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Dancing With The Stars: Hughie Maughan in fake tan storm - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Hughie Maughan sends viewers into a spin with the intensity of his fake tan on a TV dance show.
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Europe
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Hughie Maughan has laughed off the comments about his appearance on Dancing With The Stars
An Irish dance show contestant has sent viewers into a spin with the intensity of his fake tan.
Hughie Maughan's teak tone under the spotlight had viewers doing their own keyboard tap dance.
The Dublin man was appearing on Irish broadcaster RTÉ's Dancing With The Stars at the weekend.
Hughie told RTÉ's Ryan Tubridy he had laughed off the comments, claiming he had "thick elephant skin".
"The entire place was staring at me and the whole studio was looking at me, laughing and were gobsmacked," he added.
"I just found it funny. I'm one of those types of people, I'm bonkers when it comes to certain things.
He has performed on the show with dance partner Emily Barker
"It's made people speak about me which is probably a good thing, I am on a TV show… Isn't that the point of television?"
Hughie's boyfriend Ryan Ruckledge was among those who contributed to the comments sparked by his partner's polished visage.
"He really shouldn't have taken tanning tips from me," he joked, before adding, "bad boyfriend advice hahah sorry".
The pair met on Channel 5's Big Brother programme last year.
His boyfriend Ryan Ruckledge was among those who tweeted
Others compared Hughie to Ross Geller from the hit US TV show Friends when David Schwimmer's sitcom character has a spray tan fiasco.
Host Nicky Byrne said: "Hughie, you are trending on Twitter - we don't know why."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38649706
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Royal Mail stamp set marks UK's prehistoric treasures - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Some of the archaeological treasures of prehistoric Britain feature in a new set of eight stamps.
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England
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Some of the archaeological treasures of prehistoric Britain have been featured in a new set of eight stamps.
Issued by the Royal Mail, the stamps include illustrations of a headdress dug up in North Yorkshire and a bronze shield cover found in the River Thames.
The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in Orkney and the Avebury stone circles in Wiltshire also feature.
The stamps present a timeline from an ancient ritual of 11,000 years ago, to the Iron Age of around 300 BC.
Illustrated by London-based artist Rebecca Strickson, the stamps have been designed as overlay drawings, showing how people lived at the sites or used the objects.
For each of the stamps, Royal Mail will provide a special postmark on all mail posted in a postbox close to the site or where the artefact was found.
Philip Parker, stamp strategy manager at the Royal Mail, said: "The UK has an incredibly rich heritage of prehistoric sites and exceptional artefacts.
"These new stamps explore some of these treasures and give us a glimpse of everyday life in prehistoric Great Britain and Northern Ireland, from the culture of ancient ritual and music making to sophisticated metalworking and the building of huge hill forts."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38639297
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Reality Check: Can there be a quick UK-USA trade deal? - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Donald Trump has said he would like a quick trade deal with the UK. Is that possible?
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Business
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The claim: The UK and USA can quickly negotiate a trade deal
Reality Check verdict: The earliest we could possibly get a deal is 2019, when the UK leaves the EU under the government's current timetable. The complexities of the process mean a trade deal with the US could take considerably longer.
In an interview with the Times, Donald Trump has promised a quick trade deal with post-Brexit Britain.
The president-elect said: "We're going to work very hard to get it done quickly and done properly."
How quickly depends what you mean by quickly and what kind of deal you want, because EU treaties prohibit the UK from conducting formal negotiations while it is still a member of the EU.
Also, remember that this is the same Donald Trump who has attacked American companies that use NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, to build cars in Mexico and sell them in the USA, and has criticised a proposed pan-Pacific trade deal as the "rape of our country".
He is also opposed to TTIP, the current talks between the USA and EU to reach a trade deal.
But given he seems all in favour of a free trade deal with the UK, how long will it take and what will it involve? Even the easiest trade deal between perfectly willing partners would take years and we won't even be able to begin formal negotiations until we leave the EU, probably in two years.
We will be able to have unofficial talks though, as the prime minister's spokesman put it on Monday: "When she [Theresa May] visits the States she can have an early discussion, but we will abide by our obligations while in the EU."
Technically therefore, the quickest we would be able to get a deal is by 2019, but it is very unlikely to be that quick, not least because the deal the UK ends up doing with the EU would have an impact on the deal it gets with the US.
The first part of any negotiations would be relatively easy.
Tariffs, which are taxes on goods entering a country, are already quite low between the USA and the EU: they average 3%.
A free-trade deal would aim to bring them all down to zero, but it is non-tariff barriers that are the real problem.
This covers everything from bank regulations and car safety standards to animal welfare and environmental protection.
The easiest deal would be for the USA to accept all our standards and regulations and for us to accept all theirs.
But this is where it can get messy.
For instance, the UK has much stricter rules on food standards, GM crops and hormones in farm animals.
Just letting American food into the UK could undermine those standards and put British farmers at a disadvantage.
Then there is the thorny issue of the NHS; do we open it up to competition from US medical companies or do we seek to protect it?
Negotiating an optout for the NHS is perfectly possible, but it would take time and America might ask for something else in return.
The EU and the USA agreed to start negotiating a trade deal in 2011, and those talks have become bogged down because of a whole host of such issues, including how to resolve disputes once a deal is signed.
The UK should be a quicker and nimbler negotiator than the EU, which has 27 governments to keep on board, but that doesn't mean the issues are any less controversial.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38639638
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Rory McIlroy: Injured rib forces withdrawal from Abu Dhabi Championship - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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World number two Rory McIlroy pulls out of the Abu Dhabi Championship because of a stress fracture to his rib.
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Last updated on .From the section Golf
World number two Rory McIlroy has pulled out of the Abu Dhabi Championship because of a rib injury.
The Northern Irishman had tests on Monday after complaining about back pain during the South Africa Open, in which he lost in a play-off.
McIlroy has sustained a stress fracture and must now begin a rehabilitation programme.
"It's bitterly disappointing. I think everyone knows how much I love playing this tournament," said the 27-year-old.
"In situations like this you simply have to listen to the experts, and the team I have consulted have all advised me to rest until my rib has fully recovered."
Following his withdrawal from the Abu Dhabi event, McIlroy's next scheduled tournament is the Dubai Desert Classic in the first week of February.
He had initially said he suspected his problem was fatigue after an off-season during which he hit a lot of balls in practice trying to decide on new equipment.
He played in Johannesburg with his back taped up and having taken anti-inflammatory tablets.
Defending champion Rickie Fowler and fellow American Dustin Johnson are among those due to play in Abu Dhabi.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/38645049
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'Unity' call on Reformation anniversary - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Archbishops of Canterbury and York urge Protestants to "repent" for their part in historical Church divisions.
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UK
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A statue of Martin Luther in Wittenberg, where the Protestant Reformation began
The Church of England has said Protestants should "repent of their part in perpetuating divisions" - 500 years after the Reformation began the split from the Roman Catholic Church in Europe.
A statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York has said the split caused "lasting damage" to the unity of the Church - something that contradicted the teaching of Jesus and left a "legacy of mistrust and competition".
It went on to say: "Such repentance needs to be linked to action aimed at reaching out to other churches and strengthening relationships with them."
Coming during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it is a further sign that these two Churches are seeking to repent of past failings and find more ways in which they might work together.
The historic rupture, which began in October 1517 when the German monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral, led to centuries of violence, where rulers of one Church would frequently execute communicant members of the other.
The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby
Last October, Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury presided at a service in Rome that was held on the fiftieth anniversary of the historic summit between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey, which established the Anglican Centre in Rome.
In a joint declaration issued after the service in October, the two leaders said they were "undeterred" from seeking unity between the two denominations.
While the Archbishops of Canterbury and York embrace the theological distinctives that arose out of the Reformation, specifically Martin Luther's emphasis on Christian salvation being through faith and not by merit or effort, they regret the bloodshed that followed that historic rupture in 1517.
It is worth noting that both Churches always mark 4 May as a day for Reformation Martyrs, with the Church of England praying that 'those who have been divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven'.
Today's statement is a call to all Christians, of whatever denomination, to repent of division and to unite within the Christian Gospel.
Correction 18 January 2017: This report has been amended to remove a suggestion that the Church had apologised for events following the Reformation.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38654259
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Andy Murray column on Grand Slam nerves, being a Sir and Christmas as a father - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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World number one Andy Murray on the Australian Open, playing in 30 degree heat and his first Christmas as a father.
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Coverage: Live radio and text commentary of every Andy Murray match on BBC Radio, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app. Watch highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
The first round of a Grand Slam is always tricky, but I am glad to get through it.
My first-round match against Illya Marchenko, the world number 95, was OK but it was hard going.
It was tough conditions. The on-court temperature was in the high 30s, which wasn't easy.
I didn't feel any extra pressure playing my first Grand Slam as the world number one. I felt nervous beforehand, but I get that before all Slams.
I always feel that bit of extra nerves and bit of extra pressure because these are the tournaments that often you work towards. They're the biggest tournament for tennis players. It would be a bad sign if you weren't coming in nervous so I treat it as a good sign.
Being nervous shows me that I want to play well and that I'm up for it. Normally nerves tend to make me feel better or play better but I found it tough on Monday in harsh conditions.
The crowd were good. Sometimes in day sessions, when it's hot as it was, it's not easy for people to sit out in the sun for that long. There was a great atmosphere and lot of people out there watching.
After I was knighted I was asked if I wanted to be known as Sir Andy, from whether it was in the draws and on the scoreboards to when I was getting announced.
I'm happy with just plain old Andy, though.
It was an amazing honour to receive, although I have had some mickey-taking with some of the players about calling me 'Sir', especially the ones that have known me for a long time.
'It helps having family here'
In Grand Slams, if you go through to the end, you have two weeks of tennis with a day off after every match.
Kim and Sophia are here with me in Australia and it helps. It's nice to have them here and take my mind off the tennis when the matches are done.
I have a lot of family here: Kim's mum is also here, as is Jamie and my mum. In the morning we can have breakfast together as a family and then in the evening, when I get back from practice, Sophia is starting to get ready for bed.
So sadly it means I don't get to do a lot of the fun stuff with them during the day.
'I didn't get the dogs anything for Christmas'
I flew to Australia after being able to have Christmas with my family. My first Christmas as a father was good, but busy.
A lot of Christmases I have been away or at training, so it was good to be able to see Sophia on Christmas Day.
I spent the morning with my wife and daughter and Kim's family, then I flew at midday up to Scotland and had lunch with my mum's side of my family. Then in the evening I went to my dad's to have dinner with his family. It was a busy day and I did all right with presents too.
I didn't get the dogs anything this Christmas. My wife normally gets them toys and presents, and they get sent lots of stuff from my mum and my grandparents. They do pretty well, but they are just as happy tearing into the wrapping paper on Christmas Day.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38556094
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Six Nations 2017: Alun Wyn Jones succeeds Sam Warburton as Wales captain - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Lock Alun Wyn Jones takes over from Sam Warburton as Wales captain for the 2017 Six Nations.
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Last updated on .From the section Welsh Rugby
Coverage: Live on S4C, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru & BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app, plus live text commentary
Lock Alun Wyn Jones has taken over from Sam Warburton as Wales captain for the 2017 Six Nations.
Flanker Warburton's six-year tenure ended as coach Rob Howley named seven uncapped players in his 36-man squad.
Leicester fly-half Owen Williams, Wasps flanker Thomas Young and Newport Gwent Dragons wing Ashton Hewitt are among the uncapped call-ups.
'Sam agrees this is the best way forward'
Warburton first captained Wales in 2011, and became the youngest player to lead them at a World Cup later that year.
He has won 69 caps for Wales, a record 49 as captain, and also skippered the British and Irish Lions.
Ospreys captain Jones, 31, has often deputised for the Cardiff Blues player, including for the Lions' third Test win over Australia in 2013, when Warburton was injured.
Jones has won 105 caps for Wales, and six for the Lions and Howley said: "He is the first name on the team-sheet."
Howley said he has spoken to Warburton about him switching from open to blind-side of the back-row and highlighted the strength of back-row competition he faced.
Howley: 'We want Sam to get his mojo back'
Howley is deputising for Warren Gatland while the New Zealander prepares to take the Lions to face the All Blacks in June.
The current Wales coach says Gatland backed his decision over the captaincy and hopes Warburton "can get his mojo back".
"I spoke to Sam and he agreed it was the best decision for him," said Howley.
"He is a world class player and we want him to be the best he can be."
Howley added: "It's an honour to select Alun Wyn as captain.
"His vast experience, as a player and a leader will help drive this squad forward and I believe he will flourish in the role."
Wales games in the 2017 Six Nations
Howley praised Warburton for the "great success" he has had as Wales captain.
He added: "We want him to concentrate on his game and to be the best player he can be.
"No player is guaranteed their place in an international team and we want Sam to be playing his very best rugby and he agrees this is the best way forward."
Who is affected by 'Gatland's Law'?
North, Roberts and Faletau fall under the so-called "Gatland's Law", which limits to three the number of affected Welsh exiles Howley can select this season.
The Welsh Rugby Union's (WRU) senior player selection policy (SPSP) means only three players who play outside Wales can be picked.
Japan-based Dominic Day and Bristol scrum-half Rhodri Williams are the others affected.
However, Bath lock Charteris, Young, Williams, Gloucester back-row Ross Moriarty and Exeter prop Tomas Francis are not captured by the rule.
Teenager Giles among those to miss out
Young, 24, has impressed this season under his father Dai - a former Wales prop and captain - at Wasps.
Along with Ospreys' Justin Tipuric and Gloucester flanker Ross Moriarty, Young is putting pressure on Warburton, 28, for a starting spot.
Ospreys scrum-half Rhys Webb makes the squad having not played since injuring an ankle in Wales' November defeat by Australia.
Howley says Webb will play some part for Ospreys in the European Challenge Cup at Newcastle on Saturday as he completes his recovery.
The uncapped contingent are Ospreys flanker Olly Cracknell and lock Rory Thornton, Leicester fly-half Owen Williams, Scarlets wing Steffan Evans, Hewitt, Aled Davies and Young.
Only Davies and Thornton have previously been in senior Wales squads.
In the absence of veteran record Wales cap-holder prop Gethin Jenkins (torn bicep), Wales welcome back Scarlets loose-head Rob Evans after injury.
Jenkins, 36, has amassed 129 Wales caps and five more for the Lions.
Howley said after the hamstring injury suffered by 18-year-old Ospreys wing Keelan Giles at the weekend, he felt it was in the player's "best interests" not to pick him.
"We don't know how significant the injury is," added Howley.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38649131
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Theresa May sets out Brexit plan - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Theresa May is setting out her plans for the UK to leave the European Union
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Theresa May is setting out her plans for the UK to leave the European Union.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38648467
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Police inquiry over fox 'killing' footage in Warwickshire - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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A hunt saboteurs group has released footage it claims shows them trying to save a fox from hounds, though it died soon after.
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A hunt saboteurs group is claiming they saw hunt hounds on top of a fox, trying to kill it.
Members of the West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs Group say they witnessed the incident in a driveway near Shuttington, in Warwickshire, on Saturday.
The fox was taken away from the dogs, they say, but died soon after.
Warwickshire Police said it had a received a report about the claims and is investigating.
The Atherstone Hunt has been contacted for a comment.
Some people may find the following footage distressing.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-38644682
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AFC Wimbledon 1-3 Sutton United - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Non-league Sutton set up a glamorous FA Cup fourth-round home tie against Leeds with a thrilling win at 10-man AFC Wimbledon.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Non-league Sutton set up a glamorous FA Cup fourth-round home tie against Leeds with a thrilling replay win at 10-man League One side AFC Wimbledon.
The Dons made a perfect start when Tom Elliott rose above the away defence to nod in Dean Parrett's free-kick.
But they were left a man down for more than 75 minutes as Paul Robinson was sent off for hauling down Matt Tubbs.
Roarie Deacon's stunner levelled before late goals from Maxime Biamou and Dan Fitchett caused an upset.
The National League side will host Leeds at Gander Green Lane on Sunday, 29 January (14:00 GMT).
• None Follow all the reaction from Tuesday's FA Cup ties
• None Listen: 'I dared not dream about this'
More than just money for Sutton
Sutton were the lowest-ranked team left in the draw for the fourth round, but knew they had to overcome their near-neighbours - 51 places above them on the league ladder - before they could even think about hosting Championship promotion chasers Leeds in a money-spinning tie.
The non-league club have reached the fourth round on two previous occasions, the last time coming in the 1988-89 season, when they memorably beat then-top flight opponents Coventry in the third round.
But the reward for beating Wimbledon was worth much more to the Greater London club than that famous win 28 years ago.
Sutton manager Paul Doswell compared winning the third-round replay to the Championship play-off final in terms of financial importance, estimating it would take their earnings from this cup run to about £500,000.
This victory was more than just money.
The jubilant celebrations from the away players and officials, plus their 300-odd travelling supporters, showed how much the victory meant.
"It was an extraordinary night. We thought fitness might tell - with Wimbledon the fitter side - but the one-man advantage was the major factor.
"It was a great start for Wimbledon, scoring that early goal, then the Robinson sending-off made it difficult for them. I though Sutton played too many high long balls and lacked creativity round the sides.
"Wimbledon coped with everything until that late, late surge."
What the managers said:
Sutton manager Paul Doswell spoke of his "unadulterated joy" as The U's - 15th in the National League - set-up a home tie with Championship Leeds United.
"I'm so pleased for my chairman, our directors who are all volunteers, for the 1,000 fans here and for the players.
"Without being over-emotional about it, we have got a good chance against Leeds on our pitch. No one likes playing on it apart from us it seems. If they make seven or eight changes against us I think we will have a chance."
Dons boss Neal Ardley meanwhile pointed unsurprisingly to the dismissal of Paul Robinson after 15 minutes as the key moment, though he added he had few complaints with the result.
"You prepare for the game with 11 men but for most of it we had 10," he said. "Credit to Sutton, they kept going and got their just rewards in the end.
"But we'll never know what would have happened if it was 11 versus 11. It's a big judgement call, to say that is a cast-iron sending-off early in the game.
• None Goal! AFC Wimbledon 1, Sutton United 3. Dan Fitchett (Sutton United) right footed shot from outside the box to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Maxime Biamou.
• None Attempt missed. Darius Charles (AFC Wimbledon) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top right corner.
• None Goal! AFC Wimbledon 1, Sutton United 2. Maxime Biamou (Sutton United) right footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Roarie Deacon.
• None Jamie Collins (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt blocked. Adam May (Sutton United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
• None Goal! AFC Wimbledon 1, Sutton United 1. Roarie Deacon (Sutton United) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the top left corner.
• None Substitution, AFC Wimbledon. Chris Whelpdale replaces Lyle Taylor because of an injury. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38565631
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Sale Sharks: Players reported over 'team leaks' before Bristol match - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Sale complain to the RFU that one of their players passed team information to Bristol before their Premiership match on 1 January.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Sale have complained that one of their players passed team information to Bristol before their Premiership match on 1 January.
The Sharks have lodged a protest with the Rugby Football Union, claiming the player - understood to be former Bristol wing Tom Arscott - released confidential details.
They have also made a complaint against the Bristol player involved.
Bristol won 24-23 at the AJ Bell Stadium after trailing 15-0.
The Sharks have lost their past 10 games in all competitions.
A statement from Bristol said they had been "made aware of a complaint from Sale Sharks, which is now being investigated by the RFU".
It added: "The club are absolutely confident of no wrongdoing in this matter and will fully co-operate with the investigation."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38645622
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Kitty the cat has operation after swallowing Kitty toy - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A cat called Kitty undergoes life-saving surgery after swallowing a toy cat - also named Kitty.
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Manchester
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Kitty the ginger tabby swallowed a plastic figure from the Kitty in My Pocket children's toy range
The ginger tabby's worried owners took her to the vets after she gulped down the plastic figure from the Kitty in My Pocket children's toy range.
An X-ray revealed the toy had become lodged in the pet's abdomen and threatened to perforate her intestine.
But following a successful operation at Manchester Vet Centre, Kitty is now home and recovering well.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Kitty the cat had to have an operation after swallowing the toy
Owner Paul Grice, 38, of Denton, Tameside, said: "We were really upset as we'd had Kitty from a little kitten. You get yourself worked up and it's totally out of your hands.
"We had absolutely no idea that she'd swallowed anything and only found out as a result of the X-ray. What are the chances of a cat called Kitty swallowing a cat called Kitty?"
Vet Ann Mee said it is more common for dogs to run into trouble after swallowing items
Vet Ann Mee said: "Kitty was very poorly, she was dehydrated and lethargic.
"Sometimes, when we have a foreign body present, we can milk them through to the large intestines to allow the animal to pass it naturally.
"But this was a hard plastic toy with a prominent tail and ears which had got caught in the intestinal wall. Any attempt to move it down would have ruptured the intestinal wall itself."
Paul's wife Michelle, 36, said: "Kitty is glued to my little girl. If we'd lost her it doesn't bear thinking about. We're just thrilled to have her home."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-38655137
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Eight sports begin appeal process over UK Sport funding for Tokyo 2020 - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Seven sports will appeal against the decision by UK Sport to cut their funding for the Tokyo Games in 2020 with another unhappy at how its money is managed.
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Last updated on .From the section Olympics
Eight sports will challenge UK Sport's funding decisions for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Seven - including badminton - were due to receive no investment for the four-year cycle leading into the Tokyo Games.
Powerlifting is also challenging UK Sport - but over the decision on who should manage its funding.
All sports have until Tuesday, 17 January to notify UK Sport of their intent to challenge the decisions.
In addition to badminton, goalball, table tennis, archery, fencing, weightlifting and wheelchair rugby complete the group of seven challenging the removal of their funding.
The decision to cut all funding for badminton came as a surprise after Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis won bronze in Rio and helped GB better the target set by UK Sport.
Although proof of correct governance and 'talent pathways' for young athletes form part of the decision-making process, the most important element of any pitch for funding is to prove they have genuine medal prospects for the next Games.
"Our understanding is that UK Sport doubt our Olympic medal credentials.
"However, we have players who have not only won Olympic medals but also won world tour titles and super-series titles and these are the biggest events in our sport and we are regularly beating the best in the world."
British Weight Lifting has objected to UK Sport allocating its £1.3m of funding for its Paralympic athletes to the English Institute of Sport (EIS) to manage, rather than its own programme.
If they are unable to overturn UK Sport's initial funding decision it would leave British Weight Lifting with no direct investment for either the Olympic or Paralympic disciplines heading towards Tokyo 2020.
Ashley Metcalfe, British Weightlifting CEO, said: "Whilst we are very supportive of the EIS and the work that it does with not just our athletes, but all sports, we believe strongly against UK Sport's decision to change the management of the GB powerlifting programme and will be taking the necessary steps to challenge this decision."
Meanwhile, it has been claimed the decision not to support the British wheelchair rugby team represents a "discriminatory" attitude, although UK Sport believes the programme does not represent a credible medal prospect for Tokyo.
British wheelchair rugby says it will present "significant new facts" to UK Sport and has a "very strong case" for a funding reprieve.
The appeal process is essentially a second opportunity for officials to demonstrate why they deserve funding for the four-year cycle leading into the Tokyo Games.
UK Sport will reveal its findings by the end of February, with those still unhappy with any verdict able to make a formal appeal to the 'Sport Resolutions' board.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/38646077
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Puppy recovering after swallowing kitchen knife - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A puppy who swallowed an 8in kitchen knife is recovering after undergoing life-saving emergency surgery.
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Glasgow & West Scotland
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Macie, who is now almost 15 weeks old, is recovering at home
A puppy who swallowed an 8in (20cm) kitchen knife is recovering after undergoing life-saving surgery.
Twelve-week-old Staffordshire bull terrier Macie was rushed to the emergency vet after she began choking.
Her owner thought she had eaten a toy but X-rays revealed a knife, with the handle lodged in her intestines and the tip of the blade in her gullet.
The PSDA vet who has been caring for Macie since her operation said she was "extremely lucky to survive".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A puppy who swallowed an 8in kitchen knife is recovering after life-saving surgery.
Owner Irene Paisley, 46, from Glasgow, had lost her previous Staffie to cancer just two months earlier and feared the worst for puppy Macie.
She said: "Macie was making a squeaking sound - I thought she'd swallowed part of a toy. Then she was sick, but there was no sign of a toy, and she started choking.
"I was terrified. Poor Macie was still choking and, by the time we arrived at the vet's, there was blood coming out of her nose. The loss of our previous dog was still very raw and the thought of losing Macie was devastating."
The puppy underwent immediate emergency surgery at an out-of-hours vet service in Glasgow to remove the knife while Ms Paisley, her partner and four children waited at home for news.
PDSA vet Emily Ronald, said: "I've never seen an X-ray like Macie's. She was extremely lucky to survive. Her saving grace was that she swallowed the handle-end first - the blade-end would undoubtedly have pierced her organs, likely causing fatal injuries.
"The morning after surgery, she was bouncing all over the place as if nothing had happened. Macie has been back for frequent check-ups over the past two weeks and we're pleased she's recovering and healing well."
Ms Paisley added: "I couldn't believe it when they said Macie had swallowed a knife. I have no idea where she got hold of it - she could have pinched it out of the dishwasher, but no-one saw what happened. None of us could sleep that night as we knew Macie might not survive."
She added: "Although she's only young, Macie is already a big part of the family. She brings us so much joy and happiness, and means the world to the children. Without PDSA, she wouldn't have received her life-saving treatment and wouldn't be here today."
PDSA provides free veterinary care to sick and injured pets of people in need and promotes responsible pet ownership.
Over the years, the charity's vets have removed items including tent pegs, golf balls, radio aerials and rubber ducks during surgery on pets.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-38649586
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Canadian couple shocked as ‘micro-pig’ grows into 670lb giant - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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A Canadian couple are shocked to find Esther the ‘micro-pig’ has grown into a 670lb giant
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A couple in Canada were more than a little surprised when their ‘micro-pig’ grew into a 670 pound giant.
They were duped into thinking Esther would remain pint-sized, but she has now grown 10 times her original size, and is heavier than a fully grown female polar bear.
Steve Jenkins is the man who brought Esther home and he told 5 live Drive the couple had “no idea at all.”
This clip is originally from 5 live Drive on 17 January 2017.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38658829
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China goes big in Davos - and here's why - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Like two silverbacks in a cage, China and America are eyeing each other warily. At the World Economic Forum, China is ready to go "supersize".
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Business
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Today will see a through the looking glass moment at Davos.
The leader of the world's largest Communist Party will take to the stage at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss ski resort arguing for globalisation and the wonders of free trade.
At the same time as the US - the home of capitalism - has a new president saying that the present free trade rules need to be ripped up.
The Dragon is here to embrace Switzerland's annual rich fest.
And it's keen to be seen as a member of the club.
President-elect Donald Trump wants to take a baseball bat to the club house and build a new one.
President Xi Jinping is the first Chinese president to visit the WEF.
His message is likely to be uncompromising.
After Chinese officials warned against "nativism" last week - a direct reference to Mr Trump - Mr Xi is expected to say that global free trade has brought prosperity and that moves against it will only harm economic growth.
Yes, he may nod to the need for globalisation to be seen to be working for all.
But he will be clear that more trade is the route to prosperity, for Asia and Western economies.
China is making a very major point via Mr Xi's visit to the WEF.
With other leaders, notably Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, staying away, China is bringing the largest delegation it has ever mustered.
Business leaders such as Jack Ma - the founder of the global internet giant Alibaba - are in Davos, as is Wang Jianlin, another of China's richest men and chairman of the property developer Dalian Wanda.
America might start looking inward, but China is seeking to extend its influence, and the chosen route is economics.
The big push at the WEF, the launch of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank to rival the US dominated World Bank, the revival of the "Silk Route" trade corridor from Asia to the Middle East and Europe - all point in one direction, and it's towards Mr Xi's enthusiasm for a more expansionist China.
Economics is wielded as a tool of influence.
The WEF full court press from Mr Xi comes at the same time as Mr Trump has made his position on China clear.
Although we have yet to discover what President-elect Trump will actually do when he takes office on Friday, the fact that he hired one of America's toughest China hawks, Peter Navarro, as the head of his new National Trade Council, suggests little change from Campaigning Trump.
And Campaigning Trump accused China of currency manipulation and "raping" America, saying that cheap Chinese exports had led to the loss of US jobs.
I wrote about China's hyper-chilly reaction to that allegation and what Mr Navarro might mean for Sino/US relations here.
So far, Mr Trump is talking tough.
A strong supporter, Anthony Scaramucci, who is set to be hired as another of Mr Trump's business advisors, will also speak at Davos.
And rather than extol the virtues of the present structures of world trade, he is likely to focus on what he sees as the weaknesses.
In the past he has backed Mr Navarro's criticism that allowing China to join the World Trade Organisation under President Bill Clinton was a decision that American industry "has never recovered from".
The contrast with President Xi will be stark.
And will reveal the tension simmering between the two largest economies in the world - a tension that will define the health of the global economy over the next decade.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38644971
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Giant alligator caught on film in Florida - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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"Humpback" is caught on camera going for a stroll in Florida.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38642924
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Louis van Gaal: Ex-Man Utd, Barcelona and Netherlands manager retires - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Ex-Manchester United and Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal says he has retired from coaching after a 26-year career.
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Last updated on .From the section European Football
Ex-Manchester United and Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal says he has retired from coaching after a 26-year career.
Van Gaal, 65, has been out of work since being sacked by United hours after winning the FA Cup in May 2016.
"I thought maybe I would stop, then I thought it would be a sabbatical, but now I do not think I will return to coaching," Van Gaal was quoted as saying in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
Van Gaal also had spells in charge of Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AZ.
He made the announcement on Monday after receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Dutch government for his contribution to football.
He cited family issues for his decision, with De Telegraaf saying it was partly motivated by the sudden death of his daughter's husband last month.
"So much has happened in my family, you become a human being again with your nose pressed to the facts," he added.
The Dutchman also revealed he turned down lucrative offers to continue his coaching career in the Far East.
Van Gaal also said winning the FA Cup was the greatest achievement of his career as it came against the backdrop of his impending sacking: "I was standing on the gangplank for the last six months. My head was in the guillotine, put there by the English media.
"In those circumstances you have to try and stick to your vision and inspire the players of Manchester United."
Van Gaal played as a midfielder for Ajax, Royal Antwerp, Telstar, Sparta Rotterdam and AZ between 1972 and 1987 before moving into coaching, first as an assistant at AZ followed by the same role at Ajax.
He replaced Leo Beenhakker as Ajax head coach in 1991 and went on to preside over a period of sustained success, winning the Dutch league title on three occasions as well as the 1992 Uefa Cup and the 1995 Champions League title.
Van Gaal was asked to emulate that success at Spanish giants Barcelona. He inherited Bobby Robson's side in 1997 and led them to two successive La Liga titles and the Copa del Rey.
His country came calling in 2000, but his first stint in charge lasted less than two years when Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, the first time they had missed the competition since 1986.
The Dutchman's second spell at Barcelona was even shorter - eight months - as he left midway through the season with the club hovering just above the relegation zone.
He then guided AZ Alkmaar to the 2005-06 Eredivisie title before moving to the Bundesliga, where he helped Bayern Munich to the 2009-10 Bundesliga title.
The Dutch national side approached Van Gaal again in 2012 and this time the Netherlands became one of the first two European countries, along with Italy, to qualify for Brazil 2014, where they finished in third place.
After much speculation, he joined United in May 2014, signing a three-year contract to succeed David Moyes.
However, United replaced him with Jose Mourinho after just two years following a fifth-placed Premier League finish in the 2015-16 season, with a first FA Cup triumph since 2004 not sufficient to save him.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38645667
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Breast cancer patients' distress at withdrawal of Kadcyla - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Some women with terminal cancer, who were expecting to be able to take a life-extending drug to give them an extra six months of life, have been told they will no longer get it.
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Some women with terminal cancer who were expecting to be able to take a life-extending drug to give them an extra 6 months of life - have been told they will no longer get it.
Bonnie Fox has told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme she's "completely devastated"- and she's considering trying to raise funds to pay for it herself.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38640371
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Snow blankets Italy's quake zone - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Snow has swept Italy, with regions affected by last year's earthquakes hit particularly badly.
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Snow and very low temperatures have been affecting Italy from the south to the north.
The central regions of Marche and Abruzzo, which suffered in recent earthquakes, have been hit particularly badly.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38658575
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Donald Trump: The view from Detroit - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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How might the new presidency affect the US automobile industry?
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US & Canada
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Can Donald Trump make America not just great again, but make it gleam and bring the shine of steel back to the rustbelt?
In the past I have driven through some of the areas so described and its no idle metaphor. There are mile upon mile of oxidised, red metal skeletons, dead factories entombing dead jobs, dead hopes.
But the Interstate 75 road outside Detroit is a reminder that manufacturing industry could just be America's future and not only its past.
Towers and gantries poke up into the skyline, plumes of steam billowing white against a grey sky from dozens of chimneys: little lights, appropriately red and white and blue, blink with brisk industrial efficiency. This is the home of Motown - Motor City - famous for its music and its cars.
Eight years after a heart-stopping crisis for the motor industry Detroit is working again. Some say that is thanks to Obama. Others look to Mr Trump to make it what it once was again.
I am talking to Brian Panbecker in his car opposite Detroit's Ford plant. He's a forklift truck driver and he is just about to go on shift.
"Life around Detroit is always cyclical, up and down. My dad warned me when I was first hired in by Chrysler back in 1978. He said 'Brian, the auto industry is up and down. It is like a rollercoaster. When times are good you have to work overtime, save some money, pay off all your debts. When times are bad you have to ride it out'."
He says Mr Trump speaks the language of the shop floor - sometimes crude and vulgar but straight to the point. And many of those Brian works with support him as a result.
President Obama oversaw a major bailout of the US automobile industry
President of the 3000 branch of the United Automobile Workers union, Steve Gonzalez, tells me there are plenty who agree with Brian.
"Some of our members are Donald Trump supporters. I can't get into their heads but a lot of our workers were for him. Not sure if it was the promise of change, or his appeal on TV, little quips, on Facebook, on Twitter. People run with that."
But didn't President Obama and the bailout of Chrysler and GM save this city?
I meet Thomas in a trendy brewery pub. Bit of a waste as he does not drink, and I am not doing so at the moment. Still the brewery logo, of a heroic worker raising a glass, says something about this unionised city.
"I lost a job and I wasn't capable of relocating and because Obama saved this industry I got a job," he explains. The bailout "stopped GM and Chrysler being sold off to companies who would have split it up and sold it for parts. And that is what saved the industry".
I ask if he is better off than in 2008 and he replies: "I'm not broke and would have been."
Brian could not disagree more.
"The bailouts did not save the auto industry, bankruptcy saved the auto industry. That allowed GM and Chrysler to survive in some form and return to profitability. I would not give credit to Barack Obama. As a matter of fact, I think his policies - continuing high taxes and allowing the unions to remain powerful - have caused more jobs to flee to Mexico."
Ford was one of many manufacturers represented at the 2017 North American International Auto Show
I am in Motor City at a big time of year for the industry - the North America International Auto Show 2017 has just opened. It is a huge sparkly, bright white space where cars rotate on their stands, polished so hard the lights positioned just so that they seem to glow, rather than simply gleam.
Despite the symbols of success and prosperity at the show and despite the health of the industry, the American worker feels insecure.
The Ford stand at the show is particularly impressive but I am drawn to a prototype, a silver car. Not particularly special looking - apart from the round cameras on its windscreen and roof rack-like sensors running along its length. On its side it says "autonomous vehicle development" and underneath "on the road by 2021".
Ford made an important announcement at the beginning of this year - they would invest $700m (£580m) in a plant just outside Detroit, a few miles from here, to make an electric SUV and driverless car.
And - this is where the politics comes in - they would cancel their plan to build a new engine plant in Mexico, something Mr Trump had called "an absolute disgrace", He thanked Ford and said it was only the beginning.
Donald Trump has pledged to impose tariffs on goods produced outside the US
So, has Mr Trump's policy of imposing tariffs on goods made outside the USA - mocked as impractical by many - already paid off, before he is even in the White House?
Darrin thinks not. He is a newly-elected Democratic representative in Michigan's state house - and says without the bailout he would not be where he is now. His dad was an auto worker and Darrin argues that if the local economy had failed he would never have made it to college. But what about Mr Trump?
"I know he likes to take credit for a lot of different economic activities that have happened but the truth is that project had been in the works for a lot longer than the last couple of weeks, or even November.
"Part of this is some of these companies are trying to get out ahead of it, saying 'this isn't really Donald Trump doing this work, its really the unions and management getting together and looking for opportunities'. My read of it is that they want[ed] to put it in place before he was in office so he didn't take credit for it. But he did anyway."
"That decision had a lot to do with the fact that Americans are not buying small cars, they're buying pick-ups and SUVs.
"I think a lot of the Mexico investment had to do with small cars that have thin profit margins and you have a little bit of a better profit margin if you are using Mexican labour. It's very much a commercial decision."
Union leader Steve says this will be the way of President Trump.
"When the news came out [that] we had the autonomous car coming here, we had it coming up on Facebook and Twitter: 'Thank you Donald Trump!'" he laughs.
"Trump did it already! He's not even in office so, that was a kind of misleading. But he puts it out there and, all of a sudden, any positive news he's going take credit for."
This will be the test of Mr Trump and the media. It is easy to mock the bombast. But the first evidence suggests crude and forceful plans may have played at least a part in changing the mind of a multinational.
More to the point, we have witnessed what may be a trademark of this presidency. He may have been pushing against an open door, but Mr Trump has very loudly portrayed himself as the author of a positive story.
Sophisticated observers may question if he deserves the plaudits but if America applauds he will reap the rewards.
Listen to Mark Mardell's report from Michigan for The World This Weekend via BBC iPlayer. The World at One will be broadcasting from the United States during the week beginning Monday 16 January.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38639347
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Can your voice reveal whether you have an illness? - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Our voices can activate gadgets and authenticate ourselves to banks. But can they tell if we're ill?
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Business
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Our voices can tell us more than we think
We can use them to sing, shout and whisper sweet nothings. We can use them to activate gadgets and prove who we are to banks.
And now researchers believe they can also reveal whether we're getting ill.
A US start-up called Canary Speech is developing a way of analysing conversations using machine learning to test for a number of neurological and cognitive diseases, ranging from Parkinson's to dementia.
The project was born out of a painful personal experience for the firm's co-founder Henry O'Connell.
"It has been my pleasure to have as a friend for nearly 30 years a dear gentleman who was diagnosed six years ago with Parkinson's disease," says Mr O'Connell.
"My friend was told when the diagnosis was finally made that it was likely that he had been suffering from Parkinson's for over 10 years."
As with so many diseases, early diagnosis can play a crucial role in effectively managing the condition, but recent research highlights the difficulties in correctly diagnosing it, with doctors often struggling to distinguish the symptoms.
And the longer the condition goes undiagnosed, the more severe the symptoms become.
"During the years before his diagnosis was accurately made, my friend, suffering from muscle and apparent nerve-related pain, was treated in several medical facilities," says Mr O'Connell.
"The muscle and nerve-related pain were directly associated with a progressing Parkinson's illness. Because it went undiagnosed, proper treatment was delayed and his Parkinson's progressed potentially more rapidly than it would have under proper diagnosis and treatment."
Canary Speech developed algorithms after examining the speech patterns of patients with particular conditions, including Alzheimer's, dementia and Parkinson's.
This enabled them to spot a number of tell-tale signs both pre and post-diagnosis, including the kinds of words used, their phrasing, and the overall quality of speech.
For instance, one symptom of the disease is a softening of the voice - something than can be easily overlooked by those close to us. But Canary Speech's software is capable of picking up such small changes in speech patterns.
Fellow co-founder Jeff Adams was previously chief executive at Yap, the company bought by Amazon and whose technology subsequently formed the core of the tech giant's voice-activated Echo speaker.
Some studies suggest our speech patterns can give an early indication of Alzheimer's disease
The overall goal is to be able to spot the onset of these conditions considerably sooner than is currently possible. In initial trials, the software was used to provide real-time analysis of conversations between patients and their clinicians.
As with so many machine learning-based technologies, it will improve as it gains access to more data to train the algorithms that underpin it.
And as more voice-activated devices come on to the market and digital conversations are recorded, the opportunities to analyse all this data will also increase.
Some researchers have analysed conversations between patients and drug and alcohol counsellors, for example, to assess the degree of empathy the therapists were displaying.
"Machine learning and artificial intelligence has a major role to play in healthcare," says Tony Young, national clinical lead for innovation at NHS England.
"You only have to look at the rapid advancements made in the last two years in the translation space. Machine learning won't replace clinicians, but it will help them do things that no humans could previously do."
It is easy to see how such technology could be applied to teaching and training scenarios.
Voice analysis is also being used in commercial settings.
For instance, tech start-up Cogito, which emerged from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, analyses the conversations taking place between customer service staff and customers.
They monitor interactions in real time. Their machine learning software compares the conversation with its database of successful calls from the past.
The team believes that it can provide staff with real-time feedback on how the conversation is going, together with advice on how to guide things in a better direction - what it calls "emotional intelligence".
Cogito's software gives real-time tips to customer service staff as they talk to customers
These tips can include altering one's tone or cadence to mirror that of the customer, or gauging the emotions on display to try to calm the conversation down.
It's even capable of alerting the supervisor if it thinks that greater authority would help the conversation reach a more positive conclusion. The advice uses the same kind of behavioural economics used so famously by the UK government's Behavioural Insights Team, also known as the Nudge Unit.
Early customers of Cogito's product, including Humana, Zurich and CareFirst BlueCross, report an increase in customer satisfaction of around 20%.
As the internet of things spreads its tentacles throughout our lives, voice analysis will undoubtedly be added to other biometric ways of authenticating ourselves in a growing number of situations.
Google's Project Abacus, for example, is dedicated to killing passwords, given that 70% of us apparently forget them every month.
It plans to use our speech patterns - not just what we say but how we say it - in conjunction with other behavioural data, such as how we type, to build up a more reliable picture of our identity. Our smartphones will know who we are just by the way we use them.
The big - silent - elephant in the room is how all this monitoring and analysis of our voices will impact upon our right to privacy.
Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebook
Click here for more Technology of Business features
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38637257
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FA Cup: Dan Fitchett goal sparks wild scenes for Sutton - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Dan Fitchett scores in the last few seconds of the match to give non-league Sutton United a 3-1 victory against 10-man AFC Wimbledon in their FA Cup third-round replay.
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Dan Fitchett scores in the last few seconds of the match to give non-league Sutton United a 3-1 victory against 10-man AFC Wimbledon in their FA Cup third-round replay.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup third-round replays here.
FA People's Cup: Free five-a-side competition returns for 2017 - sign up now!
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38659079
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Christian Dior boss: Fashion success through reinvention - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Maria Grazia Chiuri is the first female creative head at Christian Dior. Sidney Toledano, the boss of the fashion house, tells the BBC why it's time for a change.
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Business
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Sidney Toledano is "very pleased". The spectacular fashion show he has just been watching has gone well.
The event, staged last September in a vast hall in the grounds of the Musee Rodin in Paris, featured designs by Maria Grazia Chiuri, the new artistic director of Christian Dior, the fashion house run by Mr Toledano.
Ms Chiuri is the first woman to be the creative head at Dior.
The time is right for change, says Mr Toledano. "Who can understand better than a woman the needs of a woman, and express [her] identity today… in the West, in China, wherever in the world?" he says.
Ms Chiuri's show, which was well received by critics, displayed a feminist tone, including a T-shirt with a slogan that read "We Should All Be Feminists".
Maria Grazia Chiuri is the first woman to be the creative head at Dior
In 2017, the House of Dior celebrates its 70th anniversary. In an industry where the new is all-important, keeping brands fresh over the long term is tricky. But there are probably few people who know as much about how to do this as Sidney Toledano, who has run Dior since the 1990s.
He grew up in Casablanca in Morocco, where one of his closest friends was Joseph Ettedgui, who later went on to establish the successful fashion retail chain, Joseph, in the UK.
You can't identify a fashion classic through a marketing plan, says Dior boss Sidney Toledano
You need to keep your design team onside. "You don't send a memo to tell them what to do," says Mr Toledano
In the 1950s and 1960s, Mr Toledano recalls, Casablanca's lifestyle attracted a cosmopolitan crowd from Europe and the US. "I grew up seeing people very well dressed, and this is one reason why I like fashion.
"It was about feeling good - to have the right shirt, to have the right pair of jeans," he says. "Joseph and many of my friends had the same culture."
Despite his interest in fashion, Mr Toledano ended up training as an engineer. He found the disciplines he learnt during his studies helpful in his later career.
But it was not until he went to work for the French footwear business Kickers that he found his true vocation. The brand built a big following in the youth market for its boots and shoes soon after it was founded in 1970.
"It was my first contact with a different type of product," Mr Toledano recalls. "I discovered the promise of comfort, quality, excellence and design."
Perhaps the most important lesson he learnt from his time at Kickers, he says, was that "you don't build a name from nowhere". The bedrock of a successful company, at least in the fashion world, is one or more "iconic" products, which can provide a springboard for building a reputation, he says.
A product like this confers certain advantages, explains Mr Toledano. It can act as an ambassador for the brand. It can also be almost endlessly re-versioned by a new designer, offering the chance to create something fresh and contemporary, while simultaneously celebrating the brand's heritage.
He cites the example of the Bar jacket, which was first designed by Christian Dior himself in 1947. It has remained an emblematic product ever since, being reinterpreted by the creative directors who followed, such as John Galliano, Raf Simons, and now Maria Grazia Chiuri.
Dior's new collection went down in postwar fashion history as the "New Look"
So how do you create one of these key items in the first place?
At Dior today, Mr Toledano says, when new people (some with master's degrees in business, or MBAs) join the company, they often say to him, "let's launch a new iconic product," to which he replies, "if you define it like that, you won't do it."
For him, a classic item is "like a talented baby".
"You have to recognise and identify it - but you don't do it through a marketing plan."
Instead, he says, the answer is to create the right conditions, making sure the culture and atmosphere are conducive to creativity. Above all else, you must maintain excellent relations with your design team. "You don't send a memo to tell them what to do," he says.
A fashion house boss needs make sure its culture and atmosphere are conducive to creativity, says Mr Toledano
He likens a fashion house chief executive's role to that of the director of an opera, who has to ensure that the conductor, singers, orchestra and audience are all happy.
Mr Toledano adds that it's a job that requires intuition and maturity, and to be able to get on well with others.
The approach he employs at Dior - a range that mixes classic and new items, created by designers he believes have exceptional talent - offers much to admire, say experts.
Mr Toledano is right to believe that "you can't make an iconic product to order", says consultant and author Peter York, who has advised many large luxury businesses. "That really does depend on the spirit of the times and a brilliant designer and a happy coincidence."
Magic can happen, says Mr Toledano - "it's an attitude in life"
But the approach is not an easy path to follow and can be risky, says Mr York, since it inevitably places great emphasis on the qualities of a few people at the top.
"There's a real danger that the original spirit of the business goes when one man or one woman goes and gets replaced by a committee of MBAs," he says. "If you lose your genius you have a bumpy time until you find another one."
For Sidney Toledano, there's another factor to consider: luck. Just like a classic product, this cannot be made to order.
But, he says, with the right approach and careful preparation, magic can happen.
"It's an attitude in life - if a big wave comes, you have to be able to face it, which means a lot of work."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38611409
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Drone footage shows huge Antarctic ice crack - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Aerial video shows a huge ice crack which is forcing British Antarctic Survey staff to leave their base.
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Drone footage shows an Antarctic ice crack which opened late last year.
The British Antarctic Survey is to pull all staff out of its space-age Halley base in March because of the crack.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38658836
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Lincoln City 1-0 Ipswich Town - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Non-league Lincoln City reach the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 41 years with a victory over Ipswich at Sincil Bank.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Non-league Lincoln City reached the FA Cup fourth round for the first time in 41 years as Nathan Arnold's injury-time strike secured a deserved victory over Ipswich at Sincil Bank.
Arnold fired home in the first of four added minutes to secure a famous triumph against the Championship side.
The Imps were dominant throughout and a bigger margin of victory against a team 59 places higher in the league pyramid would not have flattered them.
They now host Brighton in round four.
After twice coming from behind at Portman Road to earn a replay in the first meeting, Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy promised his side had noted the lessons of that scare.
But if they had learned anything, his players were unable to put it into practice, managing just one decent attempt on the Lincoln goal in 90 uninspiring minutes.
• None Reaction to all of Tuesday's third-round replays
• None Chris Sutton cannot contain himself as Lincoln score late winner
Graham Taylor was in charge of Lincoln the last time they reached the fourth round, so it was fitting the National League leaders matched that achievement on the night the club paid tribute to their former manager.
Lincoln's run in the cup was just one highlight among many during Taylor's managerial reign between 1972 and 1977, which was followed by successful spells at Watford and Aston Villa before landing the England job in 1990.
A minute's applause was held before kick-off in memory of Taylor, who died on 12 January at the age of 72, and he was remembered again later in the match with more applause and a show of lights from fans in the stands.
But far and away the best tribute was saved until the end when Lincoln substitute Adam Marriott's pass sent Arnold sprinting clear of the Ipswich defence and he rounded the goalkeeper before knocking the ball into an empty net.
What now for abject Ipswich?
Former Ipswich defender Terry Butcher, who was at Sincil Bank for BBC Sport, did not hold back in his criticism of his old club.
"I can't remember ever being so embarrassed and humiliated as an Ipswich fan," he told BBC Radio 5 live. "Ipswich lost the wrong way, not enough fight, not enough passion.
"I am bitterly disappointed. Over the 180 minutes Lincoln have been by far the better team, it wasn't a fluke.
This was a mid-table Championship side totally - and I mean totally - outplayed over two games
"When you lose like that then Mick McCarthy will be concerned, but the club won't have any knee-jerk reactions."
The margin of defeat could certainly have been greater but for a brilliant first-half save by Ipswich goalkeeper Dean Gerken, who stuck out a hand to somehow claw away Luke Waterfall's close-range header on the stroke of half-time.
Danny Cowley's side put Ipswich's back line under pressure with a barrage of crosses, with burly striker Matt Rhead spurning one opening and midfielder Alex Woodyard heading a very presentable chance wide when unmarked.
Ipswich's best opening came with a low Josh Emmanuel shot just before the hour, but Imps goalkeeper Paul Farman was always behind it and made a good save.
Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy: "I should congratulate Lincoln. They deserved to win. From my point of view the way we lost the game was ridiculous. We had a chance to score ourselves and then seconds later they scored.
"On the back of the performance on Saturday it was surprising how we played tonight. They controlled the game but I'm not going to stand here and give my team stick.
"The fans want to see these upsets. It's great for TV but not for me unfortunately. The fans made their thoughts quite clear tonight. I'm not happy about producing that kind of football in front of the fans."
Lincoln City's manager Danny Cowley: "The way they've worked day in, day out, is incredible. You can have great days like this if you put so much work in like we have.
"I thought we competed really well and worked every minute so hard. We pressed from the front and actually thought we had great control in the game even against a Championship side like Ipswich.
"What a brilliant finish from Nathan. Not an easy finish when the whole of Sincil Bank is hoping he sticks it in. It's a great night and an amazing feeling for the club."
• None Attempt saved. Jack Muldoon (Lincoln City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Matt Rhead.
• None Goal! Lincoln City 1, Ipswich Town 0. Nathan Arnold (Lincoln City) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Adam Marriott with a through ball following a fast break.
• None Bradley Wood (Lincoln City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt missed. Jonas Knudsen (Ipswich Town) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.
• None Attempt blocked. Nathan Arnold (Lincoln City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Matt Rhead.
• None Attempt missed. Matt Rhead (Lincoln City) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Nathan Arnold.
• None Attempt missed. Nathan Arnold (Lincoln City) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top left corner. Assisted by Matt Rhead with a headed pass 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/38565597
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Is it time for embryo research rules to be changed? - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Should scientists be allowed to experiment on embryos beyond 14 days of development?
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Health
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Experts are renewing calls to allow experiments on embryos beyond 14 days of development, saying it would drive medical breakthroughs.
Research on human embryos can only happen under a licence in the UK and it is currently illegal to keep them alive in laboratories for more than two weeks after fertilisation.
Until recently, this cut-off was almost irrelevant in terms of viability since science had not found a way to physically support life in the lab beyond about a week.
But researchers have found a way to chemically mimic the womb which would allow an early stage embryo to continue to develop for longer - at least 13 days after fertilisation, but potentially much more.
One of the pioneers of IVF is calling for a government inquiry.
Prof Simon Fishel was on the team involved with the birth of the world's first IVF baby. He believes that moving the limit to 28 days would be good for furthering scientific understanding.
Prof Fishel, who founded the CARE Fertility Group, said: "I believe the benefits we will gain by eventually moving forwards when the case is proven will be of enormous importance to human health."
Observing how the embryo changes over weeks could shed light on why some early miscarriages occur, he says.
Embryos normally implant in the wall of the uterus at around day seven and still resemble a ball of cells at that stage.
It takes weeks of rapid cell division and growth before it begins to resemble something more baby-like, with a beating heart, developing eyes and budding limbs.
Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz has developed a technique that could, theoretically, allow embryos to survive for longer in the lab than the current legal limit of 14 days.
The Cambridge University professor says: "We know that a lot of pregnancies fail on the time of implantation which is day seven. So now we can identify events which are not happening correctly and how in future we can help them occur normally."
But there are many who are concerned about extending the legal limit.
Prof Fishel said: "There are some religious groups that will be fundamentally against IVF, let alone IVF research in any circumstances, and we have to respect their views."
The 14-day rule was first suggested in the UK in 1984. With the advent of IVF, a committee, chaired by Mary Warnock, was set up to look at the ethics and regulation of this new technology.
It concluded that the human embryo should be protected, but that research on embryos and IVF would be permissible, given appropriate safeguards.
Setting a cut-off was tricky. For example, should it be based on when an embryo develops a nervous system that might begin to detect pain? At the time, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists suggested 17 days as a limit - the point at which early neural development begins.
The Warnock report settled on 14 days - when the embryo is a distinct individual and can no longer form a twin.
That recommendation is now decades old. Some say it should be reviewed.
David Jones, founder of the Centre of Bioethics and Emerging Technologies, is against changing the limit.
"It would be a stepping stone to the culturing of embryos and even foetuses outside the womb. You are really beyond the stage when the embryo would otherwise implant and that is a step towards to creating womb like environment outside. People will then ask why can't we shift it beyond 28 days?"
A recent YouGov poll of 1,740, commissioned by the BBC, found that 48% of the UK general public supported increasing the limit up to 28 days, 19% wanted to keep the present limit of 14 days and 10% wanted a total ban.
But one in four of those questioned said they did not know, suggesting some may need more information to reach an informed opinion.
BBC Radio 4's two-part documentary 'Revisiting the 14 day rule' starts on Tuesday 17 January at 11:00 GMT.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38635083
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How working dads juggle their roles - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How do working fathers manage the work-life balance? You have been telling us how you cope.
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Business
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Working fathers are frequently reducing their hours or taking on a less stressful role in order to balance their work and family lives, a new study has found.
According to the charity Working Families, a third of fathers they surveyed said they would take a pay cut in order to be more involved in their children's lives and as many again said they felt burnt out trying to juggle work and parental responsibilities.
BBC audiences have been sharing their experiences about how they cope.
"I worked as a sound engineer for six or seven days-a-week for ten years, with no specific work times, no overtime and no extra pay. That's just how the industry works.
"On top of that I had to get home early so my wife Kim could go to work in the evenings, she had to work so we could pay the rent on the house.
"A couple of months ago I had to quit my job because I was asked to to work evenings too, and evenings are the only time I get with my family.
"I quickly got another job but things are even worse. This new job has no holidays and no regular working hours at all.
"I have had numerous opportunities to work abroad but I declined them so I could be a part of my daughter's life as she grows up.
"I've decided to quit my new job, and today after just two months I'm leaving.
"Now I'm looking to start a business where I can spend more time with my family."
Jessica: "My husband and I made the decision when our son was born that I should work full time and he would work part time and be the stay-at-home parent. This is because, as a woman, I get far more rights as a working mother than he would as a working father.
"I am entitled to flexible working and have more legal rights. I work 36 hours a week and he works between 16 and 18, split over a Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon which means we are at home together on a Saturday and our son only has to go to a nursery for one afternoon a week.
"It's been eight months and it's working so far. Dan is happy because he is at home with our son and also has a job so he feels like he is contributing to our income and Louis (our son) is happy because he has a parent at home during the week.
"We earn enough to get by and get no help from the state with our son other than child benefit."
"In my role, it's really hard to find a healthy work-life-balance. In a lot of companies you will get benefits, such as salary increase based on the effort you invest into your job. If you are not focused on your career, then you will get no increase or not the amount that would be needed.
"If you are focused just on your career you will miss beautiful moments with your child.
"If you would like to spend more time taking care of your child, you have to work hard. Then it becomes a circle, like an infinite loop, that you cannot close.
"Some people advise to either not work that hard or to move to another company, but this is nonsense. Why? Because your family needs money. More money comes from higher appreciation at work. This comes from more hard work. However, it will also reduce the time you have for your family.
"In addition, the parental leave we have here in Hungary is near to nothing. We get two days of parental leave per year per child, which is not enough. Salary increases are also not a trend here, at least not in my case."
"I jumped off the career ladder about five or six years ago - a decision taken with my wife to effectively swap roles; she'd worked part-time since the first of our two sons was born.
"She wanted to get back to her career, and I was painfully aware of missing out on being around my boys. We had enough cash to fall back on that my not working for a while wouldn't cause problems and then I started working part-time from home as a writer.
"There are a lot of unexpected barriers and challenges when you're a stay-at-home dad - they almost all boil down to other people's attitudes.
"It's important to accept that balance comes at a cost."
"When the time came that I wanted to get back to work I met some almost hostile responses. Many people struggled to accept that a man would want to spend more time at home with his kids for a while.
"I asked a few of them 'would you be so negative in the face of a woman returning to work after a prolonged child-related career break?' The answer was always 'no' and was often followed by an uncomfortable acceptance that they were regarding me differently solely because of my gender.
"It's a real eye-opener into tacit acceptance of gender-defined roles in society. That's something facing both men and women and it needs to change.
"These days I work as a copywriter for a marketing agency. I spend three days in the office and two days at home. It feels like a good balance. But it's important to accept that balance comes at a cost.
"I earn about a third less than I did about six years ago and half what I might be earning had I stayed on the career ladder. But it's definitely been worth it."
"Nearly three years ago I changed jobs. I took a pay cut purely for the reason of getting a better work-life balance and importantly to spend more time with my two kids. It is a move that I have not regretted.
"Previously the stress levels I was working under were making me ill. The previous job also was further away from home, so I was spending between three-and-a-half to four hours travelling every day.
"My wife and I both still work full time - we could not afford the mortgage otherwise. Life is still a struggle, but we get by.
"Family is so much more important than a career."
"The family have breakfast together every morning now. I can now see that my kids leave home to get on the bus to school before I travel to work. I work one day a week from home and that also is invaluable.
"It means I can help with things like getting the kids to and from after-school activities - both my children are members of the local swimming club and train for around 10 hours a week.
"Family is so much more important than a career. My new employer, Virgin Media, has been good to me."
"I have struggled with this for many years, choosing to be paid at 80% while working 100%. I forego a larger salary for the right to look my colleagues in the eye when I'm leaving early two afternoons a week to meet the school bus.
"Yet as a manager, my commitment and my ability to manage has been called into question a few times. 'Why don't you get an au pair?' I've been asked. Or 'why don't you ask your wife to work less?'
"As a man, I know the expectations on men can be tough when we want to step out of a stereotype."
"I think this is a very important area for the UK to improve. My daughter was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Canadian law is much more even-handed.
"At the time my wife was self-employed and so I was able to take our entire allocation of parental leave. This allowed me to be there full time for my daughter for the first eight months of her life.
"I also had the great fortune to be working for a very enlightened employer whose policy topped up my state allowance to 95% of my salary.
"To say this was the most important and precious time of my life is an understatement. It allowed my wife and I to fully share the role of parenting and I feel we are much stronger as a family as a result.
"As a middle manager I was the first man to take advantage of this at my job and contrary to complaining and worrying about how they would cope, my bosses were more concerned with baby showers. I felt totally supported.
"What did the employer get out of this? A whole lot of loyalty and an employee that worked hard happily, who dealt with personnel issues with compassion and empathy and a very low staff turnover rate. All intangible I know, but as an employer, if you go to bat for your employees, they will do the same for you."
"Living and working in the Middle East has posed even larger issues with work-life balance.
"With the constant drive to meet deadlines, as well as meeting client expectations, work-life balance is generally not taken into account by bosses.
"Due to ensuring that the clients are kept happy and that revenue is maximised, it is rare that I and a lot of others in this part of the world are allowed to take more than two weeks leave at a time, even though by law we are entitled to four weeks a year paid vacation.
"Due to the excessive client expectations, six-day working weeks are the norm so getting time to spend with your family is far and few between, to the extent that I will pull a sickie if I know my kid, wife or both have an impromptu day off (my wife is a teacher and my kid is in nursery).
"I'm constantly looking for work outside the Middle East that offers a better working schedule so I can spend time with my family."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38637857
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Newspaper headlines: May's Brexit speech previewed in press - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Theresa May's speech on Brexit, in which she is expected to say the UK will make a "clean break" from the EU, is anticipated on the front pages of the newspapers.
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The Papers
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Theresa May will outline plans for Brexit in a speech on Tuesday
"The omens are all good," says the Sun. "The PM and the country are in a far stronger position at this point than many dreamed, especially the Remainers."
"Britain must walk away from the EU," says the Daily Telegraph. "The economic backdrop to the prime minister's speech remains auspicious."
According to the Daily Mail, Mrs May will offer an inspiring vision of the sort of country Britain can become when unshackled from the "sclerotic Brussels machine".
Not so, says the Daily Mirror. "It's obvious the prime minister remains clueless about where she wants to take Britain and how we'll get to the destination."
There is considerable analysis of Donald Trump's interview with Michael Gove in the Times on Monday.
The Sun has a huge double-page picture of the president-elect in his office emblazoned with the headline "Our Trump card".
It says he is a big fan of the UK but sparked alarm across Europe, especially in Berlin, as he threw the weight of his incoming administration behind the break-up of the EU and hinted at a trade war.
It says German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pressing for a meeting with Mr Trump - it says she has been unable to arrange an appointment with him and has spoken to him only once.
Sources in Berlin, the paper says, have suggested a meeting is unlikely before spring.
According to the Daily Mail, 20 hospital trusts are to take part in a pilot in which patients will be told to show a utility bill and passport before routine operations as part of a crackdown on health tourism.
The paper says this will include women planning to give birth as well as anyone having hip or knee replacements, cataract surgery or kidney dialysis.
The checks are said to be part of a joint pilot being run by the Home Office and health regulator NHS Improvement.
The 20 trusts involved are said to have run up the highest debts in health tourism.
Half of them are in London, the rest are in other English metropolitan areas including Birmingham and Manchester.
Tens of thousands of people have been on waiting lists for social housing for more than a decade, according to the Daily Mirror.
The paper quotes research from the Liberal Democrats suggesting that 104,000 people have been waiting more than five years, and at least 35,000 for more than 10 years.
"Behind every digit in the statistics," says the Mirror in an editorial, "is a family or individual denied a secure, affordable, decent home.
"To build a better Britain, we need to construct far more social housing. And fast."
Several papers tell how a retired civil servant in Ealing, west London, was approached by civil enforcement officers after pouring an unwanted coffee down a drain.
According to the Mail, Sue Peckitt was accused of littering and issued with an £80 fine.
The Sun says the officials told Ms Peckitt that tipping coffee down a drain was illegal.
The council is said to have ignored appeals against the fine but backed down after being contacted by local reporters.
The Times says tens of thousands of strike-hit Southern rail commuters could be in line for compensation from their credit card companies after a passenger apparently won back £2,400 from American Express for his season ticket.
He used an obscure part of consumer law, known as Section 75 of the Credit Card Act, to demand a 50% refund on the grounds that the goods he bought - his season ticket - were "unsatisfactory".
Finally, according to the Times, parts of Britain are in the grip of a courgette famine.
The shortage is being blamed on bad weather in southern Spain where the majority of the UK's courgettes are grown during the winter.
Consumers have been complaining on Twitter.
One reports that not a single courgette was to be found in three major cities.
Another tells the world: "I have been to about five different supermarkets in the past week and there's nothing. What an outrage!"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-38645857
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Inflation means inflation, but who wins? - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Sooner or later, the downward pressure on the pound since the UK's Brexit vote is expected to lead to upward pressure on the prices of most things we buy.
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Business
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Tesco's recent spat with Unilever has highlighted fears of a new inflationary surge
The downward pressure on the pound since the UK's vote to leave the European Union is starting to lead to upward pressure on the prices of most things we buy.
Brexit, as we have been told by the prime minister, means Brexit. But inflation also means inflation.
The pound has repeatedly lurched lower in value since the outcome of the June 2016 referendum. Against the dollar, it is now worth 20% less than it was before the vote, and that fall is unlikely to be reversed in a hurry.
The basic laws of economics dictate that this will translate into higher inflation: foreign firms exporting goods to the UK will continue to charge the same amount for them in euros, dollars or whatever, but they will cost more in sterling when the prices are converted.
That goes for finished goods, such as food and drink or clothing, but also for raw materials that are processed here, such as car parts. Global supply chains mean that more than 50% of the components in cars "made in the UK" are actually sourced from overseas.
Petrol, too, is likely to go up in price, because oil is priced in dollars.
Shopping for clothes is likely to be more costly
So higher rates of inflation appear to be a foregone conclusion. The question is, how much higher? What will the consequences be? And will anyone gain from this, or are we all set to lose out?
One estimate of the extent of possible price rises has come from the former boss of Northern Foods, Lord Haskins, who told the BBC that he expected to see food price increases running at an annual rate of 5% by this time next year.
He was speaking in response to supermarket chain Tesco's recent spat with Unilever, which was trying to pass on its higher costs incurred because of sterling's weakness - though that dispute has since been resolved.
The cost of food is an important factor in calculating the overall inflation rate, the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), which is published on a monthly basis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Some economists are predicting that the CPI could hit 3% by the end of 2017.
If overall inflation did climb to the level predicted by Lord Haskins, it could be nudging close to the highest rate in a decade. In recent years, there have been two peaks in CPI inflation, in September 2008 and September 2011. In both those months, it reached 5.2%.
By historical standards, however, that pales in comparison with the levels reached in the 1970s, when the UK experienced several years of double-digit inflation. The worst year was 1975, during which prices went up by an eye-watering 24.2%.
We are unlikely to return to those days. But of course, back then, the industrial climate was different, trade unions were stronger and large groups of workers were able to obtain pay rises to match, despite government attempts to impose wage restraint.
Nowadays, substantial pay rises are harder to come by, so a lower level of inflation can have a bigger effect on living standards.
If we have to spend more money on goods while our salaries fail to keep pace with rising prices, then we are all likely to suffer to some degree.
It will certainly make Bank of England governor Mark Carney's job harder, because the Bank has a 2% inflation target.
If it goes above that, it increases the likelihood that he will raise interest rates to combat it, thus making life harder for those who owe money, such as on mortgages.
Mr Carney has said that "monetary policy can respond, in either direction, to changes in the economic outlook" - meaning that the next move in interest rates could be up or down.
He has also spoken at length of the trade-off between price stability and other economic factors, meaning that the Bank will not necessarily rush to raise rates.
Bringing inflation back to target too rapidly could cause undesirable "volatility in output and employment", he says.
But at the same time, Mr Carney says "there are limits to the extent to which above-target inflation can be tolerated".
If you have a student loan, the level of interest charged is linked to a slightly different measure of inflation, the Retail Prices Index (RPI), and is not subject to the Bank of England's decisions.
But in most cases, a prolonged period of inflation reduces the value of people's debts, making them easier to pay off.
If inflation were to stay at that 5.2% level for 12 years, your debt would, in effect, be worth only half as much in real terms, because you would still owe the same number of pounds, but each of those pounds would have declined in value.
Pensioners may have trouble making their money last
The outcome is similarly mixed for pensioners. In their favour, state pensions are guaranteed by what is known as the "triple lock". In other words, they rise each year by the inflation rate, average earnings or 2.5%, whichever is the highest.
However, private pensions are not similarly protected. And to make matters worse, retired people are likely to spend a higher proportion of their income on food and fuel, which are particularly affected by the pound's big devaluation.
Pensioners are also more likely to be living off income from savings, and savers are clobbered by high inflation. Just as inflation erodes the value of debts, it also reduces the spending power of money kept in bank accounts, because prices go up and your money doesn't, especially with the ultra-low interest rates paid by banks at the moment.
So there is no unalloyed benefit from higher inflation for anyone. But some will feel more pain than others, while borrowers will certainly benefit more than savers.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37676869
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The most important words May will ever deliver? - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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It was a simple, clear message from Theresa May amid the grandeur of Lancaster House.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The prime minister declined four times to answer questions about when she had been aware of the "misfire'"
Under the gilt and candelabra of Lancaster House where Margaret Thatcher extolled the virtues of joining the single market, Theresa May has uttered some of the most important words she will ever deliver.
She has, for the first time explicitly, confirmed that she has decided not to try to preserve our membership of the European single market. Instead she is hoping to conclude a deal with the rest of the EU that will still give business the access it needs to trade with the rest of the continent without barriers, tariffs or any new obstacles.
Since the referendum she and her ministers have simply refused to be so explicit. Some Remainers have argued that she ought to try to keep us in the vast partnership, the risks to the economy are too vast, and while it might be complicated to achieve, the prize is simply too great to give up.
For months some ministers have privately whispered about complex solutions that might keep elements of membership, the choices not being binary, mechanisms that might give a sort of membership with a different name.
Well no more, the simple and clear message from Theresa May's speech is that we are out. The irony that she has delivered that vow on the same spot where her predecessor swore the transformative value of the single market hangs alongside the glittering chandeliers
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38653236
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Australian Open 2017: Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund win - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Johanna Konta, Kyle Edmund and Heather Watson all win to make it five British players in the Australian Open second round.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund all won to make it five British players in the Australian Open second round for the first time since 1987.
After Andy Murray and Dan Evans won on Monday, British women's number one Konta beat Kirsten Flipkens 7-5 6-2.
Edmund played superbly to see off Colombia's Santiago Giraldo 6-2 7-5 6-3 and Watson overcame Australia's 18th seed Sam Stosur 6-3 3-6 6-0.
It is the second time in five months that five British players have reached the second round of a Grand Slam, after last year's US Open.
• None Djokovic and Nadal through, as Karlovic wins 84-game epic
• None Relive the action as three Britons progress
Konta last year became the first British woman to reach an Australian Open semi-final since Sue Barker in 1977, and the first to reach the last four at any Grand Slam since Jo Durie at the 1983 US Open.
Konta, who won the Sydney warm-up tournament last week, will next face Naomi Osaka after the 19-year-old Japanese beat Luksika Kumkhum.
It was incredibly tricky. She has the kind of game that can trouble any player
Flipkens, ranked 70 in the world, began well but Konta, considered a serious contender to win her first Grand Slam title, soon improved.
The 25-year-old was serving for the opening set at 5-4 but Flipkens broke back after a 10-minute game which saw both players miss several good chances.
Konta, named the WTA's most improved player of 2016, responded by breaking Flipkens again and then held her serve to love to take the opening set after 51 minutes.
The Briton dominated the second set, securing two breaks of serve, to wrap up victory.
"It was incredibly tricky. She has the kind of game that can trouble any player," said Konta.
"I tried to play myself into the match and I'm happy to be through. A lot has happened in the last year and I'm just enjoying playing and trying to get better every day."
If Naomi Broady had edged a tight match with Daria Gavrilova, there would have been six British players in the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time since Wimbledon 2006.
Johanna Konta's rapid elevation into the top 10 means Britain has a plausible shot at both the men's and women's singles titles, and others are now better equipped to keep her and Andy Murray company for longer.
Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans proved that last year, and Heather Watson's win over Sam Stosur showed what she is capable of. Watson craves consistency, and this first round win was at least a positive start.
Edmund was hampered by cramp in his first-round defeat by Damir Dzumhur in Melbourne last year, but has worked hard on his fitness.
Despite the temperature reaching 35C, the 22-year-old world number 46 looked assured throughout his contest with the 91st-ranked Giraldo.
He will meet Pablo Carreno Busta, the Spanish 30th seed who went through after Canadian Peter Polansky retired in the fifth set.
"Last year was a very different scenario, so it was nice to concentrate on my tennis and let my body take care of me," said Edmund.
Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.
British number two Watson, who had lost in the first round in her past three appearances at the Australian Open, was broken early by home favourite Stosur.
However, former US Open champion Stosur could not keep any consistency and Watson eventually secured a place in the second round after two hours and 15 minutes.
"There were some very long games and I had a slow start in both of the first two sets - in the third I wanted to make her work," said Watson, 24.
"Sam's a great player - she's beaten me both times before. I felt I prepared really well and felt fit in that third set."
Watson, ranked 81, will face Jennifer Brady in her next match, after the American beat Belgium's Maryna Zanevska 6-3 6-2.
Gavrilova, who is ranked 26th in the world and 71 places above Broady, was taken the distance by the British number three.
Stockport's Broady, 26, was making her debut in the Australian Open main draw and was looking for only her third victory in a Grand Slam match.
And she started well inside the Margaret Court Arena, overpowering 22-year-old Gavrilova in the first set.
Gavrilova, who switched her nationality from Russian to Australian in 2015, had her best Grand Slam run by reaching the fourth round in Melbourne last year.
And, despite a total of 19 aces from Broady, she was able to complete a comeback victory with the only break of the third and final set.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38646307
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Route 45: Inside one of Obama's favourite diners - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Jon Kay finds out people's hopes and fears about the Donald Trump presidency, over breakfast at one of Barack Obama's favourite eateries in Chicago.
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Jon Kay finds out people's hopes and fears about the Donald Trump presidency, over breakfast at one of Barack Obama's favourite restaurants in Chicago.
This is the second in a series of features from a journey along Route 45 in the US, to mark the inauguration week of the 45th president.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38648465
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NHS patient caught selling his drugs in undercover film - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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We went undercover to confront him.
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A patient has been caught in an undercover BBC film illegally selling prescription drugs which cost the NHS £10,000 a year.
You can see this story in full on BBC Inside Out West Midlands at 19:30 GMT on BBC One on Monday 16 January or via iPlayer afterwards.
This video has been optimised for mobile viewing on the BBC News app. The BBC News app is available from the Apple App Store for iPhone and Google Play Store for Android.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-38608663
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NHS England makes slight improvement - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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BBC Newsnight's Chris Cook exclusively reveals signs of a recovery in English hospitals.
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Health
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The number of people treated within four hours at A&E departments recovered in the second week of January, BBC Newsnight has learned.
But while performance has improved since the first week in January, it remains way below its target of 95%.
Leaked data covering last week puts the national figure at 82.4% with only five hospitals meeting the 95% standard.
NHS England said they were doing "everything [they] can to ensure the best care possible is being delivered."
While the national figure remains low, it does show an improvement on the first week in January, which is usually the health service's hardest week. An earlier exclusive report by BBC News had revealed that, in that first week, 79.6% of patients were seen within four hours and only one hospital met the 95% target.
The new analysis by NHS Improvement, which oversees foundation and NHS trusts, reveals a general pattern of gradual improvement since the low of January 3, when the daily A&E rate reached a low of 75.8%. Over this weekend, the service managed to see more than 85% of patients inside the four-hour waiting target.
A spokesman for NHS Improvement said: "In the past few days, we've seen a real improvement in how quickly patients are being seen and discharged from accident and emergency departments - including to social care. But we know the pressures facing our hospitals will continue over the remaining weeks of winter and we're working hard to ensure they have the support they need to offer patients quick, safe, quality care."
The leak also reveals that, in the second week of January, 14,700 people who had been admitted to a hospital were left waiting for more than four hours to find a bed.
Of these, 140 people endured so-called "trolley waits" of more than 12 hours. While these figures are well down on the first week in January, they remain historically high - up by 3,000 on the equivalent week two years ago.
There are further signs of vulnerability: for the week covered by the data, which runs 9 to 15 January, the number of beds in use remained an exceptionally high 95.3%, with 4.9% of the service's beds occupied because patients were stuck in hospitals awaiting transfer to another care provider (a so-called "delayed transfer of care").
This is well above the preferred rate of bed use. A large number of studies of hospital management have demonstrated how, when there are few spare hospital beds, even very modest further reductions in the number of free beds can dramatically increase the likelihood of any given patient being caught in a hospital backlog, which can lead to significant delays in care.
That high utilisation rate is why, in addition to the elevated rate of trolley waits, there were 177 cancelled operations. That figure is much higher than the previous week, but is likely to be distorted because of the Bank Holiday. The rate at which operations was being cancelled also fell during the week.
The strain on the service will have been eased because of the expected fall in traffic over the second week of the year, with average daily A&E attendances dropping from 50,993 in the first week of the year to 47,195 in the second.
A spokesperson for NHS England added: "We started planning for winter this year earlier than ever before and will continue to do everything we can to ensure the best care possible is being delivered."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38641367
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Who are the figures pushing Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin together? - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Advisers to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are promoting a stronger relationship between the two.
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Europe
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The question of whether Russia's leader Vladimir Putin has got material with which he could blackmail Donald Trump is for now unknowable and misses the point by a country mile: the two men think alike.
Mr Trump's belief in American traditionalism and dislike of scrutiny echo the Kremlin's tune: nation, power and aversion to criticism are the new (and very Russian) world order.
You could call this mindset Trumputinism.
The echo between the Kremlin and Trump Tower is strong, getting louder and very, very good news for Mr Putin.
As Trump signalled to Michael Gove on Monday, a new nuclear arms reduction deal seems to be in the offing linked to a review of sanctions against Russia.
The dog that did not bark in the night is Mr Trump's peculiar absence of criticism of Mr Putin, for example, on the Russian hacking of American democracy, his land-grab of Crimea and his role in the continuing war in Eastern Ukraine.
What is odd is that Mr Trump, in his tweets, favours the Russia line over, say, the CIA and the rest of the American intelligence community.
But why on earth criticise the world leader with whom you most agree?
Three men have egged along Trumputinism: Nigel Farage, who is clear that the European Union is a far bigger danger to world peace than Russia; his friend, Steve Bannon, who is now Mr Trump's chief strategist; and a Russian "penseur", Alexander Dugin.
With his long hair and iconic Slavic looks, Mr Dugin is variously described as "Putin's Brain" or "Putin's Rasputin".
Alexander Dugin is described as "Putin's Brain"
He has his own pro-Kremlin TV show which pumps out Russian Orthodox supremacy in a curious mixture of Goebbels-style rhetoric and Songs of Praise.
Mr Dugin is widely believed to have the ear of the Kremlin.
He is also under Western sanctions for the ferocity of his statements in favour of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has cost 10,000 lives to date.
Messrs Farage, Bannon and Dugin are all united that the greatest danger for Western civilisation lies in Islamist extremism.
Mr Bannon aired his views in a right-wing mindfest on the fringes of the Vatican in 2014.
He claimed that so-called Islamic State has a Twitter account "about turning the United States into a 'river of blood'".
"Trust me, that is going to come to Europe," he added. "On top of that we're now, I believe, at the beginning stages of a global war against Islamic fascism."
The danger is that in allying yourself with the Kremlin in the way they fight "Islamist fascism" in say, Aleppo, you end up siding with what some have called "Russian fascism" or, at least, abandoning democratic values and the rules of war and, in so doing, become a recruiting sergeant for ISIS.
It is a risk on which Mr Dugin does not seem willing to reflect. My interview with him in Moscow did not end well.
Dugin posted a critical blog entry after walking out of his interview with John Sweeney
First, he dismissed the chances that the Russians hacked American democracy as "strictly zero".
I asked him about the depth of Mr Putin's commitment to democracy.
"Please be careful," he responded. "You could not teach us democracy because you try to impose to every people, every state, every society, their Western, American or so-called American system of values without asking…and it is absolutely racist; you are racist."
Too many of Mr Putin's critics end up dead - around 20 since he took power in 2000.
I have met and admired three: Anna Politkovskaya, Natasha Estemirova and Boris Nemtsov.
Boris Nemtsov was murdered close to the Kremlin in 2015
Mr Nemtsov was shot just outside the Kremlin's walls.
I asked Mr Dugin what his death told us about Russian democracy.
"If you are engaged in Wikileaks you can be murdered," he countered.
I then invited Mr Dugin to list the American journalists who have died under Barack Obama.
Mr Dugin did not oblige but told me that ours was a "completely stupid kind of conversation" and walked out of the interview.
Later, he posted a blog to his 20,000 followers, illustrated with my photograph and accusing me of manufacturing "fake news" and calling me "an utter cretin... a globalist swine".
Such is the language of the new world order.
A few days later I watched the press conference when Mr Trump closed down a question from a CNN reporter by accusing him of manufacturing "fake news".
Under Trumputinism, the echo between Russia and America is getting louder by the day.
Panorama: The Kremlin Candidate? BBC One, 8.30pm, Monday, January 16. If you miss it, you can catch up later online.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38639327
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Masters 2017: Neil Robertson to play Ronnie O'Sullivan in quarter-finals - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Former world champion Neil Robertson will play Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Masters quarter-finals - Marco Fu is also through.
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Last updated on .From the section Snooker
Former Crucible winner Neil Robertson set up a Masters quarter-final with defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan by beating Ali Carter 6-3.
A low-scoring match saw the pair share the first two frames before the Australian opened up a 4-1 lead.
England's world number 14 Carter pulled it back to 4-3, but the 2012 Masters champion won the next before clinching victory with a 117 break.
Hong Kong's Fu had fallen 3-0 and 4-2 behind, but recovered to make breaks of 80 and 102 in the last two frames.
Englishman Trump started brightly with breaks of 102, 87 and 67, and further runs of 79 and 112 took him one away from victory, before Fu fought back.
Fu, runner-up in 2010, faces Northern Ireland's Mark Allen in the next round at Alexandra Palace on Thursday.
A high-class encounter saw the pair make 14 breaks over 50 in the best-of-11 match.
Fu's victory was the third first-round match to go to a decider following O'Sullivan's win over Liang Wenbo and Allen's victory over John Higgins.
"I have done it the hard way," he told BBC Sport. "I missed three balls and was 3-0 down. I just tried to concentrate on the good things I had been doing.
"Maybe there was a few nerves at the start. No matter how many tournaments you have won, this is an extra buzz."
Last month, Fu was 4-1 down before winning eight frames in a row to beat Higgins in the Scottish Open final to claim the third ranking title of his career.
Fu added: "When I am in good form, I handle the mistakes better now. I feel stronger when I miss a few balls, it does not matter to me, I can keep going."
I feel sorry for Judd, he did not have a single chance in the final frame but Marco took those last few balls well.
It was an absolutely wonderful spectacle. Fu is 39 and playing the best snooker of his career.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38656701
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'I'm allergic to my husband' - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How one woman's rare disorder means a kiss from her husband could end up killing her.
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Magazine
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Johanna and Scott Watkins pictured together before she became severely allergic to her husband
Twenty-nine-year-old Johanna Watkins from Minnesota cannot kiss her husband Scott, or even spend time in the same room as him. She suffers from Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, a rare disorder of the immune system, which means she is allergic to almost everything, including her husband's scent.
Johanna and Scott Watkins's date nights are very different from other couples.
"Scott and I will try to watch a show together. We can't be in the room together, because I'm allergic to him, but he will be three floors below me in a room on his laptop and I will be on mine and we'll watch the show at the same time and then text about it as we're watching it," says Johanna.
Johanna lives in an attic room all by herself with sealed windows and doors, and air filters to purify the air. She has a severe form of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) in which the cells that are meant to protect her from outside threats mutate and start attacking her body instead.
On their wedding day the couple were unaware Johanna's condition would become so severe
The symptoms and severity of the disease can vary from patient to patient, but it makes Johanna allergic to virtually everything and can trigger life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
Before she married her husband Scott in 2013 Johanna did not expect her condition to become so severe. She worked as a teacher and the couple used to love hiking together. Even then she struggled with unusual rashes, irritable bowel syndrome and migraines, but these ailments became much worse after the couple married.
"There were times three and four years ago, before we got the diagnosis, that if I was extra close to my wife, specifically if my face was close to Johanna's face, she would cough," says Scott.
But it was only last year that the couple realised they had become unable to physically share their life together.
"We had noticed that when Scott would come in [to the room] I would start feeling worse and worse. My normal daily symptoms would just be aggravated," says Johanna. "And then at one point he went to get his haircut and came back in the room and within two minutes I had started my anaphylactic symptoms and he had to leave."
A week later Scott tried to see his wife again, but the same thing happened, and they realised their lives would have to change dramatically.
"It was this horrible reality that it wasn't going to work," says Johanna. "I was now reacting strongly to my husband. Before this I had reacted to my parents, to many, many other people, but it was horrific when it became Scott."
The treatment and medication that is usually given to MCAS sufferers does not help Johanna, so at the moment the couple do not know when - if ever - their situation will change.
"There's not an easy way around this problem. I want to keep Johanna safe and me going to see her compromises her safety," says Scott. "One of the ways I can take care of her now is by not going to see her. I'm not going to endanger her life. We're absolutely committed to one another and we're going to wait as long as it takes to see if there is some kind of healing."
Doctors are trying different treatments, but none so far have helped.
"They don't know if I will get well, and so we hope and we pray that I will," says Johanna. "I have had anaphylaxis, which is a life-threatening allergic reaction, more times than we can keep track of. My life could end quickly. Life is frail - it can end."
But Scott will be part of her life for as long as it continues, she says.
"On our wedding day we made vows to each other that till death do us part. No matter what life brought.
"I can tell you that even if I have this until I'm 90 years old, I would be committed to my husband with that vow and still love him."
Johanna and Scott are no longer able to hold each other's hands
Scott says they do sometimes get angry and frustrated about their situation.
"I've had to release a lot of what I expected for myself and I've had to accept what has been given to us," says Scott.
He adds: "Johanna and I are good at talking, we talk a lot, we try to communicate a lot, so one thing that we've found that's helpful is just bringing each other into what's going on in our lives as best we can because we're not able to be together."
Scott works full-time as a teacher and then returns home every evening to cook Johanna's food.
"It's one of the ways that I can care for her, and every other day for the past year I've had one of my dear friends come and they help [me] cook for Johanna," he says. "She can only eat two meals, so she's been eating the same two meals for over a year."
Johanna can only tolerate 15 different foods, including spices, so she eats either beef chuck roast (beef stew) with organic celery, carrot and parsnip or organic lamb with turmeric, cinnamon and cucumber.
Johanna has not responded to any treatment so far, including four rounds of chemotherapy
The couple are currently living in the family home of their friends, the Olsons, while their own home is renovated to make it a safe living space for Johanna. The Olson family have given up using all scented products and do not cook in their house at all.
"I have had severe reactions to someone smoking a cigarette down the block," says Johanna. "I have had severe reactions to the pizza place that's a mile down the street, and all my windows are closed and sealed in the room with special filters.
"But just if the wind blows it on the right direction that day and I get even a whiff I can have a severe reaction. The house is quite large and I'm at the top level, and if an onion were to be cut in the kitchen I have had a severe reaction."
Johanna has not left the attic room for more than a year, except to visit the hospital in an emergency or to see her doctor. Every morning she listens to a playlist of songs and then might write or answer an email to a friend, or video-call her young nieces.
The only people she does not have a life-threatening reaction to are her siblings, who help take care of her. Before they enter her room, they have to avoid eating strongly spiced food, shower with a special soap and strip down to their underwear. As soon as they walk in, they put on masks and special clothes that have never left Johanna's room.
Despite all these precautions, Johanna's symptoms still become worse after their visit.
"I think growing up in America, it's common for us to just think, 'Oh OK if there's a disease there'll be a medical solution, it will be fixed and I'll move on with my life,'" says Johanna. "So being diagnosed and becoming this ill, [there was] definitely a grieving process that I went through."
But the fact that Scott is downstairs in the same house and that she can talk to him on the phone is a huge comfort, says Johanna.
"I have many gifts in my life, many blessings that I have to be thankful for," she says. "And that reminds me to not become selfish and just make it all about me."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38507160
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Australian Open 2017: Second seed Serena Williams beats Belinda Bencic - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Six-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams beats Belinda Bencic to reach the second round in Melbourne.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Six-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams progressed to the second round with a straight-set win over Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic.
The American, 35, beat her 19-year-old opponent 6-4 6-3 in 79 minutes in scorching conditions in Melbourne.
The world number two, attempting to win a record 23rd Grand Slam singles title, said she "has nothing to lose".
"Every match I'm playing for fun. I get to travel the world and do what I do best - play tennis," she added.
Williams lost the Australian Open final last year to Angelique Kerber but won Wimbledon to equal Steffi Graf's Open era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
She has barely played since the US Open last September because of injury, and lost in the second round of this month's Auckland Classic.
But she eased doubts about her form and fitness with a typically powerful performance in temperatures of about 35C.
• None Djokovic and Nadal through, as Karlovic wins 84-game epic
• None How day two in Melbourne unfolded
Williams will face Lucie Safarova in the second round after the 29-year-old Czech saved nine match points before beating Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-1.
Safarova saved five match points on her own serve in the second set and another four in the tie-break.
"It's not fun," said a stunned Wickmayer. "I think she served very well on certain points and other points I didn't go for enough.
"But it's normal when you have match point and you want to play it a little bit safe. Then after, you realise it's not the best option."
Best of the rest
Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, seeded third in the Open, beat Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-1 4-6 6-1. She will now face Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Fifth seed Karolina Pliskova, who beat Williams in last year's US Open semi-finals, went through thanks to a 6-2 6-0 victory over Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo.
"Even when you're not playing your best, somehow you have to win," said the 24-year-old.
"I know I can be dangerous deep in the tournament, quarters and semis, and when there are big players I can beat them."
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki did not hang around as she beat Australian Arina Rodionova 6-1 6-2 in just over an hour to set up a meeting with Croatia's Donna Vekic.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38646584
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Valtteri Bottas: Big opportunity but challenge of his life at Mercedes - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Valtteri Bottas faces the opportunity of his life following his switch to Mercedes for 2017, replacing current world champion Nico Rosberg.
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Valtteri Bottas faces the opportunity and challenge of his life following his switch to Mercedes for 2017.
After four seasons of solid performances with Williams, the 27-year-old Finn has been rewarded with every driver's dream - a seat with the best team in Formula 1.
Barring a remarkable slip in form for Mercedes, Bottas will morph from being an occasional podium visitor to a race-winner and possibly title contender this year.
But in new team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Bottas faces an adversary far beyond anything he has experienced so far. How he measures up will likely define the rest of his career.
Bottas might not be the most exciting of choices for Mercedes. Fans around the world would have loved to see Hamilton battle McLaren's Fernando Alonso again, or take on Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo or Max Verstappen, or Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. But his appeal to Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff is obvious.
Bottas is Wolff's attempt to find a like-for-like replacement for German Nico Rosberg, who dropped Mercedes in the mire by announcing his retirement last year, five days after clinching his first world title. And it's not just about their blond hair or Finnish ancestry.
Bottas shares many of Rosberg's characteristics. Both are calm, unobtrusive characters, who are generally pliable and understanding in terms of working with the team and lack the demanding nature of a Hamilton or Alonso.
On the track they are consistent, largely error-free performers. And Bottas has proved himself a resilient and hard racer.
Wolff should - he hopes - be able to plug Bottas in and carry on pretty much where Mercedes left off in the past few years.
Wolff rates Bottas extremely highly. But now he has joined Mercedes, the big question is: how good is he?
There have been flashes of brilliance - such as qualifying third in the wet in an uncompetitive Williams in Canada in 2013 - that suggest a real talent.
And overall, the general perception is Bottas' record against Felipe Massa at Williams over the past three years is similar to Alonso's against the Brazilian at Ferrari before that.
But the facts do not bear that out. While Bottas and Alonso beat Massa in both qualifying and races, the Spaniard's advantage over the Brazilian was significantly bigger.
Directly comparing the data suggests Bottas is as much as 0.2-0.3 seconds per lap slower than Alonso and considerably less effective in races.
Neither Massa nor Bottas have been team-mates to Hamilton. But Alonso has - at McLaren in 2007. They finished tied on points, with four wins each, and Hamilton edged qualifying by the tiniest of margins. By any measure, it was - and is - very difficult to separate Hamilton and Alonso.
If 2017 follows the trend of those results, Hamilton can be expected to be comfortably quicker than Bottas.
Perhaps more surprising is that those comparisons suggest that not only is Bottas not a match for Alonso and Hamilton, but he might not equal Rosberg either.
However, drivers' form does not always directly translate across teams and rivals in as linear a fashion as might be expected.
It is up to Bottas to prove the comparisons wrong and grab the opportunity with both hands.
Bottas was always the only realistic option once Wolff decided against Mercedes junior Pascal Wehrlein. Bottas is quick, dependable, has had a management relationship with Wolff, and raced for a team that had Mercedes engines, and with which a deal therefore might more easily be done.
All the A-list drivers - Alonso, Ricciardo, Verstappen and Vettel - were not available. They are under contract to leading teams that would have been left in a similar position to Mercedes had they allowed them to leave.
But if they had been available, Wolff may not have wanted most of them anyway.
Part of the decision to sign the same type of driver as Rosberg was a desire to retain the team dynamic.
Rosberg and Hamilton worked for Mercedes because only one of them saw it as a right and expectation to be in front. Spoken or not, there was a natural order. They were, as one senior Mercedes insider once put it, "a great driver and a very good one".
This is a way of keeping the rivalry manageable and under control without the need for too much team interference.
The faster driver - Hamilton - knows he will win most of the time as long as he performs at his best. And the other one - a different personality - is able to keep defeat in perspective more easily when it happens.
As Wolff put it on Monday: "Valtteri shares our values and passion, and he's modest, humble and hard-working."
But there is a possibility the team dynamic will change anyway.
How might it affect Hamilton?
Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche recently provided an amusing insight into Mercedes' relationship with Hamilton.
Talking to Autocar magazine about how he heard the news of Rosberg's retirement, Zetsche said: "I was stepping out of the shower lacking any clothes and my phone was ringing. And I saw it was Toto and I thought: 'Oh, again something with Lewis!'"
His remarks confirm the open secret that Hamilton is not an easy driver to manage.
Like all drivers of his stature, Hamilton can be awkward over PR appearances and other such matters that are expected of drivers but they find tiresome. And he has repeatedly bucked against the authority of the team.
In ignoring orders to speed up while 'backing' Rosberg into rivals in the title-deciding race in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton was metaphorically sticking two fingers up to team management.
Wolff initially said he would consider what actions to take. Then, Hamilton spoke of feeling "disrespected" by that call. Following Rosberg's retirement, Wolff and soon-to-leave technical boss Paddy Lowe said the orders should not have been issued.
Throughout last season, Hamilton repeatedly brought up the reliability disparity that was giving Rosberg an advantage in their title battle.
In Malaysia - after his engine failed while he was leading, costing him the championship lead and, as it turned out, the title - he went as far as saying "something or someone doesn't want me to win this year".
Many interpreted that wrongly as a suggestion there was a conspiracy in the team. But even as a reference to bad luck or divine intervention, it is a statement that causes Mercedes problems.
After Hamilton refused to take questions in a news conference at the Japanese Grand Prix last year, Wolff called such incidents "collateral damage", and insisted "his performances in the car justify" it.
But sometimes - if very rarely - Hamilton is not phenomenal in the car. And some in F1 question his 'off' weekends and occasional problematic behaviour as directly linked to his decision to pursue a Hollywood lifestyle. This, they argue, restricts his ability to perform at his absolute best all the time.
They see his jetting back and forth to the US as a lack of focus and blame it for weekends such as those in Baku and Singapore last year, where Hamilton quite patently, and for reasons that are not clear, just did not bring his 'A game'.
And they believe it is facilitated by Mercedes' choice of a team-mate Hamilton knows he can handle.
Wolff and Hamilton, meanwhile, insist it is the freedom Mercedes give him to be himself that allows him to perform at his peak - and everyone has a bad day once in a while.
And it seems more likely that the 'off' weekends are just part of him, and related to specific aspects of car behaviour, a set-up he cannot get right, or which he refuses to adapt to because he feels it is not working for him.
His occasional unpredictability is one of the reasons Mercedes need a strong team-mate for Hamilton - and not just to score regular points in the constructors' championship, the main reason Bottas was preferred over Wehrlein.
While Rosberg was not on Hamilton's level as a driver, he was close enough to give Mercedes a viable alternative as a counter-balance.
The likelihood is Bottas will slot in and be - at least - a direct Rosberg replacement. While that is the case, Mercedes might not want a driver with a talent comparable to Hamilton - and the attitude that tends to come with it.
But if he can't challenge Hamilton regularly, Wolff might, for a number of reasons, wonder whether signing another superstar alongside Hamilton is not such a bad idea after all.
Vettel and Alonso, both out of contract at the end of the year, will be watching this with interest.
Bottas will go into Mercedes aiming to win races and titles, but he will be as aware as anyone of the challenge facing him.
Hamilton will likely already feel emboldened, his position strengthened by Rosberg's departure, and a weaker team-mate would only enhance that feeling.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38640410
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‘Afghan girl’ Sharbat Gula in quest for new life - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Afghan woman made famous by a 1985 magazine cover tells the BBC of her hope for a new beginning.
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Asia
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An Afghan woman made famous by a 1985 National Geographic cover has spoken exclusively to the BBC of her hope for a new beginning, after being deported from Pakistan.
Sharbat Gula now lives with her five-year-old son and three daughters in Kabul, where she says she wants to live a normal life after years of tragedy and hardship.
Her portrait as a 10-year-old became an iconic image of Afghan refugees fleeing war.
The only time she has spoken to the media before now, her family says, was for a 2002 documentary after Steve McCurry, who took her original photo, tracked her down in Pakistan and found out who she was.
Sharbat Gula had no idea that her face had been famous around the world for almost 17 years.
Like many Afghans, she sought refuge in Pakistan and lived there for 35 years - but she was imprisoned and deported last autumn for obtaining Pakistani identity papers "illegally".
"We had a good time there, had good neighbours, lived among our own Pashtun brothers. But I didn't expect that the Pakistani government would treat me like this at the end," Sharbat Gula told me at her temporary residence in Kabul.
Her case highlighted the arbitrary arrest and forced deportation of Afghan refugees in the current spat between the two countries.
It has been illegal for non-Pakistanis to have IDs since they were first issued in the 1970s, but the law was often not enforced.
Now sick and frail in her mid-40s, Sharbat Gula's haunting eyes are still piercing, full of both fear and hope.
She says she had already sold her house in Pakistan because she feared arrest there for "not having proper documents to stay".
Two days before a planned move back to Afghanistan, her house was raided late in the evening and she was taken to prison.
Sharbat Gula was sentenced to 15 days in prison
Pakistan's government has ordered all two million Afghan refugees on its soil to leave.
Sharbat Gula believes the Pakistani authorities wanted to arrest her before she left.
"I told the police that I have made this ID card for only two things - to educate my children and sell my house - which were not possible to do without the ID card."
She served a 15-day prison sentence, the first week in prison and the second in hospital where she was treated for hepatitis C.
"This was the hardest and worst incident in my life."
Realising the reputational damage, Pakistan later offered to let her stay - but she refused.
"I told them that I am going to my country. I said: 'You allowed me here for 35 years, but at the end treated me like this.' It is enough."
Her husband and eldest daughter died in Peshawar and are buried there.
"If I wanted to go back, it will be just to offer prayer at the graves of my husband and daughter who are buried in front of the house we lived in."
The "Afghan Girl" picture was taken by Steve McCurry in 1984 in a refugee camp near Peshawar, when Sharbat Gula was studying in a tent school. Published in 1985, it became one of the most recognisable magazine covers ever printed.
For years she was unaware of her celebrity.
"When my brother showed me the picture, I recognised myself and told him that yes, this is my photo."
"I became very surprised [because] I didn't like media and taking photos from childhood. At first, I was concerned about the publicity of my photo but when I found out that I have been the cause of support/help for many people/refugees, then I became happy."
Sharbat Gula has now returned to Afghanistan, where the government promised her a house in Kabul
None of Sharbat Gula's six children - another daughter died too at an early age and is buried in Peshawar - share the colour of her eyes.
But her brother, Kashar Khan, does, and the eyes of one of her three sisters were also green.
She says her maternal grandmother had eyes of a similar colour.
Sharbat Gula was a child living with her family in Kot district of eastern Nangarhar province when Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979.
"There was war between Russians and Afghanistan - that is why we left. A lot of damage/destruction was done."
Her mother died of appendicitis in the village when she was eight. Like hundreds of thousands of other Afghans, her family (her father, four sisters and one brother) migrated to Pakistan and started living in a tent in a refugee camp called Kacha Garahi, on the outskirts of Peshawar.
She was married at 13. But her husband, Rahmat Gul, was later diagnosed with hepatitis C and died about five years ago. Her eldest daughter also died of hepatitis three years ago, aged 22, leaving a two-month-old daughter.
Sharbat Gula met President Ashraf Ghani in the presidential palace on her return, and later former President Hamid Karzai.
"They gave me respect, warmly welcomed me. I thank them. May God treat them well."
Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani received her at the presidential palace
The government has promised to support her financially and buy her a house in Kabul.
"I hope the government will fulfil all its promises," she told me.
Kot district is a stronghold of militants linked to the so-called Islamic State group, so she can't go home to her village. Her green-eyed brother and hundreds of others have fled the area, fearing IS brutality.
"We cannot even visit our village now because of insecurity and don't have a shelter in Jalalabad. Our life is a struggle from one hardship to another," he says.
But Sharbat Gula's priority is to stay in her country, get better and see her children be educated and live happy lives.
"I want to establish a charity or a hospital to treat all poor, orphans and widows," she says.
"I would like peace to come to this country, so that people don't become homeless. May God fix this country."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38640487
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When fast food gets an Indian twist - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The BBC's in-house cartoonist, Kirtish Bhatt, on McDonald's bid to become "more Indian".
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India
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McDonald's created quite a stir when it announced plans to start serving classic Indian dishes in the form of burgers.
One dish to get the treatment is the hugely popular masala dosa, which is a type of rice pancake with a potato filling.
Many Indians took to Twitter last week to share their views on McDonald's "dosa burger" and "anda bhurji burger" (masala scrambled eggs).
Some saw this as an attempt by McDonald's to appropriate Indian food, but others chose humour to suggest more dishes for a McMakeover.
Here's the BBC's in-house cartoonist, Kirtish Bhatt, on these suggestions and on India's take on global fast food chains.
Now the samosa is a humble but very popular street snack in India. As one Twitter user suggested, McDonald's should include it in its menu to go fully Indian.
Another Twitter user said McDonald's Indian menu would not be complete without lassi, a sweet yogurt-based thick drink.
While McDonald's is trying to become more Indian, some local shops try hard to look global and name themselves after popular global fast-food chains, often with a twist. Kerala is a state in southern India, where famous meals include sadya - a feast served on a banana leaf. KFC would look very different if it were done Indian-style!
If Subway had started in India, it might have been inspired by the popular south Indian surname Subramanian. It would sell rice cakes and lentil stew (sambar), not sandwiches and salads.
US Pizza is a popular food chain across India, where pizzas are often connected with the US rather than any other country. In that spirit, there is absolutely no reason why "US" can't also stand for "Uttam Singh", which is a popular north Indian name!
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-38633567
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FA Cup: Roarie Deacon scores 'fabulous' goal for Sutton - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Roarie Deacon scores a "fabulous" goal to draw Sutton United level against 10-man AFC Wimbledon in their FA Cup third-round replay.
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Roarie Deacon scores a "fabulous" goal to draw Sutton United level against 10-man AFC Wimbledon in their FA Cup third-round replay.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup third-round replays here.
FA People's Cup: Free five-a-side competition returns for 2017 - sign up now!
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38658274
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Germany shivers in new wind blowing from US - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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German politicians are desperately trying to build and forge ties with US President-elect Donald Trump.
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Europe
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Is it possible to think of an odder couple than Angela Merkel and Donald Trump?
German politicians and civil servants are desperately trying to build and forge ties with Team Trump. It doesn't appear to be going terribly well.
The US president-elect has condemned Angela Merkel's decision to let in 890,000 migrants as a "catastrophic mistake" and dismissed the European Union as "basically a vehicle for Germany".
He has also threatened German car-maker BMW with a 35% tariff if it builds a plant in Mexico.
His remarks have provoked dismay, but not surprise, in Berlin. And it's still not clear when Chancellor Merkel will meet the new president.
For now the only certainty is that there will be no immediate reprise of the warm political alliance fostered by Mrs Merkel and Barack Obama.
The Merkel-Obama warmth, on the other hand, has survived difficult tests
It survived the embarrassing revelation that US spies hacked into Mrs Merkel's mobile phone, and he was a vocal supporter of both the EU and her decision to open Germany's doors to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in 2015.
The president-elect, she said, had laid out - again - his position. Her own views, she added, were already well known.
Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel was less diplomatic, pointing out that the migrant crisis in Europe was the result of faulty, American interventionism in the Middle East.
How the transatlantic tone has changed.
For all his German heritage, Germans have not taken to Donald Trump.
His campaign rhetoric repulsed many here. A poll for a national broadcaster in the run-up to the US presidential on 8 November election found just 4% thought he was the right candidate for the job.
The US car market is extremely important to German manufacturers
And his approach to the German car industry is raising eyebrows.
Few here believe Congress would support his apparent and inflammatory threat to impose a 35% tax on German cars sold to the US.
To be sure the US market is important and so is the country as a location of German manufacturing plants.
But as the head of the German auto industry, Matthias Wissmann, put it last week: "The automotive industries in both the US and Germany have expressed their support for a trade agreement that has fewer non-tariff trade barriers and eliminates import duties as far as possible."
German MEP Manfred Weber was less subtle on Monday. "We can put the thumbscrews on US companies too if need be," he said.
No wonder, perhaps, one of the country's leading economists called upon the government to seek dialogue with Donald Trump.
Clemens Fuest, president of the institute for economic research, said there was a risk Mr Trump would not achieve his targets of more industrial jobs in the US and fewer imports, and that he could identify a scapegoat in the German economy and its reliance on exports.
There is an unnerving sense here that this goes beyond domestic concerns.
Rather that Germany's - Europe's - position on the world stage is shifting.
Angela Merkel's partnership with Barack Obama made for a powerful dynamic. Her role as interlocutor between Russia and the West also gave her and Germany clout.
That may all be about to change, leaving Mrs Merkel to defend - perhaps single-handedly - the integrity of an EU whose fragmentation, it appears, would be welcomed not just by Moscow but by the new US administration too.
So Mr Trump's disdain for Nato, which he described as "obsolete", and his apparent contempt for the EU are causing concern at the highest level - and not just in Berlin.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that European unity was the best response to Donald Trump.
Echoing that sentiment, Mrs Merkel said that the EU must work together to tackle the common challenges of terrorism, external border controls and the digital single market.
Europe's fate, she added, lay in its own hands.
For now she and her ministers are preparing to take a pragmatic approach. She would work with the new administration and see what agreements could be made, she said.
One MP told me that politicians were adjusting, albeit reluctantly and with a degree of bewilderment, to a very different kind of partnership.
It is, after all, almost impossible to think of an odder couple than Angela Merkel and Donald Trump.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38642810
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Dashcam shows US truck near miss - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Dashcam footage captures a Kansas State Trooper's near miss with an oncoming truck.
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Dashcam footage has captured a Kansas State Trooper's near miss with an oncoming truck.
It shows the moment the trooper swerved to avoid the vehicle, which had lost control in icy conditions.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38643280
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My Shop: Kristin Baybars' toy shop in London - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Kristin Baybars has made and sold toys from her shop for 40 years - and modern toys don't impress her.
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Kristin Baybars has been making and selling toys for the past four decades from her self-named shop in Gospel Oak, London.
Money has never been her motive but with more people shopping online, times are getting harder - and a housing development next door is adding to her woes.
Video journalist Dougal Shaw went to visit her to find out what she makes of modern toys.
This video is part of a series from the BBC Business Unit called My Shop. The series focuses on distinctive, independent shops and is filmed on a smartphone. To suggest a shop email us. For the latest updates about the series follow video journalist Dougal Shaw on Twitter or Facebook.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38642319
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David Weir says he will never wear a Great Britain vest again - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Six-time Paralympic champion David Weir says he will never wear a Great Britain vest again, adding he feels "let down".
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Last updated on .From the section Disability Sport
Six-time Paralympic champion David Weir says he will never wear a Great Britain vest again, adding he feels "let down".
The 37-year-old wheelchair racer, who won four gold medals at the London Paralympics, announced his retirement from track racing after an unsuccessful Paralympic Games in Rio last year.
He said April's London Marathon would be his final road race.
British Athletics says it is puzzled by Weir's comments, which came in a series of tweets on Tuesday.
"I have just retired from GB. I will still be at the London Marathon this year," wrote Weir.
A six-time world champion, he said he felt like he had been "stabbed in the back" after he crashed out of the marathon in Rio, his last ever Paralympic event.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/38651444
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CCTV shows stone fracturing woman's skull - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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A woman suffered a fractured skull while sitting in a cab.
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A woman suffered a fractured skull when a teenager threw a stone at the cab she was travelling in.
The attack was captured on CCTV and shows the windows being smashed.
Four teenagers are to be sentenced next month for wounding.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38645466
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Yaya Toure: Man City midfielder rejects £430,000-a-week move to China - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure turns down a £430,000-a-week offer from the Chinese Super League.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has turned down a £430,000-a-week offer from China.
Toure, 33, was the subject of interest from the Chinese Super League last summer.
He decided against moving then and gave the same response when he was contacted again to say the offer remained open during the current transfer window, which closes on 31 January.
The Ivorian's contract at the Etihad expires in the summer.
Toure's future appeared in doubt when he was left out of the City squad by Pep Guardiola at the start of the season.
However, he has been a regular for the club since he was recalled in November and started his seventh consecutive game in the 4-0 defeat at Everton in the Premier League on 15 January.
Toure has been free to sign pre-contract agreements with clubs overseas since 1 January but it is understood he still enjoys the English game.
Guardiola has not given Toure any guarantees about his future beyond the summer.
The Ivorian, who joined City in 2010, has become more important since Germany midfielder Ilkay Gundogan suffered a cruciate ligament injury against Watford on 14 December that is likely to rule him out for the rest of the season.
Midfielders Oscar and John Mikel Obi left Chelsea to move to China earlier this month, while former Manchester United and Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez reportedly became the world's highest-paid player when he joined Shanghai Shenhua.
Chelsea striker Diego Costa, the Premier League's joint-top scorer with 14 goals, had been linked with a move to Tianjin Quanjian, who recently signed Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel for a salary of more than £15m a year. But the club ended their interest after the Chinese Super League reduced the number of foreign footballers allowed to play.
New rules stipulate that Chinese clubs will be able to field a maximum of three foreign players per game when the new season starts in March.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38656748
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Australian Open 2017: Andy Murray prepares for Andrey Rublev in second round - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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World number one Andy Murray admits he does not know much about his Australian Open second round opponent Andrey Rublev.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and text updates on the BBC Sport website and app.
World number one Andy Murray has admitted he does not know much about his Australian Open second round opponent Andrey Rublev.
Murray will face the 19-year-old Russian, ranked 152nd in the world, on Wednesday from 09:30 GMT.
Fellow Briton Dan Evans will also be in action in Melbourne, against seventh seed Marin Cilic around 07:00 GMT.
"I've never hit with him or played against him, but I've seen him play and he goes for it," Murray said.
"I know a little bit about him and he doesn't hold back. He hits a big ball.''
• None Order of play - who plays when?
Rublev is appearing in his second Grand Slam - he was knocked out in the first round of the US Open in 2015.
"I'm so excited, I have nothing to lose. He's the best tennis player at the moment. So I will just try to take a great experience from this," he said.
Murray was left frustrated after his first round victory over Illya Marchenko, taking two hours and 48 minutes to register a three-set win.
"I have had a lot of tough losses here, for sure,'' said Murray, who has been beaten in the final in Melbourne five times in seven years.
"I have played some of my best tennis on hard courts here. But I keep coming back to try. I'll keep doing that until I'm done.''
Elsewhere, Roger Federer faces American Noah Rubin from 04:00, while fourth seed Stan Wawrinka will play Rubin's compatriot Steve Johnson.
World number one Angelique Kerber plays Germany's Carina Witthoeft, while Serena and Venus Williams appear in the first round of the doubles, playing Hungary's Timea Babos and Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
We'll learn a lot more about Rublev in this match. He is a big-hitting player who goes after the shots and plays high-octane tennis.
It'll be good to see what this young man can bring but it's a very tough ask for someone of that age against Andy.
It's an environment that Andy really enjoys. You would expect him to get the job done, but he will study him and won't take anything for granted.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38647714
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Hull bin man kicking rubbish under car caught on CCTV - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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A bin man is filmed spilling rubbish on to a Hull street and kicking it beneath a parked car.
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A bin man has been filmed spilling rubbish on to a Hull street and kicking it under a parked car.
The CCTV footage was taken from a house in the Bransholme area of the city and sent to the BBC. It shows the bin man kicking dirty nappies that have fallen out of the top of a wheelie bin, which he is pushing to a council-owned lorry.
In a statement, Hull City Council said: "We aim to provide the highest level of service, and we will be investigating this matter thoroughly.
"This is completely unacceptable behaviour, and the appropriate action will be taken."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-38653757
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Notting Hill Carnival stab victim says 'minority cause trouble' - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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A musician stabbed at the Notting Hill Carnival in 2016 told the BBC he did not think the event should change.
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A musician who was stabbed at last year's Notting Hill Carnival has said he does not think the event should change.
Jo Jordan was attacked by a gang who stabbed him in the arm and stole his watch at the carnival in August.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38643774
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Marrying the man who saved my life - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Melissa Dohme was viciously stabbed more than 30 times by her ex-boyfriend. She survived against all the odds and found love in an unexpected place.
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Magazine
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Melissa Dohme, from Florida, was 20 years old when she was stabbed more than 30 times and left for dead by her ex-boyfriend. Against all the odds she survived, though she thought she would never have another relationship. But then, as she describes here, she found love in an unexpected place.
Before the attack I was a college student working full-time in the reception of a local hospital. My dream was to become a nurse.
I was dating Robert Burton, who I had met in high school. We hung out all the time, texting and talking. He was very charming and funny and kind of like a gentle giant.
I noticed his behaviour changed, though, when I started applying to universities. He became very jealous. He would belittle me and not want me to succeed. He would lie about things and if I confronted him he had an explosive temper.
I tried to break up with him but he told me that, as his girlfriend, I should be helping him, not abandoning him. He said he would kill himself if I left him.
Melissa says Robert was funny and kind when they first met
It escalated to physical abuse. One day in October 2011, I drove us home as he had been drinking. He said that I shut the door before he had finished speaking and that set him off. He started hitting and punching me. I was able to break free and run away to call the police, who arrived and arrested him. He was charged with domestic battery and sentenced to 10 hours in jail. I thought I was finally free of him.
Over the next couple of months he left me alone. I learned through social media that he had another girlfriend, so I really thought he was over me.
Then, on 24 January 2012, he called me at 2am. He had gone to court that morning for the battery charge and said he needed closure from our terrible relationship and just wanted a hug. If I saw him just one more time he said would leave me alone forever.
I didn't listen to my intuition telling me it was wrong, and that was the biggest mistake I ever made. I took my pepper spray and phone, thinking I could protect myself if I needed to.
As soon as I walked out there he reached his arms out for a hug, but he had a switchblade in his hand. He flipped it open and he started stabbing me over and over again.
I remember the pain of the first few but after that I went into fight-or-flight mode. I tried to fight back and bite his hand. I was punching and screaming and doing everything I could, but I kept falling to the ground because I was losing so much blood.
A young boy and girl nearby ran over because they heard me screaming, and the girl called 911. After seeing them Robert went and got a bigger knife with a serrated blade from his truck and attacked me with that. He had every intention of killing me. He knew the police were going to come and he wanted to get it finished.
He left me lying in the road and I thought I was going to die. I just prayed to God to save me and give me a chance.
I was drifting away when a police officer shone his light on me. I felt a rush of life come back to me and I was able to state my name and who had attacked me. My speech was very slurred because I had had a stroke from the loss of blood.
My last few memories were in the ambulance. It was very bright and blurry and people were yelling and trying to stabilise me. They put the ventilator in to help me breathe and I knew that was a really bad sign. I thought, "OK, they think I'm about to die." They then said they needed to airlift me and they called for the helicopter.
I later learned from the trauma surgeons that I died on the table several times and they had to resuscitate me over and over.
My wounds were severe. I had a broken skull and jaw. My head and nose were fractured. He had severed my facial nerve, so I had paralysis on the right side of my face. They gave me 12 units of blood and the body holds about seven on average. It was a miracle I survived.
That time in hospital seemed like one very long day, but I was actually in intensive care for several days. At one point I remember motioning for a pen from my family. I needed to know what had happened to my attacker. I couldn't use my right hand because it had been stabbed so many times, so I used my left to write: "Dead, alive or jail?"
My family told me I didn't have to worry, that Robert had been caught and he was not going to harm me now. I felt very relieved.
He had attempted to kill himself by taking sleeping pills and crashing his car into a wall but he failed. He woke up in hospital strapped to the bed with the police by his side.
I faced a long road to recovery. Nineteen of the 32 stab wounds were to my head, neck and face so I didn't look like myself. I was missing teeth. My hair was shaved because they had to stitch up wounds on my head. Half of my face was paralysed.
When I looked in the mirror for the first time afterwards I just sobbed. I was only 20 years old. It was devastating. However, my faith was strong and I knew I wasn't still here on Earth to be mad about what I looked like. I just felt blessed that I was alive.
I had implants in my teeth and my scars slowly faded. I had nerve and muscle surgery in Boston, which helped regenerate my face and give me my smile back. I was keen to get back to school and work as soon as I could.
I assumed I would be single for the rest of my life. I never thought anyone would want to date me because I was damaged and had all this baggage. But I thought I could still use my experiences to help others. I wanted to speak out to let people in abusive relationships know that they deserved to be loved and respected and valued.At one of my speaking events in October 2012 I was delighted to meet the emergency services team who saved my life. One of the firefighters, Cameron, invited my mom and me to go to dinner at the fire department the following week. I was really excited about it.
Afterwards I couldn't stop thinking about Cameron. I knew that I had feelings for him but I was trying to ignore them. I wondered, "Am I feeling this way because he was one of the firemen who helped me?" But the more we talked the more we realised we had in common.
He gave me his number and said, "You know we're here for you," but I thought maybe he was just being nice. Still, I knew I had to see him again so a week later I contacted him and said I had a thank you card for the team. He said I should pop over to the station. I gave them the card and thought I would then leave, but Cameron and I ended up talking for six hours.
It felt like we could talk forever and that's when it became clear there was something special here.
We had different dates, we had a barbecue - we love barbecue in southern Florida - and we went to a shooting range. Cameron showed me how to improve my shooting and I now have a concealed-carry permit. It makes me feel better, that I can protect myself.
Cameron was by my side in August 2013 when I went to court to face the man who tried to kill me. When it was my turn on the stand Robert was staring at me. He was trying to intimidate me by staring me down but I refused to look away. At the end of the trial when all the evidence was being shown his head went down to the table. He finally had to face what he did and he realised he had no more power.
He was given life without parole and I was so relieved and thankful. I walked out of there with my life back.
Cameron and I continued dating. I went to St Petersburg College but decided not to study nursing - I wanted to dedicate my life to speaking out against domestic violence, so I studied Management and Organisational Leadership in Business.
A couple of years later I was invited to give the first pitch at a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game, in recognition of my work in schools talking about violent relationships.
I was on the mound and there wasn't a baseball there so Cameron came out of the dugout to hand me one. Written on the ball were the words: "Will you marry me?"
It was the most surprising moment of my whole life. And then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.
I couldn't speak for a moment as I couldn't find the words. It was just really incredible knowing that he put so much effort in and to making this surprise special for me. And I just I felt very blessed and over the moon. Of course I said yes.
He gave me a beautiful diamond ring that he had picked out and we're going to get married in a few weeks. All the people that saved me, from the first police officer on the scene to the trauma surgeon, are coming.Today I just feel very blessed to be here. I know that the attack was just one day in my life and it will never define me.
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38302839
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Why was the Zimmermann Telegram so important? - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Marking the 100th anniversary of one of the greatest of all feats of code-breaking
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UK
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Tuesday marks the 100th anniversary of a remarkable success for British intelligence: but one that involved spying on the United States and then conspiring with its senior officials to manipulate public opinion in America.
On the morning of 17 January 1917, Nigel de Grey walked into his boss's office in Room 40 of the Admiralty, home of British code-breakers.
It was obvious to Reginald "Blinker" Hall that his subordinate was excited.
"Do you want to bring America into the war?" de Grey asked.
The answer was obvious. Everyone knew that America entering World War One to fight the Germans would help break the stalemate.
"Yes, my boy. Why?" Hall answered.
"I've got something here which - well, it's a rather astonishing message which might do the trick if we could use it," de Grey said.
The previous day, the German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, had sent a message to the German ambassador to Washington.
The message used a code that had been largely cracked by British code-breakers, the forerunners of those who would later work at Bletchley Park.
Nigel de Grey came up with the plan to use the telegram to change the course of World War One
Zimmermann had sent instructions to approach the Mexican government with what seems an extraordinary deal: if it was to join any war against America, it would be rewarded with the territories of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
"This may be a very big thing, possibly the biggest thing in the war. For the present, not a soul outside this room is to be told anything at all," Hall said after reading it.
Part of the problem was how the message had been obtained.
German telegraph cables passing through the English Channel had been cut at the start of the War by a British ship.
So Germany often sent its messages in code via neutral countries.
Germany had convinced President Wilson in the US that keeping channels of communication open would help end the War, and so the US agreed to pass on German diplomatic messages from Berlin to its embassy in Washington.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How a decrypted German telegram pushed the United States into World War One and prompted a wave of hostility on the US-Mexico border
The message - which would become known as the Zimmermann Telegram - had been handed, in code, to the American Embassy in Berlin at 15:00 on Tuesday 16 January.
The American ambassador had queried the content of such a long message and been reassured it related to peace proposals.
By that evening, it was passing through another European country and then London before being relayed to the State Department in Washington.
From there, it would eventually arrive at the German embassy on 19 January to be decoded and then recoded and sent on via a commercial Western Union telegraphic office to Mexico, arriving the same day.
Thanks to their interception capability process, Britain's code-breakers were reading the message two days before the intended recipients (although they initially could not read all of it).
A coded message about attacking the US was actually passed along US diplomatic channels.
And Britain was spying on the US and its diplomatic traffic (something it would continue to do for another quarter of a century).
The cable was intelligence gold-dust and could be used to persuade America to join the War.
But how could Britain use it - when to do so would reveal both that they were breaking German codes and that they had obtained the message by spying on the very country it was hoping to become its ally?
Hall had all the copies locked in his desk while he decided what to do and asked for the rest to be decoded.
London was betting that Germany's use of unrestricted submarine warfare - attacking merchant shipping - would be enough to draw America into the War.
An exhibition at Bletchley Park tells the story of the Zimmermann Telegram
When the signs were that an extra push might be needed, it was decided to deploy the Zimmermann Telegram.
Room 40 asked one of its contacts to get hold of a copy of anything sent to the German embassy in Mexico from the US. This provided another copy of the telegram.
Britain could then plausibly claim this was how it had got hold of the message and get round the problem of admitting it was spying on its friends.
Britain also had to convince the Americans that the message had not been concocted as part of a ruse to get them into the War.
Eventually, the US obtained its own copy from the Western Union telegraphic company, and De Grey then decoded it himself in front of a representative at the US embassy in London.
This meant technically all parties could claim that it had been decoded on US territory.
"Good Lord," President Wilson said when he was told of the details.
The telegram was then leaked to the American press and published to general amazement on 1 March 1917 (with credit attached to the American Secret Service rather than the British to avoid awkward questions of British manipulation).
Whatever scepticism was left was dispelled when Zimmermann himself took the odd move of confirming he had sent it. A month later, America was in the War.
President Woodrow Wilson took the United States into World War One in April 1917
It would be too much to claim the Zimmermann Telegram single-handedly brought America into the War.
Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare can take more credit for that.
But the telegram was useful for convincing the American public that it should be sending its men over to Europe to fight.
The telegram had proved the perfect justification for a change of policy and to convince some of the sceptics.
It was, many believed, the single greatest intelligence triumph for Britain in World War One.
It was also an early sign of the potential impact of intercepting communications, a lesson which the few British and American officials in on the real story were determined to learn from as they set about building their capability.
Early in World War Two, before America had formally entered the War, it would send a team of its best code-breakers on a clandestine mission to Britain to establish a relationship with their counterparts.
The Road to Bletchley Park exhibition at the former wartime site features a copy of the Zimmermann Telegram and details of its role.
Today, the two allies have GCHQ and the NSA - two vast intelligence agencies involved in interception and code-breaking.
They also have a pact which means that - on the whole - they are not supposed to spy on each other.
The BBC World Service Witness programme recently told the story of how the British managed to intercept the telegram, and heard from some of the code-breakers involved.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38581861
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Headlines from Theresa May's vision for future UK-EU relations - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Some of the headlines from Theresa May's vision for future UK-EU relations.
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Some of the headlines from Theresa May's vision for future UK-EU relations in her speech given at London's Lancaster House.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38653886
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US President Obama surprises spokesman at White House briefing - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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The US president makes a surprise appearance at White House press secretary Josh Earnest's last briefing.
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Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at White House press secretary Josh Earnest's last briefing with members of the press to lavish praise on his spokesman.
"He is a really, really good man," said the outgoing president of Mr Earnest, who first joined Mr Obama's campaign in Iowa back in 2007.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38658667
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The successful women embracing ‘girl power’ - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Could a club for "girly girls" really help improve female equality in the workplace?
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Business
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Shelley Zalis says "trying to be a man is a waste of a woman"
"Embrace your inner girl" is not a phrase you'll hear very often, particularly in the macho world of business where "manning up" is more de rigueur.
Yet if you attend any major business conference this year, then you're likely to come across "The Girls' Lounge".
It might sound like a name dreamt up by an unimaginative spa owner or an all-female pop-band, but in reality it's a professional networking space for women.
On the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos - a place where male attendees outnumber females five to one, the space is just being prepared.
A peek through the windows show that it's all white sofas and cushions, some adorned with glitter pink writing. The decor is soft and unashamedly feminine.
Lounges at previous conferences have included beauty treatments, such as face masks and manicures.
Aside from the patronising use of the word "girl", surely the idea that women need a separate mingling space, and such a stereotypically feminine one to boot, is doing little to further the case for female equality?
Shelley Zalis - who started The Girls' Lounge five years ago - is unapologetic:
"This is their boys' club - for women to get to know other women.
"There are masculine and feminine styles of leadership and we encourage women to find and lead with their strengths. We need both [styles] or we're all the same," she says.
Ms Zalis resolutely refuses to apologise for using the word "girl", arguing the word "woman" is too associated with the traditional hierarchy where female leaders conform to male leadership styles.
Beyond Ms Zalis' deliberately provocative and attention-grabbing approach, her point is that women need to take on leadership in whichever way they choose, not emulating the male, institutional model.
"We have to stop fixing the women. We have to fix our mindset and recalibrate our mindset on equality and understand men and women are all equal. Until society and corporations value the individual strengths of each person we won't progress," she says.
And in The Girls' Lounge, underneath the seemingly fluffy interior, there's plenty of hard facts.
In it, for example, there are ten clocks from various countries. Based on a nine to five day, they point to the time a woman should leave work according to the wage gap in the country.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, male attendees outnumber female by five to one
The US clock points to 3.20pm, highlighting the fact that women there earn only 79% of what men earn.
To make the same point, men in the Girls' Lounge are charged $1 for a bar of chocolate, while women pay 79 cents.
While Ms Zalis' initial aim was simply to provide a space for women to feel less isolated at male dominated business events, the Girls' Lounge now hosts serious talks on addressing inequality and has attracted some heavyweight commercial partners including Unilever and Google.
The Girls' Lounge is part of The Female Quotient, the firm founded by Ms Zalis which aims to advance workplace equality.
The firm has conducted research for consumer goods giant Unilever showing the extent to which underlying bias is holding back progress on the issue.
The study, published on Tuesday, showed that not only do an overwhelming 77% of men believe that a man is the best choice to lead an important project, but also the majority (55%) of women.
More so, men and women overwhelmingly believe that men don't want women in top corporate positions, according to the research, which interviewed more than 9,000 men and women across eight markets.
Unilever changed its adverts last year to make them less gender stereo-typed
Unilever's chief marketing officer Keith Weed said the poll pinpointed how traditional beliefs and norms were still holding back women's progress.
"Men have intellectually bought into [the] whole area of gender inequality, but acting on it there's still a long way to go. We are holding stereotypes in our head that we fit people into," he said.
Mr Weed said addressing the issue was not just "a moral issue but an economic issue".
The firm, behind more than 400 brands from Ben & Jerry's ice-cream to Dove soap, last year pledged to remove sexist stereotypes from its own ads.
Mr Weed said while it was too early to measure the impact of this change, its previous research had shown that progressive ads were 12% more effective.
Erica Dhawan is optimistic about the future of gender equality
Yet, Erica Dhawan, a female chief executive of consultancy Cotential, perhaps offers some hope.
In her thirties, she says she identifies herself as part of several groups: a millennial, an Indian American, and has never thought there's anything that either women or men could do better.
"We can't solve age old problems with old solutions. We need to redefine inclusion in today's modern world and by bringing new perspectives we can improve gender equality. I'm extremely optimistic I believe we need to broaden the conversation.
Ms Zalis also believes the new corporations which have emerged in the past couple of decades, such as the tech giants such as Facebook and Google, could help to adjust the balance.
"Most traditional corporations were founded over 100 years ago when women weren't in the workplace. Newer firms have equality in their DNA," she says.
Hopefully that heralds a future where there will be no need for a girls or boys club but just clubs.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38638325
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Katie Rough murder case: Balloon release marks birthday - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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Hundreds of people release balloons to mark what would have been the eighth birthday of Katie Rough, killed in York on 9 January.
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Hundreds of people gathered to release balloons to mark what would have been the eighth birthday of a child killed in York.
Katie Rough was found injured in the Woodthorpe area of the city on 9 January and died later in hospital.
A 15-year-old girl has been charged with her murder.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38643289
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Diving bans: Football Association considers introducing retrospective bans - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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The Football Association is looking at introducing retrospective bans to English football for players who dive or feign injury.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
The Football Association is looking at introducing retrospective bans to English football for players who dive or feign injury.
Officials will go on a fact-finding trip to Scotland, where retrospective bans are already used.
In England, players are currently only given retrospective bans for incidents of violent conduct.
It is understood a rule change would require agreement from all football governing bodies in England.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche believes diving would be eradicated from football "in six months" with retrospective bans.
According to a report in Tuesday's Times newspaper, senior figures at the FA are keen to press ahead with the move.
Dyche's comments come after two recent incidents in Premier League matches.
Robert Snodgrass apologised for going down without contact to earn a penalty for Hull against Crystal Palace, while Dele Alli won a debated spot-kick in Tottenham's 5-0 win over Swansea.
At the start of the current season, Hearts' Jamie Walker was given a retrospective two-match ban for diving to win a penalty against Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.
The Scottish FA found him in breach of disciplinary rule 201 as the "simulation caused a match official to make an incorrect decision". The player contested the charge, but the compliance officer's verdict was upheld.
Under current Football Association rules in England, players who pretend to have been fouled should receive a caution for simulation, which comes under the category of unsporting behaviour, if the incident is spotted by the match officials.
However, this can only occur during matches at the moment.
The question of how to deal with players who dive or cheat has long troubled English football.
The law which allows retrospective punishment in Scotland is being examined closely by FA chiefs.
But any changes in England would require agreement from the game's various stakeholders. That means the Professional Footballers' Association, League Managers Association, English Football League and Premier League would all need to reach a consensus.
Concerns over player's cheating is on Fifa's mind too.
Marco van Basten, the former Netherlands striker who is the world governing body's chief technical officer, told the BBC last month it is discussing rule changes to increase "honesty" within football.
That could include a rugby style regulation that would allow only the captain to speak with the referee.
Take part in our Premier League Predictor game, which allows you to create leagues with friends.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38650163
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The woman donating organs to strangers - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Tracey Jolliffe has already donated a kidney, 16 eggs and 80 pints of blood. She is now considering donating part of her liver too.
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Health
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Tracey Jolliffe is calling on others to give a kidney
Tracey Jolliffe has already donated a kidney, 16 eggs and 80 pints of blood, and intends to leave her brain to science. She is now hoping to give away part of her liver to a person she may never meet.
"If I had another spare kidney, I'd do it again," Tracey tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.
She is what is known as an "altruistic donor" - someone willing to give away an organ to potentially help save the life of a complete stranger.
A microbiologist in the NHS, and the daughter of two nurses, she has spent her life learning about the importance of healthcare from a professional standpoint.
But she has also been keen to make a difference on a personal level.
"I signed up to donate blood, and to the bone marrow register, when I was 18," she says.
Now 50, her wish to donate has become gradually more expansive.
In 2012, she was one of fewer than 100 people that year to donate a kidney without knowing the recipient's identity - and now supports the charity Give A Kidney, encouraging others to do the same.
As of 30 September 2016, 5,126 people remain on the NHS kidney transplant waiting list.
About 3,000 kidney transplants are carried out each year
Tracey's kidney donation, in all likelihood, will have saved someone's life.
"I remind myself of it every day when I wake up," she says, rightly proud of her life-changing actions.
It was not, however, a decision taken on the spur of a moment.
Donating a kidney is an "involved process", she says, with suitability assessments taking at least three months to complete.
Tests leading up to the transplant include X-rays, heart tracing and a special test of kidney function, which involves an injection and a series of blood tests.
"It is not something to do if you're scared of needles," she jokes.
The risks associated with donating, however, are relatively low for those deemed healthy enough to proceed, with a mortality rate of about one in 3,000 - roughly the same as having an appendix removed.
Compared with the general public, NHS Blood and Transplant says, most kidney donors have equivalent - or better - life expectancy than the average person.
Tracey says she was in hospital for five days after her operation but felt "back to normal" within six weeks.
As well as helping to save lives - including through 80 pints worth of blood donations - Tracey has also helped families create them too.
She has donated 16 of her eggs, allowing three couples to have children.
It was a simple decision to take, she says.
"I have no desire to have children of my own, so I thought, 'I'm healthy, why not?'"
The next step, she hopes, could be to donate part of her liver - once again, to someone she has never met. But she is aware of the dangers involved.
"It's a much riskier operation than donating your kidney," she says.
The rate of death for those donating the right lobe is estimated at one in 200. For the left lobe, it is one in 500.
But many donators live a long and healthy life, with the organ having an "amazing capacity to regenerate", as Tracey describes it.
Almost immediately after an operation, the remaining liver begins to enlarge in a process known as hypertrophy, continuing for up to eight weeks.
Tracey will undoubtedly continue to donate for as long as she can - and is hoping to pass on her organs once she dies.
"I signed up to donate my brain for medical science when I go," she says.
Brain donations are usually performed within 24 hours of death, to be used for medical research into conditions such as dementia.
Taking such decisions can be difficult, but Tracey says her friends and family "accept I'm going to do what I want to do".
Her reasons for donating organs - whether it be a brain or a kidney - are both humbling and understated.
"I think it's part of my nature, my opportunity to do something nice," she says.
But the difference such decisions can make to others is huge.
For information on how to make a living donation, visit the NHS Blood and Transplant website.
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38637348
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Valtteri Bottas to partner Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2017 season - BBC Sport
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2017-01-17
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Valtteri Bottas succeeds Nico Rosberg as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate at Mercedes, with Felipe Massa returning to Williams.
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Last updated on .From the section Formula 1
Valtteri Bottas has succeeded retired world champion Nico Rosberg as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate at Mercedes.
The move, expected since December, also sees Brazilian Felipe Massa come out of retirement to replace the 27-year-old Finn at Williams.
It's going to take a while to understand that this is really happening
Bottas has signed a one-year deal with the option for more, while Rosberg moves into an ambassadorial role.
Mercedes' young driver Pascal Wehrlein, passed over in favour of Bottas, joins the Swiss Sauber team.
• None Bottas faces challenge of his life at Mercedes
'Valtteri fits very well in our team'
Rosberg's shock retirement, announced just five days after he wrapped up his maiden world title, was a "challenging situation for the team to handle", according to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
"Sometimes in life, unexpected circumstances provide interesting opportunities," he added. "Nico's decision in December was a big surprise.
"But weathering the storm makes you more resilient and we see this as another opportunity for the team to grow.
"I think Valtteri fits very well in our team, as a driver he's very fast, and he has also the heart in the right place.
"He shares our values and passion, and he's modest and humble and he's hard working."
For Bottas, the move is the opportunity of a lifetime. He has been in F1 for four seasons and has shown well at Williams alongside first Pastor Maldonado and then Massa.
"It's very exciting times for me," said Bottas, whose best F1 results so far are two second places, at the British and German grands prix in 2014.
"I think it's going to take a while to understand that this is really happening.
"It's definitely another dream come true, to race in another team with such great history - especially in the recent years, which have been so impressive.
"I think with Lewis we are going to be a strong pair together. I really respect him as a driver and a person.
"I'm sure we are going to be close, and we're going to be both pushing each forward. I'm sure we can work as a team."
Wolff has said he will end his ties with the personal management of Bottas' career now the driver is under his employment.
'It felt like the right thing to do'
Massa, 35, announced his retirement at the end of last season but quit F1 only because he knew he was not wanted at Williams and there was no other good seat available to him.
A winner of 11 grands prix, he said: "Given the turn of events over the winter, I wish Valtteri all the best at Mercedes.
"In turn, when I was offered the chance to help Williams with their 2017 F1 campaign, it felt like the right thing to do."
Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams said: "With Valtteri having a unique opportunity to join the constructors' champions, we have been working hard to ensure that an agreement could be made with Mercedes.
"Felipe has always been a much-loved member of the Williams family, and having the opportunity to work with him again is something we all look forward to.
"He was always going to race somewhere in 2017, as he has not lost that competitive spirit, and it was important that we had a strong replacement in order for us to let Valtteri go.
"Felipe rejoining us provides stability, experience and talent to help lead us forward. He is a great asset for us."
Massa, who has signed a one-year deal, is an experienced and known quantity for Williams, who needed a driver over 25 to partner the 18-year-old Canadian rookie Lance Stroll as a result of their title sponsor, drinks giant Martini.
Why did Mercedes not pick Wehrlein?
Mercedes Formula 1 boss Wolff negotiated a deal to release Bottas from Williams because he believed Wehrlein was not yet ready for promotion.
He turned to Sauber, who use engines from Mercedes' rivals Ferrari, to find a seat for the German to continue his development in F1.
Wehrlein will partner Swede Marcus Ericsson in what will be his second season in the sport.
The 22-year-old drove for Manor in his debut season last year but the British team are in administration and their participation in F1 in 2017 is in serious doubt.
Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn said Wehrlein had shown "talent throughout his career".
She added: "Last year, in his rookie Formula 1 season, he proved his potential by scoring one point in the Austrian Grand Prix.
"There is surely more to come from Pascal, and we want to give him the chance to further grow and learn at the pinnacle of motorsport."
Wehrlein, whose move is likely to have been facilitated by financial support from Mercedes for Sauber, added: "It is a new challenge in a new team, and I am really excited and looking forward to this new adventure.
"Our objective is to establish ourselves in the midfield and to score points on a regular basis."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38489054
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Daz Black, Ben Phillips and Tish Simmonds pay tribute as Vine closes - BBC News
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2017-01-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The six-second clip-sharing service is shutting down but it's still not clear exactly why.
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Newsbeat
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Viners are paying tribute to the video sharing app as it shuts down after four years.
Twitter announced it was closing the six-second clip-sharing service in October but it's still not clear why.
Around the same time it said it was cutting 9% of its workforce following slow growth of the social network.
"I was still enjoying the platform and it's a great shame it's closing," explains Daz Black, the most followed British Viner.
Daz has more than three million followers on his channel, where his comedies and character impressions have been looped (viewed) more than one billion times.
The 31-year-old says he is "saddened" and "annoyed" at Twitter's decision to close the app.
"It's got me to where I am today and opened the door to so many opportunities," he tells Newsbeat.
Daz has been able to pursue acting, something he's wanted to do since he was a child and has already starred in a feature film.
"The app itself became so big, so quickly, that no-one really knew what to do with it," he says.
"I managed to get 100 followers in a week and I couldn't get that in three years on YouTube."
Daz had tried - unsuccessfully - to carve out a career as a YouTuber but that changed in 2013 when he posted a Vine that hit the top of the popular page.
Warning: Third party content might contain ads
"I gained about 50,000 new followers, which at the time was unheard of," he explains.
"I actually tried to get in touch with someone from Vine to see if someone had bought my account fake followers.
"When I hit a million followers I said I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket and I'm really glad that I didn't."
He started posting on Instagram and YouTube and admits "some amazing companies" have paid him to feature their products in clips but won't say more.
Another Viner, Ben Phillips, has admitted to earning £12,000 from Ford for a six-second clip, allowing him to be a full-time creator of video.
The 23-year-old wouldn't discuss specific details about commercial opportunities but did say: "I never get asked to put the price in of the product.
"I just get asked if I can have a bit of fun with their product."
Ben says he wasn't that surprised Twitter decided to shut Vine and decided to leave before Twitter's announcement last year.
Speaking to Newsbeat he says: "Vine just didn't keep with the creator and the influencer.
"They lost sight of what Vine actually was. YouTube and Facebook have so much more to offer the creator now."
Ben has gone from 1.3m followers on Vine to 8.5m on Facebook but says he misses the simplicity of a six-second clip as his videos now have to be much longer.
Musicians like Shawn Mendes and Ruth B were discovered on the app and have gone on to release music.
Tish recorded a music video for her Vine after it became an internet sensation - although she's yet to have the kind of music career Shawn Mendes has enjoyed.
She says she's "devastated" it's closing and she'll miss her friends she's made on it.
One of her highlights has been starring in a film with fellow Viner Dapper Laughs and, like Daz and Ben, she's vowing to continue on Facebook and YouTube with some comedy sketches.
And how will they all remember it?
Daz Black puts it best: "It really did blow up. These everyday people who are very talented, that would have gone unnoticed otherwise".
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articles/38634170
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Plymouth Argyle 0-1 Liverpool - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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Lucas Leiva's first goal in seven years sends Liverpool into the FA Cup fourth round at the expense of League Two Plymouth.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Lucas Leiva scored his first goal in seven years to send Liverpool into the fourth round of the FA Cup at the expense of League Two Plymouth.
Jurgen Klopp's side had to make the 293-mile trip to Home Park after they were held to a frustrating goalless draw in the initial meeting between the two at Anfield.
However, Lucas ensured the long journey was not a wasted one when he headed home Philippe Coutinho's corner early in the first half.
The win should have been more comfortable for the Reds but Divock Origi's poor penalty was comfortably saved by home keeper Luke McCormick.
Plymouth, who are 66 places below Liverpool in the football pyramid, were not overawed by their Premier League opponents and came closest to equalising when Jake Jervis hit the post with a scissor kick midway through the second half.
Liverpool's reward for victory is a home tie against Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers on 28 January.
'It is that long?' Lucas ends wait
Brazilian Lucas has been at the club since 2007 but goals are not a regular feature of his game. The midfielder's strike was his first since a 4-1 win against Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League back in September 2010 - 2,316 days ago.
That was when Roy Hodgson was Liverpool boss and Ben Woodburn, Lucas' team-mate against Plymouth, was just 10 years old.
"It's that long? I scored last week in training," Lucas said after the game.
Despite the lengthy gap between goals, it was a neat finish by Lucas as he rose above the defence to power a header beyond McCormick's reach.
"He is the top scorer in training," joked Klopp. "I love this in football, everyone can cause problems."
Close game, but Klopp rewarded for keeping the faith
Klopp named the youngest-ever Liverpool line-up in the club's history for the first meeting between these two sides - a decision that came under some criticism as they struggled to break down their determined opponents.
The draw added another fixture to an already congested list for the Reds and, after a tough encounter with Manchester United in the Premier League at the weekend, Klopp gave the majority of those who played in the first game a chance to finish the job.
It wasn't a memorable Liverpool performance as they struggled to put the game out of Plymouth's reach. Origi had the best chance to do just that when Yann Songo'o brought down Alberto Moreno inside the box, but the Belgian, who has not scored since 14 December, hit an unconvincing spot-kick too close to McCormick.
Plymouth are fighting for promotion from League Two. They are currently second in the division and produced a hugely impressive defensive display at Anfield to earn the replay.
As a consequence, there was an air of expectation in the build-up to the game that the Pilgrims could produce an upset, with excitement for the fixture high throughout the city.
Tickets quickly sold out as fans queued for hours to ensure they had the chance to be part of a potentially famous night for the club, while several iconic buildings around Plymouth were illuminated in green and white colours to show their support.
During the game, Plymouth fans produced a party atmosphere even after Lucas' goal and their players responded by creating one or two chances to equalise.
Alberto Moreno struggled to deal with the combination of the impressive Oscar Threlkeld and Jervis down Liverpool's left. And it was from there that the hosts produced their best chance in the first half.
Threlkeld got into space to cross low into the box, only for a well-timed Alexander-Arnold tackle to deny Paul Garita the chance to equalise from close range.
Jervis then shaved the outside of the post as Plymouth pressed in the second half, and although it was not to be in the end, the club are set to earn more than £1m from the two games with Liverpool. That could provide a significant boost to their bid for promotion.
'We didn't want to be embarrassed'
Klopp was relieved to avoid an upset and praised his young players for stepping up to the challenge.
"You do not want to feel the embarrassment of losing a game like this," he said.
"I'm happy about their potential and we will do everything we can to let it grow. But they have a big job to do too."
Plymouth manager Derek Adams said his players could be proud of their performance.
"We took the game to Liverpool at times," he said.
"We went a wee bit direct towards the end and overall I thought it was a very good performance from us. Over the two games we've lost by one goal to Liverpool."
• None Attempt blocked. Alberto Moreno (Liverpool) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
• None Ben Purrington (Plymouth Argyle) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Offside, Plymouth Argyle. Luke McCormick tries a through ball, but Nauris Bulvitis is caught offside.
• None Offside, Plymouth Argyle. Louis Rooney tries a through ball, but Craig Tanner is caught offside.
• None Attempt missed. Divock Origi (Liverpool) left footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Alberto Moreno.
• None Penalty saved! Divock Origi (Liverpool) fails to capitalise on this great opportunity, right footed shot saved in the centre of the goal.
• None Yann Songo'o (Plymouth Argyle) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Penalty conceded by Yann Songo'o (Plymouth Argyle) after a foul in the penalty area.
• None Attempt blocked. Sheyi Ojo (Liverpool) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Harry Wilson.
• None Attempt missed. Harry Wilson (Liverpool) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Ben Woodburn.
• None Sheyi Ojo (Liverpool) has gone down, but that's a dive. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38579212
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Dancing With The Stars: Hughie Maughan in fake tan storm - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Hughie Maughan sends viewers into a spin with the intensity of his fake tan on a TV dance show.
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Europe
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Hughie Maughan has laughed off the comments about his appearance on Dancing With The Stars
An Irish dance show contestant has sent viewers into a spin with the intensity of his fake tan.
Hughie Maughan's teak tone under the spotlight had viewers doing their own keyboard tap dance.
The Dublin man was appearing on Irish broadcaster RTÉ's Dancing With The Stars at the weekend.
Hughie told RTÉ's Ryan Tubridy he had laughed off the comments, claiming he had "thick elephant skin".
"The entire place was staring at me and the whole studio was looking at me, laughing and were gobsmacked," he added.
"I just found it funny. I'm one of those types of people, I'm bonkers when it comes to certain things.
He has performed on the show with dance partner Emily Barker
"It's made people speak about me which is probably a good thing, I am on a TV show… Isn't that the point of television?"
Hughie's boyfriend Ryan Ruckledge was among those who contributed to the comments sparked by his partner's polished visage.
"He really shouldn't have taken tanning tips from me," he joked, before adding, "bad boyfriend advice hahah sorry".
The pair met on Channel 5's Big Brother programme last year.
His boyfriend Ryan Ruckledge was among those who tweeted
Others compared Hughie to Ross Geller from the hit US TV show Friends when David Schwimmer's sitcom character has a spray tan fiasco.
Host Nicky Byrne said: "Hughie, you are trending on Twitter - we don't know why."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38649706
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Theresa May's Brexit speech: What does it mean for free trade? - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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BBC Economics Correspondent Andrew Walker answers your questions on Theresa May's Brexit speech.
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UK
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Theresa May confirmed that the final deal would be put to the vote in Parliament
Following Theresa May's widely anticipated speech on Brexit on Tuesday, you sent us your questions.
The impact on free trade was the most asked about subject. Below, BBC Economics Correspondent Andrew Walker looks at two of the most popular questions you asked:
The only thing on the list above that the Prime Minister has said she wants to opt out of is the free movement of people - or rather the free movement of people to work and settle in the UK.
She is very keen on the free movement of goods and services. She said in the speech that she wants: "the freest possible trade in goods and services between Britain and the EU's member states."
She does not want to opt out of that.
The freest possible means what we have today. For example: no tariffs on goods travelling in either direction, mutual recognition of each other's technical standards, the freedom to offer services across borders and more.
In short, it means the provisions of the single market that apply to goods and services. It would be theoretically possible to go further still, especially in services. The European Commission says there are still barriers and it wants to tackle them.
But for now, the single market as it is represents the freest we can get.
But Mrs May seems to accept that we can't have that without also accepting freedom of movement for workers. And that is one of her red lines.
So once that has gone, the freest possible movement for goods and services will presumably mean something less than the single market, something less than we have today.
How much less will be a matter for negotiation. In fact, the answer to many questions about what will "X" be like when we leave will depend on the outcome of the negotiations. We can speculate but we can't know for sure.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Some of the headlines from Theresa May's vision for future UK-EU relations
The UK does have some cards which will encourage the EU to lean towards what the Prime Minister wants. Some European businesses have the UK as an important export market - German car makers for example.
During the referendum campaign many Leave supporters were keen to point out that the rest of the EU exports more to the UK than the UK exports to them. That, they argued, means they need the UK more than we need them.
The counter-argument is that EU exports to the UK as a share of national income are a lot smaller than trade in the opposite direction. That suggests UK/EU trade matters more to us than to them.
Another reason that the remaining EU might want to be cooperative in trade negotiations is that many continental businesses would want to continue to be able to use the City of London as a financial centre. On the other hand some other cities, including Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin, might fancy a bigger slice of that pie.
So there are some economic reasons for the EU to share Mrs May's desire for free movement of goods and services.
But there is an important political issue that pulls them in the opposite direction. They don't want life in the UK to look too rosy at a time when there are rising Eurosceptic movements in many countries beyond the UK.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38658697
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Barack Obama gives final news briefing as president - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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US President Barack Obama is giving his final news briefing at the White House.
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US President Barack Obama is giving his final news briefing at the White House.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38668374
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'Unity' call on Reformation anniversary - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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The Archbishops of Canterbury and York urge Protestants to "repent" for their part in historical Church divisions.
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UK
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A statue of Martin Luther in Wittenberg, where the Protestant Reformation began
The Church of England has said Protestants should "repent of their part in perpetuating divisions" - 500 years after the Reformation began the split from the Roman Catholic Church in Europe.
A statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York has said the split caused "lasting damage" to the unity of the Church - something that contradicted the teaching of Jesus and left a "legacy of mistrust and competition".
It went on to say: "Such repentance needs to be linked to action aimed at reaching out to other churches and strengthening relationships with them."
Coming during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it is a further sign that these two Churches are seeking to repent of past failings and find more ways in which they might work together.
The historic rupture, which began in October 1517 when the German monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral, led to centuries of violence, where rulers of one Church would frequently execute communicant members of the other.
The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Reverend Justin Welby
Last October, Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury presided at a service in Rome that was held on the fiftieth anniversary of the historic summit between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey, which established the Anglican Centre in Rome.
In a joint declaration issued after the service in October, the two leaders said they were "undeterred" from seeking unity between the two denominations.
While the Archbishops of Canterbury and York embrace the theological distinctives that arose out of the Reformation, specifically Martin Luther's emphasis on Christian salvation being through faith and not by merit or effort, they regret the bloodshed that followed that historic rupture in 1517.
It is worth noting that both Churches always mark 4 May as a day for Reformation Martyrs, with the Church of England praying that 'those who have been divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven'.
Today's statement is a call to all Christians, of whatever denomination, to repent of division and to unite within the Christian Gospel.
Correction 18 January 2017: This report has been amended to remove a suggestion that the Church had apologised for events following the Reformation.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38654259
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Aleppo ‘haunted by violence and death’ - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Jeremy Bowen reports from the ruins of eastern Aleppo where 40,000 people have returned home.
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Jeremy Bowen reports from the ruins of eastern Aleppo where 40,000 people have returned home.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38668377
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Trump's inauguration: An insider's tour - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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The day begins early for President-elect Trump at the exclusive White House guest residence.
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The day begins early for President-elect Trump at the exclusive White House guest residence.
And from there it's a day of tradition and ceremony throughout Washington DC.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38658917
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How often do planes fall on houses? - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Plane crashes in residential areas are extremely rare, largely because of the skill of pilots in a crisis.
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World
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On 16 January 2017 a cargo plane flying from Hong Kong to Istanbul crash-landed just outside the main airport for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
As well as all four crew members, at least 33 people on the ground were killed. Locals said entire families had been wiped out in the disaster.
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The images are horrific, but it's reassuring to know accidental plane crashes in residential areas are incredibly rare, a fact largely attributable to pilot training.
"The rules of flying in an emergency are first you aviate, then you navigate, then you communicate," says Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at Flight Global.
A skilled pilot with the right information can avert a major disaster
In other words, the pilot's priority is keeping the plane in the air, then working out the route, then telling everyone what's going on, though all of this can happen very quickly.
"Pilots will always avoid coming down in a civilian area if they can, but situations during these instances can be very intense and hectic," says Mr Waldron.
"A lot will depend on how much control they have over the aircraft."
This was the case, for example, with Chesley Sullenberger, aka Sully, who was flying an Airbus 320 over New York in January 2009 when its engines were disabled by a bird strike.
He made the quick calculation that he could not risk diverting to a nearby airport, as the plane could come down on populated areas, and so landed in the middle of the Hudson River.
After an investigation, he was judged to have made the right decision, which saved the lives of 155 people on board and possibly numerous more on the ground.
The TransAsia plane came down just short of highrise buildings
A similar incident in Taiwan in February 2015 saw a TransAsia flight crashing in a river in the middle of Taipei. Dramatic images showed the plane narrowly missing cars on a busy bridge as it came down. Forty-three people died.
It was later discovered that one engine had malfunctioned and the crew accidentally shut down the working engine instead. It remains unclear whether the river landing was pilot skill or chance, says Mr Waldron.
These incidents happened in daytime and in good flying conditions, but the situation can be very different if flying at night, as the Turkish airline crew were this week, he says.
The two-man crew of a Bombardier freighter which crashed in Norway in 2016, experienced "spatial disorientation" after getting confusing technical readings about their height and speed while flying at night, the official investigation found.
They did the right thing but, "guided by the erroneous information", flew straight into a mountain, killing them both.
The Kyrgyzstan government has been quick to blame the Bishkek crash on pilot error, but with debris still strewn across the ground, it's far too soon to make that assessment, says Mr Waldron.
Studying the plane's flight deck recorder black box data will be crucial to finding out what the crew was going through and how it could be avoided in the future.
But Mr Waldron is keen to stress that despite the horror of such catastrophes, flying remains an extremely safe mode of transport.
On 30 June 2015, an Indonesian Hercules military plane crashed in a densely populated area shortly after taking off from Medan airport in northern Sumatra.
Most of those killed were on board, but at least 17 people died on the ground.
Medan had had a similar disaster 10 years before, when a Boeing 737 crashed after taking-off from Polonia airport. Nearly 50 local residents died. A hundred passengers and crew died, though there were some survivors.
In November 2012 an Ilyushin-76 cargo plane hit trees on landing at Maya-Maya airport in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo.
The plane careered off the runway into nearby buildings before plunging into a ravine. Most of the 32 people who died were on the ground.
In March 2011, 14 people died on the ground, along with nine on board, when a cargo plane fell on a residential area in Pointe-Noire, also in Congo.
A Dana Air plane carrying 153 people crashed into buildings in Nigeria's largest city in June 2012 after an engine failure.
Everyone on board died, while the final death toll among non-passengers was 10.
On 4 November 2008, a light aircraft carrying Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino among its nine passengers crashed in the financial district of Mexico City. Seven people died on the ground.
American Airlines Flight 587 broke up mid-air after taking off from New York JFK airport in November 2001. It came down on houses on the borough of Queens, causing a fire which burned several homes.
As well as 251 passengers and crew, five people died on the ground in the second-worst aviation disaster in US history. Despite fears it had been a terror attack, the investigation blamed pilot error.
This list is not comprehensive and does not include incidents of terrorism
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-38646664
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Theresa May's Brexit 'deal or no deal' - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Theresa May's long-awaited speech on her strategy for Brexit leads Wednesday's front pages.
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The Papers
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Theresa May set out her Brexit strategy in a speech in London
Theresa May's Brexit speech is pretty much the only story in town, at least as far as the front pages are concerned.
It is the tough rhetoric which captures the headlines.
The Times headline sums up her message to the EU as "Give us a fair deal or you'll be crushed".
At the opposite end of the market, the Daily Star renders it as "May: I will crush EU".
For the Daily Mail, the parallels with Margaret Thatcher are hard to resist. It says the speech showed the "steel of the new Iron Lady".
Among the papers that opposed Brexit, the Guardian found the speech a "doubly depressing event" - a reality check for those who want to keep the UK in the single market while being riddled with its own streak of "global fantasy".
But the Guardian acknowledges that as a political manoeuvre it was a huge success for Mrs May and has strengthened her authority.
The Financial Times praises the prime minister's "bold vision" but warns that the road ahead will be perilous.
The Daily Mirror says Brexit will be a rollercoaster ride and only the reckless would pretend that it will be easy to reach a good deal with other nations.
The Sun's front page is mocked up as a Biblical tablet of stone with the single word headline "Brexodus".
The paper says Mrs May could call a snap election if Parliament votes to reject the deal she negotiates.
The Daily Telegraph praises the "steel behind" Mrs May's words and declares the speech "a defining moment in British politics".
Matt's cartoon has a worker bricking up the Channel Tunnel and remarking: "Mrs May's Brexit is a little harder than we'd been led to expect".
In other stories, the recently-retired head of the Serpentine Gallery in London, Dame Julia Peyton-Jones, features widely after becoming a mother at the age of 64.
The Daily Mail says that instead of putting her feet up after a high-flying career, the woman known as the "Queen Of Arts" will now be busy raising her daughter, Pia.
Dame Julia has not revealed further details, and the papers cannot say whether she had the child naturally or through a surrogate mother, IVF or adoption.
The Times reports that Manchester United, the world's richest football club according to Forbes magazine, has defended the launch of three new replica kits each season by claiming that their fans want "newness".
The paper thinks that argument flies in the face of concern expressed by parents at the high cost of funding their children's support for top teams.
Each new United kit costs £88 pounds for a child's version. Manchester City, Spurs and Arsenal also bring out three new strips per season.
Finally, the Daily Telegraph reports that intelligence agency GCHQ is launching a recruitment drive targeting teenage girls who know their way around social media.
A nationwide competition will launch next month designed to attract thousands of potential female spies with the skills to protect the nation against cyber attacks.
The Telegraph says the security services want to tackle their image as "male, pale and stale" by recruiting more "Jane Bonds" to their ranks.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-38659108
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Sir Tony McCoy 'put on two stone' since retirement - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Champion jockey Sir Tony McCoy blames his weight gain on eating "whole packets" of biscuits.
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Northern Ireland
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Jockey Sir Tony McCoy has put on two stone since he retired and has admitted eating "whole packets" of biscuits while watching TV at night.
The 42-year-old, who remains the most successful jump jockey of all time, bowed out of the sport in April 2015.
He spent decades dieting to keep trim for races and once said his Christmas dinner consisted of just 597 calories.
He now confesses to a weakness for chocolate biscuits but said a recent health check has made him rethink.
"There's nights I would eat the whole packet... it is not something I am proud of," McCoy said.
"For someone that had pretty good willpower it is not anywhere near as good as it used to be."
During his racing career, McCoy skipped dinner several nights a week to maintain his thin frame
McCoy, from Moneyglass, County Antrim, was renowned for his determination and dedication over the course of his record-breaking career.
He won more than 4,000 races, and was crowned champion jockey 20 years in a row.
Keeping hold of that crown involved keeping his body weight well below what would be considered average for a man of his height - 5ft 10in (1.8m)
He maintained a thin frame of about 10 st 3lbs (65kg) with a punishing regime of meagre portions - often missing dinner three nights a week - and hot baths to sweat off the pounds.
Life has been sweeter since he retired, but McCoy will now revert to watching his diet after a recent health check warned of the risks of high cholesterol and blood sugar.
"When I was racing I was unhealthy looking," he said.
"Everybody tells me now I am healthy looking but yet there are things I need to keep an eye on like my cholesterol, the possibility of diabetes."
In 2013, McCoy posed with his trophy marking his 4000th career victory
Back in 2010, his low-calorie Christmas dinner consisted of three thinly sliced pieces of turkey breast, a spoonful of cabbage, three Brussels sprouts, a splash of gravy and a small lemonade.
"I never mind having a frugal Christmas dinner as I'm always looking forward to some great rides on Boxing Day," he said at the time.
"What I do enjoy is seeing Mick Fitzgerald and Carl Llewellyn loosening their belts before they struggle home. I just can't imagine bursting out of my clothes like those two do."
The retired champion may have needed to pile on a few pounds, but McCoy now intends to monitor his food intake as "prevention is so much better than any cure".
"I spent all my life dieting but it is something I actually do need," he said.
"Because my body was so used to that I cannot really let my lifestyle change too much. I am two stone heavier than I was a year and a half ago."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38656831
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Displaced Syrians return home to ruins of East Aleppo - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Large areas of East Aleppo are like ghost towns, but some families are returning to their old homes or moving into unoccupied buildings, says Jeremy Bowen.
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Middle East
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The Syrian army seized East Aleppo from the rebels in December
For the people who have returned to the ruins of East Aleppo the old phrase "there's no place like home" has a whole new meaning.
The eastern side of Aleppo has been pulverised.
Running water and mains power are a memory. It is hard to find a building that is not badly damaged. Many look as if they could collapse at any time.
Rubble from the buildings that were flattened by artillery fire, barrel bombs or air strikes block many of the streets.
Dozens of bulldozers have been working for more than a month to clear a path through the debris.
But the UN estimates that 40,000 people so far, and more every day, have decided to come back here. They are moving into their old homes or unoccupied buildings that look as if they might do, for a while at least.
Abu Hussein, a man in his 50s, was remarkably cheerful as he stood with his wife Umm Hussein and looked down from their balcony on to the rubble that makes his street impassable for any vehicle.
"Nothing is better or more beautiful than our home," he said. "It's the place to be in good times or in bad."
Abu Hussein and Umm Hussein have returned to a shell of a home
His family's flat is in Shaar, one of the poorest quarters in East Aleppo. The area is made up mainly of cramped concrete tenements five or six stories high - at least those still standing.
In Abu Hussein's street, some buildings have collapsed in on themselves.
Others have had the fronts ripped off, like dolls' houses in a nightmare, exposing beds still made up with sheets and blankets, and sofas teetering close to falling into the street.
The street where the Husseins live is impassable for any vehicle
Abu Hussein said he was happy because he was home, even though his flat was dark and cold.
His wife cooks on a small charcoal grill on the stairwell.
The glass in the windows has gone. It is so well ventilated that the dank mist of a winter's evening seeped in.
He had spent much of last year with his in-laws, he said, and the sooner they tried to make a go of it back home the better.
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Abu Hussein and his wife have a two-year-old son who is still with her parents. They have no jobs, and the small amount of money they had saved went long ago.
"Of course we have hope," Umm Hussein said. "We'll rebuild and we'll find a solution."
They left East Aleppo two days before the start last year of the major offensive by the Syrian army, backed by Russia and Iran, which by Christmas had beaten the rebels and reunited the city.
During the years when the east was isolated, then besieged, it was possible to cross to government-controlled West Aleppo.
Abu Hussein said the trip, which now takes 15 minutes, was possible for anyone who was prepared to take a 17-hour journey through territory controlled by Syria's galaxy of armed groups, including the rebel Free Syrian Army, Kurdish militias, the jihadists of so-called Islamic State, and the armed forces of the Syrian government.
The United Nations, which spent more than $200m (£162m) on relief work in Aleppo last year, is particularly concerned that the poor in Shaar have come back out of desperation to a place that is still dangerous.
Relief agencies have put water tanks in the streets. Children struggle through mud and rubble to help their families by carrying water home.
The east was bombed into submission by Syrian government forces and their Russian backers
Aleppo has changed since the government and its allies won the battle for the city last month.
It no longer feels like a wartime city. Outgoing artillery fire is still a steady drumbeat, aimed at rebel front lines that are not far away.
The country is at war. But Aleppo's war is over. In the ruins, people are thinking about the future.
Slowly but steadily, some of Syria's millions of displaced people are returning, desperate or optimistic, or both.
Aleppo, one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, was Syria's largest before the war began in 2011
Large areas of the east side of the city are ghost towns, but there is every chance that more returnees will come back looking for a home once the weather gets warmer in the spring.
The battle for Aleppo was the most decisive of the war.
It is a long time since the war was merely a contest between President Bashar al-Assad and armed groups who wanted to destroy the regime.
So many foreign powers have intervened that this has become an international conflict. Syria has layers of war and not all of them are about the future of the Assad regime.
The intervention of Russia and Iran tipped the balance in Aleppo. Mr Assad and his allies can, for the first time, smell victory.
Foreigners, not Syrians, are setting the pace. And at the moment it looks as if foreign powers will dictate how the war ends.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38653060
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Brexit: Key points from Theresa May's speech - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Theresa May has set out her negotiation priorities for the UK to leave the European Union.
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Theresa May has set out her negotiation priorities for the UK to leave the European Union.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38648470
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AFC Wimbledon 1-3 Sutton United - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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Non-league Sutton set up a glamorous FA Cup fourth-round home tie against Leeds with a thrilling win at 10-man AFC Wimbledon.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Non-league Sutton set up a glamorous FA Cup fourth-round home tie against Leeds with a thrilling replay win at 10-man League One side AFC Wimbledon.
The Dons made a perfect start when Tom Elliott rose above the away defence to nod in Dean Parrett's free-kick.
But they were left a man down for more than 75 minutes as Paul Robinson was sent off for hauling down Matt Tubbs.
Roarie Deacon's stunner levelled before late goals from Maxime Biamou and Dan Fitchett caused an upset.
The National League side will host Leeds at Gander Green Lane on Sunday, 29 January (14:00 GMT).
• None Follow all the reaction from Tuesday's FA Cup ties
• None Listen: 'I dared not dream about this'
More than just money for Sutton
Sutton were the lowest-ranked team left in the draw for the fourth round, but knew they had to overcome their near-neighbours - 51 places above them on the league ladder - before they could even think about hosting Championship promotion chasers Leeds in a money-spinning tie.
The non-league club have reached the fourth round on two previous occasions, the last time coming in the 1988-89 season, when they memorably beat then-top flight opponents Coventry in the third round.
But the reward for beating Wimbledon was worth much more to the Greater London club than that famous win 28 years ago.
Sutton manager Paul Doswell compared winning the third-round replay to the Championship play-off final in terms of financial importance, estimating it would take their earnings from this cup run to about £500,000.
This victory was more than just money.
The jubilant celebrations from the away players and officials, plus their 300-odd travelling supporters, showed how much the victory meant.
"It was an extraordinary night. We thought fitness might tell - with Wimbledon the fitter side - but the one-man advantage was the major factor.
"It was a great start for Wimbledon, scoring that early goal, then the Robinson sending-off made it difficult for them. I though Sutton played too many high long balls and lacked creativity round the sides.
"Wimbledon coped with everything until that late, late surge."
What the managers said:
Sutton manager Paul Doswell spoke of his "unadulterated joy" as The U's - 15th in the National League - set-up a home tie with Championship Leeds United.
"I'm so pleased for my chairman, our directors who are all volunteers, for the 1,000 fans here and for the players.
"Without being over-emotional about it, we have got a good chance against Leeds on our pitch. No one likes playing on it apart from us it seems. If they make seven or eight changes against us I think we will have a chance."
Dons boss Neal Ardley meanwhile pointed unsurprisingly to the dismissal of Paul Robinson after 15 minutes as the key moment, though he added he had few complaints with the result.
"You prepare for the game with 11 men but for most of it we had 10," he said. "Credit to Sutton, they kept going and got their just rewards in the end.
"But we'll never know what would have happened if it was 11 versus 11. It's a big judgement call, to say that is a cast-iron sending-off early in the game.
• None Goal! AFC Wimbledon 1, Sutton United 3. Dan Fitchett (Sutton United) right footed shot from outside the box to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Maxime Biamou.
• None Attempt missed. Darius Charles (AFC Wimbledon) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top right corner.
• None Goal! AFC Wimbledon 1, Sutton United 2. Maxime Biamou (Sutton United) right footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Roarie Deacon.
• None Jamie Collins (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt blocked. Adam May (Sutton United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
• None Goal! AFC Wimbledon 1, Sutton United 1. Roarie Deacon (Sutton United) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the top left corner.
• None Substitution, AFC Wimbledon. Chris Whelpdale replaces Lyle Taylor because of an injury. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38565631
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Australian Open 2017: Nick Kyrgios beaten by Andreas Seppi, Roger Federer through - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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Home hope Nick Kyrgios is beaten in five sets by Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open, while Roger Federer reaches the third round.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Nick Kyrgios was given two code violations as he slumped to defeat Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website. Nick Kyrgios was knocked out of his home Grand Slam as he blew a two-set lead and a match point in losing to Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open. Italy's Seppi triumphed 1-6 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-2 10-8 in round two against the typically unpredictable 14th seed. Kyrgios was given two warnings, for swearing and racquet abuse, before the 89th-ranked Seppi clinched victory. Earlier, four-time winner Roger Federer held off the challenge of American prospect Noah Rubin. The 35-year-old Swiss, who is seeded 17th after missing the second half of the 2016 season with a knee injury, saved two set points in the third to win 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7-3). Federer will play 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych in the third round. Seppi and Kyrgios embrace after their rollercoaster match Kyrgios won a five-set scrap with Seppi on the same Hisense Arena court in 2015 to reach the quarter-finals, but the roles were reversed here. The 21-year-old Australian was in control before losing his temper as he complained of a knee injury midway through the third set. Kyrgios, returning to tennis at the Australian Open after a ban for not trying at the Shanghai Masters ended his 2016 season, was given a warning for swearing and later docked a point for his second code violation after launching his racquet into the ground in frustration. Seppi, 32, took the match into a deciding set and served for victory at 6-5 when Kyrgios played a between-the-legs shot on the first point before winning the game. The Italian saved a match point at 7-8 and drew level again, broke in the following game when Kyrgios sent down a double fault, and then closed out the victory. "Maybe it was meant to be," Seppi said of avenging his 2015 loss. "I was concentrating on my game and not worrying about he was doing." Kyrgios admitted he needed to take his preparation more seriously, having "played too much basketball" in pre-season. The Australian, who is wiithout a coach and was booed off by some fans, said: "I did a couple things in the off-season that I'm probably not going to do next time. My body's not in good enough shape. You live and you learn." Kyrgrios said he was likely to pull out of the doubles with his British partner Dan Evans, who defeated seventh seed Marin Cilic in the singles. This Australian Open was the first Grand Slam that Rubin (right) has qualified for Federer is attempting to defy a difficult draw and a lack of preparation to become the second oldest male Grand Slam winner in the Open era. If he is to add to his 17 major titles, he will have to pass more testing examinations than that posed by world number 200 Rubin, but Federer admitted he had leaned on his experience against the 20-year-old. "I have played out here many, many times, that's my advantage maybe," he said, after claiming victory in two hours four minutes. "If I could have signed (a contract) to be in the third round, feeling this way, weeks or days or a month ago, I would have taken it. "I'm still hoping to feel better and better and better as we go along." Federer beat Berdych in straight sets in last year's quarter-finals in Melbourne, but has lost to the Czech in the US Open and at Wimbledon. "I'm sure he would like to beat me here too," added Federer. Best of the rest The 27-year-old from Japan, who has reached the quarter-finals in the past two years, came through 6-3 6-4 6-3 in two hours six minutes to set up a meeting with Slovak qualifier Lukas Lacko. Nishikori is seeded to face Britain's Andy Murray in the last eight. Fourth seed Stan Wawrinka brushed aside American Steve Johnson 6-3 6-4 6-4, while France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also came through in straight sets, against Serbia's Dusan Lajovic. Australia's Bernard Tomic secured a spot in the third round with a 7-5 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) win over Dominican Victor Estrella Burgos. Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38660097
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Mexicans' Donald Trump fears - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Mexicans are worried about what a cut to tax remittances sent to them by relatives in the United States could do to their lives and businesses.
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Mexicans are worried about what a cut to tax remittances sent to them by relatives in the United States could do to their lives and businesses.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38661020
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Who is Chelsea Manning? - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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President Obama is commuting the 29-year-old's sentence.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38661018
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Is free trade good or bad? - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Free trade has been a dominant part of the post-WW2 global economy, but it is now being challenged.
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Business
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Trade makes the world go round, but how free can it remain?
Free trade is something of a sacred cow in the economics profession.
Moving towards it, rather slowly, has also been one of the dominant features of the post-World War Two global economy.
Now there are new challenges to that development.
The UK is leaving the European Union and the single market - though in her speech this week, British Prime Minister Theresa May promised to push for the "freest possible trade" with European countries and to sign new deals with others around the world.
Most obviously Donald Trump has raised the possibility of quitting various trade agreements, notably Nafta, the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. Even the World Trade Organization (WTO) has proposed new barriers to imports.
In Europe, trade negotiations with the United States and Canada have run into difficulty, reflecting public concerns about the impact on jobs, the environment and consumer protection.
The WTO's Doha Round of global trade liberalisation talks has run aground.
The World Trade Organization is based in Geneva and came into being in 1995
The case for trade without government imposed barriers has a long history in economics.
Adam Smith, the 18th Century Scottish economist who many see as the founding father of the subject, was in favour of it. But it was a later British writer, David Ricardo in the 19th Century, who set out the idea known as comparative advantage that underpins much of the argument for freer trade.
It is not about countries being able to produce more cheaply or efficiently than others. You can have a comparative advantage in making something even if you are less efficient than your trade partner.
When a country shifts resources to produce more of one good there is what economists call an "opportunity cost" in terms of how much less of something else you can make. You have a comparative advantage in making a product if the cost in that sense is less than it is in another country.
Economic arguments over free trade date back to the 19th Century
If two countries trade on this basis, concentrating on goods where they have a comparative advantage they can both end up better off.
Another reason that economists tend to look askance at trade restrictions comes from an analysis of the impact if governments do put up barriers - in particular tariffs or taxes - on imports.
There are gains of course. The firms and workers who are protected can sell more of their goods in the home market. But consumers lose out by paying a higher price - and consumers in this case can mean businesses, if they buy the protected goods as components or raw materials.
The textbook analysis says that those losses add up to more than the total gains. So you get the textbook conclusion that it's best to avoid protection.
Many lower-skilled workers in developed economies feel they have lost out in the drive to globalisation
And this conclusion is regardless of what other countries do. The 19th Century French economist Frederic Bastiat set it out it like this:
"It makes no more sense to be protectionist because other countries have tariffs than it would to block up our harbours because other countries have rocky coasts."
The implication is that unilateral trade liberalisation makes perfect sense.
A more recent theory of what drives international trade looks at what are called economies of scale - where the more a firm produces of some good, the lower cost of each unit.
The associated specialisation can make it beneficial for economies that are otherwise very similar to trade with one another. This area is known as new trade theory and the Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman was an important figure in developing it.
The basic idea that it's good to have freer trade has underpinned decades of international co-operation on trade policy since World War Two.
Free trade has been a cornerstone of the post-war world
The period since 1945 has been characterised by a gradual lowering of trade barriers. It happened in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which began life in 1948 as a forum for governments to negotiate lower tariffs.
Its membership was initially small, but by the time it was replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995, most countries had signed up.
The motivation was to end or reduce the protectionism or barriers to trade that went up in the 1930s. It is not generally thought that those barriers caused the Great Depression, but many do think they aggravated and prolonged it.
The process of post-war trade liberalisation was driven largely by a desire for reciprocal concessions - better access to others' markets in return for opening your own.
But what is the case against free (or at least freer) trade?
First and foremost is the argument that it creates losers as well as winners.
What Ricardo's theory suggested was that all countries engaging in trade could be better off. But his idea could not address the question of whether trade could create losers as well as winners within countries.
Economic theory says if governments adopt protectionism, total losses will outweigh total gains
Work by two Swedish Nobel Prize winners, Eli Hecksher and Bertil Ohlin, subsequently built on by the American Paul Samuelson developed the basic idea of comparative advantage in a way that showed that trade could lead to some groups losing out.
Putting it very briefly, if a country has a relatively abundant supply of, for example, low-skilled labour, those workers will gain while their low-skilled counterparts in countries where it is less abundant will lose.
There has been a debate about whether this approach fits the facts, but some do see it as a useful explanation of how American industrial workers (for example) have been adversely affected by the rise of competition from countries such as China.
A group of economists including David Autor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology looked at the impact on areas where local industry was exposed to what they call the China shock.
"Adjustment in local labour markets is remarkably slow, with wages and labour-force participation rates remaining depressed and unemployment rates remaining elevated for at least a full decade after the China trade shock commences.
At this week's World Economic Forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against isolationist moves that could spark a trade war
Still if you accept that overall countries gain, then the winners could in principle fully compensate the losers and still be better off.
Such programmes do exist. Countries that have unemployment benefits provide assistance to people who have lost their jobs. Some of those people will have been affected by competition from abroad.
The United States has a programme that is specially targeted for people who lose their jobs as a result of imports, called Trade Adjustment Assistance.
But is it enough? Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute, a think-tank in Washington writes: "The winners have never tried to fully compensate the losers, so let's stop claiming that trade benefits us all."
Which arguments will Donald Trump be listening to in the White House?
In any case, it is not clear that compensation would do the trick. As Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor noted, they may lose their jobs and also "the dignity of work".
He is keen on maintaining open markets for trade, but recognises the need to do something about what you might call the side effects.
To return to recent political developments - Donald Trump clearly did get support from many of those people in areas of the US where industry has declined.
We don't yet know how he will address those issues when he takes his place in the White House.
Perhaps his threats to introduce new tariffs are just that - threats. But the post-war trend towards more liberalised international trade looks more uncertain than it has for many years.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38209407
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Syrian conflict: What's left of Aleppo's Great Mosque? - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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The BBC's Jeremy Bowen has visited the site of Aleppo's Umayyad Mosque to see what's left after the war in Syria.
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The BBC's Jeremy Bowen has visited the site of Aleppo's Umayyad Mosque to see what's left after the war in Syria.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38655603
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Canadian couple shocked as ‘micro-pig’ grows into 670lb giant - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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A Canadian couple are shocked to find Esther the ‘micro-pig’ has grown into a 670lb giant
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A couple in Canada were more than a little surprised when their ‘micro-pig’ grew into a 670 pound giant.
They were duped into thinking Esther would remain pint-sized, but she has now grown 10 times her original size, and is heavier than a fully grown female polar bear.
Steve Jenkins is the man who brought Esther home and he told 5 live Drive the couple had “no idea at all.”
This clip is originally from 5 live Drive on 17 January 2017.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38658829
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Cunning or clueless? Europe reacts in Brexit bout with May - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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The BBC's Kevin Connolly gauges reaction in the European Parliament to the UK PM's Brexit pledges.
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Europe
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If Brexit is going to end up feeling like a long toe-to-toe boxing match then at last we can say that the first round is over.
Theresa May has come out jabbing - offering crisp points about the UK's plans to leave the single market and its readiness to walk away from a bad deal if that's all that's on offer.
The European side for the moment is still acting as if what we've seen so far this week is just the posturing and chest-beating you see at the pre-fight weigh-in rather than the fight itself.
Their big-hitters - politicians like the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and his equivalent at the European Council Donald Tusk - have confined themselves to a little nifty defensive work pointing to the likely difficulty of the talks, hoping for a fair outcome and reiterating that until Britain formally triggers the departure process everything is mere shadow boxing.
None of that of course will stop individual MEPs and commentators from offering their assessment of where the balance lies between the EU and the UK after Theresa May's Brexit declaration.
One German colleague said to me jokingly: "I didn't realise that the EU had decided to leave the UK until I heard your prime minister's speech."
And elsewhere in the corridors of the European Parliament you heard plenty of surprise at the confidence of the tone coming from London, the crispness of the decision to leave the single market and the sudden shafts of clarity after weeks in which the UK had appeared to not know what it wanted.
Shafts of clarity about the UK's position in the corridors of the European Parliament?
That's not to say of course that everyone has been impressed, even though Mrs May was praised in some quarters both for realism and for clarity.
It's worth remembering that most mainstream politicians in Europe view Brexit as an act of madness to be spoken of with hostility and incomprehension. Britain in this analysis has taken the decision to walk away from an institution that's been an engine of peace and prosperity.
Hence these remarks from the German MP Norbert Roettgen, who represents Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.
He said: "The UK's two main economic weaknesses are its considerable trade deficit and a big budget deficit. As such [UK Chancellor Philip] Hammond's threats with duties and tax cuts would primarily damage the UK and should be regarded as an expression of British cluelessness."
That dismissal of an option Britain is keeping in reserve - the option of operating as a low-tax base for business if Europe refuses to cut an attractive deal - would be seen in Strasbourg as one weakness in the Theresa May strategy.
From elsewhere on the German political spectrum came an alternative strand of criticism - not that the UK was trying to set up a kind of low-tax magnet for foreign investment into Europe but simply that it was cutting ties in too brutal a fashion.
Too much, too fast? Yes, says German Greens MP Ska Keller
For Bruno Gollnisch, MEP for the French far-right National Front (pictured left, next to party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen last year) the UK can return to days of yore
Ska Keller represents the German Greens in the European parliament.
She told us: "My overall impression is that May wants to go for a super-hard Brexit. She wants to cut all ties and I don't think that's going to fly well on the rest of the continent. Theresa May didn't really make friends in the last couple of days here in the overall European Union."
To the right of that broad European mainstream of course, things are seen rather differently.
France's far-right National Front looks at the success of the Leave campaign in the UK with a degree of envy. It doesn't like the EU either and would like to see its core treaties renegotiated.
Its senior MEP Bruno Gollnisch said: " I do think that in the end Britain could settle down to a situation rather like what it had before Brexit - after all in those days we managed things like exchanges of school pupils. And the UK will have commercial ties that reflect its specific Anglo-Saxon nature. There is no real reason why not."
So there has been a sense in Strasbourg this week that a phase in a kind of phoney war has finally ended and after months of speculating about what Britain might or might not want, a degree of clarity has emerged about British ambitions towards the single market and to a lesser extent the custom unions.
So far in this cautious round it was the UK which came out swinging rather than the European side.
But there is a very long way to go in this negotiation and by the end of it both sides will have endured defeats and disappointments alongside their occasional moments of triumph.
The UK might feel for now that its ahead on points, but everyone knows there's a long way - a very long way - to go.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38669476
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Masters 2017: Mark Selby and Barry Hawkins progress to quarters - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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World and UK champion Mark Selby beats Mark Williams in a final-frame decider at the Masters, while Barry Hawkins thrashes Shaun Murphy.
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Last updated on .From the section Snooker
World and UK champion Mark Selby began his Masters campaign with a thrilling final-frame 6-5 win over Mark Williams.
Selby, the world number one, made breaks of 139, 109 and 62 to lead 3-1, but Williams hit back to level, before the pair shared the next two frames.
Three-time winner Selby snatched a tactical ninth frame, Williams forced a decider, but a kick on the blue allowed Selby in for a 89 clearance.
In the last-eight, Selby faces Barry Hawkins, who thrashed Shaun Murphy 6-1.
Hawkins made 89 and 79 as he punished Murphy's errors to take the first four frames, and a 85 put him one away from victory.
Murphy pulled one back, but opponent Hawkins - who was trounced 10-1 by Ronnie O'Sullivan in last year's final, made 50 to progress.
Leicester's Selby won the UK Championship title last month to go with his triumph at the Crucible in May and is now bidding to become only the fifth player to hold all three BBC titles at the same time.
Ironically, opponent Williams is the last player to achieve the feat in 2003, and the Welshman had a chance to oust Selby in the first round at Alexandra Palace but for an unfortunate kick while on 20 in the 11th frame.
"If I am playing the blue, I would punch it in to take the kick out of the equation," Selby told BBC Sport. "But Williams rolls them in and he has won things that way so why does he need to change?
"He did not win frames in one visit but he is such a clever player. He shut me out for a little while.
"Coming here, winning all three tournaments has been on my mind. It is such a tough tournament to win but it will be better if I just go out and play."
The invitational tournament sees only the top 16 players in the world compete and Selby's win was the fourth match to be won on a decider after Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Allen and Marco Fu all held their nerve to progress.
"What an unbelievable match. I feel so sorry for Mark Williams. There is no worse way than to lose on a kick, it is a horrible way to lose.
"After that, Mark Selby showed why he is the world number one."
Sign up to My Sport to follow snooker news and reports on the BBC app, or if you want to get involved yourself, read our Get Inspired guide.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38667864
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China goes big in Davos - and here's why - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Like two silverbacks in a cage, China and America are eyeing each other warily. At the World Economic Forum, China is ready to go "supersize".
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Business
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Today will see a through the looking glass moment at Davos.
The leader of the world's largest Communist Party will take to the stage at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss ski resort arguing for globalisation and the wonders of free trade.
At the same time as the US - the home of capitalism - has a new president saying that the present free trade rules need to be ripped up.
The Dragon is here to embrace Switzerland's annual rich fest.
And it's keen to be seen as a member of the club.
President-elect Donald Trump wants to take a baseball bat to the club house and build a new one.
President Xi Jinping is the first Chinese president to visit the WEF.
His message is likely to be uncompromising.
After Chinese officials warned against "nativism" last week - a direct reference to Mr Trump - Mr Xi is expected to say that global free trade has brought prosperity and that moves against it will only harm economic growth.
Yes, he may nod to the need for globalisation to be seen to be working for all.
But he will be clear that more trade is the route to prosperity, for Asia and Western economies.
China is making a very major point via Mr Xi's visit to the WEF.
With other leaders, notably Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, staying away, China is bringing the largest delegation it has ever mustered.
Business leaders such as Jack Ma - the founder of the global internet giant Alibaba - are in Davos, as is Wang Jianlin, another of China's richest men and chairman of the property developer Dalian Wanda.
America might start looking inward, but China is seeking to extend its influence, and the chosen route is economics.
The big push at the WEF, the launch of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank to rival the US dominated World Bank, the revival of the "Silk Route" trade corridor from Asia to the Middle East and Europe - all point in one direction, and it's towards Mr Xi's enthusiasm for a more expansionist China.
Economics is wielded as a tool of influence.
The WEF full court press from Mr Xi comes at the same time as Mr Trump has made his position on China clear.
Although we have yet to discover what President-elect Trump will actually do when he takes office on Friday, the fact that he hired one of America's toughest China hawks, Peter Navarro, as the head of his new National Trade Council, suggests little change from Campaigning Trump.
And Campaigning Trump accused China of currency manipulation and "raping" America, saying that cheap Chinese exports had led to the loss of US jobs.
I wrote about China's hyper-chilly reaction to that allegation and what Mr Navarro might mean for Sino/US relations here.
So far, Mr Trump is talking tough.
A strong supporter, Anthony Scaramucci, who is set to be hired as another of Mr Trump's business advisors, will also speak at Davos.
And rather than extol the virtues of the present structures of world trade, he is likely to focus on what he sees as the weaknesses.
In the past he has backed Mr Navarro's criticism that allowing China to join the World Trade Organisation under President Bill Clinton was a decision that American industry "has never recovered from".
The contrast with President Xi will be stark.
And will reveal the tension simmering between the two largest economies in the world - a tension that will define the health of the global economy over the next decade.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38644971
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Donald Trump's waxwork unveiled at Madame Tussauds - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Compare the Donald Trump waxwork unveiled in London with the real person.
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London
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A waxwork of Donald Trump has been unveiled at Madame Tussauds in central London ahead of the President-elect's inauguration.
Mr Trump's doppelganger replaces Barack Obama's waxwork in the set and joins various other world leaders at the attraction, including Vladimir Putin and Nelson Mandela.
Mr Trump will be sworn in as the 45th US president on Friday.
App users should tap on the image to compare the real Donald Trump with the waxwork
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38666249
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Australian Open 2017: Andy Murray through after Dan Evans stuns Marin Cilic - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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Britain's Dan Evans stuns seventh seed Marin Cilic at the Australian Open, before Andy Murray also progresses to the third round.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Britain's Dan Evans stunned seventh seed Marin Cilic at the Australian Open as compatriot Andy Murray also progressed to the third round.
World number one Murray, 29, was a convincing 6-3 6-0 6-2 winner against 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev.
Evans earlier fought back to win 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-3 and cause a major upset against former US Open champion Cilic.
It is the second time the 26-year-old British number three has beaten a player ranked in the world's top 10.
Murray will face American world number 32 Sam Querrey in the third round, while Evans will take on Australian 27th seed Bernard Tomic.
• None Day three: All the results
It took Murray just 63 minutes to race into a two-set lead against Rublev, who was making only his second Grand Slam appearance.
But there were concerns for the Scot at 1-1 in the third set when he rolled his right ankle and cried out in pain as he fell to the floor.
A tournament doctor came out to check on Murray, who expressed his discomfort towards coach Ivan Lendl in the players' box.
But he was soon moving more freely, although still with the occasional grimace, to wrap up the match and stay in contention for his first Australian Open title.
"It's just a little sore. It's not too serious," he said.
"I definitely rolled it a bit and I'm sure I'll get some ice on it. I was moving OK. I can put weight on.
"Sam Querrey in the next round will be a tough one. He's got a big game, a big serve and takes chances with his forehand."
Birmingham's Evans had earlier required the third of three match points to finish off the seventh seed on his own serve.
"To come through in the last match point was pleasing for me," he said.
"I struggled with the shade on the court and his pace on the ball was coming through pretty quick, but when the sun went down I got into the match."
It is the fourth time Evans has progressed to the last 32 of a Grand Slam - he reached the third round of the US Open in 2013 and 2016, and at Wimbledon in 2016.
He struggled with an eye problem early in Wednesday's match and lost his composure as Cilic breezed through the first set in 31 minutes.
However, the Briton grew more confident, frustrating the 2014 US Open champion and forcing him to make a slew of errors.
The final two sets were a tussle, with service breaks from both players, but Evans held his nerve to win.
This was the most impressive scalp of Dan Evans' career - and there is a growing shortlist from which to choose.
The 26-year-old has reached the third round in each of the last three Grand Slams and is likely to feature in the world's top 50 for the first time as a result.
He took a while to get used to the power of Cilic's ground strokes but once he had won the second set from a break down, he was simply the best player on the court.
There was no drama in Andy Murray's rapid victory over Andrey Rublev - until he turned his right ankle in that fall.
As animated as ever, he told his support team as the match resumed that "it's not good news", although he continued to move well and the prognosis seems positive.
Watson and Broady out of doubles
Compatriots Heather Watson and Naomi Broady were knocked out of the women's doubles in the first round, losing 7-5 2-6 7-6 (7-5) to Italy's Karin Knapp and Luxembourg's Mandy Minella.
Watson is in second-round singles action on Thursday against American Jennifer Brady.
British number one Johanna Konta takes on Japan's Naomi Osaka at 00:00 GMT, and compatriot Kyle Edmund plays Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta.
Like Konta, world number 46 Edmund is first on court, with Watson to follow at approximately 01:30 GMT.
Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38661271
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Heather O'Reilly: Arsenal Ladies sign ex-USA midfielder from Kansas City - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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Arsenal Ladies sign former USA midfielder Heather O'Reilly for the 2017 Women's Super League Spring Series.
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Last updated on .From the section Women's Football
Former USA midfielder Heather O'Reilly is to join Arsenal Ladies for the 2017 Women's Super League Spring Series.
O'Reilly retired from international duty last year with 231 caps, three Olympic gold medals and victory in the 2015 World Cup.
The 32-year-old has joined from FC Kansas City, having previously played for New Jersey Wildcats, Sky Blue FC and Boston Breakers.
The Gunners won the Women's FA Cup in 2016 and finished third in WSL 1.
O'Reilly, whose contract length has not been disclosed, told Kansas City's club website: "I will have conversations about my potential future in the NWSL when those conversations need to happen."
She made her international debut in March 2002 at the age of 17, is the second American to join a WSL club so far in January, following winger Crystal Dunn's move to Chelsea Ladies from Washington Spirit.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38652693
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Snow blankets Italy's quake zone - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Snow has swept Italy, with regions affected by last year's earthquakes hit particularly badly.
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Snow and very low temperatures have been affecting Italy from the south to the north.
The central regions of Marche and Abruzzo, which suffered in recent earthquakes, have been hit particularly badly.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38658575
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Travelling from China to London - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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China has launched a direct rail freight service to London, as part of its drive to develop trade.
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China has launched a direct rail freight service to London, as part of its drive to develop trade and investment ties with Europe.
London will become the 15th European city to join what the Chinese government calls the New Silk Route.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-38659170
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Why the NHS is performing miracles - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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The NHS is in the middle of its toughest winter for well over a decade, but it could be so much worse.
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Health
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It has been a remarkable few weeks for the health service hasn't it? The worst waiting times in A&E for over a decade. Patients left for hours on trolleys. Vital cancer operations being cancelled. Hospitals across the country declaring major alerts. A humanitarian crisis in the making, says the Red Cross.
But amid all this what we haven't heard is just how well the health service is coping. Given what it is facing, the NHS and, in particular, hospitals are performing miracles.
How? Let me explain. The NHS is in the middle of the most sustained squeeze on its funding in its history. Until 2010, the budget increased by an average of about 4% a year once inflation is taken into account to help it cope with rising pressures.
Since then, the average annual rise has been around 1% - and that will continue until 2020. The only period that comes close is the early 1950s when there was a cut in the NHS budget, prompting charging to be brought in for dentistry, prescriptions and spectacles.
And that was pretty quickly followed by large cash injections to get the NHS back on track.
There's nothing like that this time. Instead, the health service is being asked to carry on as normal with fewer doctors, nurses and hospital beds than many other developed countries - as the graphs below illustrate.
Now international comparisons can be difficult. You could argue, for example, that Germany only has so many more beds because its counts long-stay beds reserved for elderly people in its health figures whereas in the NHS they come under the nursing home sector, which is separate.
Nonetheless they pose an interesting question: are we simply expecting too much of the NHS?
Anita Charlesworth, a health economist at the Health Foundation think tank and former Treasury official, thinks so. She says the NHS is being asked to provide "world class access" without the corresponding levels of funding and staff.
Looked at like that, it puts the recent performance in a slightly different light.
Faced with rising numbers coming in the front door (A&E) and increasing difficulty getting patients out the back (because of cuts to social care services), hospitals in England have found themselves full-to-bursting.
In recent weeks, bed occupancy rates have hit 95%. Now that may not sound like the definition of being full, but it is well above the 85% recommended threshold for a hospital to work effectively.
Above this level hospitals start to unravel, patients end up in the wrong places, infection rates start to rise and a backlog of patients builds up in corridors, in A&E and outside in ambulances dropping patients off.
Yes, some of this has started happening, but in many respects you would have expected performance to deteriorate even more than it has.
During the first week of the year - the most difficult so far this winter - more than three-quarters of patients arriving in A&E were still seen in four hours.
Yes the rate of-called "trolley waits" - where patients admitted as an emergency are left waiting more than four hours for a bed - doubled to one in five patients. But the number of "dire" 12-hour waits only amounted to 0.5%.
A week later bed occupancy rates had risen slightly - and guess what happened? Performance actually improved on many measures.
Ask anybody working in the health service and they will say this is down to the dedication and hard work of hospital staff.
Lord Kerslake, chairman of King's College Hospital in London and a former senior civil servant, has described the efforts of staff at his hospital as "extraordinary", while the BBC coverage over the past week or so has been full of doctors, nurses and managers recounting how everyone is pulling together.
But there is more to it than that. The NHS has become very adept at managing pressure points. Daily reports are sent from hospitals to NHS Improvement, a newly-created regulator, about everything from the number of ambulances queuing outside A&Es to how many patients are stuck on trolleys inside.
It means when there is a problem resources are immediately deployed by bosses at the centre.
Extra managers are deployed, GPs and council care staff geed up and beds at local nursing homes used to move patients out of hospital.
The result has been that the NHS has been able to - by and large - prevent the situation spiralling completely out of control and into a full-blown national crisis.
Those involved in the process speak in admiration of the way the regulator has managed the situation.
But make no mistake, this is fire-fighting and, as such, it can only last so long. An outbreak of flu or a sustained cold snap could alter the picture completely.
And if it does not happen this winter, what about next? Or the one after that?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38603484
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Chinese billionaire offers biggest education prize - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Internet entrepreneur Charles Chen Yidan is going to award $8m per year to education projects.
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Business
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Charles Chen Yidan is putting his technology fortune back into education
A Chinese technology billionaire is offering the world's most valuable education prize.
The Yidan Prize will award nearly $8m (£6.64m) every year to two research projects that have the potential to "transform" global education.
Charles Chen Yidan, who co-founded China's internet company, Tencent, wants to use the prize to scale up innovative education research projects and replicate them across the world.
Universities, governments and think tanks have reacted enthusiastically to the prize, and leading US institutions like Harvard and MIT have already submitted several nominations.
But the winner might not necessarily be a household name in education. Even a local project could win the prize, if it can prove it has been effective.
"As long as an idea is replicable in other regions, we can give them an award," says Mr Chen.
Mr Chen, now aged 45, became one of China's richest men after co-founding Tencent in 1998. In 2013, he stepped down to focus on educational philanthropy.
His interest in education came from his family. His grandmother was illiterate but insisted that Mr Chen's father got a good education.
The internet billionaire founded Wuhan College, with an emphasis on more than exam grades
Mr Chen himself studied applied chemistry as an undergraduate at Shenzhen University and took a master's degree in economic law at Nanjing University.
His educational philosophy has also been shaped by the "tremendous pressure" he felt while studying for China's "gaokao" higher education entrance examinations.
So he set up Wuhan College, a private university in China, which focuses on "whole-person development" rather than rote-learning and examinations.
More stories from the BBC's Global education series looking at education from an international perspective, and how to get in touch.
You can join the debate at the BBC's Family & Education News Facebook page.
The college aims to train talented students to join China's technology industry.
Executives from Tencent helped to design the college's curriculum, recruit students and teach classes, so that its graduates are trained in the skills required by employers.
But Mr Chen was frustrated that this college only reached a limited number of students. So he decided a global education prize would be the best way to improve education for millions of young people.
Mr Chen, speaking on a tour of Europe to promote the prize to universities, governments, NGOs and think tanks, says he has already been inundated with nominations.
He wants the prize to focus the attention of universities and governments on future trends in education.
Looking for creativity: Fine art exam in Wuhan this autumn
"We find that no matter whether people come from a rich or developing country, in the east or the west, they are talking about similar concerns," says Mr Yidan.
These are questions about children from rich families having the best access to education, and whether students in some countries face too many exams.
The prize-winners will be chosen by an independent committee of educational experts led by Dr Koichiro Matsuura, former director-general of Unesco.
They are looking for nominations that are innovative and sustainable, that reform existing educational structures, and that respond to what might be the future challenges for education.
But Mr Chen also has his own ideas about how to improve global education.
Speaking through a translator but occasionally breaking into English to reinforce a point, he said he wants to find ways to make the most of the expertise of retired teachers.
Mr Yidan, launching the prize, called for better use of the talents of retired teachers
"They are a valuable resource that we need to make better use of," he says.
He thinks that collecting "big data" on students can improve the education that individual students receive.
"By analysing big data, we can find bespoke ways to help pupils in need," he says.
Unsurprisingly for the co-founder of an internet company, he believes that technology will transform education.
This latest education prize is now the most valuable.
The Global Teacher Prize, run by the Varkey Foundation, gives $1m (£830,000) annually to a teacher who has made an "outstanding contribution" to education.
The Broad Prize for Urban Education, which ran from 2002 to 2014, gave $1m every year to a school district in the US that significantly improved the academic performance of low-income and minority students.
The WISE Prize for education, supported by the Qatar Foundation, awards $500,000 (£415,000) to the winning laureate.
But is a prize really the best way to improve education?
Dan Sarofian-Butin, founding dean of the school of education and social policy at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, says that prize money can be a poor way of achieving change.
"Rather than give a one-off cash prize, I hope the Yidan Prize will nurture and sustain its winners over a period of years," he says.
Hanan Al Hroub who teaches refugee children has been named as the world's best teacher
"If you look at the TV show Dragons' Den, or Shark Tank in the US, what the winners really get is not just the investment money from the sharks, but their expertise, their network of contacts and firms, their foot in the door with many companies, and their national exposure.
"Likewise, a really powerful education prize would create a mechanism that fostered exactly such mentoring, networking, and sustainability."
Andreas Schleicher, education director at the OECD, welcomes the Yidan Prize as an incentive for innovation in education.
"When we surveyed teachers, less than a quarter of them said they would be recognised for greater levels of innovation," he said.
"The highly industrial and compliance-based organisation of education generally means that even where good ideas are generated, they don't scale and spread."
Nominations close at the end of March and the winners will be announced in September.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38639891
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Kim Kardashian will appear in the all-female Ocean's Eight - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The all-female Ocean's Eight film adds two new cast members - Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Kardashian has reportedly already shot her scenes for Ocean's Eight
The upcoming all-female Ocean's Eight film has just added a new cast member - Kim Kardashian.
The reality TV star and her half-sister Kendall Jenner will make cameo appearances in the film.
It will be the fourth movie in the Ocean's franchise in 17 years - confusingly coming after Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen.
Kardashian and Jenner were photographed in New York on Monday after reportedly filming their cameos.
The pair will apparently appear in scenes set at a fictional gala being held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kendall Jenner, Kardashian's half sister, has also shot scenes for Ocean's Eight
One scene in the film features a jewel robbery at New York's annual Met Gala - an event packed with celebrities.
The news comes three months after Kardashian was held at gunpoint during a robbery in Paris.
She took a break from social media and public appearances as a result but has recently returned to Twitter and visited Dubai last week.
Rihanna, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway are due to take some of the main roles in Ocean's Eight.
Vogue editor Anna Wintour and fashion designer Zac Posen have also recently been spotted near the set - could they be making cameos in the same scenes?
We'll find out when the film hits cinemas in June 2018.
The original Ocean's 11 was released in 1960 and starred Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin - and was remade as Ocean's Eleven in 2001 with Brad Pitt and George Clooney.
Unlike Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen, the new film won't have major roles for Pitt and Clooney.
Matt Damon will reprise his role for a brief appearance, and James Corden and Damian Lewis will also have cameos.
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-38662090
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Can your voice reveal whether you have an illness? - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Our voices can activate gadgets and authenticate ourselves to banks. But can they tell if we're ill?
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Business
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Our voices can tell us more than we think
We can use them to sing, shout and whisper sweet nothings. We can use them to activate gadgets and prove who we are to banks.
And now researchers believe they can also reveal whether we're getting ill.
A US start-up called Canary Speech is developing a way of analysing conversations using machine learning to test for a number of neurological and cognitive diseases, ranging from Parkinson's to dementia.
The project was born out of a painful personal experience for the firm's co-founder Henry O'Connell.
"It has been my pleasure to have as a friend for nearly 30 years a dear gentleman who was diagnosed six years ago with Parkinson's disease," says Mr O'Connell.
"My friend was told when the diagnosis was finally made that it was likely that he had been suffering from Parkinson's for over 10 years."
As with so many diseases, early diagnosis can play a crucial role in effectively managing the condition, but recent research highlights the difficulties in correctly diagnosing it, with doctors often struggling to distinguish the symptoms.
And the longer the condition goes undiagnosed, the more severe the symptoms become.
"During the years before his diagnosis was accurately made, my friend, suffering from muscle and apparent nerve-related pain, was treated in several medical facilities," says Mr O'Connell.
"The muscle and nerve-related pain were directly associated with a progressing Parkinson's illness. Because it went undiagnosed, proper treatment was delayed and his Parkinson's progressed potentially more rapidly than it would have under proper diagnosis and treatment."
Canary Speech developed algorithms after examining the speech patterns of patients with particular conditions, including Alzheimer's, dementia and Parkinson's.
This enabled them to spot a number of tell-tale signs both pre and post-diagnosis, including the kinds of words used, their phrasing, and the overall quality of speech.
For instance, one symptom of the disease is a softening of the voice - something than can be easily overlooked by those close to us. But Canary Speech's software is capable of picking up such small changes in speech patterns.
Fellow co-founder Jeff Adams was previously chief executive at Yap, the company bought by Amazon and whose technology subsequently formed the core of the tech giant's voice-activated Echo speaker.
Some studies suggest our speech patterns can give an early indication of Alzheimer's disease
The overall goal is to be able to spot the onset of these conditions considerably sooner than is currently possible. In initial trials, the software was used to provide real-time analysis of conversations between patients and their clinicians.
As with so many machine learning-based technologies, it will improve as it gains access to more data to train the algorithms that underpin it.
And as more voice-activated devices come on to the market and digital conversations are recorded, the opportunities to analyse all this data will also increase.
Some researchers have analysed conversations between patients and drug and alcohol counsellors, for example, to assess the degree of empathy the therapists were displaying.
"Machine learning and artificial intelligence has a major role to play in healthcare," says Tony Young, national clinical lead for innovation at NHS England.
"You only have to look at the rapid advancements made in the last two years in the translation space. Machine learning won't replace clinicians, but it will help them do things that no humans could previously do."
It is easy to see how such technology could be applied to teaching and training scenarios.
Voice analysis is also being used in commercial settings.
For instance, tech start-up Cogito, which emerged from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, analyses the conversations taking place between customer service staff and customers.
They monitor interactions in real time. Their machine learning software compares the conversation with its database of successful calls from the past.
The team believes that it can provide staff with real-time feedback on how the conversation is going, together with advice on how to guide things in a better direction - what it calls "emotional intelligence".
Cogito's software gives real-time tips to customer service staff as they talk to customers
These tips can include altering one's tone or cadence to mirror that of the customer, or gauging the emotions on display to try to calm the conversation down.
It's even capable of alerting the supervisor if it thinks that greater authority would help the conversation reach a more positive conclusion. The advice uses the same kind of behavioural economics used so famously by the UK government's Behavioural Insights Team, also known as the Nudge Unit.
Early customers of Cogito's product, including Humana, Zurich and CareFirst BlueCross, report an increase in customer satisfaction of around 20%.
As the internet of things spreads its tentacles throughout our lives, voice analysis will undoubtedly be added to other biometric ways of authenticating ourselves in a growing number of situations.
Google's Project Abacus, for example, is dedicated to killing passwords, given that 70% of us apparently forget them every month.
It plans to use our speech patterns - not just what we say but how we say it - in conjunction with other behavioural data, such as how we type, to build up a more reliable picture of our identity. Our smartphones will know who we are just by the way we use them.
The big - silent - elephant in the room is how all this monitoring and analysis of our voices will impact upon our right to privacy.
Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebook
Click here for more Technology of Business features
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38637257
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Andy Murray column on Dan Evans, injury worries and inspiring the next generation - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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World number one Andy Murray on fellow Briton Dan Evans, injuring his ankle and inspiring kids to take up tennis.
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Coverage: Live radio and text commentary of every Andy Murray match on BBC Radio, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app. Watch highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
I'm really happy and excited for Dan Evans, who is getting closer and closer to the top of the game.
I've known him a long time. I first met him when we played a Davis Cup tie probably nine, 10 years ago. You spend a week together in the build-up and since then I've seen him a lot at various events.
He used to have a reputation of maybe not working that hard but every time I have been on the court with him, he has been fantastic.
He's a natural competitor. Once you get him on the match court, he always tries his best and gives his best effort and I really respect that.
Away from the court, he's a pretty relaxed guy. He doesn't take himself too seriously and he likes to have a good time, but when he's playing, he's focused. He's a very talented player.
I haven't spoken to him loads about his tennis. He has a team around him that is doing such a fantastic job.
If he keeps doing what he's doing, who knows where he could end up? It's exciting to see how good he is going to be. We still don't know what his limit is.
'We want to inspire kids to pick up a racquet'
It's a really promising time to be part of British tennis. A number of players are close to the top of their game and that's really good.
I definitely think that having a number of different players, with different personalities and backgrounds and playing styles, is really positive. I hope it keeps going that way.
A lot of kids might watch tennis and hate watching me. But some might love watching Johanna Konta, or Dan, or Kyle Edmund or Heather Watson.
The more choice there is, the more role models people have to look up to and that is a really positive thing.
'I was worried about my ankle'
There was a moment of panic when I went over on my ankle during my match against Andrey Rublev. You don't know how bad it is until you get up and you're also a bit shocked about going over.
Once I got up and started moving around, it was still a bit concerning because it was sore. I'm walking around on it fine now - it's sore, but it's OK.
For now, it's all about icing it and keeping it elevated. I had an ice bath after the game and I'll be keeping it cool for the next few days. It's all good.
Facing Rublev did give me a few flashbacks to when I was first starting out.
I played Rafael Nadal when I was 19 at the 2007 Australian Open. Going out for the first time against one of the top players does influence the way you play.
I expected Rublev to come out going for his shots, because he had nothing to lose. He got off to a pretty quick start but once I settled down, I played some good stuff. He's a good player though and definitely one to watch in the future.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38661264
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Primates 'sliding towards extinction', say scientists - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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A report says that 60% of the world's primate species are under threat of extinction.
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The world's primates face "crisis" with 60% of species now threatened with extinction, according to research.
A global study, involving more than 30 scientists, assessed the conservation status of more than 500 individual species, including apes, monkeys, lemurs and lorises.
The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.
Victoria Gill visited the lemurs at Blackpool Zoo to explain the threat.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38670097
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Australian Open 2017: Konta, Edmund & Watson aim for last 32 - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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British trio Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund attempt to make the Australian Open third round on Thursday.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website.
British trio Johanna Konta, Kyle Edmund and Heather Watson will attempt to reach the Australian Open third round on Thursday.
Konta, who won the Sydney International last week, takes on Japan's Naomi Osaka at 00:00 GMT.
The 25-year-old ninth seed beat Osaka 6-4 6-4 in 2015 US Open qualifying - their only previous meeting.
Edmund plays Pablo Carreno Busta, while Watson will reach the last 32 if she beats Jennifer Brady.
Like Konta, world number 46 Edmund is first on court, with Watson to follow at approximately 01:30 GMT.
Konta began her campaign with a commanding 7-5 6-2 win over Belgian former top-20 player Kirsten Flipkens and, given her impressive early season form, will hope to improve on her run to the semi-final last year.
However, Osaka's power is a threat to those ambitions.
The world number 48 has hit the fastest female serve of the tournament so far at 123mph and delivered nine aces in her first-round victory over Luksika Kumkhum.
The 19-year-old reached the third round at the Australian, French and US Opens last year.
"I remember playing her and since then she's improved a lot," Konta said.
"I know she plays a big game. She has big shots. I'm definitely prepared to go in for a battle."
After losing in the opening round of the Australian Open in the past two years, Yorkshire's Edmund is into uncharted territory.
The 22-year-old's only previous encounter with 30th seed Carreno Busta was a defeat on clay at a lower-tier Futures event in 2013.
Should Edmund win, it will be the first time three British players have made it to the third round of the Australian Open.
Watson's third-round defeat by Agnieszka Radwanska in 2013 is her best run in Melbourne and she will be favourite to match that with victory against Brady, who is ranked 35 places lower at 116.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38660203
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James Ellington & Nigel Levine: British sprinters 'truly blessed' to be alive - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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British sprinter James Ellington says he does not know how he or team-mate Nigel Levine survived a motorbike accident in Spain.
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Last updated on .From the section Athletics
British sprinter James Ellington says he does not know how he or team-mate Nigel Levine survived a motorbike accident in Spain.
The pair will miss the 2017 season - including the World Championships - and Ellington posted on Instagram that he is "truly blessed" to be alive.
The 31-year-old has a suspected broken leg in two places and both men have a suspected broken pelvis.
Ellington said he is "overwhelmed" by the public's support.
He added: "I truly am blessed as I do not know how me or my training partner Nigel are still alive.
"Me and him are both strong characters and will be looking to bounce back from this horrific accident."
British Athletics says its staff are with the athletes and are liaising with doctors over treatment.
However, they are still waiting to find out the severity of their injuries from specialists. There will be no definitive update from doctors until the weekend or next week.
Ellington and Levine say they were riding a motorbike when they were struck head on by a car travelling on the wrong side of the road.
The incident happened on Tuesday evening, with Ellington and Levine part of a British Athletics group taking part in a warm-weather training camp.
Any pelvic injuries to sprinters are potentially career-threatening and both athletes will need significant rehabilitation.
Ellington, 31, is a 100m and 200m specialist and a two-time Olympian who was part of the gold medal-winning 4x100m relay teams at the 2014 and 2016 European Championships.
Levine, 27, is a 400m runner who was born in Trinidad and raised in Northamptonshire.
He won a European outdoor relay gold in 2014 and an indoor relay gold in 2013.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/38663811
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As it happened: Theresa May in Davos - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Rolling updates as Theresa May delivered a Brexit speech to world leaders in Davos.
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UK Politics
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Quote Message: I'm writing to let you know that, following a period of unpaid leave from Guardian News & Media, Seumas Milne has decided to continue in his role as the Labour Party's strategy and communications director, and is leaving the staff of the Guardian. I would like to thank Seumas for his brilliant Guardian journalism, and we hope he'll write for us again in the future."
I'm writing to let you know that, following a period of unpaid leave from Guardian News & Media, Seumas Milne has decided to continue in his role as the Labour Party's strategy and communications director, and is leaving the staff of the Guardian. I would like to thank Seumas for his brilliant Guardian journalism, and we hope he'll write for us again in the future."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-38635035
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Drone footage shows huge Antarctic ice crack - BBC News
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2017-01-18
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Aerial video shows a huge ice crack which is forcing British Antarctic Survey staff to leave their base.
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Drone footage shows an Antarctic ice crack which opened late last year.
The British Antarctic Survey is to pull all staff out of its space-age Halley base in March because of the crack.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38658836
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Lincoln City 1-0 Ipswich Town - BBC Sport
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2017-01-18
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Non-league Lincoln City reach the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 41 years with a victory over Ipswich at Sincil Bank.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Non-league Lincoln City reached the FA Cup fourth round for the first time in 41 years as Nathan Arnold's injury-time strike secured a deserved victory over Ipswich at Sincil Bank.
Arnold fired home in the first of four added minutes to secure a famous triumph against the Championship side.
The Imps were dominant throughout and a bigger margin of victory against a team 59 places higher in the league pyramid would not have flattered them.
They now host Brighton in round four.
After twice coming from behind at Portman Road to earn a replay in the first meeting, Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy promised his side had noted the lessons of that scare.
But if they had learned anything, his players were unable to put it into practice, managing just one decent attempt on the Lincoln goal in 90 uninspiring minutes.
• None Reaction to all of Tuesday's third-round replays
• None Chris Sutton cannot contain himself as Lincoln score late winner
Graham Taylor was in charge of Lincoln the last time they reached the fourth round, so it was fitting the National League leaders matched that achievement on the night the club paid tribute to their former manager.
Lincoln's run in the cup was just one highlight among many during Taylor's managerial reign between 1972 and 1977, which was followed by successful spells at Watford and Aston Villa before landing the England job in 1990.
A minute's applause was held before kick-off in memory of Taylor, who died on 12 January at the age of 72, and he was remembered again later in the match with more applause and a show of lights from fans in the stands.
But far and away the best tribute was saved until the end when Lincoln substitute Adam Marriott's pass sent Arnold sprinting clear of the Ipswich defence and he rounded the goalkeeper before knocking the ball into an empty net.
What now for abject Ipswich?
Former Ipswich defender Terry Butcher, who was at Sincil Bank for BBC Sport, did not hold back in his criticism of his old club.
"I can't remember ever being so embarrassed and humiliated as an Ipswich fan," he told BBC Radio 5 live. "Ipswich lost the wrong way, not enough fight, not enough passion.
"I am bitterly disappointed. Over the 180 minutes Lincoln have been by far the better team, it wasn't a fluke.
This was a mid-table Championship side totally - and I mean totally - outplayed over two games
"When you lose like that then Mick McCarthy will be concerned, but the club won't have any knee-jerk reactions."
The margin of defeat could certainly have been greater but for a brilliant first-half save by Ipswich goalkeeper Dean Gerken, who stuck out a hand to somehow claw away Luke Waterfall's close-range header on the stroke of half-time.
Danny Cowley's side put Ipswich's back line under pressure with a barrage of crosses, with burly striker Matt Rhead spurning one opening and midfielder Alex Woodyard heading a very presentable chance wide when unmarked.
Ipswich's best opening came with a low Josh Emmanuel shot just before the hour, but Imps goalkeeper Paul Farman was always behind it and made a good save.
Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy: "I should congratulate Lincoln. They deserved to win. From my point of view the way we lost the game was ridiculous. We had a chance to score ourselves and then seconds later they scored.
"On the back of the performance on Saturday it was surprising how we played tonight. They controlled the game but I'm not going to stand here and give my team stick.
"The fans want to see these upsets. It's great for TV but not for me unfortunately. The fans made their thoughts quite clear tonight. I'm not happy about producing that kind of football in front of the fans."
Lincoln City's manager Danny Cowley: "The way they've worked day in, day out, is incredible. You can have great days like this if you put so much work in like we have.
"I thought we competed really well and worked every minute so hard. We pressed from the front and actually thought we had great control in the game even against a Championship side like Ipswich.
"What a brilliant finish from Nathan. Not an easy finish when the whole of Sincil Bank is hoping he sticks it in. It's a great night and an amazing feeling for the club."
• None Attempt saved. Jack Muldoon (Lincoln City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Matt Rhead.
• None Goal! Lincoln City 1, Ipswich Town 0. Nathan Arnold (Lincoln City) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Adam Marriott with a through ball following a fast break.
• None Bradley Wood (Lincoln City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt missed. Jonas Knudsen (Ipswich Town) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.
• None Attempt blocked. Nathan Arnold (Lincoln City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Matt Rhead.
• None Attempt missed. Matt Rhead (Lincoln City) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Nathan Arnold.
• None Attempt missed. Nathan Arnold (Lincoln City) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top left corner. Assisted by Matt Rhead with a headed pass 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/38565597
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