fill our screens.
"With modern youth culture on television, you can't pick someone famous off the TV, because what you've got now is a lot of reality television, and people who are famous for a short burst of time," he explains.
"So it's really hard to find those next stars in the radio industry."
Saying that, Radio 1 has flirted with reality TV stars in the past - like when Kelly Osbourne was hired to present The Surgery.
But she lasted less than 18 months and the station has rarely done it since (although early breakfast host Adele Roberts was once a Big Brother contestant).
YouTubers
When Dan & Phil joined the station in 2012, listeners' reactions ranged from massive excitement to "Sorry, who?"
While Radio 1's older listeners might not have heard of vlogging, hiring YouTubers who have built up their own following online seemed like a logical next step for a station which is constantly chasing a young audience.
The show was popular, but the pair - otherwise known as Dan Howell and Phil Lester - left after four years.
Cooper says: "We've looked at YouTubers, people like Dan & Phil, but they get tempted by huge amounts of money and go off on world tours around America and Australia."
We may well see more vloggers hired to present on the station in the future, but it's likely the publicly-funded Radio 1 will struggle to compete with the money that YouTubers can make from lucrative merchandising and endorsement deals.
Commercial radio
Twenty years ago, commercial radio was the natural place for BBC bosses to look for new talent, and vice versa.
Scott Mills, Chris Moyles and Tim Westwood were all poached from commercial stations in the 1990s, and similarly, many BBC figures have jumped ship into the world of commercial.
But in recent years, movement has slowed.
Radio 1 has been looking elsewhere for on-air talent, but simulcasting (where the same show is broadcast on multiple regional stations) has meant there are fewer presenting jobs in commercial radio.
However many presenters still swap sides - one of Radio 1's brightest new talents, Clara Amfo, previously presented on Kiss.
Student and community radio
So with more and more avenues into radio closing, where exactly is the next generation of radio presenters coming from?
Cooper says the answer lies in student and community radio stations.
"We got Greg James from student radio - he's the sort of poster boy for it. He gets mobbed every time he goes to a conference," Cooper says.
"Student radio and community radio is the one place where you still see people passionate about getting into a room with a microphone and broadcasting to listeners. That's where I look for the next talent."
It's not just the BBC who has been looking at student stations for the next generation of big names.
To take just one commercial example, Radio X's presenters include Jack Saunders, Issy Panayis, Ross Buchanan and Michael Lavin - all of whom started on student stations.
For those considering a career in radio - signing up to your college or university station now may be the best way to go about it.
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 chronology of key events:
| 1400s - Bakongo, Bateke and Sanga ethnic groups arrive in what is now the Republic of Congo.
1482 - Portuguese navigator Diogo Cao explores the coastal areas.
French rule
1880 - French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza negotiates an agreement with the Bateke to establish a French protectorate over the north bank of the Congo river.
1907 - France restricts the role of concessionaires following widespread outrage at revelations of the brutalities of forced labour.
1910 - Middle Congo, as it was known then, becomes a colony of French Equatorial Africa.
1928 - African revolt over renewed forced labour and other abuses carried out in the course of building the Congo-Ocean railway, which resulted in the death of more than 17,000 Africans.
1946 - Congo given a territorial assembly and representation in the French parliament.
1958 - Congolese vote for autonomy within the French Community.
Independence
1960 - Congo becomes independent with Fulbert Youlou as president.
1963 - President Fulbert Youlou forced to resign following workers' unrest; Alphonse Massamba-Debat becomes president and Pascal Lissouba prime minister.
1964 - President Massamba-Debat sets up the National Revolutionary Movement as the sole party and proclaims a non-capitalist path of economic development.
1968 - Massamba-Debat ousted in a coup led by Marien Ngouabi, who continues his predecessor's commitment to socialism but sets up his own party, the Congolese Workers Party (PCT).
1970 - President Ngouabi proclaims Congo a Marxist People's Republic with the PCT as the sole legitimate party.
1977 - Ngouabi is assassinated. Massamba-Debat and the Archbishop of Brazzaville, Emile Cardinal Biayenda, are killed shortly afterwards.
Joachim Yhombi-Opango becomes president.
1979 - Joachim Yhombi-Opango hands over the presidency to the PCT, which chooses Denis Sassou-Nguesso as his successor.
1981 - Congo signs treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union.
1990 - The PCT abandons Marxism.
1992 - Voters approve a constitution which establishes a multi-party system.
Pascal Lissouba becomes president in Congo's first democratic election.
Civil strife
1993 - Bloody fighting between government and opposition forces over disputed parliamentary elections.
1994-95 - Ceasefire between government and opposition established; opposition given government posts.
1997 - Full-scale civil war breaks out; pro-Sassou Nguesso forces, aided by Angolan troops, capture Brazzaville, forcing Lissouba to flee.
1999 - Government and rebels sign a peace deal in Zambia providing for a national dialogue, demilitarisation of political parties and the re-admission of rebel units into the security forces.
2001 April - Peace conference ends by adopting a new constitution, paving the way for presidential and parliamentary elections.
2001 September - Transitional parliament adopts a draft constitution. Some 15,000 militia disarm in a cash-for-weapons scheme. IMF starts clearing Congo's $4bn debt.
2001 December - Former president, Pascal Lissouba, convicted in absentia on treason and corruption charges, and sentenced to 30 years' hard labour by the high court in Brazzaville.
2002 January - About 80% of voters in constitutional referendum approve amendments aimed at consolidating presidential powers.
2002 March - Denis Sassou Nguesso wins presidential elections unopposed after his main rivals are barred from the contest.
Clashes with rebels
2002 March - Intense fighting between government and "Ninja" rebels drives many thousands of civilians from their homes in Pool region. The rebels, loyal to former PM Bernard Kolelas and led by renegade priest Pastor Ntumi, name themselves after the famous Japanese warriors.
2002 June - Government troops battle Ninja rebels in Brazzaville. About 100 people are killed.
2003 March - Government signs deals with Ninja rebels aimed at ending fighting in Pool region. Ninja leader Pastor Ntumi agrees to end hostilities and allow the return of the rule of law.
2004 June - World diamond trade watchdog removes Congo from list of countries recognised as dealing legitimately in diamonds.
2005 April - Government says a group of army officers, arrested in January over an arms theft, had been planning a coup.
2005 October - Former PM Bernard Kolelas is allowed home to bury his wife after eight years in exile, during which he was sentenced to death on war crimes charges. He is given an amnesty in November.
2006 January - Congo is chosen to lead the African Union in 2006 after disagreements within the body about Sudan's leadership bid.
President Sassou Nguesso accuses France of interfering in his country's affairs, following a decision by a French appeal court to reopen an investigation into the disappearance of more than 350 refugees in 1999.
2007 June - Former "Ninja" rebels led by renegade Pastor Frederic Ntumi ceremoniously burn their weapons to demonstrate their commitment to peace.
2007 June-August - Parliamentary elections, boycotted by some 40 parties. Ruling party wins 90% of seats.
Debt cancelled
2007 November - London Club of private sector creditors cancels 80% of Congo's debt.
2009 May - French magistrate opens probe into alleged embezzlement by President Sassou Nguesso and two other African leaders following lawsuit by an anti-corruption group.
2009 July - President Denis Sassou Nguesso gains another seven years in power following elections boycotted by the opposition.
2010 March - Paris Club of creditor countries and Brazil agree to cancel all the debt owed to them by Congo - about $2.4 billion.
2010 November - French appeal court gives go-ahead for probe into corruption charges against three African leaders, including President Denis Sassou Nguesso.
2012 March - An ammunition dump in Brazzaville explodes, killing 282 people and injuring more than 2,300.
2013 February - Congo declared to be compliant with standards set by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative for the disclosure of revenues from oil.
2013 May - Brazil says it will cancel or restructure $900m of debt with Africa, including Congo, which has the highest debt with Brazil.
2014 May - UN says the repatriation of 130,000 DR Congo nationals from Republic of Congo over past month has caused a humanitarian crisis.
Constitution referendum
2015 October - Voters in referendum approve constitutional changes allowing the president to run for a third term. The opposition boycotts the vote and says the result is fraudulent.
2016 March - President Denis Sassou Nguesso gains another term following an election described as fraudulent by the opposition.
2016 April - Government buildings in Brazzaville are attacked in post-election unrest.
2017 June - The UN says the Congo Republic will withdraw its troops from a UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic after a review sparked by sexual abuse accusations found "systemic problems in command and control."
2017 December - The government and the rebel group known as Ninjas sign a ceasefire deal.
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John Gardner, Tranent, Scotland | By Richard Irvine-BrownBBC News
According to consumer group Which?, nearly 12,000 fires in the past three years in Britain have been the fault of defective white goods and kitchen equipment.
BBC News website users have shared their experiences of electrical home goods gone wrong, sometimes causing life-changing damage to their home.
We had a house fire in August 2013 caused by a faulty Bosch dishwasher.
We had a notice of a potential fault with the front panel. A third-party engineer arranged by Bosch came to the house to check it and change the board on the machine.
We could not get the machine out, it was pushed into a gap a little too small for it. It had become stuck in between the kitchen units. The engineer refused to work on it as he could not get the plug out of the wall, which was located behind the machine, to ensure it was not live. We even suggested turning off the power to the whole house at the main in box. No! The plug had to come out.
Instead, he said if it's never got warm on the front panel then it will be ok. The rest is history.
Our insurance company are still pursing them and Bosch accepted 50% liability. We were out of our house for six months and lost nearly everything. The effect on us and the children is still there today.
It doesn't matter how much warranty you have, things go wrong. I put the machine on, went to work and an hour later the house was on fire.
The firemen told us they were seeing more fires caused by washing machines left on by people while they are out.
Tim Kent, Tower Bridge, London
In February 2015 my three-year-old Indesit washer-drier malfunctioned sending out lots of smoke and a horrible smell of burning. Luckily, I was at home at the time as I live on a houseboat.
Everything surrounding the machine is made of wood. In fact, the entire inside of the boat is wood, all very flammable.
It happened without any warning. There was a smell of smoke and smoke pouring out from behind the machine. It was a surprise to me. I presumed EU health and safety standards meant these things would be safe.
I never registered the product as I did not want to be constantly pestered by call centres. I have now learned I might also have been able to get it repaired had I registered it, or if I still had the receipt.
I went on eBay for the parts to repair it myself and found if I'd registered it, it would be fixed for free.
I shall register the next one, but always make sure I am in when these things are on. Statistically, are these machines becoming more dangerous I wonder? Mine went wrong because of a printed circuit board, presumably a cheap component.
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Move over Adam Levine. | By Tom GerkenBBC UGC & Social News
While the Maroon 5 singer was courting controversy for his Super Bowl half-time show on Sunday, video game fans were revelling in the afterglow of a different live performance.
"Millions attended" a concert on Saturday starring masked DJ Marshmello, who played a set including 2018 hits Everyday and Happier.
The twist? The concert was entirely virtual, briefly turning Fortnite from third-person shooter into music venue.
When players logged in to Fortnite - which has over 125 million players, according to developers Epic - players were met with only one competitive game mode available to them.
By joining the Showtime mode at 19:00 GMT, players would see a large concert stage featuring a Marshmello avatar and trademark turntables.
As the music played, Marshmello himself was being broadcast to players, urging them to make their avatars dance along to the music.
The show itself was around 10 minutes in duration and filled with interactive moments, with players being launched into the air during Fly and bouncing beach balls during Happier.
The set, which has been viewed over 11 million times, can be seen on Marshmello's YouTube channel.
'First-ever live performance'
Plenty applauded what they called the "first-ever live performance in a video game", but this claim has since been disproved on social media.
Minecraft hosted Coalchella festival in 2018 - a pun on real-life festival Coachella - though this came five years after EDM label Monstercat hosted a live charity festival in the block-building game.
Meanwhile, virtual gigs became almost synonymous with simulation game Second Life in the 00s.
U2 gave a live performance in 2008, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was broadcast live in 2007, and BBC Radio 1 simulcast its One Big Weekend event on a virtual stage in 2006.
And that's not even mentioning the mash-up with Duran Duran, which saw the new wave act perform live gigs in the in-game Duran Duran Universe.
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Gaming musicians
There has always been a type of symbiotic relationship between music artists and video games.
A whole genre of games starred virtual avatars of bands like Green Day and The Beatles, and a pre-recorded virtual concert could be found in 2003's Tony Hawk's Underground.
The history of gaming is littered with examples of musicians showing up in games, with David Bowie appearing in 1999's The Nomad Soul, and Michael Jackson starring in his own game in 1993's eponymous Moonwalker.
Whether Marshmello's appearance in Fortnite will kick off a new craze of live concerts in video games is yet to be seen.
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The UK can and will "build back better". | By Gavin StampPolitical reporter, BBC News
The Conservatives' theme at their virtual party conference this week is a message that Boris Johnson has sought to impart continuously since the country emerged from lockdown in early July.
But as the prime minister prepares to deliver his leader's speech on Tuesday, his party is facing up to the impact that the worst public health crisis for a century is likely to have on its ability to deliver on its promises to voters.
The PM has insisted his mission of national renewal, the "levelling-up" agenda which was a key backdrop to the Tories' thumping victory in December's election, has not been put to one side in the national struggle against Covid.
He says the programme, which the party describes on its conference website as "driving lasting change in parts of the country forgotten by successive governments", is being accelerated, rather than slowed, by the pandemic.
'Blue wall'
And the rush of announcements made during the four-day event and beforehand suggest the government knows it cannot afford to lose sight of its over-riding objective, that is to give those living outside London and the south of England a better chance in life and bigger slice of the economic cake.
In his own speech, the PM will earmark £160m to upgrade ports and infrastructure in Teesside, the Humber and other areas as part of a drive to make the UK a world-leader in low-cost green energy.
Elsewhere, the lion's share of a £80m fund for local regeneration projects is going to towns in the North East, North West and Yorkshire, a review of transport links will look at upgrading the A1 in Northumberland, while a shake-up of vocational education will pay for all 18-year-olds without an A-level to take a college course.
These are all consistent with the Tories' promises in their election manifesto to share prosperity and opportunities more equally across the UK and to boost economic performance beyond the capital.
The party is also seeking to leave a more permanent imprint of its own by opening a second HQ in Leeds while creating a fighting fund to help its MPs defend the dozens of "Red Wall" seats snatched from Labour in December, some of which turned blue for the first time in electoral history.
But as Conservative activists grapple with the role that transport, green and digital technologies will play in the UK's post-Covid recovery, the legacy of what is the UK's deepest post-war recession cannot be ignored.
'Daunting task'
The Institute for Fiscal Studies says the government faces a "daunting task" if it is to reverse deep-seated regional inequalities, among the most pronounced in Europe, in the current climate.
In a recent analysis, the respected think tank warned that inequalities within regions are often more acute, with towns in post-industrial regions, coastal resorts and isolated rural areas among those which have fallen furthest behind, a situation which could be exacerbated by Covid and any disruption to post-Brexit trade with Europe.
Even "well-designed policies could take years or even decades to have a meaningful effect", it says.
While the government is right to focus on addressing decades of under-investment in transport and R&D outside London and the South East, it says the cost of closing the gap cannot be underestimated, with £22bn alone being needed to bring per person spending on transport across England in line with that in the capital.
The government, it adds, "cannot be all things to all places".
Whatever improvements can be made in infrastructure, housing and skills, the IFS says the success of the levelling-up agenda will inevitably be judged on how far employment and pay disparities can be closed.
'By a thread'
Middlesbrough, identified by the think tank as one of the five most "left-behind" towns in terms of working-age employment rates, has had some recent success stories to celebrate.
Start-up bank GBB announced recently it would set up its headquarters in the town, creating more than 120 jobs, while the National Hydrogen Transport Centre is also basing itself there - consolidating the Teesside's market-leading position in the emerging clean technology.
But, at the same time, Covid is casting a long shadow over the North East, with the Mayor of Middlesbrough warning that thousands of jobs in hospitality and retail are "hanging by a thread" due to local restrictions.
Speaking to the BBC's Newscast podcast last week, Andy Preston - who despite being an independent is admired by local Tories - said the implications of the virtual lockdown for the local economy were "monstrous".
He said he had been left "fuming" at what he said was the lack of consultation and dialogue with ministers over restrictions, which have prompted claims of a growing North-South divide in the second wave of the disease.
Local relations
The fraying in relations between local leaders and ministers does not augur well at a time when the government's blueprint for further devolution in England has reportedly been shelved until next year.
Far-reaching plans to create more combined authorities and directly elected mayors, while at the same time abolishing a raft of district councils, have caused unease in some Tory heartlands.
Former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine, who championed English devolution while advising David Cameron, has urged the government to get on with it, saying a lack of local delivery mechanisms is hampering progress.
"There should be no presumption that civil servants in London devising schemes which seem sensible to ministers should be imposed on local economies," he told a recent meeting of the Lords Economic Affairs Committee.
But the former Tory, who lost the party whip after rebelling against the government over Brexit, has urged ministers to get the capital on board and not give the impression that London is being penalised for its success.
"It is very difficult to see how you level up without levelling down somebody," he said. "You are never going to make a success of an economy by holding back the most successful core part."
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A chronology of key events:
| 1945 - After World War II, Japanese occupation ends with Soviet troops occupying area north of the 38th parallel, and US troops in the south.
1948 - Republic of Korea proclaimed.
1950 - South declares independence, sparking North Korean invasion.
1953 - Armistice ends Korean War, which has cost two million lives.
1950s - South sustained by crucial US military, economic and political support.
1960 - President Syngman Ree steps down after student protests against electoral fraud. New constitution forms Second Republic, but political freedom remains limited.
Coup
1961 - Military coup puts General Park Chung-hee in power.
1963 - General Park restores some political freedom and proclaims Third Republic. Major programme of industrial development begins.
1972 - Martial law. Park increases his powers with constitutional changes.
After secret North-South talks, both sides seek to develop dialogue aimed at unification.
1979 - Park assassinated. General Chun Doo-hwan seizes power the following year.
1980 - Martial law declared after student demonstrations. In the city of Gwangju army kills at least 200 people. Fifth republic and new constitution.
1981 - Chun indirectly elected to a seven year term. Martial law ends, but government continues to have strong powers to prevent dissent.
1986 - Constitution is changed to allow direct election of the president.
Return to democracy
1980s - Increasing shift towards high-tech and computer industry.
1987 - President Chun pushed out of office by student unrest and international pressure in the build-up to the Sixth Constitution. General Roh Tae-woo succeeds President Chun, grants greater degree of political liberalisation and launches anti-corruption drive.
1988 - Olympic games in Seoul. First free parliamentary elections.
1991 - North and South Korea join United Nations.
1993 - President Roh succeeded by Kim Young Sam, a former opponent of the regime and the first freely-elected civilian president.
1996 - South Korea admitted to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Sunshine policy
1998 - Kim Dae-jung sworn in as president and pursues "sunshine policy" of offering unconditional economic and humanitarian aid to North Korea.
2000 June - Summit in Pyongyang between Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. North stops propaganda broadcasts against South.
2000 August - Border liaison offices re-open at truce village of Panmunjom. South Korea gives amnesty to more than 3,500 prisoners. One hundred North Koreans meet their relatives in the South in a highly-charged, emotional reunion. Kim Dae-jung awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
2001 - Opening of Incheon International Airport, built on tidal land off port of Incheon.
2002 March - Group of 25 North Koreans defect to South Korea through Spanish embassy in Beijing, highlighting plight of tens of thousands hiding in China after fleeing famine, repression in North.
Naval battle
2002 June - Battle between South Korean and North Korean naval vessels along their disputed sea border leaves four South Koreans dead and 19 wounded. Thirty North Koreans are thought to have been killed.
2002 December - Roh Moo-hyun, from governing Millennium Democratic Party, wins closely-fought presidential elections.
2003 October - Biggest mass crossing of demilitarised zone since Korean War: Hundreds of South Koreans travel to Pyongyang for opening of gymnasium funded by South's Hyundai conglomerate.
2004 February - Parliament approves controversial dispatch of 3,000 troops to Iraq.
2004 June - US proposes to cut its troop presence by a third. Opposition raises security fears over the plan.
2005 June - Kim Woo-choong, the fugitive former head of Daewoo, returns and is arrested for his role in the industrial giant's $70bn-plus collapse. In May 2006 he is sentenced to 10 years in jail.
2005 December - South Koreans are shocked by revelations that cloning scientist and national hero Dr Hwang Woo-suk faked landmark research on stem cell research. 2006 October - Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon is appointed as the UN's new secretary-general. He takes office in January 2007.
2007 February - South and North Korea agree to restart high-level talks suspended since July 2006 in wake of North's nuclear test.
Head of the largest South Korean car maker, Hyundai, is jailed for three years for embezzlement.
2007 April - South Korea and the US agree on a free-trade deal after 10 months of talks, although US Congress only ratifies it in 2011.
2007 May - Passenger trains cross the North-South border for the first time in 56 years.
2007 December - Conservative Lee Myung-bak wins landslide victory in presidential election.
2008 February - The country's greatest cultural treasure, the Namdaemun Gate, is destroyed by fire.
Financial crisis
2008 October - Government announces $130bn financial rescue package to shore up banking system and stabilise markets amis global financial crisis.
2009 January - North Korea says it is scrapping all military and political deals with the South.
2009 August - Former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung dies; North Korea sends a senior delegation to Seoul to pay its respects.
2009 October - North Korea expresses "regret" for unleashing dam water that drowned six campers downstream in South Korea in September. The two sides hold talks aimed at preventing flooding on the Imjin River which spans their militarised border.
2009 November - South and North Korean warships exchange fire across a disputed sea border, and again in January.
2010 January - North accepts an offer of food aid from South, the first such aid in two years.
Sinking of warship
2010 May - South Korea breaks off all trade with the North after naval ship Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo in March. Pyongyang describes the findings as a "fabrication" and cuts all diplomatic ties with Seoul.
2010 November - Cross-border clash near disputed maritime border results in death of two South Korean marines. South Korea places its military on highest non-wartime alert after shells land on Yeonpyeong island. Further exchange of fire in August.
2012 July - South Korea begins move of most ministries to "mini capital" at Sejong City, 120km south of Seoul. Key ministries will remain in Seoul.
2012 August - Lee Myung-bak becomes first president to visit the Liancourt Rocks, which Japan also claims. Tokyo recalls its ambassador in protest.
2012 October - South Korea strikes deal with the US to almost triple the range of its ballistic missile system to 800km as a response to North Korea's test of a long-range rocket in April.
2012 December - South Korea elects its first female president, Park Geun-hye, of the conservative Saenuri party. She takes office in February.
New spike in tensions
2013 January - South Korea launches a satellite into orbit for the first time using a rocket launched from its own soil. Comes weeks after a North Korean rocket placed a satellite in orbit.
2013 March - South Korea accuses North of a cyber-attack that temporarily shuts down the computer systems at banks and broadcasters.
2013 September - North and South Korea reopen Kaesong joint industrial complex and hotline.
2013 December - South Korea announces expansion of air defence zone, two weeks after China unilaterally announced its own extended air defence zone in East China Sea to include disputed Socotra Rock.
2014 March - North and South Korea exchange fire into sea across the disputed western maritime border during largest South-US military training exercise in region for 20 years.
Ferry disaster
2014 April - Sewol ferry sinks off west coast, killing at least 281 people, mainly high-school students.
2014 October - North and South Korea engage in rare exchange fire across their land border as South Korean activists launch balloons containing leaflets condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Gun fire also exchanged when Northern patrol ship crossed disputed western maritime border.
US and South Korea again postpone transfer of control over troops in South in event of war with North, citing "intensifying threat" from Pyongyang. Transfer due in 2012, and delayed until 2015. No new date set.
2014 December - Constitutional Court bans left-wing Unified Progressive Party, accused of being pro-North Korean.
President Park calls for cyber security at key facilities to be strengthened after data on its nuclear reactors is leaked.
2015 March - North Korea fires short-range surface-to-air missiles into the sea in an apparent show of force against annual military drills between South Korea and the United States.
2015 November-December - Mass protests in Seoul against government's economic policy and insistence on schools' using state-approved history books.
President impeached
2016 October - President Park Geun-Hye is embroiled in a political crisis over revelations that she allowed a personal friend, with no government position, to meddle in affairs of state. She is later impeached.
2016 December - South Korea's military says its cyber command came under attack by North Korean hackers.
2017 May - The centre-left candidate Moon Jae-in is elected president in a landslide, and pledges to solve the North Korean crisis by diplomatic means.
2018 January - North and South Korea agree to march under the same flag at next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea in a thaw in relations.
2018 April - Kim Jong-un becomes first North Korean leader to enter the South when he meets President Moon Jae-in for talks at the Panmunjom border crossing. They agree to end hostile actions and work towards reducing nuclear arms on the peninsula.
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A chronology of key events:
| 1946 - Dahomey becomes an overseas territory of France.
1958 - Dahomey becomes self-governing, within the French Community.
Independence
1960 - Dahomey gains independence and is admitted to the UN.
1960 - Elections won by the Parti Dahomeen de L'Unite. Party leader Hubert Maga becomes country's first president.
1963 - President Maga is deposed in a coup led by the army's Chief of Staff, Colonel Christophe Soglo.
1964 - Sourou-Migan Apithy is elected president.
1965 - General Soglo forces the president to step down and a provisional government is formed. In December he assumes power.
1967 - Major Maurice Kouandete leads a coup. Lt Col Alphonse Alley replaces Gen Soglo as head of state.
1968 - The military regime nominates Dr Emile-Derlin Zinsou as president.
1969 - Lt Col Kouandete deposes President Zinsou.
1970 - Presidential elections are held but abandoned. Power is ceded to a presidential council consisting of Ahomadegbe, Apithy and Maga, who received almost equal support in the abandoned poll. Maga is the first of the three to serve as president with a two-year term.
1972 - Ahomadegbe assumes the presidency from Maga for the next two-year term.
1972 - Socialist Major Mathieu Kerekou seizes power; the presidential council members are detained.
Dahomey becomes Benin
1975 - November - Dahomey is renamed the People's Republic of Benin.
1975 - The Marxist People's Revolutionary Party is made the country's sole political party.
1980 - Parliament unanimously elects sole contender Mr Kerekou as president.
1981 - Members of the former presidential council are released from house arrest.
1984 - Parliament increases the terms of the president and MPs ("people's commissioners") from three to five years. The number of commissioners is reduced from 336 to 196.
1988 - Two unsuccessful coup attempts.
1989 - Benin agrees to IMF and World Bank economic adjustment measures.
1989 - President Kerekou re-elected for a third term, drops Marxism as Benin's official ideology. Anti-government strikes and demonstrations take place.
Constitutional changes
1990 - Unrest continues. President Kerekou meets dissident leaders. Agreement on constitutional reform and multi-candidate presidential elections is reached.
1991 February - Legislative elections: No party secures an overall majority. The largest grouping is an alliance of pro-Soglo parties.
1991 March - President Kerekou is beaten by Nicephore Soglo in the first multi-candidate presidential elections. Kerekou is granted immunity from prosecution over actions taken since October 1972.
1995 - Legislative elections sees pro-Soglo liberal Renaissance Party form the new government.
1996 - Following accusations of irregularities in presidential elections, the constitutional court returns Mr Kerekou to office.
1999 - Legislative elections sees coalition government formed by 10 parties.
Kerekou re-elected
2001 March - Mr Kerekou re-elected president.
2002 December - First local elections since the end of the single-party regime more than 10 years earlier.
2003 March - Legislative elections: Parties supporting President Kerekou win 52 of the 83 elective seats.
2005 July - International Court of Justice awards most of the river islands along the disputed Benin-Niger border to Niger.
2006 March - Political newcomer Yayi Boni, running as an independent, wins the run-off vote in presidential elections. President Kerekou is barred from the poll under a constitutional age limit.
2006 April - World Bank and the African Development Bank approve debt relief for several countries including Benin
2007 April - President Yayi's coalition wins control of parliament in elections.
2008 April - Parties allied with President Yayi win a majority of local council seats nationwide, but the major cities in the south are all won by opposition parties.
Oil discovered
2009 February - Benin announces discovery of "significant quantities" of oil offshore near Seme, a town on the Nigeria-Benin border.
2011 March - President Yayi is re-elected. His main challenger, Adrien Houngbedji, alleges widespread fraud
2011 May - President Yayi's party and its allies regain control of parliament in elections.
2015 May - President Yayi's party loses parliamentary majority in elections.
2016 March - Businessman Patrice Talon is elected president, defeating outgoing President Boni Yayi's candidate, Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou.
2017 April - Parliament narrowly rejects President Talon's proposal to to restrict his successors to a single six-year term, which he said would reduce "presidential complacency".
2019 April - Parliamentary elections marked by low turnout, as all opposition parties are banned from standing due to technicalities.
Reports said several people were killed and scores injured in pre-poll violence in opposition strongholds in northern and eastern parts of the country.
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Think you're a Marvel fan? | The chances are you haven't seen the latest movie 43 times.
Superfan Tony Mitchell claims he's been to the cinema to see Avengers: Infinity War more than anyone else.
And the YouTuber from North Carolina has got the cinema tickets to prove it.
"After the fifth time watching it in three days I thought: 'I'm just going to keep coming back until it's on Blu-ray'," he told Radio 1 Newsbeat.
Tony tries to use offers to buy tickets, "so sometimes it's buy four get one free".
He thinks he'll end up spending more than $1000 (£746) on tickets, but that doesn't include the cinema snacks: "Sometimes I'm even buying food so I'm just spending a fortune."
On Twitter, Tony goes by the name Nem: The Infinity Watcher, which makes sense.
He says he's a massive Marvel fan but this is the first time he's watched a film so many times.
Sitting through 43 showings of the movie is the equivalent of spending four consecutive days in the cinema.
Tony calls it "time well spent".
"This latest movie really hit home for me because I'm a huge Thanos fan."
He's not the only one.
Avengers: Infinity War made history by earning an estimated $630m (£457m) worldwide on its opening weekend.
Tony claims he could probably quote half of the film from memory.
"When I'm watching the movie, sometimes I catch myself mouthing what they're saying," he says.
He claims the directors of the film, known as the Russo Brothers, have offered him tickets to their next premiere.
Will he watch that instalment a record number of times?
"It all depends on how good the next movie is."
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Who ya gonna call? | If you're the director of the Ghostbusters reboot, Paul Feig, you pick up the phone and hire some stars you've worked with before.
Cue the new, all-female cast for the remake of the hit 1980s film that will be in cinemas next year.
Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon have been picked to strap on a backpack and go spook hunting in New York City.
Newsbeat takes a look at where the female Ghostbusters have come from - and how they match up with the original cast.
Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig worked with Paul Feig on Bridesmaids in 2011, so it's not a huge surprise she got the call-up.
She was nominated for an Oscar after writing the script for the film in which she played the lead character Annie Walker. You may also know the 41-year-old from Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.
She started out on Saturday Night Live in 2005 before appearing in Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Girl Most Likely and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Kristen Wiig is generally the frontwoman but tends to play roles where things don't go to plan.
So we reckon she might step into Ray's boots from the original film. A bit of a worrier but trying to make things work, he was played by Dan Aykroyd.
Melissa McCarthy
Melissa McCarthy was already in talks for one of the lead roles for the Ghostbusters reboot before the other three actresses were approached, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
She also appeared in Bridesmaids with Kristen Wiig, and is also obviously close with Paul Feig.
The 44-year-old rose to fame in the TV show Gilmore Girls but it was her part in Feig's 2011 film which shot her into the limelight with Oscar and Bafta nominations for best supporting actress.
Since then she's appeared in The Hangover Part III, Identity Thief and The Heat (also directed by Feig) and also runs a production company with husband Ben Falcone.
Melissa McCarthy is usually the geeky loner in her films and finds it hard to make friends.
So we reckon she might step into Egon's boots from the original film. Not great with people but the brains behind the operation, he was played by Harold Ramis.
Leslie Jones
Leslie Jones is better known as being a cast member on US television sketch show, Saturday Night Live.
The 47-year-old started off as a writer on the programme but was cast after joking about her problems finding a man.
She was criticised by some in America after she joked about how different her love live would've been "back in the slave days".
Jones is also the oldest person to become a cast member on Saturday Night Live.
Leslie Jones is laugh out loud funny but has been known to cause controversy with her comedy, so we reckon she'd fit straight into Bill Murray's shoes.
He played Dr Peter Venkman, the loveable rogue who was witty, cynical and arrogant but was undoubtedly the star of the show.
Kate McKinnon
Kate McKinnon is also a regular on Saturday Night Live and the show's first openly gay cast member.
She has four characters and has done impressions of stars like Lorde, Shakira, Robyn, Justin Bieber as well as German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Her film career began with 2014's Life Partners where she performed alongside Leighton Meester and Adam Brody.
She'll also voice a character in the Angry Birds movie, which is also released next year.
Just like Ernie Hudson, who played Winston Zeddemore in the original films, we don't know that much about Kate McKinnon.
She's a newcomer to the party - just like Winston, who wasn't part of the original three Ghostbusters.
Paul Feig
Paul Feig is best known as the director behind 2011's Bridesmaids.
The 52-year-old has also directed episodes of TV shows like The Office, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Parks and Recreation and Mad Men.
For the TV geeks, he also played science teacher Mr Eugene Pool in the first series of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
And he may even appear in his own film.
As a director he's appeared in lots of his TV shows and movies as an extra.
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Dear Prime Minister, | I want to thank you for speaking to me last night regarding the bombing raids in Syria overnight, and for the security briefing you shared. I am very glad that all British military personnel have returned home safely, and hope too that there have been no civilian casualties in Syria.
As I said, I believe that Parliament should have been consulted and voted on the matter. The UK prime minister is accountable to Parliament, not to the whims of a US president. I believe the action was legally questionable, and this morning the UN secretary general has said as much, reiterating that all countries must act in line with the UN charter.
You assured me that the attorney general had given clear legal advice approving the action. I would therefore be grateful if you would publish this advice in full today.
Given that neither the UN nor the OPCW has yet investigated, it is clear that diplomatic and non-military means have not been fully exhausted. It is now vitally important that the OPCW inspectors, who are due to arrive in Douma today, are allowed to do their work and publish their report into their findings - and report to the United Nations Security Council.
I would therefore welcome your assurance that there will be no further bombing raids while OPCW inspectors are on the ground. They must be allowed to complete their inspections without hindrance.
Acting through the United Nations, I believe Britain should now take a diplomatic lead to negotiate a pause in this abhorrent conflict in which hundreds of thousands of Syrians have already been killed and millions displaced.
The refugee crisis places a responsibility on all countries and I hope the government will now increase its commitment to take additional refugees.
Hundreds of unaccompanied children remain in Europe and the UK must do more through the Dubs amendment. This means engaging with all parties that are involved in the conflict - including Iran, Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the US - to ensure there is an immediate ceasefire.
We have the grotesque spectacle of a wider geopolitical proxy battle being waged, with the Syrian people used as pawns by all sides. I would welcome your assurance that Britain will embark on renewed diplomatic efforts to end this conflict.
Our only priority must be the safety and security of the Syrian people - which is best served by de-escalating this conflict, so that aid can get in.
Yours sincerely,
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Leader of the Opposition
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Is Facebook a media company? | Amol RajanMedia editor
This abstract question may strike you as the preserve of Palo Alto wannabes, Lower East Side podcasters, and media navel-gazers closer to home.
In fact the answer, while complex, goes to the very essence of democracy in our time.
And you cannot understand Thursday's announcement from the company, about its clampdown on fake news, without answering the prior question above.
The measures Facebook is taking - which range from making it easier to flag fake news to hurting the finances of fake news generators - while welcome, stop short of what some critics would like to see.
The revolution in media means that platforms like Facebook are increasingly doing what publishers do.
As Tony Haile argued in a recent episode of the Wall Street Journal's superb Media Mix podcast, "Publishers do five things: they create, post, curate, distribute and monetise content. Facebook now does four of those five... [But] they don't create."
I think even this point is debatable. It is true that Facebook doesn't commission original content, or journalism. But the advent of Facebook Live brings them very close to doing this.
When Lavish Reynolds used that tool to produce an astonishing broadcast of the moments after her boyfriend Philando Castile was shot by a Minnesota Police officer, she was clearly broadcasting live news.
Of course Facebook didn't ask her to; but through Facebook Live, as through the social network's Instant Articles feature, Facebook facilitates original journalism, much as Amazon helped entrepreneurs with its Web Services technology.
Funded by advertising; helping to create vast amounts of stories; the main source of news for millions around the world. That sounds like a media company, doesn't it?
And yet Facebook doesn't see it that way, in one vital respect. It doesn't want to use human judgement to arbitrate between truth and falsehood.
On Wednesday I spoke at length to Adam Mosseri, Vice President of Product for News Feed at Facebook. He briefed me on Facebook's latest efforts to clamp down on the fake news which, some argue, helped Donald Trump to enter the White House.
Mark Zuckerberg initially described such a claim as "crazy", but has since tried to demonstrate he takes the issue seriously. Hence the announcement that Facebook will do four things:
Together, these measures will make a difference. As Zuckerberg has argued, and Mosseri re-iterated, fake news is a very small fraction of the material shared by the Facebook community, and weeding it out completely is impracticable.
Arbiters of truth
But there is one, fascinating, vital respect in which Facebook will not do what its critics want.
It will not ask staff to make a call on what is true or false. In other words, it will not employ editors.
As Mosseri said to me in relation to the above, this effort to clamp down on fake news is "algorithmic" - Facebook will rely on algorithms, and the judgement of its community of users, to flag potential fake news. It won't make those decisions for itself, using its own staff.
Years ago, Zuckerberg described Facebook as a utility company. Then some smart people pointed out that utilities operate in a regulatory environment.
So the emphasis changed to it being a technology company. Just this August, Zuckerberg said "we are a tech company, not a media company" in Rome.
But Facebook's impact on the media industry has been revolutionary, gobbling up advertising and enticing vast new audiences.
Every day there are several pieces bemoaning the duopoly that Facebook and Google allegedly have over the media industry. Those complaints unite the New York Times with The Sun.
So while Facebook claims not to be a media company, the impact that it has on other media companies, together with its role in disseminating false information, will mean that publishers continue to condemn it.
They argue that Facebook may be one of the world's greatest companies, but it is shirking a crucial public duty - namely, to be arbiters of truth.
The world's biggest platform, increasingly, has the role once fulfilled by news publishers, without the legal restrictions and social obligations.
In short, Facebook is a media company - even though it doesn't want to be.
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Star Wars fans, relax. | By Will GompertzArts Editor
Rian Johnson, the writer-director of the latest instalment, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, has not ruined your Christmas with a turkey. His gift to you is a cracker, a blockbuster movie packed with invention, wit, and action galore.
It starts with several bangs.
General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson in full pantomime villain mode) is standing on the bridge of the First Order's mighty intergalactic spacecraft watching the Resistance's maverick top gun, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), cause havoc at close quarters.
There are bombers, battles and banter a-plenty, setting the tone for the next two hours and 32 minutes, in which Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis channelling Davros from Doctor Who) closes in on his evil quest to annihilate the last remaining Jedi.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker has turned into a grumpy old man living the life of a hermit in some godforsaken medieval backwater.
Until, that is, Rey (Daisy Ridley) rocks up and bothers him with an unwelcome request that he teaches her his Jedi ways.
Back on the Resistance's old banger of a mother-ship, we find the wise, headmistressy General Leia (the late Carrie Fisher in mesmerising form) attempting to bring some calm to the celluloid storm.
She has Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern in a role that feels too small for her) as backup in case things turn ugly, which, needless to say, they do.
The film is not faultless.
There are some excruciatingly hammy lines, some of the locations feel far, far too close to home, and it is a touch too long. There are times towards the end reminiscent of that dispiriting feeling you get after a long hike up a steep hill, when you realise that you've arrived at yet another false peak.
A judicious 15-minute trim would add more than it took away.
Unless it was one of Benicio Del Toro's scenes hitting the cutting room floor.
That would be a mistake.
His role as the unscrupulous, Fagin-like, lock-breaker DJ is little more than a cameo, but he still manages to give the film a life and soul that takes it beyond run-of-the-mill franchise fare, and into the realms of a classy and memorable piece of stand-alone work.
Adam Driver's performance as the conflicted and recently scarred Kylo Ren is not far behind.
Aside from a couple of brief melodramatic moments at the beginning and end of the film, he is utterly convincing as a baddie with qualms. It is when he is lost in his own individual moral maze that the film develops its most palpable dramatic tension.
It also takes us back to its 40-year-old roots and George Lucas's original narrative vision for his interstellar fairytale.
He wanted it to be a story about friendship and loyalty spiced with an essential personal dilemma, in which he placed many of his characters. They had to choose, one way or the other, exactly what kind of person they were going to be.
As we know some opted for the dark side, others the light, but never without the sense of a lingering scripted twist hanging in outer space, that the character might turn.
This is what has given the Star Wars saga so much of its emotional energy, or Force, I should say.
And so it is with Episode VIII, in which Kylo Ren (once Ben Solo) is not the only character wrestling with an existential crisis.
What about Finn (John Boyega) for instance? He made his ethical journey in The Force Awakens, and returns in typical ex-Stormtrooper form, acting first and thinking second. His heart might be in the right place, for now at least, but the fella keeps losing his head.
Fortunately he has some back up in the brains department in the nerdy shape of Rose Tico (the excellent Kelly Marie Tran), who makes for a great addition to the new generation of Star Wars characters.
There's still space in space for the old timers. Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C 3PO all show up and shamelessly play to the gallery. Running jokes resurface, call-back references are made, and John Williams returns with a lovely score that subtly develops from, and refers back to, past episodes.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is not breaking new ground in sci-fi or surprising us with an unexpected turn of events.
It doesn't need to.
Rian Johnson has taken the basic ingredients of George Lucas's 1970s masterpiece and intelligently transformed them into a very entertaining 21st Century modern epic.
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SALLY HAWKINS | Find out more about the nominees for the 90th Academy Awards, which will take place on 4 March 2018.
Also starred in: Paddington, Blue Jasmine, Never Let Me Go
Nominated for: The Shape of Water
The character: Elisa Esposito, a mute janitor in a secret government lab who only communicates in sign language.
Oscar record: Hawkins has received one nomination for best supporting actress for her role in Blue Jasmine in 2013.
The critics said: Variety's Guy Lodge called Hawkins' performance in the film "extraordinary" and said the film was "lit from within by a heart-clutching silent star turn" from the actress.
FRANCES MCDORMAND
Also starred in: Fargo, Almost Famous, Burn After Reading
Nominated for: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The character: Mildred Hayes, a mother desperately seeking answers after her daughter is raped and murdered.
Oscar record: McDormand has been nominated for three Oscars for best supporting actress for her roles in Mississippi Burning (1999), Almost Famous (2001) and North Country (2006). She won the best actress Academy Award for Fargo in 1997.
The critics said: Manohla Dargis of the New York Times says McDormand's performance "tears the movie open by showing you what a broken heart looks like", crediting director Martin McDonagh for creating a narrative in which McDormand's acting can shine.
MARGOT ROBBIE
Also starred in: The Wolf of Wall Street, Suicide Squad, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Nominated for: I, Tonya
The character: Robbie portrays the real-life controversial figure skater Tonya Harding as she battles to prove herself in her chosen sport. Harding is still best known for her connection to an attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan in the run up to 1994 Winter Olympic Games.
Oscar record: Robbie has been nominated for a Bafta and Golden Globe but this marks her first Oscar nomination.
The critics said: Owen Gleiberman in Variety describes Margot Robbie's performance as "canny, live-wire and deeply sympathetic". He says Robbie is recognised as a "major actress" for the first time.
SAOIRSE RONAN
Also starred in: Atonement, Brooklyn, The Lovely Bones
Nominated for: Lady Bird
The character: Christine 'Lady Bird' McPherson is a high school student, who deals with heartbreak and strained family relationships.
Oscar record: Ronan has two previous nominations - one for best supporting actress in Atonement (2008) and one for best actress in Brooklyn (2016).
The critics said: Tomris Laffly, writing in Time Out, says Ronan's performance is "entrancing", calling her "easily among the best and most intimate actors of her generation."
MERYL STREEP
Also starred in: The Iron Lady, Kramer vs. Kramer, Mamma Mia!
Nominated for: The Post
The character: Newspaper heiress Kay Graham joins forces with the paper's editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) to uncover government secrets during the Vietnam War.
Oscar record: Streep has won three Oscars - best supporting actress for Kramer vs. Kramer (1980); and best actress for Sophie's Choice (1983) and The Iron Lady (2012). She has also received 17 nominations previously across both categories.
The critics said: Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson is full of praise, calling the film "the best Meryl Streep vehicle in years". He says: "Her performance in the film, while mannered and technical, is careful, dialled in, specific".
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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These are worrying times for investors. | By Matthew WallBusiness reporter
When the markets opened on Friday in the wake of Britain's decision to leave the European Union, the FTSE 100 plunged hundreds of points in minutes, wiping billions off the value of banks, homebuilders and retailers in particular.
There were similar sell-offs in European, US and Asian markets - a $2 trillion (£1.5tn) haemorrhaging.
Although the FTSE recovered some of those losses by the end of the day, it still ended down more than 3% - a huge fall ordinarily.
Sterling experienced its biggest fall for decades, at one point down more than 11% against the dollar.
For a few hours, it seemed like the sky was falling in.
The market turmoil triggered a "flight to safety", as investors looked for calmer waters elsewhere.
But where are these safer investments?
Gold
The precious metal has traditionally been the comfort blanket of choice, with investors clinging to its reassuring solidity and comparative rarity - only about 165,000 tonnes of the stuff has ever been mined.
Throughout human history gold has been synonymous with wealth and luxury - a tangible repository of value - and for hundreds of years was used as a currency in its own right.
Major economies even pegged their currencies to the gold standard, because the metal was seen to be such a stable store of value. The Bank of England gave up on the gold standard in 1931, but the US didn't completely give it up until 1971.
So it is not surprising that gold rose nearly 5% to more than $1,310 an ounce on Friday and has risen 12% over the year to date.
Government bonds
Governments raise money from investors by offering to pay a guaranteed level of interest on bonds - effectively IOUs that must be repaid after a set period, which can be months or decades depending on the type of bond.
In the UK these government bonds are called gilts; in many other countries they're called Treasuries.
This type of investment is deemed to be relatively safe because there's less chance of a country going bust than there is of a company going bust.
Bonds can be bought and sold on the open market and so their price fluctuates according to supply and demand, but the annual rate of interest remains the same. So as more people pile into them looking for safety, prices rise, but the yield - the actual amount of interest you receive - falls.
But that's still better than losing lots of money in shares that are tanking on the markets. The price for safety is usually a lower investment return.
So after the Brexit vote, the US 10-year Treasury bond yield fell to 1.56% while the UK 10-year gilt fell to a record low of 1.02% at one point. It was only the prospect of Bank of England intervention that helped the yield recover to 1.09%.
Other currencies
The British pound took a kicking on Friday - down nearly 8% against the US dollar, nearly 6% against the euro, and a thumping 11% against the Japanese yen - as currency traders dumped sterling and bought other currencies fearing the economic turmoil that might follow the Brexit decision.
While other currencies may seem like a safer investment, governments can intervene in a number of ways to stop their own currencies from growing too strong or too weak. Raising interest rates is one such measure, which means investors earn more interest on their cash, thereby attracting more investment in that currency.
After investors started buying Swiss francs, pushing the currency up 6.6% against sterling on Friday, the Swiss National Bank intervened immediately, effectively flooding the market with its own currency to manage demand. It didn't want its exporters to suffer from a strong franc.
So if you're searching for safer investments, currency speculation is unlikely to help you sleep much better at night.
Cash
Many investors simply sell up and go to cash until a clear picture emerges.
While interest rates are at historic lows - the Bank of England has held the base rate at 0.5% since March 2009 - inflation is also very low at around 0.3%. So investors may be earning miserable rates of interest on cash, but at least high inflation isn't gnawing away at the buying power of that cash.
Of course, selling up has its own risks. You crystallise any losses on your investments and incur dealing charges as well.
But if you think there is more turmoil to come in the markets, stemming your losses may seem like the safest option.
Defensive stocks
When there is a general sell-off in equities (company shares), some sectors are hit harder than others. Housebuilders, for example, took the worst of it in the UK, with Taylor Wimpey crashing 29%, and Barratt, Berkeley and Bellway all falling more than 20%.
Investors assumed a slowdown in economic activity post-Brexit would affect UK construction companies the most.
But other sectors, like mining, bucked the trend as investors sought safety in gold and a weakening pound worked in their favour, given that their earnings are quoted in dollars. Randgold Resources, which operates mainly in Africa, was up 14% on Friday, for example.
Globally spread companies that make a lot of sales abroad, like Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline and Rolls-Royce, for example, are also considered good stocks to cling to in choppy waters.
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"Lost, soon to be forgotten." | By Jack StrangeBBC News
These words were recited by the fictional actress Camille Washington in Netflix's latest series, Hollywood.
Washington, a black actress, is auditioning for the role inspired by Peg Entwistle, a real life movie actress born in Port Talbot, whose Hollywood career was cut short at the age of 24.
The Netflix series follows a group of aspiring actors and filmmakers in post-World War Two Hollywood as they try to make a name for themselves in dreamland.
But the real-life story of Entwistle might challenge the credibility of a Hollywood script. This is the short life of a would-be star whose life was lived under the shadow of disappointment.
She would become notorious - not for her films, but for how she died - under tinsel town's iconic Hollywood sign.
What led her there?
Born Millicent Lilian Entwistle at 5 Broad Street, Port Talbot, in February 1908.
The house belonged to Peg's mother's sister Laura, who was married to docks accountant and church organist Frank Seaton.
Laura and her sisters had been used to living under the shadow of heavy industry with their late parents, as their father's job as a metallurgical engineer took them to towns across the country.
Her parents - Robert Entwistle and Emily "Millie" Stevenson - were also used to moving around. The touring, jobbing actors married in Birmingham in 1904 and worked all over the country in provincial theatres.
Three-year-old Peg stayed with her aunt Laura, uncle Frank and their two grown-up sons in Port Talbot while her parents lived in Kennington, south east London. The word "unemployed" is scribbled next to Robert's occupation "actor" in the 1911 census.
But there was an acrimonious divorce in 1913 after Millie rekindled a romance with another actor, Julius Shaw, a younger man she had known before meeting Robert.
The court case in London was played out very publicly in the newspapers and Millie declared she had "never loved" Robert or their five-year-old daughter - and refused offers from him to take her back.
Millie quickly remarried but her happiness was short-lived after 2nd Lt Shaw was killed in the second battle of the Somme in the last months of World War One.
Peg emigrated with her father and Robert's brother, a theatrical manager, after Robert was hired by a Broadway producer as a stage manager in New York.
She was apparently told her mother had died.
Robert was credited as an actor in several Broadway plays and married Lauretta Ross, an American whom Peg was said to have adored.
Then tragedy struck. In 1921, Lauretta died of meningitis and, a few months later, Robert was fatally injured after being hit by a car in New York. After his death, with his will stating Millie could never have custody, the teenage Peg was adopted by her uncle.
Peg had inherited theatrical genes - aged 17, her first big break came in the form of a Broadway play in the role of Hedvig in a stage production of The Wild Duck.
A young Bette Davis told her mother that after watching the play, she wanted to be "exactly like Peg Entwistle", and throughout the years, Davis remarked that Entwistle was her inspiration to act.
At 19, Peg was briefly married to a fellow actor, 10 years her senior, but they broke up after she learned he had been married before and had a child.
More plays followed and with that came regular praise for the Welsh actress. She was a rising star, a successful body of work now boosting her profile.
Her most notable play was 1927 hit, Tommy, which ran for 232 performances.
Her success on Broadway was marred by some negatives, too. Following the triumph of Tommy, she starred in The Uninvited Guest, which closed after only seven performances.
Despite the play's underwhelming performance, a critic from The New York Times wrote: "Peg Entwistle gave a performance considerably better than the play warranted."
Her last Broadway performance came in 1932 after the play Alice Sit-by-the-Fire was cancelled due to a co-star's alcohol problem.
Peg had agreed a percentage of the box office growth, but instead was paid with only a week's salary, and let go.
During the Great Depression, Peg found herself in Los Angeles, with a role in The Mad Hopes, a play starring Billie Burke.
A theatre critic from the Los Angeles Examiner wrote: "Peg Entwistle and Humphrey Bogart hold first place in supporting the star and both give fine, serious performances."
Like the characters of Hollywood, Peg had an opportunity which soon came knocking.
The play came to an end and Peg was packing to return back to New York, when a call came from RKO Pictures.
She was asked if she would like to do a screen test and after a successful take, she was cast in her only credited film role: Thirteen Women.
She had a supporting role, though it seemed the actress finally had a way in to the land of film reels and sound stages.
During test audience screenings, feedback was negative for the film and Peg's role was cut dramatically, along with many others.
Peg saw the light of her Hollywood dream dimming. Her contract with RKO was ended before the film even made it to premiere.
Peg's reaction to the news she has been cut from the film is reimagined in the Hollywood adaptation.
Her fictional character is seen to lose the excitement she had only moments ago, to be replaced with a hopeless outlook on future life in the land of dreams.
There only seemed to be one option for the real life Peg Entwistle.
With no money and seemingly no options, she grew despondent. A note, left to her aunt and uncle, told them she was going to visit friends.
On the 18 September 1932, a woman hiking below the Hollywoodland sign - as it then was - came across a woman's shoe, purse and jacket. Inside the purse was a note, signed P.E.
The hiker then spotted Entwistle lying below the H of the sign. She had apparently jumped 30ft to her death.
Peg's funeral was held in Hollywood and she was later cremated with her ashes being sent to Glendale, Ohio, where she was buried next to her father.
Until now, the life of Peg Entwistle may have been consigned to the history books but Netflix's Hollywood is putting her into this new golden era of streaming.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the series aims to look at the darker side of Hollywood filmmaking.
Race, gender and sexual discrimination are in the spotlight and in the wake of Harvey Weinstein, the series looks at how different the entertainment industry may have looked if such prejudices had been dismantled long ago.
Hollywood weaves fiction with non-fiction. Notable stars such as Rock Hudson, an actor active from the 1940s, is portrayed, although his story is embellished.
It's Hollywood's way of rewriting history.
Yet one story retains most of its accuracy: The story of Peg Entwistle.
And as Ryan Murphy's adaptation aims to reshape history, her full story is no longer lost and should not be forgotten any time soon.
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What is the next move? | Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
The disease is still spreading. There are more people in hospital with Covid-19 in the UK than at any other point in the pandemic.
Prof Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, hit the airwaves on Monday morning to tell us it's "everyone's problem".
And a possible further increase in the numbers from those get-togethers that did take place over Christmas is yet to filter through.
It is cheering, and crucial, to see the elderly and vulnerable attending vaccine super-centres in huge numbers for their injections.
But there is no getting away from it: at this moment, the coronavirus situation seems pretty dire. And there is real concern in government that the public, this time round, is just not paying attention to the rules as closely as they did back in the spring.
What is the government's answer? It is not, at least not yet, despite calls from the opposition, another big clampdown.
It might not feel like it, but it is only seven days since Boris Johnson took what used to be the rare step of making a national address, live on primetime TV, telling us, across the UK, once more to "stay at home".
There is hardly any political appetite to go even further.
As one senior minister said today: "We have gone as far as we possibly can in terms of shutting things down".
The prime minister was reluctant to go this far, only moving back to a lockdown in England when the evidence put forward by the government's top medics got worse, and worse and worse.
Options for restrictions
There are in fact even more limits that ministers, not just in Westminster but in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast too, could introduce.
Schools could be forcibly closed to all pupils. Nurseries could shut.
Government sources say the nurseries policy isn't going to change. Number 10 firmly denies they would ever take such a drastic step on schools which have always been open to key workers' children and it is hard to imagine that ever happening.
In extremis though there are measures that could be taken - in theory the government does not want to do any of this, but in practice there are other potential steps.
Building sites could be made to lock their gates. Factories where machines are still whirring because they are operating under Covid guidelines could be made to pause.
England, Scotland and Northern Ireland could follow Wales and ban people from seeing anyone they don't live with even outdoors.
Playgrounds, launderettes and chiropractors, could, along with many others on the list of premises allowed to stay open, have to shut up shop after all.
But while ministers have talked about squeezing the advice for takeaways to try to prevent big queues gathering at popular places, encouraged the supermarkets to make sure they are doing as much as they can to be safe, and even discussed the prospect of asking for masks to be worn outdoors, there is no expectation, at least at the start of this week, that a more extensive clampdown is coming from Westminster.
Although, it's worth noting that the Scottish cabinet will discuss restrictions again on Tuesday.
One reason for the reluctance to go much further is that every step that affects a business affects jobs and livelihoods too.
The chancellor told MPs on Monday that 800,000 people have lost their jobs since February, admitting the economy will get worse before it gets better.
So trying to preserve activity that can be done safely matters to the government too.
There's also a question in government circles about whether cranking up different rules bit by bit is really what would help.
Chris Whitty this morning bluntly suggested there was limited value in "tinkering" with the rules, and what is required instead is for all of us to realise how grave the situation really is.
Instead of worrying about whether we are allowed to sit on a park bench at all, (and yes, this has been a lively conversation in Westminster today) , perhaps we should be asking ourselves whether we really need to be out at all.
But when what happens next will be in large part shaped by our behaviour as individuals, working out the dos and don'ts can get sticky fast.
Two women who hit the headlines for driving five miles to go for a snowy walk with a takeaway cuppa had their fines withdrawn today, just as the prime minister caused a stir when a newspaper revealed he'd gone seven miles to the other side of London for a cycle in the Olympic Park.
You might be a reader who feels, 'so what?'. In both cases they were exercising outside, within the law, so who cares?
But you might feel when the firm instruction is to stay at home, and stay local, that is pushing the rules.
(For what it's worth, the government's guidance is to "stay local" for exercise. There is no mileage limit, but the definition in the official advice says people should "stay in the village, town, or part of the city where you live". And there aren't many inhabitants of SW1 who would see Stratford in East London as local to them, or East Enders who would see Downing Street as round the corner.)
For now though, with grimmer and grimmer medics' warnings ringing in our ears, and reminders about enforcement from the police coming too, ministers seem resolved to encourage the public to comply rather than crack down further.
But it is however, only a week since the lockdown the prime minister had so hoped to avoid returned. By now, it's not surprising, Boris Johnson would never quite rule anything out.
P.S. In all the gloom, the cheerier news is that the vaccination programme across the UK is certainly getting going, with 2.3 million people having had their first jab.
The number of people getting vaccinated has been added to the list of statistics that the government publishes every day. The targets the government has set are tough, but the numbers so far, are growing fast.
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*Season 2 spoilers below! | By Alex TaylorBBC News
The Riverdale roller-coaster shows no sign of slowing down following its season two finale.
The surprise Netflix hit, which follows high-schooler Archie Andrews and his peers through the dramatic, murderous happenings in the small town of Riverdale, left viewers with more questions than answers.
Ambiguity over Jughead's survival, Black Hood's Zodiac-style reign of terror and a shock dark twist for Archie sent fans into a spin - topped by the confirmation of a third series.
Series creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa addressed the twists-and-turns in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter - while also hinting at huge supernatural changes ahead of season 3.
Here are all the big questions answered and what viewers should expect when the show returns.
Season two's key questions, answered (sort of)
The genre-bending drama drastically switched focus for its sophomore series.
Ditching its murder-mystery narrative surrounding the death of popular Riverdale High pupil Jason Blossom, it instead moved toward a darker, serial-killer storyline.
Jughead's second coming
As the season drew to a close, the burning question on every fan's lips concerned whether Jughead, a Southside Serpent member, had survived a savage beating from rival gang The Ghoulies.
The penultimate episode saw his father, FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich), desperately trying to revive his son, while girlfriend Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) and Archie (KJ Apa) looked on in horror.
Writers toyed with audiences on social media, even opening the final episode to scenes of Betty paying tearful respects at Jughead's grave.
But, in true Dallas style, it turned out that the much-loved character had simply dreamt his demise from his hospital bed.
Black Hood caught?
At first glance, it seemed the serial killing spree that terrorised Riverdale residents would end after Betty's father, Hal, dramatically admitted to the murders as part of plan to purge the town of sin.
However, eagle-eyed fans theorised that his arrest - instigated by Betty - may be a partial red-herring.
Earlier in the season, Fred Andrews (Luke Perry) was attacked in his home by Black Hood at the same time as Hal was holding his own family hostage.
That meant Hal, unable to be two places at once, either only committed a splattering of the crimes - or, even more intriguingly - was covering for someone else.
The final episode confirmed this suspicion, revealing that he hired Tall Boy to replicate the Hood killings when murdering Fred.
Archie faces jail time
Amid the drama of the concluding storylines, viewers were left blindsided by the false arrest of Archie for the murder of Cassidy Bullock, a cashier at the Lodge family cabin.
Staged in front of the school, Archie is handcuffed as he is about to be sworn in as new class president.
The shock development is the dirty work of Hiram Lodge ( Mark Consuelos) - father of Veronica (Camila Mendes) and also a mafioso kingpin. Compromised during Archie's Hood investigation, Hiram pays off Sheriff Minetta to make the arrest and buy himself some time.
Relations could get awkward if Veronica ever finds out, as she's currently dating Archie.
Unanswered questions....
The finale's scatter-gun approach threw open as many mysteries as it solved.
Polly's mysterious farm
Betty's elder sister Polly (Tiera Skovbye) has been nowhere to be seen for most of the season - quietly departing at the start of the Black Hood saga to raise her twins Jupiter and Dagwood - so her appearance in the final episode raised eyebrows.
And, in typical Riverdale fashion, there appears to be more to her return than meets the eye.
Fans expressed suspicion over her offer to introduce her mother to a "friend" from the farm, which sounds very much like a cult, who could help her recover from the Black Hood drama.
The devious look in her eyes left fans fearful of her future intentions.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan, Skovbye said: "It is something that's become important to her. But what it is, exactly, I don't think we know yet."
Betty's dark potential
Hal's daughter spent much of the season trying to be a good girl amid anonymous calls from Black Hood - before discovering it was her father.
But, from time to time, her dark side emerged, symbolised by her black wig during sexy role-play, lashing out at Chuck, and handing over Chick to Black Hood.
Sacasa confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that this side of Betty "will always be part of her character".
"It felt like the black wig did take on a life of its own. With the darkness, either Betty was denying it or it was controlling her," he said.
A supernatural third season?
During the same interview, Sacasa suggested that Riverdale could switch genres for a third time, and harness "high genre" values akin to The Godfather.
"It's the Archie characters put into a specific genre, and we see how they relate and survive and adapt," he said.
The new season will see Archie attempt to clear his name following his arrest.
"He and Hiram are squaring off, so I think that will be one of the main conflicts of season three, for sure," Sacasa said, adding Hiram will get "much darker".
But, most intriguingly of all, the creator told fans to look back at episode seven of season 2 for the best indication of the forthcoming series.
The January instalment broke convention and opened with messages stating the events featured in Riverdale had occurred in the past - a point emphasised by Archie's narration.
Add to that the appearance of Farmer McGinty, a mysterious stranger who listens to religious radio stations claiming Black Hood is doing the Lord's work, and the possibility for time-bending supernatural elements becomes a real possibility.
Unlikely? This is Riverdale.
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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It sort of worked. | Mark D'ArcyParliamentary correspondent
The new, virtual, House of Commons opened an unprecedented day with the first-ever remote Welsh Questions - with Secretary of State Simon Hart answering from home.
Sound quality was occasionally ropey, questions had occasionally to be guessed at, with Mr Hart revealing previously unsuspected lip-reading skills.
The pace was deliberately leisurely, with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle spinning out the way he called MPs to speak, to allow the technical crews behind the scenes to get the right face up on the screens.
And the close-ups from the home cameras gave a new dimension.
We could see the play of emotions across Mr Hart's face, full screen. Every twitch or semi-grimace was there. You don't normally see the tensions and emotions of parliamentary questions displayed so raw.
By the time PMQs began, the routine was established… but it was an unfamiliar cast of characters, with First Secretary Dominic Raab deputising for his convalescing boss, and Sir Keir Starmer making his debut as the Leader of the Opposition.
Oh to have seen their faces so close - but both were appearing in the old-fashioned way - in the flesh, in the chamber.
In normal times, the Leader of the Opposition does not deign to debate anyone other than the prime minister, but Sir Keir, wisely, was not standing on ceremony, and so he made his debut in his new role in circumstances he could hardly have imagined when he began his leadership bid.
In a ritual as time honoured as the Speaker's daily procession with the Mace, he promised "constructive opposition" although, mercifully, he didn't deploy the usual soundbite about "an end to Punch and Judy politics".
Not politics as usual
Instead, he dropped into prosecuting counsel mode, putting Dominic Raab through a gruelling inquisition which ran through the numbers being tested, the supply of PPE and the death rate among NHS staff and care workers.
Woundingly, when the first secretary could not supply a figure for the care workers, Sir Keir promised he would ask every week, until he could. All this with only the barest flash of partisan steel.
This was clearly not the moment for a full-on party political slugfest. It was all too horribly serious for politics as usual, and Mr Raab responded with detailed answers where he could, highlighting progress and pointing out that the government was following the advice of the chief medical officer - did Sir Keir know better?
On and on the extended 45 minutes PMQs rolled.
Former Scottish Secretary David Mundell was unable to connect, the Speaker announced, moving on to the SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, with signed footballs positioned in shot behind him, asking about moving to a universal basic income system.
PMQs frequent flyer Peter Bone lambasted the banks for the overdraft rates they were charging, although his final words were cut off.
Labour's Stephen Kinnock appeared to be standing, rather than sitting before his computer, as he asked about support for the Port Talbot steelworks.
Lib Dem acting leader Sir Ed Davey highlighted that an NHS consultant who died at his local hospital was from Sri Lanka.
Normal heckling absent
He let that fact hang without comment, and then called for an independent judge-led inquiry into the handling of the pandemic. Mr Raab declined to promise that, saying his focus was on the crisis now.
It was all carefully non-partisan and extremely serious, and there were none of the jibes, the roaring and the heckling of PMQs in normal times.
But then again, it is doubtful that the systems underpinning the virtual parliament could allow roaring to manifest itself, if MPs ever decided to try.
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A chronology of key events:
| 966 - Duke Mieszko I, the historically recognised founder of the Polish state, adopts Catholic Christianity.
1025 - Boleslaw I proclaims the Kingdom of Poland.
1569 - Poland signs Union of Lublin with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to establish the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a major power in Europe unusual for its powerful parliament of noblemen and its elected kings.
1772 - The Commonwealth is subjected to the first of three major partitions by its neighbours Prussia, Russia and Austria following an anti-Russian revolt.
1791-1793 - A programme of political and social reform culminates in the 3 May Constitution in 1791, which promises civil rights to the urban and peasant population of the Commonwealth. Russia invades to prevent liberal change. Prussia also sends in troops, and the two powers carry out a second partition in 1793.
Independence lost
1794-1795 - Reformers lead an armed uprising against the partitioning powers. Following its failure the Commonwealth is finally partitioned among Prussia, Russia and Austria. Independent Poland disappears from the map of Europe.
1807 - Napoleon creates the Duchy of Warsaw as a client state to rally Polish support for his cause.
1815 - The Congress of Vienna creates a rump Kingdom of Poland, ruled by Russia.
1830-1831 - Military revolt in protest at Russian erosion of the Kingdom's political autonomy and civil liberties.
1863-1864 - Another revolt against Russian rule is defeated and the Kingdom annexed to Russia.
1864-1914 - The Polish national movement in Russia, Prussia and Austria focuses on strengthening the grassroots through education, culture and political parties.
Independence restored
1918 - After more than a century of foreign rule, an independent Polish state is restored after the end of World War I, with Marshal Jozef Pilsudski as head of state.
1920 - Soviet Red Army offensive repulsed.
1926 - Pilsudski stages a military coup. There follow nine years of autocratic rule.
1932 - Poland concludes non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union.
1934 - Poland signs similar 10-year pact with Nazi Germany.
1935 - Pilsudski dies. The military regime continues.
Invasion and subjugation
1939 - Nazi Germany invades Poland. Beginning of World War II as the United Kingdom declares war on Germany in response to the invasion. The Soviet Union invades from the east. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them and treat Polish citizens with extreme brutality. Germany begins systematic persecution of the large Jewish population.
1940 - Soviet secret police carry out systematic massacre of about 22,000 Polish army officers, professionals and civil servants mainly in a forest near Katyn in Russia's Smolensk Region. The Soviet Union attributed the crime to the Nazis until acknowledging responsibility in the late 1980s.
1941 - Germans start to build concentration camps in Poland. Their names - Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek - become synonymous with the Holocaust.
1943 - Warsaw ghetto uprising against German attempts to transport the remaining Jewish inhabitants to concentration camps. Resistance lasts nearly four weeks before the ghetto is burned down. The Germans announce the capture of more than 50,000 Jews.
1944 - Polish resistance forces take control of Warsaw in August. The Germans recapture the city in October and burn it to the ground.
1945 - Soviet forces capture Warsaw in January. All German forces are driven from Poland by March. Poland's borders are set by the post-war Potsdam conference; Poland loses territory to the Soviet Union but gains some from Germany.
Communist rule
1947 - Poland becomes a Communist People's Republic after Soviet-run elections, under the Stalinist leadership of Boleslaw Bierut.
1955 - Poland joins the Soviet-run Warsaw Pact military alliance.
1956 - More than 50 people killed in rioting in Poznan over demands for greater freedom. Liberal Communist leader Wladislaw Gomulka takes over.
1970 - Food price riots in Gdansk. The protests are suppressed, hundreds are killed. Edward Gierek becomes party leader.
1970s - Poland enjoys relative economic prosperity based on foreign loans. Successive US presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter visit Poland.
1978 - Karol Wojtyla, Cardinal of Krakow, elected Pope.
1980 - Disturbances at the shipyard in Gdansk lead to the emergence of the Solidarity trade union under Lech Walesa.
1981 - Martial law imposed. Many of Solidarity's leaders, including Walesa, are imprisoned.
1983 - Martial law lifted.
Success for Solidarity
1989 - Round-table talks between Solidarity, the Communists and the Catholic Church pave the way for fall of communism in Poland. Partially free elections see landslide win for Solidarity, which helps form coalition government. Tadeusz Mazowiecki becomes the first non-Communist Polish prime minister since 1946..
1990 - Walesa elected president of Poland. Market reforms, including large-scale privatisation, are launched.
1991 - First parliamentary elections since fall of communism. Soviet troops start to leave Poland.
1993 - Reformed Communists enter coalition government. They pledge to continue market reforms.
1994 - Poland joins Nato's Partnership for Peace programme.
1995 - Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former Communist, narrowly beats Lech Walesa to become president.
1997 - Polish parliament adopts a new constitution. General election is won by the Solidarity grouping AWS. Jerzy Buzek forms a coalition government.
Towards EU membership
1998 - The EU opens talks on Polish membership.
1999 - Poland joins Nato.
2000 - Aleksander Kwasniewski re-elected as president.
2001 - Poland permits citizens to apply to see the files kept on them by the secret police during the communist era.
2001 October - New coalition between the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Peasants' Party forms government with SLD leader Leszek Miller as prime minister.
2002 December - EU summit in Copenhagen formally invites Poland to join in 2004.
2003 March - Polish Peasant's Party ejected from ruling coalition over failure to vote with government on tax. Leszek Miller carries on as PM in minority government.
2003 June - Poles vote in referendum in favour of joining EU.
EU era dawns
2004 May - Poland is one of 10 new states to join the EU.
Prime Minister Miller resigns. Former finance minister Marek Belka succeeds him.
2005 September - Conservative Law and Justice party comes first in general elections.
2005 October - Law and Justice candidate Lech Kaczynski wins presidential election.
Minority government led by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz of Law and Justice sworn in.
2006 May - Law and Justice Party reaches majority coalition agreement with Self-Defence Party and League of Polish Families.
2006 July - Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz resigns as prime minister. President Lech Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw, becomes premier.
2007 January - Recently-appointed Archbishop of Warsaw Stanislaw Wielgus resigns over revelations about his co-operation with the secret police under communist rule.
2007 April - Prosecutors bring charges against former communist leader General Jaruzelski over his role in introducing martial law in 1981.
2007 October - Liberal, pro-EU Civic Platform party wins early general election after coalition government collapses.
Defence agreement with US
2008 February - The government forges an agreement with the US in principle to host a controversial American missile defence system.
2008 September - Poland's last Communist leader, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, goes on trial in connection with the imposition of martial law in 1981.
2009 May - The IMF approves a one-year credit line for Poland of $20.6 billion to help it weather the global economic crisis.
2010 April - President Lech Kaczynski and many other senior officials are killed in a plane crash while on his way to a ceremony in Russia marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre during World War II.
2010 July - Parliament Speaker and Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski of the centre-right Civic Platform defeats former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski in the second round of presidential elections.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton oversees amended agreement to station US missile defence shield base in Poland.
2010 December - Nigerian-born John Abraham Godson becomes first black member of Polish parliament.
2011 January - Russia's aviation authority blamed Polish pilot error for the Smolensk air crash in which President Lech Kaczynski and many other officials were killed in April 2010.
2011 July - Poland takes over EU rotating presidency for first time since it joined the bloc in 2004.
2011 October - Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centre-right Civic Platform party wins parliamentary elections.
2012 January - A court gives communist-era interior minister Czeslaw Kiszczak a two-year suspended prison sentence in absentia for his role in the martial law crackdown in 1981. The Communist Party leader of the time, Stanislaw Kania, is acquitted.
2013 September - Tens of thousands of protesters march through Warsaw in one of the largest demonstrations in years, organised by trade unions, to demand more jobs and higher pay.
2014 March - Prime Minister Donald Tusk says that Russia's annexation of Crimea cannot be accepted by the international community.
2014 April - Poland asks Nato to station 10,000 troops on its territory, as a visible mark of the Alliance's resolve to defend all its members after Russia's seizure of Crimea.
2014 June - Mr Tusk's ruling coalition narrowly survives a confidence vote triggered by a scandal prompted by leaked tapes of senior government officials appearing to disparage Poland's allies.
2014 September - Prime Minister Donald Tusk resigns to take up the post of president of the European Council. Ewa Kopacz takes over as head of government.
2014 November - Poland adopts a new National Security Strategy that states the country is threatened by war and names Russia as an aggressor in Ukraine.
2014 December - Poland complains of "unprecedented" Russian military activity in the Baltic Sea region, saying Nato is being tested but is not at risk of attack.
2015 April - Poland announces purchase of US Patriot surface-to-air missiles amid rising tension with Russia.
Turn to the right
2015 May - Conservative Law and Justice candidate Andrzej Duda beats centrist incumbent Bronislaw Komorowski in presidential election.
2015 October - Law and Justice conservative, Eurosceptic party becomes first to win overall majority in Polish democratic elections.
2015 December - President Duda approves controversial reform making it harder for the constitutional court to make majority rulings, despite large protests and European Union concerns at the implications for oversight of government decisions.
2016 January - European Commission investigates new media law that allows government to appoint heads of state TV and radio as potential "threat to European Union values".
2016 October - Parliament rejects private-member's bill to institute a near-total ban on abortion following mass protests. The governing Law and Justice party decides not to back the bill.
2017 April - Poland welcomes Nato troops deployed in the northeast, as part of efforts to enhance security following Russia's annexation of Crimea.
2017 May - Tens of thousands of people take part in a march in the capital, Warsaw, to protest against what they see as curbs on democracy imposed by the governing Law and Justice Party.
2017 July - President Duda vetoes controversial laws that would have given the government extensive power over the judiciary.
2017 December - Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki takes over as prime minister of the Law and Justice party government.
2018 March - A new law makes it an offence to ascribe Nazi atrocities in occupied Poland to the Polish state.
2019 October - The Law and Justice party maintains its position in the lower house of parliament at general elections, but loses control of the Senate to centre and centre-left parties.
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A chronology of key events:
| 16th century - Spanish colonisation of the River Plate coast and inland areas begins.
1776 - Spain establishes separate Viceroyalty of the River Plate.
1810 - Viceroy overthrown, launching the war of independence.
1816 - Independence declared, followed by decades of turmoil, attempted foreign intervention, and civil war between centralist and federalist forces.
1861 - State of Buenos Aires finally reintegrated with Argentine Confederation to form a united country.
1880 - Start of decades of liberal economic and immigration policies that lead to rapid income and population growth as well as progressive education and social policies.
1908 - Argentina has seventh highest per capita income in the world.
1912 - Full adult male suffrage introduced.
1916 - Hipolito Yrigoyen of the Radical party is elected president and introduces a minimum wage to counter the effects of inflation. Mr Yrigoyen is elected again in 1928.
1930 - Armed forces coup ousts President Yrigoyen amid sharp economic downturn caused by Great Depression. Civilian rule is restored in 1932, but economic decline continues.
1942 - Argentina, along with Chile, refuses to break diplomatic relations with Japan and Germany after the Japanese attack on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbour.
1943 - Nationalist army officers seize power in protest at stagnation and electoral fraud. One leading figures is Colonel Juan Peron.
1945 - Argentina declares war on Japan and Germany.
The Peron era
1946 - Juan Peron wins presidential election on a promise of higher wages and social security. His wife, Eva 'Evita' Peron is put in charge of labour relations.
1949 - A new constitution strengthens the power of the president. Opponents are imprisoned, independent newspapers are suppressed.
1951 - Peron is re-elected with a huge majority, but his support begins to decline after Evita dies the following year.
1955 August-September - Violent military uprisings drive President Peron to resign and go into exile.
1966 - General Juan Carlos Ongania seizes power after years of unstable civilian government.
1973 - The Peronist party wins elections in March, Peron becomes president in September.
1974 - Peron dies in July. His third wife, Isabel, succeeds him. Terrorism from right and left escalates, leaving hundreds dead amid strikes, protests and rampant inflation.
1976 - Armed forces seize power and launch 'Dirty War' in which thousands are killed on suspicion of left-wing sympathies.
The Falklands War
1982 April - Argentine forces occupy the British Falkland Islands, over which Argentina has long claimed sovereignty. British task force re-takes islands in June.
1983 - Junta, reeling from Falklands fiasco, restores democracy. Raul Alfonsin becomes president.
1989 - Carlos Menem of the Peronist party is elected president. He imposes an economic austerity programme.
1990 - Full diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom are restored, although Argentina maintains claim to Falklands.
1992 - Argentina introduces a new currency, the peso, which is pegged to the US dollar.
1994 - A Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires is bombed, 86 people are killed, and more than 200 injured in Argentina's worst terrorist atrocity. Prosecutors accuse Iran and its Lebanese Hezbollah allies of responsibility.
Recession bites
1999 - Fernando de la Rua of the centre-left Alianza opposition coalition wins the presidency, inherits 114 billion-dollar public debt after a year of recession.
2001 July - Much of the country is brought to a standstill by a general strike in protest against proposed government spending cuts. Country's credit ratings slip.
Return of the Peronists
2001 October - The opposition Peronists take control of both houses of parliament in congressional elections.
2001 December - IMF stops $1.3bn in aid, banks shut down. President De la Rua resigns after at least 25 people die in rioting.
2002 January - Congress elects Peronist Senator Eduardo Duhalde as caretaker president. Within days the government devalues the peso, ending 10 years of parity with the US dollar.
2002 November - Argentina defaults on an $800m debt repayment to the World Bank.
Kirchner sworn in
2003 May - Mainstream Peronist candidate Nestor Kirchner wins presidential election.
2003 September - After weeks of negotiations Argentina and IMF agree on debt-refinancing deal under which Buenos Aires will only pay interest on its loans.
2005 June - Supreme Court approves repeal of amnesty law that had protected former military officers suspected of human rights abuses during military rule in 1976-1983. Congress voted to scrap the amnesty in 2003.
2006 January - Argentina repays its multi-billion-dollar debt to the IMF.
Fernandez elected
2007 December - Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is elected president, succeeding her husband Nestor Kirchner.
2009 July - Legislative elections result in President Fernandez's Peronist party losing its absolute majorities in both houses of parliament.
Row with Britain
2009 December - Argentine parliament passes law claiming Falkland Islands and several other British overseas territories in the area.
2010 February - Argentina imposes new controls on ships passing through its waters to Falkland Islands in response to plans by a British company to drill for oil near the islands.
2011 October - Benefiting from strong economic growth, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner wins a second term with a landslide 54% of the vote.
2012 November - Congress approves a law to lower the voting age to 16.
2013 February - Argentina becomes the first country to be censured by the International Monetary Fund for not providing accurate data on inflation and economic growth, under a procedure that can end in expulsion.
2013 March - Falkland Islanders vote overwhelmingly in favour of remaining a British overseas territory.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires is chosen as Pope. He is the first Latin American to lead the Roman Catholic Church, and takes the name of Francis.
2014 July - Argentina defaults on its international debt for the second time in 13 years, after failing to resolve its differences with US hedge funds that hold 1.3bn dollars worth of bonds, bought at a discount after the country last defaulted.
2015 January - Prominent prosecutor Alberto Nisman is found dead in mysterious circumstances, after accusing the government of a cover-up over the country's worst terrorist attack - the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires that left 85 people dead.
2015 November - Conservative Mayor of Buenos Aires Mauricio Macri beats Peronist Daniel Scioli in run-off presidential election, takes office in December.
2016 February - Argentina agrees to settle multi-billion-dollar dispute with US hedge funds over bond repayments, which had restricted the country's access to international credit markets.
2016 December - Britain and Argentina sign an agreement to identify the remains of 123 Argentine soldiers who died in the Falklands War.
2017 October - Mr Macri's coalition wins decisively in a parliamentary election seen as a referendum on his market reform policies.
2018 May - Government raises interest rates dramatically in an effort to shore up the tumbling value of the peso currency.
2019 October - Peronist candidate Alberto Fernández wins the presidential election, becoming the first challenger to oust a sitting Argentinean president.
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It turned into the holiday from hell. | By Nuala McCannBBC News
Joseph May, 29, from Derriaghy, Lisburn, was really looking forward to his break in sunny Spain.
But la paloma blanca was about to drop a whole heap of hassle on his head.
In all his holiday fantasies, Joseph, an Ulster Bank customer, had not imagined the one about a penniless weekend in Alicante airport.
A bag of cheap patatas bravas and a morning wash in the airport toilets is never Spanish for "relaxing break".
It was the Ulster Bank technical fault that caused his woes.
He was due to go on holiday to Spain at 06:00 BST on Friday 22 June, he explained.
On Thursday, he rang the bank to ensure that his salary which was due would be paid in.
"They made out it would be fine. But when I got to Alicante airport I couldn't get at my money," he explained.
Without the funds, he could not pay for his rental car or his accommodation.
"I rang Ulster Bank and they said there was nothing they could do. So, I asked them to update money on my credit card, so I could get cash that way. They said they couldn't do this either," he explained.
He was stranded for the next three days in the airport.
"All weekend I've been stuck in an airport with no money for food or drink and I've been washing myself in the airport toilets," he complained.
On Monday, the bank increased the limit on his credit card, allowing him to have half a holiday - he is due back on Thursday.
"There was no reason they could not have done this on Friday. I told them you are leaving me stranded but they said there was nothing that they could do," he said.
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A chronology of key events:
| 7th-9th century - Namri Songzen and descendants begin to unify Tibetan-inhabited areas and conquer neighbouring territories, in competition with China.
822 - Peace treaty with China delineates borders.
1244 - Mongols conquer Tibet. Tibet enjoys considerable autonomy under Yuan Dynasty.
1598 - Mongol Altan Khan makes high lama Sonam Gyatso first Dalai Lama.
1630s-1717 - Tibet involved in power struggles between Manchu and Mongol factions in China.
1624 - First European contact as Tibetans allow Portuguese missionaries to open church. Expelled at lama's insistence in 1745.
1717 - Dzungar (Oirot) Mongols conquer Tibet and sack Lhasa. Chinese Emperor Kangxi eventually ousts them in 1720, and re-establishes rule of Dalai Lama.
1724 - Chinese Manchu (Qing) dynasty appoints resident commissioner to run Tibet, annexes parts of historic Kham and Amdo provinces.
1750 - Rebellion against Chinese commissioners quelled by Chinese army, which keeps 2,000-strong garrison in Lhasa. Dalai Lama government appointed to run daily administration under supervision of commissioner.
1774 - British East India Company agent George Bogle visits to assess trade possibilities.
1788 and 1791 - China sends troops to expel Nepalese invaders.
1793 - China decrees its commissioners in Lhasa to supervise selection of Dalai and other senior lamas.
Foreigners banned
1850s - Russian and British rivalry for control of Central Asia prompts Tibetan government to ban all foreigners and shut borders.
1865 - Britain starts discreetly mapping Tibet.
1904 - Dalai Lama flees British military expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband. Britain forces Tibet to sign trading agreement in order to forestall any Russian overtures.
1906 - British-Chinese Convention of 1906 confirms 1904 agreement, pledges Britain not to annex or interfere in Tibet in return for indemnity from Chinese government.
1907 - Britain and Russia acknowledge Chinese suzerainty over Tibet.
1908-09 - China restores Dalai Lama, who flees to India as China sends in army to control his government.
1912 April - Chinese garrison surrenders to Tibetan authorities after Chinese Republic declared.
Independence declared
1912 - 13th Dalai Lama returns from India, Chinese troops leave.
1913 - Tibet reasserts independence after decades of rebuffing attempts by Britain and China to establish control.
1935 - The man who will later become the 14th Dalai Lama is born to a peasant family in a small village in north-eastern Tibet. Two years later, Buddhist officials declare him to be the reincarnation of the 13 previous Dalai Lamas.
1949 - Mao Zedong proclaims the founding of the People's Republic of China and threatens Tibet with "liberation".
1950 - China enforces a long-held claim to Tibet. The Dalai Lama, now aged 15, officially becomes head of state.
1951 - Tibetan leaders are forced to sign a treaty dictated by China. The treaty, known as the "Seventeen Point Agreement", professes to guarantee Tibetan autonomy and to respect the Buddhist religion, but also allows the establishment of Chinese civil and military headquarters at Lhasa.
Mid-1950s - Mounting resentment against Chinese rule leads to outbreaks of armed resistance.
1954 - The Dalai Lama visits Beijing for talks with Mao, but China still fails to honour the Seventeen Point Agreement.
Revolt
1959 March - Full-scale uprising breaks out in Lhasa. Thousands are said to have died during the suppression of the revolt. The Dalai Lama and most of his ministers flee to northern India, to be followed by some 80,000 other Tibetans.
1963 - Foreign visitors are banned from Tibet.
1965 - Chinese government establishes Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).
1966 - The Cultural Revolution reaches Tibet and results in the destruction of a large number of monasteries and cultural artefacts.
1971 - Foreign visitors are again allowed to enter the country.
Late 1970s - End of Cultural Revolution leads to some easing of repression, though large-scale relocation of Han Chinese into Tibet continues.
1980s - China introduces "Open Door" reforms and boosts investment while resisting any move towards greater autonomy for Tibet.
1987 - The Dalai Lama calls for the establishment of Tibet as a zone of peace and continues to seek dialogue with China, with the aim of achieving genuine self-rule for Tibet within China.
1988 - China imposes martial law after riots break out.
1989 - The Dalai Lama is awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
1993 - Talks between China and the Dalai Lama break down.
1995 - The Dalai Lama names a six-year-old boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the true reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. The Chinese authorities place the boy under house arrest and designate another six-year-old boy, Gyancain Norbu, as their officially sanctioned Panchen Lama.
2002 - Contacts between the Dalai Lama and Beijing are resumed.
Rail link
2006 July - A new railway linking Lhasa and the Chinese city of Golmud is opened. The Chinese authorities hail it as a feat of engineering, but critics say it will significantly increase Han Chinese traffic to Tibet and accelerate the undermining of traditional Tibetan culture.
2007 November - The Dalai Lama hints at a break with the centuries-old tradition of selecting his successor, saying the Tibetan people should have a role.
2007 December - The number of tourists travelling to Tibet hits a record high, up 64% year on year at just over four million, Chinese state media say.
2008 March - Anti-China protests escalate into the worst violence Tibet has seen in 20 years, five months before Beijing hosts the Olympic Games.
Pro-Tibet activists in several countries focus world attention on the region by disrupting progress of the Olympic torch relay.
2008 October - The Dalai Lama says he has lost hope of reaching agreement with China about the future of Tibet. He suggests that his government-in-exile could now harden its position towards Beijing.
2008 November - The British government recognises China's direct rule over Tibet for the first time. Critics say the move undermines the Dalai Lama in his talks with China.
China says there has been no progress in the latest round of talks with aides of the Dalai Lama, and blames the Tibetan exiles for the failure of the discussions.
A meeting of Tibetan exiles in northern India reaffirms support for the Dalai Lama's long-standing policy of seeking autonomy, rather than independence, from China.
2008 December - Row breaks out between European Union and China after Dalai Lama addresses European MPs. China suspends high-level ties with France after President Nicolas Sarkozy meets the Dalai Lama.
Anniversary
2009 January - Chinese authorities detain 81 people and question nearly 6,000 alleged criminals in what the Tibetan government-in-exile called a security crackdown ahead of the March anniversary of the 1959 flight of the Dalai Lama.
2009 March - China marks flight of Dalai Lama with new "Serfs' Liberation Day" public holiday. China promotes its appointee as Panchen Lama, the second-highest-ranking Lama, as spokesman for Chinese rule in Tibet. Government reopens Tibet to tourists after a two-month closure ahead of the anniversary.
2009 April - China and France restore high-level contacts after December rift over President Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama, and ahead of a meeting between President Sarkozy and China's President Hu Jintao at the London G20 summit.
2009 August - Following serious ethnic unrest in China's Xinjiang region, the Dalai Lama describes Beijing's policy on ethnic minorities as "a failure". But he also says that the Tibetan issue is a Chinese domestic problem.
2009 October - China confirms that at least two Tibetans have been executed for their involvement in anti-China riots in Lhasa in March 2008.
2009 January - Head of pro-Beijing Tibet government, Qiangba Puncog, resigns. A former army soldier and, like Puncog, ethnic Tibetan, Padma Choling, is chosen to succeed him.
2010 April - Envoys of Dalai Lama visit Beijing to resume talks with Chinese officials after a break of more than one year.
Self-immolations
2011 March - A Tibetan Buddhist monk burns himself to death in a Tibetan-populated part of Sichuan Province in China, becoming the first of 12 monks and nuns in 2011 to make this protest against Chinese rule over Tibet.
2011 April - Dalai Lama announces his retirement from politics. Exiled Tibetans elect Lobsang Sangay to lead the government-in-exile.
2011 July - The man expected to be China's next president, Xi Jinping, promises to "smash" Tibetan separatism in a speech to mark the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Communist takeover of Tibet. This comes shortly after US President Barack Obama receives the Dalai Lama in Washington and expresses "strong support" for human rights in Tibet.
2011 November - The Dalai Lama formally hands over his political responsibilities to Lobsang Sangay, a former Harvard academic. Before stepping down, the Dalai Lama questions the wisdom and effectiveness of self-immolation as a means of protesting against Chinese rule in Tibet.
2011 December - An exiled Tibetan rights group says a former monk died several days after setting himself on fire. Tenzin Phuntsog is the first monk to die thus in Tibet proper.
2012 May - Two men set themselves on fire in Lhasa, one of whom died, the official Chinese media said. They are the first self-immolations reported in the Tibetan capital.
2012 August - Two Tibetan teenagers are reported to have burned themselves to death in Sichuan province.
2012 October - Several Tibetan men burn themselves to death in north-western Chinese province of Gansu, Tibetan rights campaigners say.
2012 November - UN human rights chief Navi Pillay calls on China to address abuses that have prompted the rise in self-immolations.
On the eve of the 18th Communist Party of China National Congress, three teenage Tibetan monks set themselves on fire.
2013 February - The London-based Free Tibet group says further self-immolations bring to over 100 the number of those who have resorted to this method of protest since March 2011.
2013 June - China denies allegations by rights activists that it has resettled two million Tibetans in "socialist villages".
2014 February - US President Obama holds talks with the Dalai Lama in Washington. China summons a US embassy official in Beijing to protest.
2014 April - Human Rights Watch says Nepal has imposed increasing restrictions on Tibetans living in the country following pressure from China.
2014 June - The Tibetan government-in-exile launches a fresh drive to persuade people across the world to support its campaign for more autonomy for people living inside the region.
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Is it really leaving at all? | Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
"I don't think so."
Forget the politicking and the crazy, bitter briefings.
If the past few weeks has been like watching the Conservative Party have a nervous breakdown in front of our eyes, this morning they are truly losing the plot.
Set aside the psychodrama about minicab cards, late night phone calls, toasts over dinner at Chequers, a foreign secretary no one can find. More of that later no doubt.
What sticks out the most from my interview with David Davis this morning is a very simple question we asked. Is the prime minister's plan really leaving the EU?
"I don't think so", he said.
That is the sentiment that's widely shared among the Tory party, and perhaps among many voters too. And guess what? It doesn't always matter which side of the referendum they were on either.
Some former Remainers say "look, this is a dodgy compromise, what's the point? If we are going to do this, then for goodness sake let's do it properly or just stay in".
From some Leavers, like Mr Davis, you also get "look, this is a dodgy compromise, what's the point? If we are going to do it, then for goodness sake let's do it properly".
Yes, I did mean to write the same line twice just then. We are a million miles from Tory unity, but weirdly there is some agreement at the fringes of the party that the current compromise is, as compromises so often are, something that pleases hardly anyone.
And it would be better for No 10 just to go the "full Norway", a close relationship with the EU not a Viking experience, or the "Canada plus", a free trade agreement not a ten-day tour of the Rockies, or frankly, not leave at all.
David Davis' resignation on its own - so far - is not going to bring down the government. It could well unleash a host of events that leads us to that place, but we're still a long way from that.
But what it does do is take the lid off the boiling pot of frustration, angst, ambition and despair you find in pockets of the governing party and a sense on both sides that this kind of Brexit might not be worth it. That's not to say most Tory MPs are in the mood for a giant ruckus.
Most of them in fact probably back the Chequers compromise, grateful at last that the Cabinet - well most of them - found agreement.
And believing, quite possibly correctly, that the vast majority of the public aren't paying attention to much of the flouncing in any case, so can ministers please, please, please, please, get on with it and just shut up.
For Number 10, the Chequers plan is a clever enough compromise they believe can get the EU on to the next phase of negotiations.
Remember - all of this is happening in order that officials can get down to actually negotiating the nitty-gritty of the long term relationship.
It is perfectly possible that within 72 hours or so it is situation normal, well normal-ish.
But David Davis was an "active backbencher", who delighted in making waves on the issues he cares about for many years.
If he thinks Theresa May's Brexit does not mean Brexit, expect plenty of trouble ahead even if today's particular storm passes before the heat wave breaks.
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Dublin Airport is opening two coronavirus test centres. | The first of two sites will open on Thursday morning, while a second is scheduled to come into use on Monday.
Members of the public can book tests run by two separate private companies, which will range in price from €99 to €159.
Those booking will have the option of either a walk-through facility or a drive-through setting.
It is expected that once both facilities are operational, they will be able to process up to 15,000 tests a day.
Vincent Harrison, the managing director at Dublin Airport said it was "a very positive step" to help people travel safely.
"We have been keen to provide testing at Dublin Airport for some time and the Government's recent decision to grant planning exemption, which we strongly welcome, will enable two testing facilities to open," he said.
However he added that the country needed "a rapid low-cost Covid-19 testing system for travel", similar to those being trialled in other countries.
The operations will be run by Randox and RocDoc and are available to any member of the public, whether they are travelling or not.
Tests must be pre-booked online for the service.
RocDoc said the company had been working with the airport for months in advance of the installation of the sites and they were "pleased to get the go-ahead".
"We will be installing a category two laboratory and testing facility, which will be able to process over and above the expected tests per day," Mr Rock said.
Randox will operate the walk-through facility.
Its facility will be situated in a building near the Terminal 2 multi-storey car park, while RocDoc's will be set up in the Express Green car park.
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I've been hearing some secrets. | Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter
Right now, one person is telling me, "I listen to Dolly Parton every morning before leaving the house." Another says "80% of the time, I'm looking at myself when I Skype with someone". And a third says, "whenever I am home alone, I talk to my cat in an American accent."
All of these slightly weird and frankly rather dull messages popped up in Secret, a gossip and rumour app which has been all the rage in Silicon Valley for a while and is now making its first foray overseas with a UK launch. It is also coming to Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.
I installed Secret last week after it showed its apparent usefulness by breaking a technology industry news story. Two days before the executive behind Google+ announced his departure, Secret had a message from someone saying "Vic Gundotra is interviewing". To a British reader that sounded as if he was recruiting - but in the US it meant he was himself looking for a new job.
Underneath the post, a noisy debate was taking place, with some apparent Google insiders badmouthing Gundotra while others rushed to his defence. An intriguing glimpse of the tensions inside one of the world's most important companies - or just some worthless back-biting from people mouthing off behind a cloak of anonymity?
Then there was the story about Nike apparently scaling back its plans for the Fuelband activity tracker. That too emerged first on Secret when someone posted "the douchebag execs at Nike are going to lay off a bunch of the eng team who developed The Fuelband and other Nike+ stuff." Again, there seemed to be some well-informed gossip in the comments about what was going on inside the company.
The idea behind the app is that you can post anything you want to say anonymously, but as it mines the contacts on your phone - with your permission - you can see if secrets are posted by friends (although you have to guess who they might be).
So far, it's proved a hit in a very limited area - the feverish world of Silicon Valley technology firms. Whether that will translate to the UK is an interesting question. Unless it spreads quickly through early adopters in places like the Tech City crowd in London - or perhaps inside some gossipy UK organisation - there may not be much for users to chew on.
Mind you, the scurrilous gossip about named individuals that we've seen on the US app may prove rather more perilous for Secret under UK libel laws. The other risk for the people behind the app is that it is used for cyber-bullying inside companies or even schools. As Twitter and Facebook have already found, a California base doesn't mean you can simply ignore the culture and legal systems of other countries where you operate.
And the bigger risk may be that there are just not enough interesting secrets out there.
"Secret isn't that exciting any more," says a message which has just popped up on my phone.
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"Who are you? Rip Van Winkle?" | Mark DevenportPolitical editor, Northern Ireland@markdevenporton Twitter
That was how the late Ian Paisley once put me down during a DUP news conference, when he thought my question showed me to be out of touch with the latest developments.
At the time I thought the DUP leader was being rather harsh. But at the start of this week, I really did feel like a latter-day Rip Van Winkle, as I returned to Stormont to find it bristling with life.
Last week I had to travel to England for a family commitment. Having been away when the New Decade, New Approach deal was sealed made the impact of the ghost assembly's sudden resurrection seem all the more striking.
Not for the first time, something which once seemed inconceivable now appeared perfectly logical, given the twin pressures brought to bear on our politicians from exasperated health workers and disgruntled voters.
The legal architecture for dealing with contentious issues like the Irish language seems awfully similar to that contained in the failed February 2018 draft deal.
But it's not hard to understand why the new context of a growing centre ground and ever more frequent health strikes made it hard for the two big parties to decline Julian Smith and Simon Coveney's invitation to resume their ministerial offices.
Then, despite some misgivings, the other three parties decided it was better to be inside the executive tent, rather than forming an opposition on the outside.
Cars and camera clicks
The reward came not just with the acquisition of ministerial Skodas (or in Nichola Mallon's case, a Nissan Leaf), but more importantly the swift progress in resolving the strike by nurses and other health workers.
However, no sooner had the cameras clicked on Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar's Stormont photo opportunities, than doubts over the financial underpinning of the deal began to emerge.
In contrast to the 2007 restoration of devolution, when there was a detailed negotiation on a financial package before the formal transfer of power, this time the politicians took the UK and Irish governments on trust.
Did Julian Smith pull a fast one? Or is there a genuine disagreement about how much the commitments contained in "New Decade, New Approach" will cost?
Either way, the row over cash has curtailed the new executive's honeymoon period more quickly than anyone could have reliably predicted.
Cash row
Finance Minister Conor Murphy accuses the UK government of bad faith. The Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith tells Mr Murphy and the other new ministers to just get on with it.
Logically all the local parties should be backing Mr Murphy, but old habits die hard with unionists Sammy Wilson, Paul Frew and Doug Beattie all more inclined to criticise the Sinn Fein Finance Minister than the Conservative Secretary of State.
So maybe not everything has changed so utterly as I thought. Although, in my Rip Van Winkle mode, I shall resist taking any power naps in my Stormont basement office for fear of what might happen by the time I wake up.
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Taxation | Here are the key points of Chancellor George Osborne's Budget.
Point at which people start paying income tax will be raised to £10,500 from April 2015
Threshold for 40p income tax to rise from £41,450 to £41,865 next month and by a further 1% to £42,285 next year
Inheritance tax waived for members of emergency services who give their lives in job
Tax on homes owned through a company to be extended from residential properties worth more than £2m to those worth more than £500,000
All long-haul flights to carry lower rate of air duty currently charged on flights to US
VAT waived on fuel for air ambulances and inshore rescue boats
Savings
Cash and shares Isas to be merged into single New Isa with annual tax-free savings limit of £15,000 from 1 July
The 10p tax rate for savers abolished
Cap on Premium Bonds to be lifted from £30,000 to £40,000 in June and £50,000 next year
Pensions
All tax restrictions on pensioners' access to their pension pots to be removed, ending the requirement to buy an annuity
Taxable part of pension pot taken as cash on retirement to be charged at normal income tax rate, down from 55%
Increase in total pension savings people can take as a lump sum to £30,000
New Pensioner Bond, paying "market-leading" rates, available from January to over-65s, with possible rates of 2.8% for one-year bond and 4% for three-year bond - up to £10,000 to be saved in each bond
Alcohol, tobacco and gambling
Beer duty cut by 1p a pint
Duty on spirits and ordinary cider frozen
Tobacco duty to rise by 2% above inflation and this escalator to be extended beyond the next general election
Bingo duty will be halved to 10%
Duty on fixed-odds betting terminals increased to 25%
Energy and fuel
Fuel duty rise planned for September will not happen
£7bn package to cut energy bills, including £18 per ton cap on carbon price support, predicted to save medium-sized manufacturers £50,000 and families £15 a year
State of the economy
GDP forecast to grow by 2.7% this year and 2.3% next year, then by 2.6% in 2016 and 2017 and by 2.5% in 2018
Coinage
Twelve-sided £1 coin to be introduced in 2017
Welfare
Budget to be capped at £119bn for 2015-16, rising in line with inflation to £127bn in 2018-19. The cap includes child benefit, incapacity benefit, winter fuel payment and income support - but does not include state pension and Jobseeker's Allowance
Public borrowing/deficit
Deficit forecast to be 6.6% of GDP this year, 5.5% in 2014-15 then falling to 0.8% by 2017-18 with a surplus of 0.2% in 2018-19
Borrowing forecast to be £108bn this year and £95bn next year, leading to a surplus of almost £5bn in 2018-19
A new charter for budget responsibility to be brought in this autumn
Promises to make permanent £1bn reduction in government department overspends
Business
Direct lending from government to UK businesses to promote exports doubled to £3bn and interest rates on that lending cut by a third
Business rate discounts and enhanced capital allowances in enterprise zones extended for three years
Housing/infrastructure
Help to Buy equity scheme for new-build homes extended to 2020
Support for building of more than 200,000 new homes
£270m guarantee for Mersey Gateway bridge
A "new garden city" at Ebbsfleet in Kent
Legislation to give Welsh government tax and borrowing powers to fund infrastructure needs, including improvements to M4
£140m extra for flood defence repairs and maintenance
£200m made available to fix potholes
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A chronology of key events:
| 1565 - First permanent European settlement in North America - St Augustine, present-day Florida - founded by the Spanish. North America is already inhabited by several distinct groups of people, who go into decline following the arrival of settlers.
1607 - Jamestown, Virginia, founded by English settlers, who begin growing tobacco.
1620 - Plymouth Colony, near Cape Cod, is founded by the Pilgrim Fathers, whose example is followed by other English Puritans in New England.
17th-18th centuries - Hundreds of thousands of Africans brought over and sold into slavery to work on cotton and tobacco plantations.
1763 - Britain gains control of territory up to the Mississippi river following victory over France in Seven Years' War.
War of Independence
1774 - Colonists form First Continental Congress as Britain closes down Boston harbour and deploys troops in Massachusetts.
1775 - American Revolution: George Washington leads Continental Army to fight against British rule.
1776 4 July - Declaration of Independence endorsed by Congress; colonies declare independence.
1781 - Rebel states form loose confederation after defeating the British at the Battle of Yorktown.
United States profile
1783 - Britain accepts loss of colonies by virtue of Treaty of Paris.
1787 - Founding Fathers draw up new constitution for United States of America. Constitution comes into effect in 1788.
1789 - George Washington elected first president of USA.
1791 - Bill of Rights guarantees individual freedom.
1803 - France sells Louisiana territories to USA.
1808 - Atlantic slave trade abolished.
1812-15 - War of 1812 between the US and Britain, partly over the effects of British restrictions on US trade during the Napoleonic Wars.
19th century - Residual resistance by indigenous people crushed as immigration from Europe assumes mass proportions, with settlers moving westwards and claiming "manifest destiny" to control North America; number of states in the union rises from 17 to 45.
1846-48 - US acquires vast tracts of Mexican territory in wake of Mexican War including California and New Mexico.
Civil War
1854 - Opponents of slavery, or abolitionists, set up Republican Party.
1860 - Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln elected president.
1860-61 - Eleven pro-slavery southern states secede from Union and form Confederate States of America, triggering civil war with abolitionist northern states.
1863 - Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free.
1865 - Confederates defeated; slavery abolished under Thirteenth Amendment. Lincoln is assassinated.
1898 - US gains Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and Cuba following the Spanish-American war. US annexes Hawaii.
World War I and the Great Depression
1917-18 - US intervenes in World War I, but rejects membership of League of Nations in its aftermath.
1920 - Women given the right to vote under the Nineteenth Amendment.
1920 - Sale and manufacture of alcoholic liquor outlawed. The Prohibition era sees a mushrooming of illegal drinking joints, home-produced alcohol and gangsterism.
1924 - Congress gives indigenous people right to citizenship.
1929-33 - More than 13 million people are unemployed after the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929 triggers the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover rejects direct federal relief.
1933 - President Franklin D Roosevelt launches "New Deal" recovery programme which includes major public works. Sale of alcohol resumes.
World War II and the Cold War
1941 - Japanese warplanes attack US fleet at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, leading to US joining World War II against the Axis powers.
1945 - US drops two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrenders.
1947 - US enunciates policy of aid for nations it deems threatened by communism in what became known as the Truman Doctrine. Cold War with Soviet Union begins.
1948 - America's programme to revive ailing post-war European economies - the Marshall Plan - comes into force. Some $13bn is disbursed over four years and the plan is regarded as a success.
1950-54 - Senator Joseph McCarthy carries out a crusade against alleged communists in government and public life; the campaign and its methods become known as McCarthyism. In 1954 McCarthy is formally censured by the Senate.
1950-53 - US forces play leading role against North Korean and Chinese troops in Korean War.
Desegregation and the Vietnam war
1954 - Racial segregation in schools becomes unconstitutional; start of campaign of civil disobedience to secure civil rights for Americans of African descent.
1960 - Democratic Party candidate John F Kennedy elected president, narrowly defeating his rival Richard Nixon.
1961 - Bay of Pigs invasion: an unsuccessful attempt to invade Cuba by Cuban exiles, organised and financed by Washington.
1962 - US compels Soviet Union to withdraw nuclear weapons from Cuba in what has become known as the Cuban missile crisis.
1963 - President John F Kennedy assassinated; Lyndon Johnson becomes president.
1964 - US steps up its military intervention in Vietnam. Civil Rights Act signed into law; it aims to halt discrimination on grounds of race, colour, religion, nationality.
1968 - Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King assassinated.
1969 - Republican Party candidate Richard Nixon elected president amid growing public opposition to Vietnam war. US military presence in Vietnam exceeds 500,000 personnel.
US astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon.
1972 - Nixon re-elected and makes historic visit to China that leads to recognition of the communist government .
1973 - Vietnam ceasefire agreement signed. The campaign had claimed some 58,000 American lives.
1974 - President Nixon resigns in the Watergate scandal over a 1972 break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters.
1976 - Democratic Party candidate Jimmy Carter elected president.
1979 - US embassy in Tehran, Iran, seized by radical students. The 444-day hostage crisis - including a failed rescue attempt in 1980 - impacts on President Carter's popularity and dominates the 1980 presidential election campaign.
Global assertiveness
1980 November - Republican Party's Ronald Reagan elected president, and goes on to adopt a tough anti-communist policy abroad and tax-cutting policies at home.
1986 January - Space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after take off from Cape Canaveral. All seven crew members are killed. Manned space flights are suspended until September 1988.
1986 - US warplanes bomb Libyan cities. "Irangate" scandal uncovered, revealing that proceeds from secret US arms sales to Iran were used illegally to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
1988 - Reagan's vice-president, George Bush, elected president.
1989 - US troops invade Panama, oust its government and arrest its leader, one-time Central Intelligence Agency informant General Manuel Noriega, on drug-trafficking charges.
1991 - US forces play dominant role in war against Iraq, which was triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and ended with the expulsion of Iraqi troops from that country.
The Clinton years
1992 - Democratic Party candidate Bill Clinton elected president.
1992 - Congress passes North American Free Trade Agreement, or Nafta, intended to create free-trade bloc among US, Canada and Mexico.
1995 - Oklahoma bomb by far-right activists kills more than 160 people in worst ever incident of its kind in US.
1998 - Scandal over Clinton's sexual impropriety with White House worker Monica Lewinsky dominates domestic political agenda, and leads to impeachment proceedings in Congress.
1999 March-June - US plays leading role in Nato bombardment of Yugoslavia in response to Serb violence against ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo.
2000 November - Republican Party's George W Bush wins presidency.
11 September attacks
2001 11 September - Co-ordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda terror group prompts the US to embark on a ''war on terror'' that includes invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
2001 October - US leads massive campaign of air strikes against Afghanistan and helps opposition forces defeat the Taliban regime.
2002 November - President Bush signs into law a bill creating a Department of Homeland Security, the biggest reorganisation of federal government in more than 50 years.
2003 February - Space shuttle Columbia's 28th mission ends in tragedy when the craft breaks-up while re-entering the atmosphere. The seven astronauts on board are killed.
Iraq war
2003 March - Missile attacks on Baghdad mark the start of a US-led campaign to topple the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. US forces advance into central Baghdad in early April.
2004 May - Furore over pictures showing the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in US custody.
2005 August - Hundreds of people are killed when Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive storm to hit the US in decades, sweeps through gulf coast states. Much of the city of New Orleans is submerged by flood waters.
2006 March - Congress renews the USA Patriot Act, a centrepiece of the government's fight against terrorism, after months of debate about its impact on civil liberties. The government agrees to some curbs on information gathering.
2007 January - President Bush announces a new Iraq strategy; thousands more US troops will be dispatched to shore up security in Baghdad.
2008 September - Turmoil in the US and international financial markets as major Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers collapses and other big US financial players face growing troubles as a result of the "credit crunch".
Obama elected
2008 November - Democratic Senator Barack Obama becomes the first black president of the United States.
2009 January - First "Tea Party" rally held in protest at Obama administration's plans to bail out banks and introduce healthcare reform. The populist and libertarian movement acts as focus for conservative opposition to the president's reform plans.
2010 March - Democrats in Congress succeed in passing a bill on health care reform, despite strong Republican opposition.
US and Russia announce agreement on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The pact was to be signed on 8 April.
President Obama unveils a new defence policy significantly curtailing the circumstances in which the US would use nuclear weapons.
2011 May - US forces kill Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in an operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
2011 July - The final Space Shuttle mission is completed with the landing of Atlantis on 21 July, bringing about the end of the 30-year programme.
2012 September - The US ambassador in Libya is killed when armed men storm the consulate in Benghazi.
2013 April - Twin bomb blasts targeting the Boston marathon kill three people and injure more than 170. Soviet-born Islamic extremist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is charged after a manhunt in which his elder brother and suspected co-conspirator Tamerlan is killed.
2013 May - Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden flees to Russia via Hong Kong after revealing leaking information on extensive internet and telephone surveillance by US intelligence.
2014 August-November - The shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman sparks a weeks of riots the Missouri town of Ferguson. In November, a grand jury's decision not to charge the officer with murder sets off new unrest.
Republican resurgence
2014 November - Republicans win a Senate majority in mid-term elections, gaining control of both houses of Congress and further reducing President Obama's room for manoeuvre.
2014 December - US and Cuba begin steps to normalise diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of stand-off.
2015 March - President Obama announces that 10,000 US troops will remain in Afghanistan as advisors and trainers until 2016.
2015 June - US accuses Chinese hackers of massive breach of personal data of nearly four million government workers. China denies any role.
White supremacist shoots dead nine African-American worshippers in a church in Charleston, prompting nationwide revulsion and demands for end to public display of Confederate Civil-War-era symbols.
2015 December - FBI say Muslim couple who shot dead 14 people and wounded 21 others at office party in San Bernadino, California, were Islamist extremists who had prepared the attack, the worst on US soil since September 2001, in advance.
Trump elected president
2016 November - Republican candidate Donald Trump wins presidential election, defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in one of the biggest political upsets in US history. He is inaugurated in January.
2017 January - President Trump signs executive orders restricting visas for people seeking to enter the US from certain Muslim-majority countries, and barring funding for cities that shelter illegal immigrants. Both policies are blocked by the courts.
2017 May - President Trump sacks FBI Director James Comey, prompting a public row about whether the White House was trying to derail an inquiry into alleged collusion between Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and the Trump campaign.
2017 August - A woman is run over and killed by a suspected far-right sympathiser amid protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. President Trump is widely criticised for blaming both sides for violence, rather than the neo-Nazis and White supremacists.
2017 December - US recognises Jerusalem as capital of Israel and announces plans to move embassy there, prompting anger in Arab countries. In March 2019 the US recognises Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
North Korea diplomacy
2018 April - China imposes 25% tariffs on a range of US goods in response to similar US measures.
2018 June - After months of hostile rhetoric, President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet in Singapore and agree to continue dialogue aimed at reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula.
2018 October - The US, Canada and Mexico reach a new trade deal to replace the current North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).
The US announces plans to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, which restricts US and Russian short- and medium-range nuclear missiles, accusing Moscow of having violated its terms.
Road to impeachment
2018 November - Opposition Democrats take control of House of Representatives in mid-term elections, making it harder for President Trump's Republicans to pass legislation.
2019 February - US and North Korea talks in Vietnam break down over pace of nuclear disarmament.
2019 March - Mueller Report finds no evidence of collusion between Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and the Trump campaign.
2019 October - US withdraws troops from northern Syria, which prompts Turkey to occupy Kurdish-run parts of the north in an attempt to create a buffer zone.
2019 December - President Trump is impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. His trial is set to begin in the Senate the following month.
2020 January - US drone strike kills leading Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad Airport, promoting Iranian threats of retaliation.
2020 March - National emergency declared over the Covid-19 pandemic.
2020 May - Nationwide protests break out following the killing of African-American George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
2020 November - Democrat former Vice-President Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump in the presidential election.
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The Trafford Centre is up for sale. | Intu Properties, which owns 17 UK shopping complexes including Lakeside in Essex in addition to the Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester, entered administration in June.
Its joint administrators said: "All parties are working constructively together to maximise value for this highly attractive asset."
Shoppers can still visit the Trafford Centre, which opened in 1998. It last sold for £1.6bn nearly a decade ago.
The administrators declined to comment on the current asking price.
Intu Properties warned in January that it risked defaulting on its debts unless lenders gave them significant breathing space.
Its shopping centres were partially shut during the coronavirus lockdown, with only essential shops allowed to remain open.
The retail property market has been going through "a period of intense structural change", said Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics.
"This hasn't come overnight - this has been a trend that has been developing over the last few years."
He added the impact of Covid-19 had "accelerated many of those trends such as the shift online and the way people are visiting those physical locations".
The sale of the Trafford Centre, which attracts 30 million visitors every year, "boils down to trying to get the best price", Mr Lim explained.
"It's going to be easy to find a buyer but more difficult to find the right price."
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Intercontinental missiles | With the war of words between the US and North Korea escalating, focus has turned to Pyongyang's missile programme. But just how advanced is it?
North Korea's missile arsenal has progressed over the decades from crude artillery rockets derived from World War II designs to testing what it says are long-range missiles that may be able to strike targets in the US.
North Korea's latest efforts are focused on building reliable long-range missiles, which would have the potential of reaching the mainland United States.
On 4 July 2017, Pyongyang said it had carried out its first successful test of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM). It said the Hwasong-14 could hit "any part of the world", but initial US estimates put the range as shorter than that.
The US military described it as an intermediate-range missile, but a number of US experts said they believed the missile could reach the US state of Alaska.
On 28 July 2017, North Korea carried out its second and latest ICBM test, with the missile reaching an altitude of about 3,000km and landing in the sea off Japan.
Pyongyang has also displayed two types of ICBMs, known as the KN-08 and KN-14, at military parades since 2012.
Carried and launched from the back of a modified truck, the three-stage KN-08 is believed to have a range of about 11,500km.
The KN-14 appears to be a two-stage missile, with a possible range of around 10,000km. Neither has yet been tested, and the relationship between them and the Hwasong-14 is not yet clear.
Nuclear advances?
Media reports in the US have claimed that Pyongyang has now made a nuclear warhead small enough to fit inside its missiles. While not confirmed, this has been seen as one of the last obstacles to North Korea being a fully nuclear-armed state.
A report in the Washington Post, citing US intelligence officials, suggested North Korea was developing nuclear weapons capable of hitting the US at a much faster rate than expected.
A Japanese government defence paper also said the weapons programme had "advanced considerably" and that North Korea possibly now had nuclear weapons.
Why build ICBMs?
Inter-continental ballistic missiles are seen as the last word in power projection because they allow a country to wield massive firepower against an opponent on the other side of the planet.
The only real reason to spend the money, time and effort building them is to have the capability to fire nuclear weapons.
During the Cold War, Russia and the United States sought different ways to protect and deliver their missiles, which were hidden in silos, piggybacked on huge trucks or carried by submarines.
All ICBMs are designed along similar lines. They are multi-stage rockets powered by solid or liquid fuel, and carry their weapon payload out of the atmosphere into space.
The weapon payload - usually a thermonuclear bomb - then re-enters the atmosphere and detonates either above or directly on top of its target.
Some ICBMs have a "multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle", or Mirv.
This has multiple warheads and decoys, allowing it to strike multiple targets and confuse missile defence systems.
In the Cold War period, the range and potential threat of ICBMs were seen as key to the concept of "Mutually Assured Destruction" or MAD.
MAD supposedly helped maintain peace because neither side could "win" without suffering incalculable damage.
The North's missile milestones
North Korea's own missile programme began with Scuds, with its first batch reportedly coming via Egypt in 1976.
By 1984 it was building its own versions called Hwasongs.
These missiles have an estimated maximum range of about 1,000km, and carry conventional, chemical and possibly biological warheads.
From the Hwasong came the Nodong design - effectively an upscaled Hwasong/Scud with an extended range of 1,300km.
In an April 2016 analysis, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the missiles were a "proven system which can hit all of South Korea and much of Japan".
More capable missiles followed with the development of the Musudan range, which was most recently tested in 2016.
Estimates differ dramatically on its how far it can fly, with Israeli intelligence putting it at 2,500km and the US Missile Defense Agency estimating about 3,200km. Other sources suggest a possible 4,000km.
Another development came in August 2016 when North Korea announced it had tested a submarine based "surface-to-surface, medium-to-long-range ballistic missile", called the Pukguksong.
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Surviving coronavirus is a major feat. | By Lisa SummersScotland Health Correspondent
But recovering from the initial onslaught of the virus on the body may only be the start of long-term health issues for some patients.
You've survived. But what happens next?
A month ago I visited the Covid wards at Dundee's Ninewells Hospital.
Staff were busy dealing with the surge in cases at the early stages of the pandemic.
It is a different picture now. Still busy, cases keep coming, but staff are now looking ahead.
'A worrying picture'
Doctors here are leading a major research project involving hospitals and universities across Scotland looking at the long term consequences of Covid-19.
For a small number of people, particularly those who have been treated in intensive care, a worrying picture is emerging of patients with lung, kidney or heart damage.
The study is being led by Prof James Chalmers who is also a full time respiratory consultant at Ninewells. He showed me an X-Ray of a patient who has been treated at the hospital.
He said: "We are concerned in the respiratory profession that we are seeing the start of a new lung condition which is post-Covid lung disease. There are a small proportion of patients who will be left with chronic lung conditions as a result of Covid and will require treatment.
"So we'll need to have the clinics and the specialists to look after these patients and provide them with long-term care".
Dr Samira Bell is a nephrologist, a kidney specialist who is also part of the research team. She says one of the hardest things about this disease is that it is difficult to predict who will be worst affected.
Many patients do have underlying health conditions but they have seen younger people with damage to their kidneys too.
She says many European countries were taken by surprise at the number of patients who needed dialysis while being treated for Covid-19 in intensive care.
In Tayside they had the capacity to increase their dialysis machines although it has been a challenge in some other places.
She said: "We are seeing that patients are suffering from moderate to severe acute kidney injury in about 20-30% of patients and 30% of patients who are admitted to intensive care for Covid infection are requiring dialysis so the numbers are much bigger than we envisaged based on the data coming out of China."
The study has been funded by the Scottish government and will track patients who have been through intensive care at hospitals in Scotland.
Researchers will monitor their progress over the coming months looking for any long term serious illnesses that may have developed as a side effect of coronavirus.
In the Covid recovery ward, Thomas Maronay is desperate to get home to see his grandchildren. He was admitted to Ninewells two weeks ago, seriously ill. He needed ventilation support in critical care. He still uses oxygen to breath as his lungs continue to recover.
He said: "It was a nightmare, that first five, six days just eating, sleeping, I didn't know what was going on."
'Still feeling the impact'
I chat to a radiographer who is on the ward. She tells me there have been some real highs and lows over the last month. It has been rewarding to see those getting better, but really hard to hear about those who haven't made it.
Prof Chalmers tells me staff here have rallied. Many have themselves contracted coronavirus, they've plugged gaps because everyone has pitched in to help out. He himself, is about to start a night shift on the wards.
The immediate pressures of coronavirus on hospitals seem to be stabilising and social distancing has played a major role in that.
But early indications suggest that long after this pandemic has passed, the NHS will still be feeling the impact.
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A chronology of key events:
| 1908 - King Carlos and eldest son assassinated in Lisbon. Second son Manuel becomes king.
1910 - King Manuel II abdicates amid revolution; Portugal proclaimed a republic.
1911 - New constitution separates church from state. Manuel Jose de Arriaga elected first president of republic.
1916-18 - Portugal fights World War I on Allied side.
1926 - Military coup. General Antonio de Fragoso Carmona becomes president.
1928 - Carmona appoints Antonio de Oliveira Salazar minister of finance.
Salazar era
1932 - Salazar becomes prime minister.
1933 - "New State" ("Estado Novo") constitution.
1936 - Salazar backs General Franco's nationalists in Spanish Civil War.
1939-45 - Portugal maintains official neutrality during World War II, but allows UK to use air bases in Azores.
1947 - Government crushes attempted revolt, deports labour leaders and army officers to Cape Verde Islands.
1949 - Portugal becomes founding member of Nato.
1955 - Portugal joins United Nations.
1955 - Indian opposition to Portuguese territory leads to severed diplomatic ties.
1958 - Admiral Americo Tomas appointed president.
1961 - India annexes Portuguese Goa. Rebellion breaks out in Angola, Guinea and Mozambique.
1968 - Salazar succeeded by Marcello Caetano.
1970 - Salazar dies.
Coup
1974 - Caetano government overthrown by group of army officers. General Antonio Ribeiro de Spinola becomes president, succeeded by General Francisco da Costa Gomes.
1974-75 - Independence for Portuguese colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Cape Verde Islands, Sao Tome and Principe, and Angola.
After more than 450 years in power, Portugal withdraws from Portuguese Timor - now East Timor - which is then occupied by Indonesia.
Huge influx of expatriates from former colonies.
1976 - Parliamentary elections. Mario Soares becomes prime minister. General Antonio Ramalho Eanes wins presidency.
1979 - Centre-right alliance wins elections.
Civilian government
1982 - Military Council of the Revolution abolished, civilian government formally restored.
1983 - Soares returns as prime minister.
1985 - Cavaco Silva becomes prime minister.
1986 January - Portugal becomes member of EEC (later EU).
Mario Soares elected president.
1987 - Cavaco Silva wins absolute majority in parliament.
1991 - Soares re-elected president.
1995 - Antonio Guterres becomes prime minister.
1996 - Jorge Sampaio elected president.
1999 - Last overseas territory, Macau, handed over to Chinese administration.
2001 - Jorge Sampaio elected for a second presidential term.
2001 December - Alqueva project on the Guadiana River nears completion as Europe's largest artificial lake, condemned by environmentalists as destructive, grandiose and unnecessary.
2001 December - Prime Minister Guterres resigns after his Socialist Party suffers unexpectedly heavy losses in local elections. Parliament is dissolved, early general election set for March 2002.
2002 January - Euro replaces the escudo.
Barroso government
2002 March - Social Democrat leader Jose Manuel Durao Barroso forms centre-right coalition after general election in which Socialists are defeated.
2003 August - Government declares a national calamity as forest fires sweep across vast areas of woodland. Officials say an area the size of Luxembourg has been lost to the fires. At least 18 people are killed; damage is estimated at one billion euros.
2004 July - Mr Barroso resigns as prime minister to become president of the European Commission. Pedro Santana Lopes, his successor as leader of Social Democratic Party, forms government.
2004 December - Four months into Prime Minister Lopes' government, President Sampaio calls early elections.
2005 February - Socialists sweep to victory in general elections. They usher in economic and social reforms which provoke a series of protest strikes among public sector workers.
2005 August - Portugal calls for outside help as deadly wildfires, exacerbated by drought and said to be the worst in recent times, rage across the country.
2006 January - Anibal Cavaco Silva, centre-right prime minister of 1985-1995, elected president.
2007 March - Mass demonstrations - the largest in recent years - against government's economic reforms.
2007 April - President endorses new law permitting abortion in first ten weeks of pregnancy, aligning Portugal with most other EU countries.
2007 July - Portugal takes over EU presidency.
2008 April - Portuguese parliament votes overwhelmingly in favour of ratifying EU's new treaty. European leaders had signed the treaty at a special summit in Lisbon in December 2007.
2008 May - Parliament votes to bring spelling of Portuguese language more in line with Brazilian practice. Opponents of the move say it is a capitulation to Brazilian influence.
2009 September - Governing Socialist Party wins re-election but loses its overall majority.
2009 October - Socialist Party leader Jose Socrates forms minority government.
Economic crisis
2010 March - Tens of thousands of civil servants hold one-day strike in protest against plans to freeze public sector workers' pay.
Government announces package of austerity measures, including cuts in public spending and tax increases, to reduce Portugal's budget deficit.
2010 March-July - As eurozone debt crisis mounts, several leading credit rating agencies downgrade Portugal's government debt, further undermining confidence in the Portuguese economy.
2010 October - Portugal wins non-permanent seat on UN Security Council. Two-year term will begin on 1 January 2011.
2010 November - Parliament passes austerity budget aimed at bringing down high public debt levels.
2011 March - Government resigns after parliament rejects new austerity package. Jose Socrates continues as PM in caretaker capacity.
2011 April - Portugal becomes the third European Union country after Greece and Ireland to apply for EU financial assistance to help it cope with its budget deficit.
Bailout
2011 May - The European Union and International Monetary Fund agree a 78bn-euro bailout for Portugal, on condition of sweeping spending cuts.
2011 June - Parliamentary elections. Ruling Socialist Party ousted. Winning Social Democratic Party forms governing coalition with the Popular Party.
2011 July - Credit ratings agency Moody's downgrades Portugal's public debt to junk status.
2011 August - The government announces the country's biggest spending cuts in 50 years, seeking to reduce public expenditure from 44.2% of GDP to 43.5% by 2015.
2011 October - The government submits another package of spending cuts and tax increases to parliament in an effort to meet the terms of the country's 78bn-euro bailout.
Strikes
2011 November - Hundreds of thousands of workers go on strike a week before parliament is due to vote on the government's programme of spending cuts and tax rises.
Credit ratings agency Fitch downgrades Portugal's public debt to junk status.
2012 January - Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgrades Portugal's rating to junk status.
The two largest unions, the CGTP and the UGT, split over a labour law reform proposed as part of Portugal's bailout, with the more moderate UGT reaching an agreement with the government.
2012 March - Public sector workers hold a 24-hour general strike in protest against the labour law reform and austerity measures.
2012 August - Figures show that Portugal's GDP shrank 1.2% in the second quarter.
2012 September - The EU, IMF and European Central Bank give Portugal another year to reduce its deficit below the EU target of 3% of GDP, after noting progress in rebalancing the economy.
2013 July - Several senior ministers resign over the handling of the economic crisis, but the government survives.
2013 November - The government approves more spending cuts, mainly affecting public-sector employees' wages, conditions and pensions, in order to avoid a second international bailout.
Bailout exit
2014 May - Portugal exits international bailout without seeking back-up credit from its lenders.
2014 August - The government bails out the stricken lender Banco Espirito Santo - Portugal's largest private bank - to the tune of 3.9bn euros in order to avert a possible wider economic collapse.
2014 November - Interior Minister Miguel Macedo resigns in wake of corruption inquiry linked to allocation of fast-track residence permits, many of which have gone to foreigners willing to invest large sums in Portuguese property.
Former Socialist premier Jose Socrates is remanded in custody on suspicion of corruption, tax fraud and money laundering.
2015 January - The government approves rules allowing descendants of Jews who were expelled from the country centuries ago to claim Portuguese citizenship.
2015 March - The head of the tax collection authority resigns amid claims that he tried to shield the files of influential figures from scrutiny.
2015 November - Following inconclusive parliamentary elections, Socialist leader Antonio Costa forms centre-left government committed to relaxing some austerity measures.
2016 October - Former prime minister Antonio Guterres is appointed UN Secretary General.
2017 February - Portugal drops complaint to the EU over Spain's plan to build a nuclear waste storage facility which environmentalists fear could affect the River Tagus, which flows into Portugal. In return Spain agrees to share environmental information and organise consultations over the facility.
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A chronology of key events:
| 1542 - Spanish expedition claims the islands and names them the Philippines after the heir to the Spanish throne.
1896 - Civil and armed campaign for independence from Spanish rule begins.
1898 - Revolutionary forces under Emilio Aguinaldo proclaim independence.
1898 December - During brief Spanish-American War, US Navy destroys Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Spain cedes Philippines to US, which proclaims military rule.
1899 - Revolutionaries refuse to recognise US takeover, proclaim First Philippine Republic with General Aguinaldo as president, launch armed struggle against US forces known as Philippine-American War.
1901 - Emilio Aguinaldo captured.
1902 - Philippine-American War formally ends as US civil government replaces military rule. Some independence forces fight on until defeat of Moro resistance in south in 1913.
1907 - Elected Philippine assembly inaugurated under US rule. 1916 - US government promises Philippines greater autonomy, leading to independence.
1935 - A plebiscite approves establishment of Commonwealth of Philippines. Manuel Quezon is its first president. Philippines promised full independence within 10 years.
Invasion and occupation
1941 - Japan seizes Philippines.
1944 - US forces retake islands.
1946 - Islands granted full independence and renamed Republic of the Philippines.
1947 - The US is awarded military bases on the islands.
1951 - Peace treaty signed with Japan. The Philippines eventually receive $800m in reparations payments.
1965 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes president.
1969 - Marcos re-elected amidst allegations of electoral fraud. Supports US policy in Vietnam. Muslim separatists in south begin guerrilla war.
Martial law
1972 - Marcos declares martial law. Parliament suspended, opposition politicians arrested, censorship imposed.
1973 - New constitution gives Marcos absolute powers.
1977 - Opposition leader Benigno Aquino sentenced to death, but Marcos delays execution.
1980 - Aquino allowed to travel to US for medical treatment.
1981 - Martial law lifted. Marcos wins presidential elections.
1983 - Aquino returns to Philippines, but is shot dead as he leaves plane amid suspicions of official military involvement.
"People power"
1986 - Presidential elections see Marcos opposed by Aquino's widow Corazon. Marcos declares himself the winner, but Aquino disputes result. Mass protests, dubbed "people power", in Manila see military abandon Marcos, who flees to Hawaii. New government says Marcos looted billions of dollars during his rule.
1989 December - US jets assist Philippine government forces suppress attempted coup.
1990 - Military officials convicted of murder of Benigno Aquino.
1991 - US abandons Clark Air Base after volcanic eruption smothers it with ash.
1992 - Aquino's defence minister Fidel Ramos wins presidency. US closes Subic Bay Naval Station.
1996 - Peace agreement reached with Muslim separatist group, Moro National Liberation Front. Another group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), fights on.
1998 - Former film star Joseph Estrada elected president.
2000 November - Impeachment proceedings start against President Estrada on allegations of corruption, betrayal of public trust, and violation of the constitution.
Estrada tried
2001 January - Suspension of impeachment causes mass street protests. Military withdraws support and President Estrada stands down. Vice-President Gloria Arroyo sworn in as president.
2001 March - MILF declares ceasefire, says ready to hold talks with government.
2001 April - Joseph Estrada is charged with plundering more than $80m from state funds while in office. Eventually found guilty and jailed for life. although he wins pardon.
2002 January - US and Filipino armies hold joint counter-terror exercises take place near stronghold of Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
2002 October - Series of deadly bomb blasts on Manila bus and three locations in Zamboanga city blamed on Islamist militants.
2003 February - Ceasefire between MILF and government breaks down. Planned talks called off in May after rebel attack on Mindanao kills 30 people.
2003 July - Government signs another ceasefire with MILF ahead of planned talks in Malaysia.
Army mutiny in Manila as some 300 soldiers seize shopping centre, but surrender peacefully following negotiations.
2004 February - Peace talks between government and Maoist rebel New People's Army start in Norway, but are called off by the rebels in August.
2004 June - Gloria Arroyo wins May's presidential elections.
Arroyo under pressure
2005 January - Heavy fighting between troops and MILF rebels breaks July 2003 ceasefire.
2005 April- Breakthrough achieved on contentious issue of ancestral land achieved at peace talks in Malaysia between government and MILF rebels.
2005 June - Influential Cardinal Jaime Sin, who led the two peaceful revolts that toppled Presidents Marcos and Estrada, dies aged 76.
2006 February - More than 1,000 people are killed by a mudslide which engulfs a village on the central island of Leyte.
President Arroyo declares a week-long state of emergency after the army says it has foiled a planned coup.
2007 January - Death of Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani in 2006 confirmed.
2007 February - Government report accuses military of being behind the killings of hundreds of mainly left-wing activists since 2001.
2007 November - Renegade soldiers make failed coup bid at luxury hotel in Manila after breaking out of court where they were standing trial for failed 2003 mutiny.
Rebel peace accords
2008 July-August - Government negotiators say they have reached an agreement with MILF rebels on the expansion of a Muslim autonomous region in the south. Deal collapses after Christian communities raise objections and renewed fighting on the southern island of Mindanao leaves at least 30 people dead.
2008 December - Norwegian-brokered peace talks with Maoist guerrillas of the New People's Army (NPA) break down; NPA attacks army patrol on Mindanao.
2009 September - Army announces capture of leading MILF figure Camarudin Hadji Ali.
2009 November - An attack on group of people travelling to file election nomination papers on Mindanao leaves 57 dead. Victims' relatives blame the rival Ampatuan clan.
2009 December - Peace talks between Manila and MILF resume in Malaysia, after breaking down 16 months ago.
2010 February - The army captures Abu Sayyaf leader Mujibar Alih Amon, suspected of a kidnapping raid on a Malaysian resort in 2000 and the killing of Christian missionaries in 2001.
Prosecutors charge 196 more people with murder over the Maguindanao massacre in November, including Andal Ampatuan Snr, a former provincial governor and ally of President Arroyo.
Benigno Aquino elected
2010 June - Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino becomes president.
2010 September - Andal Ampatuan junior, a member of the powerful Ampatuan clan, goes on trial on charges of organising the Maguindanao mass killings.
2011 February - Manila and Maoist NPA agree to work towards a peace deal by 2012 at talks in Oslo, their first negotiations since the previous round broke down in 2004. Troops arrested prominent NPA member Tirso Alcantara the previous month.
2012 May - Philippines and Chinese naval vessels confront one another off the Scarborough Shoal reef in the South China Sea. Both countries claim the reef, which may have significant reserves of oil and gas.
2012 October - The government signs a framework peace plan with the Muslim rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending a 40-year conflict that has cost an estimated 120,000 lives.
2012 December - Parliament defies the Catholic Church to vote for state-funded contraception, approving a bill that has been debated for 13 years.
2013 February - Armed followers of a self-proclaimed sultan invade Sabah state on Malaysian Borneo, sparking several days of fighting with Malaysian forces. More than 60 people are killed.
2013 May - Major diplomatic row erupts between Taiwan and the Philippines after Filipino coastguards kill a Taiwanese fisherman in disputed waters.
2013 September - Stand-off between the army and rebel remnants of Moro National Liberation Front in southern city of Zamboanga prompts 75,000 residents to flee.
2013 November - Typhoon Haiyan sweeps across central areas of the country leaving devastation and thousands of dead in its wake. A major international aid effort is organised to help more than four million people affected.
2014 March - The MILF rebel group signs a peace deal with the government that brings an end to one of Asia's longest and deadliest conflicts.
2014 April - Supreme Court approves a birth control law, which requires government health centres to distribute free contraceptives. The bill marks a defeat for the Catholic Church, which campaigned strongly against it.
2015 January - Forty-four police commandos are killed in clashes with Muslim rebels on the southern island of Mindanao, the largest loss of life for the security forces in recent memory.
2015 March - Hundreds of Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines register to vote in 2016 elections under peace deal designed to end four decades of conflict.
2016 June - Populist former mayor Rodrigo Duterte elected president, announces hard-line crackdown on drugs and suggests he might pivot from the US to China.
2016 June - The so-called Islamic State (IS) group acknowledges its operations in the Philippines in an official video, having recognised Isnilon Hapilon, an Abu Sayyaf leader, as "emir" there.
2016 July - Government welcomes the ruling in a case it brought before an international tribunal which concluded that China's claim to much of the resources in the South China Sea had no legal basis.
2017 May - Martial law imposed on the island of Mindanao after fighting erupts between security forces and Islamic State-linked militants of the Maute group and Isnilon Hapilon.
2017 October - Southern city of Marawai declared liberated from jihadist fighters who held it for almost five months.
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Could you live without a car? | By Roger HarrabinBBC environment analyst
Reya El-Salahi from London asked herself this question when she moved into a car-free development, but over the past year she's been fine.
Lil Boyer from Dorset says she can't use rural buses because they are "rubbish" - but she's embarrassed to drive so much.
They are part of a trend of young people going cool on the car.
In the 1990s, 80% of people were driving by 30; now this marker is only reached by 45.
Men under 30 are travelling only half the miles their fathers did.
The Commission on Travel Demand says this should lead to a government re-think about travel priorities.
It points out that people in general are driving much less than expected:
Yet BBC News has learned that next week the government is likely to forecast a rise in traffic of between 20% and 60% by 2040.
It will predict that, collectively, drivers will be doing up to 400 billion miles a year.
That, in turn, will increase pressure for more spending on roads.
So will driving increase or not?
It depends on how much you believe the government's traffic forecasts. A spokesman said the planners had registered the changes in travel habits in its three-yearly forecast of future traffic.
But the Commission says the forecast is a huge overestimate that will lead to a boom in controversial road-building. It says the forecasters have not properly taken into account that people generally are driving much less.
The commission's chair, professor Greg Marsden, told the BBC: "We need root and branch reform of traffic forecasting.
"Forecasts of future demand for future road use are highly debatable because they appear to be based on the sort of traffic growth we saw in the 1990s. We don't have those levels of traffic growth any more."
"Many young people are happy to live their lives without a car - especially in big cities where public transport is good."
Why does it matter?
The Commission says that unless ministers radically re-think the way they plan transport infrastructure, they will be spending taxpayers' money on the wrong things.
They say that instead of estimating future demand for driving, then building roads to meet the demand, ministers should be asking how people want to live - then planning transport solutions accordingly.
What would that mean for people?
It could mean more investment in public transport, walking and cycling provision in cities where many young people prefer to live without owning a car. This would reduce pollution too, and help combat climate change.
Different solutions would be needed in rural areas where good public transport is scarce and where most people are dependent on cars.
What is the Commission?
The Commission on Travel Demand is an independent group of academic experts on travel forecasting. It's funded by the government-backed Research Councils UK.
Prof Marsden told us government planners are in danger of locking the UK into a high-traffic future by providing extra road space that will simply encourage more traffic growth.
What is the key message?
The report says: "We've got to join the dots on policy and see that more active forms of transport like walking and cycling are going to improve people's health and combat the obesity epidemic. Walking and cycling have a vital role to play, yet they appear to be the Cinderellas of transport."
Why is travel demand changing?
Prof Marsden's group says: "There is a combination of longer-term societal shifts in activities such as how we work and how we shop, changing demographics, shifts in income across the population as well as policies in the transport sector which have encouraged urbanisation.
"The recession has played a part - as has the shift to mobile internet and other advances in information and communication technologies. However, the trends predate both of these."
Other contributory factors in a complicated equation might be high car insurance for young men in particular, and the growth in taxi services like Uber.
In some cities, housing developments are car-free. Reya El-Salahi from London told us: "In order to live in my home you have to sign a contract that you won't apply for a parking permit. I've driven since I was a teenager and it's something I was worried about. But it's been absolutely fine. Surprisingly."
Are travel habits in the countryside changing too?
Yes but to a lesser extent. A car is still needed for many in rural areas. Take Lil Boyer, an occupational therapist and young mum from Wimborne in Dorset. She told us: "I have tried getting the bus to work but if you miss your bus you are stranded and I can't get home to my daughter.
"I feel guilty about the amount I use the car but it's not really an option".
What are other countries doing about it?
The report says across Europe, cities have seized on the trend of falling trip rates. They are proactively planning to increase their populations whilst reducing or holding steady car traffic.
Rather than debating what future demand might be, they are setting out a vision for their cities and then thinking about the role of vehicles in that.
The Commission says in the UK, London and Greater Manchester are leading the way in planning cities where people can walk, cycle and use public transport and taxis - without needing to own a car.
What does the government say?
A spokesman said: "Good transport infrastructure is key to a thriving economy which is why we are making significant investments to transform our transport network, helping create jobs and boost economic growth.
"We regularly update our forecasts and evidence base, keeping them up-to-date for planning future transport investment. We are working closely with industry and consumers to ensure we are prepared for the transport network of the future."
Follow Roger on Twitter.
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The holiday season is in full swing. | By Karen HogganBusiness reporter
And whether you prefer sun, sand and sangria or meze, Metaxa and monuments, it can't have escaped your notice that the whole getting-away-from-it-all thing is a lot more expensive at the moment.
At least, that is, if you're a Brit bound for the eurozone.
The pound is touching 10-month lows against the euro at the moment at 1.0981 euros.
And currency strategists at US investment bank Morgan Stanley are even forecasting that the euro could move "beyond parity" with the pound on the currency markets for the first time ever in early 2018.
The last time the rate was within even spitting distance of that was back in 2008, when it was languishing at about 1.0200 euros.
Of course, there have been well-publicised occasions, even in the the past year, when people have got less than one euro to the pound at some currency exchanges.
But if that barrier were breached on the wholesale markets, it would be a "hugely important psychological" event, one unheard-of in the currency's 18-year history.
Of course, every cloud, as they say: the weak pound has attracted huge numbers of tourists from the eurozone to the UK.
April saw a record 2.93 million eurozone visitors - up from 2.499 million in April of last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Political uncertainty
The pound has been buying fewer euros since it fell sharply on 24 June 2016, the day after the UK voted in a referendum to leave the European Union.
But other factors are also playing their part. So just what is driving the relationship between sterling and the euro at the moment?
The first thing to say is that it is primarily about euro strength rather than pound weakness.
Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist at financial institution BNY Mellon, reckons there have been two key factors recently which have stoked the euro's strength.
The first was that earlier in the year, there was a lot of political uncertainty in the eurozone, not least about the outcome of the French presidential election, and that drove the euro lower.
The National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, wanted France to abandon the euro - a move which could have caused turmoil in the eurozone - and even the European Union as a whole.
However, when it became clear that Emmanuel Macron was likely to win, "a lot of the political concerns started to dissipate", says Mr Derrick.
"As political tensions eased, it made the currency look rather more attractive."
Supply and demand
Another "significant factor" boosting the euro is anticipation on the markets that the European Central Bank will start cutting back on its Quantitative Easing programme, says Mr Derrick.
This has seen it pumping 60bn euros a month into the eurozone economy, in an effort to bolster its performance.
Essentially, that has meant huge amounts of euros sloshing around the system, keeping the value of the euro down.
However, if that changes, then the pressure on the euro will be lifted.
It's a question of supply and demand.
"The market has this expectation that at some point between now and the end of the year, the ECB will say something about further reducing the QE programme and as a result, the euro's been going up," says Mr Derrick.
Not only because it will mean less money in the system, but also because it will be a sign that the ECB thinks the eurozone economy can manage without so much support.
'Stumbling blocks'
There's a flip side to the relationship, of course: what's happening to sterling.
Ahead of August's Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting, some people had been wondering if there would be signs that more members of the committee were in favour of raising interest rates.
When it became clear that wasn't the case, people were disappointed. That put pressure on sterling, because lower interest rates make a currency less attractive to foreign investors, explains Mr Derrick.
In addition, forthcoming political events are causing uncertainty for the pound.
Mr Derrick points to "potential stumbling blocks along the way for sterling". He highlights the start of the next round of negotiations between the UK and the EU over Brexit, and the Conservative party conference, among other things.
However, he is unwilling to stick his neck out and predict whether and when the pound and euro will reach parity.
He concedes it's "possible" the pound could reach 1.05 to 1.06 euros before the end of the year.
Take a look online at some of the currency exchanges. At the moment, travellers can get about 1.0600 to 1.0836 euros for their pound, depending on how much you're changing and who you're doing it with.
But if the predictions are correct that the exchange rate is going to get worse for Brits, then those deals might start to seem quite attractive.
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Stop before you copy your boss into that email. | By Sean CoughlanEducation correspondent
It's not going to make you look good - it's going to make everyone else in the office distrust you.
That's the finding of research into the pernicious "cc effect", carried out by a professor of management studies at Cambridge University's Judge Business School.
David De Cremer has looked into the emotional undergrowth of office email traffic.
When people keep copying in a manager, it doesn't create "transparency", says Prof De Cremer, but feeds a "culture of fear".
But what about the other unspoken evils of office email clogging up your inbox?
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The banks are in hot water again. | Major High Street lenders have been selling complex financial contracts to small business clients without properly explaining the risks involved.
The products were offered to thousands of small firms - including pub owners, haulage firms, care-home operators and vets - when they asked their bank to take out a loan.
The borrowers were told that the product would provide an "insurance" or "hedge" against the risk of interest rates rising.
But with interest rates having instead fallen since 2008 to historic lows, many of these businesses have discovered they are now sitting on tens of thousands of pounds in losses.
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A chronology of key events
| 50.000 BC - First settlers are thought to arrive on New Guinea from Asia.
5000 BC - Intensive agriculture develops in the New Guinea Highlands, apparently independently of outside influence.
1100-900 BC - Second wave of migrants from south-east Asia.
1526 - Portuguese sailor Jorge de Meneses is the first European visitor. He names one of the islands "ilhas dos Papuas" or "land of fuzzy-haired people".
1546 - Spanish explorer Inigo Ortiz de Retes names the other main island New Guinea because the islanders resemble the people of Guinea in Africa.
1800 - Substantial trade networks are active all over New Guinea, with the Kula ring, a ceremonial exchange system, being particularly extensive.
1860s - American and European whalers frequent the Bismarck Archipelago, with the Duke of York Islands becoming an important anchorage.
1873 - Methodist missionary George Brown opens a mission station on Duke of York Islands. From the Torres Strait, the London Missionary Society sends evangelists to the New Guinean south coast.
1873 - Captain John Moresby charts the south-east part of New Guinea and the archipelago, naming Port Moresby after his father.
Europeans, Australians take control
1884 - Britain establishes a protectorate, British New Guinea (BNG), over south-east New Guinea, while Germany annexes the northern part of New Guinea.
1888 - In BNG the Armed Native Constabulary is established and village constables are appointed.
1890s - Governor MacGregor and others make several exploratory expeditions around BNG.
1895 - Gold is found on the Mambare River. A gold rush leads to hostilities between locals and miners.
1906 - Control of British New Guinea transferred to the newly independent Commonwealth of Australia and renamed Territory of Papua.
1914 - Australian forces occupy German New Guinea during the First World War.
1921 - After the war the League of Nations grants Australia a mandate to run German New Guinea. This new Mandated Territory of New Guinea is governed totally separately from the Territory of Papua.
1920s - A major gold find along the Bulolo River prompts another gold rush.
1933 - Gold-prospectors lead expeditions into the highlands. Here they find more than a million people living in fertile mountain valleys, their way of life apparently unchanged since the Stone Age.
Second World War
1942 - Japanese forces occupy parts of both territories.
1942-43 - Allied victories in the battles of Milne Bay, along the Kokoda Trail and around Buna and Gona becomes the turning point of the Pacific War, forcing the Japanese to retreat.
1949 July - Australia establishes a joint administration over both territories called the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.
1951 November - A 28-member Legislative Council established by Australia.
1954 June - Aerial survey reveals several previously undiscovered highland valleys inhabited by up to 100,000 people.
1961 March - First elections involving indigenous population.
West New Guinea transferred to Indonesia
1963 May - UN transfers control of West New Guinea to Indonesia. Today this region is called West Papua.
1964 June - A 64-member House of Assembly replaces Legislative Council and for the first time indigenous representatives are elected to the majority of seats in the legislature.
1971 July - Renamed Papua New Guinea (PNG).
1973 February - Indonesia and PNG agree position of Irian Jaya border.
1973 December - Granted self-government. Michael Somare, chief minister in an interim coalition government, is sworn in as head of the governing Executive Council.
1975 April - New currency, the kina, replaces the Australian dollar.
Independence
1975 16 September - Attains full independence from Australia. Sir Michael Somare becomes PM.
1975 - Bougainville provincial government votes to secede from PNG. Somare's government retaliates by suspending the provincial government and withholding payments to the province.
1977 June-July - First parliamentary elections since independence.
Bougainville separatist struggle
1989 April/May - Separatist rebels on Bougainville begin prolonged armed struggle against the government. Secessionist, Francis Ona, proclaims "a republic of Bougainville". The recently-formed Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), anxious about environmental destruction and unhappy that profits are leaving the island, forces the closure of the Australian-owned Panguna copper mine.
1994 - PM Sir Julius Chan signs agreement with several Bougainville secessionist leaders which provides a transitional administration in Bougainville. Bougainville Revolutionary Army leaders are not signatories; they continue to fight for full independence.
1995 April - The Bougainville Transitional Government is sworn in under leadership of Theodore Miriong. The three seats reserved for the BRA remain vacant.
1996 - Theodore Miriong is assassinated at his home in south-west Bougainville. He is replaced by Gerard Sinato.
1997 February-March - Government hires mercenaries from Sandline International to support government troops in Bougainville, sparking an army mutiny and civil unrest. Prime Minister Chan is forced to resign.
1997 September - The government declares a national state of disaster following a prolonged drought thought to have been caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon. Over 1,000 people are killed and a further 1.2 million are put at risk of starvation.
Truce
1997 October - Burnham Truce marks the end of the decade-old armed struggle by Bougainville separatists.
1997 December - Countries in the region establish the Truce Monitoring Group to oversee compliance with the Burnham Truce until 30 April 1998 when a ceasefire is to be signed. The New Zealand-led group also comprises troops from Australia, Fiji and Vanuatu. All of them are unarmed.
1998 April - Permanent ceasefire signed in Bougainville by government representatives and secessionist leaders. Australian-led Peace Monitoring Group takes over from Truce Monitoring Group.
1998 July - Three tsunamis - gigantic waves generated by earthquakes - hit the north-west coast obliterating villages and killing 3,000 people.
1998 August - United Nations establishes the UN Political Office in Bougainville at the request of the PNG government.
1999 1 January - Bougainville Reconciliation Government replaces the Bougainville Transitional Government. Former rebel leader Joseph Kabui and Gerard Sinato are nominated as co-leaders.
1999 May - Joseph Kabui elected president of the Bougainville People's Congress.
1999 December - John Momis sworn in as governor of Bougainville.
2000 November - Authorities say all 1,000 inhabitants of the Duke of York atoll will have to be relocated because the island is slowly sinking due to global warming.
2001 August - Bougainville Peace Agreement, guaranteeing a referendum in 10 to 15 years on Bougainville's future political status, is signed in Arawa.
2002 August - Sir Michael Somare elected as prime minister for a third time, after a violent and chaotic election.
2004 August - Australia deploys police to help fight rampant crime.
2005 May - Australia withdraws its police officers after the PNG Supreme Court rules that their deployment is unconstitutional.
Bougainville islanders elect their first autonomous government. Former separatist rebel Joseph Kabui becomes president.
2007 May - Parliament passes a law to allow casinos and online gambling. It is hoped that the activity could boost the economy.
2007 August - Sir Michael Somare re-elected as premier.
2007 November - Cyclone Guba causes flooding which kills 163 and leaves more than 13,000 displaced in Oro and Milne provinces.
2008 June - Bougainville President Joseph Kabui dies.
2008 December - Former rebel James Tanis elected autonomous president of Bougainville.
2009 December - China signs a deal to import liquified natural gas from Papua New Guinea.
Political crisis
2011 April-June - Prime Minister Michael Somare is suspended for two weeks over charges of misconduct dating back 20 years. He extends his absence for medical reasons and undergoes heart surgery in Singapore. In June, his family announces his retirement from the premiership and from politics.
2011 August - Parliament elects Peter O'Neill as acting prime minister, replacing acting prime minister Sam Abal, who takes legal action against the move.
2011 September - Michael Somare returns from Singapore and claims that he is still the prime minister, saying that he did not retire voluntarily.
2011 December - Standoff between Peter O'Neill and Michael Somare continues, with both running parallel administrations. Governor-General Michael Ogio recognises the election of Peter O'Neill, who has has the backing of a majority of parliamentary deputies.
2012 January - Mutinous soldiers demanding the reinstatement of Sir Michael Somare as PM briefly seize the military headquarters in Port Moresby.
2012 June - Rival prime ministers Peter O'Neill and Sir Michael Somare contest parliamentary elections, hoping that the results will decide who is in charge.
2012 July-August - Sir Michael Somare accepts the defeat of his party in the June poll and backs Peter O'Neill's bid to form a government. Parliament endorses Mr O'Neill as PM in August.
2013 January - PM Peter O'Neill bans ministers and other government officials from travelling overseas for work without his personal approval.
2013 May - Following a series of brutal public killings, the controversial 1971 Sorcery Act - which acknowledged the accusation of sorcery as a plausible defence in murder cases - is repealed. However, parliament also extends the range of offences for which the death penalty can be applied, to the dismay of human rights organisations.
2013 July - Papua New Guinea agrees to provide offshore processing for asylum seekers who reach Australia by boat. Under the deal, asylum seekers whose refugee claims are upheld will be settled in PNG. Australia pledges to grant Papua New Guinea generous aid in return, and the processing centre on PNG's Manus Island will be significantly expanded to hold up to 3,000 people.
2013 September - Two guides are killed when a group of Australian and New Zealand hikers and their local porters are attacked by machete-wielding robbers on PNG's Black Cat Track.
2014 February - Violence at Australia's immigration detention centre on PNG's Manus Island leaves one asylum seeker dead and 77 injured.
2014 March - Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court begins a human rights inquiry into Australia's immigration detention centre on Manus Island. The probe will assess whether the centre's conditions meet human rights requirements under PNG's constitution.
2014 April - Paul Tiensten, a former senior minister and current MP, is sentenced to nine years imprisonment for misappropriating millions of dollars of public funds. The sentence is the most severe yet in PNG for a corrupt public official.
2014 June - An arrest warrant is issued for Prime Minister Peter O'Neill after the national anti-corruption watchdog accuses him of authorising fraudulent payments by the government to a Port Moresby law firm. Mr O'Neill challenges the warrant in multiple court cases.
2014 June - Prime Minister O'Neill disbands the country's main anti-corruption body, Taskforce Sweep.
2014 November - Prime Minister O'Neill is referred to a tribunal of judges over allegations of misconduct in office relating to a $1.3 billion loan.
2015 January - Government denies reports that protests at an Australian immigration centre on Manus Island turned violent after 400 detainees reportedly went on hunger strike.
2015 October - Government says it will begin resettling refugees being held in the country in Australian-run detention centres.
2016 February - Police shoot dead 12 prisoners following a jail break by over 90 inmates at a prison in the city of Lae.
2016 April - Government says it will close the Australian detention centre on Manus Island after the Supreme Court rules that detaining asylum seekers at the facility is unconstitutional.
2016 July - Prime Minister Peter O'Neill survives no-confidence vote in parliament over corruption allegations following weeks of protests calling for his resignation.
2016 November - Australia says refugees held in detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru will be resettled in the United States in a "one-off deal".
2016 December - China agrees to spend nearly 4bn US dollars to build a giant industrial park in Papua New Guinea.
2017 August - Prime Minister O'Neill wins another term in elections.
2017 November - Australia closes a detention centre in Papua New Guinea, but hundreds of asylum seekers refuse to move.
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Alana Haim needs a hug. | By Mark SavageBBC music reporter
It's five weeks into lockdown, and the youngest member of LA rock trio Haim is pining for the rest of her family.
"I've always loved being alone - but what I'm taking out of this whole experience is that I miss physical contact," she says.
"The first thing I'm going to do when quarantine is over is literally jump into my parents' arms. I just want to hug my mom and my dad. That's all I want to do."
"I just want to go dancing," says her elder sister Este, joining our Zoom call from a separate part of LA. "That's all. Go to a dance party and just go wild, let loose."
"You can do that," Alana goads, "but I'm going to go and be with mom and dad and I'll be the favourite daughter."
"Well, you've got some catching up to do," replies Este, "because I'm mom and dad's favourite".
Sibling rivalry aside, family has been the foundation of Haim's success.
Their mother, Donna, a teacher-turned-estate agent, taught them guitar; while their father, Mordechai, a former professional footballer in his native Israel, started them on drums.
Together with middle sister Danielle, the girls spent their childhood in a family cover band, Rockinhaim, performing at delis, street fairs and charity gigs around California's San Fernando Valley.
"We played a lot of dorky songs," says Alana. "A lot of Santana."
Even though they ditched their parents to "go solo" in 2006, the sisters continued to write and rehearse in the family living room, fitting early gigs around Este's degree in ethnomusicology and Danielle's side-hustle as a guitarist for Jenny Lewis and Julian Casablancas.
It took the band several years to find their own sound (four early EPs will "never be heard" by the public, says Alana) but, eventually, they worked out how to fuse their sisterly harmonies with the warmth of 70s soft rock and their passion for Britney and the Spice Girls.
In 2013, months after releasing their debut single, Forever, the band topped the BBC's Sound of 2013 list, and went on to top the charts with their first album, Days Are Gone.
Fast forward to 2020 and they're Grammy-nominated festival headliners, poised to release their third album - Women In Music, Pt III.
The title came to Danielle in a dream. "It made me crack up, so I told my sisters," she recalls.
"And I was like, 'Wait a minute, that spells WIMPIII. That's even better!'" laughs Este. "That solidified it."
But there's a serious undertone to the title: Throughout their career, Haim have been dogged by the hackneyed question "What's it like to be women in music?"
Shutting that down was "our evil plan," says Danielle.
"We thought the title was a pretty big wink to the journalists to say, you know, we don't want to be asked about that. And so far, it's worked."
Pay dispute
It's a hard-won attitude from a band who've seen the inequalities of the music industry first-hand.
"Every time we walk into the studio, the engineer is a man," Danielle told the BBC at the 2018 Brits. "There's no equal opportunity."
"We'll go to alternative radio stations in the States and there won't even be a girls' restroom," Este added.
Worse still, they've seen their abilities as musicians dismissed - despite the fact they could play most bands off the stage.
"I feel like because we don't take ourselves too seriously, and we do choreography in our music videos, sometimes the rock community doesn't take us seriously," says Danielle.
"I feel like they want us to be more... I don't know...
"Brooding and aggressive?" suggests Este.
"Yeah, to be more aggressive. It's something we think about a lot: Maybe if we just strictly played our instruments in music videos, not dancing around and stuff, would the rock community take us more seriously as a band?
"And I think unfortunately it does have to do with us being an all-female band. I don't know. Maybe I'm not saying this right, but I can't wrap my head around it."
The situation was thrust into the spotlight in 2017, when Haim discovered they were being paid 10 times less than a male artist playing on the same festival bill, and promptly sacked their booking agent.
"That was messed up," says Este, swearing. "It was like a kick in the stomach."
"You feel like these people should be looking out for you - especially when they know what everyone's getting paid," adds Danielle.
"And yeah, it sucked, but that's the idea with this album: We've gone through a lot of stuff in the last couple of years but now we're like 'Whatever, we'll just do our own thing' We just don't care anymore, you know?"
'Anything goes'
That new confidence came into focus with the release of the album's first single, Summer Girl, last July.
With its elastic bassline and "doot-doot" backing vocals, the track owed such a huge debt to Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side that a previous incarnation of the band would have abandoned it.
Instead, they doubled down - adding vintage strings to make the connection even more explicit, giving Reed a writing credit, and rushing the song out in just two weeks.
"After that, it was like 'Anything goes,'" recalls Danielle. "We were like, 'Let's just record all the songs that we've banked, put it out as soon as we can, keep everything super fresh and not harp on anything for too long'".
Sure enough, when you fire up the album, you'll hear a looseness and spontaneity that was sometimes absent on their earlier records.
The campfire singalong Leaning On You features a guitar line Danielle recorded directly into her laptop, without effects or editing; while 3AM is a kooky-but-funky tribute to late-night hook-ups, complete with squelchy bass burps and "hey girl" voicemails from aspiring Casanovas.
Going back to their roots, The Steps has a galloping drum pattern that sounds like it was recorded in their childhood living room.
"We were trying to break down the barrier of sounding like we were in the studio," explains Danielle.
"Before now we've gone for a tighter drum sound - but on this one we wanted it to feel like you're just standing next to us."
The stripped-back immediacy of these new songs capture the band's infectious energy better than ever. But the buoyancy of the music also hides much darker emotions.
Three tracks in particular - I Know Alone, I've Been Down and Now I'm In It - were inspired by a "not leaving the house type of depression" that struck Danielle after the band wrapped up their last tour.
"It was just a dark time for me in general," says the singer. "I was kind of dealing with myself and my spirals, and the first line I wrote was, 'I know alone like no-one else does.'
"It really struck a chord."
As ever, the 31-year-old could rely on her sisters for support.
"They were like, 'Hey, this is not your normal behaviour. You should get some help,'" she recalls.
"It really kicked me in the ass - and I found a therapist, which has been really, really helpful to me."
The strength of the sisters' bond eventually inspired the album's most emotional song, Hallelujah.
Este, who has Type 1 diabetes, says she started writing the lyrics after a difficult hospital appointment.
"I came home from the doctor super upset and frustrated and the only two people I felt comfortable enough to talk about it with were Danielle and Alana," she wrote on Twitter when the song was released.
"Sometimes it feels like they're the only two people that truly understand me and support me when I feel like giving up."
The loss of that connection has made quarantine particularly gloomy.
"This is the longest the three of us have been separate," confirms Este. "I even bought a back-scratcher because I didn't have anyone to scratch me.
"I felt like Baloo in The Jungle Book, rubbing my back against the posts in my house."
Since this interview took place at the start of May, Este has managed to escape her apartment - not just for a back rub, but to coach fans in a series of Zoom-based dance classes with her sisters (an extremely Haim approach to lockdown album promotion).
But she says the extended period in self-isolation prompted a change in her priorities.
"I'm not going to say 'no' to anything ever again," she declares.
"If someone is like, 'I want to go and climb Mount Wilson,' I'm going to be like, 'You know what, it might take me a couple of days, but let's climb Mount Wilson.'"
"You know what? I might even finally learn how to roller skate," says Alana.
"That might be my first thing out of quarantine. After hugging mom and dad, I'm going to the roller rink."
"Wow, strong idea," Este approves. "It'll be just like my bat mitzvah - just me and my besties roller-skating to The Spice Girls."
Women In Music, Pt. III is out on 26 June.
Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
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A chronology of key events:
| 1801-04 - Most of present-day Georgia becomes part of the Russian Empire.
1879 - History's best-known Georgian, future Soviet leader Iosif Dzhugashvili (Joseph Stalin), is born in the town of Gori.
1918 - Independent Georgian state declared in wake of Russian Revolution.
1921 - Red Army invades, Georgia absorbed into emerging Soviet Union.
1956 March - Protests against Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev's de-Stalinisation policy turn violent and prompt calls for secession from the USSR; they are brutally crushed by Soviet forces.
1972 - Eduard Shevardnadze appointed head of the Georgian Communist Party.
1989 April - Soviet troops kill 19 pro-independence demonstrators in Tbilisi.
1989 - Demands for more autonomy in the South Ossetia region lead to violent clashes between Georgians and Ossetians. Soviet peacekeepers are deployed.
1990 - Nationalist coalition wins multi-party parliamentary elections; former dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes chairman of parliament.
1990 - 1991 - Growing South Ossetian independence aspirations bring further violence between separatist and Georgian forces. Hundreds die and tens of thousands flee their homes.
Independence
1991 - Georgian parliament declares secession from the Soviet Union after independence is overwhelmingly supported in a referendum.
Gamsakhurdia is elected president by more than 85% of the votes cast.
1992 January - Gamsakhurdia is deposed after fighting in central Tbilisi between government troops and opposition militias.
South Ossetians vote in favour of independence in an unrecognized referendum.
1992 March - Shevardnadze is appointed head of the newly formed State Council.
Abkhazia crisis
1992 August - Fighting breaks out in Abkhazia between Georgian government troops and separatist forces.
1992 October - Shevardnadze is directly elected chairman of parliament.
1993 September - Georgian troops driven out of Abkhazia by separatist forces.
1993 October - Insurrection by Gamsakhurdia supporters in western Georgia is suppressed after Georgia agrees to join the CIS and receives help from Russian troops.
1994 - Georgian government and Abkhaz separatists sign a ceasefire agreement, paving the way for the deployment of a Russian peacekeeping force in the region.
New constitution adopted which provides for a strong executive presidency. New currency, the lari, introduced.
1995 November - Shevardnadze wins elections to the restored post of president.
2000 April - Shevardnadze re-elected president.
2001 June/July - Russia hands over Vaziani military base to Georgia.
Tension with Russia
2001 October - Clashes in Abkhazia between Abkhaz troops and Georgian paramilitaries backed by fighters from the North Caucasus. The tension is heightened as Russia accuses Georgia of harbouring Chechen rebels, a charge dismissed by Georgia.
2001 November - Raid by security forces on privately-owned Rustavi-2 TV station, known for its criticism of Mr Shevardnadze and corruption, sparks protests. Mr Shevardnadze responds by sacking cabinet.
2002 April/May - US special forces arrive to train and equip Georgian forces for counterterrorist operations.
2002 September - Russian President Putin warns of military action if Georgia fails to deal with Chechen militants which, Moscow says, Georgia is harbouring in Pankisi Gorge.
2002 October - Row with Russia defused after Georgia promises to mount antiterrorism operation against Chechen rebels on its territory. Several suspected guerrillas are killed, or detained and extradited to Russia.
2003 May - Work begins on laying Georgian section of oil pipeline to run from Baku in Azerbaijan through Georgia to Ceyhan in Turkey.
Shevardnadze ousted
2003 November - "Rose Revolution" topples Shevardnadze. It is triggered by opposition allegations of irregularities in parliamentary elections.
2004 January - Mikhail Saakashvili wins presidential election.
2004 March - Amid rising tension with the leadership of the autonomous region of Ajaria, Tbilisi briefly imposes sanctions and closes the border.
Mr Saakashvili's National Movement-Democratic Front wins overwhelming majority of seats in parliament in re-run of parliamentary elections.
2004 May - Leader of semi-autonomous Ajaria region, Aslan Abashidze, resigns and leaves Georgia after President Saakashvili orders him to comply with Georgian constitution and disarm his forces.
South Ossetia, Abkhazia troubles
2004 June - Georgia's decision to beef up its anti-smuggling operation in South Ossetia prompts sharp a response from the local leadership and is criticised by Russia.
2004 August - Several deaths are reported in clashes between Georgian and South Ossetian forces.
2005 January - Sergei Bagapsh wins rerun of Abkhaz presidential elections after doing a deal with his main rival, Raul Khadzhimba, who becomes vice president.
2005 February - Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania is found dead in a Tbilisi flat, apparently from gas poisoning. Zurab Noghaideli, hitherto finance minister, becomes premier.
2005 July - Russia starts to withdraw its troops from two Soviet-era bases under the terms of a deal reached in May. The pull-out is due to be completed by late 2008.
Pipeline blasts
2006 January - Explosions on Russian side of border cut gas supplies and disrupt electricity supplies from Russia. Russia says it suspects North Caucasus insurgents but President Saakashvili accuses Moscow of sabotage.
Georgia receives gas from Iran via recently-repaired pipeline running through Azerbaijan.
2006 March - Tbilisi protests at Russian decision to suspend imports of Georgian wine on health grounds, saying the move is politically motivated.
2006 July - Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline formally opened after Caspian oil starts flowing along it.
Georgia seizes control of Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge from local warlord Emzar Kvitsiani and announces plan to move pro-Tbilisi government-in-exile of Abkhazia into the area. Abkhazia breaks off peace talks in response.
2006 September-October - Russian army officers detained on spying charges. Russia imposes sanctions, cuts transport links and expels hundreds of Georgians.
2006 November - South Ossetians vote in favour of independence in an unrecognised referendum.
Anti-Saakashvili protests
2007 September - Former defence minister Irakli Okruashvili accuses Mr Saakashvili of corruption and plotting a murder, sparking a wave of protests.
2007 November - State of emergency declared. Riot police battle protesters demanding president's resignation.
Russia says it has withdrawn last troops based in Georgia since 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, but retains a presence in the breakaway provinces.
2008 January - Saakashvili re-elected in snap election.
2008 April - NATO summit in Bucharest defers decision on Georgia's application to join Membership Programme until December.
2008 April - Russia says it will step up ties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, prompting Georgia to accuse Moscow of planning their de facto annexation.
2008 May - Ruling party wins landslide victory in parliamentary election. Opposition says election was rigged and threatens to boycott new parliament.
Russia sends 300 unarmed troops to Abkhazia, saying they are needed for railway repairs. Georgia accuses Russia of planning military intervention.
2008 June - Abkhazia cuts all contact with Georgian government, accusing it of being behind recent series of blasts in breakaway republic. Georgia denies having any role.
South Ossetia war
2008 August - Tensions between Georgia and Russia escalate into a full-blown military conflict after Georgia tries to retake South Ossetia by force after a series of lower-level clashes with Russian-backed rebels.
Russia launches a counter-attack, ejecting Georgian troops from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. After five days of hostilities, the two sides sign a French-brokered peace agreement, but Russia subsequently recognises the two breakaway regions as independent states, in a move that draws protests from Georgia and the West.
Russia says it will keep a military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Saakashvili under pressure
2009 May - Georgian authorities quell an alleged mutiny by a tank battalion at the Mukhrovani army base, describing it as part of a Russia-linked coup against President Saakashvili. Russia denies any involvement.
Nato military exercises begin in Georgia amid condemnation from Russia.
2009 July - UN observers leave Georgia after 16 years of monitoring the Abkhazia cease-fire line. The UN Security Council failed to extend the mission because of a Russian veto.
2009 September - EU report on 2008 conflict with Russia puts part of blame on Georgia.
2010 January - Russia and Georgia reopen air traffic with the first direct passenger flight between the two countries since the war in 2008.
2010 October - Parliament approves constitutional changes aimed at curbing the powers of the president and expanding the role of the prime minister and parliament.
2011 October - Georgia's authorities rescind the citizenship of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili a week after he announced he was forming the "Georgian Dream" political party to contest parliamentary elections in 2012, as he was already a citizen of Russia and had just obtained a French passport.
2012 July - President Saakashvili appoints veteran Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili as prime minister to fight the October parliamentary elections.
2012 September - The government dismisses the interior minister and prisons chief when footage of the abuse of prisoners comes to light. The government pledges a full and open investigation.
Power shift
2012 October - Tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili becomes prime minister following parliamentary elections; President Saakashvili is relegated to a secondary role.
2013 October - Giorgi Margvelashvili wins presidential election.
2013 November - Bidzina Ivanisvhili steps down as prime minister and is replaced by his hand-picked successor, Irakli Garibashvili. He denies accusations that he plans to continue ruling from behind the scenes.
Former president Mikheil Saakashvili leaves Georgia after his term in office ends.
2014 February - Former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili is sentenced to five years in prison for corruption, in what critics say is part of a wider campaign against allies of former President Saakashvili.
EU trade deal
2014 June - European Union and Georgia sign association agreement - far-reaching trade partnership deal.
2014 July - Municipal elections produce a clean sweep for the governing Georgian Dream coalition.
Georgia's main opposition leader, Giorgi Ugulava, is detained on money laundering charges. His supporters say the arrest is politically motivated.
2014 August - Former president Mikheil Saakashvili is charged in absentia with organising an assault in 2005 against one of his political opponents. Mr Saakashvili dismisses all the charges against him as politically motivated.
2014 November - Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili sacks pro-Western defence minister Irakli Alasania. Two other ministers resign in protest.
Russia signs a strategic partnership agreement with Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, to protests from the Georgian government.
2015 March - Russia signs an "alliance and integration" treaty with South Ossetia in a move denounced by the Georgian government.
2015 May - Former President Mikheil Saakashvili is appointed governor of Ukraine's Odessa Region. In Georgian TV appearances he agitates against the Georgian Dream coalition government and vows to return to Georgia one day and unseat it.
2015 August - Russian forces in South Ossetia move internal border 1.5 km further inside Georgia proper, threatening main road linking west and east of country.
2015 December - Prime Minister Garibashvili abruptly resigns after months of falling poll ratings for the coalition and tension with President Giorgi Margvelashvili, and is replaced with his foreign minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili.
2016 October - The governing Georgian Dream coalition wins parliamentary elections with an enhanced majority.
2017 April - Breakaway region of South Ossetia holds presidential election and a referendum on changing its name to the State of Alania as part of a plan to join the Russian Federation.
2018 June - Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili resigns over dispute with Bidzina Ivanishvili, who returned to a leading position in the Georgian Dream party earlier in the year. He is succeeded by Finance Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze.
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A chronology of key events:
| 1505 - Portuguese arrive in Colombo, marking beginning of European interest.
1658 - Dutch force out Portuguese and establish control over whole island except central kingdom of Kandy.
1796 - Britain begins to take over island.
1815 - Kingdom of Kandy conquered. Britain starts bringing in Tamil labourers from southern India to work in tea, coffee and coconut plantations.
1833 - Whole island united under one British administration.
1931 - British grant the right to vote and introduce power sharing with Sinhalese-run cabinet.
1948 - Ceylon gains full independence.
Sinhala nationalism
1949 - Indian Tamil plantation workers disenfranchised and many deprived of citizenship.
1956 - Solomon Bandaranaike elected on wave of Sinhalese nationalism. Sinhala made sole official language and other measures introduced to bolster Sinhalese and Buddhist sentiment.
More than 100 Tamils killed in widespread violence after parliamentarians protest at new laws.
1958 - Anti-Tamil riots leave more than 200 people dead. Thousands of Tamils displaced.
1959 - Prime Minister Bandaranaike assassinated by a Buddhist monk. Succeeded by widow, Srimavo, who continues socialist policies.
1965 - Opposition United National Party wins elections and attempts to reverse socialism.
1970 - Srimavo Bandaranaike returns to power and extends nationalisation programme.
Ethnic tensions
1972 - Ceylon becomes a republic and changes its name to Sri Lanka. Buddhism is given primary place as the country's religion, further antagonising Tamil minority.
1976 - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) formed as tensions increase in Tamil-dominated areas of north and east.
1977 - Separatist Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) party wins all seats in Tamil areas. Anti-Tamil riots leave more than 100 dead.
1983 - 13 soldiers killed in LTTE ambush, sparking anti-Tamil riots leading to the deaths of several hundred Tamils. Start of what Tigers call "First Eelam War".
Civil war intensifies
1985 - First attempt at peace talks between government and LTTE fails.
1987 - Government forces push LTTE back into northern city of Jaffna. Government signs accords creating new councils for Tamil areas in north and east and reaches agreement with India on deployment of Indian peace-keeping force.
1990 - Indian troops leave after getting bogged down in fighting in north. Violence between Sri Lankan army and separatists escalates. "Second Eelam War" begins.
Thousands of Muslims are expelled from northern areas by the LTTE.
1991 - LTTE implicated in assassination of Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi in southern India.
War and diplomacy
1993 - President Premadasa killed in LTTE bomb attack.
1994 - President Chandrika Kumaratunga comes to power pledging to end war. Peace talks opened with LTTE.
1995 - "Third Eelam War" begins when rebels sink naval craft.
1995-2001 - War rages across north and east. Tigers bomb Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist site. President Kumaratunga is wounded in a bomb attack. Suicide attack on the international airport destroys half the Sri Lankan Airlines fleet.
Peace moves
2002 February - Government and Tamil Tiger rebels sign a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire.
De-commissioning of weapons begins; the road linking the Jaffna peninsula with the rest of Sri Lanka reopens after 12 years; passenger flights to Jaffna resume. Government lifts ban on Tamil Tigers. Rebels drop demand for separate state.
2003 - Tigers pull out of talks. Ceasefire holds.
2003 May - Country's worst-ever floods leave more than 200 people dead and drive some 4,000 people from their homes.
2004 March - Renegade Tamil Tiger commander, known as Karuna, leads split in rebel movement and goes underground with his supporters. Tiger offensive regains control of the east.
2004 December - More than 30,000 people are killed when a tsunami, massive waves generated by a powerful undersea earthquake, devastate coastal communities.
2005 June - Row over deal reached with Tamil Tiger rebels to share nearly $3bn in tsunami aid among Sinhalas, Tamils and Muslims.
2005 August - State of emergency after foreign minister is killed by a suspected Tiger assassin.
2005 November - Mahinda Rajapaksa, prime minister at the time, wins presidential elections. Most Tamils in areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers do not vote.
Mounting violence
2006 April - A suicide bomber attacks the main military compound in Colombo, killing at least eight people. The military launch air strikes on Tamil Tiger targets.
2006 August - Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces resume fighting in the north-east in worst clashes since 2002 ceasefire. Government steadily drives Tamil Tigers out of eastern strongholds over following year.
2006 October - Peace talks fail in Geneva.
2008 January - Government pulls out of 2002 ceasefire agreement, launches massive offensive.
2008 July - Sri Lankan military says it has captured the important Tamil Tiger naval base of Vidattaltivu in the north.
2009 January - Government troops capture the northern town of Kilinochchi, held for ten years by the Tamil Tigers as their administrative headquarters. President Mahinda Rajapakse calls it an unparalleled victory and urges the rebels to surrender.
Tamil Tigers defeated
2009 May - Government declares Tamil Tigers defeated after army forces overrun last patch of rebel-held territory in the northeast. Military says rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in the fighting. Tamil Tiger statement says the group will lay down its arms.
2009 August - New Tamil Tiger leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan captured overseas by Sri Lankan authorities.
First post-war local elections in north. Governing coalition wins in Jaffna, but in Vavuniya voters back candidates who supported Tamil Tigers.
Rajapaksa re-elected
2010 January - President Mahinda Rajapaksa re-elected by a large margin.
2010 April - President Rajapaksa's ruling coalition wins landslide victory in parliamentary elections.
2010 September - Parliament approves a constitutional change allowing President Rajapaksa to seek unlimited number of terms.
2011 August - President Rajapaksa says his government will allow the expiry of state emergency laws which have been in place for most of the past 40 years.
2012 March - UN Human Rights Council adopts a resolution urging Sri Lanka to investigate war crimes allegedly committed during the final phase of the decades-long conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels. Sri Lanka says the move usurps its sovereignty.
2012 May - Former army chief and opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka is freed after two and a half years in jail, under terms banning him from running for public office for seven years.
2013 September - Tamil National Alliance opposition party wins first elections to semi-autonomous provincial council in the north, with 78% of the vote. Commonwealth observers say army intimidation compromised the vote's environment.
President Sirisena elected
2015 January - Maithripala Sirisena defeats Mahinda Rajapaksa in presidential election, pledging accountability over alleged atrocities during the civil war.
2015 September - Rajavarothiam Sampanthan becomes the first lawmaker from the ethnic Tamil minority in 32 years to lead the opposition in parliament.
2016 June - Government acknowledges for the first time that some 65,000 people are missing from its 26-year war with the Tamil Tiger rebels and a Marxist insurrection in 1971.
2017 January - Police clash with protesters demonstrating against a plan to evict villagers to make way for a mostly Chinese port and industrial zone near the port city of Hambantota.
2018 October - Constitutional crisis as President Sirisena replaces Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and suspends parliament.
2018 November-December - Constitutional Court rules that dissolution of parliament was illegal. Mahinda Rajapaksa fails to form a government that commands a parliamentary majority. Mr Wickramasinghe resumes office.
2019 April - Jihadist suicide bombers attack churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, killing more than 350 people.
2019 November - Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the younger brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, wins the presidential election.
2020 August - President Rajapaksa's SLPP party wins large majority in parliamentary elections.
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London could get its own internet domain name. | London & Partners, the official promotional agency for the capital, has said it is interested in applying for a 10-year license for the .london suffix.
It follows a decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) to increase the number of domain endings from the current 22.
If successful, the city could have the domain name inside three years.
London & Partners are considering applying for what is described as a generic top-level domain (gTLD).
Several hundred new gTLDs are expected to be created by Icann in the new process.
London & Partners is currently consulting with organisations, including the boroughs, commercial orgnisations and community groups to determine the benefits of having a London internet domain name.
Gordon Innes, from London & Partners, said: "London has always been seen as a city that leads on digital innovation and our interest in applying for dot London demonstrates our commitment to maintaining this position.
"We believe that owning the dot London gTLD will not only generate increased opportunities for the promotion of the capital, but will achieve benefits for businesses and organisations across the capital."
Kulveer Ranger, digital adviser to the mayor of London, said: "Ownership of the dot London domain could offer a tremendous opportunity to reinforce London's position as a global centre for digital innovation, generate revenue and bring about new employment opportunities."
Icann has said it will cost £114,000 to apply for domain suffixes, and applicants would need to show they have a legitimate claim to the name they are buying.
Other cities who have expressed their interest in applying for their relevant city gTLDs include New York, Paris, Sydney, Rome and Berlin.
Icann will receive all applications between 12 January and 12 April 2012, and this will be followed by a review process taking anything from 9 to 20 months.
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Claire Young loves the outdoors. | By Colm KelpieBBC News NI
The marine biologist dabbled in mountaineering and rock-climbing while at university, but when marriage and children came along, she found it difficult to find the time to keep up with her outdoor lifestyle.
"My husband bought me a day at Tollymore Mountain Centre [in Newcastle, County Down], to do mountain biking," she says.
"So I went in, I tried it, and I was addicted.
"It's mindfulness for me. You get on the bike, and you only think about being on the bike."
Ms Young is one of a relatively rare breed - women who cycle.
It's a man's pursuit, or at least that's what the statistics would have you believe.
In 2017/2018, 2,785 people across Northern Ireland were asked if they had access to a bicycle, as part of research carried out by the Department for Infrastructure.
About a third said they owned one. Of those, 39% were men, and 24% were women.
Of those who had cycled in the previous four weeks, 69% were men, compared to just 31% who were women.
The findings tally with other research carried out across the UK.
In June last year, walking and cycling charity Sustrans revealed that almost three quarters of women living in seven major UK cities - including Belfast - never use a bike for local journeys.
'Erratic behaviour of drivers'
The data revealed that the ratio of female to male bike riders in Belfast is about 1:3.
So why aren't more women taking it up?
You get a different answer depending on who you talk to.
Some women have said it's a confidence issue, while others cite road safety and a lack of suitable infrastructure.
"The main factor putting women off is safety," says Anne Madden, of Sustrans' Northern Ireland wing.
"Women tend to take less risks for various reasons, and that could explain why there is this gap."
In numbers:
69%of those who cycled in a 4-week period in 2017/2018 were men
81%The percentage of male members in Cycling Ireland (Ulster)
1:2.9The ratio of female to male bike riders in Belfast
Since last autumn, Sustrans has been holding courses in Belfast for women wanting to get involved in cycling, or back into cycling.
"A couple of other surveys that we have done show people citing the erratic behaviour of drivers, too much traffic on the roads, the lack of consistent cycle lanes," says Ms Madden.
Ms Young, a member of Apollo Cycling team in Lurgan, County Armagh, suggests it's more than that.
The sport, she says, may suffer from a problem of perception.
"There are two different types of cyclists," she says. "People who cycle on their own, recreationally, and there are people who cycle in clubs.
"With the clubs, there's this perception of the 'Middle Aged Men in Lycra'.
"I don't want to feed that stereotype, but there is that out there, that we all go out and clog up the roads, and it's a certain type of person that does it.
"But there are so many benefits to cycling within a club - safety, and friendship and fun."
Whatever the reasons, the statistics are stark.
Cycling Ulster, the provincial governing body, has more than 6,900 members - 5,587 of whom are male.
'It was the companionship that kept me going'
No exploration of female cycling in Northern Ireland would be complete without a look at Isabel Woods (90) (née Clements), described by Cycling Ireland as "the most prolific record breaker in the history of road records in Ireland".
Isabel bought her first bike from a shop on Belfast's York Street, aged 18.
She and her sister would travel and explore the largely car-less roads and countryside of 1940s Northern Ireland, "to escape the city", Isabel says, and "get into the fresh air".
Encouraged by a friend, in 1949, she took part in a novice five-mile time trial. She came second, and she was hooked.
In the years that followed, Isabel clocked up eight road records, including between Enniskillen and Belfast, Londonderry and Dublin, and, perhaps her most famous, the End to End from Mizen Head in County Cork to Fairhead in County Antrim, in 1955.
She completed that in 23 hours and two minutes - a record which held for 52 years until Zimbabwean-born Rose Leith set a new record in 2007.
"I got a phone call the night before to say that it [record attempt] was being attempted. So I made sure that I would be there to greet her [Rose] at Fairhead," Mrs Woods tells BBC News NI.
"I was there in the morning mist at Fairhead to give her a hug when she was finished, and I couldn't have been beaten by a nicer person. A lovely woman."
Isabel's last long-distance cycle was in 1956, Dublin to Derry.
"By that time I had to decide, do I keep going, or do I start a family? I got married in '55. The family won. The first child was born in January 1958," she says.
"Peter [Isabel's late husband] put a sidecar on to his bicycle for the first one [child]. When the second one arrived, I put a seat on to the back of mine.
"And when the third arrived, I had no answer. They were all within four-and-a-half years.
"I had never encouraged the boys to race. There was too much of my father in me, I think, I didn't want the responsibility of anything happening. So I didn't encourage them to race.
"I did miss it. But then I was kept busy. Instead of pushing two wheels, I ended up pushing four for quite some time. I had to then admit that I just had to leave it."
Isabel, who is listed in Cycling Ireland's Hall of Fame, was approached to turn professional, but enjoyed riding with her fellow female riders and friends so much, that she turned down the offer.
"It was the companionship that kept me going. Especially the clubs," she tells BBC News NI.
"We had great club runs every Sunday. Lit a fire and drummed up, as we called it. Boiled our cans over the fire. That was the heart of cycling for me, the companionship. I don't think the present day young ones are getting the same fun out of it as in my day.
"There's not a sport better than cycling. You have the pleasure of going at your own steam, you have the scenery and the smell of the countryside."
Moves are afoot to shake the statistics up, and get more women on their bikes.
Evelyn Donnelly, from the Foyle Cycling Club in Derry, was the only woman in the club when she joined about 11 years ago.
It had upwards of about 100 members at the time.
"I didn't even stop to think about it. I just wanted to cycle," she recalls.
"I was doing triathlons at the time, and needed help. I started going out with the club on a Sunday and I never realised that I was the only girl, I never thought about it and just mixed in.
"It was just like that in those days. You just didn't see women cycling. When you were watching the Tour de France, it was mostly men."
One day Ms Donnelly sat up and took notice of the considerable gender imbalance, and she decided it was time to do something about it.
"I thought: 'I need to start getting girls into this club.' And I started doing a big advertising drive on Facebook, and I had the help of the Foyle club, the boys did come out and help me with the coaching."
The club now has about 20 female members, Ms Donnelly says.
County Down woman Theresa Leavy has been encouraging more women to think about joining Crossgar Cycling Club by recently organising ladies-only events.
The club has 54 members - just four are women. Eighteen women turned up to the club's first ladies-only event earlier this month.
"The biggest thing for me is the mental health side," she says.
"Cycling is fantastic for clearing your head. You have no mobile phone in your hand, nothing to worry about other than the next pothole, what's around the corner.
"I just feel so much better for it."
Not everyone wants to use the bike for club activities, though, with some, such as community nurse Lisa Rolston, using it for commuting and getting around.
She had been an avid cycler, but had a bad experience a number of years ago when she was forced on to the pavement by a bus, which took a bend too tightly.
"That was when my confidence started going down, as I used to think about how close that was," she says.
"So I had started the bad habit of cycling on the pavement when there were no pedestrians about or when it was a very wide pavement, because I just thought it's a hassle to cycle on the road because you feel like you're in drivers' way.
"It can be a bit intimidating."
Her lack of confidence was starting to get to her, so she signed up for the Sustrans six week course.
She's back on the roads now, but says more needs to be done to improve cycling infrastructure, for both female and male cyclists.
And the lack of women on bikes is noticeable, she says.
"You're leaving the car, you're saving yourself money and you're not adding to pollution. You can cycle somewhere faster than in the car sometimes. Plus you don't have to pay parking.
"I don't know why more ladies don't get on their bike. It needs to be encouraged and brought to people's attention."
Cycling Ulster is doing just that.
It has launched a new programme - Women on Wheels - aimed at getting more women into the sport, with 16 clubs involved.
The clubs will be given training and advice on how to retain and actively encourage more women into club activities, and also how to boost the number of female coaches.
"Cycling is for everybody. It's not just for Middle Aged Men in Lycra," says Ms Young, who's on the Cycling Ulster Women's Commission, and is the driving force behind Women on Wheels.
"There are quite a few women in our clubs already. It's not a massive number, but we're quite active and we're open for other people to come and join us."
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"There are winds of change in Argentina." | By Max SeitzBBC Mundo
So claims Mauricio Macri, the centre-right politician who became president of Latin America's third largest economy in December.
The US-educated businessman has made it a priority to mend relations with foreign powers and investors after 10 years of combative rhetoric under his leftist predecessors, Nestor Kirchner and his wife (and later, widow) Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Soon after his swearing-in ceremony, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and French President Francois Hollande travelled to Buenos Aires to expand co-operation.
But President Barack Obama's visit this week to Argentina, just over 100 days into Mr Macri's term, is the most significant.
It is the first visit to the South American country by a US president since 2005.
The trip underlines Mr Macri's determination to re-insert Argentina into the global economy, and his desire to build a mutually beneficial relationship with the US.
Mr Obama also wants to fulfil his longstanding promise to open a new chapter of engagement between Washington and Latin America, one that acknowledges progress made by the region's democracies.
In Buenos Aires, Mr Obama and Mr Macri are expected to increase co-operation in areas such as trade and investment, renewable energy and climate change, and citizen security.
The Kirchners' decade
But, what has changed so rapidly in Argentina to make the country a destination for world leaders?
During Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's decade in power, Argentina became politically and financially isolated.
The Peronist couple had a belligerent relationship with Washington, whom they accused of "imperialism".
And following Argentina's massive debt default in 2001, they turned their backs on the International Monetary Fund, which they said had been a "destructive" influence on the nation's economy.
They imposed strict capital and currency controls, claiming this would stop multinationals and financial speculators from draining the country of cash, and prevent a devaluation of the Argentine peso against the dollar.
The Kirchners also fought a fierce battle against what they called "vulture funds", foreign investors holding $9bn (£6.25bn) in bonds on which the country defaulted.
These bonds were bought by hedge funds NML and Aurelius Capital Management for a fraction of their face value in the aftermath of Argentina's economic collapse in 2001.
The lengthy dispute - which led Argentina to a second default in 2014 - has restricted the country's access to international credit markets.
However, for millions of Argentines the Kirchners' decade - which was also very strong on social policies - restored the nation's pride.
The economy grew at an 8% rate in the first years.
But then it started to slow down because of its excessive reliance on the domestic market, the lack of foreign investment and credit, and declining global demand and prices of agricultural products, Argentina's main export.
As a consequence, the country was forced to seek investment from far-away nations such as China and Russia.
Fundamental changes
In his first months as president, pro-business Mr Macri has tried to overturn almost every one of his predecessors' key policies.
One of his first moves was to resume contact with the US and other global powers "to restore the important role Argentina should have in Latin America and the world".
He lifted capital and currency restrictions, and started talks with big international banks to get loans.
Mr Macri's government also began negotiations with the bondholders, offering to pay 75% of their outstanding claims. Some have already accepted.
However, many Argentines think the president's "winds of change" have looked more like a destructive tornado so far, as a number of controversial measures have deeply affected their everyday lives.
In January, the government stopped subsidising utility bills, and electricity prices went up by almost 300%.
And the peso lost about 30% of its value against the dollar in one single day after he decided to lift restrictions on the currency market.
All these decisions have pushed prices up and fuelled fears of hyperinflation.
Mr Macri's administration has also started to cut public spending - which doubled under the Kirchners' administration - by cutting thousands of jobs in government offices.
The opposition has accused the president of carrying out a "political cleansing" by removing civil servants hired by the previous government, and of fuelling unemployment.
In addition, Mr Macri has bypassed Congress, introducing many of these changes by issuing decrees, which critics have described as an "authoritarian" move.
The detention of high-profile social leader Milagro Sala on corruption charges in northern Argentina also proved to be controversial. Ms Salas had very close links with the previous administration.
Milagro Sala:
Mr Macri's ascent to power after a comfortable win in last year's election might have been good news for international markets and creditors, as well as the US and other global powers.
But political and social discontent could become an obstacle to his aim of boosting Argentina's standing in the world.
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Graham Brady has already won. | Mark D'ArcyParliamentary correspondent
The chairman of the Conservatives' backbench 1922 Committee has demonstrated that he has the numbers to defeat the government if it carries on pushing through pandemic measures which restrict civil liberties, without consulting Parliament first.
Selected by the Speaker for debate or not, his amendment to the motion to keep the emergency powers in the Coronavirus Act going has done its job.
The more than 50 Conservatives who have signed it are enough to see the government lose, if they combine with opposition parties.
Leaving aside the irony of Brexiteer awkward-squaddie Jacob Rees Mogg having to negotiate with rebels, as Leader of the Commons, the fact of his discussions with Sir Graham tell you that he can count.
The Conservatives have a Commons majority of 80, over the combined forces of all the other parties (the Sinn Fein MPs don't take their seats, and the Speaker and his three deputies don't vote), so the magic number for a successful rebellion is 41 Tories defying the whip - assuming they then combine with every single opposition MP.
To be on the safe side, a rebel leader would need a few more backers, to compensate for illness or absence, or even the odd opposition maverick who might support the government.
On these figures Mr Brady has that.
He has more than 50 Conservatives behind him, plus the ex-Conservative independent Julian Lewis, and, significantly, DUP MPs like Gavin Robinson and Ian Paisley.
That matters, because if the government has a potential ally on the opposition side, it is the DUP with its eight MPs.
Not this time, it would appear.
And that's before you get to the impressive list of Labour supporters, including Harriet Harman, and John Cryer, Mr Brady's opposite number as the chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
When a government finds the shop steward for its own party and that of the main opposition ranged against it, red lights should be flashing.
Show of force
Wednesday's vote is on a motion that the temporary powers in the Coronavirus Act "should not yet expire."
That is the wording specified in the act - framed as a straight yes or no question - which means that Mr Speaker may not think it proper to allow an amendment to be put - and even if he did, and it passed, it is not clear that any amendment would carry legal force.
But the procedural nuances are by the by - what we have here is a show of force.
Ministers now know that concern about the pandemic restrictions has reached the level where they cannot rely on their majority.
Pretty much everyone in Parliament accepts that at the start of the pandemic, the government had to move fast to implement the lockdown and the measures around it - and some of the legislative weapons involved were inevitably rather blunt.
But Parliament has now been back for several months, and the sight of major restrictions on civil liberties, backed up by swinging fines, being signed into law by ministers in regulations - know as statutory instruments (SIs) - now grates on MPs across the parties.
In normal times, all kinds of regulations go through Parliament almost unnoticed, and usually with little more than perfunctory rubber-stamping.
Some can be "prayed against" - requiring them to be debated before they can take effect - others (called Made Affirmative Statutory Instruments) come into effect immediately, but do have to be debated after the event, usually within 28-40 sitting days.
According to the parliamentary think tank, the Hansard Society, 247 Coronavirus-related SIs have been laid before Parliament, 60 of them made affirmatives.
The list of SIs includes local lockdowns, mask-wearing regulations, extension of pre-trial custody, denial of prison visits, travel regulations, listing and de-listing exempt countries, and of course the fines for transgressors
So these are not trivial matters.
Some are made under the Coronavirus Act powers, and others derive from earlier public health legislation - but all have important effects on the economy and people's lives.
And some have been briefed out to the press days before they have been signed into law, yet have not been put before Parliament in the meantime.
Grady 'power-broker'
In the longer term, there may well be pressure to reform the mechanisms by which these things are done.
In the short term, the rebels will want a commitment from ministers to bring urgent measures before them - if at all possible, and to account for any urgent measures they have to take without reference to MPs at the dispatch box, at the first feasible moment.
They will also want more and earlier consultation.
Take next Tuesday's debate on the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) (No.4) Regulations 2020 - the fourth set of changes to the restrictions on gatherings, which came into force at 12.01am on 14 September and introduced the so-called rule of six.
They will have been in force for nearly a month by the time they are debated, but Parliament has been sitting the whole time and could easily have considered them before now.
Mr Brady's current eminence can be traced back to 2007, when he resigned as shadow minister for Europe in protest at then Conservative leader David Cameron's line on grammar schools. He was articulating a view shared by many backbench colleagues - and the result was a decade as chairman of the '22, the indispensable power-broker of the Tory backbenches.
He's just done it again - and if Boris Johnson felt the need to broaden the base of his government, he would not have to look far for an obvious (cabinet level) recruit.
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Pegida is coming to Vienna. | By Bethany BellBBC News, Vienna
A march has been planned for Monday by Austrian sympathisers of the German "anti-Islamisation" group.
It is hardly an auspicious moment for the movement.
Since the Austrian rally was announced in early January, Pegida in Germany has been contending with major infighting and the loss of six of its leaders within a week.
It isn't clear how popular Pegida will turn out to be in Austria, partly because of the turmoil in the group in Germany, but mainly because Austria has a very different political set-up.
While Pegida is a new force in German politics, Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) has campaigned on an anti-immigration and "anti-Islamisation" platform for years.
"In Germany most parties never touched this issue in the last decades, but in Austria this has been well-established since the mid-1980s," says the political analyst Thomas Hofer.
"We have an important, institutionalised party which has been dealing with this one issue for years, and that affects coverage in the media and the wider political agenda."
The position has helped the Freedom Party at the ballot box. At the last elections, it gained 20% of the vote. A recent opinion poll put it at 28%, ahead of both parties in the governing coalition of the Social Democrats and the conservative People's Party (OeVP).
Thomas Hofer says the Freedom Party's "anti-Islamisation" message has grown out of its more generalised anti-migrant stance.
"Anti-Islamisation is one of the pillars of the Freedom Party right now and has been that way over the last seven to eight years, especially in Vienna."
For Austria's official Muslim community, the arrival of Pegida in Vienna is unwelcome, but not a new challenge.
"Of course there is concern, but on the other hand we are quite used to a certain segment in society that is Islamophobic, encouraged by parties like the Freedom Party," the Islamic Community spokeswoman Carla Amina Baghajati says.
The organisers of the Vienna march are believed to have links to the far-right football hooligan scene.
What is not clear is how much support they will receive from the Freedom Party.
"I'm with Pegida in my heart every week in Dresden," exclaimed the Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache to cheers, in a recent speech to the party faithful.
But he will not be taking part in the rally in Vienna.
Observers believe the Freedom Party may try to incorporate the new movement if it catches on, but that it will be up to Pegida to prove its effectiveness and popularity.
Why go out and march in the cold with Pegida, its sympathisers may wonder, when you can vote for an established party instead?
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Supporters of the Union are nervous. | By Nick EardleyBBC political correspondent
A number of recent polls on Scottish independence suggest there is now a majority in support of leaving the UK. The SNP have started calling independence the "settled will of the Scottish people".
The issue is set to dominate the run-up to the Holyrood election in May. Polls also suggest the SNP are on for a comfortable win - which will make calls for another vote on independence even louder.
In this situation, the SNP will have gone into the election arguing it should have the power to hold another referendum - and will have won.
So what is Westminster going to do? The immediate answer is a simple one. It will say no.
Last week the Scottish Secretary Alister Jack told the BBC there shouldn't be another referendum for a generation - adding that could be as long as 40 years.
Although some Tories have discussed the prospect of a snap referendum - both publicly and privately - senior figures in government intend on rejecting calls for indyref2 next year, whatever the outcome of the Holyrood vote.
And as things stand, they hold a trump card.
Legal process
Although some in the SNP are itching for a Plan B (which we'll revisit in the coming weeks) - Nicola Sturgeon wants an agreed, legal process with Westminster so that if Scotland votes for it, independence is seen as legitimate.
But the debate doesn't end there. As ever with politics - the full story is more complicated.
In the corridors of power in London, some believe unionists are losing the argument. They accept polls are likely to get worse for them - with support for independence increasing in the coming months.
They accept many "soft unionists" are unhappy with Brexit and the way the UK government has pursued it.
Some acknowledge privately that Nicola Sturgeon's handling of the coronavirus crisis has made her more popular - and impressed Scots who may have not been convinced about independence before.
Sir John Major - who has long warned Brexit would make independence more likely - has argued that saying no to another referendum after an SNP victory may well help their case.
He suggested two referendums; one on independence and one on the terms. His intervention shows some in Conservative circles are thinking about what to do next.
The fear that saying no is unsustainable is shared by some in government.
They worry that if the SNP wins comfortably in May, refusing to engage on an independence vote will look anti-democratic - alienating Scots who voted against independence in 2014 but are now on the fence.
Some hope that by stopping the SNP winning a majority - which is a big ask under the electoral system anyway - they can argue the mandate isn't there.
But that argument will be a lot harder to make if the SNP do dominate in May - and independence supporters already argue even if they don't get over the line and win 50% of seats, Holyrood could still vote in favour of another referendum with the support of the Scottish Greens.
Strength and certainty
The government's strategy is focussed on telling Scottish voters more about its role in Scottish life.
It wants to persuade people of the "broad shoulders of the union" - pointing to the huge financial support the Treasury has provided during the Covid crisis and arguing that wouldn't be possible as an independent country (an argument rubbished by the SNP, who believe the Treasury has made decisions based on England rather than the needs of parts of the union).
Senior figures in government believe that the economic picture in May is likely to be grim. Unemployment could be rising, the health picture may still be uncertain.
They think people will want certainty and will argue staying in the UK can provide it. Constitutional matters, they argue, will be far from top of people's minds.
Even though people in government acknowledge support for independence is increasing, they believe it's "soft".
Internal polling suggests people have other priorities and even among those who believe another referendum should happen there is a view that it's not the immediate priority.
The last time the Scottish government called for the power to hold another referendum, after the Brexit vote, Theresa May's argument was a nuanced no - "now is not the time".
That answer - or some form of it - is likely to be the same next year if the SNP do win power again.
But more than last time, there is nervousness about how that answer will go down - and how long it can be sustained.
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What's all the fuss about? | By Will GompertzArts Editor
Hamilton is rubbish.
It's full of synthetic hip-hop music and naff choreography. There's nothing to it. You'd be better off spending the evening in the pub.
You will know by now this is not a commonly held view of Lin-Manuel Miranda's all-conquering musical about America's all-conquering Founding Fathers.
But it is valid.
It is the opinion of a rock musician, who saw the show on Wednesday night. The fella loathed it so much he left at half-time, and sat the evening out on his own in a local boozer.
I tell you this, because it is worth acknowledging amid all the hype and hysteria that Hamilton is not for everyone. For some it will be simply the latest irritating American theatrical import to roll off the transatlantic conveyor belt, jazz hands and all.
Not me.
To say Hamilton is just another transfer from Broadway would be like saying the Sex Pistols were just another boy band. It is a ground-breaking, game-changing, epoch-defining musical.
It is… a masterpiece.
I get what the rock guy was saying about the music feeling more anodyne than the sort of thing you'd find at a downtown hip-hop gig, or a rap night in a subterranean club.
He's right, it doesn't have that sense of barely contained anger or raw energy. But that's because it's a musical in a theatre, which is several stops along on the entertainment express from a sweaty night in a mosh pit.
The way in which it goes about its business of telling the story of Alexander Hamilton, a largely unknown figure in America's fight for independence (although he is the face of the $10), is unprecedented, compelling, and important.
We meet our man and hear of his demise in the opening scene and first song of the show, in which its principles and premises are established:
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a
Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten
Spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor
Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?
This is to be a tale as much about immigration, class, and race as it is about politics, war, and love.
In a casting move that echoes the revolution being played out on stage, the Founding Fathers are all non-white.
Their struggle is mirrored in the music, which comes from the African-American canon (hip-hop, rap, jazz, R&B, and soul). The old establishment figures (George III and his army) on the other hand, are white, pompous and detached.
The message is clear: this is a story about the movers and shakers of the past, who changed America, told by the movers and shakers of today, who are undertaking the same task.
Barack Obama, who has been to the show several times, loves it.
President Trump, who has not seen it, called it "highly overrated".
I feared, having seen the show in New York, that it would lose some of its magic crossing the Pond.
But it hasn't.
In fact, if anything, it is better.
The songs, the music, the book, the acting, the singing, the choreography, the staging, the costumes, the lighting, the sound, and the newly refurbished theatre - are all five-star.
Jamael Westman, a RADA-trained rookie, plays Alexander Hamilton with the skill and charisma of an established star. The transformation his character has to make from a naïve, orphaned, teenage revolutionary to a political heavyweight helping shape a newly independent America, is not easy.
Westman makes it look a cinch.
Alongside him is the more experienced Giles Terera playing Aaron Burr, Hamilton's friend and fatal foe, in a combined role of both narrator and protagonist; a structural task he lands with the easy authority and perfect timing of Mohammad Ali in his pomp.
The knock-out punches though, are delivered by Michael Jibson's George III.
The King might have lost America, but he steals this show every night with three fabulously camp entrances, in which he asks America if going it alone is really that good an idea (You'll Be Back):
You'll be back, time will tell
You'll remember that I served you well
Oceans rise, empires fall
We have seen each other through it all
And when push comes to shove
I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love!
In New York the audience whooped, then laughed at a song that is right up there with Carly Simon's You're So Vain, as one of the most bitter and sarcastic break-up numbers ever written.
The London audience reacted slightly differently. Before the laugh is an anxious pause, as they quickly recognised the Brexit connotations, albeit with a Hammond not a Hamilton in charge of the Exchequer.
The singing is terrific throughout, but special mention has to be given to Rachelle Ann Go as Hamilton's wife Eliza, and Rachel John who plays her sister, Angelica Schuyler. They sing with a soulfulness and musicality that has the audience rapt, most particularly in the Act I numbers, Helpless and Satisfied.
A musical like Hamilton comes along once in a generation. Showboat (1927), West Side Story (1957), Sweeney Todd (1979), Rent (1996); it belongs among them as one of the finest works to be created in the genre.
It is timely, intelligent, and irresistibly entertaining from the first note to the last. And also surprisingly scholarly.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, a one-time teacher, read Ron Chernow's epic 800+ page 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton while on holiday, and pitched to the now 68-year old historian that it would make the perfect subject for a hip-hop musical.
After some persuasion Chernow agreed, Miranda then performed the opening number at a White House poetry jam in 2009 and the rest, as they say, is history.
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Will your future boss be a computer? | By Jonty BloomBusiness reporter
If your first thought upon reading that sentence was "well it would be an improvement on my current human one," you wouldn't be alone.
After all, an artificial intelligence (AI) software system might be better able to organise the staff rota without messing up your holidays.
And getting some unbiased feedback from a line manager who can't be accused of having it in for you or of favouring other staff could make a pleasant change.
However, for those of us who have seen the Terminator movies rather too often, the thought of a computer, or robot, bossing you around is also bound to raise fears that the machines are in danger of taking over.
Yet this ignores the fact that we already spend a lot of time obeying machines, and we don't even think about it, let alone worry.
Jeff Schwartz, a senior partner at business consulting and audit firm Deloitte, and a global adviser on the future of work, points to a simple everyday machine that we all obey unthinkingly.
"A traffic light used to be a job, there used to be a person who would stand there directing the cars," he says. "But very clearly that is now a machine, and it is getting smarter - they are now putting AI into traffic lights [so they can best respond to traffic levels]."
So it seems we are perfectly willing to take orders from a machine in some clearly defined situations.
What has increasingly happened in recent years, however, is that more of us are already being ordered around by computers at work. And experts say that this is only set to increase.
Take taxi firm Uber. There isn't a man or woman in the office giving out the jobs to the drivers. It is done automatically by the company's AI software system.
Prof Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a business psychologist at University College London, says that while Uber does this to make its service as efficient as possible, there are wider benefits.
"Uber the app isn't biased in favour of someone [a customer or a driver] because they are good looking, or went to the right school, or they have the right accent, or they dress well," he says.
"It is all about performance. You can see how technology could make the world of work more meritocratic by focusing more on substance and less on style.
"Companies that can do that will outperform their rivals and be better places to work."
So having a computer boss you about is nothing to be worried about? Shivvy Jervis, founder of business consultancy FutureScape 248, and a forecaster of future working trends, is far from convinced.
"The big caveat here is we need ethical oversight of this," she says. "If you have AI being the boss, a piece of software with decision-making ability, that for me is extremely worrying, and I think it could lead to quite a dystopian future.
"A system that doesn't have adequate ethical oversight, an actual human using their sense of judgement to be able to oversee what the system is deeming to be the supposed right conclusion, is extremely damaging, and that is the true threat."
In the retail sector, Amazon increasingly uses AI systems to direct and monitor staff in its warehouses. This has led to several reports of employees being overworked, accusations that Amazon has repeatedly denied. Amazon says that if the AI notices a worker underperforming, he or she gets additional support and training, which comes from a human.
AI software that both gives work to, and checks on, call centre staff has also been criticised for being too demanding, and unfair.
However, one provider, CallMiner, tells the BBC that because its call centre monitoring system can "analyse 100% of interactions", human supervisors can use that information "to be better managers". And staff can be guided "to perform better over time, and deliver more effective outcomes for customers".
As AI is increasingly used to monitor staff, a big problem could be whether it gets the final say on which of a firm's workers get let go in a downturn, says Ms Jervis.
"A human might actually favour the person who is a single parent with two children depending on his or her monthly income," she says. "Or think this other person is well-connected, and will land on their feet.
"Software, even if it is asked these questions, cannot hope to understand the answers in that way."
New Tech Economy is a series exploring how technological innovation is set to shape the new emerging economic landscape.
Prof Sandra Wachter, a senior research fellow in AI at Oxford University, says that when many people think of having a computer as a boss "they wrongly picture a robot standing over them".
"Instead, it is all about certain leadership tasks relating to you already being carried out by computer algorithms," she says.
"So, for example, there could be software systems running in the background monitoring your performance - the number of calls you carry out, tracking your language on calls, the emails you send, the websites you visit, how often you take breaks.
"These can then be used to determine what salary you get or if you get promoted. My main worry is if these algorithms are being used to predict things that it is impossible for them to do so. For example, what a good worker looks like, and who merits promotion, is very subjective."
In the future this could be an area for governments to legislate on, but it is a bit of a minefield given the blurring between AI and human boss decision making.
Prof Chamorro-Premuzic says that despite the concerns about AI bosses, it is important to remember that many humans are dreadful line managers.
"It is very hard for a machine to outperform the best of bosses... but it is not very hard for AI to be a good alternative to a really bad boss."
Prof Wachter adds that human bosses "should certainly not be seen as the gold standard".
Mr Schwartz says his hope is that AI bosses may help their human counterparts to improve their performance. He says this is because the computer ones will do more of the boring stuff - compile the rotas, set the simple tasks, carry out the initial performance monitoring etc.
This will enable the sentient homo sapiens bosses to concentrate on being better team leaders.
Additional reporting by Will Smale.
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"He's making it too easy." | Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
The prime minister rather made the case for some of the malcontents in his own party today, as one of the key rebels joked.
One of the organisers behind backbench moves for more of a say over how the government is handling the pandemic claimed that Boris Johnson's North East coronavirus restrictions blunder underlined their contention - the rules are too complicated, too arbitrary, and haven't been put through the normal grinder of political logic.
Mr Johnson said sorry for getting it wrong shortly after he "misspoke" (political speak for getting it wrong), but it gave more immediate ammunition to the opposition too, who accused the prime minister of "gross incompetence".
Forget the politics between Number 10 and Labour for a second, and the relationship between Downing Street and the backbenches too, it hardly seems unreasonable for the public to expect that the prime minister would be able to demonstrate a clear grasp of the rules the government has put into force.
It seems unlikely that his comments are going to help the public's sense that the rules are clear, firm, and important to follow.
Mr Johnson's "misspeak" (being diplomatic), also comes at the crescendo of a tricky moment between Downing Street and grumpy and restless Tory MPs.
Overtly critical
For some days, backbenchers have been pushing for a way of seeking more influence over, not just the government's decisions on coronavirus, but how Parliament gets involved.
As we talked about here, backbenchers were part of what held Number 10 back from going for tighter rules as coronavirus cases rose last week. And since then, many of them have been pushing for a more permanent way of making sure they are heard.
It is not just a group of standard rebels either, who love chucking a few political punches, but the chair of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, the Tories' shop steward, if you like, is at the head.
It is not normal for the occupant of that position to be overtly critical in this way.
Without diving in to the parliamentary weeds from where few return, here's the short version of what they want.
Ministers have been bringing in some pretty draconian new rules very quickly during the pandemic, without anything like the normal argy bargy and checks and balances of grinding through Parliament.
MPs now want to make sure they have more of a say.
And they are also less forgiving of the government, more sceptical of the scientific advice ministers are being offered and more worried about the economy than back in March.
'Sheer number'
What is not surprising is that ministers are less than delighted about having to concede more of their power.
What is surprising is that those organising the rebellion, (and they are extremely organised) say that they have as many as 80 of their Tory colleagues willing to defy Number 10.
In other words, despite the government's thumping majority, if this goes to a vote, Downing Street is likely to lose.
Hold on though.
First off, for reasons that require a full dunking in the parliamentary weeds which I will spare you, the demand for MPs to have more of a say may never be called to a vote - the tweak to the legislation that Sir Graham is calling for may not be determined "in scope" by the Speaker.
If it's not debated, there won't be a vote, so the government can't lose, or win for that matter.
For days Downing Street has been pretty sure that the vote won't happen. So why budge?
The numbers of MPs upset is big enough for ministers to have to take it seriously. As one of them told me, they think "the government is going to have to give us something by the sheer number".
So tonight the leader of the House of Commons is meeting Sir Graham and there is talk of a compromise.
The rebels' hope is a vote for Parliament before any new regulations come into force.
Ministers may only offer a chance at retrospective approval.
Wherever the talks end up, there is clearly enough concern in government that it is being taken seriously now. And it is possible that by morning a deal will have been brokered.
Even administrations that thrive on controversy and revel in power, often need Parliament on their side.
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President: Sergio Mattarella
| Sergio Mattarella, a constitutional court judge and veteran centre-left politician, was chosen as president by members of parliament in January 2015.
He succeeded Giorgio Napolitano, who stepped down due to old age.
Mr Mattarella was the candidate proposed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, but was opposed by the centre-right party of Silvio Berlusconi.
He was little known among the general public but is a respected figure in political circles after a 25-year parliamentary career and several stints as minister in governments of the left and right.
He entered politics after his elder brother, who was president of the region of Sicily, was murdered by the Mafia 1980.
The Italian president is a largely ceremonial figure, but he wields important powers at times of political instability, a frequent scourge in Italy, when he can dissolve parliament, call elections and pick prime ministers.
Prime Minister: Matteo Renzi
Matteo Renzi became the youngest prime minister in modern Italian history after triggering the ousting of his fellow centre-left Democratic Party (PD) colleague Enrico Letta in February 2014.
Mr Renzi came to power with a programme of rapid economic and political reform, including tax cuts, investment in jobs and removing law-making powers from the upper house, the Senate.
Unusually, the PD leader was not a member of parliament when President Giorgio Napolitano nominated him to form a government, but the outgoing mayor of his native Florence.
Mr Letta had resigned after only a year as prime minister after the PD voted in favour of an urgent change of government to push through reforms.
The showdown came after Mr Renzi, who was elected the party's leader in December 2013, called for "profound change" to get Italy "out of the quagmire".
Born in 1975, Mr Renzi presents himself as a radical break from the past in both style and policy, and his rise has been widely hailed as heralding an overdue generational change.
"The Scrapper"
His calls for the entire Italian political establishment - seen by many Italians as corrupt and discredited - to be swept away has earned him the moniker Il Rottamatore ("The Scrapper").
He scored a major success in May 2015 when parliament approved a reform of the electoral system to give the largest party an automatic majority of seats, a measure that Mr Renzi hopes will provide for more stable and decisive government.
He wants to move the PD to the centre and to reach out to new voters, leading to frequent comparisons with Tony Blair, the similarly centrist former social democratic prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Apart from the PD, Mr Renzi's new government includes several smaller centrist parties.
After inconclusive elections held in the middle of a deep recession, Mr Renzi's predecessor, Enrico Letta, in April 2013 needed a broad partnership with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives, as well as centrists led by former prime minister Mario Monti, to form a government.
The coalition at first appeared to pave the way for yet another political comeback for Mr Berlusconi, who was forced to resign in 2011 as Italy slid deeper into the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis.
But in August 2013, the Supreme Court upheld a custodial sentence for Mr Berlusconi in the first of a series of criminal convictions. The former prime minister, who dominated Italian politics for decades, was expelled from parliament later in the year.
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Killer David Gilroy led a double life.
| By Lisa Summers & Angie BrownBBC Scotland
He deceived his wife and children about his turbulent affair with Suzanne Pilley, but when things turned sour he moved back home with them.
When Ms Pilley disappeared he was under intense scrutiny from the press, but he kept his cool and gave an astonishing interview outside his home in Silverknowes, Edinburgh.
However, the denials he made were false. He knew he was a killer, he knew he had murdered Ms Pilley.
Gilroy's mistake was to underestimate the huge electronic footprint that became a compelling body of evidence.
After analysing CCTV evidence, police had recreated a journey he made to Argyll and back three times.
They discovered Mr Gilroy had taken two hours longer than their average time each way.
And a comparison of fuel consumption suggested there were 124 miles unaccounted for.
Ms Pilley had been trying to end her relationship with Gilroy for good. He was desperate to keep it going.
However, pleading messages from him stopped abruptly as soon as she went missing on 4 May 2010.
When Ms Pilley made her final journey to work at Infrastructure Managers Ltd (IML) in Thistle Street on 4 May, she had just spent the night with a new man, Mark Brooks.
Gilroy could not accept that.
Scratches seen
He persuaded her to go to the office basement where he killed her.
He hid her body in a recess under a stairwell.
Then he began his cover up.
Colleagues described him as seeming clammy, sweaty and with scratches on his neck and face. But he got his act together.
He made an excuse to go home and collect the car. He bought air freshners in Superdrug on Princes Street.
He used make-up to cover scratch marks on his hands.
He adjusted his diary to give him a reason to go to Argyll the following day.
Suspension damaged
As the court prosecution pointed out, Mr Gilroy, who was the one person with intimate knowledge of Ms Pilley, had gone on a journey of "no importance" the day after she had disappeared instead of "assisting the police inquiry".
He returned home that night and spent the evening with his family, all the time Ms Pilley's body was in the boot of his car.
He had made a journey to Lochgilphead, to check on a school his firm was overseeing.
However, he did not take a direct route and instead headed much further north.
He was logged at Tyndrum at 13:22, then Inveraray at 15:51 before arriving at Lochgilphead at 16:26.
Gilroy's car suspension was found by investigators to be badly damaged and it had vegetation stuck underneath.
They were convinced he had driven off road.
Detectives were certain he had detoured along the A83 to somewhere near the beauty spot, Rest and Be Thankful, with enough time to dispose of Ms Pilley's body.
A targeted, intensive search was organised for a weekend in August. The terrain was tough and ultimately Ms Pilley's body was not found.
As Gilroy faces a life sentence one question remains, where did he hide her body?
Ms Pilley's family hope that one day he will finally tell them the truth.
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Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? | All it takes is for a single snowflake to be observed falling at any time on Christmas Day somewhere in the UK.
So, an official white Christmas may not appear snowy at all, while snow lying on the ground is no guarantee.
But while most festive films, songs and cards feature snowy scenes, how likely is a white Christmas in Wales' mild - and warming - climate?
How many white Christmases have there been in Wales?
In the 60 years since the Met Office has recorded the data locally, 23 Christmases have officially been white in Wales.
This equates to roughly four in every decade, or a white Christmas every two to three years.
However, more than a quarter of these white Christmases have seen snow fall in only one location.
Only six Christmas Days have seen snowfall in more than 10 locations over this period, and all of these were in an 11-year span.
The first of these was in 1993, when 24 weather stations reported snowfall, before this peaked at 38 locations in 1995.
Other white Christmases followed in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2004.
But a white Christmas does not necessarily mark the arrival of snowmen in gardens and parks.
The most recent significant amount of lying snow recorded in Wales on Christmas Day was in 2009, when 16cm (6in) was recorded at the Llanglunllo station in rural Powys.
That year saw the longest spell of freezing and snowy weather over the Christmas period in 28 years, according to Oli Claydon, from the Met Office.
He added: "Although we're recording white Christmases, they're not exactly 'get your sledge out territory'."
Where has seen the most snowy Christmas days?
It can be tough to definitively say where has seen the most snowy Christmas days in Wales, as some weather stations have opened more recently than others, and Met Office stations do not cover all areas.
Since records started in 1960, the weather station at Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, in Wrexham county, has seen 11 out of 60 white Christmases - and all in the last 30 years.
Dinorwic in Gwynedd and Llangunllo and Velindre in Powys have all recorded eight.
Typically, snow is more common later in the winter, with January, February and March all seeing more days of slow and sleet on average in the UK.
What about climate change?
Earlier this month, Met Office analysis suggested snowy winters may become a thing of the past in the UK within the next 20 to 40 years.
It said most of southern England would no longer see sub-zero days from 2040, while by 2060 only northern Scotland would likely experience such temperatures.
Mr Claydon said there were already signs of a reduction in snow.
"Snow days and ice days are going to reduce as we go forward. Ice days mean temperatures don't climb above 0C," he said.
"That enables lying snow to stay around for longer. Without this, the chances of lying snow reduce.
"Under a high emission scenario, by the time we get to the end of the century we are likely to see a reduction in lying snow in the UK."
Related Internet Links
Met Office - Will it be a white Christmas?
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A chronology of key events
| 1915 - Lithuania occupied by German troops during World War I.
1918 - Lithuania declares independence.
1920 - Soviet Russia recognises Lithuania's independence under Treaty of Moscow.
1926 - Nationalist Party leader Antanas Smetona seizes power in military coup after left wing wins elections.
1939 - The Soviet Union compels Lithuania to accept Soviet military bases.
Soviet invasion
1940 - Soviet army invades. President Smetona flees. Lithuania incorporated into Soviet Union.
1941 - Thousands of Lithuanians deported to Siberia. Nazis invade Soviet Union and occupy Lithuania.
1944 - Soviet Army returns, presaging further deportations and repression of resistance.
1988 - Group of writers and intellectuals sets up Lithuanian Movement for Reconstruction (Sajudis). Its leaders declare at a mass rally in the capital, Vilnius, that the USSR occupied Lithuania illegally.
Ringaudas Songaila dismissed as Lithuanian Communist Party chief. Replaced by Algirdas Brazauskas.
1989 - Parliament approves declaration of Lithuanian sovereignty, stating that Lithuanian laws take precedence over Soviet ones.
Lithuanian Communist Party breaks away from Soviet Communist Party and declares support for independence.
Independence struggle
1990 - Sajudis wins majority of seats in parliamentary elections. Its leader, Vytautas Landsbergis, is elected chairman of parliament which declares restoration of independence.
Soviet Union imposes embargo, halting fuel supplies and causing severe economic difficulties. Lithuania agrees to suspend independence, pending talks.
1991 January - As no headway is made in talks with Moscow and the economy faces turmoil, Landsbergis ends suspension of declaration of independence.
Soviet troops fire on civilians outside television tower in Vilnius, killing 13 and injuring several hundred.
1991 February - Referendum sees overwhelming vote in favour of independence.
Independence
1991 September - Following failed coup in Moscow the previous month, Soviet Union recognises Lithuania's independence. Lithuania joins UN.
1992 - New constitution introduces presidency. The former Communist Party, renamed Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party, wins more seats than Sajudis in general election. Coalition government formed.
1993 - Algirdas Brazauskas elected president. Lithuania joins Council of Europe. New national currency, the litas, introduced. Soviet troops complete withdrawal.
1994 - Lithuania joins Nato Partnership for Peace programme. Treaty of friendship signed with Poland.
1995 - Lithuania's two largest commercial banks collapse. Political scandal ensues.
1996 - Prime Minister Slezevicius dismissed in the aftermath of banking crisis. General elections bring in centre-right coalition government.
1997 - President Brazauskas visits Russia. Border treaty, cooperation agreement signed.
1998 - Valdas Adamkus, a US citizen who spent nearly 50 years in exile, elected president.
1999 - Controversial contract signed selling a controlling share in Lithuanian state oil company to the American energy group, Williams International. Conservative Prime Minister Rolandas Paksas resigns. Andrius Kubilius becomes prime minister.
2000 - General election returns another centre-right coalition government. Paksas reappointed prime minister, this time as a member of the Liberal Union.
2001 July - Algirdas Brazauskas becomes prime minister following collapse of coalition in squabble over privatisation and other economic reforms. He pledges to work to speed up EU and Nato membership.
2002 November - Nato summit in Prague includes Lithuania on list of countries formally invited to join the alliance.
2002 December - EU summit in Copenhagen formally invites Lithuania to join in 2004.
2003 January - Rolandas Paksas elected president.
2003 May - Lithuanian referendum results in vote in favour of joining EU.
2003 December - Impeachment proceedings begin against President Paksas after parliamentary inquiry concludes that alleged links between his office and Russian organised crime constitute threat to national security.
2004 March - Lithuania joins Nato.
2004 April - Parliament impeaches and dismisses Rolandas Paksas.
EU era begins
2004 May - Lithuania is one of 10 new states to join the EU.
2004 June - Valdas Adamkus re-elected president.
2004 October - Algirdas Brazauskas carries on as prime minister in new coalition following general elections.
2004 November - Lithuania becomes first EU member state to ratify new EU constitution.
2004 December - Reactor one at Ignalina nuclear power station shuts down in line with EU entry requirements. Under the same agreement, the second reactor is to close by 2009.
2005 January - Foreign Minister Valionis admits that he was once an officer in the Soviet KGB reserves. A parliamentary inquiry is launched into his past and into similar allegations against two other senior officials.
2006 May-July - Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas resigns after the Labour Party pulls out of the ruling coalition. Parliament appoints appoints Gediminas Kirkilas.
2008 May - Parliament ratifies EU Lisbon Treaty.
The EU Commission turns down Lithuania's application to join the euro zone on 1 January 2007, citing the country's inflation rate.
2008 April-May - Lithuania threatens to derail EU-Russia partnership talks over energy concerns but drops veto under pressure from other member states.
2008 June - Parliament bans display of Soviet and Nazi symbols. The restrictions are the toughest of any former Soviet state.
Economic crisis
2008 October - The conservative Homeland Union party becomes largest party after parliamentary elections, pushing Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas's Social Democrats into second place.
2008 November - Homeland Union leader Andrius Kubilius appointed prime minister at the head of a centre-right coalition government.
2009 April - National statistics office publishes figures showing that Lithuania's GDP plunged 12.6% in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the same period last year.
2009 May - EU budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite, standing as an independent, wins presidential election with more than 68% of the vote.
2009 December - The second reactor at the Ignalina nuclear power station is shut down, in line with Lithuania's EU entry requirements.
2012 December - Social Democrat leader Algirdas Butkevicius becomes prime minister after his party wins parliamentary elections in October. He forms a coalition with the Labour Party and two smaller parties.
2013 July - Lithuania assumes rotating six-month European Union presidency for first time since joining the EU, the first of the Baltic states to do so.
Tensions with Russia
2013 October - Russia halts all dairy imports from Lithuania, amid a row over the Lithuanian EU presidency's efforts to draw Ukraine closer to the EU.
2014 April - Nato steps up military presence in the Baltic states in response to tensions with Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
Lithuania suspends a Russian state TV channel's broadcasts on its territory, accusing it of propaganda.
2014 May - Incumbent Dalia Grybauskaite wins presidential election run-off, the first time in the country's history a president has been elected to two consecutive terms.
2015 January - Lithuania joins the euro zone.
2015 February - Government says it plans to restart military conscription, which ended in 2008, amid growing concerns about Russian assertiveness in the Baltic region.
2015 March - NATO reinforces its presence in the Baltic states and its forces conduct major military drills in the region.
2016 November - Saulius Skvernelis becomes prime minister after his Peasant and Green Union inflicts a surprise defeat on Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius's Social Democrats in parliamentary elections.
2019 June - Financier Gitanas Nauseda wins presidential election with 66.5% of the vote, beating the initial front-runner, conservative former finance minister Ingrida Simonyte.
2020 November - Ingride Simonyte becomes prime minister at the head of a coalition between the conservative Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats and two centrist groups, the Freedom Party and Liberal Movement.
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How many apps do you have on your phone? | By Karishma VaswaniAsia business correspondent
If you're anything like me, it's a lot.
But imagine installing just one app that does almost everything - from buying a pizza, hailing a taxi, chatting to your friends and even booking a massage.
It does exist and it's known as a super-app.
There are two major players in the market and the most popular, with over a billion users, is WeChat.
Created in 2011 by Chinese tech giant Tencent, WeChat started life as a messaging platform.
It is now estimated to offer more than one million services through mini programmes, which are apps created by third-party companies and accessible through WeChat.
That means you never have to leave WeChat's virtual universe (except perhaps to go to the bathroom).
Most of these services are only available to users in China, which is why you may not have heard of it despite its dominance.
The other main player is Ant Group's Alipay, which also has more than one billion users and offers 120,000 mini programmes.
Business booms on WeChat
Singapore-based Chinese entrepreneurs Angeline Liu and Angee Teng saw a unique opportunity to tap into WeChat's captive audience.
"WeChat is a part of our daily life that we [can't] live without," says Ms Liu, who spends two to three hours a day on the app.
"Basically everything you need is within this one app and every part of your life is touched [by it]."
Three years ago they launched a business selling premium meat to Chinese customers in Singapore.
"You can browse the products, make purchases, make payments and complete the whole cycle within this app," Ms Liu says.
They don't advertise through traditional channels or social media yet business is booming, with tens of thousands of dollars worth of orders rolling in every month.
Why is China so good at creating super-apps?
China leapfrogged into the internet era, which means people went from telephones to smartphones pretty quickly.
This allowed internet companies to innovate in a way their counterparts in the West haven't been able to.
Rui Ma, who co-hosts the podcast Techbuzz, tells me it's also because data laws in China are quite different.
"In the West we have a lot of rules and regulations, creating a lot of friction around these services that in China the government simply hasn't gotten around to regulating," she says.
That's not the only reason.
"Chinese internet companies think of building entire ecosystems, versus product-first or product-centric companies," she says.
"They're not just building a feature or one service. They're thinking about how to take the user's entire lifestyle and move it online."
A life lived online means a lot of transactions and a lot of data.
Under Chinese law, all companies - not just WeChat - can be compelled to hand over that data to the ruling Communist Party.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) says it has found evidence of censorship on WeChat in China and warns this could also happen to overseas users.
"The risks associated with WeChat's lack of end-to-end encryption is that Tencent and WeChat can have access to any of your data on WeChat," says Audrey Fritz, who co-authored an ASPI report looking at the Communist Party's influence on Chinese internet firms.
"[They are] bound by [China's] cyber-security laws to give any data on WeChat or any of their apps to the government, if the Communist Party should request that."
Tencent told the BBC it complies with the laws and regulations of each market it operates in, adding that user privacy and data security are core values.
"User privacy and data security are core values at Tencent. We hold ourselves to the highest standards in protecting our users while ensuring we comply with all laws and regulations in the markets in which we operate," the company said.
Concern over privacy and data security could be among the reasons it has been difficult for these Chinese apps to expand overseas.
Throw in the fact that the domestic market in China is so big, there's really no need to go anywhere else.
South East Asia a contender to produce the next super-app
The race to build the world's next super-app is revving up and many of the frontrunners are based in South East Asia.
With 600 million people spread across the region, there are already half a dozen companies vying for their attention.
Grab, Gojek and the SEA Group are among the biggest and best funded.
Chinese companies Alibaba and Tencent have invested in them, as have US firms including Facebook, Google and PayPal.
Indonesian-based Gojek has grown from a motorcycle-hailing platform to an app offering car rides, payments and food delivery.
Gojek co-chief executive Kevin Aluwi says the region is a natural fit for super-apps.
"Having to only download one single app is something that is probably uniquely appealing to a part of the world where, for most people, the first real experience of the internet happened on mobile."
Perhaps surprisingly for a company that calls itself a super-app, Mr Aluwi says Gojek isn't trying to monopolise its users' time.
"Many super-apps view their objective as to increase the amount of time that customers are actually viewing their app," he says.
"For us, we want our customers to get in, find the thing they need to solve their problem at that moment and then get out and get on with their lives."
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"You are hereby terminated." | With those words, Donald Trump became only the second president to fire his FBI director.
But why was he dismissed?
1) The Clinton emails
This was the first official reason. The president opened his missive to Mr Comey by citing a damning letter from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that accused the now-former FBI director of "serious mistakes".
Among other things, it said Mr Comey had "usurped" the authority of the former attorney general by announcing last July the closure of the inquiry into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
The letter faulted him for "gratuitously" releasing "derogatory information" about the subject of an investigation - Mrs Clinton.
It even criticised his public reopening of the inquiry 11 days before the election, a step which some say contributed to Mr Trump's shock victory over Mrs Clinton.
At the time Mr Trump had praised Mr Comey's unusual move, saying it "took guts".
2) 'He wasn't doing a good job'
This was President Trump's first in-person explanation, given from the Oval Office in an interview with NBC News.
He said he had already decided to fire Mr Comey, "regardless of recommendation" as the FBI had been "in turmoil".
This appeared to contradict White House claims that Mr Trump acted on the deputy attorney general's recommendation.
Mr Trump tweeted that Mr Comey had "lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington".
But Mr Comey's successor, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, told the Senate "the vast majority of employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey".
3) Russia
Democrats assert that Mr Comey's role leading the FBI investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the election - and possible Kremlin links to the Trump campaign - was the real reason for his abrupt dismissal.
Mr Comey confirmed that such an investigation existed on 20 March, when he spoke before a congressional intelligence committee.
After his dismissal, Politico reported the president "had grown enraged by the Russia investigation" and was "frustrated by his inability to control the mushrooming narrative".
"He repeatedly asked aides why the Russia investigation wouldn't disappear and demanded they speak out for him," Politico reported. "He would sometimes scream at television clips about the probe, one adviser said."
Russia: The scandal Trump can't shake
4) He was a 'showboat'
"He's become more famous than me!" Mr Trump said of Mr Comey at a January meeting, sending an air-kiss his way.
But could this have been a problem, rather than a compliment?
In his NBC interview, the US president described Mr Comey as a "showboat" and "grandstander".
Citing unnamed White House officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Trump chafed at the increased media attention on Mr Comey.
"He viewed Mr Comey as eager to step in front of TV cameras and questioned whether his expanding media profile was warping his view of the Russia investigation," the officials said, according to the report.
5) Loyalty
Loyalty is one Mr Trump's most prized qualities - and according to the New York Times, two of Mr Comey's associates say he declined to pledge it.
Over dinner in January, the president asked the FBI head whether he could count on his loyalty, but Mr Comey only promised to be honest, according to the newspaper.
Mr Trump is also reported to have been furious that Mr Comey publicly dismissed his sensational claim in March that President Barack Obama had wiretapped him.
After Mr Comey testified to a Senate panel on 3 May that he felt "mildly nauseous" to think he might have swayed the election, Mr Trump began seriously considering firing him, the New York Times reports.
Is Trump's thin skin to blame?
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Xiong Jigen blames the road. | By Robin BrantBBC News, Laoya village, Anhui
"It's isolated and the transportation is very difficult," he says. Behind him, there is a busy chicken pen and tiers of corn fields outside his home, near the top of a hill.
At 43, Mr Xiong is what is called a "bare branch" in China - single, unmarried, a bachelor.
This is the label given to men like him who have not found a wife, in a country where a man in his twenties is still expected to marry, provide a home and carry on his family line.
He lives in Laoya village in a very rural part of Anhui province of eastern China.
The immediate approach to the village is an hour-long slow drive up a dirt road, which turns into a walk up a steep dirt track.
His house is one of seven in a spot surrounded by a forest of bamboo and trees. It is a beautiful scene.
The bachelor village
But Laoya, which means "Old Duck" village, is known locally as the "bachelor village".
In a survey in 2014 it had 112 men between 30 and 55 registered as single out of a population of 1,600. That is unusually high.
Mr Xiong said he knew of more than 100 local men who were still unmarried: "I cannot find a wife, they migrate to somewhere else to work, then how can I find someone to marry?"
Then he mentioned the road again.
"Transportation is so difficult here, we cannot go across the river when it rains. Women don't want to settle down."
His part of the village is remote but the odds are already against Xiong Jigen. China has far more men than women. There are now around 115 boys born for every 100 girls.
In a culture that historically favours boys over girls the Communist Party government's One Child policy led to forced abortions and a glut of newborn boys from the 1980s onwards.
The result is a 21st Century male marriage squeeze.
'Nor too fat, nor too slim'
Parents can still play a significant role in trying to fix up their children. Matchmakers are common in the villages.
Mr Xiong said he had used them: "Some [women] visited here through matchmakers then left, because they had a terrible impression of the transportation."'
As we stood in the doorway of his sparsely decorated bedroom, I asked if he had ever been in love.
"I was in a relationship before," he said, "but it didn't work out. She complained that my village was not good for her, especially the roads."
They'd met through a matchmaker. He went on to describe her: "She was almost as tall as me, not too fat nor too slim. She was quite extrovert."
Women leave the village, as they do in other villages all over China, to head to the city for work.
In Anhui where Mr Xiong lives it is Shanghai that is the allure. They find far better pay and for some a husband. Some come back but by then they are, of course, already married.
The men and women who stay
Men migrate too but it is usually just for work. Some men stay to look after their aging parents, in keeping with the Chinese tradition of filial piety.
Xiong Jigen decided to stay to care for his uncle. He was the old man with frayed trousers whom I saw standing outside the house, running his hand through a bowl of bright orange half-dried corn kernels.
"He will not find food if I leave," Mr Xiong said. "He cannot go to the nursing home."
That sense of duty the younger generation has to the elders who brought them up remains a crucial part of family life in China.
President Xi Jinping has spoken about how he believes nothing should get in the way of building a strong, traditional family unit. In Shanghai, new rules came in earlier this year which threaten adult children with punishment if they do not visit their parents.
Some women stay too. Mr Xiong's neighbour Wang Caifeng is still there. At 39, she is a farmer with two daughters and a husband.
"Home town is the best," she told me. "I definitely choose to stay".
I asked her what the future held for her two girls. They walk for more than an hour, twice a day, to get to school at the moment. Would it be okay if they left the village once they were old enough?
Ms Wang hopes her daughters will stay. But her 14-year-old daughter had a slightly different take on it. Fujing wanted to be a doctor, like her father, but felt this would work best "in the outside world".
The outside world is not that far away. In fact it is in their homes. They have satellite TV, Mr Xiong has a bike. The main street in a small town is not that far away.
But Laoya feels thoroughly remote and at times cut off. Even when women have come to see his new house, built just three years ago, it is not enough to persuade them to consider staying to become Mr Xiong's wife.
This is not the only bachelor village. It presents the dilemmas of life in rural China: the relentless escape from poverty and being bound to the land, the gender imbalance, the duty to aging relatives.
And bad roads.
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A chronology of key events:
| 1917- Britain seizes Palestine from Ottomans. Gives support to "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine through the Balfour Declaration, along with an insistence that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities".
1920 - San Remo Allied Powers conference grants Palestine to Britain as a mandate, to prepare it for self-rule. European Jewish migration, which increased in the 19th century, continues.
1922 - Britain separates Transjordan from Mandate Palestine, forbids Jewish settlement in former.
1939 - British government White Paper seeks to limit Jewish migration to Palestine to 10,000 per year, excepting emergencies.
1940s - Nazi Holocaust of the Jews in Europe prompts efforts at mass migration to Palestine. Jewish armed groups in pursuit of independent Jewish state fight British authorities.
1947 - United Nations recommends partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, with international control over Jerusalem and its environs.
Independence
1948 - Israel declares independence as British mandate ends. Admitted to United Nations.
1948-1949 - First Arab-Israeli war. Armistice agreements leave Israel with more territory than envisaged under the Partition Plan, including western Jerusalem. Jordan annexes West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, Egypt occupies Gaza.
Around 750,000 Palestinian Arabs either flee or are expelled out of their total population of about 1,200,000.
1949-1960s - Up to a million Jewish refugees and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, plus 250,000 Holocaust survivors, settle in Israel.
1948-1977 - Centre-left dominates coalition governments, initially under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (1948-54; 1955-63). Promotes a self-sufficient, agrarian and secular Jewish democracy with a non-aligned foreign policy.
Suez Crisis
1956-1957 - Israel colludes with Britain and France to invade Egypt during the Suez Crisis, in order to re-open canal to Israeli shipping and end armed incursions by Palestinians from Sinai. UN buffer force set up in Sinai and Gaza, Israeli shipping allowed through Suez Canal.
1957 - Israel begins to build a large nuclear reactor at Dimona in the Negev desert, with French assistance. This becomes the basis for the country's officially unconfirmed nuclear weapons programme ten years later.
1961 - Trial and execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, whom Israeli agents kidnapped from Argentina.
1962 - Improving relations and concerns about the Middle Eastern balance of power prompt the United States to sell Israel missiles. When France halts arms supplies to Israel in 1966, the United States increases sales.
1964 - National Water Carrier completed, to bring water from the River Jordan to the Negev. Tensions rise with Arab neighbours over Jordan water allocations.
1966 - SY Agnon is joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Six Day War
1967 June - After months of tension, including border skirmishes, Egypt's expulsion of the UN buffer force from Sinai and its closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, Israel launches a pre-emptive attack on Egypt, and Jordan and Syria join the war. The war lasts six days and leaves Israel in control of east Jerusalem, all of West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and Sinai. Jewish settlements are set up in all of these areas in coming years, with government approval.
1972 - Palestinian "Black September" gunmen take the Israeli team hostage at the Munich Olympics. Two of the athletes are murdered at the site and nine more killed during a failed rescue attempt by the German authorities.
1973 October - Egypt and Syria launch co-ordinated attack against Israeli forces in the occupied Sinai and Golan Heights in the Yom Kippur or October War. Israel prevails, but only after suffering significant losses. Public mood turns against dominant Labour Party.
1974 - Gush Emunim (Block of the Faithful) movement formed to promote Jewish religious settlements on the West Bank.
1975 - UN General Assembly adopts a resolution describing Zionism as a form of racism. Rescinded in 1991.
1976 March - Mass protests by Israeli Arabs at government attempts to expropriate land in the Galilee area of northern Israel. Six Arab citizens were killed in clashes with security forces. The events are commemorated annually as Land Day.
1976 July - Israeli commandos carry out a raid on Entebbe Airport in Uganda to free more than 100 mostly Israeli and Jewish hostages being held hostage by German and Palestinian gunmen.
Camp David Accord
1977 May - Menachem Begin's right-wing Likud party wins surprise election victory, partly by harnessing non-European Jews' resentment at political hegemony of European-origin Jews. Launches economic liberalisation, brings religious Jewish parties into mainstream, and encourages settlements.
1977 November - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Jerusalem and begins the process that leads to Israel's withdrawal from Sinai and Egypt's recognition of Israel in the Camp David Accords of 1978. Accords also pledge Israel to expand Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza.
1981 June - Israeli Air Force raid destroys nuclear reactor at Osirak in Iraq.
Invasion of Lebanon
1982 June - Israel invades Lebanon in order to expel Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leadership after assassination attempt by small Palestinian militant group on Israeli ambassador to London.
1982 September - Massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut by Israel's Christian Phalangist allies. Government commission finds Defence Minister Ariel Sharon indirectly responsible and recommends his removal from office. Mass protests against massacre in Israel galvanise anti-war movement.
1984 July - Elections lead to a hung parliament and uneasy coalition between Likud and Labour, whose leader Shimon Peres alternates as prime minister with Likud's Yitzhak Shamir.
1984 November - Covert mass airlift of Ethiopia's Jews begins. Operation repeated in 1991.
1985 - Austerity programme tackles hyper-inflation and stabilises currency, introducing New Israeli Shekel.
1985 June - Israel withdraws from most of Lebanon but continues to occupy narrow "security zone" along border.
1986 - Former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu reveals detail of Israel's nuclear weapons programme to British press.
Uprising
1987 December - First Intifada uprising begins in Occupied Territories. Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza forms Hamas movement, which rapidly turns to violence against Israel.
1988 September - Israel becomes one of only eight countries at the time to have capability independently to launch satellites with Ofek reconnaissance probe.
1990 - Soviet Union allows Jews to emigrate, leading to about a million ex-Soviet citizens moving to Israel.
1991 January - Gulf War. Iraq fires 39 Scud missiles at Israel in failed attempt to regionalise conflict. Israel refrains from responding at US request.
1991 October - US-Soviet sponsored Madrid conference brings Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestinian representatives together for first time since 1949. Sets in motion talks to normalise relations. Yitzhak Shamir's reluctant participation, under US pressure, brings down his minority government.
1992 - Labour returns to power under Yitzhak Rabin. Pledges to halt Jewish settlement expansion programme, opens secret talks with PLO.
Oslo Declaration
1993 - Prime Minister Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign Oslo Declaration to plot Palestinian self-government and formally end First Intifada. Violence by Palestinian groups that reject Oslo Declaration continues.
1994 May-July - Israel withdraws from most of Gaza and the West Bank city of Jericho, allowing Yasser Arafat to move PLO administration from Tunis and set up Palestinian National Authority.
1994 October - Jordan and Israel sign peace treaty.
1994 December - Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres jointly awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
1995 September - Mr Rabin and Yasser Arafat sign Interim Agreement for transfer of further power and territory to Palestinian National Authority. Forms basis for 1997 Hebron Protocol, 1998 Wye River Memorandum and internationally-sponsored "Road Map for Peace" of 2003.
1995 November - Jewish extremist shoots Yitzhak Rabin dead in Tel Aviv. Shimon Peres takes over as prime minister.
1996 May - Likud returns to power under Benjamin Netanyahu, pledges to halt further concessions to Palestinians. Nonetheless signs Hebron Protocol and Wye River Memorandum. Settlement expansion resumes.
1999 May - Labour-led coalition elected under Ehud Barak, pledges to move ahead with talks with Palestinians and Syria.
Pullout from Lebanon
2000 May - Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon, although Lebanon disputes status of Shebaa Farms area.
2000 July - Talks between Prime Minister Barak and Yasser Arafat break down over timing and extent of proposed further Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.
2000 September - Likud leader Ariel Sharon visits Jerusalem site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Al-Haram al-Sharif. Palestinian protests escalate into new wave of violence.
2001 January - Failure of last-ditch efforts at restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks in Taba, Egypt, Ehud Barak loses elections to Ariel Sharon, who declines to continue talks.
2002 March-May - Israeli army launches Operation Defensive Shield on West Bank after spate of Palestinian suicide bombings. Largest military operation on West Bank since 1967.
2002 June - Israel begins building barrier in and around West Bank. Israel says barrier aimed at stopping Palestinian attacks; Palestinians see it as a tool to grab land. Route is controversial as frequently deviates from pre-1967 ceasefire line into West Bank.
2003 June - Quartet of United, States, European Union, Russia and United Nations propose road map to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict, proposing independent Palestinian state. Israel and Palestinian National Authority both accept plan, which requires freeze on West Bank Jewish settlements and an end to attacks on Israelis.
2004 July - International Court of Justice issues advisory opinion that West Bank barrier is illegal.
Withdrawal from Gaza
2005 September - Israel withdraws all Jewish settlers and military personnel from Gaza, while retaining control over airspace, coastal waters and border crossings.
2006 January - Ariel Sharon incapacitated by stroke. He dies in 2014, never having emerged from a coma. Succeeded as prime minister by Ehud Olmert.
Hamas Islamist group wins Palestinian parliamentary elections. Rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza escalate. Met with frequent Israeli raids and incursions over following years.
2006 June - Hamas gunmen from Gaza take Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit hostage, demanding release of Palestinian prisoners. Major clashes between Israel and Hamas in Gaza follow.
2006 July-August - Israeli incursion into Lebanon, in response to deadly Hezbollah attack and abduction of two soldiers, escalates into Second Lebanon War. Government faces criticism over conduct of war, which left Hezbollah forces largely intact.
2007 September - Israeli Air Force destroys nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, which Israel formally acknowledges in 2018.
2007 November - Annapolis Conference for first time establishes "two-state solution" as basis for future talks between Israel and Palestinian Authority.
Gaza invasion
2008 December - Israel launches month-long full-scale invasion of Gaza to prevent Hamas and other groups from launching rockets.
2009 January - Discovery of major offshore natural gas deposits.
2009 February - Right-wing parties prevail in elections, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu forms government.
2010 May - Nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists killed in clashes during Israeli boarding of ships attempting to break blockade of Gaza. Relations with Turkey approach breaking point. Israel apologises for deaths in 2013.
2010 September - Direct talks resume between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, only to falter over the question of settlements.
2011 Summer-Autumn - Rising prices prompt major protests. Government improves competition in food market and makes cheaper housing more available.
2011 October - Hamas release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners in deal brokered by Germany and Egypt.
2012 November - Israel launches week-long military campaign against Gaza-based armed groups following months of escalating rocket attacks on Israeli towns.
2013 March - Mr Netanyahu replaces most religious Jewish groups with centrist and secular parties in government after the latter's strong showing in January elections.
2013 July - Talks resume with Palestinian Authority under US auspices, but reach no conclusions. 2013 December - Israel, Jordan and Palestinian Authority sign agreement to save the Dead Sea from drying up by pumping water from the Red Sea.
2014 January - Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom attends renewable energy conference in Abu Dhabi, leading a business delegation in first visit to United Arab Emirates since 2010.
2014 July-August - Israel responds to attacks by armed groups in Gaza with a military campaign by air and land to knock out missile launching sites and attack tunnels. Clashes end in uneasy Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in August.
Netanyahu's fourth government
2015 May - Prime Minister Netanyahu forms a new coalition government after March elections with right-wing Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party. Another right-wing party, Yisrael Beitenu, joins the following year.
2015 October - Israeli couple shot dead in their car in occupied West Bank. It is one of the first incidents in what would become a wave of shootings, stabbings and car-rammings by Palestinians or Israeli Arabs.
2015 November - Israel suspends contact with European Union officials in talks with Palestinians over EU decision to label goods from Jewish settlements in the West Bank as coming not from Israel but from settlements.
2016 June - Israel and Turkey reach agreement over 2010 Gaza flotilla raid and normalise relations.
2016 September - US agrees military aid package worth $38bn (£28bn) over next 10 years for Israel, largest such deal in US history. Previous pact, set to expire in 2018, saw Israel get $3.1bn annually.
2016 December - Israel suspends working ties with 12 countries that voted for a Security Council resolution condemning settlement building, after the US for the first time abstained from the vote rather than using its veto.
Trump thaw
2017 February - Parliament passes a law which retroactively legalises dozens of Jewish settlements built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank.
2017 June - Work begins on the first new Jewish settlement in the West Bank for 25 years.
UNESCO votes to declare the Old City of Hebron a Palestinian World Heritage site, a move that Israel complains ignores the city's Jewish heritage.
2017 December - US President Donald Trump recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, upsetting the Arab world and some Western allies.
The following March, he recognises Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war and later annexed. The international community does not recognise Israeli sovereignty.
2018 July-November - UN and Egypt attempt to broker a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas amid an upsurge in violence on the Gaza border from March.
2019 April - 2020 March - Three sets of parliamentary elections pit Mr Netanyahu against a centrist alliance led by former armed forces chief of staff Benny Gantz, but do not produce a clear majority.
2019 November - US says it no longer considers Israeli settlements on the West Bank to be illegal.
Benjamin Netanyahu is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection with three separate cases.
2020 April - Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz agree to form a national unity government to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
2020 August - The United Arab Emirates become the first Gulf state to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
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What is it about wedding rings? | By Nuala McCannBBC News
Former Derry City striker Kevin McHugh's season looks to be over after a freak accident almost completely sliced off his finger.
He got his wedding ring caught in a fence and he severed his finger. But he drove himself to hospital and was due to have surgery on Thursday to re-connect his finger.
He also tweeted a graphic picture of his bloodied hand.
It was traumatic for him and for everyone else who saw it on Twitter.
But since we are on the subject of wedding rings, here are a few cautionary tales.
Consider it a list of what not to do - apart from the blindingly obvious - if you want to hold on to that ring...
1. Never, ever, ever take it off
Swedish woman Lena Paahlsson had given up all hope of finding her ring which went missing in the kitchen when she took it off (big mistake).
She was baking with her daughters when it disappeared - they even took the floor up in the hope of finding it.
Sixteen years later, she was pulling up carrots in her garden when she noticed a gold band on a large orange root vegetable.
It was, you might say, a "gold carat" moment.
2. Don't go swimming
Spanish couple Agustin Aliaga and his wife Juani Sanchez lost a wedding ring in 1979, just five months after they were married, while swimming near the Spanish resort of Benidorm.
Roll on 37 years and Jessica Nisos found it while diving. It was the ring engraved with the date of their wedding.
The happy couple - still together - were ecstatic.
They may have celebrate with a snorkel dive, but I doubt it.
3. Don't build the marital home
BBC News NI journalist Fiona Murray's father built the family home in County Down more than 40 years ago, shortly after her parents married.
It was, you might say, a labour of true love.
"My dad lost his ring in the foundations of the house," she said.
"They searched but never found it. My parents still live in that house and there is something lovely in thinking that my dad's gold wedding ring is buried deep in the foundations of their home."
4. Do not play golf
A close friend of a friend was playing golf shortly after his wedding and he took a long swing with the club.
Perhaps the ring was a little loose. Perhaps his style was not quite Rory McIlroy enough.
Whatever, it was a big swing and the ring flew from his finger and landed somewhere out in the long, long grass. It lies there still. He never found it.
5. Avoid small children while wearing a wedding ring
Small children, like magpies, love shiny sparkly things. Unfortunately they are not equipped to know the difference between the Koh-i-noor and the dud in the party bag.
A source close to here removed his ring whilst playing with his small son.
It was to be 10 days and an endless number of games of "Hunt the wedding ring" later before the small child confessed that he had hidden it.
Phew!
6. Do not pick potatoes
Brenda Caunter did that when she was a new bride. It was back in the 1970s and she and her husband searched the four-acre field where she lost it, time and time again.
But a local metal detector enthusiast found it after a few hours. After nearly half a century they got the ring back - it was the second happiest day of their lives.
7. Do not feed your horse wearing your ring
The salutary story of the woman who lost her ring while feeding her horse is worth remembering.
She eventually recovered the item after a suitable time frame for equine digestion and excretion.
A little professional cleaning was needed too.
The lesson is never to go near animals wearing your ring.
8. The beach
Sun cream and rings do not mix. Sun cream, rings and miles of sandy beach are a recipe for true disaster. Remember this.
Bill Owens lost his father's ring at the beach in Bournemouth in 2013 when a big wave washed over him and the ring was gone. But all was not lost. Watch Bill's heartrending reaction.
And finally - in the extensive research needed to bring your this article, it became apparent that the sex most likely to lose a wedding ring was male.
I wonder why...
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"Kashgar is not stable." | Carrie GracieBBC China editor@BBCCarrieon Twitter
The words of a paramilitary police officer as he marched past me under the statue of Chairman Mao in China's westernmost city.
It was the answer to my question: "Why are there so many armoured trucks, so many armed officers, so many police dogs?"
A history scarred by civil war and foreign invasion makes many Chinese citizens hanker for strong central government.
But for security, they pay a high price in civil liberties.
Especially in border areas like this which are so different from mainstream China and where the pressure to show loyalty is correspondingly immense.
The government is watching every citizen.
'Triple evil'
I was in Kashgar to tackle one of the hardest China stories to cover.
The story, according to the Chinese government, is "a triple evil", a mix of religious extremism, separatism and terrorism.
In May, it announced a year-long security campaign after a shocking series of attacks made the state look weak.
Exiles and human rights groups say the story is that the state itself is making matters worse, and the violence is fuelled by repression against a religious and ethnic minority, China's Muslim Uighurs.
Uighurs and Xinjiang
Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims and make up about 45% of the region's population; 40% are Han Chinese
China re-established control in 1949 after crushing the short-lived state of East Turkestan
Since then, there has been large-scale immigration of Han Chinese
Uighurs say they have been economically marginalised and fear their traditional culture is being eroded
Why is there tension between China and the Uighurs?
Chinese or Muslim first?
I wanted to see the counter-terror crackdown at first hand, to hear from Uighurs about the religious restrictions they now face, and to make my own assessment of how the two relate.
The mission was made much harder by government surveillance both of me as a foreign journalist and of the people I was trying to talk to.
Kashgar is the last stop before Pakistan, closer to Baghdad than it is to Beijing. It's at the far western edge of the troubled province of Xinjiang, home to 10 million Uighurs.
China doesn't trust the loyalty of these citizens. It worries about whether they are Chinese first or Muslim first.
Which is why alongside the security push, the past six months have seen sweeping restrictions on religious expression.
The further west and further south you go in Xinjiang, the more troubled the past and the present.
This land has seen empires come and go.
In the 20th Century, even the Russians dabbled here from just over the border in Soviet Central Asia, supporting Uighur claims for an independent state of East Turkestan.
But the Chinese Communist Party sees Xinjiang as an integral part of the People's Republic of China and teaches its citizens that the determination to hold onto it is not about mineral wealth or the geopolitics of Central Asia but a sacred trust for Chinese patriots.
Just two days before I arrived, the area had seen another violent attack in which 15 people had died.
As so often, the incident involved a vehicle ploughing into a crowd and multiple attackers with knives and homemade explosives who were then shot dead by police.
At least 200 people have now died in clashes related to Xinjiang over the past six months and perhaps half of those killed are the attackers themselves.
So what is causing young Uighur men to commit acts of violence which so often end in their own deaths?
The Chinese government says they are being poisoned by the holy war propaganda of militant Islam, propaganda flooding across the border from Pakistan and Afghanistan on DVDs, mobile phones and internet.
As part of the year-long counter-terrorism campaign, Chinese police said they have confiscated thousands of videos inciting terrorism and blocked online materials teaching terrorist techniques.
Discouraging religion
As I travelled between Kashgar and a neighbouring city on a public bus, I witnessed young Uighur men obediently filing off at police checkpoints so that their phones could be checked for religious materials.
"Nothing religious at all. You can have nothing at all on there," one man told me as we watched another climb back on the bus and reassembled his phone.
"The government wants to discourage religion. No official is allowed to pray in a mosque. And no one under the age of 18 is allowed in. No children."
A Uighur police officer told me the same thing. "I am a practising Muslim but I can't pray at the mosque."
When I asked how he felt about this, he looked nervously around him and pulled a wry expression.
His caution was understandable. It is dangerous to complain about any government policies in Xinjiang.
To the state, any criticism is construed as sympathy with the "three evils" of religious extremism, separatism and terrorism.
The government insists its terror problem is a foreign import, that Xinjiang is now on the radar of international jihad.
It says the internet is poisoning young Uighur minds with off the shelf visions of martyrdom and a sense of belonging to a bigger mission.
Certainly a suicide attack on Tiananmen Square a year ago which killed and maimed many innocent tourists was accompanied by a video in which the attackers pledged holy war.
Earlier this year, Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi criticised Beijing's policies in Xinjiang and asked all Chinese Muslims to pledge allegiance to him instead.
An English-language magazine released by al-Qaeda described Xinjiang as an occupied Muslim land to be recovered into the Caliphate.
But China makes no attempt to distinguish between religious extremists who may be prepared to carry out or condone acts of terror, and those in Xinjiang with a religious, political or economic grievance which they attempt to resolve peacefully.
One of the things I tried to do in Xinjiang was to visit the home village of the Tiananmen Square attackers.
I'd read reports that the beginning of their alienation was not jihadist videos but rage against the state for demolishing parts of their mosque. I wanted to understand more about their psychological journey from law-abiding Chinese citizens to vengeful martyrs.
'Spies everywhere'
Despite several attempts to reach the village, I was not allowed in. Whether by Uighur citizens or foreign journalists, the government is simply unwilling to tolerate public discussion of the role of religious, political and economic grievances in creating its Xinjiang problem.
But I did see evidence that those grievances are mounting.
I talked to men who complained that they were no longer allowed to grow a beard, and to women who are no longer allowed to wear a veil.
A Uighur guard at a Kashgar hospital told me women who insisted on covering their face would not be admitted for medical treatment.
And a Uighur government official told me he hated his job because he could not speak any truth and there were "spies everywhere".
There are also rumbling economic grievances.
Uighurs are now a minority in their own homeland and some complained to me that they face discrimination when it comes to jobs.
One Uighur boss of a construction company conceded: "The top jobs in my company all go to Han Chinese. They have the education and we Uighurs simply don't."
And a Han Chinese was even more disparaging.
"No one would employ Uighur workers if they had a Han alternative. The Uighurs are lazy and incompetent. It will cost you three times as much to get the job done and it still won't be done to the same standard."
Even in their traditional crafts, Uighur livelihoods are under threat.
A metal worker crouched over his anvil told me: "I've been doing this for 20 years. It takes me two weeks to make a fine teapot. But now the machine made goods from China are flooding in. It's hard to make a living."
Over the past 30 years, Chinese policy makers have assumed that economic growth in Xinjiang would stifle dissent but in some ways, modernisation seems to have made Uighur marginalisation worse.
President Xi visited Xinjiang just before the counter-terror crackdown and promised more economic opportunity, saying the Uighur and Han peoples must be "as close as the seeds of the pomegranate".
But the President also urged "decisive action… to resolutely suppress the terrorists' rampant momentum".
And in the short term, this action is more visible than the other.
After a brief visit to Xinjiang, my provisional assessment is that despite the police officer telling me "Kashgar was not stable", the overall security situation in the province was under control and there was no meaningful challenge from militant Islam.
I saw a lot of security. On key roads, in airports, on city streets.
But I did not see the level of police tension or preparedness that would suggest China was grappling with the "rampant momentum" of a serious terrorist threat.
What I did see instead was a Uighur community under intense surveillance, a community whose already very limited freedoms of speech, religion and movement are now being shrunk further.
Without any legitimate space in which to vent about this, the grim probability is that violence will go on, with some young Uighurs enraged and desperate enough to choose death in a hail of bullets rather than what they see as a life of subjugation.
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Another year, another corporate scandal. | By Howard MustoeBusiness reporter
After Libor, payment protection insurance, phone hacking and every other scandal, nothing appears to have been learned to stem the tide of bad behaviour from the world's largest companies.
And now VW has been caught cheating on emissions tests.
Not only is this a close repetition of other corporate attempts to dodge regulation, it's actually so uninventive that VW was caught and fined in 1973 for dodging similar tests. It paid $120,000 (the equivalent of about £400,000 today) and admitted no wrongdoing.
So, why does no-one appear to learn anything?
'Getting rid of the stories'
Andre Spicer, professor of organisational behaviour at Cass Business School, part of City University in London, has been looking at what companies do in the wake of a crisis. And this very much informs how they approach the next one.
"What you get in the first three to six months is lots of activity. And then they try to scapegoat people, calm it down, and that often works in the short term," he says.
"After that, they often then get rid of even more people who have experience or may have seen what went wrong but weren't involved. They get rid of evidence like reminders from around the building. And you get rid of the stories around it, which is really crucial."
In other words, it's swept under the corporate carpet. Often, the old leadership is sacked or quietly moves on, and new leaders want to start afresh, he says. "We don't like being reminded of our mistakes."
But some organisations do learn. The textbook case of learning from a disaster and not doing it again is the changes Nasa made following the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003. The orbiter's left wing was damaged by a piece of insulating foam falling off its external fuel tank. All seven crew died on re-entry.
"They often then go through that case in detail with their new recruits. So the stories remain," says Prof Spicer. This engenders the idea of safety first and that speaking up is a good idea.
Failures that cause immediate death are obviously the most potent, he says. Sadly, without such a stark outcome, some lessons are less compelling. Will we remember emissions in 10 years' time?
Remembering and learning are part of the problem. Over-ambition is another factor.
Doing something 'clever'
"In Anglo-Saxon style companies where people are coming and going more, people are promoted on delivery - I can deliver stuff, I can get things done. And often they become obsessed with getting things done rather than questioning how they get things done."
Which explains some of the blind eyes or lack of interest from senior managers in this and other scandals.
Many of the problems come from over-promising first and panicking over delivery second. Which leads to the temptation to bend the rules.
From hereon in, a problem known as normalisation of deviance creeps in. That could be what happened for the Volkswagen engineers the company has blamed.
"Probably the chaps who did it didn't think they were doing something awful, just something quite clever with their software," says Stephen Carver, a lecturer at Cranfield School of Management and a consultant for banks, air lines and car firms.
"But what was lacking was anyone really understanding what they were doing and saying hang on, is this a smart, long-term move?"
Normalisation of deviance is a consequence of herd behaviour. It occurs most soberingly where something bad happens and nobody says anything because everyone is expecting that someone else will instead.
As a result more and more odd behaviour is tolerated; like selling insurance people don't want or need, rigging international loan or currency markets or hacking people's phones.
Failure to adapt
This odd behaviour is often perpetuated because the organisations in question keep hiring the same people with the same views, says Mr Carver. The cure is diversity.
"Darwinian survival is not survival of the fittest - he never said that. It's the most able to adapt. And that means diversity."
If you think diversity means political correctness, consider its opposite - groupthink and monoculture, says Mr Carver. Exclusively hiring maths- and bonus-obsessed workaholics has not served banks well, for example.
Another problem is ever-higher targets for companies in markets that aren't growing. Like the car market in the US. Car and truck sales peaked in 2000 at 17.8 million and haven't beaten that figure since.
"The difficulty of standing up against these situations is drowned out by the here and now. And the pressures for short-term gain," says Alan Stevens, director of Vector Consultants, a firm which aims to help companies improve their culture. Quarterly profit targets trump ethical behaviour.
A few years ago, a company could bank on boasting of a few percent sales growth, he says, on account of inflation in raw materials and from suppliers - growth for standing still. But with zero inflation in many economies, even that comfort has evaporated.
Those are the symptoms. What is the cure?
'Hang on'
Some of the solutions being offered in industries now trying to heal themselves after a crisis are looking wobbly, says Prof Spicer. Banks are building up their number of risk and compliance officers.
However, this internal police force of do-gooders can create an incentive for more clever traders to come up with more clever ways to duck the rules, he says. Just like they did last time with Libor and currency trading.
Better to hire people with a variety of skills and approaches and give them the freedom to disagree, says Mr Carver.
Because markets and information now move so quickly, business leadership means hiring good managers, entrepreneurs and diplomats, and as no one person can be all three, having an all-powerful leader who decides everything no longer makes sense. So dissent is a must: "Hang on chaps, let's talk about this. Is this the direction we really want to go?"
Another thing to fix is the current consequences of being a whistleblower. Today it's a quick way to end a good career, says Mr Stevens. Catching things before such intervention is needed is one solution, and treating people doing the right thing as winners is another.
There must be some consequence for bad leaders who have perpetuated poor culture, says Mr Stevens. "Time and time again you say, 'what is the consequence for senior execs?' Two years' later they are back on their feet, making more money."
And finally, make sure failure isn't buried or swept under the carpet, says Prof Spicer.
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It's just not the same. | By Justin Parkinson and Philip SimBBC News
Coronavirus has robbed politicos of the chance to mingle in their hundreds at party conferences this autumn.
This year's largely online events do not come with an accompaniment of laughs, groans and applause. Intrigues are no longer happening late at night in crowded hotel bars.
Virtual conference dates
Instead, Conservatives, Labourites and Liberal Democrats have to watch their leaders speak via Zoom (other video-conferencing apps are available).
The parties insist the events are as vibrant and interesting as possible, but what are the big things to look out for and what has changed?
Conservatives
The prime minister has known extraordinary highs and lows in the last 12 months, winning the general election by a landslide and having to deal with coronavirus, as well as becoming seriously ill himself.
All the while, the last stages of the Brexit process are proving to be as controversial as the early ones.
Still, Boris Johnson has a parliamentary majority of almost 80, and his speech was to be his great moment before the Tory faithful. It still happened on the last day but with his audience watching on screens.
In it, Mr Johnson promised to create a "new Jerusalem" after the pandemic and dismissed suggestions that he had "lost my mojo" as "drivel".
He pledged to reform care home funding, update the planning system and make the UK a "world leader" in green energy.
The Conservative conference has, for many years, been a slickly run event at which policy is not set.
But the progress of the promises outlined in Mr Johnson's speech will be watched closely, as the country enters another few months of potentially the utmost difficulty.
SNP
In recent years, SNP conferences have grown so much that there are only two venues in Scotland large enough to incorporate them - and one of them has been converted into a temporary hospital amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The party normally likes to pack as many members into these events as possible, but things look set to be very different this year with an entirely virtual conference.
The dates have not yet been confirmed, but it will likely fall as usual around the Scottish school holidays in mid-October, when Holyrood is in recess.
Nicola Sturgeon will be keen to rally her troops, with a Scottish Parliament election looming in 2021 and the party renewing its push for a second independence referendum.
The first minister's keynote speech will be the centrepiece of the event and will be keenly watched both by rivals and supporters for hints about her plans to secure a fresh vote on Scotland's future.
The theme of the party's last conference - also on the eve of an election - was "Stop Brexit", and that other constitutional conundrum is also likely to feature prominently.
The two have become closely intertwined in the political debate in Scotland, and Ms Sturgeon will look to capitalise on that in her bid to return to government in May.
Liberal Democrats
Sir Ed Davey became leader of the Lib Dems during the coronavirus crisis and following three poor general election results in a row.
Having urged his party to "wake up and smell the coffee", his speech was seen as the beginning of an effort to raise his profile with voters and re-establish the Lib Dems as an important voice in discussions on the economy, social policy and international affairs.
Sir Ed's speech also dealt with his personal background, including his role as a carer for his disabled son and, when he was a teenager, for his terminally ill mother.
Foreign affairs spokeswoman Layla Moran, who lost to Sir Ed in the leadership contest, was among the other key speakers, as were Welsh leader Jane Dodds and Scottish leader Willie Rennie.
Unlike Labour (see below), the Lib Dems still held votes this year, following debates on subjects including Brexit, the impact of Covid-19 on the elderly and universal basic income.
The party's constitution states that votes - which make, rather than inform, its policies - must take place at conference. This year's was meant to happen in Brighton.
Speakers in debates had to register for an "electronic card" allowing them to take part and votes were cast online.
Labour
The party changed the name of its conference to Labour Connected, which, it said, was about "people coming together, to create a fairer and better society".
With the events mostly presented from the party's HQ in central London, rather than as previously intended in Liverpool, it included online training on how to get more would-be councillors and MPs elected. This, according to a party source, was part of a "conscious" desire to make Labour more professional in its campaigning, following its trouncing by the Conservatives at the last general election.
Sir Keir Starmer, in his first conference speech since becoming leader, hammered home the need to win power, attacking Boris Johnson for "serial incompetence". He urged activists to show their "patriotism" in an effort to reach out to the party's traditional support base.
But his address, delivered online during a visit to Doncaster, lacked the usual razzmattazz and audience engagement.
Sir Keir's unifying message followed the bitter divisions of the Corbyn years and came amid murmurings from left-leaning unions such as Unite and the Fire Brigades Union about his own leadership.
The Labour conference differed markedly from normal in having no votes. Delegates' decisions are part of the party's policy-making process, but they did not happen this year.
No extra conference is taking place in the spring, so it is likely members will not get to vote on policy again until next autumn, pandemic-permitting.
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"Lower the music guys, one second." | By Steven McIntoshEntertainment reporter
Guillermo del Toro was mid-acceptance speech at Sunday night's Golden Globes when the orchestra began playing him off.
"It's taken 25 years [to win this award]," The Shape Of Water director laughed. "Give me a minute. Give me a minute!"
Not only did his demand prompt cheers from the audience - but it was also effective, as the orchestra did in fact back off and allow him to finish.
Del Toro went on to complete his speech, later praised for its poignancy, in which he stressed that making movies had "saved his life" on three separate occasions.
"I understand that there's a show to run and I understand that they needed to get going," the director tells BBC News.
"But there is also the need [for the winner] to acknowledge a few people that were integral to the process of the movie, and to finish your thought."
Del Toro, who has also been nominated for best director at next month's Baftas, adds that the walk from the table to the stage can be overwhelming, and therefore require some extra time to gather your thoughts.
"When you reach that stage, you want a moment to recompose yourself and say what you think, so you know, I felt I needed just a few more seconds," he says.
Did anyone from the Globes tell him off for going over his allotted time?
"No no, the beautiful thing in the Globes is not that I asked for more time and the orchestra to be quiet, but that they gave it to me.
"That's the remarkable thing. It was very generous and very moving."
But del Toro's acceptance speech wasn't the only thing that caught viewers' attention during the presentation of best director.
While introducing the category, actress Natalie Portman said: "And here are the all-male nominees."
The camera panned to del Toro as she said it, but, he explains now, he hadn't initially heard what she said.
"From where we were sitting, sometimes what is said on the stage in the microphone is very hard to hear," he says.
"It's one thing on TV, and one thing around [the auditorium]. I heard the category, and I was reacting to that, and it was only a few beats later that you heard what she said.
"So all the reactions in the room were delayed by a couple of beats. On camera they happen faster because the microphones were much clearer to the TV than in the room."
Twitter erupted with praise for Portman's efforts to draw attention to the gender imbalance in film directing.
And del Toro says he "absolutely" agrees more women behind the camera should be recognised at awards ceremonies.
"Particularly in this year, with the movies that Greta Gerwig [director of Lady Bird] or Patty Jenkins [Wonder Woman] have made, it's very important I think to recognise it.
"There is a reason to do it, there is material to do it. The important thing is to recognise this season there are films that are very worthy, made by very good female storytellers."
Del Toro is riding on the crest of a wave at the moment. Shortly after the Globes ceremony, he heard The Shape Of Water had also picked up the most nominations (12) at this year's Bafta film awards.
"It felt fantastic... you feel elated to be in the conversation," he says of the Bafta recognition.
"After 25 years, you know it doesn't happen every time, so you learn to be grateful and humble, but also encouraged, and I think the Baftas have a stature and have a way to reach an audience and lift a movie above the end-of-year din or the beginning of awards season.
"That is significant for a film-maker, this [awards] season is about reaching the Olympics, and being in the Olympics is very good, you feel each round is important, not about you, but about the movie reaching an audience and being rewarded for taking a risk or being bold or inventive and unique."
The Shape Of Water stars British actress Sally Hawkins as a janitor who forms a relationship with an amphibious creature being held in captivity.
During his Globes speech, del Toro credited the film, along with two of his others - 2006's Pan's Labyrinth and 2001's Devil's Backbone - with "saving his life".
"This movie's ultimately a biography, and out of this really dark turmoil, you find a little bit of light. And that has happened to be several times in 25 years of storytelling," he tells the BBC.
"It happened certainly on The Devil's Backbone. I was at the end of my rope after having done only two movies, one of them - Mimic - was with Miramax Dimension, that was such a bad experience, such a harrowing experience, and then there was the kidnapping of my father shortly thereafter. After that, Devil's Backbone picked me up and healed me.
"And in a different set of circumstances, that happened with Pan's Labyrinth. These movies come out of that very dark night of the soul."
The Shape Of Water is released in the UK on 14 February 2018.
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 chronology of key events:
| 870s - First Norse settlements on Iceland. Previous inhabitants were a small number of Irish monks.
930 - An annual parliament - the Althing - established, to make laws and solve disputes.
986 - Erik the Red takes settlers from Iceland to colonise Greenland.
1000 - Iceland adopts Christianity. A golden age of Icelandic culture begins, producing great works of medieval literature.
1262-4 - Icelanders recognise the King of Norway as their monarch.
1380 - Norway and Iceland enter a union with the Danish crown.
Plague and death
1402-04 - Plague hits Iceland, killing half the population. The plague returns in 1494-5 with similar fatalities.
1550 - Catholic bishop, Jon Arason, captured and beheaded in his northern diocese. This marks the final victory of the Lutheran Reformation in Iceland.
1602 - Denmark assumes a monopoly on all Icelandic trade. This continues for around 200 years.
1700s - A period of decline in Iceland, with disease, famine and a volcanic eruption in 1783 reducing the impoverished population from 50,000 to 35,000.
1814 - Norway enters union with Sweden; Iceland remains under Danish rule.
1845 - The Althing meets again in Reykjavik.
Moves towards autonomy
1848 - Denmark's monarch renounces his absolute power; Denmark prepares to become a representative democracy. This raises questions about Iceland's status.
1874 - Iceland given limited autonomy; the Althing has power over internal affairs.
1904 - Iceland attains home rule; rule by parliamentary majority introduced. The country experiences rapid technological and economic progress. University of Iceland established in 1911.
1918 - Iceland achieves full self-government under the Danish crown. Denmark retains control over foreign affairs only. The treaty is valid until 1943.
War and independence
1940 - German forces occupy Denmark. British forces occupy Iceland.
1941 - The United States takes over the defence of Iceland and stations tens of thousands of troops there.
1943 - The Treaty of Union with Denmark runs out, with Denmark still occupied by Nazi Germany.
1944 - Icelanders vote in a referendum overwhelmingly to cut all ties with Denmark and become a republic. The Republic of Iceland is proclaimed on June 17th.
Iceland becomes a member of Nato.
1958 - First "Cod War" as Iceland extends its fishing limit to 19 kilometres.
1970 - Iceland joins European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
1972 - Iceland extends the fishing limit to 80 kilometres. Renewed confrontation with Britain.
1975-6 - Third "Cod War" as Iceland extends its fishing limit to 320 kilometres.
1980 - Vigdis Finnbogadottir becomes first woman president of Iceland.
1980s - Iceland suffers from high inflation, averaging 38% annually.
1985 - Iceland declares itself a nuclear-free zone.
1991 - David Oddsson elected prime minister.
1992 - Iceland leaves International Whaling Commission (IWC) in protest at what it sees as the IWC's anti-whaling stance.
1996 - Olafur Ragnar Grimsson elected president.
Whale hunting question
2001 - Iceland applies to rejoin IWC but is granted only observer status because, after a gap of 12 years, it says it has plans to resume commercial whale hunting despite an IWC moratorium.
2002 October - IWC votes by narrow margin to readmit Iceland as a full member, despite the country's plans to resume hunting for what it terms research in the near future and limited commercial hunting after 2006.
2003 May - David Oddsson continues as prime minister in coalition government following elections.
2003 August - Iceland embarks on its first whale hunt for 15 years, with a "scientific catch" to study the mammals' impact on fish stocks.
2004 June - Olafur Ragnar Grimsson re-elected president.
2004 September - David Oddsson hands over premiership to former foreign minister Halldor Asgrimsson.
2004 November - Grimsvotn volcano erupts, scattering ash as far away as Finland and causing aircraft to divert. The volcano is in a remote part of the island and there are no casualties.
2006 June - Prime Minister Halldor Asgrimsson resigns after his party's poor performance in local elections and amid concerns about the economy. He is succeeded by Geir Haarde.
2006 - The last US military personnel leave the Keflavik base, ending a military presence dating back to 1951. The US says it will defend Iceland as a Nato ally.
2006 October - Iceland breaks its 21-year moratorium on commercial whaling; the fisheries ministry authorises a catch of 30 minke and nine fin whales.
2006 December - Population grows 2.6% in past year. Officials attribute this to immigration, encouraged by the rapidly growing economy.
2007 April - Iceland and Norway agree to expand defence cooperation to help secure future shipments of oil and gas.
2007 May - The governing coalition holds on to its majority in parliament by a single seat in general elections. The Progressive Party leaves the coalition with Geir Haarde's Independence Party. It is replaced by the Social Democratic Alliance, which gives Mr Haarde a much larger majority.
2008 January - Controversial US-born former world chess champion Bobby Fischer dies aged 64 in Iceland. A popular figure in Iceland, he had been granted citizenship to prevent Japan from extraditing him to the US.
Financial crisis
2008 April - The government warns that it may intervene in the country's currency and stock markets to fight hedge funds that it says are attacking Iceland's financial system.
2008 October - The government takes over control of all three of Iceland's major banks in an effort to stabilise the financial system, which has been hit hard by the global financial crisis.
Weeks later, Iceland applies to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for emergency financial aid - the first western country to do so since 1976.
2008 November - IMF approves $2.1bn (£1.4bn) loan to help Iceland through its financial crisis.
2009 January - Prime Minister Geir Haarde calls a general election for 25 April, two years early. The move comes after demonstrations calling on the governing coalition to resign over the country's economic meltdown.
Days after calling the election, Prime Minister Haarde announces the immediate resignation of the government, following the breakdown of talks with his coalition partner, the Social Democrats.
Social Democrat Johanna Sigurdardottir takes over as prime minister, at the head of a centre-left coalition with the Green-Left party.
2009 April - PM Johanna Sigurdardottir's centre-left coalition wins majority of 34 out of 63 seats at parliamentary elections.
EU application
2009 July - Iceland formally applies for EU membership after parliament votes in favour of accession.
EU foreign ministers ask European Commission to begin assessing Iceland's readiness for membership, opening accession proceedings.
2010 February - Unemployment soars to over 15,000 (over 9% of work force) - up from just over 1,500 (1% of work force) at the beginning of 2008, before the financial crisis took hold.
2010 March - Voters overwhelmingly reject a referendum proposal to pay the UK and the Netherlands 4bn euros (£3.4bn) worth of compensation for the collapse of the Icesave bank.
The Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland starts a massive eruption, creating an ash cloud that disrupts flights throughout Europe for several months.
2010 April - The IMF clears a further $160m (£104m) tranche of the aid package granted in 2008 but delayed by wrangling over compensation for the Icesave collapse.
2010 July - Formal talks on Iceland's EU accession begin.
2010 December - Government agrees new deal to repay the UK and the Netherlands the 4bn euros (£3.4bn) they lost when the Icesave bank collapsed in 2008. Under the new settlement, repayments will be completed by 2046.
Iceland says it will unilaterally increase its mackerel fishing quota by nearly 17,000 tonnes in 2011.
2011 - Economy registers first signs of growth in response to austerity programme and unemployment begins to fall fast.
2011 February - Parliament approves new deal to settle UK banking dispute with UK and Netherlands, which voters reject in April.
Economic recovery
2012 February - The credit rating agency Fitch raises Iceland's sovereign rating to BBB-, which makes the country once again fit for investment.
2012 April - Former Prime Minister Geir Haarde is found not guilty of negligence in his trial over his handling of the 2008 financial crisis.
2012 July - President Grimsson wins a record fifth term in office.
2012 September - IMF praises Iceland's economic recovery.
2013 January - A European court clears the government of failing to guarantee minimum compensation for British and Dutch savers.
Iceland awards two licences for oil and gas exploration and production to Faroe Petroleum and Valiant Petroleum, with Norway taking a 25% stake in both.
Austerity backlash
2013 April - The opposition Eurosceptic and centre-right Progressive and Independence parties win parliamentary election in backlash against Social Democrats' austerity measures.
2013 May - Progressive and Independence parties form a coalition government. They promise to hold a referendum on whether or not to proceed with Iceland's EU membership negotiations.
2013 December - Four former bosses of the Kaupthing bank are given prison sentences for market abuses just before it collapsed in the 2008 financial crisis.
2014 February - Britain and the Netherlands file a claim of nearly $5bn (£3bn) over money their savers lost in the 2008 collapse of the Icesave bank.
2015 March - Official figures show Iceland's GDP has returned to the level it was at before the 2008 financial crisis.
The centre-right governing coalition withdraws Iceland's application for EU membership. About 7,000 people protest against the decision in Reykjavik.
2015 October - Government says it has reached an agreement in principle with the three failed banks on steps to be taken to make possible the lifting of capital controls.
2016 April - Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson steps down after leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca reveal that he failed to declare ownership of an offshore company when he entered parliament in 2009.
2016 October - Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson resigns after a snap vote sees his Progressive Party lose more than half of its parliamentary seats. The conservative Independence Party emerges as the biggest party after no party won a majority.
2017 January - Independence Party, centre-right Restoration and centrist Bright Future parties form coalition government; Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson becomes prime minister.
2017 October - Snap parliamentary elections fail to produce an outright winner. Katrin Jakobsdottir becomes prime minister, heading a coalition government.
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A chronology of key events:
| Circa 800-1050 - Viking Age, in which Scandinavians go on plundering expeditions abroad. Some Norwegians settle at their destinations, including Scotland and Greenland.
Circa 900 - Norway unified into one kingdom.
1030 - Christianity adopted.
1536 - Norway becomes a dependency of Denmark.
1814-1905 - Union with Sweden.
1905 - Norwegian parliament, the Storting, proclaims independence from Sweden. Norwegian people endorse decision in plebiscite. Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King.
1913 - Universal suffrage for women introduced. Norwegian women begin to play greater role in politics.
1914 - Norway, Sweden and Denmark agree to remain neutral during World War I.
1920 - Norway joins the League of Nations.
1929 - Norway suffers considerably as a result of the world economic depression. Trade, shipping and banks all post heavy losses. The value of the krone falls. Unemployment becomes severe and lasts until the beginning of World War II in 1939.
The war years
1939 - Norway declares its neutrality at the outbreak of World War II, but this position becomes increasingly difficult to maintain.
1940 - German forces invade Norway in April, attacking important ports. Resistance last for two months. The Royal Family and the government flee to Britain in June. A government-in-exile is set up in London. Vidkun Quisling proclaims himself head of government in Norway.
1941 - Quisling introduces martial law due to widespread resistance and acts of sabotage by the Norwegian people.
Recovery and prosperity
1945 - German forces in Norway surrender in May. The King returns to Norway in June. Quisling is tried and executed for treason. Norway becomes a charter member of the United Nations. Reconstruction begins, with Norway's gross national product reaching pre-war levels within three years.
1949 - Norway joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).
1959 - Norway becomes founder member of the European Free Trade Association (Efta).
1967 - The Storting votes 136 to 13 to renew a previous Norwegian application to join the EEC.
Late 1960s - Oil and gas deposits discovered in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
1970s - Exploitation of oil and gas deposits begins. By the early 1980s they constitute nearly one-third of Norway's annual export earnings.
1972 - Norwegian voters reject the Labour government's recommendation on EEC membership by a margin of 6%. The government resigns.
1973 - Norway signs a free trade agreement with the EEC.
1986 - International Whaling Commission imposes moratorium on whaling. Norway registers objections.
1991 - King Olaf V dies. He is succeeded by his son, Harald V.
1993 - Norway brokers peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which lead to the Oslo accords.
Norway resumes commercial whaling despite international moratorium.
1994 - Norwegians again reject membership of the European Union in a referendum, by a margin of about 5%.
2000 - Norway begins mediation between the government of Sri Lanka and Tamil separatists.
2000 March - Conservative government of Kjell Magne Bondevik resigns over question of how Norway should generate its power. He is succeeded by Labour leader Jens Stoltenberg who favours gas-powered generating plants, despite Norway's strict environmental laws.
2001 January - Tens of thousands protest in Oslo against the murder of a black teenager for which three neo-Nazi youths are subsequently jailed.
Environmentalists angered by decision to lift ban on export of whale meat and blubber. Controversy deepens when government orders cull of grey wolves, an endangered species in Europe, which it accuses of causing serious damage to livestock.
2001 September - Labour government of Jens Stoltenberg suffers heavy defeat in general election in which no single party wins enough votes to form a majority government.
2001 October - Conservatives, Christian People's Party and Liberals agree to form coalition government with support from far-right Progress Party and with Kjell Magne Bondevik as prime minister.
2003 May - Discovery of high levels of chemicals in whale meat leads to pregnant women being warned not to eat it.
Arctic oil exploration
2003 December - Plans to explore for oil and gas in the Barents Sea spark criticism from environmentalists and fishing industry.
2004 June - Government intervenes to end week-long strike by oil workers seeking better pension rights and job security after employers threaten lock-out.
2005 September - PM Bondevik loses general election to centre-left alliance led by Labour Party's Jens Stoltenberg, which wins more than half of seats in parliament.
2005 October - Two Norwegian fisheries inspectors are released having been held for five days against their will on board a Russian trawler which fled while they were inspecting it for suspected illegal activity.
2007 February - Constitution amended to abolish bicameral division of Storting parliament after next elections.
2009 September - Centre-left coalition of PM Jens Stoltenberg narrowly wins re-election in parliamentary elections.
2010 September - China warns that Norwegian Nobel committee's decision to award Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo will harm relations between Norway and China.
Breivik jailed
2011 July - Extreme right-winger Anders Behring Breivik carries out a bomb attack and mass shooting, killing more than seventy people in the worst massacre in Norway's modern history.
2012 July - The government uses emergency powers to force offshore oil and gas workers back to work after a 16-day strike over pensions.
2012 August - A Norwegian court finds mass killer Anders Behring Breivik sane and sentences him to 21 years in jail.
2013 January - Norway and the EU reach a new agreement on fishing quotas.
2013 September - Parliamentary elections. Centre-right bloc led by Erna Solberg's Conservative party wins.
2014 May - Major General Kristin Lund from Norway becomes the first woman to command a UN peacekeeping force.
2016 January - The Lutheran Church - to which three quarters of Norwegians belong - adopts a new liturgy allowing gay couples to marry in church weddings.
2017 September - Erna Solberg claims a new mandate as prime minister following elections.
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A chronology of key events:
| 1918 October - Arab troops led by Emir Feisal, and supported by British forces, capture Damascus, ending 400 years of Ottoman rule.
1919 - Emir Feisal backs Arab self-rule at the Versailles peace conference, following the defeat of Germany and the Ottoman Empire in World War I.
1920 March - National Congress elected the previous year proclaims Emir Feisal King of Syria from the Taurus mountains of Turkey to the Sinai desert in Egypt.
French control
1920 June - San Remo conference puts Syria-Lebanon under a French mandate and Palestine under British control. King Feisal flees abroad ahead of French occupation forces the following month.
1920-21 - Syria is divided into three autonomous regions by the French, with separate areas for the Alawis on the coast and the Druze in the south. Lebanon is separated off entirely.
Uprising
1925-6 - Nationalist agitation against French rule develops into uprising. French forces bombard Damascus.
1928 - Elections held for a constituent assembly, which drafts a constitution for Syria. French High Commissioner rejects the proposals, sparking nationalist protests.
1936 - France agrees to work towards Syrian independence and dissolves the autonomous regions, but maintains military and economic dominance and keeps Lebanon as a separate state.
1941 - British and Free French troops occupy Syria. General De Gaulle promises to end the French mandate.
1943 - Veteran nationalist Shukri al-Kuwatli is elected first president of Syria, leads the country to full independence three years later.
Baath Party founded
1947 - Michel Aflaq and Salah-al-Din al-Bitar found the Arab Socialist Baath Party.
1949-1954 - Civilian government disrupted by repeated coups.
1955 - Shukri al-Kuwatli returns to power, seeks closer ties with Egypt.
1958 February - Syria and Egypt form the United Arab Republic. Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser heads the new state. He orders the dissolution of Syrian political parties, to the dismay of the Baath party, which had campaigned for union.
1961 September - Discontent with Egyptian domination prompts a group of Syrian army officers to seize power in Damascus and dissolve the union.
Rise of Assad
1963 March - Baathist army officers seize power.
1966 February - Salah Jadid leads an internal coup against the civilian Baath leadership. Hafez al-Assad becomes defence minister.
1967 June - Israeli forces seize the Golan Heights from Syria and destroy much of Syria's air force in the Six Day War with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
1970 November - Hafez al-Assad overthrows president Nur al-Din al-Atasi and imprisons Salah Jadid.
1973 - Rioting breaks out after President Assad drops the constitutional requirement that the president must be a Muslim. Suppressed by the army.
War with Israel
1973 October - Syria and Egypt go to war with Israel, but fail to retake the Golan Heights seized in 1967.
1975 February - President Assad says he's prepared to make peace with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from "all occupied Arab land".
1976 June - Syrian army intervenes in the Lebanese civil war to ensure that the status quo is maintained, keeping its Maronite Christian allies in a position of strength.
Muslim Brotherhood rises
1980 - After the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Muslim groups instigate uprisings and riots in Aleppo, Homs and Hama.
1980 September - Start of Iran-Iraq war. Syria backs Iran, in keeping with the traditional rivalry between Baathist leaderships in Iraq and Syria.
1981 December - Israel formally annexes the Golan Heights.
Uprising in Hama
1982 February - Muslim Brotherhood uprising in the city of Hama suppressed by army, tens of thousands of civilians killed.
1982 June - Israel invades Lebanon and attacks the Syrian army, forcing it to withdraw from several areas. Israel attacks the PLO base in Beirut.
1983 May - Lebanon and Israel announce the end of hostilities. Syrian forces remain in Lebanon.
1984 - President's brother Rifaat promoted to vice-president.
Return to Lebanon
1987 February - President Assad sends troops into Lebanon for a second time to enforce a ceasefire in Beirut.
1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait; Syria joins the US-led coalition against Iraq. This leads to improved relations with Egypt and the US.
1991 October - Syria participates in the Middle East peace conference in Madrid and holds talks with Israel that founder over the Golan Heights issue.
1994 - President Assad's son Basil, who was likely to succeed his father, is killed in a car accident.
1998 - President Assad's brother Rifaat is dismissed as vice-president.
1999 December - Further talks with Israel over the Golan Heights begin in the US, but are indefinitely postponed the following month.
Assad succession
2000 June - President Assad dies and is succeeded by his second son, Bashar.
2000 November - The new president orders the release of 600 political prisoners.
2001 April - Outlawed Muslim Brotherhood says it will resume political activity, 20 years after its leaders were forced to flee.
2001 June - Syrian troops evacuate Beirut, redeploy in other parts of Lebanon, following pressure from Lebanese critics of Syria's presence.
2001 September - Detention of MPs and other pro-reform activists, crushing hopes of a break with the authoritarian past of Hafez al-Assad. Arrest continue, punctuated by occasional amnesties, over the following decade.
Tensions with US
2002 May - Senior US official includes Syria in a list of states that make-up an "axis of evil", first listed by President Bush in January. Undersecretary for State John Bolton says Damascus is acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
2004 January - President Assad visits Turkey, the first Syrian leader to do so. The trip marks the end of decades of frosty relations, although ties sour again after the popular uprising in 2011.
2004 May - US imposes economic sanctions on Syria over what it calls its support for terrorism and failure to stop militants entering Iraq.
2005 February-April- Tensions with the US escalate after the killing of former Lebanese PM Hariri in Beirut. Washington cites Syrian influence in Lebanon. Damascus is urged to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, which it does by April.
Diplomatic overtures
2006 November - Iraq and Syria restore diplomatic relations after nearly a quarter century.
2007 March - European Union relaunches dialogue with Syria.
2007 April - US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets President Assad in Damascus. She is the highest-placed US politician to visit Syria in recent years. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets Foreign Minister Walid Muallem the following month in the first contact at this level for two years.
2007 September - Israel carries out an aerial strike against a nuclear facility under construction in northern Syria.
2008 July - President Assad meets French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris. The visit signals the end of the diplomatic isolation by the West that followed the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005.
2008 October - Syria establishes diplomatic relations with Lebanon for first time since both countries established independence in 1940s.
2009 March - Jeffrey Feltman, acting assistant US secretary of state for the Near East, visits Damascus with White House national security aide Daniel Shapiro in first high-level US diplomatic mission for nearly four years. Meets Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
Trading launches on Syria's stock exchange in a gesture towards liberalising the state-controlled economy.
2010 May - US renews sanctions against Syria, saying that it supports terrorist groups, seeks weapons of mass destruction and has provided Lebanon's Hezbollah with Scud missiles in violation of UN resolutions.
Nationwide uprising
2011 March - Security forces shoot dead protestors in southern city of Deraa demanding release of political prisoners, triggering violent unrest that steadily spread nationwide over the following months.
President Assad announces conciliatory measures, releasing dozens of political prisoners, dismissing government, lifting 48-year-old state of emergency.
2011 May - Army tanks enter Deraa, Banyas, Homs and suburbs of Damascus in an effort to crush anti-regime protests. US and European Union tighten sanctions.
2011 June - The IAEA nuclear watchdog decides to report Syria to the UN Security Council over its alleged covert nuclear programme reactor programme. The structure housing the alleged reactor was destroyed in an Israeli air raid in 2007.
Opposition organises
2011 July - President Assad sacks the governor of the northern province of Hama after mass demonstration there, eventually sending in troops to restore order at the cost of scores of lives.
2011 October - New Syrian National Council says it has forged a common front of internal and exiled opposition activists.
2011 November - Arab League votes to suspend Syria, accusing it of failing to implement an Arab peace plan, and imposes sanctions.
2012 February - Government steps up the bombardment of Homs and other cities.
2012 March - UN Security Council endorses non-binding peace plan drafted by UN envoy Kofi Annan. China and Russia agree to support the plan after an earlier, tougher draft is modified.
2012 June - Turkey changes rules of engagement after Syria shoots down a Turkish plane, declaring that if Syrian troops approach Turkey's borders they will be seen as a military threat.
2012 July - Free Syria Army blows up three security chiefs in Damascus and seizes parts of the city of Aleppo in the north.
2012 August - Prime Minister Riad Hijab defects, US President Obama warns that use of chemical weapons would tilt the US towards intervention.
2012 October - Fire in Aleppo destroys much of the historic market as fighting and bomb attacks continue in various cities.
2012 November - National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces formed in Qatar, excludes Islamist militias. Arab League stops short of full recognition.
2012 December - US, Britain, France, Turkey and Gulf states formally recognise opposition National Coalition as "legitimate representative" of Syrian people.
2013 January - Syria accuses Israel of bombing military base near Damascus, where Hezbollah was suspected of assembling a convoy of anti-aircraft missiles bound for Lebanon.
Rise of Islamists
2013 September - UN weapons inspectors conclude that chemical weapons were used in an attack on the Ghouta area of Damascus in August that killed about 300 people, but do not allocate responsibility. Government allows UN to destroy chemical weapons stocks, process complete by June 2014.
2013 December - US and Britain suspend "non-lethal" support for rebels in northern Syria after reports that Islamist rebels seized bases of Western-backed Free Syrian Army.
2014 January-February - UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva fail, largely because Syrian authorities refuse to discuss a transitional government.
2014 March - Syrian Army and Hezbollah forces recapture Yabroud, the last rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border.
2014 June - Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants declare "caliphate" in territory from Aleppo to eastern Iraqi province of Diyala.
2014 September - US and five Arab countries launch air strikes against Islamic State around Aleppo and Raqqa.
2015 January - Kurdish forces push Islamic State out of Kobane on Turkish border after four months of fighting.
2015 May - Islamic State fighters seize the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria and proceed to destroy many monuments at pre-Islamic World Heritage site.
Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest) Islamist rebel alliance takes control of Idlib Province, putting pressure on government's coastal stronghold of Latakia.
Russian intervention
2015 September - Russia carries out its first air strikes in Syria, saying they target the Islamic State group, but the West and Syrian opposition say it overwhelmingly targets anti-Assad rebels.
2015 December - Syrian Army allows rebels to evacuate remaining area of Homs, returning Syria's third-largest city to government control after four years.
2016 March - Syrian government forces retake Palmyra from Islamic State with Russian air assistance, only to be driven out again in December.
2016 August - Turkish troops cross into Syria to help rebel groups push back so-called Islamic State militants and Kurdish-led rebels from a section of the two countries' border.
2016 December - Government troops, backed by Russian air power and Iranian-sponsored militias, recapture Aleppo, the country's largest city, depriving the rebels of their last major urban stronghold.
2017 January - Russia, Iran and Turkey agree to enforce a ceasefire between the government and non-Islamist rebels, after talks between the two sides in Kazakhstan.
US intervenes
2017 April - US President Donald Trump orders a missile attack on an airbase from which Syrian government planes allegedly staged a chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun.
2017 May - US decides to arm the YPG Kurdish Popular Protection Units. These fight alongside the main opposition Syrian Democratic Forces, which captures the important Tabqa dam from Islamic State.
2017 June - US shoots down Syrian fighter jet near Raqqa after it allegedly dropped bombs near US-backed rebel Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
2017 July - The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Syrian army launch a military operation to dislodge jihadist groups from the Arsal area, near the Lebanese-Syrian border.
Islamic State retreats
2017 October-November - The Islamic State group is driven from Raqqa, its de-facto capital in Syria, and Deir al-Zour.
2018 January - Turkey launches an assault on northern Syria to oust Kurdish rebels controlling the area around Afrin.
2018 April - Claims of a new chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta's main town of Douma prompt the US, Britain and France to carry out a wave of punitive strikes on Syrian targets.
2018 July - Syrian army recaptures almost all of the south of the country, up to the borders with Jordan and Israeli-held territory.
2018 September-December - Kurdish-led SDF forces launch offensive that reduces Islamic State territory to a tiny enclave on the Iraqi border.
2019 October - US withdraws troops from northern Syria, prompting Turkey to attack US Kurdish allies in the area.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dies in US raid on his hideout in Idlib Province.
2020 March - Turkey sends thousands of troops across the border to stop a Syrian offensive to retake Idlib, the last province still in opposition hands.
2020 June - Protests in southern Syria at growing economic hardship prompt President Assad to dismiss Prime Minister Imad Khamis.
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"Are you beach body ready?" | By Laura WignallNewsbeat reporter
It's the question one company is using to sell its diet supplements, but not everyone's loving the message.
Campaigners including Blythe Pepino, singer in the band Vaults, have been busy "updating" the billboards.
"I was pretty unnerved by the posters," Blythe told Newsbeat.
"It's not uncommon to see ladies in lingerie but the commoditisation and sexualisation of 'the beach body' seems to have become a meme trending in our lives.
"It was too much for me to sit by and watch, so I decided to take action.
"At a party we came up with the plan to put different types of bodies in yellow bikinis and physically modify the adverts using removable tape, take some pictures and spread the word as a light hearted retort.
"This snowballed into the slogan #eachbodysready."
Protein World is the company behind the advertising campaign.
On 8 April, the Advertising Standards Agency investigated nine issues and the company was asked to change the wording of certain products and ingredients on their website.
A petition to remove the ads has now gained thousands of signatures online.
The #eachbodysready hashtag is gaining support on Twitter with people commenting on the posters
In a statement to Newsbeat, Protein World said: "It is a shame that in 2015 there are still a minority who aren't focusing on celebrating those who aspire to be healthier, fitter and stronger.
"Renee, our stunning model, falls well within what the British government deem to be a healthy weight based on the BMI (body mass index) system.
The diet supplement's ads are getting some support online.
But some people support the campaign.
Protein World says it has "no intention of removing the adverts because of a minority making a lot of noise" and the company's been tweeting back against the campaigners.
Protein World tweets 'we are a nation of sympathisers for fatties'
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram, Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube and you can now follow BBC_Newsbeat on Snapchat
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Should India abolish the death penalty? | Soutik BiswasDelhi correspondent
The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the death penalty of Pakistani national Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman of the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, has opened the debate once again.
Predictably, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been quick to demand Qasab's swift execution "as those who wage war against the country and kill innocents deserve no mercy".
Qasab can still appeal to the highest court to review the verdict; and his last hope lies with a plea for clemency to the president.
His appalling crime of gunning down innocents surely qualifies as a "rarest of the rare crime", a condition for handing out the death penalty in India.
But, as critics of capital punishment say, there's no evidence to show that the death penalty deters crime.
Two-thirds of the world's countries have done away with the death penalty in law or in practice. Last year, according to Amnesty International, death sentences were imposed in 63 countries, but only 21 countries actually carried out executions.
India has shied away from executing people for many years now.
There have been only two hangings in the country in the past 12 years and the majority of convicts on death row can expect their sentences to be commuted to life. Former president Pratibha Patil commuted the death sentences of 35 convicts midway through her five-year term.
Clemency pleas of 29 prisoners on death row in India are pending before the president. They include Afzal Guru, who was convicted for carrying out an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001. The Supreme Court upheld his death sentence as long ago as 2004.
Then there is a serious practical problem: there are only one or two hangmen available in India. Two years ago, I met one in a Calcutta prison who had been employed as a hangman-cum-sweeper, and was still waiting to carry out his first execution.
Recently, 14 retired Indian judges wrote to the president asking him to commute the death sentences of 13 inmates being held in prisons across the country. And the Supreme Court itself recently admitted that some death penalties it had upheld were erroneous.
"Public opinion in India can no longer ignore the global movement in favour of abolition of the death penalty," says AP Shah, the former chief justice of the Delhi High Court in an interview in today's The Times of India.
What do you think?
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President: Jacob Zuma
| The leader of the ruling African National Congress party, Jacob Zuma, was chosen president by the newly-elected parliament in May 2009.
Born to a Zulu family in 1942, Mr Zuma has spent his entire adult life since 1959 in the service of the ANC. He joined its armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1962 and was arrested the following year. He spent ten years in prison for conspiracy to overthrow the apartheid-era government.
After his release he left South Africa and was a leading figure in the ANC abroad until he returned home in 1990 to take part in the talks that brought apartheid to an end.
Mr Zuma was prominent in promoting the ANC among Zulus who had voted for the Inkatha Freedom Party in the first free elections in 1994, and was consistently elected to senior ANC posts. In 1999, he became the deputy president of South Africa under President Thabo Mbeki.
Mr Zuma's standing in the country fell rapidly after he was named in a corruption case related to a controversial arms deal, and President Mbeki dismissed him from the deputy presidency in 2005. Prosecutors then brought corruption charges against him, and shortly afterwards he was charged with rape.
He was acquitted of the rape charge the following year, and his support on the populist left of the party ensured that he was able to defeat President Mbeki in elections for the ANC leadership in December 2007.
Election
Mr Zuma looked set to become president of South Africa after the 2009 parliamentary elections, but the corruption allegations persisted. It was not until April 2009 - weeks before the parliamentary polls - that state prosecutors finally threw out the charges on the grounds that there had been political interference.
The opposition said this was a technicality and that Mr Zuma ought to answer the charges in court. Nonetheless, he led the ANC to a convincing election victory and was duly inaugurated on 9 May.
In November 2011, a man seen as a potential serious challenger for Mr Zuma's post, the firebrand ANC youth leader Julius Malema, was suspended from the governing party. He remains a thorn in Mr Zuma's side, however, and called for him to resign over the Marikana mine shooting incident in August 2012.
In December 2012 Mr Zuma was was re-elected as ANC leader with an overwhelming majority. And in May 2014 the ANC again won a commanding majority in parliamentary elections, providing President Zuma a second term in office.
The country's worsening economic woes, coupled with scandals over his contacts with business groups, led to hitherto close allies like the Communist Party and COSATU trade unions to call in 2017 for President Zuma to resign.
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Will they or won't they? | Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
As we've been reporting in the last few days, there's been a frenzied guessing game, stoked by some cabinet ministers themselves, over the future for the pay of nurses, teachers, police officers, and the rest of the five million or so people who work in the public sector.
In the aftermath of the election, some in cabinet argue that scrapping the pay cap would be a way of showing they had heard the electorate's call, proof they had listened to public concerns. No politician, not least one clinging on in a minority government, wants to appear deaf to the concerns of the public.
One senior figure arguing for a relaxation of the cap argues that the Tories have to get out in front of the issue, to neutralise it, before what could be a long, hot summer of political discontent, claiming that Cabinet is moving towards a consensus position to "scrap the cap", at least showing willing to accept the recommendations of the independent pay bodies as they report over the coming months.
But after a majority-losing election where the Tories ditched their core script on sound money, others are in a very different position.
One minister said, it would be "utter madness" to ditch a central part of their economic programme, their "record for stewardship", questioning whether an "utterly useless" election campaign should result in junking the economic discipline the government should be proud of.
Another questioned "the idea you can just walk away from the cap without serious consequences".
Yes, sticking to the cap causes the Tories political damage, but so might raising taxes, or making cuts somewhere else to do it.
Arguably the simpler part of the debate has been had - many public sector workers are feeling the pinch, and there is more and more pressure to remove the limit on pay rises. The more complicated bit, who or what would pay for the increase, is a conversation that's yet to happen.
Whatever Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have said in the last twenty four hours, don't expect anything to happen in a hurry. The first pay review body is not due to report for another few weeks. It seems unlikely that the government will announce any plan to either ditch the cap or promise to accept the decisions of the review bodies before then.
It's not in either Theresa May or Philip Hammond's DNA to make quick decisions. One of her allies reports there is simply no decision. But how they show they are in tune with volatile public opinion while going through a decision making process is not straightforward either.
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Are you happy at work? | By Fiona GrahamTechnology of business reporter
If that seems like a loaded question - can you at least say you're interested in what you're doing, and feel motivated?
If the answer is no, don't worry. You're not alone. In fact a massive 70% of US workers are "not engaged" or are "actively disengaged" at work. Workers elsewhere appear to agree.
So what can we do about it?
Break clause
Dave Coplin has a few ideas.
He is Microsoft UK's chief envisioner. But he's also something of an influential expert when it comes to how we work.
It's something he's passionate about, and that comes across clearly in his new book Business Reimagined: Why work isn't working and what you can do about it.
"Fundamentally I think work isn't working," he says.
"We ended up in containers that are no longer relevant, we still think about work as a destination when we should think about it is as an activity.
"It's something that we do, it's not a place we go - I can work from anywhere."
He sees technology as part of the problem. Rather than creating a world where the ability to work anywhere frees us up to enjoy life a little more, he sees the opposite happening.
"I grew up on Star Trek and comic books, and had this belief that technology is a force that is supposed to bring positive things to society.
"Then I look around at what we're doing and I see how technology has become a cage to lots of people."
He cites email as a particular example of an out-dated use of technology - using email for everything, rather than pick up the phone, say, or using other collaborative applications. This, he says, stifles both productivity and creativity.
As well as spending hours in the office dealing with it, we've become trapped by the need check our email weekends, evenings, at the school play, at the supermarket, wherever we are.
This is partly self-inflicted and partly down to corporate culture and a basic misunderstanding of how these tools should be used says Mr Coplin.
"We allow technology to overtake us, and this way we become slaves to it, so all of these things conspire.
"I know there is more to technology, I know what it can do, I see this stuff we do, the stuff that our competitors do, the potential technology offers a modern society whether it's just work or play.
"It's huge and the challenge is, unless we open our eyes to use that we're never going to get that."
Open source
Part of the change Mr Coplin is advocating involves the physical spaces where we do our jobs.
The office was originally the place work had to be done.
Then it was the only place that had the technology necessary to do your job. Now, most of us have better devices at home.
"One of the basic premises of our theory is that the future belongs to creativity. So if we are going to be more competitive as businesses, we are going to do more things differently," he says.
"If you buy that theory open plan offices are terrible."
The argument is that the large open spaces so beloved of modern architects and HR departments end up destroying the very things they were supposed to nurture and encourage.
Technologist and writer Ben Hammersley wrote the introduction to the book.
He likens them to the African savannah - herds of antelopes - or staff - in groups, while at the edge sit the hunters, the managers, with their screens shielded, ready to pounce on the weak or visibly unproductive.
Recent research says these offices make us sick, less productive and unhappy.
To do our best work, we need to get into something called a 'flow state' - it takes the average human 15 minutes to get there.
"When was the last time you had 15 minutes where you weren't distracted by a phone call, email or someone telling you about last night's Eastenders?" says Mr Coplin.
Flexible attitude
The answer, says Mr Coplin, is to embrace a flatter hierarchy while giving your staff freedom to work flexibly.
But this doesn't necessarily mean what you think it does.
"When I talk to people about flexible working, what they will typically say, oh you mean working from home?" he says.
"Well, sort of. Actually what I really mean is being mindful of the location that you are going to be able to do the work you have do today. And being really thoughtful about what that is."
The other problem is that working flexibly is often seen as a perk for individuals or people with children - and causes trust issues.
But Mr Coplin's research turned up something interesting.
"The [trust] issue is not between the employer and employee like we thought it would be, it is actually between employees."
The fear of earning your colleague's disdain results in sometimes paranoid behaviour.
"I start to do stupid things. I start to send more emails, I get up early, send a really early email, and then all of a sudden, I am not using the tools effectively," he explains.
"I am doing this because I am worrying about what they are going to be saying."
"You [have to] make it an organisational objective, you say that actually, yes, it is important for individuals but we believe that every single member of the workforce should have the capability to work flexibly."
Although Mr Coplin points out that certain jobs and professions obviously do require bodies on site.
Social stock
All of this of course hinges on the right technology. And that means using the right tools in the right way, according to Mr Coplin, building his definition of the social enterprise. Simply running a Twitter feed doesn't count.
"We're locked into this really bizarre world where we have a richer technology experience at home than most people have at work. We now communicate really differently at home and in our personal lives than we communicate at work."
"You see the power of what you can do socially, but you see the constraints on how you share and collaborate at work.
"It's going to start to merge, because I think [people have] a higher expectation of how to collaborate."
This is a democratisation of knowledge and participation that Mr Coplin says could help employees feel more invested in their employer.
He describes the 'Ask Me' group used by IT company Merlin, where staff post questions and get answers from people across the company and around the world - shortcutting the route to the right person with the right knowledge.
Despite all this, the majority of organisations that have tried to implement social collaboration have failed.
If this is so beneficial to business, how can this be?
According to Mr Coplin, companies can't be half-hearted - these policies and technologies have to be integrating into the fabric of what people do, rather than used in barely-supported pockets, or in isolation, where they languish and die. As with flexible working, it should be for everyone, not a 'special' few.
"We talk about flexible working, social collaboration, managing people differently, to me it's like a conveyor belt of topics," he says.
"You don't do those three things and then voila, you have re-imagined your business. That's just the beginning of how you start.
"The most important thing is you've got to think differently about both the world that you live in, and the opportunities that lie in front of you as a business, and how you could think differently."
As he talks you get a sense of just how passionate he is about this.
"It's a philosophy, it's a different state of mind about the potential of work," states Mr Coplin.
"I am really lucky, because I sit in this incredible vantage point called Microsoft, and I can see right across different sectors, different sizes of customers, see how all this stuff comes into play.
You can see the potential that exists ... we've got to change."
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CHRISTIAN BALE | A look at the best actor nominees for the 88th Academy Awards, announced on 14 January 2016.
Age: 42
Nominated for: The Big Short
The character: Michael Burry, an eccentric mathematical genius and hedge fund manager who sees money as just a commodity and risk-taking as a means only to prove how clever he is.
Oscar record: Won best supporting actor for The Fighter in 201. Best actor nomination for American Hustle in 2014.
The critics said: "Bale stands out with the most unhinged performance of the ensemble as hedge fund manager Michael Burry. Totally lacking in social graces (he paces his office barefoot), Burry is prone to rocking out to heavy metal music to get his brain working at warp speed and also sports a glass eye." [The Guardian]
TOM HARDY
Age: 38
Nominated for: The Revenant
The character: John Fitzgerald, a deceitful fur trapper who leaves a companion in the snowbound wilderness after he is attacked by a bear.
Oscar record: No previous nominations.
The critics said: "Hardy [emanates] menace as the half-scalped villain of the piece." [Empire]
MARK RUFFALO
Age: 48
Nominated for: Spotlight
The character: Michael Rezendes, a member of the Boston Globe's investigative Spotlight team that disclosed a child sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic church.
Oscar record: Best supporting actor nominations for for The Kids Are All Right for 2011 and Foxcatcher in 2015.
The critics said: "Ruffalo is a marvel of purpose as Rezendes hounds [an] attorney.. for access to survivors of sex abuse." [Rolling Stone]
MARK RYLANCE
Age: 55
Nominated for: Bridge of Spies
The character: Rudolf Abel, the real-life Soviet intelligence officer who was arrested in 1950s New York and prosecuted as a spy.
Oscar record: No previous nominations.
The critics said: "Abel, an inscrutable Soviet spy with a soft Scottish accent, is an energy-conserving showstopper of a role; so passive, so droll, he's like a spent clown, and Rylance is mesmerising as him." [Ham & High]
SYLVESTER STALLONE
Age: 69
Nominated for: Creed
The character: Rocky Balboa, a former heavyweight champion coaxed out of retirement to train the son of his old boxing rival.
Oscar record: Best actor nomination for Rocky in 1977. Best original screenplay nomination for same film.
The critics said: "From the moment Stallone shuffles on screen, weighed down by the baggage of six movies past including the loss of everyone he ever loved, he discovers notes he has never played as an actor." [Empire]
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A chronology of key events:
| 1525 - Portuguese explorer Alejo Garcia visits Paraguay.
1526 - Italian navigator Sebastian Cabot explores the rivers of Paraguay.
1537 - Spanish begin colonising the interior plains of Paraguay.
1609 - Spanish Jesuits begin converting the local population to Roman Catholicism.
1776 - Paraguay transferred from the Vice-royalty of Peru to the Vice-royalty of La Plata, which has its capital at Buenos Aires in Argentina.
1808 - Vice-royalty of La Plata becomes autonomous following the overthrow of the Spanish monarchy by Napoleon Bonaparte, but Paraguayans revolt against Buenos Aires.
Independence and war
1811 - Paraguay becomes independent.
1865-70 - Paraguay loses over half of its population and large tracts of land in war with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay over sea access.
1932-35 - Paraguay wins territory in the west from Bolivia during Chaco war.
From Stroessner to democracy
1954 - General Alfredo Stroessner seizes power in coup, ushering in more than 30 years of ruthless dictatorship.
1989 - Stroessner deposed in coup led by Gen Andres Rodriguez, who is then elected president. However, Stroessner's centre-right, military-backed National Republican Association-Colorado Party wins parliamentary elections.
1992 - New democratic constitution promulgated.
1993 - Colorado Party wins simple majority of seats in first free multiparty elections, while its candidate, Juan Carlos Wasmosy, wins first free presidential elections.
1998 - Colorado Party candidate Raul Cubas elected president amid allegations of fraud.
1999 - President Cubas resigns in wake of assassination of Vice-President Luis Maria Argana. Luis Gonzalez Macchi appointed caretaker president, forms government of national unity.
2000 October - An army major and two other men are sentenced to long prison terms for their roles in Argana's murder.
2000 May - Coup attempt foiled. Government blames "anti-democratic" forces loyal to exiled General Oviedo.
2001 May - Head of central bank resigns over alleged involvement in fraudulent transfer of $16m to US bank account.
2002 July - State of emergency declared after violent street protests. Protesters demand resignation of President Gonzalez Macchi and scrapping of free-market policies.
2002 December - Congress votes for impeachment proceedings against President Gonzalez Macchi over charges which include corruption. Mr Gonzalez Macchi survives a vote to remove him from office.
2003 August - Nicanor Duarte Frutos, from ruling Colorado Party, sworn in as president after winning April poll. Predecessor Luis Gonzalez Macchi barred from leaving country and put on trial on corruption charges.
2004 April onwards - Peasants stage series of land invasions and other protests, demanding redistribution of agricultural land.
2004 June - Former military commander General Oviedo returns from exile in Brazil and is arrested at airport.
2005 February - President Nicanor Duarte promises a crackdown on organised crime following the kidnapping and murder of the daughter of former president Raul Cubas.
2005 June - Lower house rejects government proposals to privatise public utilities.
2005 August - Paraguay hosts the first-ever conference of landlocked nations. More than 30 states take part and demand preferential treatment in world trade talks.
2006 June - Luis Gonzalez Macchi, president from 1999-2003, is sentenced to six years in jail over illegal bank transfers.
2006 August - Former military ruler Alfredo Stroessner dies in exile in Brazil, aged 93.
2007 March - Government declares state of emergency in response to outbreak of dengue fever.
2007 September - The government declares a state of emergency after fires destroy more than 100,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land.
Lugo presidency
2008 April - Leftist former bishop Fernando Lugo achieves historic victory in presidential election, defeating the ruling party candidate and ending 61 years of conservative rule.
2008 September - President Lugo accuses his predecessor, Nicanor Duarte, and former military commander General Lino Oviedo of masterminding a conspiracy against his government.
2009 April - President Lugo refuses to resign over claims by several women that he fathered children with them while he was a Catholic bishop
2009 July - Brazil and Paraguay reach a deal to end their long-running dispute over the cost of energy from the giant Itaipu hydro-electric plant on their border.
2010 April - Security forces launch operation against left-wing rebel group blamed for spate of violent incidents in northern Paraguay.
2011 October - Paraguayans approve a constitutional change giving the vote to the large number of citizens living abroad.
2012 June - President Lugo is ousted over his handling of a land eviction in which 17 people are killed. Federico Franco, his vice president, is sworn in to complete the remainder of Mr Lugo's term. Two months later the electoral court sets presidential elections for April 2013, and President Franco agrees to stand down then.
2012 July - The South American Mercosur trading bloc suspends Paraguay until next year's presidential election in protest at President Lugo's ouster, but stops short of imposing sanctions.
2012 December - Landless peasant leader Vidal Vega is shot dead. The deaths of 11 of his supporters and six police officers. led to the ouster of President Lugo in June.
2013 February - Presidential candidate Lino Oviedo dies in helicopter crash. The retired general, who helped overthrow the Stroessner dictatorship in 1989, was running for the third largest party in April's election.
2013 April - Horacio Cartes is elected president.
2013 August - Parliament votes to give President Cartes new powers to deploy the military against left-wing rebels.
2014 April - The Ache' indigenous people of Paraguay file a lawsuit accusing the former military government of genocide during more than thirty years of dictatorship under Alfredo Stroessner.
2015 January - Albino Jara, the leader of Paraguay's second biggest rebel group the Armed Peasant Association (ACA), is shot dead by special forces in a jungle area north of the capital Asuncion. The ACA is a spin-off of the country's main left-wing rebel group, the Paraguayan People's Arny (EPP).
2015 August - International outcry after an 11-year-old rape victim gives birth after being denied an abortion. Abortion is illegal unless the mother's life is at risk.
2015 November - The head of Paraguay's Indian Affairs office is sacked after he is accused of kicking an indigenous woman in the stomach during a protest by members of the Ava Guarani indigenous community over a legislative bill restricting their leasing of land.
2015 December - Paraguay is the worst-hit as South America experiences its worst floods in decades, forcing more than 100,000 residents to evacuate.
2016 January - Paraguay becomes the latest Latin American country to issue health alerts to try to prevent the spread of three mosquito-borne diseases - dengue fever, chikangunya and zika.
2016 July - Farmers leader Ruben Villalba is jailed for 35 years over the killing of 17 police officers and farmers in 2012, an incident which led to the impeachment of then President Fernando Lugo.
2017 April - President Cartes says he will no longer seek re-election, after his bid to change the constitution triggered deadly riots.
2018 May - Paraguay opens its Israel embassy in Jerusalem, making it the third nation to take the deeply controversial step after the United States and Guatemala.
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President: Milos Zeman
| Former Prime Minister Milos Zeman won the first direct Czech presidential election in January 2013 as the candidate of his own small centre-left grouping, the Party of Civic Rights.
Like his predecessor, Vaclav Klaus, Mr Zeman thrives on confrontation and has not hesitated to exercise his presidential authority, even when this has meant entering into conflict with the Czech government.
After a long political career - including his stint as a prime minister in 1998-2002 - Mr Zeman quit the Social Democratic and effectively retired from politics in 2003 in response to his loss to Vaclav Klaus Klaus in the presidential election.
Political analysts attributed his 2013 comeback to his harnessing of discontent among older and poorer voters with the Necas government's handling of the economic downturn.
But he is less popular with younger and better educated Czechs, who regard his election and subsequent performance with some dismay.
Mr Zeman is a divisive figure, especially on account of his tendency to express his views - which are often at variance with government policy - in colourfully trenchant terms.
He has irked many people - both within the country and among the Czech Republic's western allies - by defending Russia's stance on Ukraine and by voicing opposition to the western sanctions against Russia.
In November 2015, Mr Zeman marked the twenty-sixth anniversary of the 1989 revolution by sharing a platform with an anti-Islamic group.
Prime Minister: Bohuslav Sobotka
Social Democratic party leader Bohuslav Sobotka became prime minister after a 2013 snap election triggered by the fall of the centre-right government of Petr Necas over a spying, sex and bribery scandal earlier in the year.
After Necas's ouster, President Milos Zeman initially appointed a former aide, Jiri Rusnok, to head a government of experts, but the administration was deeply resented by the main political parties, and MPs withdrew their confidence and voted to go to the polls.
The Social Democrats emerged as the largest party in parliament, but without a majority, and formed a coalition with the pro-business ANO party and the Christian Democrats.
On his appointment, Mr Sobotka pledged to end the political gridlock that had paralysed policy making for seven months and revive economic growth following the country's longest recession on record.
He promised to boost the economy by reversing the former centre-right government's austerity measures.
Mr Sobotka also expressed a desire to see the Czech Republic play a fuller role in EU politics, after the euro-sceptic course pursued by centre-right governments for most of the previous decade.
He has been much more supportive of the EU line on Ukraine than President Zeman. Although initial reservations about the sanctions against Russia, he eventually backed them.
A trained lawyer, Mr Sobotka has been a member of parliament since 1996 and served as finance minister in 2002-6. He joined the Social Democrats in 1989 and has led the party since 2011.
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Subsets and Splits