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Six Nations: Scotland's Josh Strauss ruled out of rest of campaign - BBC Sport
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2017-02-17
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Scotland suffer a second injury blow as Josh Strauss follows Greig Laidlaw in being ruled out of the remainder of the Six Nations campaign.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Scotland number eight Josh Strauss has been ruled out of the rest of the Six Nations campaign through injury.
It represents a second injury blow for the Scots after captain Greig Laidlaw was also ruled out of the remainder of the championship.
Strauss, 30, suffered a kidney injury during the 22-16 defeat by France.
Strauss will now return to Glasgow Warriors for further care and a review of the injury will be scheduled in approximately six weeks' time.
"After completing the [French] match, he was scanned in Paris," said Scottish Rugby. "Both the scan, and the player, were reviewed back in Scotland, where the full extent of the injury was confirmed."
Gloucester scrum-half Laidlaw left the Stade de France on crutches on Sunday following an ankle injury. Scottish Rugby confirmed the 58-time capped player sustained ligament damage.
Laidlaw was replaced by Glasgow's Ali Price in Paris. John Barclay, who took over as captain, also departed with a head knock before half-time, only for his replacement John Hardie to suffer the same fate early in the second half.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39007432
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Is Iceland now cool? - BBC News
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2017-02-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Iceland is the UK's favourite online supermarket, says consumer group Which? so is it now "cool"?
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Business
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Is this cool? Yes, it's ICE COLD
What thoughts do the store Iceland conjure up? Luxury goods, lobsters for £6 and award-winning mince pies, considered better than Fortnum and Mason or Selfridges?
Or rows of freezing aisles stalked by former girl band members in track suits, and your mum, who can't be found elsewhere, because she has, of course, gone to Iceland?
For a frozen goods specialist that's been around since 1970 and now has 900 stores, its image is remarkably fluid.
But for customers today, it is seen as having excellent customer service.
The consumer group Which? asked 7,000 people to rate the leading chains and they voted Iceland best for online - for the second year running.
Respondents considered categories such as quality, value for money, service from delivery drivers, how easy it was to find products, and whether shoppers would recommend the retailer to a friend - and Iceland scored tops.
Retail analysts have also got the Iceland message.
"You could have seen it as a bit of a dinosaur," says Paul Martin, head of retail at consultancy KPMG.
But now, he is remarkably impressed at how Iceland's management team have updated a business that was "not seen as cool".
And it's not just the online service he admires. "They have improved the look and feel of stores, there's a new website, [and] they focused more on the healthy side of frozen. You can also now buy fresh food - something that just didn't exist in the past," he says.
Back in the 1970s, frozen food was hip. A chest freezer - the size you could put a body into - was the smart TV of its day. Not everyone had one, but if you could, you did.
Bejam was the go-to High Street supplier, and they even provided the freezer. Iceland bought the chain out in 1989.
It has ticked along outside the big league since then, changing ownership - neatly, actually owned by an Icelandic company at one time - but its core remains frozen food.
But frozen food hasn't been cutting it these days with the upper echelons of society. Style arbiter Peter York, who has advised many luxury firms and enjoys the high life himself, has always thought it's not quite his thing.
"I see frozen Christmas treats full of sugar. I don't see [Iceland] as having things that won't make you as big as a pig. The imagery of Iceland is the Atomic Kitten woman [Kerry Katona, who fronted its TV ads in 2008].
"I fear it wouldn't meet my metropolitan liberal elite needs."
But, given its popularity, even he would be willing to explore its range, as long as he didn't have to walk too far: "I'd be in like Flynn if there was one near me. 'Dear Iceland, send us one - we the people of Pimlico want an Iceland.'"
I explained that its popularity was in fact for online shopping, and therefore he needn't extend his morning walk.
Peter York's food assistant won't even have to push one of these... customers scored Iceland highest for its online delivery
"Oh," he says. "I'm going to make the person who does my food ordering have a look."
Perhaps it should not be a surprise that it scores so highly on home delivery. It started doing this in 1999 - way before its rivals got serious.
Not a lot of people know that. And that could be why, says KMPG's Paul Martin, it scores highly. "[Because it's not as popular as the Big Four supermarkets], it's easier to book a delivery slot."
But he has praise for both the design of the website and the "very friendly" drivers.
Iceland's joint managing director, Nick Canning, promises there will be more to notice the chain for in future. "It feels like people are finally opening up their eyes to the quality we deliver, and we have much more innovation planned for the year ahead, so please stay tuned - Iceland's customers won't be disappointed."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38991243
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Zealandia: Is there an eighth continent under New Zealand? - BBC News
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2017-02-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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It's almost all under water, but Zealandia should be considered a continent, say researchers.
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Asia
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Mount Cook, the highest peak of New Zealand - and Zealandia
You think you know your seven continents? Think again, as there's a new contender hoping to join that club.
Say hello to Zealandia, a huge landmass almost entirely submerged in the southwest Pacific.
It's not a complete stranger, you might have heard of its highest mountains, the only bits showing above water: New Zealand.
Scientists say it qualifies as a continent and have now made a renewed push for it to be recognised as such.
In a paper published in the Geological Society of America's Journal, researchers explain that Zealandia measures five million sq km (1.9m sq miles) which is about two thirds of neighbouring Australia.
Some 94% of that area is underwater with only a few islands and three major landmasses sticking out above the surface: New Zealand's North and South Islands and New Caledonia.
You might think being above water is crucial to making the cut as a continent, but the researchers looked at a different set of criteria, all of which are met by the new kid in town.
New Zealand as captured from space by astronaut Tim Peake
The main author of the article, New Zealand geologist Nick Mortimer, said scientists have been researching data to make the case for Zealandia for more than two decades.
"The scientific value of classifying Zealandia as a continent is much more than just an extra name on a list," the researchers explained.
"That a continent can be so submerged yet unfragmented" makes it useful for "exploring the cohesion and breakup of continental crust".
So how then to get Zealandia into the canon of continents? Should text books authors get nervous again? After all, just a few years ago, Pluto got kicked off the list of planets, changing what had been taught in schools for decades.
There is in fact no scientific body that formally recognises continents. So it could only change over time if future research accepts Zealandia on par with the rest so that eventually we might be learning about eight, not seven, continents.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39000936
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Who are the nurdle hunters on Britain's beaches? - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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People who collect the microplastics explain why and how they are collected.
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UK
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Nurdles may sound cute and often look beautiful but the small plastic pellets are a sinister presence on three-quarters of beaches in the UK.
Volunteer nurdle hunters on the Great Winter Nurdle Hunt searched their local shorelines in early February and the survey has found that 73% of 279 shorelines contain the plastics.
In one 100m-stretch of beach in Cornwall, beachcombers found 127,500 of the lentil-sized pellets - but that is just a fraction of the 53 billion nurdles that are estimated to escape into the UK environment each year.
The microplastics pose a significant threat to fish and animals that ingest the plastic.
Experts warn that nurdles can soak up chemical pollutants from their surroundings and then release the toxins into the animals that eat them.
After the BBC reported the story some nurdle hunters have been getting in touch to explain why they do what they do.
Sarah Marshall, a 49-year-old former speech and language therapist, started collecting nurdles two years ago and says she is now addicted to finding the pellets.
"They look like tiny eggs, some are bigger than others, some are thicker, and they are all different colours," she says.
"They congregate on the tide line and I often use my hands to pick them up - whenever I go to the beach, I cannot help but pick them up.
"I even found some in Martinique. My daughter says 'mum let's go look for nurdles' - it's like a competition between us," she adds.
Christine Hyland, Naomi Hyland and Sarah Marshall at Compton beach on the Isle of Wight
The threat posed by nurdles to wildlife and the marine ecosystem is the main motivation for Sarah to spend her time picking them up from beaches.
She normally throws away the collected nurdles but she has also sent samples to the International Pellet Watch who analyse nurdles for the presence of toxic chemicals.
Sarah Marshall has been collecting nurdles from beaches in the Isle of Wight for two years
Jay Lowein, who is 59 and runs a business, is a recent recruit to the Great Nurdle Hunt.
She went on her first hunt in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight in February and explained that she used tweezers to pick up the pellets.
Together with a friend, she collected over 1500 nurdles in one hour.
Nurdles on Shanklin beach in the Isle of Wight
"I'd never even seen them but when I went on the nurdle hunt, I was really shocked at how many there are," says Jay.
"I collect them because I think it's horrible that there is all this plastic floating around.
"I want to do my bit - I don't want to eat fish that has ingested plastic pellets", she explains.
Daniel Moore, a 29-year-old PhD student in Durham, found these nurdles at James Bay in March 2015.
Nurdles found by Daniel Moore on a beach hunt at James Bay in Millport, Cumbrae
Maranda, a self-employed embroider, took part in her first nurdle hunt this year in the freezing Scottish rain by her house at Dunnet Sands at Britain's most northerly point.
"I go beachcombing every day - but on this hunt I collected 355 nurdles in 45 minutes," she explains.
"It is back-breaking work - my hands get cold from the freezing water and my specs are always falling down.
"I do it because I care about the environment - I want to do a bit of good for the world when I'm out there," she adds.
A close up of nurdles collected from a beach in Caithness in January
Maranda, who is 44, uses some of the refuse for craft, including twine to make pictures, and she recycles the plastic rubbish she finds.
Nurdles are not the only plastic material occupying beaches in the UK.
Emily Cunningham, a 26-year-old marine biologist in Durham, found plastic ribbon and latex from 101 balloons on a beach in Anglesey.
She believes that they are the remains of balloons sent into the air on mass balloon releases.
Emily collects nurdles almost weekly, whenever she visits the beach, and says that often she finds more plastic than seaweed on Britain's beaches.
Ribbon and latex from 101 balloons found by Rhosneigr on the west coast of Anglesey
Tina Triggs, who is 44 and works in a supermarket, found 66 plastic cotton buds on a beach in February at Barmouth in north Wales.
• None The beaches where Lego keeps washing up
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39003885
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What's next after one month of Trump drama - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Donald Trump is exhausting the news-hungry journalists. What he is doing to the rest of the world?
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US & Canada
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Four weeks. Twenty-eight days. It feels like 280 days. I feel 280. If Donald Trump is exhausting even the news-hungry political journalists, I wonder what he is doing to the rest of the world.
For the first three weeks I started the day repeating a mantra, "watch what he does, not what he says." I've discarded that notion. What Mr Trump says and how he says it is an important part of his presidency. His rhetoric, both in person and Twitter, appeals to his supporters. It's new and fresh and irreverent. But one day it could also be his undoing. He is increasingly losing respect among key Republicans, and he needs them to govern effectively.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
This is my fourth American administration and we've never seen anything like it for sheer non-stop drama. Lewinsky was a daily feast of slightly prudish titillation, but it was one story line, and in the end it was just sex. 9/11 was far more serious and scary, and the ramifications lasted far beyond that fateful morning. But in a way it was a more conventional (though nonetheless horrifying) story of geopolitics and ideology. We journalists knew how to cover them both.
John McCain has been a Republican critic of Trump
Sometimes now, I admit, I'm at a loss. There is so much to say and think, and even feel, about the Trump administration that I find myself curiously stuck for words.
What's the most important story here? Is the psychodrama of a president who is both fantastically confident and oddly insecure, who publicly lashes out those who offend him and rewards those who please him? Is it the hard right turn he plans for America? Is it Russia, the curious crush Donald Trump seems to have on Vladimir Putin and what that might mean for global security? Is it America's allies, floundering in the face of this unpredictability?
Four long long weeks ago, we speculated that this may become a normal presidency, hemmed in by the restrictions of US institutions and the customs of US political tradition. We were wrong, again.
Yes, Mr Trump has seen his agenda slowed, either by the structures of government or the realities of diplomacy. On five major national and international issues. he has either rowed back or been checked.
That's how government functions. Even this White House, with its ambition of rapid change, has been forced to bow somewhat to business as normal. Especially on foreign policy, there is actually little difference today between the Obama and Trump policies.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Trump voters say US president is 'doing a fabulous job'
But in other more profound ways this administration is anything but normal - which is precisely what Mr Trump's voters wanted.
For a start, the president himself breaks the rules. He berates allies (Australia, Mexico,) praises despots (notably, and most worryingly, Putin) and he has dropped the filter of "behaving presidentially." His Twitter attacks on the press, the intelligence services and individual Senators feel more schoolyard than Oval Office.
There is so much personal drama in his early morning tirades that I wake up anxious wondering who is it today and what does it all mean? But his supporters didn't send him to Washington to play nice. All the polls suggest they still really like what they see.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Where do Donald Trump supporters get their news from?
That his White House acts like some medieval court is not really so unusual. Jockeying for power has been a long tradition of US administrations. But it doesn't usually play out on the front pages of the newspaper. It also doesn't usually lead to the firing of one senior official within the first month and his potential replacement turning down the job because he fears being tainted by the dysfunction.
Whatever the president may say, that is not normal and it is not a well-oiled machine.
Candidate Trump met with Mexican president Pena Nieto during the campaign
Then there's the issue of what to believe. We've never seen an administration where one official says one thing publicly and the president says another. On the two state solution, the firing of General Flynn and Russian interference in the election, this week alone saw a string of public contradictions.
It is hard to see how this is sustainable. A lot is not getting done because of the administration chaos. There is still no tax reform bill, no Obamacare replacement, no infrastructure spending plan - all things he planned to do immediately.
It is also hard to see how it ends. President Trump appears to like the chaos theory of government and it fits his narrative of change.
Four weeks in, his approval ratings are not great but they're not disastrous. The most reliable national poll, by one of the few truly non-partisan organisations left in America, Pew Research, has him at 39%. That's lower than his predecessors at this stage but it's not through the floor.
In twenty years in Washington, I've never heard so much talk of the possibility of a President not finishing his term, even in the late 90s at the height of Clinton's Lewinsky scandal. But for that to happen there are only two options, Mr Trump would have to resign or be impeached. For the moment neither of those look at all likely.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38986349
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Welsh Open 2017: Judd Trump to face Stuart Bingham in final - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Judd Trump will face Stuart Bingham in the Welsh Open final after the Englishmen enjoy comfortable wins in the last four.
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Last updated on .From the section Snooker
Judd Trump will face Stuart Bingham in Sunday's Welsh Open final after the Englishmen enjoyed comfortable wins in the last four in Cardiff.
Trump, the world number four, beat Scotland's Scott Donaldson 6-3 in the first of the semi-finals.
"It's always special when you reach the semi-finals and finals," said Bristol's Trump, who last won a title at the European Masters in October.
"It's a different atmosphere out there and you really thrive off it, so for me to play in the final here, in kind of my home tournament - it would be an amazing achievement to win it."
Trump, 27, opened with a break of 131 but was pegged back from 4-1 to 4-3, making the decisive move with a 74 break in the eighth frame in Cardiff.
"I feel like I've really improved this season and it's taking people at the top of their game to beat me," he added.
"Every tournament I go into I'm fully prepared and give it my best shot. If I could win this and make it two ranking events in a season, it would feel like a step up to a different level."
Bingham, 40, played superbly, opening with a break of 127 and closing with a 101 as he raced through six frames.
"It all started off from a massive fluke in the first frame and to make a hundred off that settled me down and put Rob on the back foot," he said. "I punished him for every mistake."
Looking ahead to the final, Bingham added: "We've had some great matches and I'm looking forward to it. If I play like that, it's hopefully going to be a high-quality match."
Sign up to My Sport to follow snooker news and reports on the BBC app.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/39014906
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Week in pictures: 11-17 February 2017 - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A selection of the best news photographs from around the world, taken over the past week.
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In Pictures
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Visitors and enthusiasts photographed the Tornado locomotive at Appleby station before it pulled the first timetabled main line steam-hauled service for half a century across the Ribblehead viaduct in North Yorkshire. The service was part of a celebration of the reopening of the Settle to Carlisle line in Cumbria which had been closed after landslides had damaged the railway line.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-39005579
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Protest against Mexico border wall - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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They formed a "human wall" to protest US President Donald Trump's plans for a wall between the countries.
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They formed a "human wall" to protest US President Donald Trump's plans for a wall between the countries.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-39014561
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Quiz of the week's news - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A weekly quiz of the news, 7 days 7 questions.
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Magazine
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It's the weekly news quiz - have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?
If you missed last week's quiz, try it here
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38997118
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Anna LeBaron: How I escaped my father's murderous polygamous cult - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Anna LeBaron - whose father Ervil was one of the most infamous cult leaders in American history - tells of how she escaped his murderous grip and now wants to "redeem" the family name.
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Magazine
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Anna LeBaron's father, Ervil, was the leader of a polygamous cult responsible for more than 20 murders. The killings continued even after his death thanks to a hit list he had left behind. Here Anna speaks for the first time about how she escaped from the cult - and her hope to "redeem" the LeBaron name.
"We were taught to live in awe of him as God's prophet, as the one true prophet on Earth."
There is a note of incredulity in Anna LeBaron's voice as she describes her childhood. She speaks slowly and deliberately, as though she can hardly believe it herself.
"We were taught that we were celestial children, having been born from the prophet Ervil LeBaron. And we believed it. Even though we were treated so poorly we still believed we were celestial children."
Anna says she can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she was in the same room as her father. Yet the power Ervil LeBaron had over his followers, which included his 13 wives and more than 50 children, was absolute.
"He used fear to manipulate and control people," she says. "We were absolutely afraid of not doing what we were told. And we didn't have a voice."
Anna has found her voice now. At 48, she shows no outward sign of the traumatised childhood she vividly describes in her new memoir The Polygamist's Daughter.
Anna LeBaron was born in Mexico in what she would later learn was a cult hideout. Separated at an early age from her mother, Ervil's fourth wife Anna-Mae Marston, she grew up on the run from the law.
Shuttled from one overcrowded safe house to the next, she slept on filthy foam mattresses and scavenged for food in dustbins with the other cult children and Ervil's "sister wives".
"We were taught that we were being persecuted because we were God's chosen people and that the world outside didn't understand us," she says.
"That was how they used to explain all the moving in the middle of the night and staying ahead of the law."
Anna LeBaron in her early teens with brother Eddie - before she ran away
The children were used as unpaid labour in the domestic appliance repair shops that were the cult's main source of income - forced to scrub grease and grime from rusty ovens and refrigerators for 12 hours a day during school holidays.
"I watched siblings of mine receive horrific beatings for any type of attitude," Anna recalls. "And these are young kids. They're kids. How much work can you really get out of a 10-year-old, or an 11-year-old, really? You can get work out of them if you are beating them."
The children were not cut-off entirely from the outside world. They were allowed to go to school, though they were not allowed to talk about what happened at home, and were "taught to lie" Anna says.
The girls were the lowest of the low in the cult's pecking order.
"It was a patriarchy, for sure. And the young girls were groomed to become wives of polygamist men that already had wives. We were groomed to accept that and to know that that's where we were headed, when we became of marriageable age."
Marriageable age, in the LeBaron family, was 15, she says. "So when I escaped at age 13 I escaped by the skin of my teeth!"
Anna did not know it at the time but her father - a powerful, charismatic figure, who at 6ft 4in towered over most of his disciples - was wanted by the FBI and the Mexican police for a string of murders on both sides of the border.
He rarely got involved in the violence himself but ordered his followers to kill anyone - including one of his own wives and two of his children - who challenged his position as God's representative on Earth or who threatened to leave the cult and complain to the authorities.
His followers believed he was receiving his instructions directly from God, having inherited the mantle of prophet from his father Alma Dayer LeBaron.
"When you are so convinced that someone is right, that you are willing to do anything - and even if you disagree, if you are so afraid to voice that disagreement and you just go and do it - that's the ultimate control," Anna says. "And he had that. People did what he said. To their own detriment."
But Ervil did not have a monopoly on divine revelations. Three of his brothers had, at one time or another, claimed to be God's sole representative on Earth.
Ervil had initially been a follower of his older brother Joel but the pair clashed over Ervil's money-making schemes, including a plan to transform Los Molinos, the modest Mexican settlement where the sect's 200 or so followers had set up home, into a beach resort.
Joel kicked Ervil out of his Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Time in 1970. So Ervil started his own sect, the Church of the Lamb of God, and set about eliminating his rivals - starting, in 1972, with Joel.
Using the long-abandoned Mormon doctrine of "blood atonement" which sanctions the killing of sinners to cleanse them of evil, Ervil could claim he was doing his ever-growing list of victims a favour by allowing them to enter Heaven.
God would reveal to Ervil the next victim and he would hand-pick a team of disciples to carry out the hit. The murder plots grew increasingly sophisticated, involving wigs and theatrical make-up, and back-up squads in case the initial plan failed. Refusing to follow Ervil's command was not an option.
"People defied it and many of them paid for that with their lives. And it wasn't until after he died that it kind of started to break up and that power was lost," says Anna.
"However, even from the grave, he was able to control people and their actions and that is just mind-blowing - that from the grave he was able to do that."
Anna Mae Marston looking happy with some of her children
Ervil had managed to evade justice in the Mexican courts over the murder of Joel and a deadly commando-style raid on Los Molinos, where the population were stubbornly refusing to accept him as their new prophet.
He was eventually captured by Mexican police and handed over to the FBI in 1979, in circumstances that have never been fully explained. He was later jailed for life for orchestrating the murder of Rulon C Allred, the leader of a polygamous sect in Utah who had rejected Ervil's demands for money and recognition.
Ervil died in Utah State Prison in 1981, after suffering a seizure. But his reign of terror was far from over.
A bloody battle for the succession ensued, with Ervil's chief henchman, Dan Jordan, making an early play for the mantle of prophet - a terrifying prospect for Anna, who had suffered under the tyrannical regime in his Denver repair shop.
Anna was now was living in Houston with her mother, half-sister Lillian and Lillian's husband, Mark Chynoweth, who also ran an appliance store.
Lillian and Mark had been among the most fanatical of Ervil LeBaron's followers but after he was jailed they began to drift away from the cult, joining a Christian church and rejecting his polygamous creed.
When Dan Jordan arrived in Houston to order Anna and her mother to return to Denver with him, the 13-year-old Anna rebelled.
"I could not believe that my mother had been talked back into going back to Denver when we were experiencing a life in Houston that was the most normal I had ever experienced.," she says. "We had lived in the same house for about a year - the longest I had ever lived anywhere - and we were eating food that was purchased in grocery stores. And we were paid to work. We could save up money."
She realised that this might be the best chance she would get to take control of her life.
"It was now or never. And the feelings that I had inside, that bitterness and the injustices that we had experienced, left me with a very strong feeling about not wanting to go back."
She could not have escaped without the help of Lillian, who hid her away in a motel room until her mother had returned to Denver with Jordan.
Anna describes Lillian and Mark as the "heroes" of her story, for taking her in and giving her a chance to change the trajectory of her life.
But their life together would not last. What they didn't know was that in prison Ervil had drawn up a hit list of 50 people he regarded as traitors, buried away in a final, rambling theological tract - The Book of the New Covenants - and that Mark's name was on it.
After Dan Jordan was murdered in an apparent "blood atonement", Mark revealed that he and Jordan had been among a group of followers who had refused to carry out Ervil's orders to bust him out of prison "guns blazing" and so there was a good chance he would be targeted next.
The 38-year-old refused to go into hiding. He opted instead to turn his suburban home into a fortress, but it wasn't enough.
At 4pm on 27 June 1988, he was shot numerous times as he sat in his office chair at Reliance Appliances.
At almost exactly the same time, Mark's brother Duane, owner of another Houston repair shop, was shot dead, along with his eight-year-old daughter Jennifer.
And 200 miles away in Irving, Texas, another of Ervil's former disciples, Eddie Marston - Anna's half-brother - was gunned down next to his pick-up truck within five minutes of the first three killings.
The Four O'Clock murders, as they became known, shocked America. Someone - most likely one of Ervil LeBaron's sons - was working their way through his hit list. The murders took place on the 144th anniversary of the death of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church.
Anna did her best to comfort Lillian and her six children, while dealing with her own fears.
"I don't think I was a personal target, however, I knew that if something happened, and I happened to be in the way, that I could also be killed. So it was a very frightening time. We were under police protection and it was just scary."
Mark Chynoweth had been the closest thing to a father figure in Anna's life, and she is close to tears as she talks about his death. As a teenager, she read about cult atrocities he had taken part in but insists that was not the man she knew.
"Mark was a kind man. He was generous. And I don't believe for one minute that had he grown up in a normal family setting that he would have done any of the things that he was accused of, on his own.
"He was kind and loving. He was a good father to his children and losing him was very difficult, under the circumstances that we lost him."
In 1997, Anna's half-brother Aaron LeBaron, who had emerged from the succession battles as the One Mighty and Strong prophet, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for orchestrating the Four O'Clock murders. Four other cult members were also jailed for their part in the killings.
By this point, Anna had made a decisive break from what remained of the cult, finding the strength to go away to college and attempt to build an independent life.
She married David, her childhood sweetheart from Houston, who had joined the Marine Corps, and they started a family.
She was determined to break free from polygamy, which she believes leads women to "numb" their emotions.
"I don't believe it's a natural relationship," she says. "Most women will struggle, having to share their husband or their significant other."
It is not a view shared by her mother, with whom she remains in contact, and who stayed loyal to Ervil to the bitter end.
"My Mom still believes in the practice of polygamy as taught by [Mormon founder] Joseph Smith and still lives in a group that practises that, so that is a little bit difficult to process - how that can be something she sticks with even after all the devastation and the damage that it caused to her own children."
Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron was the final cult member to be jailed over the Four O'Clock murders
Anna battled depression after the death of Lillian Chynoweth, who committed suicide following her husband's murder in 1998.
At first she coped with the trauma of losing so many loved ones by pretending it had happened to someone else. It would take years of painful therapy for her to finally "acknowledge that these experiences are part of my past".
She now believes her father suffered from some form of mental illness for most of his adult life.
"It is sad to me that he was experiencing these things and not able to reach out and get the help he needed. But, of course, when you are the prophet, how much help do you actually think you'll need?"
Ervil's madness, if that's what it was, cast a long shadow over Anna and her siblings.
The book was only closed on the Four O'Clock Murders in 2011, when after 20 years on the run Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron became the sixth former cult member to be jailed for taking part in the plot.
But Anna is convinced that the blood-letting is now, finally, at an end.
"I have five grown children and if me telling my story was to put me in any danger, or anybody that I loved and cared about, I would never have done this at all. I believe that is 100% in the past and there is no danger at all for me."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Anna LeBaron on how she escaped her father's polygamous cult
She hopes that by telling her story, in The Polygamist's Daughter, she can "help restore relationships in our family, instead of continuing to bring more separation and more fear".
In one passage, she describes a reunion with her half-brother Robert, who shot dead Duane Chynoweth and his eight-year-old daughter. Robert, who was just 17 at the time of the killings, received a reduced sentence for testifying against other family members.
"As I embraced my long-lost brother," she writes, "the emotion I had held inside for years came out in floods of tears."
And despite everything, Anna says she is "very proud" of her family.
"Even people that were involved in some of the most horrific things that happened have gone on to become caring, kind, loving, productive members of society, that just want good in the world," she says.
She hopes that the book's publication will help to "redeem the LeBaron name," which remains one of the most infamous in American criminal history.
But it is also an attempt to reassert her own identity, for so long suppressed by the cult and her father's malevolent legacy.
"Even though that life could have crushed who I am, in my spirit, in my soul, that has not been the last story," she says.
"So I kind of get to have the final word here, in saying, 'This is who I am.'"
The Polygamist's Daughter, by Anna Le Baron with Leslie Wilson, is published on 21 March
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World Club Series: Warrington Wolves 27-18 Brisbane Broncos - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Warrington get the first win for an English club over Australian opponents since 2012, beating Brisbane in the World Club Series.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby League
Warrington Wolves achieved the first win for an English club over Australian opponents since 2012 as they beat Brisbane Broncos in the first match of the 2017 World Club Series.
Kevin Brown excelled on his Wire debut, scoring a try in the second minute.
Ryan Atkins and Matty Russell helped the hosts into a 20-0 lead and Tom Lineham also crossed before half-time.
Declan Patton added 11 points with the boot, while Corey Oates, James Roberts and David Mead replied for Brisbane.
Leeds' World Club Challenge win over Manly five years earlier had been the last time a northern hemisphere side had beaten one of their NRL counterparts, and Super League clubs had lost all six matches since the expanded World Club Series began in 2015.
Super League champions Wigan Warriors host NRL Grand Final winners Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the World Club Challenge on Sunday (15:00 GMT).
Brisbane, coached by England boss Wayne Bennett, do not begin their league season until 2 March and a lack of match practice appeared to contribute to their slow start, for which they were clinically punished.
Warrington made the perfect start when Joe Westerman raced 60 metres after charging down a kick and Brown, a winter signing from local rivals Widnes, darted over after Westerman had been hauled down short of the line.
Last season's beaten Super League finalists were 20-0 up after 19 minutes as Atkins powered over and Russell showed neat footwork to evade three Brisbane defenders.
Oates went over acrobatically in the corner for the Broncos but winger Lineham's score for Warrington, given after consultation with the video referee, helped the Wire to an 18-point lead at half-time.
Brisbane improved after the break and Roberts' 80-metre dash for a try gave the Australian side some heart, but Patton's drop goal and a fifth successful kick from the tee established a three-score advantage which was rarely threatened.
"We wanted to get Super League off to a good start. Not too many people gave us a chance but we know the belief in our squad and it was good to put a good performance out.
"I felt like our ball control was good, especially in that first 20 minutes, and our kicking game was great. That's a great way to kick-start our year.
"We wish Wigan and Cronulla all the best for Sunday. I had 11 or 12 great seasons in the NRL and I love that competition. May the best team win, but hopefully people will look a little bit differently at Super League after that result."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/38971476
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Unilever: Profile of a consumer goods giant - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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Profile of Unilever, the business behind brands from Marmite to Pot Noodle and Persil.
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Business
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Unilever is behind some of Britain's best-known brands
UK-based household goods maker Unilever has rejected a takeover bid of about $143bn (£115bn), one of the biggest in corporate history, from US giant Kraft Heinz.
The deal - if it was to eventually succeed - would be the biggest acquisition of a British company on record, based on offer value.
Steve Clayton, fund manager at Hargreaves Lansdown, said such a deal would create enormous cost savings.
"Putting portfolios of brands together can create huge synergies across marketing, manufacturing and distribution, even before you think about cutting the combined HQ back to size," he said.
"Kraft Heinz are attempting a massive push on the fast forward button, for to acquire the sheer scale of brands that Unilever represents through one-off acquisitions could take decades.
"With debt cheap and abundant right now, Kraft have spotted their opportunity."
Globally, it would be the second-biggest deal behind Vodafone Airtouch's takeover of Germany's Mannesmann AG for $172bn (£138bn) in 1999.
Unilever announced last month that annual pre-tax profit rose to 7.47bn euro (£6.3bn) from 7.2bn euro (£6.1bn) last year, but revenues dropped 1% to 52.7bn euros (£44.7bn), while underlying sales rose by a lower-than-expected 3.7%.
Unilever clashed with supermarket Tesco in October over its attempts to raise prices to compensate for the steep drop in the value of the pound.
William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Brothers, wrote down his ideas for Sunlight Soap in the 1890s.
It was "to make cleanliness commonplace; to lessen work for women; to foster health and contribute to personal attractiveness, that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for the people who use our products".
In 1887, William Lever bought the site where Port Sunlight would be built, a large factory on the banks of the Mersey opposite Liverpool with a purpose-built village for its workers providing a high standard of housing, amenities and leisure facilities.
Lever Brothers and Dutch business Margarine Unie signed an agreement to create Unilever in 1929.
Kraft merged with Heinz in 2015 to create one of the US's biggest food companies.
• None Marmite owner: 'No merit' in US takeover
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39009072
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Russian media no longer dazzled by Trump - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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Russian media euphoria about Donald Trump has turned to scepticism, Steve Rosenberg reports.
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Europe
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28 January: President Trump (left) speaks to Vladimir Putin on the White House phone
For several months, the pro-Kremlin media had nothing but praise for Donald Trump.
During the US election campaign, Russian state TV bulletins and pro-government newspapers portrayed him as some kind of David taking on the Goliath of a "corrupt… Russia-hating" Washington elite. They welcomed his calls for warmer US-Russian relations. They played down some of his more outlandish comments.
It was almost as if a US presidential candidate, and subsequently a new US president, had become the golden boy of Russian politics. In January he even received more mentions in the Russian media than President Vladimir Putin.
On Friday, Russia's most popular tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, accused President Trump of making "contradictory" statements about Nato.
The paper points out: "(During the election campaign) Trump had called the Alliance obsolete and useless. Less than two months have passed since he moved into the Oval Office and he's already expressed full support for Nato.
"As the saying goes, you need to be drunk to understand the true position of America's president."
Friday's edition of the Russian government paper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, notes: "Recently the White House has been making many contradictory and incompatible statements about the foreign policy direction of Trump's team, including issues that affect Russia's interests."
Reporting Thursday's meeting in Bonn between Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the new US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, the paper emphasises "it was obvious how tense and, at the same time, confused Tillerson looked".
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (left) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Bonn on Thursday
And with President Trump under sustained pressure back home over alleged links to Russia, the business daily Vedomosti doubts he will have "flexibility… in talks with Russia.
"Every step he takes, particularly any concessions, will be examined under a microscope. It's even hard to believe now that there ever was a window of opportunity (to improve relations) that made it seem worth raising our glasses and toasting Trump's victory."
In recent days there has been noticeably less Trump on Russian TV.
The resignation of the president's national security adviser Michael Flynn on Tuesday may have made headlines around the world. But it was not mentioned in Russian state TV's 45-minute evening news bulletin. That is extraordinary, considering that Russia was central to the story.
December 2015: Gen Flynn (left) sits next to President Putin at a dinner in Moscow
There are reports that state television has been instructed to scale back its coverage of the US president. The Kremlin has dismissed these as "rumours".
"I was told by someone closely connected to one of Russia's main state TV companies that such instructions exist and were issued in the wake of Flynn's departure," says Konstantin Eggert, a political commentator for the independent channel TV Rain.
"As far as I know, the idea is not so much to present him in a negative light, but to scale down coverage of the United States in general. Inevitably I think there's going to be a scaling down of positive coverage of Trump, too. The Kremlin's idea is to reduce expectations from this much-anticipated detente between Moscow and Washington."
"Everything's a muddle in the White House", says Moskovsky Komsomolets
President Putin's spokesman told the BBC reports of Kremlin meddling were "absolute rubbish" and "fake news".
"TV channels and the Russian media have total independence to decide their own editorial policy," Dmitry Peskov told me.
I asked him whether he thought it was odd that Russian TV channels appeared to have reduced their coverage of Mr Trump.
"To be honest, we don't study so closely the proportions in which different stories are reported," he replied.
Last November one Russian official admitted to me having celebrated Mr Trump's victory - with a cigar and bottle of champagne.
So why has the champagne gone flat?
Judging by the angry reaction of senior Russian politicians, Moscow was disappointed by Michael Flynn's departure. The Trump adviser had championed closer US-Russian ties.
Then came White House comments about Crimea, making clear that President Trump expects Russia to return the annexed peninsula to Ukraine.
To Russia it seemed a sudden 180-degree turn. During the election campaign Donald Trump had told ABC television: "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were."
And on Thursday senior members of the Trump administration sounded less than enthusiastic about the idea of a rapprochement with Moscow.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis said Washington was "not in a position right now to co-operate on the military level… Russia's aggressive actions have violated international law and are destabilising."
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicated that America "will consider working with Russia". That is hardly a ringing endorsement.
Yet Donald Trump has made it clear he still believes a better relationship with Vladimir Putin and Russia is good for America. Could he once again becoming the American darling of the Russian media?
That will partly depend on whether the two presidents can strike up a good relationship when they eventually meet.
But it depends, too, on how much pressure President Trump will be under by then, over his team's alleged Russian connections.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39004987
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The corpse factory and the birth of fake news - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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How did a gruesome story fool the world 100 years ago?
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Entertainment & Arts
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Think fake news is a new phenomenon? Think again. Dr David Clarke from Sheffield Hallam University looks at a 100-year-old story that fooled the world.
Fake news, false stories that masquerade as real news are not new.
In the spring of 1917 some of Britain's most influential newspapers published a gruesome story that has been called "the master hoax" - and I think we finally have proof about where it came from.
Britain was at the time trying to bring China into the war on the Allied side.
In February a story appeared in the English-language North China Daily News that claimed the Kaiser's forces were "extracting glycerine out of dead soldiers".
Rumours about processing dead bodies had been in circulation since 1915 but had not been presented as facts by any official source.
That changed in April when the Times and the Daily Mail published accounts from anonymous sources who claimed to have visited the Kadaververwertungsanstalt, or corpse-utilisation factory.
The Times ran the story under the headline Germans and their Dead, attributing the claim to two sources - a Belgian newspaper published in England and a story that originally appeared in a German newspaper, Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger on 10 April.
That German account by reporter Kal Rosner described an unpleasant smell "as if lime was being burnt" as he passed the corpse factory.
Rosner used the word "kadaver", which referred to the bodies of animals - horses and mules - not human bodies.
Later, The Times carried a longer article quoting from an unnamed Belgian source who described in grim detail how the corpses were processed.
A cartoon published soon afterwards by Punch presented the ghoulish story with the caption "cannon fodder - and after".
The German government protested loudly against these "loathsome and ridiculous" claims.
But their protests were drowned out by public expressions of horror from the Chinese ambassador. China declared war against Germany on 14 August 1917.
However, until now no one has been able to discover conclusive proof that would settle the mystery of who created the story - and who authorised its transformation from a false rumour to officially-sanctioned "fact". I believe we now can.
It was in 1925 that Sir Austen Chamberlain admitted, in a Commons statement, there was "never any foundation" for what he called "this false report".
In the same year the Conservative MP John Charteris - who served as head of intelligence - reportedly admitted, while on a lecture tour of the US, that he had fabricated the story.
The New York Times revealed how Charteris said he had transposed captions from one of two photographs found on captured German soldiers. One showed a train taking dead horses to be rendered, the other showed a train taking dead soldiers for burial.
The photo of the horses had the word "cadaver" written upon it and Charteris reportedly said he "had the caption transposed to the picture showing the German dead, and had the photograph sent to a Chinese newspaper in Shanghai".
On his return to Britain, Charteris denied making the remarks. Since that time, no one has been able to discover the photographs or any clear documentary evidence that would prove the intelligence services connived with the press to promote the corpse factory lie.
Cuttings from the Times, Daily Mail and Daily Express reporting the "corpse factory"
But I have found what I believe to be one of the photographs mentioned by Charteris in a collection of Foreign Office files at The National Archives.
The black and white image, dated 17 September 1917, clearly shows bodies of German soldiers, tied in bundles, resting on a train behind the front line just as Charteris had described in 1925.
The covering letter, from a military intelligence officer at Whitehall, is addressed to the government's Director of Information, Lt Col John Buchan, author of The 39 Steps. The letter from MI7, the military's propaganda unit, offers the War Office "a photograph of Kadavers, forwarded by General Charteris for propaganda purposes".
In 1917 MI7 employed 13 officers and 25 paid writers, some whom moonlighted as "special correspondents" for national newspapers. One of their most talented agents was Major Hugh Pollard who combined his work in the propaganda department with the role of special correspondent for the Daily Express.
After the war Pollard confessed his role in spreading the corpse factory lie to his cousin, Ivor Montague.
Writing in 1970, Montague recalled "we laughed at his cleverness when he told us how his department had launched the account of the German corpse factories and of how the Hun was using the myriads of trench-war casualties for making soap and margarine."
But lies have consequences. During the 1930s the corpse factory lie was used by the Nazis as proof of British lies during the Great War.
Historians Joachim Neander and Randal Marlin remind us how these false stories "encouraged later disbelief when early reports circulated about the Holocaust under Hitler".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38995205
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Hidden Figures: How Nasa hired its first black women 'computers' - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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The history of black women working for Nasa goes back much further than the 1960s - the period of the film Hidden Figures - and their struggles continued afterwards.
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Magazine
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The Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures tells the story of African-American women whose maths skills helped put a US astronaut into orbit in the 1960s. But the history of black women working for Nasa goes back much further - and they were still struggling to get the best jobs in the 1970s.
In 1943, two years after the US joined World War Two, Miriam Daniel Mann was 36 years old. She had three children, aged six, seven and eight - but she also had a Chemistry degree.
Job opportunities for married women were limited then, especially for those with children, and even more so for African-American women.
But as men went off to war, there was a skill shortage in vital industries. The president signed an executive order allowing black people to be employed in the defence sector for the first time, and Nasa's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), started looking for black women to work on mathematical calculations.
Through her husband, a college professor, Mann heard about the recruiters visiting black college campuses. She registered to take an exam, passed it, and became one of the first black women to work as a "human computer" at the NACA aeronautics research facility at Langley in Virginia.
These were the days before the machines we now know as computers were available to crunch numbers - and when they were invented, they took their name from the humans who had done the job before them.
Miriam Mann's daughter, Miriam Mann Harris, wrote in 2011: "My early memories are of my mother talking about doing math problems all day. Back then all of the math was done with a #2 pencil and the aid of a slide rule... She would relate stories about the 'colored' sign on a table in the back of the cafeteria. She brought the first one home, but there was a replacement the next day. New signs went up on the bathroom door, 'colored girls'."
Mann's granddaughter, Duchess Harris - a professor at Macalester College and co-author of Hidden Human Computers, the Black Women of Nasa - points out that Mann was born in 1907, only half a century after the end of slavery.
But there had been a big drive to educate African Americans, most of whom had been illiterate before emancipation, Harris says, so by the 1940s there was a pool of talented black women with maths and science degrees waiting to be employed.
Thanks to them - and to white women, who had been employed as computers since the 1930s - male engineers could spend more time theorising and writing equations.
"After the war in most industries the women were sent home again," says Bill Barry, Nasa's chief historian. "But in the computing business that didn't happen. In fact, Nasa started hiring more women, in large part because of the quantity of work going on."
Often jobs were held open for women to come back to after having a child.
"A skilled computer was an incredibly valuable resource," he says.
At Langley, in the 1940s and 1950s the women were split into two pools - the East computing unit for white women, and the West computing unit for black women. This segregation had been a requirement of Virginia state law, says Barry.
For most of the 50s, a woman called Dorothy Vaughan was the supervisor in charge of West Computing - she is one of the main characters in the film Hidden Figures.
When tasks from the engineers came in, she would allocate the work and show her team what they needed to do.
"Dorothy Vaughan would take the equation and break it into sections and tell you how to solve that equation in small parts. Tell you which columns you multiply, which ones you add," says Christine Darden, who started working for Nasa in 1967. "By the time you have followed all her directions across you would have the solution."
By the time Darden joined, the women were no longer in separate pools and had been allocated to specific engineering sections.
Christine Darden learned to programme the new IBM computers
She had fallen in love with maths as a teenager, but when she told her father she wanted to study it at college, he didn't like the idea. He could not see a career path.
"My father insisted I get a degree in teacher education because during that time black females generally didn't get very many jobs in math," says Darden. "He told me I had to be able to teach so I could get a job."
Darden listened to her father, but as she was determined to follow her passion she took extra maths classes and even carried on studying for a Master's while teaching. One day at college she was handed an application form for Nasa, and a few weeks later she was offered a job in one of their computer offices.
While most of the women were still carrying out their tasks using spreadsheets and a calculator, she was among a growing number who learned to programme the new IBM computers. These were capable of doing laborious calculations in a fraction of the time it took a human.
When Darden was given an equation to solve, she would work out the different steps required, and then write a program telling the computer each step, by punching holes in a card that would be fed into the machine.
"We had a card punch in our office. I would punch the cards. I would take the cards over to the building that had the computer and they had people who would run the program."
The work that these women did from the 1940s onwards was essential for Nasa's work, but their names didn't appear on research papers.
Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American in space
Slowly, however, some of these highly educated and intelligent women started to make their way into more advanced roles.
The film Hidden Figures features a woman named Katherine Johnson who helped work out the trajectories to launch the first American into orbit around the planet.
Another is Mary Jackson who fought for the right to be an engineer in her own right.
Mary Jackson became Nasa's first black female engineer in 1958
But years later, Christine Darden, with her Masters degree, still had to struggle to be treated as an equal to the male engineers.
"When I found out that the engineers were doing very theoretical engineering - sitting at their desk working with equations, I decided that was what I wanted to do," she says.
Her manager told her it wasn't possible.
But in 1972, as funding for the space programme was scaled back, Christine feared she was about to be made redundant.
"That gave me the incentive to go to a higher-level boss and ask why men were assigned to engineering sections to do their own projects - write the paper, give the paper - but the females were assigned to the computer pools to do the calculating as a support role."
It worked - Christine was allocated to an engineering team that was studying planes flying faster than the speed of sound. She studied ways to minimise sonic booms which are caused by planes travelling at such speeds.
By the time she retired in 2007, as a Nasa senior executive, she had published more than 50 papers.
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Who is trolling the Pope? - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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Posters and spoof news stories criticising the Pope have been springing up across Rome. What's going on?
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Magazine
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Earlier this month posters criticising the Pope sprang up across Rome, and a spoof news story mocking the pontiff was sent to the city's cardinals. Christopher Lamb asks what it's all about.
I was shocked when I saw them.
I was sitting just a few rows behind a nun on a tram, when it stopped alongside some posters of a stern-looking Pope Francis. Underneath his glum, almost menacing face, was a list of complaints: he'd removed priests, ignored the concerns of cardinals and "decapitated" an ancient Catholic group, the Knights of Malta.
This is the opposite of what I have come to expect in Rome. The tram was winding through a part of the city where you're normally greeted by images of a smiling Pope, with arms outstretched or making a thumbs up.
Here in Italy the papacy is the closest thing there is to a monarchy, so perhaps it is no surprise that the city authorities ordered the offending text to be pasted over, leaving just the grim-faced image of Francis and a sign reading: "Illegal bill posting".
At roughly the same time the posters were plastered around the city's walls, cardinals in Rome were opening their email inboxes to find a "fake" front page of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. It had the traditional Latin motto which sits on the paper's masthead beneath a papal coat of arms, and a list of questions sent to the Pope by a group of conservative cardinals, with the answer, in each case, "Sic et non!" - "Yes and no!"
This is the Pope being trolled on his home turf - and what's more, in Latin.
While Francis enjoys huge popularity among many ordinary Catholics he's facing resistance to his shake-up of the Vatican and he's infuriating believers from the Church's more traditional wing. The main source of tension has been - yes - sex. Francis wants to give communion to divorcees who have married again; his opponents say this undermines the Church's teaching on marriage, because second unions are adulterous. The questions shown on the spoof front page were all on this subject.
At the forefront of the opposition to Pope Francis is an American Cardinal, Raymond Burke, a stickler for the rules who once told John Kerry, when he was a presidential candidate, that he could not receive communion because of his previous support for abortion.
Cardinal Burke has dedicated much of his life to studying the church's laws, and he wants to ensure they are enforced. He believes this Pope is tinkering dangerously with Christianity's 2,000-year-old tradition and has even threatened to issue an "act of correction" against Francis. This would be a very bold, highly unusual move - it hasn't happened for centuries.
The cardinal lives in a large flat just off the grand thoroughfare built by Mussolini that leads into St Peter's Square from the River Tiber. It is here that he runs his operation for promoting what he calls "doctrinal clarity".
Custom and ceremony are held in high regard. When I visited to interview him I was shown past a cardinal's red hat sitting enclosed in a glass case, as if it was a holy relic, and then into a drawing room with high-backed chairs, where we waited in anticipation for the grand entrance. Sitting alongside me was his press adviser, who greeted the cardinal by kneeling and kissing the gold ring on the ring finger of his hand, the traditional sign of respect given to a prince of the church.
By contrast, when I have met Pope Francis - as a member of the Vatican press corps - we shake hands, and I can't help noticing that he looks slightly uncomfortable when people go down on one knee before him.
The word in Rome is that the posters were the work of a right-wing group that dislikes the Pope's appeals for Europe to be more welcoming of immigrants. Once again, Cardinal Burke appears to be on the other side of the argument - he recently met the leader of the anti-immigration Northern League - but there is no evidence that he lies behind the posters, or the spoof news story. There are many conservative Catholics who are uncomfortable with some of Pope Francis's changes.
The Pope's decision to live in a Vatican guest house, carry his own brief case and be driven around in a Ford Focus has burst the balloon of papal pomp. Some regard this freewheeling approach as "un-papal", and resent his description of those on the traditional wing of the church as "rigid".
So far the Pope has shrugged off the criticisms.
"I'm not on tranquillisers," he joked recently. His way of dealing with the stress, he explained, is to jot down problems and place the notes under a figure of a sleeping St Joseph. St Joseph, the carpenter, is the figure Catholics turn to when facing practical difficulties. "Now he is sleeping on a mattress of letters!" Francis added.
The trouble is that the Pope's job is to be the rock of church unity. Alarm bells start ringing when a papacy becomes divisive. While Francis has been hugely successful in reaching out to lost sheep, he runs the risk of alienating those already in the fold.
The Pope has admitted that "cracks" are appearing between bishops and priests - rifts that if left untreated could develop into bigger problems. There may well be more papal trolling ahead.
Christopher Lamb is Vatican correspondent for The Tablet
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38995877
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Call for brain donors - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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Scientists are calling for more people to donate their brains to research to help find cures for mental and psychological disorders.
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Scientists are calling for more people to donate their brains to research to help find cures for mental and psychological disorders.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39001591
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Newspaper headlines: Russia 'assassination plot' and Brexit 'limbo' - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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Claims Moscow planned a coup in Montenegro and fears EU nationals could be caught in a legal no man's land after Brexit make the front pages.
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The Papers
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The Daily Telegraph carries claims from senior Whitehall sources that Russia plotted to assassinate the prime minister of Montenegro and overthrow its government last year.
Montenegro's PM Milo Djukanovic is said to have been the targeted on election day last October
It is claimed the plot was designed to sabotage Montenegro's attempts to join Nato and was foiled "only hours" before being carried out.
The paper says British and American intelligence agencies have gathered evidence of "high-level Russian complicity" - but the Kremlin has denied any involvement.
A leaked document seen by the Observer suggests the EU is concerned that millions of EU nationals from other countries living in the UK will be "stranded in a legal no-man's land" after Brexit because of weaknesses in Britain's immigration system.
The report - drawn up by MEPs - argues the Home Office doesn't have the information or systems in place to select who can stay once Britain leaves.
The lead story in the Mail on Sunday claims the head of the police force investigating allegations of historical sexual abuse against Sir Edward Heath is convinced the former prime minister was a paedophile.
Wiltshire's Chief Constable Mike Veale is said to regard the claims as "120% genuine" and plans to publish a report in June.
Sir Edward died in 2005, and the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation has previously said it is confident he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
Wiltshire Police declined to comment on the story but said its chief constable had previously stated it was his job to ensure the probe was "proportionate, measured, legal and necessary".
A head teacher in Oldham has raised fears of a new "Trojan Horse plot" to take over her school, according to the Sunday Times.
She is said to have emailed her local authority in December to report a campaign of intimidation against school staff, and to highlight concerns about the activities of a Muslim former parent governor.
The lead story in the Sunday Express says children as young as five are calling a helpline to be read bedtime stories because their parents are too drunk to tuck them in at night.
The paper's editorial argues it's a "national scandal" that so little has been done to help the estimated two-and-a-half million children who live with an alcoholic parent.
It says it is "even more tragic" that no local authority appears to have a strategy to deal with the problem.
The Sunday Mirror claims a convicted rapist who is alleged to have won a lottery jackpot of £2.5m with a fraudulent ticket carried out a "dry run" of the suspected scam.
He is said to have shown friends a faked ticket in 2009 - five months before he claimed the prize money.
The Mirror says he has refused to comment on the fraud allegations that have been made against him, and police investigated the case but decided to take no action.
The Mirror's editorial argues the Gambling Commission probe into the payout was covered up, and calls for this latest evidence to be investigated as part of an inquiry by MPs because, it says, "a parliamentary report cannot be covered up".
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Liz Truss has told the Sun on Sunday that prisons must stop acting as offender warehouses and rehabilitate inmates instead.
She says she is determined to get a grip of the "epidemic of reoffending" so will change the law this week to make reforming offenders a "key aim" of prison.
According to the paper, seven months in the job "have convinced Ms Truss of the enormity of the task", after violence in prisons hit a 10-year high under her watch.
And Lincoln City's win in the FA Cup yesterday - making them the first non-league side to reach the quarter final stage of the competition for over a century - allows the headline writers to come up with a plethora of puns, using the club's nickname, The Imps.
The Sunday Telegraph says Lincoln's feat will have repercussions "long beyond this season" as the club's financial future is now secure "for many years to come".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-39018510
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Ray Woodhall survives 27 heart attacks after walking football - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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Father-of-three Ray Woodhall survived 27 heart attacks in 24 hours. He first became ill during a game of "walking football".
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Father-of-three Ray Woodhall survived 27 heart attacks in 24 hours. He first became ill during a game of "walking football".
He was taken to hospital, where two stents were put in his main artery, but then he began to suffer multiple heart attacks.
The 54-year-old told 5 live he thought he had been asleep but had actually gone into arrest and had to be resuscitated: “I was apologising to the staff for falling asleep and they said ‘you’ve not been asleep, we had to arrest you, you’d gone.’”
This clip is originally from 5 live Breakfast on Saturday 18 February 2017.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39014563
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Forbidden love: The WW2 letters between two men - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Love letters written during World War Two and discovered in a trunk in Brighton reveal a forbidden relationship between two men.
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England
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "My own darling boy" - a greeting in one of the letters
While on military training during World War Two, Gilbert Bradley was in love. He exchanged hundreds of letters with his sweetheart - who merely signed with the initial "G". But more than 70 years later, it was discovered that G stood for Gordon, and Gilbert had been in love with a man.
At the time, not only was homosexuality illegal, but those in the armed forces could be shot for having gay sex.
The letters, which emerged after Mr Bradley's death in 2008, are therefore unusual and shed an important light on homosexual relationships during the war.
What do we know about this forbidden love affair?
... I lie awake all night waiting for the postman in the early morning, and then when he does not bring anything from you I just exist, a mass of nerves...
Information gleaned from the letters indicate Mr Bradley was a reluctant soldier. He did not want to be in the Army, and even pretended to have epilepsy to avoid it.
His ruse did not work, though, and in 1939 he was stationed at Park Hall Camp in Oswestry, Shropshire, to train as an anti-aircraft gunner.
He was already in love with Gordon Bowsher. The pair had met on a houseboat holiday in Devon in 1938 when Mr Bowsher was in a relationship with Mr Bradley's nephew.
Mr Bowsher was from a well-to-do family. His father ran a shipping company, and the Bowshers also owned tea plantations.
When war broke out a year later he trained as an infantryman and was stationed at locations across the country.
There is nothing more than I desire in life but to have you with me constantly...
...I can see or I imagine I can see, what your mother and father's reaction would be... the rest of the world have no conception of what our love is - they do not know that it is love...
But life as a homosexual in the 1940s was incredibly difficult. Gay activity was a court-martial offence, jail sentences for so-called "gross indecency" were common, and much of society strongly disapproved of same-sex relationships.
It was not until the Sexual Offences Act 1967 that consenting men aged 21 and over were legally allowed to have gay relationships - and being openly gay in the armed services was not allowed until 2000.
The letters, which emerged after Mr Bradley's death in 2008, are rare because most homosexual couples would get rid of anything so incriminating, says gay rights activist Peter Roscoe.
In one letter Mr Bowsher urges his lover to "do one thing for me in deadly seriousness. I want all my letters destroyed. Please darling do this for me. Til then and forever I worship you."
Mr Roscoe says the letters are inspiring in their positivity.
"There is a gay history and it isn't always negative and tearful," he says. "So many stories are about arrests - Oscar Wilde, Reading Gaol and all those awful, awful stories.
"But despite all the awful circumstances, gay men and lesbians managed to rise above it all and have fascinating and good lives despite everything."
For years I had it drummed into me that no love could last for life...
I want you darling seriously to delve into your own mind, and to look for once in to the future.
Imagine the time when the war is over and we are living together... would it not be better to live on from now on the memory of our life together when it was at its most golden pitch.
But was this a love story with a happy ending?
Probably not. At one point, Mr Bradley was sent to Scotland on a mission to defend the Forth Bridge. He met and fell in love with two other men. Rather surprisingly, he wrote and told Mr Bowsher all about his romances north of the border. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Mr Bowsher took it all in his stride, writing that he "understood why they fell in love with you. After all, so did I".
Although the couple wrote throughout the war, the letters stopped in 1945.
However, both went on to enjoy interesting lives.
Mr Bowsher moved to California and became a well-known horse trainer. In a strange twist, he employed Sirhan Sirhan, who would go on to be convicted of assassinating Robert Kennedy.
Mr Bradley was briefly entangled with the MP Sir Paul Latham, who was imprisoned in 1941 following a court martial for "improper conduct" with three gunners and a civilian. Sir Paul was exposed after some "indiscreet letters" were discovered.
Mr Bradley moved to Brighton and died in 2008. A house clearance company found the letters and sold them to a dealer specialising in military mail.
The letters were finally bought by Oswestry Town Museum, when curator Mark Hignett was searching on eBay for items connected with the town.
He bought just three at first, and says the content led him to believe a fond girlfriend or fiancé was the sender. There were queries about bed sheets, living conditions - and their dreams for their future life together.
Gilbert Bradley was stationed at Park Hall Camp in Oswestry in 1939
When he spotted there were more for sale, he snapped them up too - and on transcribing the letters for a display in the museum, Mr Hignett and his colleagues discovered the truth. The "girlfriend" was a boyfriend.
The revelation piqued Mr Hignett's interest - he describes his experience as being similar to reading a book and finding the last page ripped out: "I just had to keep buying the letters to find out what happened next."
Although he's spent "thousands of pounds" on the collection of more than 600 letters, he believes in terms of historical worth the correspondence is "invaluable".
"Such letters are extremely rare because they were incriminating - gay men faced years in prison with or without hard labour," he says. "There was even the possibility that gay soldiers could have been shot."
Work on a book is already under way at the museum, where the letters will also go on display.
Perhaps most poignantly, one of the letters contains the lines:
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in the future in a more enlightened time. Then all the world could see how in love we are."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38932955
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FA Cup: Lincoln City win is 'football miracle' on dramatic fifth-round day - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Non-league side Lincoln achieve a 'football miracle' by reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals, while Millwall knock out Leicester.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Lincoln achieved a "football miracle" as they knocked out Burnley on a dramatic day of FA Cup fifth-round action, with 10-man Millwall beating Premier League champions Leicester.
The Imps became the first non-league side in 103 years to reach the last eight with their win over the Clarets.
"Football at our level is not romantic and this moment in the limelight is special," Imps boss Danny Cowley said.
"It was a one in 100 chance and thankfully we got that opportunity."
It is the first time in Lincoln's 133-year history that they have reached the quarter-finals.
"It's a football miracle for a non-league team to be in the last eight. The boys were excellent, playing against a Premier League team," Cowley said after the 1-0 win.
• None Reaction and coverage of the FA Cup fifth round
• None Don't miss out on the FA People's Cup 2017
• None Listen - Lincoln win 'will go down in history of The FA Cup'
"The last eight of the FA Cup sounds pretty good. We work hard and we are mightily proud of the players."
Cowley appeared as a guest on Match of the Day on Saturday night and said: "It is a great day for us and the football club. I am immensely proud of the players and they probably do not understand what they have achieved.
"We are in North Ferriby on Tuesday night. It becomes a harder game on the back on this win. It will be good to go back to proper football."
Cowley's assistant manager, his brother Nicky, was also on the show and said: "It has not sunk in. I definitely think the magic of the cup is still alive where we live. If it's a football miracle, then we will take that."
The quarter-final draw will take place at 18:30 GMT on Sunday and can be seen on the BBC News channel and the BBC Sport website, with commentary on BBC Radio 5 live.
How big an achievement is this?
Lincoln are the National League leaders but there are 81 places between them and Burnley in the football pyramid.
This is the first time that two non-league teams have reached the FA Cup fifth round since 1888.
Their determination and ability to frustrate Burnley ensured that Sean Raggett's 89th-minute header saw the side become the first non-league team since Queens Park Rangers in 1914 to make the quarter-finals.
The historic victory, celebrated jubilantly by the players and travelling fans, means the Imps are the first non-league side since Telford in 1985, and only the third ever, to knock out four league clubs in a single season.
"It is a game that will go down in history. Every Lincoln player is a hero," former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin told BBC Radio 5 live.
"Lincoln are deservedly through, not just for effort but the skill and bravery. They knew they were good enough and didn't give up."
• None Lincoln win 'will go down in history of The FA Cup'
'We took inspiration from Lincoln'
League One side Millwall followed in Lincoln's footsteps and added to Leicester's woes as they consigned the Foxes to their first FA Cup defeat by a side from the third tier or lower since they were knocked out by Wycombe Wanderers in 2001.
The reigning Premier League champions, who were beaten 1-0 and face Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday, are in danger of relegation after five successive defeats left them one place and one point above the bottom three.
"When a team from League One beats the champions we say 'why?' and have to react as soon as possible," Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri said. "We are better than Millwall but Millwall deserved to win."
Millwall had already beaten Premier League sides Bournemouth and Watford on their way to the fifth round and victory secured their place in the last eight for the third time in 32 seasons.
"We took inspiration from what Lincoln have done. What they achieved today outshines us," Millwall manager Neil Harris said.
"I thought the atmosphere was electric. The noise was phenomenal. These are special days for us."
Match of the Day pundit John Hartson said: "Millwall actually improved when they went down to 10 men. Neil Harris made a good change, bringing on another striker Lee Gregory, and he set up the winner. It was a really, really brave substitution."
It was a strong day for sides facing Premier League opposition, with Huddersfield Town forcing a replay against Manchester City despite the Terriers making seven changes to their side.
City's starting line-up included Sergio Aguero but they were forced to settle for a goalless draw.
Fellow Premier League side Middlesbrough were also pushed by League One's Oxford United. Boro made six changes to the side that drew with Everton last time out but it took substitute Cristhian Stuani's strike four minutes from time to ensure their place in the quarter-finals.
Chelsea had the most comfortable win, beating Championship side Wolves 2-0 with second-half goal from Pedro and Diego Costa.
In a scrappy and, at times, tense game, it was Raggett's header that beat Tom Heaton to secure Lincoln's place in the last eight.
The 23-year-old, who said in 2012 that he one day hoped to play against Burnley's Joey Barton, has scored five times in 30 appearances for the Imps this season.
"It's crazy, a non-league side in the quarter-finals in modern football, it's unheard of," Raggett told BT Sport.
"They're a top quality side, drew with Chelsea last week, it's amazing. We had massive belief, we didn't come to draw, we came to win the game."
"Thank god for goalline technology. We don't have it at our level so I'm not sure the goal would have been given in the National League," Cowley added, after seeing Raggett's header marginally cross the line.
Lincoln frustrated Burnley throughout the game, with striker Matt Rhead and Barton often outmuscling one another as tensions grew in the final minutes.
"It is something you dream of as a kid. We went toe-to-toe with a Premier League team," Rhead said.
"It is unbelievable. When we started back in October it was a dream. I enjoyed every minute of it. The lads have done unbelievable."
'We're unfortunately part of their fairytale'
Burnley have not progressed to the sixth round of the FA Cup since 2002-03 and they were left frustrated at the final whistle.
They had the majority of possession in the first half but Raggett's header consigned them to only their fourth home defeat in their past 30 matches at Turf Moor.
"You have to work, be diligent and believe you will get another chance - I think they only had one chance, credit to them," Burnley manager Sean Dyche told BBC Sport.
"My team were nowhere near the level they can show. No excuses. We're unfortunately part of their fairytale."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39017152
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Richard Osman's Fulham - fake news or facts? - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Lifelong Fulham fan Richard Osman reveals a number of fascinating facts about his beloved club, but are they truthful or 'fake news'?
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BBC TV presenter and lifelong Fulham fan Richard Osman reveals a number of fascinating facts about his beloved club, but are they truthful or 'fake news'?
Watch live coverage of the FA Cup fifth round across BBC Sport this weekend - including Fulham v Tottenham live on BBC One on Sunday 19 February.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39006468
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Is school funding the next crisis? - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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After the NHS and social care, is the next funding crisis going to be in England's schools?
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Education & Family
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Schools have been warning the prime minister that the sums for school budgets do not add up
After the NHS and social care, is the next funding crisis going to be in England's schools?
Like a snowball getting bigger as it rolls downhill, momentum is gathering around the warnings of school leaders about impending cash problems.
Head teachers have said a lack of cash might force them to cut school hours.
Ministers were forced by a Parliamentary question to reveal that more than half of academies lacked enough income to cover their expenditure.
And school governors - the embodiment of local civic worthies - have threatened to go on strike for the first time, rather than sign off such underfunded budgets.
Petitions and protest letters have been sent to MPs about cuts to jobs and school services - and warning letters from head teachers will have been sent home to alert parents.
Grammar school head teachers have gone a step further and warned that parents might to have to pay to make up the shortfall.
School leaders see themselves rather like look-outs on the Titanic shouting out that there's a great big iceberg ahead - backed by the National Audit Office's finding that schools face 8% real-term spending cuts, worth £3bn, by 2020.
The spending watchdog says costs for schools are outstripping the budgets allocated by the government.
The spending watchdog says schools will have to find £3bn in budget cuts
The missing piece in this debate has been any real sign of movement from the government - other than to keep repeating that school funding is at record levels.
But plenty will be going on behind the scenes, and there is no shortage of "insiders" with views on what's happening.
It's claimed that ministers can't sign a birthday card without getting clearance from 10 Downing Street.
So education ministers are unable to give any indication of funding changes, in part because a consultation is still taking place and more particularly because it isn't in their gift to decide.
But there are options thought to be under discussion.
The government has announced a new formula for allocating funding to schools, responding to years of complaints about regional inequalities.
But a number of Conservative MPs in rural and suburban areas have been energetically lobbying that this slicing up of the cake is still too much in favour of the inner cities.
If the formula was shifted around a little, such as putting less emphasis on deprivation, it could shift funding from London and the big cities towards the shires.
This would not have much electoral cost for the Conservatives as their support is not in these inner-city areas.
But it would be a big call in terms of political purpose to cut funding from areas of deprivation.
Another approach would be to start including pupil premium money - targeted at deprived children - into the general funding equation.
This really would mark the formal detonation of the last pillars of the Cameron and coalition era, for which the pupil premium was a moral touchstone.
There are other more creative possibilities.
It was revealed that of the money earmarked for the ill-fated plan turn all schools into academies, £384m had been taken back by the Treasury.
Heads have protested to MPs at the decisions they face in making cuts
This £384m has been claimed as being enough to make sure that there are no losers in the funding formula shake-up.
If this cash could be "rediscovered" in a virtual shoebox in the Treasury, it could come back into play, getting the government off a funding hook - without actually having to find new money.
The apprenticeship levy, about to be introduced, has also been seen as a potential pot of money. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says by 2019-20 it will be raising £2.8bn from employers - but only £640m is set to be spent on apprenticeships.
The Department for Education has so far not been able to explain where the rest of this money might be heading.
Of course, another option is that the government refuses to move and schools have to operate within their budgets.
What would this mean in practice?
To take a real-life example shown to the BBC, what happens when a secondary school faces a shortfall of £350,000.
The only way to make such savings is to cut staff - heads and governing bodies will be making such tough decisions.
Which subject should they stop teaching? Which teachers should they make redundant? Should they get rid of counsellors for mental health problems? Should they merge classes? And who gets to lose out on the quality of their education?
There has always been a well-developed moaning culture in education, but there is no escaping the outrage among school leaders about the lack of political response to funding worries.
They were even more livid when they found that the government had found money to expand grammar schools - and have written angry letters asking which services they should cut in their own schools.
They see ministers and MPs rather like untrustworthy children who won't take responsibility for their decisions.
There is also brinkmanship on both sides. Will schools really send home children because of a lack of cash?
And the government will worry that if they crack over schools, it would start a feeding frenzy of other demands on public spending.
A Department for Education spokesman said that school funding is already at its highest level - more than £40bn for 2016-17.
And the department says that it has grasped the nettle of introducing a long overdue national funding formula.
"Significant protections have also been built into the formula so that no school will face a reduction of more than more than 1.5% per pupil per year or 3% per pupil overall.
"But we recognise that schools are facing cost pressures, which is why we will continue to provide support to help them use their funding in cost effective ways, including improving the way they buy goods and services, so they get the best possible value."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-38993715
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Celtic 2-0 Motherwell - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Celtic restore a 27-point advantage at the top of the Scottish Premiership with victory over Motherwell.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Celtic restored a 27-point advantage at the top of the Scottish Premiership with victory over Motherwell.
Substitute Zak Jules, who had replaced Stephen McManus early on, fouled Moussa Dembele and the Frenchman scored the resulting penalty.
Dembele and Scott Sinclair threatened with further efforts for the hosts in the second half as they moved to within five wins of the title.
Brendan Rodgers' side could have their lead cut to 24 again when nearest challengers Aberdeen visit Kilmarnock on Sunday but, with a far superior goal difference, Celtic could effectively win the league and secure a sixth straight title with 15 more points after clinching a 20th straight Premiership win.
Motherwell slip to 10th - three points above the relegation play-off place.
Motherwell's last visit to Celtic Park saw them frustrate the champions for long spells of the first half and so it was again in the east end of Glasgow.
The visitors had to suffer early frustration of their own, though, losing two experienced defenders from their starting XI before the game really got going.
Steven Hammell pulled up with a hamstring problem before kick-off and was replaced by former Celtic youth player Joe Chalmers. And, five minutes into the game, Jules replaced McManus in central defence after the former Celtic captain had pulled up with what looked like a groin problem.
In response to their own adversity, the men in claret and amber packed their defence and Celtic struggled to create meaningful chances.
Manager Mark McGhee, sent to the stand during his side's 7-2 thumping at the hands of Aberdeen on Wednesday, sat passively but pleased as his men held Rodgers' side at bay.
His head was in his hands just after the half-hour, though, when his side gifted Celtic the lead.
Jules needlessly brought down Dembele inside the box and the striker duly sent goalkeeper Craig Samson the wrong way from the spot. The familiar roar from the Celtic Park stands signalled the home side were on their way.
It was only going one way after that and Forrest doubled the lead when his dancing run on the right ended with him firing low inside Samson's right-hand post. Celtic now looked in the mood.
Seeing it out
Liam Henderson's replacement Stuart Armstrong provided another boost for the league leaders by playing the whole of the second half after four games out.
Dembele and Sinclair both passed up good chances but the match settled into a bitty affair with Celtic dominating rather than demolishing Motherwell.
The visitors started to sneak forward as the game progressed knowing there was nothing to lose but Louis Moult and Scott McDonald were denied by a home defence keen to make it 12 clean sheets in 14 matches.
Celtic's usual intensity was missing but they never looked like dropping points against a side who were up against it before a ball was even kicked.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "The players were technically very good on a very, very difficult surface.
"Moussa gets the penalty, uses his body really well, draws in the foul. The second one's a great bit of play. I thought [Forrest] was outstanding. He gets a really good second goal.
"We were much better second half, used the sides better. [We] maybe could've scored two or three more goals.
"In the main, very pleased. Another clean sheet. Defensively we were strong. Another good victory."
Motherwell manager Mark McGhee: "Given Celtic's recent form, to come out of here with a decent performance and a 2-0 defeat, in the scheme of things, is not a bad performance and not a bad result.
"Zak Jules has come up on loan from Reading and he made a mistake for the penalty but other than that I think he was excellent.
"James Forrest tore Joe [Chalmers] apart at the goal but James Forrest is unplayable for anyone in the country when he's playing like that, so we can't be too upset about that. He stuck to his task and overall I'm quite pleased with the young players.
"It's not so much put to bed [the midweek 7-2 defeat at Aberdeen] as you never forget a result or performance like that. But what it does do is give you optimism and the belief that what we thought about them is true. For instance, the two Rangers games and the Hearts game that we ended up losing we could just as easily have won.
"The reality is we'd have rather not come here after that result [at Pittodrie] but we had to come here and we stood up to it, which I think is really important in the run-in."
• None Attempt blocked. Moussa Dembele (Celtic) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
• None Attempt missed. Stephen Pearson (Motherwell) right footed shot from very close range is too high following a corner.
• None Attempt missed. Scott Brown (Celtic) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high.
• None Attempt missed. James Forrest (Celtic) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.
• None Attempt missed. Scott Sinclair (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high.
• None Attempt missed. Ben Heneghan (Motherwell) header from the centre of the box misses to the left following a set piece situation. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38940456
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Exploring Glasgow's secret 'ghost station' - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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A forgotten and abandoned platform hidden beneath Glasgow Central Station could be given new life.
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A disused and forgotten platform beneath Glasgow Central station offers a glimpse of the past.
Guided tours of the tunnels have attracted thousands of people over the past couple of years.
But plans are afoot to try and restore part of the platform to how it looked in its heyday.
Paul Lyons of Glasgow Central Tours took BBC News on a tour of Glasgow's ghost station.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39008682
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10 things we didn't know last week - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Mick Jagger can't remember writing his autobiography and more news nuggets.
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Magazine
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You cannot drink alcohol between 09:00 and 17:00 if you work at Lloyd's of London
Some expat Bolivians and Peruvians are prepared to pay $30 for a guinea pig that they eat on special occasions
Vicious Valentine's cards were more popular than romantic ones in Victorian England
A typical Tupperware party in the US will yield about $400 (£320) worth of sales.
Honeybees let out a "whoop" when they bump into each other
The price of a minimum "basket of goods" has risen by up to 30% since 2008.
Eating a lot of fat is worse for men than women
UK families spend an average of £11.40 a week on alcohol and cigarettes.
Seen a thing? Tell the Magazine on Twitter using the hashtag #thingididntknowlastweek
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38983991
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Jose Mourinho: Manchester United boss learned from 'throwing away' FA Cup games - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Jose Mourinho says he "threw away" FA Cup games in the past but will not make the same mistake against Blackburn in the fifth round.
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Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho says he has learned from "throwing away" FA Cup games in the past and will not make that mistake at Blackburn Rovers in the fifth round on Sunday.
In 2005, Mourinho's Chelsea went out to Newcastle in the same week as wins in the League Cup final over Liverpool and Champions League against Barcelona.
"I gambled too much, I focused too much on Barcelona and Liverpool," he said.
"It was good because we beat Barcelona and we won the final against Liverpool, but the feeling I threw it away was not good, so I don't throw it away.
"If I lose, I lose because the opponent was better or because we didn't play well, but I'm not going to throw it away."
• None Watch two games on the BBC this weekend - full coverage details
The Portuguese faces a similarly busy schedule this time around, with the Europa League last-32 second leg against Saint-Etienne to come on Wednesday and the EFL Cup final against Southampton a week on Sunday.
"I'm going to Blackburn with that respect," he added. "I go serious.
"I am going to change a few players, but am going with a good team because I respect the competition a lot and Manchester United demands that you go serious to every game."
There have already been several upsets in this year's competition, with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool the highest-placed Premier League side to get knocked out when they lost to second-tier Wolves in the fourth round.
Mourinho, who arrived at Chelsea for the first time before the 2004-05 season, says foreign managers may not understand the culture of the FA Cup like their English counterparts.
"In my case, I had immediately the first time that situation at Newcastle, so for me that was a lesson," added the United boss, whose only success in the FA Cup came in 2006-07 during his first spell at Stamford Bridge.
"With Chelsea, we lost against a League One team [Bradford in 2015], but I never threw it away, we lost because we lost.
"Normally it is because of attitude because you think it is easy and it is not easy.
"The lower-league teams, they are getting better and better and sometimes we have to give some rest to some players, other times we need to give some players football.
"We try to go serious. I like Wembley, I like the FA Cup, so I have to try to get the second one."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39006889
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Pakistan's bloody week: Who is really to blame? - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Pakistani military points the finger at Afghanistan and India, but some believe the answer is more complex.
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Asia
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More than 100 people have been killed across Pakistan since Sunday in a series of deadly militant attacks
As Pakistan picks up the pieces from Thursday evening's devastating bomb attack at the 800-year-old shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, the country's managers are looking for scapegoats abroad.
And the military has openly taken charge of the proceedings, relegating pretentions of political propriety to the background.
Soon after the bombing, army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa vowed that "each drop of [the] nation's blood shall be avenged, and avenged immediately".
There would be "no more restraint for anyone", he said.
The object of his remark was clear an hour later when the military announced that Pakistan had closed its border with Afghanistan to all traffic, including pedestrians.
On Friday morning, Afghan embassy officials were summoned to the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi. They were handed a list of 76 "terrorists" said to be hiding in their country, with the demand that they be arrested and handed over to Pakistan, the military says.
The fiery reaction came after a series of deadly militant attacks in five days from Sunday killed more than 100 people across Pakistan, including civilians, the police and soldiers.
This is the worst spell of violence since 2014, when Pakistan launched an operation to eliminate militant sanctuaries in its north-western tribal region.
The numerous militant attacks this week have raised questions about the authorities' security strategy
Violence decreased considerably as a result, with Pakistani leaders claiming the militants had been defeated. But this week, that sense of security has been blown away.
The latest surge in attacks comes amid reports of the reunification of some powerful factions of the Pakistani Taliban. Some of them have links with the Afghanistan-Pakistan chapter of the so-called Islamic State, which itself emerged from a former faction of the Pakistani Taliban.
Most of these groups have hideouts in border areas of Afghanistan, where they relocated after Pakistan launched its anti-militant operations.
Pakistan now accuses Afghanistan of tolerating these sanctuaries. It also blames India for funding these groups.
Officials say India and Afghanistan want to hurt Pakistan economically and undermine China's plans to build a multi-billion dollar "economic corridor" through the country.
At least 80 people were killed in the Sufi shrine attack on Thursday in Sehwan, Sindh province
But many in Pakistan and elsewhere don't buy that argument. They believe that militancy in Pakistan is actually tied to the country's own covert wars that sustain the economy of its security establishment.
In Kashmir, for example, the BBC has seen militants living and operating out of camps located close to army deployments. Each camp is placed under the charge of an official from what locals describe as the "launching wing" of the intelligence service.
In Balochistan, which has been under de-facto military control for nearly a decade, state agencies have allegedly been promoting Islamist militants to counter an armed separatist insurgency by secular ethnic Baloch activists.
Last year the regional police compiled a report on militant sanctuaries across several parts of Balochistan, but an operation recommended by the police in those areas was never launched.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Amateur footage from inside the shrine shows people fleeing the scene
Likewise, the world knows about the safe havens which the Afghan Taliban continue to enjoy in the Quetta region and elsewhere in Balochistan province, as well as in some parts of the tribal region in the north-west, from where they continue to launch raids inside Afghanistan.
Many observers believe that the Pakistani military uses militant proxies to advance its wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir, and takes advantage of the domestic security situation to control political decision making.
This is important, they say, if the military is to sustain a vast business, industrial and real estate empire which they believe enjoys unfair competitive advantages, state patronage and tax holidays.
But with such a cocktail of militant networks in the border region, many find it hard to buy the Pakistani line that India and Afghanistan are to blame.
All militants on the ground - from disputed Kashmir to Quetta and Afghanistan - come from the same stock. They are the second-generation standard bearers of an armed Islamist movement that was formed on Pakistani soil during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980s.
They may have regional affiliations or partisan loyalties, but all have been raised under the influence of Wahhabi Islam and its various ideological offshoots, imported here by Arab warriors who came to help liberate Afghanistan.
As such, they are capable of forming complex group-alliances and cross-border linkages with each other. And they are all united in considering Shia Muslims and Sunni adherents of native Sufi Islam as misguided and heretical.
This may also partly answer the riddle as to how these groups manage to survive and operate even though they do not command popular support in any part of Afghanistan or Pakistan.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39003673
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Donald Trump aide accuses BBC of 'fake news' - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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Watch the heated exchange between Newsnight's Evan Davis and an aide to the president.
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In a heated exchange between Newsnight's Evan Davis and an aide to President Trump, both the presenter and the BBC were accused of "fake news".
First broadcast on Thursday 16 February - watch the full interview here
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39000118
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Paris unrest: Banlieue youths see French state as the enemy - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The BBC's James Longman assesses the mood in the deprived suburbs of Paris after days of unrest.
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Europe
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Paris suburbs have seen violent protests after Theo's alleged sexual assault
In the Paris suburbs, youth sits idle. Young men chat and smoke. Some deal drugs. Most days are spent like this.
But today the talk is still about the alleged sexual assault on one of their friends, 22-year-old Theo, a young black man, who was brutalised by police.
A truncheon, they say, was rammed into his backside, leaving him hospitalised for two weeks.
Eleanor says she was in disbelief when she heard the details of what had happened to her brother
I meet his sister Eleanor, behind the graffiti-covered building where the assault is said to have taken place.
"They pulled him around the side to make sure the cameras couldn't see it," she says.
"Everyone here knows where the CCTV cameras are, and he tried to get to a place where they could see him. But the police - there were four of them - they pulled him back.
"I was afraid. I was afraid to see how he is and what they had done."
Eleanor says she was in disbelief when she heard the details of what had happened. Her elder brother told her it was rape.
"'Rape?' I said. 'What are you talking about?'
"I started to cry because I was so shocked. But after that I knew I had to be strong."
Attacks by police, residents here say, are pretty common.
But this provoked real anger. Protests erupted across the French capital - cars were burned and property destroyed.
Theo (left) was last week visited in hospital by French President Francois Hollande
Mejdi is 27 and was born on the estate. He rides up and down on his BMX, but is keen to stop and talk.
"If there is no charge for rape," he warns, "people here will go mad."
"Nothing changes here. I was here in 2005 during the massive protests - they came back and tried to clean the place up. But you don't change anything with a coat of paint. Work, hope. We have none of that."
He - like many here - is bright and well informed. He knows what the problems are - but is despondent that no-one seems to want to solve them.
An air of boredom and hopelessness hangs over this place.
For the young men here, the state is the enemy.
Police cars drive up and down the roads, through column after column of social housing. Groups of young men shout "rapists" as they go by.
Franco says banlieue youths "have to fight" for justice
Local activist Franco, from the anti-negrophobia league, says the anger is justified.
"The expression of their anger is the consequence of this first violence against Theo. This violence is a system, and this keeps us in a place where we cannot progress.
"When there is no justice, we have to fight to have it."
Theo's ordeal is part of a bigger cycle of violence that keeps on spinning. Youth vs police; black vs white; haves vs have nots. And communities left behind.
Fabien is also from the anti-negrophobia group.
"What the police are trying to do right now is not protecting us," he says.
"They want us to just shut up. They don't want us to express in any shape or form. They are just here to shut us down.
"We have to come and ask for justice. We have to acknowledge that this injustice is particular to a certain type of people. Coloured, minority, black, Arab - whatever you want. We are the most exposed to the systemic racism of the French state."
Theo himself appealed for calm from his hospital bed. His sister is also keen to stress her commitment to peace.
"We speak because we trust in justice," she says. But she knows what's in store if that justice isn't seen to be done.
"If not, there will be more anger, for sure," Eleanor says.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39011298
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Reality Check: Are there more winners than losers on business rates? - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Some businesses will see their rates change on 1 April 2017.
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Business
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The claim: More businesses will win than lose as a result of business rates revaluation.
Reality Check verdict: More businesses will see their bills fall than will see their rates rise.
On 1 April 2017, the amount that businesses have to pay in rates will change to reflect a revaluation of premises that has been carried out by the government.
The changes will be relatively large because it has been seven years since the last one. The government has now said that it will have revaluations at least every three years.
There have been loud complaints from business owners who will have to pay more, but on the Today Programme, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, said: "Across the country as a whole, far more businesses are benefiting from these changes than are losing out."
Mr Gauke is only talking about England because, while there are also revaluation processes underway in Scotland and Wales (Northern Ireland did it in 2015), he has no power over them.
Business rates are a tax on non-residential property such as pubs, restaurants, warehouses, factories, shops and offices, but not farms or places of worship.
The amount they pay is based on how much annual rent could be charged on the premises, which is known as the rateable value.
There have been objections, from some business groups, to changes in the regime for appealing against the rateable value attached to particular premises.
On average, all areas are seeing their rates fall, except London, where bills will rise an average 11% this year.
In the 2016 Budget, the government said it would spend £6.7bn on reducing business rates by 2020-21.
Among the changes, premises with a rateable value of £12,000 or less do not have to pay any rates at all - they previously had to pay 50%.
The government says that covers about 600,000 businesses.
The proportion of business rates that must be paid increases gradually, between a rateable value of £12,000 and £15,000, affecting another 50,000 businesses.
There will also be an increase in the amount businesses can earn before they go from the standard rate to the higher rate.
The government has also changed the measure of inflation that it uses to increase rates every year - it has switched from the retail prices index (RPI) to the consumer prices index (CPI), which will usually mean smaller increases for businesses.
And it has introduced transitional arrangements to protect businesses from seeing their rates increasing too much straight away.
In order to fund this, it has also prevented businesses' rates from falling more than a certain amount.
The Department for Communities and Local Government says that 520,000 ratepayers will see their bills increase as a result of the revaluation, while 920,000 will see their bills fall and 420,000 will see no change.
The government says that the revaluation will not earn it any extra money.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39005502
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Best-selling Miffy the rabbit author Dick Bruna dies - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Dutch author who sold more than 80 million children's books dies in the city of Utrecht.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Dick Bruna (above) was still writing Miffy stories in his old age
The Dutch creator of Miffy the cartoon rabbit has died aged 89, his publishers have announced.
Writer and illustrator Dick Bruna died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday night in the Dutch city of Utrecht.
He created the much loved character in 1955 as a story to entertain his young son. More than 80 million Miffy books have been sold globally.
Over the years, Bruna wrote more than 100 books but Miffy was by far his most popular and enduring character.
At first, he was uncertain whether the rabbit was a boy or a girl, but settled the matter by putting her in a dress for the sixth book, Miffy's Birthday, in 1970.
Mourners gathered outside the Nijntje Museum, or Miffy Museum, in Utrecht as news of Mr Bruna's death spread
Miffy's success was in part due to the simplicity of Dick Bruna's design
Bruna's characters were adored by adults and children alike
Dick Bruna was all about doing more with less. Economy of line was the key behind the much loved Miffy character.
Through only a few simple shapes, heavy graphic lines and primary colours, Bruna was able to capture and convey a huge amount of personality and character.
Miffy delights adults and children alike and we hope that her innocent and loving personality will continue to resonate - she is such a great example of the universal language of illustration.
In the Netherlands, she is called Nijntje ("little rabbit" as a Dutch toddler might say it). It was her first English translator, Olive Jones, who christened her Miffy.
Bruna was still writing Miffy stories in his old age and his books have been translated into more than 50 languages.
Dutch publisher Marja Kerkhof told the AP news agency that he used "very clear pictures, almost like a pictogram".
She said his illustrations were often best characterised by what he left out, allowing him "to go to the essence of things" while simultaneously using "very strong powerful primary colours".
"Even today if you see it in a store you would think, 'hey this looks different to a lot of other things out there'," she said. "There is no clutter, it's all very clear."
Stories about Miffy are enjoyed by children all over the world
• None Miffy books to be updated in UK
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39007462
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The Bachelorette: the most eligible black woman in America? - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Social media reacts to a black woman being cast for the first time as a popular reality TV dating show lead.
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BBC Trending
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One of the most popular reality TV programmes in the US has cast an African-American lead. People are asking: what took so long?
It was no huge surprise that Monday night's announcement of the latest lead in America's most popular reality TV dating show franchise, The Bachelorette, got Twitter excited. But this announcement was, in the words of its producer Mike Fleiss, "historic".
That's because after 16 years and 33 seasons, the ABC franchise cast 31-year-old lawyer Rachel Lindsay as its first black Bachelorette. There has only been one previous minority lead. In 2013, Juan Pablo Galavis, a Venezuelan-American, was cast as the Bachelor.
The reveal of Lindsay resulted in the trending hashtag #BlackBachelorette and a doubling of her Twitter following. Twitter told BBC Trending that the micro-blogging site "went wild hearing the news" when it was revealed on the Jimmy Kimmel show, and that within moments there were "more than 36,000 Twitter mentions of Rachel (@therachlindsay)".
The vast majority of the tweets expressed support for Lindsay.
The first season of the Bachelor premiered on ABC in 2002. A group of women competed for the affection of one man. The programme involved extravagant dates in exotic locations as contestants were eliminated week-by-week during a "rose ceremony" (you guessed it, the unsuccessful contestants do not get a rose).
The traditional aspects of a relationship all took place on camera - like hometown dates, and meeting each other's families. Then there were overnight "Fantasy Suite" dates for the final three contestants. The cameras were not allowed in the room.
That first season witnessed all the tears and tantrums you'd expect as as twenty-odd women simultaneously dated the same man. That first series ended with a proposal (but not, in the end, a marriage).
The runner up, Trista Rehn, was named the Bachelorette - and she went on to lead in the following series, with two dozen men competing for her affections. Rehn married her chosen beau Ryan Sutter in 2003, and the two remain together. In all but two seasons, the show has concluded with a marriage proposal.
The formula, with male and female leads switching off each series, proved to be gold - the show has consistently been one of America's most popular, averaging more than 7 million viewers per episode, according to market research company Nielsen.
Lindsay has been the only black female contestant on the franchise to have made it to the top four.
That in itself has been a subject spoofed on satire shows like Saturday Night Live.
"Tell me about yourself," asks the male lead.
"I'm the Black One," replies the woman.
"Like horror movies in which loose women and black characters are killed off quickly, the fate of the shows' non-white cast members has become a recognisable trope," wrote the Los Angeles Times.
Fleiss, the show's creator, addressed the issue in a 2011 interview with Entertainment Weekly, claiming that he would like to cast more people of colour on the show, but "for whatever reason, they don't come forward."
However another reality TV producer Shawn Ryan tweeted his suspicion that the show's producers "just don't think America will watch black bachelor or root for mixed-race marriage."
In 2012, two would-be black contestants brought a lawsuit against the franchise for under-representing minorities. The suit alleged that ABC deliberately cast fewer people of colour in the pool of contestants - and that the show was nervous that interracial romance may "create controversy among its audience."
That suit was dismissed, but some tweeters felt that due to her race, the next Bachelorette was set a higher bar in order to qualify in the lead role than other previous contestants.
Lindsay, who is a civil ligation lawyer, is the daughter of Sam Lindsay, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton to be a federal judge in Texas.
Prior to Monday's announcement about Lindsay, former Bachelorette contestant Wells Adams speculated that a black Bachelorette might not be a successful move for the show.
"I think the franchise wants to so badly break out of its cookie-cutter, white-person shell, but I don't think that America will embrace it, sadly enough," he said.
And after the announcement, others online seemed to echo this thought.
And the timing of the announcement surprised many. Traditionally, ABC announces the next Bachelorette or Bachelor after the season's final episode. Lindsay is a yet-to-be-eliminated contestant on the current season of the show. Some fans, who call themselves "Bachelor Nation", called the reveal a "premature spoiler".
Former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky told Access Hollywood that the announcement had come so soon in order to take the discussion over diversity into account.
"They needed to let people of all different backgrounds and races and cultures that we're mixing it up this season," she said.
Bachelor Nick Viall shared an Instagram photo of the two of them after the announcement, writing that "no one is better prepared to show Bachelor Nation, and the world, the beauty of embracing diversity. Good luck Rachel, not that you'll be needing it."
Meanwhile, Lindsay told People magazine, "I'm obviously nervous and excited to take on this opportunity but I don't feel added pressure being the first black Bachelorette, because to me I'm just a black woman trying to find love. Yes, I'm doing on this huge stage, but again my journey of love isn't any different just because my skin colour is."
Next story: 'Fake news city' is now pumping out odd Facebook videos
Fake news writers are producing strange, static videos that appear designed to boost pro-Donald Trump Facebook groups.READ MORE
You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-38992643
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This 14-year-old made the best Facebook Messenger chatbot - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A simple-yet-clever chatbot gives Dave Lee hope that this immature technology will be worth while.
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Technology
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Alec Jones aspires to one day work for 'exciting' tech giants
It's been nearly a year since Microsoft's Satya Nadella proclaimed "bots are the new apps".
Yet despite the promise of a revolution in how we interact with services and companies online, progress has been utterly miserable - the vast majority of chatbots are gimmicky, pointless or just flat out broken.
But this week I was given great cause for optimism, in the form of Alec Jones, a 14-year-old from Victoria, Canada.
For the past six months, Alec been working on Christopher Bot, a chatbot that helps students keep track of homework they've been given over the course of a week.
To set things up, a student shares his or her schedule with Christopher Bot, and from then on it will send a quick message at the end of each lesson asking if any homework had been set.
"Do you have homework for maths?" it asked 30-year-old me pretending to be a child for the sake of this piece.
"Your teacher needs to chill out on the homework," came the auto-response, adding, "what homework do you have?"
The chatbot takes answers in from messages and adds it to a homework schedule
Through this interface, I'm able easily insert "algebra" - urgh - into a weekly schedule that I can then refer back to at any point to see what I need to get done.
Once I complete a piece of homework, I tell Christopher Bot, and it congratulates me, automatically removing the homework from my list of things to do. The best bit? The bot keeps quiet during the holidays.
What makes me so impressed by this is that, of all the experiments I've seen so far, it is the first time a chatbot has genuinely been the best way to tackle a problem.
Other chatbots are a lesser experience of something else. The CNN news chatbot, for example, is worse at giving you the news than any of CNN’s other products.
And popular weather bot Poncho, while cute and well-branded, has a habit of telling me it's about to rain five minutes after water started falling on my head.
But Christopher Bot shows the potential for producing a service that is completely at home within chat - removing the need for students to access some extra tool to keep track of what needs doing, and interacting in a way that (slightly) lessens the unavoidable chore of homework.
"I wanted it to not just sound like a robot," Alec told me.
"I wanted it to sound kind of like my friends would. If you get homework, everyone always just shakes their heads and says 'that sucks'."
And it does this within an app his friends are already likely using (though perhaps Snapchat would be a more useful place for it, one day).
In short, it's a product those companies banking on chatbots being a winner should seek to emulate.
It's extremely difficult, for now, to measure the success of chatbots. Ad industry magazine AdAge noted that: "Bot analytics and bot-building software companies all have shortcomings, largely because this technology is in its infancy.
"Few benchmarks exist, especially when trying to compare data across platforms."
So without data, we can't say what's working just yet - though there are some clues to what isn't.
Google's AI-powered messaging app Allo, since being launched to much fanfare last year, has failed to make even a minor dent in a messaging app market dominated by Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger.
And that's because there's no compelling reason to bother with Allo. None of its features - like asking it for directions - provide enough of a benefit beyond what you'd get from just tapping in your request the "old fashioned" way. Users have an incredibly short fuse for chatbots not working exactly as we expect.
Most big companies are missing the point, Alec told me. "There are a lot of chatbots made by these big companies that are supposed to help you interact with their service more and give you more functionality," he said.
"But it feels like they just saw this new platform, bots, and thought 'oh that's cool, people are looking at these now, let's build a bot'.
"It feels like they've just made a compromised version of what they're actually trying to build."
Earlier this week, Alec's bot was shared on Product Hunt, a website I profiled recently, where it gained rave reviews and a fair share of feature requests.
"You're solving a problem many students have," read one reply.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mark Zuckerberg said bots offered advantages over using dozens of specialised apps
"Fellow 14 year old here," began another. "Great job man! That's sick that you’re my age and made such a cool and useful product. Awesome!"
Like any good developer, Alec has aspirations to build on the what he’s made - he wants to make it work for people in the working world, too.
But first he feels Facebook and others must do more to prove the usefuless of chatbots to people.
"I think that the real problem is that not enough people on Facebook who aren't 'techies' don't know what a bot is, and then they don't use it. More people need to know what a bot is," he said.
When Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage in front of his developers last year, he said he was opening up Messenger so that anybody could make great apps. I bet he didn’t think it would be a 14-year-old who would show him how it’s done.
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC and on Facebook
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39013950
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'Enemies of the people': Trump remark echoes history's worst tyrants - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The US president calls the media "enemies of the people" - a phrase favoured by Stalin and Mao.
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US & Canada
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At a different time, in another country, it was effectively a death sentence.
Being branded an "enemy of the people" by the likes of Stalin or Mao brought at best suspicion and stigma, at worst hard labour or death.
Now the chilling phrase - which is at least as old as Emperor Nero, who was called "hostis publicus", enemy of the public, by the Senate in AD 68 - is making something of a comeback.
In November, the UK Daily Mail used its entire front page to brand three judges "enemies of the people" following a legal ruling on the Brexit process.
Then on Friday, President Donald Trump deployed the epithet against mainstream US media outlets that he sees as hostile.
"The FAKE NEWS media (failing New York Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS, CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!" he wrote on Twitter.
The reaction was swift. "Every president is irritated by the news media. No other president would have described the media as 'the enemy of the people'", tweeted David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama.
Gabriel Sherman, national affairs editor at New York magazine, called the phrase a "chilling" example of "full-on dictator speak".
Steve Silberman, an award-winning writer and journalist, wondered whether the remark would prompt Trump supporters to shoot at journalists.
And that might not be a far-fetched concern. Late last year, a Trump supporter opened fire in a pizza restaurant at the centre of a bizarre conspiracy theory about child abuse.
The US president's use of "enemies of the people" raises unavoidable echoes of some of history's most murderous dictators.
Under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, out-of-favour artists and politicians were designated enemies and many were sent to hard labour camps or killed. Others were stigmatised and denied access to education and employment.
And Chairman Mao, the leader of China who presided over the deaths of millions of people in a famine brought about by his Great Leap Forward, was also known to use the phrase against anyone who opposed him, with terrible consequences.
The president was widely criticised for his choice of words.
"Charming that our uneducated President manages to channel the words of Stalin and fails to hear the historical resonance of this phrase," tweeted Mitchell Orenstein, a professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
Carl Bernstein, a reporter who helped to bring down Richard Nixon with his reporting on the Watergate scandal, tweeted: "The most dangerous 'enemy of the people' is presidential lying - always. Attacks on press by Donald Trump more treacherous than Nixon's."
Mr Trump is not the first US president to have an antagonistic relationship with the media - Nixon is known to have privately referred to the press as "the enemy" - but his latest broadside, with all its attendant historical echoes, is unprecedented.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39015559
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Facebook bereavement leave: How long is long enough? - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Facebook last week doubled its bereavement leave allowance for its staff. Employees can now take up to 20 days off on full pay. Is it enough?
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Business
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Facebook's new bereavement leave policy was announced by Sheryl Sandberg
Facebook last week doubled its bereavement leave allowance for its staff. Employees can now take up to 20 days off with pay to mourn the death of an immediate family member.
The new policy was announced by Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, who has spoken publicly about mourning her husband, Dave Goldberg, who died in 2015.
"We need public policies that make it easier for people to care for their children and aging parents and for families to mourn and heal after loss," Ms Sandberg posted on Facebook.
She added that companies that stand by the people who work for them do the right thing and "improve their bottom line by increasing the loyalty and performance of their workforce".
The move has sparked huge debate on social media and has been lauded as extremely generous. Is it enough? We asked the views of four people dealing with grief in the workplace.
Chad Andrews and his family returned home from an Alaskan cruise three years ago when his eight-year-old son, Connor, was rushed to hospital a few days later.
Connor had mild flu symptoms that suddenly worsened. He was placed in intensive care but deteriorated rapidly.
In June 2014, he died of myocarditis - an inflammation of the heart stemming from a virus.
Mr Andrews told the BBC that his life became a blur. He had lost an "exceptional, brilliant and beautiful" son and was left in shock.
But he forced himself to return to work a fortnight later even though he admits he wasn't very productive.
"When you're paralysed by grief and it's all your mind can absorb, the last thing you care about is work," he says. "I had no capacity to be in control or function in the everyday world."
Mr Andrews works at IBM where he builds technology platforms for video content. Officially, the company gives staff three days of bereavement leave but he says there was never any pressure for him to return.
After many stops and starts, it took him seven weeks to resume work full-time.
While he believes there is no magic formula, he says Facebook's 20 days bereavement leave "seems like a good best effort to set an effective benchmark".
But he adds that it depends on when the individual can function again.
Chad Andrews and his family on holiday in Alaska. His son Connor (right) died a week later
Chan Lay Lin has been a social worker and family therapist for more than 20 years.
She is a principal medical social worker at Singapore's Institute of Mental Health and says most organisations in Singapore will allow about three days of compassionate leave when a staff member suffers a bereavement.
In her experience, this is adequate when the circumstances are not overly traumatic. But she says in exceptional cases experienced by around one in seven people, a longer grieving period may be needed, with the approval of a doctor or therapist.
The factors considered, she says, include the relationship with the deceased, the level of attachment and dependency and the nature of the death. Sudden and unexpected deaths are all the more traumatic.
Ms Chan says in severe cases some people may never feel like they get back to normal and can fall into depression, making them unable to go back to work for a long time.
For those people the grief may never end, even if it gets easier to bear. But she stresses these are very rare and extreme cases.
Peter Wilson believes 20 days bereavement leave would be "excessive" if it became law
Peter Wilson has been a boss working in human resources for 33 years, and is the chairman of the Australian Human Resources Institute.
According to him, the standard for bereavement leave in democratic, Western cultures is between two and five days.
When his own parents died he used compassionate leave to take one day off for the funeral and another to grieve with his family. He took an extra week of annual leave in each instance, which he describes as a "fair balance".
Mr Wilson believes Facebook's bereavement leave policy is unusual and doubts it will be adopted widely. Twenty days amounts to nearly 10% of the working year, which he says would be "excessive" if it became law.
His concern is that it would put pressure on employers to increase other categories of leave too. "This could have a knock-on effect which could make companies uncompetitive," he says.
He favours a "sensible, minimum standard which the government prescribes and the discretion to give more leave on a case-by-case basis".
Ten years ago, he granted three months' paid leave to an indigenous employee on cultural grounds.
Mr Wilson says most employers will extend leave provisions where there's a good case for it.
A company's compassionate leave policy can give an insight into its ethics, says headhunter Dan Clements
Dan Clements is the managing director of the technology executive recruitment firm, Identify, and says most people probably do not factor in bereavement leave when they are deciding whether to join a company.
However, he believes a firm's compassionate leave policy could give potential employees insight into its culture and ethics. Firms that take a mature and humane approach stand to attract great talent because employees want to be treated fairly and with kindness, he says.
Mr Clements surveyed the compassionate leave policies of 10 multinational companies. They all offered between three and 10 days, with five days being the most common.
One firm went further, giving its managers discretion to grant staff more days off for a bereavement.
But he says companies can do more by offering flexible working arrangements such as remote or part-time working, as well as job sharing to help staff in need of more time to grieve.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38915693
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FA Cup: Sean Raggett heads Lincoln ahead against Burnley - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Sean Raggett heads Lincoln City ahead in the 89th minute against Burnley in the FA Cup fifth round at Turf Moor.
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Sean Raggett heads Lincoln City ahead in the 89th minute against Burnley in the FA Cup fifth round at Turf Moor.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup fifth round here.
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39016443
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FA Cup: Best fifth-round goals include Rudy Gestede's acrobatic volley - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Watch the FA Cup fifth round's best goals, including Rudy Gestede's acrobatic volley for Middlesbrough and a lovely finish from Blackburn's Danny Graham.
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Watch the best of the goals from the FA Cup fifth round, including Rudy Gestede's acrobatic volley for Middlesbrough, a cheeky free-kick from Oxford's Chris Maguire and a lovely finish from Blackburn's Danny Graham.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup fifth round here.
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39018249
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Track World Cup: Emily Nelson wins omnium silver in Colombia - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Emily Nelson wins silver for Great Britain in the omnium at the Track Cycling World Cup in Colombia.
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Last updated on .From the section Cycling
Emily Nelson won silver for Great Britain in the omnium at the Track Cycling World Cup in Colombia.
The race includes scratch, tempo, elimination and points races, with Nelson third going into the last of those events.
In her first omnium at world level, the 20-year-old was third in the points race to earn silver behind winner Lotte Kopecky of Belgium.
Nelson will next race in the team pursuit qualifying on Saturday in Cali.
She will line up with team-mates Manon Lloyd, Emily Kay and Neah Evans in the event.
"Extremely happy with a silver medal in the Omnium!," Nelson wrote on Twitter. "On to the Team Pursuit now with qualification tomorrow."
Find out how to get into cycling with our special guide.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/39014220
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Harry Redknapp: Tottenham to win title within four years, says former Spurs boss - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Tottenham Hotspur will win the Premier League in the next "three of four years", says former manager Harry Redknapp.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Tottenham Hotspur will win the Premier League within the next four years, says former manager Harry Redknapp.
Spurs made the Champions League for the first time during Redknapp's four-year tenure at the club, reaching the quarter-finals in 2011.
The 69-year-old says he would not swap manager Mauricio Pochettino's starting XI for any other side in the division.
"They have been fantastic under Pochettino," Redknapp told BBC Radio 5 live's Friday Football Social.
"I have absolutely loved the way they have played - their football, the pace of the full-backs.
"Tottenham will go on and win the Premier League in the next three or four years."
Spurs sit third in the Premier League, 10 points behind leaders Chelsea, but lost to Liverpool on Saturday and at Gent in the first leg of their Europa League last-32 tie on Thursday.
They have not won the title since 1961 and finished third last year after looking like champions Leicester's main challengers for long periods.
But Tottenham expect to have a new 61,000-seater stadium completed in time for the 2018-19 season, which Redknapp, who left the club in 2012, believes will play a big part in any future success.
"They've not been up there with the big spenders," he added. "Now with the new stadium the crowds are going to nearly double.
"The man who owns the club, Joe Lewis, is up there with the richest men in the world. So there's certainly no shortage of money.
"Maybe they do run out of steam, maybe he [Pochettino] hasn't been able to rotate and could do with another three or four top players to give him the strength in depth.
"If you said to me 'go and manage any team you want', I would take Tottenham's best XI."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39009491
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FA Cup: Shaun Cummings scores late winner for Millwall against Leicester - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Late drama as Shaun Cummings puts 10-man Millwall ahead in the last minute against Leicester City in their FA Cup fifth-round tie.
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Late drama as Shaun Cummings puts 10-man Millwall ahead in the last minute against Leicester City in their FA Cup fifth-round tie.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup fifth round here.
FA PEOPLE'S CUP: Sign up for free five-a-side competition – entries close midnight on Sunday!
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39017539
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Sutton v Arsenal: Clem tours the Gunners' dressing room - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Mark Clemmit is shown around the away dressing room at Sutton United by manager Paul Doswell, which Premier League side Arsenal will be using during their FA Cup fifth-round match on Monday.
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Mark Clemmit is shown around the away dressing room at Sutton United by manager Paul Doswell, which Premier League side Arsenal will be using during their FA Cup fifth-round match on Monday.
Watch live coverage of Sutton v Arsenal, Monday 20 February, 19:30 GMT on BBC One and the BBC Sport website.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39006470
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Cars fall into Los Angeles sinkhole - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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The drama of cars tumbling into a sinkhole is shown on live TV.
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Two cars have fallen down a sinkhole in Studio City, a Los Angeles neighbourhood in the US.
The drama of the second one, teetering on the edge and then tumbling down, was shown on live television.
One of the strongest storms in years - dubbed a "bombogenesis" or "weather bomb" - has hit California.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39014359
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Mo Farah wins 5,000m and Laura Muir breaks record at British Grand Prix - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Mo Farah takes victory in the 5,000m at the Birmingham Grand Prix to win the final indoor race of his career.
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Last updated on .From the section Athletics
Mo Farah took victory in the 5,000m at the Birmingham Grand Prix to win the final indoor race of his career.
The 33-year-old, who will retire from the track this year, set a European record of 13 minutes 9.16 seconds.
Laura Muir won the 1,000m in a British record of 2:31:93, taking over a second off Dame Kelly Holmes' 2004 mark.
Jamaica's 100m and 200m Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson stormed to victory in the women's 60m in 6.98 seconds, the eighth-fastest time ever.
Four-time Olympic champion Farah plans to focus on road racing after the World Championships in London in August.
He was pushed hard by Bahrain's Albert Rop, who held on as Farah kicked away from the majority of the field, but was defeated in a sprint finish.
"I had amazing support from the crowd today and I can't quite believe it's my last indoor race," said Farah.
"I've had a great career indoors and particularly on this track.
"I knew I needed to do some work after Edinburgh, I had to leave my family but hard work pays off."
Farah had finished seventh last month at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country.
Scotland's Muir has already broken two records this year - the European 3,000m indoor record and the British 5,000m indoor record, the latter held for 25 years by Liz McColgan.
The 23-year-old demolished the field in Birmingham and her time was just one second shy of Maria Mutola's world indoor record of 2:30.94.
Muir will head to Belgrade for the European Indoor Championships from 3-5 March as favourite in both the 1500m and 3,000m.
"I wanted to come away with a win on home soil but to break Kelly's record, I'm so chuffed, and I was not far away from the world record, so I am really pleased," said the Dundee Hawkhill Harrier.
"The crowd were huge, I couldn't hear myself breathing they were so loud.
"It is every athlete's dream to be injury free and running as well as I am. Hopefully I can carry this sort of form into the summer.
"I'm in the best shape I can be so I'm hoping to win some medals in Belgrade."
When you're in amazing shape as Laura is right now, and setting record after record, what you really want to do is capitalise on that and come away with two gold medals in Belgrade to underline that form; particularly when next year she'll be going back to her veterinary studies and will have to pick and choose with the calendar a little more.
She's got Belgrade not too far away now [in two weeks], the timetable works really well to double up there, it fits in perfectly and can be a real confidence boost going into the summer.
In Saturday's other events, Andrew Pozzi ran a personal best and world leading time of 7.43secs in the 60m hurdles to beat fellow Briton David King and Aries Merritt of the United States.
Great Britain took first and second place in the women's long jump, as Loraine Ugen jumped a season's best 6.76m ahead of Jazmin Sawyer's 6.71m.
In the women's 800m, British Champion Shelayna Oskan-Clarke came third in a personal best time of 2:01:71 and secured automatic selection for the European Indoor Championships.
USA's Ronnie Baker won the men's 60m in 6.55 as 40-year-old Kim Collins took second place and Britain's Richard Kilty came third.
In the women's 400m, GB's Laviai Nielsen almost held off Czech Republic's Zuzana Hejnova, but the 20-year-old was beaten into second place in the final few metres.
Eilidh Doyle, who has already qualified for Belgrade, finished fourth, while Laviai's twin sister Lina Nielsen came fifth.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/39016328
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Viewpoint: Let's smash crime by scrapping big banknotes - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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Economist Ken Rogoff on why it makes sense to get rid of large banknotes.
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The man who came up with "demonetisation" on whether India did it right.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38973042
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Newspaper headlines: House sales 'slump', Tony Blair Brexit speech and NHS staff 'crisis' - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A slowdown in home sales, fears over recruitment of GPs and nurses, and Tony Blair's Brexit speech attract headlines.
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The Papers
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Tony Blair's rallying cry to people who want to defy Brexit goes down like a lead balloon in many of Saturday's papers.
According to the Daily Express, "yesterday's man has no place in modern Britain".
The paper cites a poll which, it says, demonstrates that more than two-thirds of voters now want the government to press ahead with implementing Brexit.
The Daily Mail brands the former prime minister "messianic". The paper's leader column accuses Mr Blair of hypocrisy, having "twice promised a referendum on the EU and reneged both times".
Mr Blair, says the Guardian, is facing a backlash from Labour MPs for "fuelling the party's divisions over Brexit" with his speech.
But in the same paper, John McTernan, who was Mr Blair's political secretary for part of his period in office, says his former boss is offering a "principled and optimistic argument for a better future for Britain".
However, commentator Rafael Behr tells the paper that while Mr Blair has a reasonable argument, he cannot be the "trusted messenger" who he says is needed to deliver it.
And most of the papers continue to be exercised by the government's forthcoming shake-up of business rates.
The Sun has spoken to the owner of the pie shop opposite Arsenal's stadium in north London.
While his rates are doubling, the paper reports, those of the football club are getting a 2.3% cut.
"This isn't fair," says the owner. "Go tax someone else."
In the Daily Mirror, Lord Sugar writes that the rate revaluation will put a lot of small traders out of business.
He wants the government to scrap business rates for traders with a turnover below a figure yet to be defined, and "whack the deficit on the giant retailers that dominate the major high streets".
The Daily Telegraph says it has spoken to three former trade secretaries - Lord Tebbit, Sir Vince Cable and Dame Margaret Beckett - who have all voiced concerns about the changes.
Under the headline "shopkeeper who spoke for Britain", the Daily Mail carries a letter written by a wine merchant in the Welsh borders to the chief secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, which warns the plans risk turning "the whole of Britain into a retail wasteland".
The lead story in the Times warns of a slump in the housing market, with homeowners in some areas reportedly waiting an average of 10 months to sell their properties.
"Inflated asking prices and economic uncertainty cause the housing market to stall," it reports.
Parts of southern England, where prices have risen rapidly, and the north-east, where the economy is slow, are worst affected. The paper says that "real pain" will be felt if the slowdown in the number of sales translates into tumbling prices.
The Sun features the imminent sale of what it says is one of the cheapest homes in the country.
The two-bedroom mid-terrace at Trimdon, in County Durham, is going for auction with a guide price of £10,000, though it needs some work.
The paper says a similar property in London would cost 64 times as much.
Elsewhere, the front page story in the i says there is a looming staff crisis in the NHS in England. An investigation by the paper suggests government plans to recruit more GPs are struggling to keep pace with retirement, while figures show nurse recruitment levels have fallen.
Donald Trump continues to be a rich source of copy.
The Financial Times says it is clear that, however "finely tuned" Mr Trump's administration may be, it is "leaking prodigiously".
The paper believes it will be hard for the president to "plug the leaks" of the sort that cost the job of his short-lived national security adviser, Mike Flynn.
However, the FT argues that Mr Trump made himself "fair game" on the campaign trail, by celebrating the publication of thousands of Hillary Clinton's hacked emails.
Finally, the Daily Mail has details of a study that suggests parents should let children play with their food.
Researchers at De Montfort University in Leicester found that youngsters who were allowed to touch, handle and even squash their fruit and veg were more inclined to snack on them later.
The scientists think touch and feel - rather than taste - may be the catalyst to healthier eating.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-39011206
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Music matters: Choosing the violin over walking - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The 3ft violinist who chose music over life-changing surgery.
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Disability
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Violinist Gaelynn Lea chose her musical craft over surgery which might have changed her life, but it is a decision she does not regret.
She now tours America and Europe with her haunting electro-folk music, but at just 3ft tall she plays her violin like a cello, enhanced by haunting electronic loops.
"When I was in fourth grade I saw an orchestra which came to school and I remember being blown away by the sound," she says. "I actually wanted to play the cello because it's beautiful, but it's obviously really big."
Lea from Duluth, Minnesota, who has Osteogenesis Imperfecta - or Brittle Bone Disease - settled for the much smaller, musical sister of the cello - the violin - after she scored 100% in a music aptitude test at school.
It was a decision which would see her travel the world.
"Because I did so well in the test, my teacher was really determined, and we experimented a lot until we worked out I could play the violin like a cello.
"She could have said 'this isn't going to work' or 'you should have done choir' but she was really encouraging. We made a good team and I'm very grateful that she was so open minded."
The duo developed a technique which involved Lea holding the bow "like a baseball bat" with the body of the instrument placed in front of her, like a cello, and attached to her foot so it wouldn't slip when she played. There were a few other workarounds which also had to be developed.
"I can't use my fourth finger because of the angle of my right hand, so I had to re-write a lot of classical music. It makes it a little harder to do some stuff, but I practice a lot," she says.
Lea turned to Celtic and American folk music when she was 18, after finding her busy schedule precluded her from joining the college orchestra.
Gaelynn Lea in the studio before recording her Christmas album
The haunting sound which is her trademark was developed when she started experimenting with a loop pedal which enabled her to build and repeat several layers of sound.
"Looping fiddle music is one of my favourite concepts to play and it meant I could start doing solo shows," she says.
"I have a set loop that I start with but its never the same twice because I improvise a lot."
The inspiration for her songs and music comes from the people she knows or cares about and is often about the human condition. Lea says people "never have the same life experiences or outlook".
"Usually the songs come into my mind with a melody and I'll play my violin to figure it out, but it's all in my head," she says. "Nothing is written down, except the odd chord."
Lea released her debut solo album All the Roads that Lead Us Home in 2015, and last year won NPR Music's Tiny Desk Contest - a name which does not reflect the height of the musicians - with her song Someday We'll Linger in the Sun which defeated more than 6,000 other submissions.
"I didn't expect to win but it's meant playing in a few places including New York which was a dream of mine, but I really want to play Paris.
"The thing that I love about performance is the energy in the room, when you're connected to the audience and that can happen anywhere - the pizza shop, a cafe, busking - I've had some moments where I've connected with the audience and it's like a spiritual experience."
Despite the apparent ease with which she plays Lea has to contend with the continual challenges of Brittle Bone Disease - a genetic defect in the collagen in the bones.
She has "only" broken 16 bones since she was born and is proud to say she hasn't had a fracture in the last five years.
One of her arms is twisted which can make things more difficult, but she decided against a potentially life-changing operation for fear it could hamper her music career.
Known in America as "rodding", the operation would have seen her arm and leg bones threaded onto a metal rod which would act as a splint and keep the bone aligned if it fractured. It could also have improved her mobility.
"I actually chose not to walk and I'm happy," she says. "I could have had operations to put rods in my arms and my legs but there was no guarantee how well they'd work. I'd already started playing the violin so I didn't want to have my arms operated on and have my nerves damaged.
"I use an electric wheelchair so I didn't feel I needed to walk to make my life more fulfilling. And I don't think I'd even be who I am without brittle bones so I don't regret the decision."
When Lea is not on the road she works as a violin teacher and has 15 students on her books.
"I teach them the regular way - with the violin up on their shoulder," she says. "I watched some videos so I knew how it should be held and I understood the physics but it was trial and error to begin with."
Her students cover a vast age spectrum, and her main hope for them is that they always remain involved in music. "Music is such an important part of peoples' lives," she says.
Throughout her own musical development Lea says she has come across some people who see her disability as an obstacle, but many others have been supportive.
"If you think about it - I just play the violin at a different angle. It's still the same music but some people cant' get over the fact it's not regular.
"I'm sure there'll be other challenges, but it's not impossible. And I don't want to be limited by my disability."
Meet the NHS mental health director who was hospitalised for depression and hear about her open letter which went viral.
For more, follow on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to the weekly podcast.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-36315689
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Kim Jong-nam: Will killing derail North Korea-China ties? - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Some see Kim Jong-nam's death as a slap in the face for Beijing from the North Korean leader.
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China
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The apparent killing of Kim Jong-nam raises tricky questions for China
Beijing needs to do more to rein in North Korea: that's the view of US President Donald Trump and his new team. But how much leverage does China really have there and what are the chances of it being used, asks the BBC's Stephen McDonell in Beijing.
China and North Korea seem to be heading into yet another tense period in their recently rocky relationship.
Once brothers-in-arms fighting against "imperialist aggression" during the Korean War, now Beijing accuses Pyongyang publicly of breaching United Nations sanctions in the pursuit of its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.
And the apparent assassination of Kim Jong-nam - the half brother of North Korea's brutal leader - is being seen as a fresh point of tension between these official allies.
In fact, some view it as direct slap in the face for China.
It appears Mr Kim was murdered in Kuala Lumpur airport, on his way back to Macau, by female killers using of some type of poison.
Kim Jong-nam died at Kuala Lumpur airport as he prepared to board a flight
Kim Jong-nam spent much of the past decade in a type of self-imposed exile inside the former Portuguese colony. There he was seen to have the protection of China.
The eldest son of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il, he said time and again that he had no interest in becoming involved in his country's politics.
What's more, whenever he was cornered by reporters in the Asian casino city, with his shirt unbuttoned to number three and sporting a three-day growth, you could really believe him when he said it. After all, why would he want to?
There has been speculation that he operated some sort of North Korean sanction-busting slush fund out of Macau and that this was the reason that Beijing and Pyongyang tolerated his hedonistic life style.
But for China there was something else too. He was an ally inside the North Korean elite: somebody who thought the best way forward for his homeland was a Chinese-style opening up.
For years, China has been trying to promote this style of thinking with its isolated, impoverished neighbour.
Before he died, Kim Jong-il was shown around the prosperous Chinese city of Dalian. The message: "You too could have some of this at home with a bit of opening up!"
But the Kim dynasty has appeared petrified by the prospect of such openness, and that Kim Jong-nam would side with the Chinese.
So despite his apparent lack of interest in political power, the fact that he could be seen hanging around down in Macau as a possible leader to be called on by Beijing in the event of regime collapse in Pyongyang made him a threat to the paranoid figure in power there today.
If this was a political assassination, then most North Korea observers think the order came right from the top.
This will not go down well with the government of Xi Jinping in Beijing. In recent days the two countries' relationship has become even more murky.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency has reported that China turned back a $1m (£800,000) coal shipment from North Korea.
China has long been criticised for turning a blind eye to North Korean coal exports, in violation of UN sanctions, but maybe not this time.
In the wake of last weekend's North Korean ballistic missile test, 16,295 tonnes of its coal were denied entry to Wenzhou Port in Zhejiang Province.
You see the sequence of events: Sunday 12 February missile test, next morning an ally of China is murdered, later that afternoon Beijing criticises the test, two days later the coal shipment is turned back. What's next?
When asked about the death of Kim Jong-nam, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said his government had "seen the media reports" and that that they were "following the developments". I'll bet they are.
Coal had been one of North Korea's main exports with most going to China
At a social function run by the Chinese military recently, I was speaking to a Chinese officer about the US demand that they do more to bring pressure on North Korea.
He shrugged his shoulders. He said they didn't know what the North Koreans would do next and that they had no idea what China could do to change their minds.
Yet by far and away the vast majority of trade in and out of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), as the country prefers to be called, is with China. If you take Chinese trade out of the equation there's not much left.
So why would Beijing put up with all this? Why put up with the waves of instability flowing out of Korean peninsula?
It's often said that a meltdown in North Korea could lead to millions of refugees pouring into China but, even if this did happen, it would likely only be a temporary problem.
No. The real fear is that a complete collapse of the North Korean regime could lead to Korean unification, with American soldiers based in a country with a land border with China.
Beijing will not let that happen and Pyongyang's current ruler, Kim Jong-un, knows it.
So no matter how many times North Korea drives its powerful protector to distraction, in the end, Beijing believes it doesn't have much choice but to put up with its weirdness, with its basket-case economy, with its erratic behaviour and probably also with its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-39000681
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Rich rewards in tricky treasure hunt - BBC News
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2017-02-18
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Five objects, each worth at least £2,500, have been hidden around Scunthorpe, and the deal is finders keepers.
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Five objects, each worth at least £2,500, have been hidden around Scunthorpe, and the deal is finders keepers.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39014559
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Premiership: Gloucester 31-23 Saracens - BBC Sport
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2017-02-18
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Mako Vunipola returns from injury to stake a claim for an England return, but it is not enough as Gloucester beat Saracens.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Saracens suffered a second straight Premiership defeat but fit-again prop Mako Vunipola staked a claim to rejoin England as he played 70 minutes of their loss at an inspired Gloucester.
Vunipola, returning after nine weeks out, proved his fitness in a game won by Richard Hibbard's late try.
It was level at 23-23 after tries from Sarries' Schalk Brits and Will Fraser plus Gloucester' Tom Marshall and Jeremy Thrush.
A Billy Twelvetrees penalty seven minutes from the end had edged Gloucester ahead for the third time in the enthralling top-flight battle before the hosts' third try denied Saracens a losing bonus point.
Sarries, who lost back-to-back first-team games for the first time since May 2015, missed the chance to close the gap on leaders Wasps at the top.
Things had looked ominous for Gloucester - who have lost just once at home in all competitions since October - when Saracens crossed early on through South Africa hooker Brits after clever play from Richard Wigglesworth.
But David Humphreys' side settled into a bruising game and eventually earned themselves a three-point half-time lead thanks to Marshall's try and Billy Burns' accurate boot.
After the break, lock Thrush collected a loose Saracens pass to extend the hosts' lead with only his second try for the club, before Alex Lozowski's penalty cut the deficit for Sarries.
A gripping game was then interrupted by a worrying injury to Gloucester fly-half Burns, who went down after a try-saving tackle in the corner and received lengthy treatment before being taken off on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, with the medical staff taking care not to move the 22-year-old.
Saracens then drew level when Will Fraser crossed after a driving maul from a line-out and Lozowski converted to make it 23-23, and the visitors looked set for a late comeback.
But then, after Twelvetrees had kicked Gloucester back in front from the tee, David Halaifonua broke quickly and almost crossed in the corner before the match-clinching try finally came from the resulting line-out, as Hibbard's strength saw him over.
"We had a terrible game last week and we asked for a reaction. It was all about us this week.
"The scrum was a big positive for us tonight. It was something we worked on this week. Now we need to build on this win and push on.
"It is a massive win. They are the champions. We can really take positives from this game and go to Wasps confident."
"We're disappointed that we couldn't get something from the game. We were not as composed as we normally are in our half.
"We had an open mind as to how Mako Vunipola was going to go and he felt pretty good. He did well.
"I'm assuming he's going to play against Italy now in some form."
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38971141
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World Ski Championships: Haitian skier competes in Switzerland - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Haiti's Celine Marti competes in the skiing World Championships, despite only starting training for the event three months ago.
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Haiti's Celine Marti, a full-time police officer, competes in the skiing World Championships, despite only starting training for the event three months ago.
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/39016069
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Welsh Open 2017: Judd Trump to face Stuart Bingham in final - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Judd Trump will face Stuart Bingham in the Welsh Open final after the Englishmen enjoy comfortable wins in the last four.
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Last updated on .From the section Snooker
Judd Trump will face Stuart Bingham in Sunday's Welsh Open final after the Englishmen enjoyed comfortable wins in the last four in Cardiff.
Trump, the world number four, beat Scotland's Scott Donaldson 6-3 in the first of the semi-finals.
"It's always special when you reach the semi-finals and finals," said Bristol's Trump, who last won a title at the European Masters in October.
"It's a different atmosphere out there and you really thrive off it, so for me to play in the final here, in kind of my home tournament - it would be an amazing achievement to win it."
Trump, 27, opened with a break of 131 but was pegged back from 4-1 to 4-3, making the decisive move with a 74 break in the eighth frame in Cardiff.
"I feel like I've really improved this season and it's taking people at the top of their game to beat me," he added.
"Every tournament I go into I'm fully prepared and give it my best shot. If I could win this and make it two ranking events in a season, it would feel like a step up to a different level."
Bingham, 40, played superbly, opening with a break of 127 and closing with a 101 as he raced through six frames.
"It all started off from a massive fluke in the first frame and to make a hundred off that settled me down and put Rob on the back foot," he said. "I punished him for every mistake."
Looking ahead to the final, Bingham added: "We've had some great matches and I'm looking forward to it. If I play like that, it's hopefully going to be a high-quality match."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/39014906
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FA Cup: Harry Kane fires Tottenham ahead against Fulham - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Harry Kane guides home a Christian Eriksen cross to give Tottenham an early lead against Fulham in the FA Cup fifth round tie at Craven Cottage.
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Harry Kane guides home Christian Eriksen's cross to give Tottenham an early lead against Fulham in the FA Cup fifth round tie at Craven Cottage.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup fifth round here.
FA PEOPLE'S CUP: Sign up for free five-a-side competition – entries close midnight on Sunday!
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39021504
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World Club Series: Warrington Wolves 27-18 Brisbane Broncos - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Warrington get the first win for an English club over Australian opponents since 2012, beating Brisbane in the World Club Series.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby League
Warrington Wolves achieved the first win for an English club over Australian opponents since 2012 as they beat Brisbane Broncos in the first match of the 2017 World Club Series.
Kevin Brown excelled on his Wire debut, scoring a try in the second minute.
Ryan Atkins and Matty Russell helped the hosts into a 20-0 lead and Tom Lineham also crossed before half-time.
Declan Patton added 11 points with the boot, while Corey Oates, James Roberts and David Mead replied for Brisbane.
Leeds' World Club Challenge win over Manly five years earlier had been the last time a northern hemisphere side had beaten one of their NRL counterparts, and Super League clubs had lost all six matches since the expanded World Club Series began in 2015.
Super League champions Wigan Warriors host NRL Grand Final winners Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the World Club Challenge on Sunday (15:00 GMT).
Brisbane, coached by England boss Wayne Bennett, do not begin their league season until 2 March and a lack of match practice appeared to contribute to their slow start, for which they were clinically punished.
Warrington made the perfect start when Joe Westerman raced 60 metres after charging down a kick and Brown, a winter signing from local rivals Widnes, darted over after Westerman had been hauled down short of the line.
Last season's beaten Super League finalists were 20-0 up after 19 minutes as Atkins powered over and Russell showed neat footwork to evade three Brisbane defenders.
Oates went over acrobatically in the corner for the Broncos but winger Lineham's score for Warrington, given after consultation with the video referee, helped the Wire to an 18-point lead at half-time.
Brisbane improved after the break and Roberts' 80-metre dash for a try gave the Australian side some heart, but Patton's drop goal and a fifth successful kick from the tee established a three-score advantage which was rarely threatened.
"We wanted to get Super League off to a good start. Not too many people gave us a chance but we know the belief in our squad and it was good to put a good performance out.
"I felt like our ball control was good, especially in that first 20 minutes, and our kicking game was great. That's a great way to kick-start our year.
"We wish Wigan and Cronulla all the best for Sunday. I had 11 or 12 great seasons in the NRL and I love that competition. May the best team win, but hopefully people will look a little bit differently at Super League after that result."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/38971476
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Princess Diana's changing fashion style explored in exhibition - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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The Kensington Palace exhibition will bring together clothing from throughout Princess Diana's life.
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London
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An exhibition tracing the changing styles of Diana, Princess of Wales is due to open in Kensington Palace.
Diana: Her Fashion Story will display iconic outfits from throughout her life - from before she was married to after her divorce in the 1990s.
Curator Eleri Lynn said the exhibition showed how the princess was "growing in confidence throughout her life".
A "White Garden" celebrating Diana's life will also be planted in the palace grounds this summer.
Princess Diana commissioned this tartan coat and skirt from designer Emanuel for an official royal visit to Italy in 1985.
The boxy style may have been fashionable in the 1980s but many commentators thought little of the coat.
This silk chiffon evening gown was worn by Diana at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, and for a performance of Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal, London in 1989.
It was created by Catherine Walker who took inspiration for the dress from the gown worn by Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 film, To Catch A Thief.
Princess Diana hit the headlines when she danced with actor John Travolta at a state dinner in the White House in 1985.
The velvet silk evening dress which she wore that night was designed by Victor Edelstein and was said to be one of her favourites.
This cocktail dress, which Diana wore for a concert at the Barbican in 1989, was considered an unusual choice for a princess given it was based on a masculine tuxedo.
Designer David Sassoon said it was an example of how Diana started to "break the rules" as she experimented with styles and learned what clothes worked for different occasions.
This sequined evening dress created by Catherine Walker in 1986 was said to be typical of Diana's "Dynasty" phase when the media noted her taste for "large shoulder pads, lavish fabrics and metallic accessories".
The princess wore it for an official visit to Austria in 1986 as well as two charity balls in 1989 and 1990.
Diana increasingly worked with Catherine Walker during her life to develop what the designer called her "royal uniform".
She wore this red day suit created by Walker for her famous visit to the London Lighthouse, a centre for people affected by HIV and AIDS, in October 1996.
Diana: Her Fashion Story will open on 24 February
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38994105
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Welsh Open 2017: Stuart Bingham beats Judd Trump 9-8 in final - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Stuart Bingham holds his nerve in a tense final frame to beat Judd Trump 9-8 and win his first Welsh Open title.
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Stuart Bingham held his nerve in a tense final frame to beat Judd Trump 9-8 and win his first Welsh Open title.
The Englishman, 40, took the last two frames, sealing victory with a break of 55 to claim his first ranking title since the 2015 World Championship.
Bingham had led 4-0 in the early stages and came through a scrappy final session that saw a highest break of 63.
"Unbelievable," said the world number two. "To get my hands on another trophy means everything."
Compatriot Trump, 27, cut the early deficit to 5-3 by taking the last frame of the afternoon session and moved 7-6 and 8-7 ahead in the evening.
However, Bingham got back on level terms and, after Trump missed an early opportunity in the decider, it was the former world champion who prevailed with a clearance.
"I honestly felt that Judd outclassed me from the word go," said Bingham. "The first two frames were massive but it was only from his mistake that I cleared up and won.
"I've been knocking on the door since October, playing pretty well. I thought it wasn't going to happen here and hats off to Judd, from 4-0 down a lot of people would have crumbled and given up."
Trump said: "It was tough. I missed a few chances early on. I kind of threw it away in the first four frames.
"I missed too many easy balls and even tonight when I was getting back into it, I missed another easy ball. On the whole I did well to get back into it, it was just the odd shot here and there that cost me."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/39022490
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Hidden Figures: How Nasa hired its first black women 'computers' - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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The history of black women working for Nasa goes back much further than the 1960s - the period of the film Hidden Figures - and their struggles continued afterwards.
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Magazine
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The Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures tells the story of African-American women whose maths skills helped put a US astronaut into orbit in the 1960s. But the history of black women working for Nasa goes back much further - and they were still struggling to get the best jobs in the 1970s.
In 1943, two years after the US joined World War Two, Miriam Daniel Mann was 36 years old. She had three children, aged six, seven and eight - but she also had a Chemistry degree.
Job opportunities for married women were limited then, especially for those with children, and even more so for African-American women.
But as men went off to war, there was a skill shortage in vital industries. The president signed an executive order allowing black people to be employed in the defence sector for the first time, and Nasa's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), started looking for black women to work on mathematical calculations.
Through her husband, a college professor, Mann heard about the recruiters visiting black college campuses. She registered to take an exam, passed it, and became one of the first black women to work as a "human computer" at the NACA aeronautics research facility at Langley in Virginia.
These were the days before the machines we now know as computers were available to crunch numbers - and when they were invented, they took their name from the humans who had done the job before them.
Miriam Mann's daughter, Miriam Mann Harris, wrote in 2011: "My early memories are of my mother talking about doing math problems all day. Back then all of the math was done with a #2 pencil and the aid of a slide rule... She would relate stories about the 'colored' sign on a table in the back of the cafeteria. She brought the first one home, but there was a replacement the next day. New signs went up on the bathroom door, 'colored girls'."
Mann's granddaughter, Duchess Harris - a professor at Macalester College and co-author of Hidden Human Computers, the Black Women of Nasa - points out that Mann was born in 1907, only half a century after the end of slavery.
But there had been a big drive to educate African Americans, most of whom had been illiterate before emancipation, Harris says, so by the 1940s there was a pool of talented black women with maths and science degrees waiting to be employed.
Thanks to them - and to white women, who had been employed as computers since the 1930s - male engineers could spend more time theorising and writing equations.
"After the war in most industries the women were sent home again," says Bill Barry, Nasa's chief historian. "But in the computing business that didn't happen. In fact, Nasa started hiring more women, in large part because of the quantity of work going on."
Often jobs were held open for women to come back to after having a child.
"A skilled computer was an incredibly valuable resource," he says.
At Langley, in the 1940s and 1950s the women were split into two pools - the East computing unit for white women, and the West computing unit for black women. This segregation had been a requirement of Virginia state law, says Barry.
For most of the 50s, a woman called Dorothy Vaughan was the supervisor in charge of West Computing - she is one of the main characters in the film Hidden Figures.
When tasks from the engineers came in, she would allocate the work and show her team what they needed to do.
"Dorothy Vaughan would take the equation and break it into sections and tell you how to solve that equation in small parts. Tell you which columns you multiply, which ones you add," says Christine Darden, who started working for Nasa in 1967. "By the time you have followed all her directions across you would have the solution."
By the time Darden joined, the women were no longer in separate pools and had been allocated to specific engineering sections.
Christine Darden learned to programme the new IBM computers
She had fallen in love with maths as a teenager, but when she told her father she wanted to study it at college, he didn't like the idea. He could not see a career path.
"My father insisted I get a degree in teacher education because during that time black females generally didn't get very many jobs in math," says Darden. "He told me I had to be able to teach so I could get a job."
Darden listened to her father, but as she was determined to follow her passion she took extra maths classes and even carried on studying for a Master's while teaching. One day at college she was handed an application form for Nasa, and a few weeks later she was offered a job in one of their computer offices.
While most of the women were still carrying out their tasks using spreadsheets and a calculator, she was among a growing number who learned to programme the new IBM computers. These were capable of doing laborious calculations in a fraction of the time it took a human.
When Darden was given an equation to solve, she would work out the different steps required, and then write a program telling the computer each step, by punching holes in a card that would be fed into the machine.
"We had a card punch in our office. I would punch the cards. I would take the cards over to the building that had the computer and they had people who would run the program."
The work that these women did from the 1940s onwards was essential for Nasa's work, but their names didn't appear on research papers.
Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American in space
Slowly, however, some of these highly educated and intelligent women started to make their way into more advanced roles.
The film Hidden Figures features a woman named Katherine Johnson who helped work out the trajectories to launch the first American into orbit around the planet.
Another is Mary Jackson who fought for the right to be an engineer in her own right.
Mary Jackson became Nasa's first black female engineer in 1958
But years later, Christine Darden, with her Masters degree, still had to struggle to be treated as an equal to the male engineers.
"When I found out that the engineers were doing very theoretical engineering - sitting at their desk working with equations, I decided that was what I wanted to do," she says.
Her manager told her it wasn't possible.
But in 1972, as funding for the space programme was scaled back, Christine feared she was about to be made redundant.
"That gave me the incentive to go to a higher-level boss and ask why men were assigned to engineering sections to do their own projects - write the paper, give the paper - but the females were assigned to the computer pools to do the calculating as a support role."
It worked - Christine was allocated to an engineering team that was studying planes flying faster than the speed of sound. She studied ways to minimise sonic booms which are caused by planes travelling at such speeds.
By the time she retired in 2007, as a Nasa senior executive, she had published more than 50 papers.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39003904
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FA Cup: Harry Kane completes hat-trick for Tottenham at Fulham - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Watch as Tottenham striker Harry Kane rifles home to seal his hat-trick in the FA Cup fifth round tie against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
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Tottenham striker Harry Kane rifles home to seal his hat-trick in the FA Cup fifth round tie against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup fifth round here.
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39022212
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Newspaper headlines: Russia 'assassination plot' and Brexit 'limbo' - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Claims Moscow planned a coup in Montenegro and fears EU nationals could be caught in a legal no man's land after Brexit make the front pages.
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The Papers
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The Daily Telegraph carries claims from senior Whitehall sources that Russia plotted to assassinate the prime minister of Montenegro and overthrow its government last year.
Montenegro's PM Milo Djukanovic is said to have been the targeted on election day last October
It is claimed the plot was designed to sabotage Montenegro's attempts to join Nato and was foiled "only hours" before being carried out.
The paper says British and American intelligence agencies have gathered evidence of "high-level Russian complicity" - but the Kremlin has denied any involvement.
A leaked document seen by the Observer suggests the EU is concerned that millions of EU nationals from other countries living in the UK will be "stranded in a legal no-man's land" after Brexit because of weaknesses in Britain's immigration system.
The report - drawn up by MEPs - argues the Home Office doesn't have the information or systems in place to select who can stay once Britain leaves.
The lead story in the Mail on Sunday claims the head of the police force investigating allegations of historical sexual abuse against Sir Edward Heath is convinced the former prime minister was a paedophile.
Wiltshire's Chief Constable Mike Veale is said to regard the claims as "120% genuine" and plans to publish a report in June.
Sir Edward died in 2005, and the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation has previously said it is confident he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
Wiltshire Police declined to comment on the story but said its chief constable had previously stated it was his job to ensure the probe was "proportionate, measured, legal and necessary".
A head teacher in Oldham has raised fears of a new "Trojan Horse plot" to take over her school, according to the Sunday Times.
She is said to have emailed her local authority in December to report a campaign of intimidation against school staff, and to highlight concerns about the activities of a Muslim former parent governor.
The lead story in the Sunday Express says children as young as five are calling a helpline to be read bedtime stories because their parents are too drunk to tuck them in at night.
The paper's editorial argues it's a "national scandal" that so little has been done to help the estimated two-and-a-half million children who live with an alcoholic parent.
It says it is "even more tragic" that no local authority appears to have a strategy to deal with the problem.
The Sunday Mirror claims a convicted rapist who is alleged to have won a lottery jackpot of £2.5m with a fraudulent ticket carried out a "dry run" of the suspected scam.
He is said to have shown friends a faked ticket in 2009 - five months before he claimed the prize money.
The Mirror says he has refused to comment on the fraud allegations that have been made against him, and police investigated the case but decided to take no action.
The Mirror's editorial argues the Gambling Commission probe into the payout was covered up, and calls for this latest evidence to be investigated as part of an inquiry by MPs because, it says, "a parliamentary report cannot be covered up".
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Liz Truss has told the Sun on Sunday that prisons must stop acting as offender warehouses and rehabilitate inmates instead.
She says she is determined to get a grip of the "epidemic of reoffending" so will change the law this week to make reforming offenders a "key aim" of prison.
According to the paper, seven months in the job "have convinced Ms Truss of the enormity of the task", after violence in prisons hit a 10-year high under her watch.
And Lincoln City's win in the FA Cup yesterday - making them the first non-league side to reach the quarter final stage of the competition for over a century - allows the headline writers to come up with a plethora of puns, using the club's nickname, The Imps.
The Sunday Telegraph says Lincoln's feat will have repercussions "long beyond this season" as the club's financial future is now secure "for many years to come".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-39018510
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Ray Woodhall survives 27 heart attacks after walking football - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Father-of-three Ray Woodhall survived 27 heart attacks in 24 hours. He first became ill during a game of "walking football".
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Father-of-three Ray Woodhall survived 27 heart attacks in 24 hours. He first became ill during a game of "walking football".
He was taken to hospital, where two stents were put in his main artery, but then he began to suffer multiple heart attacks.
The 54-year-old told 5 live he thought he had been asleep but had actually gone into arrest and had to be resuscitated: “I was apologising to the staff for falling asleep and they said ‘you’ve not been asleep, we had to arrest you, you’d gone.’”
This clip is originally from 5 live Breakfast on Saturday 18 February 2017.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39014563
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Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Manchester United - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic comes off the bench to score the winner as Manchester United are made to work hard to beat Blackburn in the FA Cup fifth round.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Zlatan Ibrahimovic came off the bench to score the winner as holders Manchester United had to work hard to beat Championship strugglers Blackburn in the FA Cup fifth round.
Striker Ibrahimovic was allowed too much time in the box to latch on to fellow substitute Paul Pogba's pass and tuck in from close range to set up a quarter-final tie against Premier League leaders Chelsea.
Danny Graham had given the hosts the lead with a rising finish following excellent play by Marvin Emnes, who himself had tested Sergio Romero with a thumping effort moments earlier.
In response, Rovers goalkeeper Jason Steele pushed away Ander Herrera's fierce shot, but Marcus Rashford equalised for the visitors by going round the goalkeeper and slotting in from Henrikh Mkhitaryan's precise pass.
Rovers striker Anthony Stokes had a goal rightly ruled out offside following Romero's triple save late on.
Victory for United maintains their hopes of a cup treble this season, as they travel to Saint-Etienne in the Europa League on Wednesday with a healthy last-32 first-leg advantage, and face Southampton in the EFL Cup final next Sunday.
Jose Mourinho's side did not have it all their own way at Ewood Park and were slow and sloppy in possession, while struggling to carve open clear-cut opportunities.
But they had summer signings Ibrahimovic and Pogba to thank as the two players combined for United's winning goal, with the side now losing just one of their last 10 away games in all competitions.
World-record signing Pogba, who reportedly said he left the club in his first spell after failing to play against Blackburn in 2011, picked out Ibrahimovic with an inch-perfect pass, although the home defenders should have done better to close the Swede down for his 24th goal of the campaign.
It was also Mkhitaryan's incisive, outside-of-the-foot pass which opened up the Blackburn's defence for the opening goal. The excellent Armenian controlled much of the match with his intricate passing and pacy forward play, driving a strike narrowly wide in the first half.
Harking back to the old days
Premier League title rivals against United during the mid-1990s, Rovers have fallen on difficult times since and find themselves at the wrong end of the Championship, in real danger of being relegated to the third tier.
When once they could boast the likes of Simon Garner, Alan Shearer and Andy Cole in their starting line-up, this side is mostly put together from free and loan signings.
Nomadic front man Graham, acquired for nothing from Sunderland, has impressed this term and rolled back to happier times for Rovers with a well-taken effort after 17 minutes, turning Chris Smalling and striking high past Romero for his 12th goal of the season.
Graham's spin and shot when looking for a second provided no problems for the United goalkeeper and winger Craig Conway was wasteful by lashing over the crossbar from a promising position.
Defeat means Owen Coyle's men have won only once in five games and now turn their attention to preserving their Championship status.
'We conceded a brilliant goal' - what they said
Blackburn boss Owen Coyle: "We gave a very good account of ourselves but nobody likes losing games. We did enough to get another shot at it today.
"We now have to show that display week in, week out in the Championship.
"We know we have good footballers here, nobody could see they are short changed by us when it comes to entertainment.
"We showed great spirit and courage to try and get an equaliser at the end and we will need those qualities for the rest of the season."
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho: "Did they give us a good game? More than good, they gave us a hard game and congratulations to them. Their approach was brave, strong. They had real competitors and if we didn't have the right attitude from everybody we would be in real trouble.
"For long periods of the game you couldn't feel which one was the strongest team, they were brilliant. If they transfer this quality to the Championship they will have a big chance to survive.
"We conceded a brilliant goal. It was a brilliant goal. The movement and shot was really good, it didn't affect any player individually for us. We kept stable and we then scored a great goal."
Blackburn travel to Burton Albion in the Championship next Friday (kick-off 19:45 GMT), while Manchester United head to Saint-Etienne for the second leg of their Europa League last-32 tie on Wednesday (kick-off 17:00 GMT).
• None Zlatan Ibrahimovic has now scored in the FA Cup, Coppa Italia, Copa del Rey and Coupe de France.
• None The Swede is now Manchester United's joint-top scorer in all competitions since the start of last season (24 - joint with Anthony Martial), despite only joining this summer.
• None No Premier League player has played more games in all competitions this season than Ibrahimovic and Nathan Redmond (both 36).
• None All five of Paul Pogba's assists for Manchester United in 2016-17 have been for Ibrahimovic.
• None Manchester United have progressed from each of their last 11 FA Cup ties against teams from a lower division.
• None Danny Graham scored his first FA Cup goal since January 2013, which also came against top-flight opposition (Arsenal).
• None Four of Henrikh Mkhitaryan's five assists for Manchester United have been in cup competitions (three in the League Cup and one in the FA Cup).
• None Marcus Rashford has scored four goals in his six FA Cup appearances for Manchester United.
• None Blackburn have kept just one clean sheet in their last 11 home games in domestic cup competition (FA Cup and League Cup).
• None Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Offside, Blackburn Rovers. Marvin Emnes tries a through ball, but Anthony Stokes is caught offside.
• None Attempt saved. Marvin Emnes (Blackburn Rovers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
• None Attempt saved. Anthony Stokes (Blackburn Rovers) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
• None Attempt saved. Connor Mahoney (Blackburn Rovers) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Willem Tomlinson.
• None Connor Mahoney (Blackburn Rovers) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Attempt blocked. Paul Pogba (Manchester United) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38947530
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FA Cup: Lincoln City win is 'football miracle' on dramatic fifth-round day - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Non-league side Lincoln achieve a 'football miracle' by reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals, while Millwall knock out Leicester.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Lincoln achieved a "football miracle" as they knocked out Burnley on a dramatic day of FA Cup fifth-round action, with 10-man Millwall beating Premier League champions Leicester.
The Imps became the first non-league side in 103 years to reach the last eight with their win over the Clarets.
"Football at our level is not romantic and this moment in the limelight is special," Imps boss Danny Cowley said.
"It was a one in 100 chance and thankfully we got that opportunity."
It is the first time in Lincoln's 133-year history that they have reached the quarter-finals.
"It's a football miracle for a non-league team to be in the last eight. The boys were excellent, playing against a Premier League team," Cowley said after the 1-0 win.
• None Reaction and coverage of the FA Cup fifth round
• None Don't miss out on the FA People's Cup 2017
• None Listen - Lincoln win 'will go down in history of The FA Cup'
"The last eight of the FA Cup sounds pretty good. We work hard and we are mightily proud of the players."
Cowley appeared as a guest on Match of the Day on Saturday night and said: "It is a great day for us and the football club. I am immensely proud of the players and they probably do not understand what they have achieved.
"We are in North Ferriby on Tuesday night. It becomes a harder game on the back on this win. It will be good to go back to proper football."
Cowley's assistant manager, his brother Nicky, was also on the show and said: "It has not sunk in. I definitely think the magic of the cup is still alive where we live. If it's a football miracle, then we will take that."
The quarter-final draw will take place at 18:30 GMT on Sunday and can be seen on the BBC News channel and the BBC Sport website, with commentary on BBC Radio 5 live.
How big an achievement is this?
Lincoln are the National League leaders but there are 81 places between them and Burnley in the football pyramid.
This is the first time that two non-league teams have reached the FA Cup fifth round since 1888.
Their determination and ability to frustrate Burnley ensured that Sean Raggett's 89th-minute header saw the side become the first non-league team since Queens Park Rangers in 1914 to make the quarter-finals.
The historic victory, celebrated jubilantly by the players and travelling fans, means the Imps are the first non-league side since Telford in 1985, and only the third ever, to knock out four league clubs in a single season.
"It is a game that will go down in history. Every Lincoln player is a hero," former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin told BBC Radio 5 live.
"Lincoln are deservedly through, not just for effort but the skill and bravery. They knew they were good enough and didn't give up."
• None Lincoln win 'will go down in history of The FA Cup'
'We took inspiration from Lincoln'
League One side Millwall followed in Lincoln's footsteps and added to Leicester's woes as they consigned the Foxes to their first FA Cup defeat by a side from the third tier or lower since they were knocked out by Wycombe Wanderers in 2001.
The reigning Premier League champions, who were beaten 1-0 and face Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday, are in danger of relegation after five successive defeats left them one place and one point above the bottom three.
"When a team from League One beats the champions we say 'why?' and have to react as soon as possible," Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri said. "We are better than Millwall but Millwall deserved to win."
Millwall had already beaten Premier League sides Bournemouth and Watford on their way to the fifth round and victory secured their place in the last eight for the third time in 32 seasons.
"We took inspiration from what Lincoln have done. What they achieved today outshines us," Millwall manager Neil Harris said.
"I thought the atmosphere was electric. The noise was phenomenal. These are special days for us."
Match of the Day pundit John Hartson said: "Millwall actually improved when they went down to 10 men. Neil Harris made a good change, bringing on another striker Lee Gregory, and he set up the winner. It was a really, really brave substitution."
It was a strong day for sides facing Premier League opposition, with Huddersfield Town forcing a replay against Manchester City despite the Terriers making seven changes to their side.
City's starting line-up included Sergio Aguero but they were forced to settle for a goalless draw.
Fellow Premier League side Middlesbrough were also pushed by League One's Oxford United. Boro made six changes to the side that drew with Everton last time out but it took substitute Cristhian Stuani's strike four minutes from time to ensure their place in the quarter-finals.
Chelsea had the most comfortable win, beating Championship side Wolves 2-0 with second-half goal from Pedro and Diego Costa.
In a scrappy and, at times, tense game, it was Raggett's header that beat Tom Heaton to secure Lincoln's place in the last eight.
The 23-year-old, who said in 2012 that he one day hoped to play against Burnley's Joey Barton, has scored five times in 30 appearances for the Imps this season.
"It's crazy, a non-league side in the quarter-finals in modern football, it's unheard of," Raggett told BT Sport.
"They're a top quality side, drew with Chelsea last week, it's amazing. We had massive belief, we didn't come to draw, we came to win the game."
"Thank god for goalline technology. We don't have it at our level so I'm not sure the goal would have been given in the National League," Cowley added, after seeing Raggett's header marginally cross the line.
Lincoln frustrated Burnley throughout the game, with striker Matt Rhead and Barton often outmuscling one another as tensions grew in the final minutes.
"It is something you dream of as a kid. We went toe-to-toe with a Premier League team," Rhead said.
"It is unbelievable. When we started back in October it was a dream. I enjoyed every minute of it. The lads have done unbelievable."
'We're unfortunately part of their fairytale'
Burnley have not progressed to the sixth round of the FA Cup since 2002-03 and they were left frustrated at the final whistle.
They had the majority of possession in the first half but Raggett's header consigned them to only their fourth home defeat in their past 30 matches at Turf Moor.
"You have to work, be diligent and believe you will get another chance - I think they only had one chance, credit to them," Burnley manager Sean Dyche told BBC Sport.
"My team were nowhere near the level they can show. No excuses. We're unfortunately part of their fairytale."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39017152
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FA Cup: Fulham 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur highlights - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Harry Kane scores a hat-trick as Tottenham reach the FA Cup quarter-finals with a comfortable 3-0 win over Championship side Fulham.
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Harry Kane scores a hat-trick as Tottenham reach the FA Cup quarter-finals with a comfortable 3-0 win over Championship side Fulham.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup fifth round here.
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39018304
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Spencer Oliver on boxer Michael Watson, after suspected car-jack - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Former boxing champion Spencer Oliver describes the attack on friend and former boxer Michael Watson.
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Former boxing champion Spencer Oliver has described a suspected car-jacking attack on his friend and fellow former boxer Michael Watson.
Oliver told 5 live: “Michael has some burns when he was dragged down the road in the car. It was a crazy incident and thankfully no one was seriously hurt.”
A police spokesman confirmed: "Two men, aged in their 50s, informed officers that they had been sprayed in the face with a suspected noxious substance by two suspects who attempted to steal the car.
"The male suspects fled the scene in a different vehicle."
This clip is originally from 5 live Breakfast on Sunday 19 February 2017.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39020156
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Welsh council staff 'should check pets for microchips' - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Animal lovers hope to make it mandatory for pets found by council workers to be checked for microchips.
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Animal lovers hope to make it mandatory for pets found by council workers to be checked for microchips so they can be returned to their owners.
A petition to the assembly wants it to be mandatory to scan microchips of all pets, dead or alive.
Rebecca Baker, assistant manager at Dogs Trust Bridgend, urged anyone who found an animal to take it to a centre to get it scanned so families can get "peace of mind".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-39007976
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Jeanette Winterson: 'Character of London will disappear' - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Award winning author Jeanette Winterson has been speaking to the BBC about having to close her deli in Spitalfields because of rising rates.
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Award winning author Jeanette Winterson has been speaking to the BBC about having to close her deli in Spitalfields because of rising rates.
Her business rates will rise from £21,500 to £54,000 in April.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/39009724
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Dan Vickerman: Former Australia lock dies at the age of 37 - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Former Australia and Northampton lock Dan Vickerman, who won 63 caps, has died at the age of 37.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Former Australia lock Dan Vickerman has died at the age of 37, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has confirmed.
South Africa-born Vickerman played 63 Tests for Australia after his 2002 debut and featured in three World Cups.
"The rugby world is in shock after news of the tragic passing of Dan Vickerman. He was an enforcer on the field and a much-loved character off the field," said ARU chief executive Bill Pulver.
No details of the cause of death have been disclosed.
The former Wallaby died at his family home in Sydney and is survived by wife Sarah and two sons.
He retired from the game in 2012 after spells with the Brumbies and Waratahs franchises in Super Rugby, and also spent the 2009-10 season in England with Premiership side Northampton Saints whilst studying at Cambridge University.
He played for Cambridge in their 2008 Varsity match defeat by Oxford, before captaining the Light Blues to victory in the 2009 edition at Twickenham.
England head coach Eddie Jones, who coached Australia and the Brumbies in his homeland, was among those to pay tribute.
"On behalf of the RFU and myself, I would like to send my condolences to Dan Vickerman's family, Sarah and the two kids," he said.
"He was a wonderfully committed team player and a good guy. He will be sorely missed by the rugby community."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39019288
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Don Juan role shows David Tennant 'as you've never seen him before' - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The actor's role in Don Juan in Soho will see him play 'an anti-hero', says writer and director Patrick Marber.
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Entertainment & Arts
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David Tennant's new West End role will show him in a new light, according to the play's writer and director.
The Broadchurch and Doctor Who star is going to be a "real anti-hero" in Don Juan in Soho, says Patrick Marber - the man behind Oscar-nominated film Closer.
It's been described as a "savagely funny and filthy" update of Moliere's 17th century tragicomedy Don Juan, with the action taking place in modern-day London.
Marber says Tennant has been known for playing "decent" people in recent years, but all that will change when he takes on the title role.
"It's a great part for him," says Marber as rehearsals get under way at Wyndham's Theatre.
"I think it's going to be very funny and very rude. It's really exciting to see my play again."
The play was first staged in 2006, with Rhys Ifans playing Don Juan as the seducer who's hell-bent on pleasure, and couldn't care less about the consequences.
Of the new Don Juan, Marber - who's also been an actor and comedian - says: "It's a part we haven't seen David play before, really.
"The man is an amoral hedonist, and is wicked. You love to hate him, and hate to love him - he's a real anti-hero."
Patrick Marber says Don Juan in Soho is 'naughty but nice'
And, according to Marber, Tennant is funny - very, very funny indeed.
"He's always a great comedian," he says.
"When I met him 20 years ago, he was the best light comedian I'd ever seen at the time. This is an opportunity to give full rein to his comic skills."
Asked quite how rude Don Juan is going to be, Marber replies: "I think it's naughty but nice. I don't think it's shocking."
It's a busy time for the playwright. He directed the just-opened West End transfer of Tom Stoppard's Travesties, which enjoyed a sell-out run at London's Menier Chocolate Factory last year.
Fans can also see his version of Hedda Gabler at the National Theatre, with Affair star Ruth Wilson giving what Marber describes as "one of the greatest performances" he has ever seen.
So how is he getting through this hectic period?
"I'm getting as much sleep as I possibly can and drinking a lot of coffee," he says.
Travesties stars Rev's Tom Hollander as Henry Carr, a man recalling his memories as a diplomat living in Zurich in 1917, and the people he met there - including James Joyce and Lenin.
"I think it sold out on the two Toms names - Hollander and Stoppard. It's a really nice combination of people," said Marber.
"It's not been on in London since the early 1990s. so I think there's some curiosity there too."
He described it as a "very funny play" which is "about universal things like love, sex, art and politics".
It is especially relevant in 2017, he added.
"At the time it's set, in Europe 1917 - exactly 100 years ago - the world is at war.
"It talks to that anxiety, that feeling that the world is disturbing and troubled. And it feels increasingly relevant, the play.
"I think that in troubled times, people want to be entertained, and it's a very entertaining evening at the theatre. It wears its politics lightly.
"It speaks to the soul and intellect, the heart and the head."
Travesties is at the Apollo Theatre until 29 April. Don Juan in Soho is at Wyndham's Theatre from 17 March.
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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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38895605
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Bill Gates: Pathogen could kill 30m in a year - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Microsoft's founder warns a virus, possibly created by terrorists, could have a catastrophic effect.
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Microsoft founder Bill Gates has warned a deadly pathogen could easily wipe out 30m people in a year, and that the example of Ebola was one to heed.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Mr Gates said there was a "reasonable probability" of such a virus spreading, and that it would most likely do so in fragile states where it is difficult to stop epidemics.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39016180
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Thousands vie for Naked Man title in Japan - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Thousands of men wearing just loincloths gathered at the Saidaiji Kannon-in Temple, Okayama, Japan for an annual festival.
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Thousands of men wearing just loincloths gathered at the Saidaiji Kannon-in Temple, Okayama, Japan for an annual festival.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39019390
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Wrong national anthem played for gold medallists - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Russian gold medallists at the biathlon world championship in Austria had to sing their national anthem after the wrong one was played.
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Russian gold medal winners at the biathlon world championship in Austria had to sing their national anthem after an old, Yeltsin-era anthem was played by mistake.
Aleksei Volkov, Maksim Tsvetkov, Anton Babikov, and Anton Shipulin were handed the microphone when organisers played the old anthem.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39020854
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FA Cup: Marcus Rashford equalises for Manchester United with cool finish - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Marcus Rashford slots home to equalise for Manchester United in their FA Cup fifth-round tie against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
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Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford beats goalkeeper Jason Steele to cancel out Danny Graham's opener in their FA Cup fifth-round tie at Blackburn Rovers.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup fifth round here.
FA PEOPLE'S CUP: Sign up for free five-a-side competition – entries close midnight on Sunday!
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39022934
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Paris unrest: Banlieue youths see French state as the enemy - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The BBC's James Longman assesses the mood in the deprived suburbs of Paris after days of unrest.
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Europe
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Paris suburbs have seen violent protests after Theo's alleged sexual assault
In the Paris suburbs, youth sits idle. Young men chat and smoke. Some deal drugs. Most days are spent like this.
But today the talk is still about the alleged sexual assault on one of their friends, 22-year-old Theo, a young black man, who was brutalised by police.
A truncheon, they say, was rammed into his backside, leaving him hospitalised for two weeks.
Eleanor says she was in disbelief when she heard the details of what had happened to her brother
I meet his sister Eleanor, behind the graffiti-covered building where the assault is said to have taken place.
"They pulled him around the side to make sure the cameras couldn't see it," she says.
"Everyone here knows where the CCTV cameras are, and he tried to get to a place where they could see him. But the police - there were four of them - they pulled him back.
"I was afraid. I was afraid to see how he is and what they had done."
Eleanor says she was in disbelief when she heard the details of what had happened. Her elder brother told her it was rape.
"'Rape?' I said. 'What are you talking about?'
"I started to cry because I was so shocked. But after that I knew I had to be strong."
Attacks by police, residents here say, are pretty common.
But this provoked real anger. Protests erupted across the French capital - cars were burned and property destroyed.
Theo (left) was last week visited in hospital by French President Francois Hollande
Mejdi is 27 and was born on the estate. He rides up and down on his BMX, but is keen to stop and talk.
"If there is no charge for rape," he warns, "people here will go mad."
"Nothing changes here. I was here in 2005 during the massive protests - they came back and tried to clean the place up. But you don't change anything with a coat of paint. Work, hope. We have none of that."
He - like many here - is bright and well informed. He knows what the problems are - but is despondent that no-one seems to want to solve them.
An air of boredom and hopelessness hangs over this place.
For the young men here, the state is the enemy.
Police cars drive up and down the roads, through column after column of social housing. Groups of young men shout "rapists" as they go by.
Franco says banlieue youths "have to fight" for justice
Local activist Franco, from the anti-negrophobia league, says the anger is justified.
"The expression of their anger is the consequence of this first violence against Theo. This violence is a system, and this keeps us in a place where we cannot progress.
"When there is no justice, we have to fight to have it."
Theo's ordeal is part of a bigger cycle of violence that keeps on spinning. Youth vs police; black vs white; haves vs have nots. And communities left behind.
Fabien is also from the anti-negrophobia group.
"What the police are trying to do right now is not protecting us," he says.
"They want us to just shut up. They don't want us to express in any shape or form. They are just here to shut us down.
"We have to come and ask for justice. We have to acknowledge that this injustice is particular to a certain type of people. Coloured, minority, black, Arab - whatever you want. We are the most exposed to the systemic racism of the French state."
Theo himself appealed for calm from his hospital bed. His sister is also keen to stress her commitment to peace.
"We speak because we trust in justice," she says. But she knows what's in store if that justice isn't seen to be done.
"If not, there will be more anger, for sure," Eleanor says.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39011298
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Sister of Paris police 'rape victim' speaks out - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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The sister of the young man who was allegedly sexually assaulted by French police, calls for justice in a BBC interview.
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The sister of the young man who was allegedly sexually assaulted by French police, has spoken to the BBC.
Eleanor has said that there will be further violence unless justice is seen to be done.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39020154
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South Africa's amputee homeless artist - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Chuma Somdaka, a disabled artist living in a South African park, gets her own exhibition.
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Becoming a successful artist is hard enough without being homeless and disabled. But Chuma Somdaka, who has been living in a park in South Africa for three years, has not let her circumstances discourage her and is now preparing for her first exhibition.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-38991130
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Trump: 'I'm only worried he's gonna give me a kiss' - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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The US president invited a supporter on to the stage at his rally in Florida.
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US President Trump invited one of his supporters on stage during his "campaign rally for America" event in Florida.
While the Republican was giving a speech, he recognised the man in the crowd that he had seen "on television just now", and let him deliver a few words at the podium to the Trump supporters.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39018776
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Facebook bereavement leave: How long is long enough? - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Facebook last week doubled its bereavement leave allowance for its staff. Employees can now take up to 20 days off on full pay. Is it enough?
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Business
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Facebook's new bereavement leave policy was announced by Sheryl Sandberg
Facebook last week doubled its bereavement leave allowance for its staff. Employees can now take up to 20 days off with pay to mourn the death of an immediate family member.
The new policy was announced by Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, who has spoken publicly about mourning her husband, Dave Goldberg, who died in 2015.
"We need public policies that make it easier for people to care for their children and aging parents and for families to mourn and heal after loss," Ms Sandberg posted on Facebook.
She added that companies that stand by the people who work for them do the right thing and "improve their bottom line by increasing the loyalty and performance of their workforce".
The move has sparked huge debate on social media and has been lauded as extremely generous. Is it enough? We asked the views of four people dealing with grief in the workplace.
Chad Andrews and his family returned home from an Alaskan cruise three years ago when his eight-year-old son, Connor, was rushed to hospital a few days later.
Connor had mild flu symptoms that suddenly worsened. He was placed in intensive care but deteriorated rapidly.
In June 2014, he died of myocarditis - an inflammation of the heart stemming from a virus.
Mr Andrews told the BBC that his life became a blur. He had lost an "exceptional, brilliant and beautiful" son and was left in shock.
But he forced himself to return to work a fortnight later even though he admits he wasn't very productive.
"When you're paralysed by grief and it's all your mind can absorb, the last thing you care about is work," he says. "I had no capacity to be in control or function in the everyday world."
Mr Andrews works at IBM where he builds technology platforms for video content. Officially, the company gives staff three days of bereavement leave but he says there was never any pressure for him to return.
After many stops and starts, it took him seven weeks to resume work full-time.
While he believes there is no magic formula, he says Facebook's 20 days bereavement leave "seems like a good best effort to set an effective benchmark".
But he adds that it depends on when the individual can function again.
Chad Andrews and his family on holiday in Alaska. His son Connor (right) died a week later
Chan Lay Lin has been a social worker and family therapist for more than 20 years.
She is a principal medical social worker at Singapore's Institute of Mental Health and says most organisations in Singapore will allow about three days of compassionate leave when a staff member suffers a bereavement.
In her experience, this is adequate when the circumstances are not overly traumatic. But she says in exceptional cases experienced by around one in seven people, a longer grieving period may be needed, with the approval of a doctor or therapist.
The factors considered, she says, include the relationship with the deceased, the level of attachment and dependency and the nature of the death. Sudden and unexpected deaths are all the more traumatic.
Ms Chan says in severe cases some people may never feel like they get back to normal and can fall into depression, making them unable to go back to work for a long time.
For those people the grief may never end, even if it gets easier to bear. But she stresses these are very rare and extreme cases.
Peter Wilson believes 20 days bereavement leave would be "excessive" if it became law
Peter Wilson has been a boss working in human resources for 33 years, and is the chairman of the Australian Human Resources Institute.
According to him, the standard for bereavement leave in democratic, Western cultures is between two and five days.
When his own parents died he used compassionate leave to take one day off for the funeral and another to grieve with his family. He took an extra week of annual leave in each instance, which he describes as a "fair balance".
Mr Wilson believes Facebook's bereavement leave policy is unusual and doubts it will be adopted widely. Twenty days amounts to nearly 10% of the working year, which he says would be "excessive" if it became law.
His concern is that it would put pressure on employers to increase other categories of leave too. "This could have a knock-on effect which could make companies uncompetitive," he says.
He favours a "sensible, minimum standard which the government prescribes and the discretion to give more leave on a case-by-case basis".
Ten years ago, he granted three months' paid leave to an indigenous employee on cultural grounds.
Mr Wilson says most employers will extend leave provisions where there's a good case for it.
A company's compassionate leave policy can give an insight into its ethics, says headhunter Dan Clements
Dan Clements is the managing director of the technology executive recruitment firm, Identify, and says most people probably do not factor in bereavement leave when they are deciding whether to join a company.
However, he believes a firm's compassionate leave policy could give potential employees insight into its culture and ethics. Firms that take a mature and humane approach stand to attract great talent because employees want to be treated fairly and with kindness, he says.
Mr Clements surveyed the compassionate leave policies of 10 multinational companies. They all offered between three and 10 days, with five days being the most common.
One firm went further, giving its managers discretion to grant staff more days off for a bereavement.
But he says companies can do more by offering flexible working arrangements such as remote or part-time working, as well as job sharing to help staff in need of more time to grieve.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38915693
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Premiership: Sale Sharks 34-28 Wasps - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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A hat-trick from Denny Solomona helps push Sale to victory in a high-scoring affair against leaders Wasps.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
A hat-trick from Denny Solomona pushed Sale to victory in a high-scoring affair against leaders Wasps.
Sale had raced to a 31-9 lead just after half-time at AJ Bell Stadium before Wasps found their groove.
Tries from Josh Bassett and Ashley Johnson put them back in touching distance at 31-21 before Sale's Will Addison delivered a vital three points.
Kurtley Beale scored Wasps' third try 11 minutes from time and that made for a tense finish but Sale held firm.
Wasps had been unbeaten in their past six Premiership matches but looked off the pace from early on. Conversely, Sale showed quickly they wanted to make a statement and did so through rugby league covert Solomona.
His move from Castleford Tigers has attracted controversy off-the-field, but on it, his hat-trick took his try tally to seven in his first five matches - a new Premiership record.
Another new face, South Africa international Willie Le Roux made his Premiership debut for Wasps and the full-back set up Beale's try after coming off the bench.
But as Wasps threatened in the closing stages, Sale replacement scrum-half Peter Stringer gained a vital turnover and marshalled his pack to help run down the clock.
Sale remain in 10th place, but open up a 10-point gap above Worcester, who lost to Exeter this weekend.
At the other end, Wasps remain top by six points, but missed the chance to go as much as 10 points clear of Saracens and Exeter in joint-second.
"First half was particularly good. It was a training ground move for the first try.
"Denny's shown his true class a couple of times and he should have got another one really shouldn't he?
"Denny takes his opportunities and makes his opportunities and that is what we knew he'd bring to the party. If he keeps doing that, he'll go a long way.
"It's good to get us past the 25-point mark, which I always think you need to stay in league."
"I'm sure there will be accusations of complacency, but I don't think that was the case.
"It is very hard to argue that we weren't where we should be at mentally. We made uncharacteristic mistakes first half that we haven't done all season.
"I thought they were the better team, had more edge to them than we did and I thought they deserved their win.
"We haven't lost too many physical battles this season so you have to look at yourself really - they had an edge today that we didn't have."
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38971933
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First scheduled steam train service used by 5,500 people - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Tornado, the newest steam locomotive in Britain, pulled 12 Northern services over three days.
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Cumbria
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
More than 5,000 people travelled on the first timetabled steam train service on the Settle to Carlisle railway line in 50 years, Northern Rail has said.
Tornado, the newest steam locomotive in Britain, pulled 12 Northern services over three days from 14 -16 February.
The company described the event as "a remarkable success" and has not ruled out running similar services again.
It was part of celebrations to mark the upcoming reopening of the line after landslides closed a long stretch.
Paul Barnfield, Northern Rail regional director, said: "During the three days just over 5,500 people travelled on the steam services and it was great to see so many entering into the spirit of the celebration.
"This was the first timetabled steam service in England for almost 50 years and to be able to bring Tornado to such an iconic and visually stunning line, as a way of saying thank you, was a genuine pleasure."
Graeme Bunker, of the Darlington-based A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, which built Tornado, said: "To see the many thousands who travelled and many thousands more enjoying the event at the line side made the endeavour very worthwhile and delivered a welcome boost to the local community after recent challenges.
"I am very proud of my team for their part in ensuring the services ran so successfully."
The landslip was caused by heavy rain
Douglas Hodgins, of the Friends of Settle to Carlisle Line, added: "There must be lessons here about the demand for steam, scenery and rail travel in general. It was the perfect curtain-raiser for the reopening of the line on 31 March."
It took 18 years for the trust to build the £3m Tornado 60163, which can achieve speeds of 75mph (120km/h). It was completed in 2008.
The Appleby to Carlisle stretch of line closed in February 2016 after a 500,000-tonne landslip at Armathwaite.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-39020181
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FA Cup: Best fifth-round goals include Rudy Gestede's acrobatic volley - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Watch the FA Cup fifth round's best goals, including Rudy Gestede's acrobatic volley for Middlesbrough and a lovely finish from Blackburn's Danny Graham.
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Watch the best of the goals from the FA Cup fifth round, including Rudy Gestede's acrobatic volley for Middlesbrough, a cheeky free-kick from Oxford's Chris Maguire and a lovely finish from Blackburn's Danny Graham.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup fifth round here.
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39018249
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World Ski Championships 2017: Marcel Hirsher wins slalom gold - Dave Ryding misses out - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Austrian Marcel Hirscher wins men's slalom gold as Britain's Dave Ryding misses out on a medal after finishing 11th at the Alpine World Championships.
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Austrian Marcel Hirscher wins men's slalom gold as Britain's Dave Ryding misses out on a medal after finishing 11th at the Alpine World Championships in St Moritz, Switzerland.
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/39021464
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Newspaper headlines: Brexit 'blackmail' and 'plotting' peers - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Stories on pre-negotiation warnings from European politicians and to "remainer" peers make the front pages.
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The Papers
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As peers begin debating the Brexit legislation, the Guardian says it has been told by European politicians that British attempts to "blackmail and divide" EU countries in the run-up to Brexit negotiations will lead to a disastrous "crash landing" out of the bloc.
They say the approach being pursued by Theresa May's government will leave the UK without a free trade deal and facing perilous consequences, reports the paper.
The Daily Express is concerned there is a plot by "remainer" Lords to delay Britain's exit from the EU.
It leads with a warning from Tory MP Philip Davies that any attempt by peers to block Brexit could lead to the demise of the House of Lords.
Elsewhere, there are divergent views on the value of advice from New Labour's elder statesmen after Lord Mandelson urged the House of Lords not to "throw in the towel" over Brexit.
According to the Sun, Lord Mandelson may think it fine to treat voters as an annoying irrelevance, but for them, that is exactly what he has become.
The Daily Mail accuses him of acting like an 18th Century aristocrat planning a last stand against the peasantry.
But Matthew d'Ancona in the Guardian welcomes Tony Blair's earlier decision to take on Brexit. "If not him, then who?" he asks.
And the Daily Telegraph reports Brexit could lead Oxford University to break with more than 700 years of tradition by establishing its first foreign campus.
The paper says French officials met senior staff at Oxford to discuss proposals that they hope will guarantee future EU funding for a satellite base in Paris. Other universities, including Warwick, are also said to have been approached.
The Times says ministers risked enraging small businesses over April's business rate revaluation.
It says it has seen a private letter to Conservative MPs in which ministers claim that a growing revolt over changes to business rates is being fuelled by lies.
The Daily Telegraph says Theresa May is facing a Cabinet split over the issue. An unnamed cabinet source tells the paper: "The last thing you want to do is whack the confidence of small businesses."
Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror reports Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has paid for what it describes as "a massive secret opinion poll on his leadership" as rumours grow that he might quit before 2020.
It says he has ordered a 10,000 person survey but will keep the results secret from all but his closest ally, the shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
The Mirror believes it is a legitimate exercise, but that keeping the findings confidential is less defensible, saying they should be shared, "warts and all".
The main news in the Daily Telegraph is a warning from Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon that millions of refugees will head to Europe from Afghanistan unless British troops maintain their roles in training local forces.
His words, says the Telegraph, are a stark reminder that, whether we like it or not, the consequences of previous Western interventions continue to this day.
According to the lead in the Daily Mail, a report has revealed that the NHS in England has cut 15,000 beds over the past six years.
The paper says that amounts to the equivalent of closing 24 hospitals at the same time as demand for beds is soaring due to the pressures of the social care crisis, immigration and an ageing population.
But ministers are disputing the accuracy of the British Medical Association's findings and NHS England tells the paper that modern treatment advances mean patients need to spend less time in hospital.
Finally, the Daily Mail, reports on research carried out by Hungarian scientists studying the effects of separating young people from their mobile phones.
More than 80 18 to 26-year-olds were wired up to heart monitors.
The paper says researchers found that if their phones were taken away for even a short time they exhibited heartbeat patterns usually associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-39023937
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Sutton v Arsenal: Clem tours the Gunners' dressing room - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Mark Clemmit is shown around the away dressing room at Sutton United by manager Paul Doswell, which Premier League side Arsenal will be using during their FA Cup fifth-round match on Monday.
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Mark Clemmit is shown around the away dressing room at Sutton United by manager Paul Doswell, which Premier League side Arsenal will be using during their FA Cup fifth-round match on Monday.
Watch live coverage of Sutton v Arsenal, Monday 20 February, 19:30 GMT on BBC One and the BBC Sport website.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39006470
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Cars fall into Los Angeles sinkhole - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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The drama of cars tumbling into a sinkhole is shown on live TV.
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Two cars have fallen down a sinkhole in Studio City, a Los Angeles neighbourhood in the US.
The drama of the second one, teetering on the edge and then tumbling down, was shown on live television.
One of the strongest storms in years - dubbed a "bombogenesis" or "weather bomb" - has hit California.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39014359
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Mo Farah wins 5,000m and Laura Muir breaks record at British Grand Prix - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Mo Farah takes victory in the 5,000m at the Birmingham Grand Prix to win the final indoor race of his career.
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Last updated on .From the section Athletics
Mo Farah took victory in the 5,000m at the Birmingham Grand Prix to win the final indoor race of his career.
The 33-year-old, who will retire from the track this year, set a European record of 13 minutes 9.16 seconds.
Laura Muir won the 1,000m in a British record of 2:31:93, taking over a second off Dame Kelly Holmes' 2004 mark.
Jamaica's 100m and 200m Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson stormed to victory in the women's 60m in 6.98 seconds, the eighth-fastest time ever.
Four-time Olympic champion Farah plans to focus on road racing after the World Championships in London in August.
He was pushed hard by Bahrain's Albert Rop, who held on as Farah kicked away from the majority of the field, but was defeated in a sprint finish.
"I had amazing support from the crowd today and I can't quite believe it's my last indoor race," said Farah.
"I've had a great career indoors and particularly on this track.
"I knew I needed to do some work after Edinburgh, I had to leave my family but hard work pays off."
Farah had finished seventh last month at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country.
Scotland's Muir has already broken two records this year - the European 3,000m indoor record and the British 5,000m indoor record, the latter held for 25 years by Liz McColgan.
The 23-year-old demolished the field in Birmingham and her time was just one second shy of Maria Mutola's world indoor record of 2:30.94.
Muir will head to Belgrade for the European Indoor Championships from 3-5 March as favourite in both the 1500m and 3,000m.
"I wanted to come away with a win on home soil but to break Kelly's record, I'm so chuffed, and I was not far away from the world record, so I am really pleased," said the Dundee Hawkhill Harrier.
"The crowd were huge, I couldn't hear myself breathing they were so loud.
"It is every athlete's dream to be injury free and running as well as I am. Hopefully I can carry this sort of form into the summer.
"I'm in the best shape I can be so I'm hoping to win some medals in Belgrade."
When you're in amazing shape as Laura is right now, and setting record after record, what you really want to do is capitalise on that and come away with two gold medals in Belgrade to underline that form; particularly when next year she'll be going back to her veterinary studies and will have to pick and choose with the calendar a little more.
She's got Belgrade not too far away now [in two weeks], the timetable works really well to double up there, it fits in perfectly and can be a real confidence boost going into the summer.
In Saturday's other events, Andrew Pozzi ran a personal best and world leading time of 7.43secs in the 60m hurdles to beat fellow Briton David King and Aries Merritt of the United States.
Great Britain took first and second place in the women's long jump, as Loraine Ugen jumped a season's best 6.76m ahead of Jazmin Sawyer's 6.71m.
In the women's 800m, British Champion Shelayna Oskan-Clarke came third in a personal best time of 2:01:71 and secured automatic selection for the European Indoor Championships.
USA's Ronnie Baker won the men's 60m in 6.55 as 40-year-old Kim Collins took second place and Britain's Richard Kilty came third.
In the women's 400m, GB's Laviai Nielsen almost held off Czech Republic's Zuzana Hejnova, but the 20-year-old was beaten into second place in the final few metres.
Eilidh Doyle, who has already qualified for Belgrade, finished fourth, while Laviai's twin sister Lina Nielsen came fifth.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/39016328
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FA Cup quarter-final draw: Lincoln City to play Arsenal - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Lincoln City will play Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals as reward for their fifth-round victory over Burnley.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Lincoln City will play Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals as reward for their stunning fifth-round victory over Burnley.
The fifth-tier club became the first non-league team in 103 years to reach the last eight with the biggest shock of the competition so far on Saturday.
Middlesbrough face Manchester City or Huddersfield, who drew 0-0 on Saturday.
Arsenal reached the last eight with a 2-0 win at Sutton.
The replay between Manchester City and Huddersfield is provisionally set for Tuesday, 28 February at Etihad Stadium.
The quarter-final matches will take place on the weekend of Saturday, 11 March.
There are 88 places between National League leaders Lincoln and Arsenal.
Lincoln boss Cowley said his side had achieved a "football miracle" after beating Burnley 1-0 at Turf Moor with an 89th-minute winner.
It is the first time in the club's 133-year history that they have reached the quarter-finals.
Their next match is away to North Ferriby United on Tuesday, while they are also still in the FA Trophy and play Boreham Wood for a semi-final place on Saturday.
Queens Park Rangers, who joined the Football League in 1920, were the last non-league team to make the FA Cup last eight, in 1914. They were beaten 2-1 by Liverpool in their quarter-final at Anfield.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39018105
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SpaceX successfully launches rocket after Saturday setback - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The US rocket company sends a cargo ship to resupply the International Space Station.
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Science & Environment
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The SpaceX rocket was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Private rocket firm SpaceX has successfully launched a rocket carrying a cargo ship for the International Space Station following the postponement of take-off on Saturday because of technical problems.
Witnesses said the rocket was only briefly visible before making its way into the clouds.
The launch was made from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The rocket booster successfully landed nine minutes after taking off.
The touchdown is part of the company's strategy of returning rockets to earth so they can be reused rather than jettisoning them in the ocean after a single launch.
Moments after the rocket landed, the SpaceX Dragon supply ship successfully reached orbit, prompting cheers inside the SpaceX Mission Control room.
Witnesses said the rocket was only briefly visible before making its way into the clouds
The Dragon is now making its way to the International Space Station, and is expected to arrive on Wednesday.
On 14 January SpaceX resumed flights by launching a Falcon 9 vehicle from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast.
It was the first mission by the company since one of its vehicles exploded on the launch pad in September.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, wants his company to be at the forefront of the race involving several companies to deploy satellite-based internet services over the next few years.
The company also has a long queue of customers all waiting for a ride to orbit - including America's civil space agency (Nasa), the US military and multiple outfits in the commercial sector.
But September's launch pad mishap was a spectacular reminder of just how unpredictable rockets can be sometimes.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39021729
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Munich Security Conference: Europe's concerns with Trump government far from over - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Vice-President Mike Pence represents the new Donald Trump administration at the Munich Security Conference.
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Europe
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Germany's Angela Merkel, seen here with US Vice-President Mike Pence, asked in a speech whether countries would return to "parochial policies"
The Munich Security Conference is at one and the same time an annual jamboree for senior officials and think-tankers and a place where former officials and corporate movers-and-shakers meet up.
But it also affords an opportunity for a whole series of behind the scenes bilateral meetings. And once every four years it is the place where Europe takes stock of a new US administration.
This year the meeting had added significance since the man in the White House, Donald Trump, is unlike any other president in living memory.
His supporters believe he is the man to overturn the "establishment" in Washington and to get things done.
His detractors believe he is unfit for high office, his erratic behaviour leading some even to question his mental state.
Remember this was a man who on the campaign trail described Nato as "obsolete" and who said that he would end the free ride that he believed many allies - especially in Europe - were taking at the American taxpayers' expense.
So this encounter in Munich was an opportunity for Nato allies to weigh up the new Trump team and to try to gauge the new administration's likely direction. Mr Trump sent his Vice-President Mike Pence to Munich to deliver a series of clearly worded messages.
And to avoid any doubt his new defence chief, General James Mattis, provided a warm-up act at Nato headquarters at the end of last week - and to ensure nobody mistakes the message Mr Pence himself will be heading to Brussels, the seat of Nato, once the Munich conference is over.
Mr Pence used his Munich speech to bring a message of reassurance from the new president. "The US," he said, strongly supports Nato and will be "unwavering in its commitment to the trans-Atlantic alliance" .
Mike Pence's words were an attempt to calm nerves ruffled when President Trump called the alliance 'obsolete'
But with so few allies actually meeting the agreed target for defence spending, there was a warning too.
"Let me be clear on this point," he stressed, "the president of the United States expects our allies to keep their word to fulfil this commitment and for most that means the time has come to do more".
This statement was met with hesitant applause - an indication that many Europeans do not welcome being bullied by the Trump White House.
Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had emphasised that military spending alone was not the only measure of the Europeans' commitment to security.
She calmly - but pointedly - took issue with many of the Trump team's putative policies, noting the importance of international multilateral institutions like the EU and the UN (both of which have been condemned by Mr Trump).
Indeed at the end of her speech she seemed to take on the central tenet of the Trump campaign - enshrined in the slogan "America First!" Looking to the future she posed a fundamental question. "Will we be able," she asked, "to act in concert together or (will we) fall back into parochial policies?"
One of Europe's greatest fears has been Mr Trump's apparent willingness to do a deal with Moscow - not to mention his evident admiration for Russia's leader Vladimir Putin. Mr Trump's emissaries pretty much convinced their European hosts that on key issues - at least for now - there would be no change.
General Mattis insisted that Russia had to abide by international law and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on a recent visit to Bonn, stressed that agreements like the Minsk accords to end the fighting in Ukraine had to be fully implemented by all sides - including Moscow.
Sergei Lavrov, represented Russia, who were almost bystanders at this Nato conference
Vice-President Pence emphasised the message saying here in Munich that the US would continue to hold Russia to account, even as it searched for areas of common ground.
The Russians have almost been bystanders here watching the internal Nato debate from the sidelines. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov returned to a familiar theme - that Nato was essentially an institution of the past. The expansion of the Atlantic Alliance, he said, had led to an unprecedented level of tensions. What was now needed was what he called a "post-western world order".
So there seems little chance here for President Trump's hope for fresh understanding with Moscow - or at the very least that it will not come at the expense of the European Nato allies, or perhaps even of Ukraine. If there is a deal to be done between Washington and Moscow it will lie elsewhere, perhaps over Syria.
This Munich conference will end on Sunday with many of the concerns of the Europeans only partially stilled. For they relate more to the character and outlook of the new US president himself.
One of his tweets can undermine policies that have received bipartisan support in Washington for decades. And its not just a style thing: many of Mr Trump's policies remain unclear, even as so many positions inside his team remain unfilled.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39017879
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World Club Challenge: Wigan Warriors 22-6 Cronulla Sharks - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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Joe Burgess scores a hat-trick of tries as Wigan beat Cronulla Sharks to win a record fourth World Club Challenge.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby League
Joe Burgess scored a hat-trick of tries as Wigan beat Cronulla Sharks to win a record fourth World Club Challenge.
Victory for the Warriors also completed a 2-0 World Club Series win for Super League over Australia's NRL.
Oliver Gildart also crossed as an English club became world champions for the first time since Leeds in 2012.
Wigan's success was aided by a superb defensive effort, with Cronulla's only score coming from Jesse Ramien midway through the second period.
However, the Sharks had two marginal video referee decisions go against them when claiming tries of their own during the first half.
National Rugby League clubs had won all six matches since the inception of the expanded World Club Series in 2015, but Super League champions Wigan followed up Warrington's victory over Brisbane Broncos to secure a first series win for the northern hemisphere's domestic competition.
Wigan won three of the first five World Club Challenge contests but had not been victorious in the annual fixture since 1994.
Burgess, in his first home match since returning to the club following a year playing in Australia, enjoyed the perfect homecoming for the Cherry and Whites.
He is only the second player to score a hat-trick in a World Club Challenge, following Michael Jennings' treble for Sydney Roosters against Wigan in 2014.
England winger Burgess, a scorer for the Warriors in that loss three years earlier, acrobatically touched down for their opening score and he grabbed his second at the end of a thrilling passage of play.
The home side survived two punishing sets of six tackles near their own try line, before going the length of the field to establish a 10-0 lead.
Sharks second-rower Luke Lewis had already seen his effort ruled out for offside and there was more disappointment for the reigning NRL champions as Kurt Capewell was deemed to have scraped the whitewash with the ball as he grounded it in the corner.
Gildart's score, adding to his try in last season's Grand Final victory over Warrington, gave Wigan some valuable breathing space but any hopes of becoming the third World Club Challenge winners to prevent their opponents from scoring were ended when Ramien touched down a grubber kick in the corner.
As well as Wigan's defence performed, Cronulla - who do not begin their league season until the start of March - were guilty of several handling errors and the Warriors were able to see out time with little alarm.
And Burgess was able to produce a dream finale, getting a fingertip onto a low kick in the last minute to complete his hat-trick.
Wigan Warriors head coach Shaun Wane told BBC Radio 5 live sports extra: "It's a fantastic feeling and I'm so pleased. The staff work hard but the players do their business out on the park.
"We did too much defending. I'm trying to stay positive and not think about how we played. I'm just glad to get the win.
"One thing we're good at in this country is looking for negatives. Let's be positive. Tony Smith did a great job with Warrington on Saturday and we won fair and square. Let's give Super League a pat on the back."
Cronulla head coach Shane Flanagan: "Wigan played really well and I thought it was a good game of footy. I wasn't happy with the refereeing, but Wigan took their opportunities and good luck to them.
"It's a great experience to come over here and play. The hospitality we've been shown has been fantastic and the game's in good shape when we can get games like this on in a packed stadium.
"We've had a great time. A lot of our players have never been to the UK and they'll be better players for it."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/38971535
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Music matters: Choosing the violin over walking - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The 3ft violinist who chose music over life-changing surgery.
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Disability
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Violinist Gaelynn Lea chose her musical craft over surgery which might have changed her life, but it is a decision she does not regret.
She now tours America and Europe with her haunting electro-folk music, but at just 3ft tall she plays her violin like a cello, enhanced by haunting electronic loops.
"When I was in fourth grade I saw an orchestra which came to school and I remember being blown away by the sound," she says. "I actually wanted to play the cello because it's beautiful, but it's obviously really big."
Lea from Duluth, Minnesota, who has Osteogenesis Imperfecta - or Brittle Bone Disease - settled for the much smaller, musical sister of the cello - the violin - after she scored 100% in a music aptitude test at school.
It was a decision which would see her travel the world.
"Because I did so well in the test, my teacher was really determined, and we experimented a lot until we worked out I could play the violin like a cello.
"She could have said 'this isn't going to work' or 'you should have done choir' but she was really encouraging. We made a good team and I'm very grateful that she was so open minded."
The duo developed a technique which involved Lea holding the bow "like a baseball bat" with the body of the instrument placed in front of her, like a cello, and attached to her foot so it wouldn't slip when she played. There were a few other workarounds which also had to be developed.
"I can't use my fourth finger because of the angle of my right hand, so I had to re-write a lot of classical music. It makes it a little harder to do some stuff, but I practice a lot," she says.
Lea turned to Celtic and American folk music when she was 18, after finding her busy schedule precluded her from joining the college orchestra.
Gaelynn Lea in the studio before recording her Christmas album
The haunting sound which is her trademark was developed when she started experimenting with a loop pedal which enabled her to build and repeat several layers of sound.
"Looping fiddle music is one of my favourite concepts to play and it meant I could start doing solo shows," she says.
"I have a set loop that I start with but its never the same twice because I improvise a lot."
The inspiration for her songs and music comes from the people she knows or cares about and is often about the human condition. Lea says people "never have the same life experiences or outlook".
"Usually the songs come into my mind with a melody and I'll play my violin to figure it out, but it's all in my head," she says. "Nothing is written down, except the odd chord."
Lea released her debut solo album All the Roads that Lead Us Home in 2015, and last year won NPR Music's Tiny Desk Contest - a name which does not reflect the height of the musicians - with her song Someday We'll Linger in the Sun which defeated more than 6,000 other submissions.
"I didn't expect to win but it's meant playing in a few places including New York which was a dream of mine, but I really want to play Paris.
"The thing that I love about performance is the energy in the room, when you're connected to the audience and that can happen anywhere - the pizza shop, a cafe, busking - I've had some moments where I've connected with the audience and it's like a spiritual experience."
Despite the apparent ease with which she plays Lea has to contend with the continual challenges of Brittle Bone Disease - a genetic defect in the collagen in the bones.
She has "only" broken 16 bones since she was born and is proud to say she hasn't had a fracture in the last five years.
One of her arms is twisted which can make things more difficult, but she decided against a potentially life-changing operation for fear it could hamper her music career.
Known in America as "rodding", the operation would have seen her arm and leg bones threaded onto a metal rod which would act as a splint and keep the bone aligned if it fractured. It could also have improved her mobility.
"I actually chose not to walk and I'm happy," she says. "I could have had operations to put rods in my arms and my legs but there was no guarantee how well they'd work. I'd already started playing the violin so I didn't want to have my arms operated on and have my nerves damaged.
"I use an electric wheelchair so I didn't feel I needed to walk to make my life more fulfilling. And I don't think I'd even be who I am without brittle bones so I don't regret the decision."
When Lea is not on the road she works as a violin teacher and has 15 students on her books.
"I teach them the regular way - with the violin up on their shoulder," she says. "I watched some videos so I knew how it should be held and I understood the physics but it was trial and error to begin with."
Her students cover a vast age spectrum, and her main hope for them is that they always remain involved in music. "Music is such an important part of peoples' lives," she says.
Throughout her own musical development Lea says she has come across some people who see her disability as an obstacle, but many others have been supportive.
"If you think about it - I just play the violin at a different angle. It's still the same music but some people cant' get over the fact it's not regular.
"I'm sure there'll be other challenges, but it's not impossible. And I don't want to be limited by my disability."
Meet the NHS mental health director who was hospitalised for depression and hear about her open letter which went viral.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-36315689
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Roadkill and lawnmower exhibitions: The weird ways museums are finding funding - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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As our arts centres and museums suffer funding cuts, several are seeking innovative ways to increase their income and footfall. But can quirky fundraisers keep our tourist attractions afloat?
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England
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Museums are searching for unusual ways to raise money
Fancy learning how to practise taxidermy on roadkill? Or visiting the lawnmowers of the rich and famous? As our arts centres and museums suffer funding cuts, several are seeking innovative ways to increase income and footfall. But can quirky fundraisers keep our tourist attractions afloat?
Years ago, a day out at a museum may have meant trawling round glass cases full of dusty but worthy exhibits, before stopping in the teashop for a stale scone and a lukewarm drink.
But pitch up at some of England's museums nowadays and you could find yourself wandering into a film set or a cocktail bar.
The former head of Arts Council England, Sir Peter Bazalgette, suggests arts venues need to be imaginative about raising funds
Funding cuts have meant England's 1,300 accredited museums have had to find imaginative ways to raise money.
Indeed, the former head of Arts Council England, Sir Peter Bazalgette, suggested museums go even further if they want to survive.
He said theatres should open charity shops, art galleries should run bed and breakfasts and museums should become film sets to make more money.
Sir Peter pointed to examples such as the Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury, which runs a charity shop and Islington Mill, an arts centre in Salford, which runs a B&B.
Some museums say they might have limited appeal as a B&B
Alistair Brown, policy officer for the Museums Association, the sector's membership organisation, said: "Lots of museums are looking at new ways to generate income and are being quite creative about it.
"But it's probably a mistake to think that is the best way of saving them. The levels of income they are losing through cuts are greater than the amount they are able, in the short term, to raise through entrepreneurial activities."
So what are the quirkiest ways museums have found of raising funds? And is opening a guesthouse or running as a film set feasible for all of them?
The Grant Museum is not, at first glance, an obvious stand-up comedy venue
An Edwardian library jam-packed with animal skeletons and jars of pickled frogs might not seem, on the face of it, a barrel of laughs.
But the Grant Museum of Zoology, in London, decided its quirky setting was the perfect location to stage stand-up comedy gigs.
"It's a cabaret-style comedy night. We hold three of them a year and they are hugely popular," said Jack Ashby, the museum manager.
"The events are compèred by a professional comedian who introduces different members of staff to the audience. We have people working here who get particularly nerdy about animals nobody has ever heard of - and audiences find that pretty entertaining."
The museum holds other events, such as improvised opera nights and animal adoption schemes, to raise funds and make its displays of everything from elephant skulls to jars of tapeworms slightly more accessible.
But Mr Ashby has a word of caution as museums try to diversify.
"Museums have to think very carefully about what they can do to make money," he said.
"Some museums take a significant amount from weddings or corporate hire but you really have to invest in the staff to support those events. And realistically, you can only offer your venue as a film set if there is a film industry in your town or city."
Outdoor museums make ideal film sets, as the Black Country Living Museum has found
Several museums have sought extra funds by offering up their locations as film sets.
"We've always had filming at the museum," said Laura Wakelin, deputy chief executive of the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley. "But previously it was much more sporadic.
"When I arrived in 2013, we decided we needed to start actively promoting the museum as a unique venue for filming."
Since then, the museum has famously been the backdrop for BBC drama Peaky Blinders and the ITV period adaptation Arthur and George, as well as reality shows and a Bollywood movie.
In 2015 alone, filming raised about £50,000 for the museum, which has also capitalised on its raised profile in other ways.
The museum is capitalising on its appeal by holding themed weekends for visitors
"As Peaky Blinders took off, we started to see flat caps in our gift shop and we run Peaky Blinders nights," said Miss Wakelin. "They usually sell out and bring in a slightly younger demographic.
"It's about finding what works for your venue. Yes, we have wonderful assets here but we are in the middle of quite an economically disadvantaged area so we do have to pitch these things right."
The Pathology Museum, in London, is hosting taxidermy workshops
The idea of setting up as a bed and breakfast or a film set might be tempting if your attraction is charmingly photogenic.
But such ventures would not work for every location, explains Carla Valentine, technical curator of the Pathology Museum, in London.
"This isn't the kind of museum that has space to be a B&B and we couldn't do that anyway as it contains human remains," she said.
However, the museum, which showcases medical specimens owned by Queen Mary University London, does put on macabre fundraising events.
The classes have a wide appeal, according to the museum
Among the most successful have been its Stuff and Nonsense beginners' taxidermy classes.
Amanda Sutton, who runs them, said: "They are very popular and tend to sell out. I think it's the experience of doing something so unusual that appeals to people.
"We are running a special class for Valentine's Day. People come as couples and work together on their animals, which is quite sweet in a weird kind of way.
"When we set these classes up, some other London museums didn't seem to think it was very appropriate but they have now started running their own weird events. I don't think museums can just run stuffy events for academics - they need to appeal to the general public."
The Museum of Curiosities venue includes a cocktail bar that it hires out
Of course, online communities bring added scope for museums to reach out to like-minded enthusiasts and nowhere is this better demonstrated than in a Hackney basement, which plays home to London's Museum of Curiosities.
The museum, which revels in the incoherence of its collections - ranging from dodo bones to fast food collectables - was initially funded by 500 people on Kickstarter and it has also used crowdfunding to add to its displays, most notably with a mummy.
Its premises include a small cocktail bar, which it hires out to raise funds. Mr Wynd also meets running costs via sponsorship.
Viktor Wynd says it is important museums are self-reliant
Founder Viktor Wynd is passionate about such enterprises being relatively self-reliant.
"The government's involvement in the arts is often disastrous," he said. "It creates vast bureaucracies and the money would be better spent on the police or NHS.
"Museum culture in the UK has centred around the misguided idea that funding should only come from the government, meaning that most cultural bodies put huge amounts of resource into getting grants - resources that if applied successfully to raising money from the private sector would probably do just as well.
"I believe the government ought to support a handful of major national collections - but even those should be encouraged to generate as much of their revenue as possible."
Celebrity donations, such as comedian Lee Mack's dibber, helped the museum broaden its appeal
Diversifying some museums would be a push too far, according to Brian Radam, the curator of the British Lawnmower Museum in Southport.
"I can't see the British Lawnmower Museum becoming the latest blockbuster set - especially as most of our exhibits were destined for the scrapyard," he said.
"As for the idea of a B&B - well, they would be extremely uncomfortable to sleep on."
Finding funding to keep the museum going is exhausting work, Mr Radam says.
"Over the last 25 years we have become experts on saving money, running the museum on a shoestring," he said.
Brian Radam says keeping the museum going is exhausting work
The venue does not receive public funding so relies on its visitors and innovative ideas to secure its future.
As well as ticket sales, the museum also makes money through restoring beloved family grass-cutting heirlooms.
"One of our ideas was to create an exhibition of lawnmowers of the rich and famous," said Mr Radam.
"We had Prince Charles and Princess Diana's mower, Brian May's and Albert Pierrepont's on display," he said.
"Lawnmowers are not the sexiest of subjects but the exhibition created a lot of interest and revenue."
But as museums and public arts venues face significant financial pressures, is it realistic to say that all can find ways to raise funds independently?
The Museums Association believes there are more than 2,500 museums across the UK but says more than 60 have closed in the past 10 years.
"The bulk of closures are happening in areas that are less well-off, where there has been a severe decline in public spending," said Mr Brown.
"We have also seen several museums opening over that time - these tend to be small, independent museums that are volunteer-run.
Dozens of museums have closed over the past decade
"A lot of our museums date from the 19th Century at a time of great national and civic pride.
"I don't think the number of museums is unsustainable but clearly there is a trend for some types of museums - particularly those run by local authorities - to close at the moment.
"It feels as if museums are being asked to make an extremely quick transformation into business organisations, but that can't take place overnight.
"There's also a philosophical question about what the role of museums is and the extent to which they should be focusing their energies on generating income or on their public role of inspiring and educating people."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38920364
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Kim Jong-nam: Will killing derail North Korea-China ties? - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Some see Kim Jong-nam's death as a slap in the face for Beijing from the North Korean leader.
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China
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The apparent killing of Kim Jong-nam raises tricky questions for China
Beijing needs to do more to rein in North Korea: that's the view of US President Donald Trump and his new team. But how much leverage does China really have there and what are the chances of it being used, asks the BBC's Stephen McDonell in Beijing.
China and North Korea seem to be heading into yet another tense period in their recently rocky relationship.
Once brothers-in-arms fighting against "imperialist aggression" during the Korean War, now Beijing accuses Pyongyang publicly of breaching United Nations sanctions in the pursuit of its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.
And the apparent assassination of Kim Jong-nam - the half brother of North Korea's brutal leader - is being seen as a fresh point of tension between these official allies.
In fact, some view it as direct slap in the face for China.
It appears Mr Kim was murdered in Kuala Lumpur airport, on his way back to Macau, by female killers using of some type of poison.
Kim Jong-nam died at Kuala Lumpur airport as he prepared to board a flight
Kim Jong-nam spent much of the past decade in a type of self-imposed exile inside the former Portuguese colony. There he was seen to have the protection of China.
The eldest son of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il, he said time and again that he had no interest in becoming involved in his country's politics.
What's more, whenever he was cornered by reporters in the Asian casino city, with his shirt unbuttoned to number three and sporting a three-day growth, you could really believe him when he said it. After all, why would he want to?
There has been speculation that he operated some sort of North Korean sanction-busting slush fund out of Macau and that this was the reason that Beijing and Pyongyang tolerated his hedonistic life style.
But for China there was something else too. He was an ally inside the North Korean elite: somebody who thought the best way forward for his homeland was a Chinese-style opening up.
For years, China has been trying to promote this style of thinking with its isolated, impoverished neighbour.
Before he died, Kim Jong-il was shown around the prosperous Chinese city of Dalian. The message: "You too could have some of this at home with a bit of opening up!"
But the Kim dynasty has appeared petrified by the prospect of such openness, and that Kim Jong-nam would side with the Chinese.
So despite his apparent lack of interest in political power, the fact that he could be seen hanging around down in Macau as a possible leader to be called on by Beijing in the event of regime collapse in Pyongyang made him a threat to the paranoid figure in power there today.
If this was a political assassination, then most North Korea observers think the order came right from the top.
This will not go down well with the government of Xi Jinping in Beijing. In recent days the two countries' relationship has become even more murky.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency has reported that China turned back a $1m (£800,000) coal shipment from North Korea.
China has long been criticised for turning a blind eye to North Korean coal exports, in violation of UN sanctions, but maybe not this time.
In the wake of last weekend's North Korean ballistic missile test, 16,295 tonnes of its coal were denied entry to Wenzhou Port in Zhejiang Province.
You see the sequence of events: Sunday 12 February missile test, next morning an ally of China is murdered, later that afternoon Beijing criticises the test, two days later the coal shipment is turned back. What's next?
When asked about the death of Kim Jong-nam, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said his government had "seen the media reports" and that that they were "following the developments". I'll bet they are.
Coal had been one of North Korea's main exports with most going to China
At a social function run by the Chinese military recently, I was speaking to a Chinese officer about the US demand that they do more to bring pressure on North Korea.
He shrugged his shoulders. He said they didn't know what the North Koreans would do next and that they had no idea what China could do to change their minds.
Yet by far and away the vast majority of trade in and out of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), as the country prefers to be called, is with China. If you take Chinese trade out of the equation there's not much left.
So why would Beijing put up with all this? Why put up with the waves of instability flowing out of Korean peninsula?
It's often said that a meltdown in North Korea could lead to millions of refugees pouring into China but, even if this did happen, it would likely only be a temporary problem.
No. The real fear is that a complete collapse of the North Korean regime could lead to Korean unification, with American soldiers based in a country with a land border with China.
Beijing will not let that happen and Pyongyang's current ruler, Kim Jong-un, knows it.
So no matter how many times North Korea drives its powerful protector to distraction, in the end, Beijing believes it doesn't have much choice but to put up with its weirdness, with its basket-case economy, with its erratic behaviour and probably also with its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-39000681
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World Ski Championships 2017: Dave Ryding in contention after opening run - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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British skier Dave Ryding puts himself in contention for a medal with a strong opening run in the men's slalom at the Alpine World Championships.
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British skier Dave Ryding puts himself in contention for a medal with a strong opening run in the men's slalom at the Alpine World Championships in St Moritz, Switzerland.
Available to UK users only.
Watch the second run of the men's slalom from 11:45 GMT on the BBC Red Button and the BBC Sport website.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/39020082
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Rich rewards in tricky treasure hunt - BBC News
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2017-02-19
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Five objects, each worth at least £2,500, have been hidden around Scunthorpe, and the deal is finders keepers.
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Five objects, each worth at least £2,500, have been hidden around Scunthorpe, and the deal is finders keepers.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39014559
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Lincoln City: How Imps became FA Cup legends - BBC Sport
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2017-02-19
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BBC Sport takes a look at how non-league side Lincoln City became FA Cup legends after beating Premier League side Burnley 1-0 in the fifth round.
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BBC Sport takes a look at how non-league side Lincoln City became FA Cup legends after beating Premier League side Burnley 1-0 in the fifth round, becoming the first non-league side in 103 years to reach the quarter-finals.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup fifth round here.
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39018109
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The cost of Punjab's heroin 'epidemic' - BBC News
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2017-02-02
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Drug addiction has become a major campaign issue ahead of state polls in Punjab.
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The north Indian state of Punjab is due to hold polls on Saturday for a new government.
However, the biggest issue confronting voters is not jobs or the economy, but a massive drugs problem.
Nearly two thirds of households in the state are said to have at least one user of hard drugs, such as heroin.
Filmed and produced by Neha Sharma and Kunal Sehgal
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38831563
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Halal snack pack: The kebab that defined Australia in 2016 - BBC News
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2017-02-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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After bursting onto the political scene in 2016, "halal snack pack" becomes Australians' Word of the Year.
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Australia
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"Halal snack pack" has been named People's Choice Word of the Year 2016 by Australia's Macquarie Dictionary.
A snack pack, also known as an HSP, is a hearty pile of kebab meat, chips and sauce which has become a staple of Australian takeaway shops.
It's perhaps an unlikely platform for political debate, but this year the dish rocketed into Australia's national consciousness, becoming a symbol of peaceful multiculturalism for many, but for others, an unwelcome sign of the growing influence of Islam.
Politician Pauline Hanson takes the view that halal meat is unacceptable in Australia
This year the dish, made to Islamic religious standards, found its way into politics, after right-wing anti-Islam politician Pauline Hanson refused an invitation to eat one.
In congratulating her on her election to the Senate in July, Labor Senator Sam Dastyari - a "non-practising Muslim" - told Ms Hanson: "I'll take you out for halal snack pack out in Western Sydney, whenever you want."
Mr Dastyari was arguably slightly trolling Ms Hanson, whose One Nation party believes that by "buying halal certified products, it means that you are financially supporting the Islamisation of Australia".
"It's not happening, not interested in halal, thank you," she replied, arguing (without evidence) that "98% of Australians" were also against halal.
The dish subsequently enjoyed a surge in popularity. One Melbourne kebab shop even added "The Pauline Hanson" to its menu - "Lamb kebab roasted to perfection in the rotisserie, mint yoghurt, chilli sauce, cheese, beer battered chips".
The halal snack pack is an Australian creation, but its creators were immigrants or descendants of recent immigrants from the Middle East and Europe.
It's a fusion of these cuisines, and even has its own appreciation society on Facebook, for "sharing great snack pack stories and discussing possible best snack pack in world".
The forum asks members to "show us a sick pic of ur halal snacky, whered ya get it?, is it sick?, is it halal? and salrite or na? also, is it a halal snack pack mountain or na?"
The group, which has close to 180,000 members, was inspired by a visit its founders made to Oz Turk Jr, a kebab shop in Sydney.
"Before, we used to sell 10 kebabs for one snack pack, now it's 10 snack packs to one kebab," says owner Ufuk Bozouglu.
An Australian Muslim of Turkish origin, he credits his mum for the popularity of his snack packs, saying "she taught me you should only sell what you'd eat".
Mr Bozouglu says his customers are mainly students living locally - who'll queue for up to 40 minute at peak times - but one boy travels two-and-a-half-hours each week to buy one of his snack packs, which cost about A$10.50 each ($8; £6.30), with cheese.
He says he's never seen anyone be perturbed by the fact his meat is halal.
"Where we live, it's very multicultural, and people see it doesn't matter if you're Christian, Hindu, whatever. You become friends and have respect for each other."
"The people that it does matter to, they're usually from small areas so they only thing they see [about Muslims] is what they read in the paper.
"People around this area, they're all together," he says. "Sometimes, you go on Facebook and it's just hate towards Muslims," he says, but on the snack pack appreciation forum, it's all about the food.
Keysar Trad, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, says normalising words used by other languages can only be a good thing.
"Especially if you're able to find it in the dictionary, it takes away the mystery," he said.
"It brings people comfort and satisfaction that there's nothing sinister about the word halal. It's all about what's positive, what is good and wholesome."
The popularity of halal snack packs "demystifies the word, demystifies the culture from which those words are borrowed and hopefully, helps built harmony in society".
The Macquarie committee said the choice of the halal snack pack as word of the year "tells us about something once confined largely to the Muslim community that is now surfacing throughout the broader Australian community".
The dictionary's editor, Susan Butler, even said it was "the duty of lexicographers to, as much as is humanly possible, eat the food items that they put in the dictionary".
"How can you write the definition of HSP with enthusiasm if you have never sampled it? So today I ate my first HSP.
"I can understand why this dish has become the fast food item of the day. It is carbo-loaded, calorific sinfulness. Once started on it, you cannot stop."
Reflecting similar trends, the dictionary committee last week named "fake news" it's Word of the Year, saying it "captures an interesting evolution in the creation of deceptive content as a way of herding people in a specific direction".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-38824058
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Dan Roan asks whether welfare should come before winning - BBC Sport
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2017-02-02
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In light of recent accusations made within cycling, Dan Roan asks whether it is more than just the sport's reputation that is on the line.
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It may have started out as a dispute between a track cyclist and her former coach.
But 10 months after Jess Varnish first made allegations of sexism, discrimination and bullying against Shane Sutton - and British Cycling - it is not just the reputation of the country's most successful and best-funded Olympic sport that is on the line.
The claims were denied by Sutton, and he was cleared of all but one of nine specific allegations of using discriminatory and inappropriate language by an internal investigation.
But Varnish's portrayal of a "culture of fear" at British Cycling has been backed up by female riders such as Nicole Cooke and Victoria Pendleton, along with para-cyclists and former staff members - triggering an independent review of the culture at its world-class performance programme.
The panel is headed by Annamarie Phelps, chair of British Rowing and is due to publish its findings later this month.
If well-placed sources are to be believed, the much-anticipated report - now delivered to British Cycling's board - could make for grim reading for the governing body.
But it could also raise serious questions for Britain's sporting establishment, the entire approach of funding agency UK Sport, and whether, through its 'no-compromise' approach to the pursuit of medals, standards of behaviour towards elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes are in desperate need of review.
Imagine if the report finds evidence that there has indeed been an institutionalised culture of bullying at what was held up as a model governing body. That would seriously raise the stakes for some of British sport's best-respected and most powerful individuals and organisations...
• Sir Dave Brailsford for instance; a man already under severe pressure over former rider Sir Bradley Wiggins' use of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) before major races, and his handling of the furore over the delivery of medication for Wiggins in France in 2011. Performance director at British Cycling from 2007 to 2014, and until recently heralded as the country's leading sports thinker, he denies presiding over any bullying, insisting he was merely uncompromising as he masterminded Team GB's cycling triumphs in successive Games.
• None For the man who effectively replaced Brailsford at British Cycling, former technical director Shane Sutton, who continues to deny any wrongdoing, and who has plenty of high-profile backers of his own, but who resigned in the wake of Varnish's allegations.
• Ian Drake, stepped down from his position two months early , having announced his resignation last year. He did so amid questions over whether he (and other board members) were aware of claims of bullying and discrimination against Sutton. In 2012 the man he replaced, former chief executive Peter King, took anonymous statements from 40 personnel as part of a report that was never made public. The report may reveal more about this, and examine whether enough was done in the wake of those testimonies. Drake has said he never heard of any complaints relating to Sutton's behaviour in the past.
• Brian Cookson , president of British Cycling for 16 years until 2013, when he became the most powerful man in the sport, elected President of world federation the UCI after campaigning to restore the sport's credibility. At the time Cookson spoke proudly of his time in charge of British Cycling, hailing it a "well-run, stable federation governed on the principles of honesty, transparency and clear divisions of responsibility." A man who, when asked whether he had presided over any bad behaviour, surprised some observers by saying "I don't want to comment on any individual", but then did so anyway, expressing his "great respect" for Sutton.
• British Cycling, which is already under investigation from UK Anti-Doping over allegations of wrongdoing following revelations that one of its former coaches, Simon Cope, delivered that mystery medical package to ex-Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman in 2011. Dr Freeman now works for British Cycling. Both men deny wrongdoing but to appear in front of the Commons' Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Select Committee later this month. The governing body has had to defend its support of women's cycling after a blistering attack by former world road champion Nicole Cooke, who recently told the CMS Committee that British Cycling was
• UK Sport, who say they are considering helping fund Cookson's forthcoming UCI re-election campaign this year [they gave him £78,000 to help him get elected in 2013], despite co-commissioning the investigation into the culture of an organisation that he headed up for 16 years. The wisdom of using National Lottery funds to help pay for the election campaigns of British sports administrators has already been questioned. Despite their crucial role in distributing the billions of pounds that have helped bring about Britain's remarkable rise as a sporting superpower in successive Olympic and Paralympic Games, UK Sport's 'no-compromise' approach is already under serious scrutiny after cutting off funding to sports like badminton, table-tennis and wheelchair rugby, whose appeals will be heard later this month.
There is a growing sense that the time may have come for British sport to give as much thought to welfare as it does to winning.
This whole saga has also shone a light on the contracts and rights of elite-level athletes who are part of performance programmes funded by UK Sport. Varnish believes her contract was not renewed because she had publicly criticised her coaches after her team failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics. Sutton denies this, insisting it was simply down to her performances not being good enough. But regardless of this, and whoever is in the right, some observers are increasingly concerned that the current system is too heavily weighted in favour of the governing bodies. Under the terms of their UK Sport contracts, athletes are not employees, and therefore they lack certain rights afforded to other workers.
Varnish, for instance, amid the devastation of being told she was being axed, claims she was initially given just 48 hours to serve notice whether she wanted to appeal. Often, athletes face that deadline to actually present their case too. And even then, they can only appeal against the process rather than the decision. Athletes who want to challenge selection decisions that determine their livelihoods tend to find their appeals are heard by internal panels made up of officials from the governing body, rather than external, independent arbitrators.
Defenders of the system will argue that in the tough and demanding world of international sport, it has to be this way. Public funding is at stake after all, and coaches like Sutton sometimes have to make tough selection decisions, but do so in order to get results. Staying the right side of the line when it comes to delivering bad news, and the language used, is not always easy. Disappointment is inevitable, and many argue that as long as athletes perform well they are safe - the system is meritocratic. British Cycling also says it extended the appeals process deadline for Varnish.
But it is still easy to see why athletes could feel they are in a vulnerable position. Concerns were heightened last year for instance, after the leak of an email sent by Andy Harrison, British Cycling's technical director, warning riders they could jeopardise their futures by speaking out to the media about the various scandals afflicting the governing body. Harrison later apologised for his "poorly constructed" wording, and British Cycling then said that riders were free to talk to the media without fear, but the damage had been done.
Have governing bodies become too powerful? Does there need to be a greater duty of care towards athletes? More thought given to their lives after their contracts come to an end? Is their an imbalance in the relationship between competitor and coach? Are there cultures of fear at some governing bodies? These are the questions Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has been wrestling with over the past year. Her government-commissioned review into safety and wellbeing in sport is due to report in the next few weeks.
You may not have heard about it, but in the aftermath of what looks like being an explosive report by Phelps, and the shocking child sex abuse scandal in football, the publication of Grey-Thompson's recommendations could prove highly significant.
No one can deny that the demanding, uncompromising approach adopted by bodies like British Cycling has contributed to medals, and plenty of them. It partly explains how Team GB rose to second place in the Rio medal table. But at what cost?
British Rowing's coaching culture was described on Wednesday as "hard and unrelenting" but cleared of bullying by an internal inquiry. But it also urged more care to be taken of athletes' well-being.
There is a growing sense that the time may have come for British sport to give as much thought to welfare as it does to winning. And in doing so, usher in a new era in the country's sporting evolution.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/38833749
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Six Nations 2017 - England v France: Elliot Daly starts on wing - BBC Sport
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2017-02-02
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England pick Wasps' Elliot Daly ahead of in-form Jack Nowell to face France in the Six Nations.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Elliot Daly has been named on the wing for England's Six Nations opener against France on Saturday, with the in-form Jack Nowell on the bench.
Nowell missed two days of training this week for personal reasons.
Maro Itoje will start a Test for the first time on the flank, and is named alongside Tom Wood and Nathan Hughes in the back row.
Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes start in the second row, after George Kruis was ruled out with a knee injury.
Hughes is at number eight in place of the injured Billy Vunipola while prop Joe Marler, who has recovered from a fractured leg, starts. Flanker James Haskell is among the replacements.
Daly, who has also played at centre for England, was sent off on his last appearance for his country against Argentina in December, having started the previous Autumn Internationals against South Africa and Fiji.
"Elliot did superbly for us in the autumn," said England coach Eddie Jones. "He's got genuine pace and can play as a third centre. Jack's absence had nothing to do with selection."
• None Six questions for Eddie Jones to tackle
• None Get rugby news as it happens by signing up for our new alerts
• None BBC coverage of the 2017 Six Nations
• None Matt Dawson scored 12 - can you beat him on our rugby quiz?
There are eight changes from the starting line-up that sealed England's first clean sweep of the Six Nations in 13 years when the teams met in Paris in March.
Mako Vunipola (knee) and Chris Robshaw (shoulder) are unlikely to play a part in England's title defence, while winger Anthony Watson (hamstring) and second row Kruis (knee) have been sidelined for the tournament opener.
Despite the disruption to his preparations, Jones wants his side to take risks.
"In rugby terms you've traditionally got two contrasting styles - French flair and England's dogged conservative approach, but we want to be absolutely daring against the French in this first game and set the standard for the tournament," he said.
• None Wales make five changes for trip to Italy
• None Strauss in for Scotland to play Ireland
"Guy Noves likes a big team. He picks a traditional French forward pack with squat front-rowers who scrummage well, big locks who give a lot of ballast and athletic back-rowers.
"It's based on size and crunching that gain line, getting an offload and then playing with flair.
"Of course, this gives you an opportunity when you've got a big forward pack against you and we intend to exploit that."
England's attacking threat was evident in the series whitewash of Australia in the summer and the autumn internationals, scoring 35 or more points in five of their past seven games.
However, despite 13 straight victories since taking charge last year, Jones has told his team to be tighter in defence.
Jack Nowell has been in outstanding form for his club Exeter this season, but after missing Tuesday's training session he has to make do with a place on the bench as the versatile Elliot Daly starts.
Maro Itoje's selection on the flank is eye-catching, as is James Haskell's return to the squad after his long injury lay-off.
And while George Kruis' injury is a blow, England are extremely well-stocked in the second row, with Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes a high-quality pairing.
France start with six players beaten by Jones' side in Paris during March.
The loss of Wesley Fofana to a torn achilles will see Gael Fickou switch roles, while there will be a focus on 22-year-old Baptiste Serin, playing his first Six Nations game at scrum-half.
Serin has captained his country at under-20 level and impressed in his early outings for Les Bleus at senior level.
Flanker Kevin Gourdon and loose-head prop Cyril Baille will also play in the competition for the first time as coach Guy Noves looks to improve on a fifth-placed finish last year in what is his second campaign in charge.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38839946
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Hockney redesigns the Sun's logo - BBC News
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2017-02-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Yorkshire artist has redesigned the newspaper's logo for a one-off souvenir edition
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Entertainment & Arts
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Here's an exclusive first look at David Hockney's masthead for Friday's edition of the Sun. What do you think?
Newspapers are forever doing cool stunts with their front pages and mastheads.
When he was editor of the Independent (my former parish), Simon Kelner designed several memorable front pages, often with the help of celebrities such as Bono or Tracey Emin.
In my time as editor we had the odd stunt too. They tended to be aimed at promoting charitable causes. Sometimes proceeds from the sale of the paper would go to charity.
For the Sun on Friday, this is more about boosting circulation with a souvenir edition.
For Hockney, it will help to raise awareness of his forthcoming exhibition at Tate Britain, which opens on 9 February.
For what it's worth, I think the redesigned logo is terrific. It is true to the essence of the original but takes it in a playful and childish (in the best sense of that word) direction.
Hockney was photographed for Friday's edition in his Los Angeles studio by Arthur Edwards, the Sun's celebrated royal photographer.
In my view, newspapers should do front page stunts much more often. They generally have a relationship with their readers that is sufficiently deep and trustful for them to get away with it - and they do have the habit of turning particular editions into souvenirs, which can help boost circulation and increase impact on our culture.
Indeed the Sun's front page on the birth of Prince George was, to my mind, close to genius. Of course, editors have to decide how often is too often.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38842491
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