title
stringlengths 13
112
| published_date
stringlengths 10
10
| authors
stringclasses 3
values | description
stringlengths 0
382
⌀ | section
stringlengths 2
31
⌀ | content
stringlengths 0
81.9k
| link
stringlengths 21
189
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Viewpoint: Does democracy lead to tyranny? - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
| null |
The second of two animated opinion pieces for BBC Newsnight looking ahead to Donald Trump's presidency. British-American author and blogger Andrew Sullivan argues there are lessons to be learnt from Plato.
| null |
The inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the US is on Friday.
What does he represent? What might his presidency bring? In the second of two very personal viewpoints for BBC Newsnight, British-American author and blogger Andrew Sullivan argues there are lessons to be learnt from Plato.
Watch the first opinion piece - from art critic and social commentator Roger Kimball - here
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38664789
|
How May's Brexit speech played out on the front pages - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
A look at how UK newspapers wrote up the PM's speech, in line with their own views on Brexit.
|
Entertainment & Arts
|
Britain's newspapers are for the most part deeply hostile to the EU, and committed to making a success of Brexit.
At the same time, they have created a narrative about the referendum result which casts it as a victory for the common man and woman against a liberal, metropolitan establishment that counts the mainstream media - whatever that now means - as its weapon of choice.
This is one of the more pleasing ironies about the state of media in Britain today.
A brief glance at this week's headlines gives ample evidence of what psychologists call confirmation bias - the tendency to interpret events in a way that accords with pre-existing prejudices.
For papers who backed Leave, Theresa May's speech showed a stern commitment to freedom and love of country. The Mail, Sun, Telegraph and Express, who between them have done most to advance the Brexit cause, lauded the prime minister's speech.
The Mail has been a strong backer of May, seeing her as much the most plausible Tory leader in the aftermath of David Cameron's resignation, and contrasting her ostensible gravitas with the lightweights in her cabinet. Just for clarity, I'm paraphrasing the Mail's position there rather than mine, and doing so based on several conversations with the most senior figures there.
Picture choices matter so much in newspapers. I must say I am a very big fan of cartoons on front pages, as this Charlie Hebdo front page from my previous job shows you, and the Mail's use of a cartoon to show the prime minister looking defiant in a way redolent of the Dad's Army title sequence achieves its desired effect.
Similarly the Sun has her looking cheerful next to supportive furniture (the headline and sub-headline).
The Telegraph and the Guardian use similar pictures but by using a much tighter crop, a blue background and a positive headline, the Telegraph seem to endorse the prime minister; whereas the Guardian seem to issue scepticism about her chances of success. Interestingly, the Financial Times, which like the Guardian backed Remain, also uses exactly the same picture, albeit with a different crop. Their headline, being longer than most of the others, equivocates.
Wednesday's front pages alone provide ample evidence of the way the same events are interpreted in wildly different ways by different newspapers - always and without fail in accordance with their prejudices.
In some ways, Fleet Street, as romantics like me still sometimes call it, is basically the industrialisation of confirmation bias.
Does that matter, when newspapers are in swift decline?
Of course it does, and hugely so. Despite their perpetual shrinkage, newspapers are still read by millions of people across Britain.
Moreover, they exert huge - some would argue disproportionate - influence on the news agenda of broadcasters like the BBC, Sky and ITV.
And in my experience, Westminster is still obsessed, to a really bizarre degree, with trying to influence newspapers.
This was perhaps understandable 20 years ago; but today, when fake news goes viral, it seem strange to me how much politicians care about headlines on page 17 of daily publications.
And yet they do. Which is why the other important point about Fleet Street is that it is strongly weighted toward Brexit, and in that sense in touch with voters who, albeit by a small margin, voted to Leave.
Most papers are delighted with the referendum result and support the prime minister. Given the sheer complexity of Brexit negotiations, it's lucky for Theresa May that, despite having backed Remain herself, she can generally count on Britain's newspapers to back her every move in Brussels.
That is not a luxury many previous prime ministers have enjoyed.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38666066
|
Northern Ireland Assembly Election 2017 | BBC News
|
2017-01-19
| null |
All the BBC's coverage of the 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly Election including news, analysis and results.
| null |
MPs agree to a government proposal to extend the deadline to restore devolution until 29 June.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/ni2017
|
Squash Tournament of Champions: Laura Massaro beats Sarah-Jane Perry to reach final - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-19
| null |
Laura Massaro beats fellow Briton Sarah-Jane Perry to reach the women's final of the Tournament of Champions but James Willstrop loses.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Squash
Massaro, a former world number one, is through to the final in New York England's Laura Massaro beat compatriot Sarah-Jane Perry to reach the women's final of the Tournament of Champions. Massaro, 33, took 40 minutes to beat Perry 3-0 in New York and will now face France's Camille Serme. "Sarah-Jane has been in great form this week beating some of the very top players so I'm very proud with the way I played today," said Massaro. England's James Willstrop missed out on a place in the men's final, losing 3-0 to Karim Abdel Gawad in the last four.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/squash/38674176
|
President-elect Trump arrives in Washington - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
| null |
President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania have arrived in Washington ahead of his inauguration on Friday.
| null |
President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania have arrived in Washington ahead of his inauguration on Friday.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38684420
|
Newspaper headlines: Boris Johnson, NHS drugs, Gambia crisis and Dylan painting - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Boris Johnson's Brexit reference to World War Two comes under consideration in the newspapers.
|
The Papers
|
If you ever wanted to see what Boris Johnson would look like mocked up as Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, then look no further than the Sun.
It says the foreign secretary was "defiant" after being criticised for comparing French President Francois Hollande to a guard in a World War Two escape movie.
The paper mocks those who took offence as "delicate flowers" and hopes Theresa May does not "lock Boris in the cooler" - the punishment usually given to McQueen for his attempted break-outs.
The Times says Mr Johnson "ruffled feathers" with his words, while the Daily Mirror calls him "oafish" and says he put fragile relations at risk.
It says Mr Johnson was just being "characteristically colourful" with his words.
But one of his loudest critics, the European Parliament's leading Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, is making his voice heard again.
In an article for the Guardian, he says Britain's demands heading into talks with the EU are "unreasonable".
"It is an illusion to suggest that the UK will be permitted to leave the European Union but then be free to opt back into the best parts of the project," he says, before concluding that Brexit will be "a sad and exhausting process".
On its front page, the Times says cost-cutting measures by the NHS have raised fears about patient safety.
It says one in five newly-approved drugs could be rationed by NHS England to save money, even if they have been judged cost-effective by doctors, so patients will suffer longer waits for medication.
Cancer charities tell the paper the change will be devastating to patients.
The Times also says drug companies will no longer launch new medicines early in Britain.
British tourists who had been hoping to soak up some winter sun in The Gambia are packing their bags and "scrambling" to leave, according to the Guardian, after a political crisis caused the Foreign Office to advise against travel there.
"There is panic," says one tourist official. The Sun says British travellers have complained of shambolic organisation.
The Times says the scenes of crisis are depressingly predictable.
President Yahya Jammeh can avert bloodshed by doing the right thing, it says, or condemn his country to isolation and be remembered as a pariah.
The i newspaper suggests that an "evocative slice of authentic Americana", painted by none other than Bob Dylan, might actually be a picture of the pier at Blackpool.
Sharp-eyed observers who saw the watercolour at a London gallery found it was identical to a picture posted on the internet by a British photographer.
Even a bird on a lamp-post was identical. The photographer tells the Telegraph he is not angry but "astonished" that his work has been appropriated by a Nobel laureate - and labelled as being Norfolk, Virginia.
The paper suggests the singer was perhaps unconsciously influenced by playing three concerts at Blackpool's Winter Gardens in 2013.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-38672427
|
Hong Kong: Twenty years later - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Hong Kong has spent 20 years under Chinese sovereignty. What's changed?
|
China
|
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from the UK to China. The BBC's Helier Cheung, who sang in the handover ceremony, shares her personal reflections on the last two decades.
As a child, you don't always appreciate when you're witnessing history.
On 1 July 1997, I was part of the choir singing in the handover, in front of China's leaders and millions of viewers around the world.
It was a historic day. But I was nine at the time, so my most vivid memories were:
All of us in the choir had grown up speaking Cantonese. So singing in Mandarin felt both familiar and unfamiliar - it signified a culture we recognised, but did not grow up with.
In 1997, I (second from left) got to sing in the handover ceremony
Nearly 20 years later, I was back in Hong Kong reporting for the BBC
There were lots of dancers with pink fans, and I remember China's then-President Jiang Zemin holding up a piece of calligraphy that read "Hong Kong's tomorrow will be better".
But that night, I saw on TV that some had been protesting against the handover. It was one of my first lessons about Hong Kong's divisions - some were happy to be part of China again, but others were afraid.
I didn't always follow politics then, but politics still affected me. Some of my friends emigrated ahead of the handover, because their parents weren't sure about life under China.
And 1997 was also the start of the Asian financial crisis, so I overheard adults talking about stock market crashes, and suicides.
As a child, it was more comforting to be oblivious about the news.
Even as my friends and I went to secondary school, we rarely thought about developments in mainland China - we were teenagers after all.
This all changed in 2003. Hong Kong was hit by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) which travelled over from southern China.
People started wearing face masks to protect themselves from Sars
Suddenly whole buildings were being quarantined. School was cancelled - shortly before our exams - as well as our junior high ball.
To some, it almost seemed unfair - the virus had spread here after officials in mainland China covered up the outbreak.
Yet Hong Kong, which handled the outbreak more transparently, was the focus of a lot of international coverage, and was the city with the most deaths - nearly 300.
My friends and I became more pragmatic. We did everything we were told to - wearing face masks, disinfecting our hands and taking our temperatures before school each day.
But we kept meeting up in McDonald's after class, as we always did. One friend told me: "If you die, you die, there's nothing you can do. You just need to do the best you can."
By summertime, Hong Kong was Sars-free. But another crisis, this time political, was rumbling.
The government wanted to introduce national security legislation, known as Article 23.
It would have outlawed treason, secession and sedition - words I had to look up - and allowed our government to outlaw groups banned in mainland China.
The bill struck a nerve. Although many countries outlaw treason and secession, to many Hong Kongers it reminded them too much of mainland China.
On 1 July 2003, half a million people, including some of my classmates, marched against the bill.
A few days later, the government was forced to shelve Article 23, after one of its political allies, a pro-business party, withdrew its support.
My friends were jubilant, telling me they had "made history". Many felt that, although there was no democracy, it was possible to vote with their feet.
Many people wore black to show their opposition to Article 23
The Sars outbreak and Article 23 row made local and Chinese politics seem more relevant to our daily lives.
And by the late 2000s, mainland China felt more entwined with Hong Kong than ever.
When I was a child, some of my classmates, somewhat cruelly, mocked "mainlanders" as people who squatted and were poor. But now, more people were learning Mandarin, and Hong Kong's economic future seemed to depend on China's.
China loosened travel restrictions, making it easier for mainland tourists to visit Hong Kong.
It gave the economy a much-needed boost, but resentment was also growing.
I was studying abroad by then, but whenever I flew home I would hear people gripe about the sheer number of tourists, and how rude some appeared.
Mainlanders' shopping trips to Hong Kong have been a source of irritation to people in the city
Some tourists bought up huge quantities of baby milk powder, leaving local parents without enough.
I could no longer recognise many of the shopping malls my school friends and I used to frequent. We grew up with cheap jewellery stalls and snack shops - but now shopping centres were dominated by designer brands that wealthy Chinese tourists preferred.
The other big change was in politics. When I was at school, expressing an interest in politics was more likely to get you teased than admired.
But by 2012, students were holding hunger strikes to oppose a government attempt to introduce "patriotic education" classes.
And in 2014, something surprising, almost unthinkable, happened. Tens of thousands of people, led by students, took over the streets, demanding full democracy.
Growing up, it was easy to avoid talking about politics.
But with protesters sleeping in the streets for weeks, the subject was suddenly unavoidable.
Families and friends started arguing - in person and on Facebook - and "unfriending" people they disagreed with.
Supporters felt it was worth sacrificing order and economic growth for true democracy, but critics accused the protesters of "destroying" Hong Kong.
One woman told me her relatives were angry she took part in the protests and now, two years later, they still didn't want to meet her for dinner. "Hong Kong's become so split," she said.
Hong Kong was split between "yellow ribbons" who supported the protesters, and "blue ribbons" who supported the police
Recently, after years in the UK, I got to return to Hong Kong as a reporter.
A lot feels the same. The territory is still clean, efficient, and obsessed with good food.
But young people seem more pessimistic - with politics and soaring house prices their main bugbears.
Surveys suggest young people are the unhappiest they have been in a decade - and that up to 60% want to leave.
Recently, some have even started to call for independence from China, frustrated with Beijing's influence and the lack of political reform.
Their resentment stems from Hong Kong's handover or even the Sino-British negotiations in the 1980s.
"We were never given a choice," one activist said. "No-one ever asked Hong Kongers what they wanted."
Protests have become angrier. Most demonstrations I witnessed growing up were peaceful - even festive.
Now, some rallies are more confrontational and prone to clashes, while the government seems less willing to make concessions.
Pro-Beijing and pro-democracy protesters sometimes end up clashing
It's not surprising that, in an online poll run by a pro-government party, people chose "chaos" as the word to describe Hong Kong's 2016.
From violent protests, to legislators swearing and scuffling in parliament, politics has definitely been chaotic at times.
But, chaotic or not, what really strikes me about Hong Kong is how alive and adaptable it is.
Hong Kong's streets are busy late into the night
Whether in business or politics, Hong Kong is full of people fighting to be heard.
Local entrepreneurs are constantly devising controversial or creative ways to make money - such as renting out "capsule units" in their homes, or starting a rabbit cafe.
And, even as artists complain of pressure to self-censor, pop music has become more political and fresh news websites and satirical news channels have popped up.
Hong Kong may be a relatively small territory with a population of 7.3 million, but I love the fact it has never lost its ability to surprise me.
Helier Cheung's report can also be heard on From Our Own Correspondent
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-38489435
|
Footage shows rescuers inside Italy avalanche hotel - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
| null |
Rescuers battled overnight to reach the Rigopiano hotel, with the first of them arriving on skis.
| null |
An Italian rescue official has said that a number of people have been killed after a hotel was hit by an avalanche, apparently triggered by an earthquake on Wednesday.
Rescuers battled overnight to reach the hotel close to the Gran Sasso mountain in the Abruzzo region.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38674302
|
Australian Open 2017: Johanna Konta wins but Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund lose - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-19
| null |
Johanna Konta reaches the third round of the Australian Open but fellow Britons Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund go out.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Konta reached the semi-finals in Melbourne last year Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website. Britain's Johanna Konta eased through to the Australian Open third round but Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund both lost in the second round in Melbourne. Watson had five match points but was knocked out 2-6 7-6 (7-3) 10-8 by American qualifier Jennifer Brady. Edmund, hoping to join Andy Murray and Dan Evans in the last 32, lost 6-2 6-4 6-2 to Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta.
• None Dan Evans' exciting form, injury worries and inspiring the next generation Konta, who will now face Denmark's 17th seed Caroline Wozniacki on Saturday, faced one of the most promising players in the women's game. The big-serving Osaka, ranked 48th, had a chance to break Konta in the eighth game but missed a forehand and then looked on helplessly as the Briton fired down two aces to hold serve. Konta took advantage of her opponent's loss of focus to break to love and then served out the opening set in clinical fashion. The Briton dominated the second set to secure her 10th win of 2017. "I love playing on these amazing courts and I'm looking forward to staying here as long as possible," she said. Johanna Konta is looking every bit the contender. She has one of the best serves in the women's game, moves well, defends much better and plays well off both sides. She looks confident, determined and focused. She has a strong team in her corner and is in a very good position to go far in this competition. Watson fails to take her chances Watson was bidding to equal her best run at a major tournament Watson, 24, should have joined Konta in the third round but was unable to clinch victory against the world number 116. The British number two, ranked 35 places higher than Brady, took the first set without any fuss and was on course to win in straight sets, only to be broken when serving at 5-4. She lost the tie-break and from there her 21-year-old opponent grew in confidence during a final set which lasted 86 minutes. Watson had two break points in the fourth game, five more in the fifth, which she led 40-0 but failed to see out, and two more in the eighth but Brady survived them all. At 6-5, the Briton had three match points on Brady's serve but squandered all of them as the American levelled. Watson had her fourth and fifth match points at 8-7 but two strong serves ensured Brady again held on. Watson served a double fault to hand Brady a 9-8 lead and although the Briton saved two match points on the American's serve she could not stop a third as her opponent sealed victory. "It was a tough day especially because of the scoreline and having match points," said Watson. "It's one of the worst ways to lose." Edmund recorded six double faults and failed to take any of his six break-point opportunities The British number two produced an impressive victory to reach the second round but was unable to maintain that form against the 30th seed. Edmund, 22, made too many errors and could not match the power of his opponent's serve, as he lost in an hour and 46 minutes. He won the first game of the match on serve but then lost the next five. At 5-2, Edmund called the trainer for treatment on his left foot, but it did not affect the momentum of the match as he netted a forehand on set point in the next game. Edmund failed to take his first break point in the second game of the second set, and then double-faulted to hand Carreno Busta a break in the seventh game. Edmund had chances to level the set in the 10th game, but Carreno Busta produced two big serves and took the set after surviving two further break points. Two unforced errors and a double fault handed the Spaniard a break in the fifth game of the third set and the contest was effectively over when Carreno Busta got a second break two games later. "I thought I was a little bit short of patience, a little bit mentally, and also trying to rush to finish the point," Edmund said. "My game is aggressive and most days I think I get the balance right, but today I didn't." Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38673037
|
Brexit: The mind games - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Why Britain's negotiations to leave the EU are psychological as well as practical.
|
UK Politics
|
Psychology is always part of tense negotiations. In her Lancaster House speech this week Theresa May sought to seize back the advantage before the real battles start at the end of March. She wanted Europe to know that Britain would not be coming to meetings on the defensive, cap in hand.
During the 40 minutes of her speech she managed to shift the balance of power a little. A few days before she spoke I had been in Brussels and had spoken to a very senior European figure.
He was pessimistic. Mrs May, in his view, did not have a good relationship with other European leaders. He thought the negotiations could "go wrong from the start" and was in no doubt that in those circumstances the UK would be the loser.
He pointed out that Brexit was not high on the agenda for voters in the other 27 EU states. It was a way of saying that in the forthcoming negotiations the UK was the needy one. Britain would have to compromise.
What he reflected is the widely-held view in the EU that the divorce will be messy, that real damage will be done to the British economy.
Mrs May chose to exude confidence. The UK was determined to become a "champion of world trade" and was unafraid of negotiations turning difficult. The message was delivered with clarity and was intended to shape the mindset of those with whom Britain would be negotiating.
Donald Trump has intimated that he wants a fast-track trade deal with the UK
Two factors had strengthened Mrs May's hand. Firstly, the intervention of Donald Trump. The president-elect declared he was willing to fast-track a trade deal with the UK. There was no more talk about Britain being consigned to the back of the queue.
Secondly, and most importantly, the British economy has performed much better than was predicted. Consumer confidence has remained high and crucially the economy has bought Mrs May some political space and strengthened her hand.
Her speech was conciliatory in part. She made it clear she wanted the EU to succeed and did not seek the unravelling of the European Union and wanted Britain to "remain a good friend".
That was an important gesture because it is quite clear that some of those who backed Brexit would relish the break-up of the EU. And her stance was in marked contrast to that of Mr Trump who predicted last weekend that "others would leave" and that it would be difficult to keep the EU together. One EU ambassador to the UK said it sounded like Nigel Farage had briefed Mr Trump.
What Mr Trump has done is to encourage European leaders to circle the wagons by accusing Angela Merkel of making a "catastrophic mistake" with her welcoming of refugees, so chipping away at her authority. Mrs May, in contrast, was offering to be a good neighbour.
But, much as she offered friendship, there was no disguising the fist inside the gloved hand. If there was any attempt to punish the UK for breaking away it would do "calamitous self-harm" she said and "would not be the act of a friend".
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned against an agreement that would strengthen the UK at the expense of the EU
Britain, if necessary, would go it alone. "No deal would be better than a bad deal." It was an attempt to seize the psychological advantage in the talks, by reducing the threat of them failing.
She was clear that the UK was leaving the single market but sought a "bold and ambitious free trade agreement". If that was denied and high tariffs were introduced then Europe's leaders would have to answer to their voters.
"I do not believe," she said, "that the EU's leaders will seriously tell German exporters, French farmers, Spanish fishermen… that they want to make them poorer, just to punish Britain and make a political point."
That was a way of saying that if the talks turned ugly then all sides would suffer damage but that Britain would not flinch from telling European voters that their leaders were putting ideology above economic self-interest.
This is an important undercurrent to the negotiations. I have never seen Europe's leaders so unsure and anxious about the future of the European project. They genuinely fear that if another country was to leave it would mark the end of the EU. That is what underpins the unity they have shown so far.
It is also why they insist that Britain must not be able to walk away with a deal that was better than they would have got by staying on the inside. Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico said it would not be "right for the 27 remaining EU countries to emerge weakened and Britain strengthened".
So, in its negotiating strategy, the UK has to talk up the mutual economic benefits of compromise.
Regarding the City of London, the message is that there is a mutual interest in its continued health. Here again, the UK is arguing that the EU needs access to pools of capital and it needs the financial skills that only the City offers.
Protecting the pre-eminence of the City will be central to the UK's Brexit aims
The UK also wanted to leave a threat on the table: that if a deal could not be done the UK would take any measure to protect its economy, including turning it into a low tax area on the edge of mainland Europe.
May wanted to give her European audience some incentives. Firstly, that Europe needs the UK economy but also that it needed Britain's intelligence services and armed forces.
She was not offering security as a bargaining chip but she knew her pitch would resonate in parts of Eastern Europe and the Baltic States where they have grown uncertain of the Nato umbrella and are grateful for the sight of British forces on training exercises.
These are all strings that can be pulled as negotiations unfold over the next two years.
For all the strategy that lay behind Mrs May's speech, the headline that resonated around Europe was that Britain was leaving the single market. Some European papers accused Britain of turning inwards and of being "Little Britain".
The UK can live with those opinions but its position over the customs union is far more problematic. The UK wants to leave the customs union because it wants the freedom to negotiate trade deals with other countries. At the same time it wants to avoid tariffs and trade barriers.
The prime minister has spoken of negotiating associate membership of the customs union with special access for certain sectors like car manufacturing. This will be a tough part of the negotiations. To other EU states it looks like the cherry-picking they have vowed to resist.
Securing a trade agreement will take time and, almost certainly, some transitional arrangement. Mrs May, however, insists a trade deal can be negotiated within two years. That is hugely ambitious but she fears a transition would involve continuing to pay into the EU budget and accepting EU rules and that would be rejected by elements within her party.
Failure, however, conjures up the danger of the UK going over the cliff edge without a deal. That is a powerful card for the other EU countries and for MEPs in the European parliament who will have to vote on all this.
The dilemma for the 27 EU members is this: they believe it is necessary to demonstrate that leaving the EU is painful and risky. The UK must be seen to suffer, but the question is whether they can do that without hurting themselves.
What Mrs May did was to remind Europe that it does not hold all the cards. This was round one in the psychology of doing a deal.
Many European leaders did not like the message and warned that "Britain can't dictate the terms of separation", with the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, saying it would be like negotiating not with an EU member but with a '"third country".
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38676889
|
Studying at the Bahai secret university - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Iran's Bahai minority is forbidden from studying at university - but they have a way round it, at least until it comes to postgraduate degrees.
|
Magazine
|
Mona studied at the underground Bahai university 10 years after Shirin
The largest non-Muslim minority in Iran, the Bahais, are persecuted in many ways - one being that they are forbidden from attending university. Some study in secret, but for those who want to do a postgraduate degree the only solution is to leave their country and study abroad.
"I remember my father showing me the scars he had on his head from when he used to be beaten up by the children of his town on his way to school," says Shirin. "So, of course, I didn't tell my father that I was experiencing the same when I was growing up in Iran in the 1980s. I knew he prayed and hoped that the world would get better."
In fact, persecution of the Bahais only increased following the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
And when Shirin's son, Khosru, started going to school, she had to hide more bad news from her father.
"I did not tell him that the children of the children of the children who left him scarred, are now calling my son untouchable," she says.
When, in the eighth grade, Khosru told the other children he was Bahai they dropped him like a stone.
"The kids wouldn't touch me," he says, "and if I were to touch them, they'd go and take a shower."
Since the creation of the Bahai faith in the mid-19th Century, the Iranian Shia establishment has called them "a deviant sect", principally because they reject the Muslim belief that Mohammed was the last prophet.
On official websites they are described as apostates, and as "unclean".
But it is when a student has finished school that the problems really begin.
As a Bahai, Shirin was told she could not enter university. Her only option was to secretly attend the Bahais' own clandestine university - the Bahai Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), set up in the mid-1980s by Bahai teachers and students who had been thrown out of Iranian universities after the revolution.
Universities are open to young women in Iran, but not if they are Bahai
Shirin enrolled in 1994. At that time, only two BA courses were available -in Science or Religious Studies - so she decided to study comparative religion.
Lectures took place in improvised classrooms in private homes all around Tehran. It took six years to complete her course, and it was then that she hit an impenetrable wall. There was no scope to do an MA or a PhD, and there was no scope for employment where her skills could be used.
Soon afterwards, a wave of crackdowns on the Bahai intelligentsia began, with raids on clandestine classrooms and the arrest of many BIHE teachers. Shirin saw her world was closing in on her. So when she heard about a domestic worker's visa scheme in the UK, she jumped at it.
"I applied straight away without wasting time, it didn't matter what the visa was called. I had to leave," she says.
Shirin arrived in the UK in 2003 and combined her domestic work with an evening job at an Italian restaurant in Scarborough. But she never forgot what she came to do, what she must achieve.
On a dark and smoggy English morning, she boldly walked through the doors of Birmingham University, and announced that she had a degree in religion from an underground university in Tehran.
To her great surprise, a week later, she was summoned back and was offered a place.
Listen to Lipika Pelham's report on the Bahai, The World's Faith, for Heart and Soul on the BBC World Service
"It was more than a miracle - it was beyond expectation, beyond my wildest dream," she says. "Till today, I feel it was the best reward I received for never compromising my faith."
Shirin finished her degree in 2006 and left the UK to join her brother in the US, where many of her family, friends and co-religionists have, over the years, found sanctuary from persecution.
Shirin (right) and a friend in New York
But soon another crackdown against the Bahais began, at home in Iran.
In 2008, seven members of the Bahai administrative body, Yaran, were arrested and charged with among other things, spying for Israel. After a trial in a Revolutionary Court in 2010, they were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
At this time another young Bahai woman, Mona, was applying to university in Tehran.
"I took an entrance exam at the University of Tehran - they were supposed to send a card saying how and where you should register if you were accepted, and you must write your religion on the card," she says.
"I wrote that I was not Muslim. There was an option that said 'other', and I ticked that box. There was no option for Bahai.
"When they sent back the card, they said, 'OK, you may register,' and in the place of religion, they wrote, Islam."
"In my belief, you're not supposed to lie about your faith even when facing death. So I wrote back, I was not Muslim. They said, 'Good luck, you can't enter university.'"
Like Shirin, Mona had only one option - the clandestine university, and it was an unforgettable experience.
"I remember the faces of all my friends who were coming from other cities in Iran, from far away," she says. "It took them maybe 16 - 20 hours to get to Tehran. Their faces looked so tired.
"It was really hard. We had one class from 08:00 to 12:00 in the east of Tehran, and the second class from 14:00 to 18:00 on the west side - it was exhausting! Sometimes we didn't have physical teachers, we had them over Skype, who were teaching us from the US, Canada."
After she graduated, she faced the same difficulties Shirin had experienced a decade earlier - and opted for a similar solution.
In 2009, she escaped to New York, via Austria, under an international religious refugee repatriation programme.
When I met her recently in Joe's Coffee, a lively meeting place for students and teachers at Columbia University, she had just completed her MA in Psychology. She was over the moon.
"It feels amazing, I can't believe it's all done and I'll even have a graduation! When I graduated from the BIHE, they arrested all my teachers, Bahai teachers. And we never had a graduation day."
The US is home to one of the largest Bahai populations in the world, their presence dating back at least to 1912, when Abdul Baha, the son of the faith's founder, Baha'u'llah, spent 11 months in the country, promoting the religion.
The BIHE degrees are accepted by most US universities - as Mona's was at Columbia University - and many BIHE volunteers are based in the US.
"Students and instructors in Iran can end up in jail just for being students and instructors. So they are not only doing something that is hard for them to do, but dangerous to do," says Prof Thane Terril, a convert to the Bahai faith who now runs online teacher training courses for post-graduate students.
"The motivation for the students is like a person in the desert without water."
Sipping coffee in the café of the former hotel, Ansonia, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Abdul Baha once stayed, Shirin says that she could never understand what the regime has against the Bahais.
"Abdul Baha emphasised that the East and West must meet," she says. "I think the collective approach to life is what we think of as being the oriental or Eastern culture, and the individualist approach to life is considered to be Western. And when the two merge, you have a very beautiful culture."
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38656871
|
Donald Trump's mother: From a Scottish island to New York's elite - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Donald Trump's mother Mary Anne MacLeod grew up on the Hebridean island of Lewis.
|
Scotland
|
By 1934 Mary Anne MacLeod had become a glamorous New Yorker. This photo, was taken on the steps of a Long Island swimming pool
Donald Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born and brought up on the Hebridean island of Lewis but emigrated to New York to live a very different life.
Mary Anne was one of tens of thousands of Scots who travelled to the US and Canada in the early years of the last century looking to escape economic hardship at home.
She first left Lewis for New York in 1930, at the age of 18, to seek work as a domestic servant.
Six years later she was married to successful property developer Frederick Trump, the son of German migrants and one of the most eligible men in New York.
The fourth of their five children, Donald John, as he is referred to on the islands, is about to become US president.
His mother was born in 1912 in Tong, about three miles from Stornoway, the main town on the isle of Lewis.
Genealogist Bill Lawson, who has traced the family tree of Mary Anne MacLeod back to the early 19th Century, says her father Malcolm ran a post office and small shop in his later years.
Donald Trump's mother Mary Anne MacLeod, aged 14, sits on the windowsill of a house in the village of Tong
Economically, the family would have been slightly better off than the average in the township, he says.
However, life during and after World War One, in which 1,000 islanders died, was very hard and many young people were leaving the Western Isles.
Lewis had also suffered the Iolaire disaster in 1919 when 200 servicemen from the island had drowned at the mouth of Stornoway harbour, coming home for the first new year of peace.
Mr Lawson says: "Mary Anne MacLeod was from a very large family, nine siblings, and the move at that time was away from the island.
"The move by Viscount Leverhulme to revive the island had gone bust and there was not much prospect for young people.
"What else could she do?"
Mr Lawson adds: "Nowadays, you might think of going to the mainland but in those days most people went to Canada. It was far easier to make a life in America and many people had relatives there."
The genealogist says Mr Trump's mother was slightly different in that her sister Catherine, one of eight members of the MacLeod family to have emigrated to America, had moved from Canada to New York.
When Catherine returned to Lewis for a visit in 1930, her 18-year-old sister Mary Anne went with her to look for work.
It appears that she found work as a nanny with a wealthy family in a big house in the suburbs of New York but lost the job as the US sank into depression after the Wall Street Crash.
Mary Anne returned briefly to Scotland in 1934 but by then she had met Fred Trump and soon returned to New York for good.
The couple lived in a wealthy area of Queens and Mary Anne was active with charity work.
Mary Anne en-route to America in the early 1930s
Donald Trump still has three cousins on Lewis, including two who live in the ancestral home, which has been rebuilt since Mary Anne MacLeod's time.
All three cousins have consistently refused to speak to the media.
John A MacIver, a local councillor and friend of the cousins, says: "I know the family very well.
"They are very nice, gentle people and I'm sure they don't want all the publicity that's around.
"I quite understand that they don't want to talk about it."
Mr MacIver says Mary Anne MacLeod was well-known and much respected in the community and used to attend the church on her visits home.
Mr Trump's mother became a US citizen in 1942 and died in 2000, aged 88.
But she returned to Lewis throughout her life and always spoke Gaelic, Mr MacIver says.
According to genealogist Bill Lawson, surnames are a relatively recent phenomenon on the islands and official records only go back to the early decades of the 19th Century.
His research took him back as far as John Roy MacLeod, which in Gaelic is Iain Ruaidh, named for a tendency to red hair.
Mary Anne Trump regularly returned to Lewis and spoke her native Gaelic language on her visits
Mary Anne Trump's paternal MacLeods came from Vatisker, a few miles further north of Tong.
Her great-grandfather Alexander Roy MacLeod and his son Malcolm were thought to have drowned together while fishing in the 1850s.
On Mary Anne's mother's side, the Smiths were among the families cleared from South Lochs area of Lewis in 1826.
The period of the Highland Clearances on the mainland had largely missed Lewis but after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 some of the better lands for sheep-grazing on the island were cleared of tenants.
In most cases the displaced tenants were relocated elsewhere on Lewis rather than sent overseas.
According to Mr Lawson, all four lines of Mary Anne MacLeod's maternal ancestry had been moved to Stornoway parish from elsewhere on the island as a result of the Clearances.
His research also found another fishing tragedy when Donald Smith was drowned in October 1868 after his boat was upset in a squall off Vatisker Point.
His widow was left with three children, of whom the youngest, Mary, Donald Trump's grandmother, was less than a year old.
Mary succeeded her mother at 13 Tong but it was the smallest of the crofts in Tong.
After her marriage to Malcolm MacLeod, they were able to acquire the Smiths' original croft of 5 Tong and move there.
Donald Trump's mother Mary Anne was the youngest of their 10 children.
Mary Anne Trump's billionaire son Donald visited the house in which his mother grew up, and his cousins in 2008.
On that trip, the now president-elect said he had been to Lewis once before as "a three or four-year-old" but could remember little about it.
Donald Trump on a visit to Tong in 2008
Donald Trump and his sister Maryanne (left) on their visit to Tong
It is estimated he spent 97 seconds in the ancestral home during his whistle-stop tour.
At the time, he said: "I have been very busy - I am building jobs all over the world - and it's very, very tough to find the time to come back.
"But this just seemed an appropriate time, because I have the plane... I'm very glad I did, and I will be back again."
Donald Trump next to a piper at the opening of The Trump International Golf Links Course in July 2012
The president-elect was accompanied by his eldest sister Maryanne Trump Barry, a US federal judge, who has regularly visited her cousins on Lewis.
Mr Lawson says: "If you want to celebrate anyone, you should perhaps celebrate Maryanne, who has done a lot of work for the island.
"Donald arrived off a plane and then disappeared again. One photoshoot, that was it.
"I can't say he left much of an impression behind him."
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-38648877
|
GCHQ seeks teenage girls to join cyber security fight - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Web-savvy teenage girls could become the UK's spies of the future, Britain's intelligence agency hopes.
|
UK
|
The CyberFirst competition aims to get more girls to consider a career fighting online crime
Teenage girls who spend a lot of time online and on social media could become the UK's spies of the future, Britain's intelligence agency hopes.
GCHQ is launching a competition with the aim of encouraging more girls to think about a career in cyber security.
Girls aged 13 to 15 will compete in tests that will also cover logic and coding, networking and cryptography.
Women currently only make up 10% of the global cyber workforce, the agency says.
The competition is part of a five-year National Cyber Security Strategy announced in November 2016, and will be overseen by the new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Working in teams of four, the girls will complete online tasks remotely on their school computers, with each stage being harder than the previous one.
The 10 groups with the highest scores will then be invited to the CyberFirst competition final in London to investigate a complex cyber threat.
CyberFirst's winning team will be awarded £1,000 worth of computer equipment for their school, as well as individual prizes.
The NCSC was set up to be the main body for cyber security at a national level.
It manages national cyber security incidents, carries out real-time threat analysis and provides advice.
An NCSC spokeswoman said: "Women can, and do, make a huge difference in cyber security - this competition could inspire many more to take their first steps into this dynamic and rewarding career."
Government Communications Headquarters director Robert Hannigan said: "I work alongside some truly brilliant women who help protect the UK from all manner of online threats.
"The CyberFirst Girls competition allows teams of young women a glimpse of this exciting world and provides a great opportunity to use new skills."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38664703
|
Does living to 100 mean we'll work forever? - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
With more and more people expected to live until 100, how does that affect our working lives?
|
Business
|
Living longer may also mean working longer
Will you live to be 100 years old? Even if you don't - it's pretty likely your children or your grandchildren will.
While Brexit, China and Trump may be dominating the news out of this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, living longer is a hot topic in the cold and snowy mountain village, and one which many attendees are already grappling with.
Current trends suggest most babies born since 2000 in developed countries such as the UK, US, Canada, France and Germany, will live past their 100th birthday.
Put another way, for every 10 years since the 19th Century, life expectancy has increased by two and a half years, according to Jim Vaupel from Max Planck Institute of Demography, who has tracked global changes over the past 150 years.
That's the equivalent of another six to eight hours every day.
It may sound great - after all who doesn't want to live for as long as possible - but the reality is we may also be working for as long as possible to be able to pay for it.
"If we live 30 years longer, then in order to retire at 60 we would have to save five times as much during our working lives. It's the end of retirement as we know it," says Lynda Gratton, who hosted a session on the topic in Davos.
She is a psychologist, and professor of management practice at the London Business School, and has written a book on the topic.
The effects of people living longer is one of the hot topics in Davos
Rather than the three traditional stages of life: education, work and retirement, Ms Gratton expects people to have to constantly retrain as they shift careers and focus.
Counter-intuitively, she suggests that one positive of having a longer career could actually mean a better work-life balance.
If you're working for longer, then taking a couple of years out to look after children, or ageing parents for example, won't be such a big deal when your career lasts for 60-plus years, she suggests.
Jo Ann Jenkins, chief executive at non-profit group AARP - the influential lobby group for older Americans - says working longer is already a reality for many in the US.
In 2012, US employees aged over 50 made up almost a third of the workforce. By 2022 they're expected to make up 36%.
The shift has already forced the group to change its name. The body used to be called the American Association of Retired Persons, but had to change it to just AARP because its members complained they weren't retired, but still working.
"People used to think middle age started around 35. Now, most people think it's late 40s or early 50s. Same thing with one's working years. Someone who was 55 or 60 often used to be seen as over the hill. That's not the case today," says Ms Jenkins.
She believes one of the big adjustments will be how to manage the increasing breadth of age groups in the workplace.
"Years ago, one of the big questions was: can a man report to a woman manager? We've answered that question. Today, a big question is: can an older employee report to a younger manager? I think many organisations are still grappling with that."
Of course, increased life expectancy isn't always matched by better health.
Christophe Weber, the chief executive of Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda, says the key issue is how long people are remaining well.
In Japan, around a quarter of the population is now over 60, and Mr Weber notes that this increasing longevity also means certain diseases such as dementia, for example, are on the rise.
He says research and finding new medicines to address the issue will be crucial.
"[People living longer] is a very nice evolution but the challenge is how you finance it," he says, adding that the healthier people are, the less costly it is.
As far as work goes, he says people need "a soft landing carrier to retirement", suggesting while older people may remain at work, they're likely to work part-time, or in less hands-on mentoring roles.
But if even the idea of working part-time when you're in your 70s seems depressing, Ms Gratton has some encouragement.
She says the fact that you're likely to have to change jobs and retrain several times to remain employable over 60 years offers a natural break to take time out.
"Take a gap year. Why should it only be the young who take gap years? You could take a gap year at 50, and travel around the world," she says.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38652359
|
What Mrs Trump's hometown tells us about the next first lady - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Guy Delauney visits Melania Trump's hometown of Sevnica in Slovenia to meet those who knew her.
|
US & Canada
|
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What was Melania Trump like in Slovenia?
The President Burger is presented with a flourish - on a wooden board, surrounded by circular "dollar fries" and topped with a yellow crust of cheese "hair" which looks as if it might fly away at any moment.
As tributes to the US President-elect go, it may not be the most respectful. But it is offered with the affection and gentle humour which it soon becomes apparent is a hallmark of Sevnica, a Slovenian town which just happens to be the place where Donald Trump's first-lady-to-be, Melania, spent most of her childhood.
"We formed the burger so it would resemble Trump a little bit," chuckles Bruno Vidmar, the chef-proprietor of Rondo, a restaurant in the newer part of Sevnica.
"It has hot peppers, because Trump's statements are hot - and it comes with dollar fries because he's a successful entrepreneur."
The owner of the Rondo restaurant designed this burger to resemble Donald Trump
The presidential tie-in seems to be serving Rondo well: on a weekday morning, the place is buzzing with an early lunch crowd from the nearby furniture and textile factories. Meanwhile a table full of smartly-dressed young women order another of Bruno's culinary creations dreamt up with Sevnica's most famous daughter in mind.
"The 'Melanija' dessert is made out of sponge, then there's a layer of mascarpone and strawberries. It's light enough for a model - and we have it on good authority that Melania loves strawberries."
Sevnica is a small place - so Bruno probably did not have to search long to find an authority on what Melania likes for pudding. Or, at least, what she did like when she was growing up as Melanija Knavs in this town of fewer than 5,000 people.
Bar the addition of a branch of Lidl on the outskirts, little seems to have changed since she left for Slovenia's capital, Ljubljana, as a teenager. The old castle - parts of which date back to the 12th Century - still overlooks Sevnica from its hilltop perch.
The town itself is a tidy place with new and old sections, sitting alongside the River Sava and surrounded by forested hills. The Slovenian Tourist Board suggests that Sevnica is "an excellent destination for those who enjoy picnics and outings, hiking, cycling or fishing".
If the roads had been less icy, it would certainly have been an enjoyable ride through the trees to Gostišče Ob Ribniku, a restaurant and guesthouse next to a small lake. Inside the traditional wooden chalet, you can chat to one of the people who can shed some light on the future first lady's early years.
Sevnica is "an excellent destination for those who enjoy picnics and outings, hiking, cycling or fishing" according to the Slovenian Tourist Board
"We were next door neighbours - and we used to go the same way to school," says Mateja Zalezina, who runs Gostišče Ob Ribniku with her husband, Dejan.
"In the afternoon when we came back we used to hang out in front of the apartment block. Even then she was quite busy, because her mother was a fashion designer and Melania was one of the models for the Jutranjka company that did fashion for kids."
Mateja laughs at the idea that she could have spotted that her neighbour would go a long way from Sevnica - never mind all the way to the White House. But she says that Melania could not help but stand out.
"She was really good at school. She and her sister Ines were studying really hard. After school, we played a game called 'gumi-twist', an elastic band game, and she was really good at that. She had the figure of a model - really long legs - and she always won!"
The restaurant is offering a three-course "Melanija Menu" in honour of Mateja's former playmate. But, like Rondo's eponymous offering, this does not feel like a culinary cash-in, just a low-key tribute, delivered with affection.
"I'm really happy for her - she's achieved the maximum," says Dejan. "I hope everyone in Sevnica will watch the inauguration. We will be here at the restaurant with friends and will raise a glass to them both."
Melania's former neighbour says America's next first lady studied "really hard" at school
Back in the old town, beneath the castle, Sevnica's mayor Srecko Ocvirk is not planning any special events to mark the start of the Trump era. But he hopes the publicity will bring the town's charms to the attention of tourists.
"The first visitors who came were journalists like you," he admits. "But we're now seeing there are rising numbers of tourists. We're also expecting more organised tour groups after the inauguration. Sevnica and the region will become better known because of this."
At the town's primary school, one of the staff has certainly achieved a degree of local celebrity. Art teacher Nena Bedek was best friends with Melania until the future Mrs Trump left to finish her schooling in Slovenia's capital, Ljubljana.
Now Nena fields questions from her students about her friendship with Sevnica's most famous former resident - and marvels at the different paths their lives have taken.
"It's a 'wow' effect for us and for me," she says.
"She was a reliable girl and a very good friend. But she never wished to stand out - even though she was beautiful and hard-working. She loved to read and draw. She was brought up in a very artistic manner - she knew what was beautiful - due to her mother's job as a fashion designer. I have very fond memories and keep her very close in my heart."
As for the town's various tributes - which include wine, slippers and honey as well as the culinary offerings - Nena believes they are in keeping with the Sevnica spirit.
"They are very sympathetic and sweet - none of them are bad things - and it's also funny. I think it's still within limits - all in all it's sweet and nice."
Rather like Sevnica itself, perhaps.
You can hear Guy De Launey's report from BBC Radio 4's World Tonight via BBC iPlayer.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38642889
|
Novak Djokovic: The waning of his winning obsession has led to a lost sense of direction - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-19
| null |
Novak Djokovic's ferocious focus took him to the top of the game but it is hard to see him rekindling the flames of that obsession, writes Russell Fuller.
| null |
When asked what he would take away from his stunning defeat by Denis Istomin in the second round of the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic said he would take his bags and go home.
The world number two exuded the utmost class in the aftermath of Istomin's five-set victory in the Rod Laver Arena. He signed autographs, offered sincere congratulations to the current world number 117, and declined the opportunity to comment further on the malaise which has affected him since winning his first French Open title last June.
Istomin has had a fine career - spending plenty of time in the world's top 50 - but after an injury-affected 2016, he had to win the Asia Pacific Wildcard play-off in China (saving four match points in his semi-final) to qualify for this Australian Open.
His only previous tournament this year was in Thailand, where he lost to the world number 211 in the second round of the Wind Energy Holding Bangkok Open.
• None Cash fears Djokovic's best days are behind him
• None How to follow the Australian Open on the BBC
Lukas Rosol was 100 in the world when he beat Rafael Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon 2012, but Istomin can claim an even bigger upset given Djokovic's recent record in Melbourne, where he has won five titles in the past six years.
Conquering the clay of Roland Garros last year has affected Djokovic's sense of direction.
That burning desire to become only the eighth man in history to win all four of the sport's Grand Slams drove him forward. An unwitting consequence of that magnificent achievement appears to be a diminished appetite for the incessant demands of the tennis tour.
He has lost surprisingly since then to Sam Querrey in the third round of Wimbledon; to Juan Martin del Potro in the first round of the Olympics; to Roberto Bautista Agut and Marin Cilic in the autumn of last season; and now to Istomin.
There have been personal problems and niggling injuries along the way, and he has still been good enough in that time to win titles in Toronto and Doha - and finish as runner-up at both the US Open and the ATP World Tour Finals.
I would be very surprised if Djokovic fails to add to his Grand Slam tally of 12, but I think it unlikely he will ever be able to dominate the sport as he has in the past.
After all, from the start of 2011 through until last year's French Open, Djokovic won 11 Grand Slam titles and appeared in all but five of the 22 finals staged.
That is a staggering effort which bears comparison to the standards set by Roger Federer, who won 16 of his 17 Grand Slams in a six and a half year period. But 35-year-old Federer has added only one since he turned 29.
It is perhaps just not possible in the modern age to sustain such relentless success for any longer.
In Djokovic's case, the years of obsession and dedication began at the age of six, when he was spotted watching some lessons through the fence of a newly built tennis academy in his home town.
He was invited to come and play the following day by a coach called Jelena Gencic, who would have a profound effect on his career.
As Djokovic himself said at the World Tour Finals in November: "Every year is an evolution for me. It's hard to expect to repeat all these things forever. Nothing is eternal. I'm trying to do the same things. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't."
What might the future hold for Djokovic?
He says regaining the world number one position from Andy Murray is not his main priority, and that may be wise given Murray would move more than 3,500 ranking points ahead of him by winning a first Australian Open title.
He says he has no plans to add to his current coaching team of Marian Vajda and Dusan Vemic, and if Djokovic sticks to his schedule we won't see him again until the second week in March when he is due to defend his Masters title at Indian Wells.
And what does this mean for the men's game in 2017 - and for the ongoing Australian Open?
It leaves Andy Murray in pole position, it gives the returning Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal even greater hope of further glories, and offers encouragement to the next generation of players who have had to bide their time so patiently. Twenty three-year-old Dominic Thiem and 19-year-old Alex Zverev currently look best placed to take advantage.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38681767
|
US frisbee team captures frozen lake crossing - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
| null |
Unusual mobile phone footage shows the frisbee skittering across the ice in the US.
| null |
A youth frisbee team has filmed a frisbee crossing a frozen Maine lake in the wind.
Falmouth Rogue coach Shea Gunther captured the action on his phone while skating behind the frisbee.
He told the BBC: "I noticed how the wind would catch an errant throw, so I turned my camera on and threw it into the wind so it would skitter. And skitter it did".
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38684425
|
NHS staff shortages: Why so persistent? - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Why is it that the NHS always seems to be short of staff, and is there anything that can be done to resolve the problem?
|
Health
|
The NHS has relied on nurses from home and abroad since its birth
NHS staff shortages seem an everyday fact of life - or at least a factor mentioned in several news stories each week. But why do these shortages persist and is there anything that can be done to get rid of them?
In this week's In Business on BBC Radio 4, I spoke to historians, economists, nurses, doctors and other healthcare staff to try to get to the bottom of these questions.
And to pose another one - does the NHS have the right mix of staff with the right mix of skills or could changing traditional roles rather than just boosting numbers help?
The Royal College of Nursing says England is currently short of at least 20,000 nursing staff.
And the Royal College of Midwives says the country needs 3,500 more midwives.
Meanwhile, GP leaders and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine say the UK urgently needs greater numbers of general practitioners and emergency doctors - just a few of the medical specialities struggling with recruitment and retention right now.
Increasingly, an older population, with often complex health needs, adds extra demand.
But these problems are far from new.
Stephanie Snow, medical historian at the University of Manchester, says staff shortages have existed since the very birth of the NHS, in 1948 - though people are often quick to label recruitment crises as one-off problems.
She told the BBC: "Over the first decade in particular, the NHS expanded its specialist services rapidly and there were many new technologies on board.
"All of these things led to unprecedented increases in the number of staff required.
"By the time we get to the late 1960s, hospitals had to turn to mass recruitment, looking towards countries such as India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka - where courses were taught in English and aligned to the UK's General Medical Council, as a consequence of colonial rule."
Physician associates are a relatively new role within the NHS
Meanwhile, Anita Charlesworth, director of Research and Economics at the think tank, the Health Foundation, argues the UK has perpetually trained lower numbers of medical and nursing students than it needs.
She said: "There is not a problem that we don't have enough bright, young people who would meet the standards and would love to have a career in medicine and nursing.
"They just can't get a place. We have systematically trained fewer than we need."
And she suggests being able to recruit doctors and nurses from overseas has offered a "get out of jail card" for successive staff shortages.
Dr Mark Porter, of the doctors' union, the British Medical Association, argues we have generally staffed a health service we can afford - rather than look at what the population needs.
But he says planning for the NHS workforce of the future is not easy.
He said: "It is difficult to get planning perfect for every one of 50 or 60 specialities all of the time.
"The population's needs are genuinely not quite as predictable as one might imagine.
"We know the trajectory illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes are taking over the next five years.
"But what about the next 25 years?
"Will public health messages and new technology be successful, or won't they?
"The answer could give us completely different trajectories in the future."
Nurses starting work on the first day of the NHS
For its part, the government says it plans to increase the numbers of doctors and nurses it trains and boost other healthcare staff too.
At the Conservative Party conference in October 2016, Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, said: "My job is to prepare the NHS for the future, and that means doing something today that we have never done properly before, and that's training enough doctors."
The government announced there would be up to an extra 1,500 medical school places each year from 2018 in England.
And, looking back, the NHS Confederation said there had been an extra 32,467 doctors employed in England in 2014 compared with 2004.
Health chiefs also say current plans to scrap nurse bursaries will help increase the number of nurse training places available this year - though whether this will work in practice is unclear and has been disputed by nursing leaders.
Other positions such as nurse apprentices and physician associates are being explored.
Physician associates (PAs) - trained to do some of the jobs junior doctors do, might be able to cut some pressures on wards.
But current numbers are tiny, most cannot prescribe and they are not professionally regulated in the same way doctors are.
Ms Charlesworth is worried options for filling shortages quickly might be running out.
She said: "There's a massive gap globally now in the number of doctors and nurses compared to projected demand.
"So India keeps many more of its doctors.
"It has fantastic leading hospitals that are an exciting place to work if you are a young Indian doctor.
"There is a global shortage of clinical healthcare staff."
And of course there is another issue to consider.
It is estimated about 10% doctors and 7% of nurses working in the NHS in England are nationals of other EU countries.
The question is - could Brexit make NHS recruitment and retention problems even worse?
To find out more and to hear some possible solutions, listen to: BBC Radio 4 - In Business, The NHS- The Recruitment Dilemma.
Presented by Smitha Mundasad and produced by Rosamund Jones
• None BBC Radio 4 - In Business, The NHS- The Recruitment Dilemma
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38640068
|
Kidnapped girl Lexis Manigo defends abductor 'mother' - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
| null |
A girl, who was kidnapped as a baby 18 years ago, has defended the woman who took her from a Florida hospital.
| null |
A girl, who was kidnapped as a baby 18 years ago, has defended the woman who took her from a Florida hospital.
Lexis Manigo, whose birth name is Kamiyah Mobley was abducted by Gloria Williams, a woman she considers her mother in 1998.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38674296
|
Trump prods reluctant Melania to speak - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
| null |
Donald Trump persuaded wife Melania to address a group of supporters at a lunch in Washington.
| null |
Donald Trump and his wife Melania visited a group of supporters at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
"This is a gorgeous room. A total genius must have built this place," the 45th US president remarked.
Mr Trump thanked his wife, who suffered through "fake news" throughout the campaign, he said.
He also invited her, with a bit of insistence, to make a few remarks.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38681430
|
Rachael Heyhoe Flint dies aged 77 - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
The women's cricket pioneer and Wolves vice-president dies aged 77 after a short illness.
|
Birmingham & Black Country
|
Rachael Heyhoe Flint, the former England women's cricket captain, has died aged 77.
Baroness Heyhoe Flint, vice-president of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, passed away in the early hours of Wednesday after a short illness.
She leaves behind husband Derrick, their son Ben, and her stepchildren Rowan, Hazel and Simon. Ben said the family was "deeply saddened".
Heyhoe Flint, pictured with Wolves legend Steve Bull, was vice-president of the football club
She also played in the first ever women's match at Lord's, against Australia, in 1976.
During her career she played 22 Test matches and 23 one-day internationals. She was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2010.
She also became a successful journalist, after dinner speaker and expert in public relations, which brought her back into contact with her beloved Wolves as she headed up the club's work in the local community.
MCC president Matthew Fleming said: "Rachael Heyhoe Flint was a pioneer of women's cricket - she was the first global superstar in the women's game and her overall contribution to the MCC, cricket and sport in general was immense."
Baroness Heyhoe Flint has been described as a pioneer of women's cricket
Clare Connor, the ECB's director of women's cricket, said: "She was so special, so ever-present and now she has gone - but her impact can never be forgotten.
"Rachael was one of our sport's true pioneers and it is no exaggeration to say that she paved the way for the progress enjoyed by recent generations of female cricketers."
Among many others paying tribute to Heyhoe Flint was BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew, who said on Twitter: "Very sad news re Rachael Heyhoe Flint. Great champion of women's cricket, won first World Cup and one of life's real enthusiasts. #RIP."
Clare Connor, pictured with Heyhoe Flint, said her impact could never be forgotten
Heyhoe Flint's development of cricket was "immense", the ECB said in tribute
Flags were flying at half mast at Lord's and Wolves' Molineux stadium.
The club's players will also be wearing black armbands at Saturday's Championship game at Norwich.
Wolves managing director Laurie Dalrymple said: "Everyone at Wolves is deeply saddened to hear the news that Rachael has passed away.
"She was a wonderful lady who meant so much to so many people at the football club, in the city of Wolverhampton, and also much further afield.
"Rachael's contribution to the world of sport, the local community, and in later years politics, cannot be measured, and neither can her seemingly never-ending kindness and generosity of spirit."
The England Cricket Board said her development of cricket had been "immense".
Baroness Heyhoe Flint was one of the first women admitted to the MCC
When her playing career ended, Heyhoe Flint became one of the first women admitted to the MCC. In 2004 she became the first woman elected to the full committee.
She was awarded the MBE in 1972, the OBE in 2008 and was made a life peer in 2011.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-38664893
|
Brexit memo to Boris Johnson: Don't mention the War - BBC News
|
2017-01-19
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
The foreign secretary's evocation of the Great Escape didn't go down well in Europe.
|
UK Politics
|
Basil Fawlty discovered that some subjects were taboo
Like some latter-day Basil Fawlty, Boris Johnson mentioned the War and didn't get away with it.
The foreign secretary urged the French president not to "administer punishment beatings" on Britain for choosing to escape the EU "rather in the manner of some World War Two movie".
Not surprisingly, uproar has ensued. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband said Mr Johnson had shown once again that he could be "supremely clever and yet immensely stupid".
To some Britons, Mr Johnson's remarks will be seen as colourful but unexceptional language that echoes the popular World War Two film The Great Escape.
To many of Mr Johnson's generation, these films were part of their childhood and are subject to frequent cultural reference. Former Prime Minister David Cameron has seen The Guns of Navarone more than 17 times and once quoted a line from the film in a party conference speech.
I know one former Conservative cabinet minister who can quote reams from Where Eagles Dare. (Full disclosure, so can I).
Yet this hinterland of war films from the 1960s and 1970s, seen by some today as jingoistic, can create a tin ear among some Britons when it comes to recognising how sensitive many Europeans remain towards this period in their history.
The foreign secretary has form on this. During the referendum campaign last year he compared the EU to Nazi Germany, telling the Daily Telegraph both were attempting to unify Europe: "Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically."
This caused a flurry of headlines and a social media storm that passed quickly. Yet the impact on EU politicians was lasting.
One EU diplomat explained it to me like this: "You Brits don't understand us when we talk about European values. To us they are important because they are not Nazi values, they are not Vichy values, they are not fascist values, not the values of the Greek junta. They are the values of a different Europe.
"So for that clown to compare us to the Nazis, well, that hurts and will not be forgotten."
In other words, the global conflict from which the EU's forerunner emerged - and was ultimately designed to prevent recurring - lingers long in the mind on the continent.
So perhaps the foreign secretary might take the advice of Gisela Stuart, the German-born Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, who said she was sure her fellow Brexit campaigner did not mean to be offensive but added: "For the next two years… just don't mention the war."
Or maybe Mr Johnson might remember the last line of the Fawlty Towers episode when a ranting Basil is being led away by the nurses and one of the stunned German guests asks: "However did they win?"
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38670349
|
Newspaper headlines: George Michael 'wanted to die' & Istanbul attack manhunt - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Some newspapers lead on tweets apparently suggesting George Michael "wanted to die", while others focus on the hunt for the Istanbul terror attack gunman.
|
The Papers
|
The death of George Michael continues to dominate several newspaper front pages.
The Daily Mirror leads with an exclusive interview with Michael's partner, Fadi Fawaz, who reveals he slept in a car on the night the star died.
It also says Mr Fawaz denied he was responsible for several posts that appeared on his Twitter account claiming the singer "wanted to die" and had "finally managed it" after "trying to kill himself several times".
Mr Fawaz said his Twitter account had been hacked and that the account has since been shut down.
The new year attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul was, for the Daily Mail, the "massacre of the beautiful people".
The Guardian says the venue has earned a reputation as the place to be seen among Turkey's young, secular elite - attracting footballers from the top Turkish sides, TV stars, tourists, business people and celebrities from around the world.
The i's story says that for those who had wished for a new year that would see a diminution of the bloody attacks that have convulsed Turkey in recent months, their hopes survived unblemished for less than ninety minutes.
An hour after the gilded youth of Istanbul and well-heeled Middle East revellers had cheered the advent of the new year, the Times reports, the gunman began shooting and the noise turned from music to gunshots and screams.
It was by no means Turkey's worst terrorist incident, the Daily Telegraph says, but the timing and death toll among foreign nationals who were in the city to celebrate the arrival of 2017 seems intended to rip the heart out of Istanbul's tourism, and it must not be allowed to do so, the paper adds.
The prime minister is to overhaul the honours system after making clear that controversial appointments in the new year list had been put forward under David Cameron's tenure, the Times reports.
According to the paper, Theresa May wants the honours system to have five priorities.
It will recognise those who boost the economy; support young people in achieving their potential; aid social mobility; help local communities; and tackle discrimination.
The government's plans for new garden villages in England make the lead for the Daily Telegraph.
It says Theresa May's first announcement of 2017 suggests her government will make housing one of its main priorities in the year ahead.
The ambitious scheme has won support from campaign groups - it adds - despite earlier concerns that the developments would lead to urban sprawl and put added pressure on infrastructure.
The Queen's absence from church for the second weekend in a row because of a lingering heavy cold is the Daily Mail's main story.
The paper has been told that she's on the mend, but has developed a hacking cough.
A source is quoted as saying: "Her Majesty doesn't like going to church with a cough because she thinks it's off-putting for other celebrants."
"Get better soon, Ma'am", is the paper's headline.
The Guardian led with a warning from Britain's top GP that surgeries will have to stop seeing patients at some points during the week unless the government abandons its drive to guarantee access to family doctors across the weekend.
Dr Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, tells the paper that ministers are ignoring the lack of demand among patients to see GPs at weekends and the serious shortage of family doctors.
A number of papers also criticise the annual increase in rail fares that comes into effect today.
The Daily Mail reports that even if the train companies provided a decent service, the £600 average increase in the cost of annual season tickets since 2010 would be monstrous.
At this time of disruption by the unions, it adds, the rises are simply inexcusable.
In the Telegraph's view, while it's reasonable for people to be asked to fork out more for a better service, it's galling to have to stump up more for trains that don't arrive or are jam-packed if they do.
The Daily Mail also runs with a story saying cabinet ministers have urged Theresa May to threaten the House of Lords with a "bloodbath" if peers seek to frustrate Brexit.
According to the paper, senior Tories say the Prime Minister should stand ready to threaten the upper chamber with abolition or a huge cut in numbers and powers.
An un-named minister tells the paper: "We will be sending a one-line bill to the Lords on triggering Article 50. If they send it back to the Commons, it should be returned with a second line added - the abolition of the Lords".
A Daily Telegraph investigation reveals that British expatriates are flying to the UK from their Spanish homes to earn lucrative sums as carers for the elderly, amid a spiralling crisis in social care.
The paper says thousands of expats are funding lifestyles in the sun by jetting in for fortnightly placements to take sole charge of the vulnerable, with just a few days' training.
According to the report, many of the recruits have no professional qualifications or previous experience and are driven by financial desperation after a downturn in the Spanish economy, or to supplement income from businesses such as bars and restaurants.
A familiar sight in some newspapers at this time of year is pictures of new year revellers worse for wear after a night of partying and drinking in city centres across the country.
The Daily Express says many partygoers drank so much they were unable to stand or speak.
"While some young women struggled to stay upright in towering high heels, others gave up completely and simply lay down, befuddled."
"Many cared little for their modesty", the paper goes on, and they braved "the cold and pouring rain in outfits more suited to high summer than mid-winter."
Writing in the Daily Mail, Sarah Vine expresses her concern in an article headlined "Pictures that make me weep for today's young women".
The Sun has pictures of what it calls the "bedlam" in Hull - and quotes one reveller as saying it wasn't a good advert for the UK City of Culture.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-38486528
|
Labour in 2017: Can Corbyn ride anti-elitism wave? - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Can Labour make Jeremy Corbyn the Left's Trump and reach out to the wider electorate in 2017?
|
UK Politics
|
Can Jeremy Corbyn reach out beyond Labour Party members?
"Our job is to make Jeremy Corbyn the Left's Donald Trump", whispered a political adviser over cold sausage rolls at Labour's annual Christmas party,
"Trump shows if we take the anti-establishment message and run with it, anything is possible".
This most unlikely of strategies, to replicate the electoral tactics of a man Mr Corbyn has called divisive and wrong, is clear.
If you have lost trust in politicians, well, don't go for fake anti-elitism. Go for the real thing. Corbyn.
The Labour leader's office are convinced that the anti-elitist wave which delivered Jeremy Corbyn the leadership twice is the same that brought President Trump and Brexit.
How do they ride that wave? Efforts will be made in the early part of the year to roll out radical retail policies on the economy and the cost of living, with an attempt at every turn to avoid the potentially sticky wicket of Brexit.
Whether he will be able to sell his message beyond Labour's 515,000 members remains to be seen but we should see a return to the campaign rallies and speaking tours that played such a part of his summer 2015 leadership bid.
Can Jeremy Corbyn ride the wave of anti-elitism that delivered Donald Trump the US presidency?
Harnessing the energy of large crowds and speaking direct through TV into the living rooms of the general public, rather like one Donald J Trump, will be just one part of a new turbo-charged media strategy.
This will be first put to the test in the Copeland by-election. The resignation of Jamie Reed, one of Mr Corbyn's most prominent critics, will mean the party having to defend a 2,500 majority in a seat which Labour has held since 1935.
It should be an easy hold for an opposition party taking on a mid-term government; after all a governing party hasn't made a by-election gain, without a defection, for 56 years.
The bookies think the Conservatives have a good chance of taking the seat, but after outperforming many people's expectations in Oldham West and Royton, it would be foolish to write Labour off six weeks before voting begins.
Andy Burnham's mayoral bid in Manchester will be among high-profile contests
Next year's set of local elections will take place on 4 May and will see elections to English, Scottish and Welsh councils, as well as the first set of elections for newly created regional mayors.
The most high-profile race for Labour will be Andy Burnham's attempt to become the first directly elected mayor of the Manchester region. But there will be more competitive elections in the West Midlands, where MEP Sion Simon faces a challenge from Andy Street - the former managing director of John Lewis - who is standing for the Conservatives.
Outside of the inaugural mayoral contests, there will be elections to 34 councils in England.
This will be a challenging environment for the Labour Party; back in 2013 the party made substantial gains and is facing elections in swathes of safe Conservative shire areas.
The 2013 vote share of 29% was actually two points behind their final general election result and a replication of this result would not be too surprising.
The danger, perhaps, would be if Labour fell into third place behind a resurgent UKIP and Conservative Party. Should that happen, then it is likely the carefully maintained silence of Mr Corbyn's opponents within the Parliamentary Labour Party will break.
Perhaps the most consequential battles will be outside national electoral contests and within the movement itself.
Len McCluskey will face re-election for general secretary of Unite in April. Few individuals have been as vital as the leader of the UK's biggest union to preserving Jeremy Corbyn's position.
Moderates are organising hard to elect Gerard Coyne, a close friend of Tom Watson, someone who, they think, could deliver thousands of votes for a moderate candidate in a future leadership contest.
Momentum, the powerful grassroots organisation that supports Mr Corbyn's leadership, will also face internal challenges in 2017.
Since the party conference in Liverpool, a bitter dispute has broken out over who should hold the reins of power.
The organisation is facing internal squabbles over its future direction with a concerted effort to remove Corbyn ally Jon Lansman from his leadership role.
Momentum tearing itself apart could seriously imperil Jeremy Corbyn's efforts to make Labour a movement. This will be, of course, with a Parliamentary party doggedly against him but maintaining a Trappist silence following Mr Corbyn's 2016 re-election as Labour leader.
In all of this the key question for Jeremy Corbyn will be whether he can translate the powerful populist movement that took him to the leadership of his party in 2015 and 2016 onto a national stage.
Polling, with Labour at its lowest ebb since the dog days of Gordon Brown's government, suggests that it is a tall order.
But if 2016 has taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38408198
|
Paul Clement: Bayern Munich assistant agrees deal to be Swansea City boss - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Bayern Munich assistant boss Paul Clement agrees a two-and-a-half year deal to be Swansea City's next manager.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Football
Bayern Munich assistant Paul Clement has agreed a two-and-a-half year deal to become Swansea City's next manager.
The German side allowed the 44-year-old speak to the Swans, who are bottom of the Premier League.
Clement was interviewed by the club before Bob Bradley was appointed as their manager in October.
He is set to be Swansea's third manager of the season and it is likely he will be at Selhurst Park for their game against Crystal Palace on Tuesday.
Bayern said on Tuesday they had appointed a new assistant to boss Carlo Ancelotti, with chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge saying: "We wanted to give Paul the chance to manage in the Premier League, not stop him. We wish him all the best."
The former Chelsea and Real Madrid assistant manager was in charge of Derby County for eight months before he was sacked by the club in February of 2016.
After Bradley was sacked following a spell of seven defeats in 11 games, Clement emerged as the frontrunner to be Swansea's next manager
Former Manchester United assistant Ryan Giggs, Wales boss Chris Coleman and former Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett were also linked with the job.
The Swans are four points adrift at the bottom of the table and have lost their last four games, including Saturday's 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38490554
|
'Hollywood' sign changed to 'Hollyweed' in new year prank - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
A prankster changes the world-famous Hollywood sign to read "Hollyweed" on New Year's Day.
|
US & Canada
|
The iconic sign was changed overnight on New Year's Eve
Residents of Los Angeles' most famous neighbourhood woke up on New Year's Day to find the world-famous Hollywood sign had been changed to read "Hollyweed".
Local media reported that police were treating the incident as minor trespass and were investigating.
The sign on Mount Lee is made of 45-foot (13.7m) tall letters.
Voters in California approved the legalisation of marijuana in a ballot held at the same time as the presidential election - on 8 November.
The prank has not caused lasting damage to the sign, however, as parts of both "O" letters were covered by tarpaulins to make them look like a lower-case letter "E".
The Los Angeles Times reports that a single person was recorded on security cameras climbing the sign to hang the materials.
A similar prank took place in 1976, to mark a relaxation in the state's marijuana laws.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38484733
|
Acton pub gutted in new year party fire - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Footage shows the interior of a pub engulfed by flames during new year celebrations.
| null |
Footage of a blaze ripping through the interior of a pub during new year celebrations has been captured by a witness.
People had to flee from the Aeronaut in Acton, west London, before it was gutted by a fire that started just 30 minutes into 2017.
London Fire Brigade said it rescued six people from a first-floor flat above the pub.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38486775
|
Man City 2-1 Burnley: Pep Guardiola's awkward post-match interview - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
A tetchy Pep Guardiola engages in an awkward post-match interview with BBC Sport's Damian Johnson after Man City's 2-1 win over Burnley.
| null |
A tetchy Pep Guardiola engages in an awkward post-match interview with BBC Sport's Damian Johnson after Manchester City's 2-1 victory over Burnley at the Etihad Stadium.
Watch highlights on Match of the Day, 22:30 GMT, on BBC One, the BBC Sport app and this website.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38490825
|
Johanna Konta: British number one wins opening match in China - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
British number one Johanna Konta beats Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay 6-2 6-0 in the Shenzhen Open first round.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Tennis
British number one Johanna Konta powered through her first match of the new season, beating Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay 6-2 6-0 in the first round of the Shenzhen Open.
Konta, the world number 10, conceded just nine points on her first serve in her 56-minute triumph.
She will play American Vania King in the second round.
Konta, 25, is the first British woman to start the season in the top 10 of the rankings since Jo Durie in 1983.
"I'm really enjoying my time in Shenzhen," she said.
Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38487368
|
Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe family 'treated like a bargaining chip' - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Political prisoner Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe released from solitary confinement
| null |
An Iranian court will hear an appeal this week over the imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian mother accused of a plot to topple the Iranian government. Her family insist she is innocent.
After spending 10 months in solitary confinement Nazanin has now been moved to a unit for political prisoners. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe tells the Today programme that since she was moved there is "more fight in her" and she has ended her hunger strike.
But he is heavily critical of what he says is the government's lack of action in her case, calling his family a "bargaining chip in international politics".
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38487662
|
Belfast chip shop owner says tablets order reaction 'crazy' - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
The owner of a Belfast takeaway shop that delivered medicine to an ailing customer along with their dinner has said reaction to it has been "absolutely crazy".
|
Northern Ireland
|
The unusual chip shop order has now attracted more than 11,000 likes on Facebook
The owner of a Belfast takeaway shop that delivered medicine to an ailing customer, along with their dinner, has said reaction to it has been "absolutely crazy".
Feeley's Fish and Chip Shop revealed the unusual request on its Facebook page on Friday.
The post has been liked more than 11,000 times and has attracted over 1,000 comments.
Alan Feeley said they had since received further unusual requests.
"We've had a few strange comments since, but we just ignore it and carry on," he told BBC Five Live.
The online order asked the driver to stop and get cold and flu tablets.
"I'll give you the money, only ordering food so I can get the tablets Im dying sick," it added.
Mr Feeley said it came in on a busy Friday night and staff initially laughed, but decided it would be the right thing to get it for the customer.
"They ordered a pizza meal with it, but I think she was a bit under the weather, she wanted the tablets more than the food," he said.
"It actually stated that on the comments."
The shop also said on Facebook that they would send a free meal if the woman let them know when she is better.
She replied: "Yous are real angels will do."
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38489696
|
Lib Dems: Bouncing back from the dead in 2017? - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
The Brexit vote has breathed new life into the UK's most pro-European major party, but can they capitalise on it?
|
UK Politics
|
A by-election win in Richmond Park was welcome news for the Liberal Democrats
In 2015, the Liberal Democrats had a near death experience. But 2016 was the year there were signs of life - will 2017 be their year of resurrection?
The vote to leave the EU has breathed fresh life into the UK's most pro-European major party.
Last year they had a sensational by-election victory in Richmond Park, a modest increase in national polls, and won a clutch of council seats at by-elections.
In 2017 they will be hoping to pick up more council seats and improve their national standing.
As the most full-throated advocates of the 16m people who voted Remain, they have a fresh opening.
But 2016's successes come from a low base. The party was nearly annihilated in 2015. They now have nine MPs and struggle to get airtime.
Leader Tim Farron is secure in his job, following a year in which Labour, the Conservatives and the Greens all held leadership elections. UKIP even managed two.
Prime Minister Theresa May is fairly popular with the public and Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn is unpopular, polls suggest.
But Mr Farron has another problem - almost half of voters have no opinion at all. The road to a Lib Dem recovery will be a long one, if it happens at all.
The Lib Dems will be hoping to capitalise on anti-Brexit feeling
After the referendum, Guardian columnist Rafael Behr spoke of "an unrecognised state - call it Remainia - whose people were divided between the Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems; like a tribe whose homeland has been partitioned by some insouciant Victorian cartographer".
The Lib Dems are hoping to win over some of these 16m lost tribesmen.
Even though most backed Remain, Conservatives MPs are now largely united behind Theresa May's "Brexit means Brexit" stance.
Labour MPs are divided. Though most backed Remain, many represent areas which voted to Leave.
They do not want to be seen as circumventing voters' wishes.
The Lib Dems have a unique approach: they want a second referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal.
At the moment, there is no demonstrable appetite to refight the battles of June and hold another EU vote.
But Mr Farron thinks that could change in 2017.
The prime minister says she will kick-start divorce proceedings by the end of March. We know few details about the deal she wants but should it disappoint, the Lib Dems hope to pounce.
Sarah Olney's stunning by-election win on 1 December in Richmond Park was the best piece of news the Lib Dems had in years. She became the ninth Lib Dem MP, and the only woman.
But this leafy south-west London seat, with more university graduates than anywhere else in Britain, is far from typical.
The national referendum result was narrow but Remain votes piled up in big cities, affluent suburbs and Scotland. The Leave vote was more evenly spread.
Although most MPs backed Remain, a large majority of constituencies voted to Leave.
A Lib Dem win in Richmond Park does not make a national Brexit backlash.
The party also picked up lots of seats at council by-elections in 2016. Further gains are likely in May's local elections. The party did terribly when the same seats were up for grabs four years ago.
Nick Clegg was punished by voters for going into coalition with the Conservatives
When the then Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg joined David Cameron in 2010 to form the country's first coalition government since World War Two, it was a bold move.
But voters brutally punished Mr Clegg for his gamble.
The party had not fallen below 17% of the vote in general elections since its formation in 1988, But it collapsed to 8% in May 2015, losing 49 of its 57 seats.
The number of Lib Dem councillors halved between 2010 and 2015.
Recently they have remained in the high single figures and low teens. One recent poll put them at dizzy heights of 14%.
After some successes in 2016, Liberal Democrats should enjoy their seasonal break.
But there are two reasons they should not get carried away.
First, they were brutally punished for going into coalition government and are now doing better, far from the levers of power.
If they form a government in the future, they may well be punished once more.
Second, the party's liberal internationalist beliefs have taken a pounding over the past two years.
Their core values are more unpopular than at any time in recent history.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38408199
|
TV and radio stars we lost in 2016 - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
A look back at some of the faces and voices from TV and radio we lost in 2016.
|
Entertainment & Arts
|
Magician Paul Daniels died in March aged 77, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. He was at his Berkshire home with wife Debbie McGee when he died. Daniels presented a variety of game shows in the 1980s and 1990s, including Wipeout, Every Second Counts and Odd One Out and took over the primetime Saturday night slot with his own BBC show, which started in 1979.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37975077
|
Istanbul nightclub attack: Gunman 'caught on camera' - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Footage from the Dogan News Agency shows a gunman shooting outside Istanbul's Reina nightclub.
| null |
Footage from the Dogan News Agency shows a gunman shooting outside Istanbul's Reina nightclub.
At least 39 people, including at least 15 foreigners, were killed in an attack inside the club, as revellers marked the new year.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38483230
|
Joel Sartore: The man who takes studio photos of endangered species - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
American wildlife photographer, Joel Sartore, is fighting to save endangered species by making us fall in love with them.
|
Magazine
|
American wildlife photographer Joel Sartore is fighting to save endangered species by making us fall in love with them.
Joel Sartore had been a National Geographic wildlife photographer for 15 years when his wife, Kathy, was diagnosed with breast cancer. With three young children at home, he took a year off work to nurse her through radiation treatment and chemotherapy.
This pause from travelling the world to take photos gave him the chance to slow down and consider the impact of of his work.
"Magazine stories come and go," he says.
"But I had not seen the plight of endangered species getting better so I thought about what I could do to actually make a difference?"
The answer came to him while he was photographing a naked mole-rat at a children's zoo in his home town of Lincoln, Nebraska.
He decided to place the small mammal against the white background of a cutting board which he had found in the zoo's kitchen. The result was a professional studio-style portrait.
"I thought maybe if we do eye-contact, if we photograph animals where there are no distractions, all equal in size on black and white backgrounds, where a mouse is every bit as big and amazing as an elephant, then maybe we could get the public hooked into the plight of endangered species and extinction," he says.
As Sartore's wife recovered, he began to travel to other zoos in his area to take more portraits.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Joel Sartore is an American photographer on a 25 year long wildlife project.
Staff co-operated by helping the photographer create sets, allocating him rooms which he could paint black or white and leaving food inside.
"Usually the animal thinks he's just coming in to get lunch, which he is, but he's also going to get his picture taken," says Sartore.
As the project grew, it caught the attention of editors at National Geographic, who commissioned Sartore to produce a few series of photographs, on amphibians for example, and America's endangered species.
The photographer began travelling the world armed with different-sized tents in which to photograph smaller animals like birds and lizards. For the larger ones, he remained reliant on the safer environment of zoos.
"This animal was the sweetest little guy. He gave us all sorts of different body languages and facial expressions during the shoot. I remember also that he was eating through most of the portrait session as well. So he may look shy, but he was actually very happy at this moment." © Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark
"Most of the animals I photograph are born and raised in captivity and their keepers know the critters' moods very well," he says.
"Once in a while I'll come across an animal that's really feisty and a bit aggressive, but by and large, these shoots go as smooth as butter."
He has now photographed more than 6,000 species in 40 countries. The project has developed into The National Geographic Photo Ark, and its portraits have made it on to National Geographic Magazine covers and have been projected on to buildings - the UN Building and Empire State Building in New York and the Vatican in Rome.
An image of "Toughie" projected onto St Peter's Basilica © Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark
Some of the species captured by the Photo Ark are on the verge of extinction.
This year, Sartore photographed Toughie, the world's last known living Rabbs' fringe-limbed treefrog.
Toughie was captured in Panama in 2005 by conservationists attempting to save as many amphibians as possible from chytrid fungus, a skin disease that can have a 100% mortality rate among frogs.
He was brought back to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Georgia where he mated with captured females, but none of his tadpoles survived and his female companions died. Sartore took Toughie's portrait shortly before he also died, in September this year.
"I try to talk about him every time I give public presentations because instead of getting depressed about him going extinct, I'm going to use his story to hopefully inspire others to care," he says.
Sartore has also photographed one of the last surviving northern white rhinos in a zoo in the Czech Republic.
"We got to her just in time," he says of the animal, who was called Nabire.
"We got a very nice portrait of her and she laid down and went to sleep at the end of the shoot because she slept a lot at the end of her life."
She died about a week later.
With her death, and the death of another northern white rhino in San Diego not long afterwards, there are only three of the species left, all living under armed-guard in Kenya. They are too old to breed, though a conservation project is attempting to create an embryo through IVF which would be implanted in the womb of a similar rhino species.
"It's not just the little things we're allowing to slip into extinction," says Sartore.
"It's the big stuff too, unfortunately."
Sartore hopes his project will eventually document 12,000 species and become a resource for future generations. He also hopes it will prevent other species from meeting the same fate as Toughie and Nola.
"At least 75-80% of the species that I've photographed could be saved from extinction, but people need to know they exist first and they need to fall in love with them and want to learn how they can help them," he says.
While there's an understanding that bigger animals, like polar bears and tigers, are under threat, Sartore says there is not enough awareness of the plight of smaller ones like rodents, toads and bats.
"The goal of Photo Ark is to celebrate all creatures great and small and to let people know that as these other species go away, so could we," he says.
"It's in humanity's interest not to throw away all of creation - to keep things around so we have a healthy planet."
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37991269
|
What next for Paul Nuttall's UKIP? - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
After a tumultuous 2016 and a Brexit victory, what are UKIP's challenges for the year ahead?
|
UK Politics
|
Paul Nuttall, left, is hoping to push Labour hard in UKIP's post-Farage era
Is UKIP the most successful party in the history of British politics? Or an amateurish rabble which has lost its reason to exist? Or maybe a bit of both?
The UK Independence Party was founded in 1993 with one main goal: to take the UK out of the European Union.
Back then, the idea was way outside the political mainstream. But on 23 June the country narrowly voted to leave and Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to implement the people's decision.
So what is the point of UKIP after Brexit?
Leader Paul Nuttall will have three main priorities for the year ahead as it faces a potentially tricky set of local elections, defending many of the council seats won in the 2013 surge:
"Brexit means Brexit," says Mrs May, but as of yet, we don't know many more details.
She says she will trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty before the end of March, starting two years of divorce negotiations. But there are many unresolved questions.
Should the UK continue to pay into the European budget and accept the free movement of people, in exchange for closer economic ties? Or should it pursue what some call a "clean" and others a "hard" Brexit, severing the link more definitively?
UKIP is firmly in the second camp. "The British people voted for Brexit, so we could control our borders, leave the single market, and create our own laws," the party says.
It will be on hair-trigger alert in 2017, ready to campaign against anything it sees as Brexit backsliding from the government.
Despite its remarkable successes in 2016, at times UKIP resembled a circular firing squad.
Nigel Farage, UKIP's longest-serving leader and best known public face, does not get on with the party's only MP Douglas Carswell, or former deputy chair Suzanne Evans.
Diane James last just 18 days as UKIP leader
Diane James resigned as leader in October only 18 days into the job, causing Mr Farage to take over on an interim basis before Mr Nuttall's election.
It is hard to keep track of the various alliances and schisms. Ideological differences exist within UKIP like in all parties. But often the differences seem to be more personal than political.
The party's most ignominious fight - whether it was a literal one or not - of 2016 saw one-time leadership favourite Steven Woolfe in hospital in October following an alleged "altercation" with fellow MEP Mike Hookem at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Mr Woolfe subsequently left the party, saying it was "ungovernable" and in a "death spiral". But an internal report by the party said it could not "verify" whether a fight had taken place, and Mr Hookem denied striking his colleague.
If UKIP is to remain a serious force, Mr Nuttall will have to contain these sorts of tensions.
After comfortably winning his leadership election in November, two days shy of his 40th birthday, he has appointed a team from across the party.
Things seem more stable than at any time since the referendum. For now.
UKIP began as a thorn in the side of the Conservative Party.
But in recent years the party has had Labour voters in its sights, gaining ground in northern England and Wales.
Lots of Labour-supporting areas voted Leave in June, even though the party officially backed Remain.
Also, many of those who did not vote in the 2015 general election did in fact turn out for the EU referendum - and according to NatCen research a lot more of them backed Leave than backed Remain.
Mr Nuttall, who has working-class Northern roots, thinks these voters are closer to UKIP than Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party on policy areas such as immigration, the EU and welfare.
UKIP will be hoping to win some of its support in 2017, causing existential problems for Labour.
A by-election early in the new year in Copeland in Cumbria, which voted Labour in 2015 and Leave in 2016, will give an early sign of whether this approach is working.
After one of the craziest years in British political history, the party will be hoping for a calmer 2017. But with UKIP, you can never quite be sure what lurks around the corner.
• None Paul Nuttall: The new leader of UKIP
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38408815
|
Garth Crooks' team of the week: Kane, Alli, Pogba, Cahill, Milner, Valencia - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Who descended like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? And who is 'in the mood' like Glenn Miller? It's Garth's team of the week.
| null |
The festive football action keeps coming, with no sign of the Chelsea juggernaut slowing down.
The Premier League leaders extended their winning run to 13 matches, but Liverpool and Arsenal remain in pursuit, with Manchester City out of the top four after Tottenham's thumping win at Watford.
At the other end of the table, Swansea and Sunderland were both humbled, while champions Leicester got a much-needed win.
There seems to be a correlation between Kasper Schmeichel being in goal and Leicester City keeping clean sheets.
They haven't kept that many this season and that's probably why the Foxes are mightily relieved to have their number one back between the sticks.
Injuries are an occupational hazard for any footballer, and some might argue you can't enjoy the full experience of top-flight football until you have felt the misery of a long-term injury and the sheer euphoria of the return.
Of course Kasper's father Peter (an infinitely better keeper, by the way) would have schooled him in the arts of football survival. Considering the way Leicester have been defending this season, that may come in very handy.
I was very tempted to select Bournemouth's Simon Francis at right-back, but I was so impressed with Manchester United's comeback that I had to go for Antonio Valencia.
The game against Middlesbrough was going away from United and they needed a few cool heads to see them through. If there is one player they can count on, it's Valencia. The full-back is as safe as houses.
Valencia was one of those players who shut the game down for United once they got their noses in front.
In the final minutes, Valencia had no hesitation launching the ball into the crowd in order to relieve the pressure and kill the game. Sometimes even exceptional defenders can't afford to be too proud to do what needs be done.
What a thumping header by the Chelsea captain.
Victory over Stoke made it 13 consecutive wins for the Blues and there was a touch of inevitability about the outcome of this match. Did anyone really believe Stoke could pull this off?
To be fair, the Potters went to Stamford Bridge and gave the Blues a game and were even the better side in the early exchanges, but there was only one winner.
It's not common for Stoke to concede goals from a corner but the way in which a Chelsea quartet descended upon Cesc Fabregas' beautiful floated corner was like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
I've never before seen a Stoke defence bulldozed down like that on a set-play. It was Cahill who scored the goal but it was Chelsea's heavy mob that contributed to Stoke's total destruction.
It has been some time since Wes Morgan made my team of the week. Last season he was practically ever-present, but Leicester's preoccupation with the Champions League seems to have created a Premier League paralysis.
However, against a stubborn West Ham they managed a rare clean sheet, which was the basis upon which last season's title success.
Claudio Ranieri's celebration at the end of this fixture was telling enough, and without these three points Leicester would have been in big trouble.
Morgan's contribution was central to their clean sheet and it was just as well.
James Milner is making me eat my words. When I saw him in Liverpool's worst performance of the season against Burnley, I accused the England man of being a square peg in a round hole.
A right-footed midfield player playing left-back? He looked awkward and was exposed.
Admittedly his team-mates weren't much help that day, but since then he has grown into the part beautifully.
He has been Liverpool's best player during the past four games and never gave Manchester City's Raheem Sterling a kick on his return to Anfield.
In fact, the battle between Milner and Sterling was the highlight of the game for me. It was like a throwback to the 1970s, when you had players like George Best and Ron Harris going at it for 90 minutes, only without the brutality. I must admit, Jurgen Klopp has certainly got that one right.
It's been a great Christmas period for Paul Pogba. He was inspirational against Sunderland and a match-winner against Middlesbrough.
Please don't think for one minute that his header against Boro that gave United all three points was easy. He didn't panic and steered the ball in the only place Victor Valdes could not retrieve it.
I've seen those last-ditch efforts float wide of the post all too often, but Pogba absolutely nailed it. He's getting there.
The finish with his left foot was brilliant and the one he scored with his right was even better.
Chelsea had just conceded for the second time in this match against Stoke but on each occasion the Blues raised their game. The touch from Diego Costa that set up Willian to score his first goal was sensational, but the Brazilian still had much to do and did it with calculated precision.
However, it was Fabregas who cut Stoke's throats with a glorious through ball for Willian, who smashed it past visiting goalkeeper Lee Grant.
Liverpool boss Klopp and Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola spent the week stroking each other's artichokes prior to their meeting at Anfield, but neither of them can hold a candle to Antonio Conte and what he is doing with Willian and company at the moment.
Winning at Southampton was a very impressive performance by West Brom and in particular Matt Phillips, who is having an excellent season.
He took his goal brilliantly and from that moment there was no coming back for the Saints.
It's been a miserable holiday period for Southampton since their controversial defeat by Tottenham and they never really looked like they had recovered from that mauling in time for the match against the Baggies.
What Tony Pulis has going at The Hawthorns is nothing short of miraculous. The purchase of Phillips has been inspired.
Dele Alli is officially 'in the mood'. Just like the old Glenn Miller classic, the player looks upbeat and gets you on your feet.
From the moment he struck the bar with a cracking drive, I knew he was up for the Tottenham game at Watford.
To be fair, this performance against a poor Hornets side was a continuation of his display against Southampton.
Spurs have been desperate for someone to share the goalscoring responsibilities with Harry Kane, and Alli has duly obliged. We've now got to get him playing for England the way he is playing for Spurs.
Harry Kane is back to his best again and he hasn't been looking like that for a while.
The first signs of a more relaxed, but purposeful, Kane were against Southampton and he would have capped an excellent performance that night had the earth not moved beneath his feet as he was about to take a penalty.
His all-round display against Watford was fantastic, not to mention his two goals. I have had a real dilemma this weekend having seen Diego Costa play one of his best games for Chelsea, Kane playing like he's finally put the European Championship behind him and Andre Gray scoring his first hat-trick.
I couldn't have had three more exciting candidates. Sadly, Costa has hit the cutting-room floor but somebody had to.
It is good to see Andre Gray playing football and scoring goals again.
I was more than a little perturbed by the severity of the punishment imposed by the Football Association for his inappropriate Twitter remarks four years earlier. How sad that the governing body had no room for redemption.
Much has changed since those remarks and an extremely apologetic Gray seems far more mature than he was four years ago but, nevertheless, he took his medicine like a man. He took his goals against Sunderland in a similar fashion too.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38486043
|
India in 2016: Cash crisis, alcohol ban and cheapest phone - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
The BBC's in-house cartoonist Kirtish Bhat picks five news events to give his humorous take on 2016.
|
India
|
In India, 2016 has been a year of political surprises, alcohol ban and heated debates about nationalism, and plenty of other news in between.
The BBC's in-house cartoonist Kirtish Bhat picks five news events to give his humorous take on 2016.
Two news events in February were all about freedom. One firm launched the world's cheapest smartphone, priced at 251 rupees ($3.67; £3), and called it Freedom 251. At the same time, police arrested some students in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University for allegedly raising anti-India slogans, and demanding "freedom" for Kashmir from Indian rule. The students denied the allegations, but they were charged with sedition. Later, they were freed on bail.
India's flamboyant businessman Vijay Mallya made his fortune selling beer under the Kingfisher brand and branched out into aviation, Formula1 racing, and Indian cricket. But he incurred huge debts because of the failure of his airline. Many have criticised banks for their inability in recovering the debt from Mr Mallya, who denies any wrongdoing. He is currently living in the UK, and hasn't returned to India despite repeated summons by the authorities.
When the chief minister of the eastern state of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, promised during his election campaign that he would ban the sale and consumption of alcohol if elected, not many thought he would actually do it. But then he proved everybody wrong!
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, he promised to change the country. But his critics say that he has been concentrating more on foreign policy, and travelling the world.
In one of the biggest surprises of 2016, Mr Modi on 8 November announced the scrapping of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to crack down on corruption and illegal cash holdings known as "black money". The sudden announcement made many people's cash worthless.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-38465632
|
How a dead gorilla became the meme of 2016 - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
After Harambe was shot in a sad incident in Cincinnati, he lived on in a million memes online. Why?
|
BBC Trending
|
His was the face which launched a thousand memes - so why did Harambe the gorilla capture 2016's collective online psyche?
It was a sad story that could have been even sadder. In May, a three-year-old child fell into an enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo. One of the Western lowland gorillas inside started dragging the boy around.
"Mommy's right here! Mommy loves you!" the boy's mother shouted, as bystanders became increasingly panicked.
Finally, fearing that the boy's life was in danger, a zoo worker killed Harambe with a single shot. The boy escaped without serious injury.
The events were captured on a YouTube video which has been watched millions of times.
Harambe's death touched off a heated - if predictable - debate about zoo welfare standards and whether lethal force was necessary.
But what wasn't expected was what came next. Harambe became memeified. His image was spread far and wide throughout the internet. He became the subject of serious and unserious campaigns. And he was even memorialised in song.
Join the conversation on this and other stories here.
It started as a spontaneous and very real outpouring of shock and grief over the killing.
"Had I been there, I would have gone into the enclosure myself," says Frank Paris, one of the people who used the hashtag #RIPHarambe to express his sadness. It quickly began to spread hours after the gorilla's death.
Although he lived a few states away in Los Angeles, Paris, along with many others, was upset at Cincinnati Zoo's decision to kill the animal.
"That day was a very sad day for me," he tells BBC Trending. "I absolutely would have risked my own life to save the boy. That's how sure I am that the boy was fine and that Harambe had no intention of hurting anybody."
Of course, that's just one reaction from someone thousands of miles away, whereas zoo officials say they were right to take action to stop any potential serious injury to the boy.
But Paris was not alone in his grief and anger.
Aside from his canonisation on social media, there were candlelit vigils for Harambe. There were also campaigns targeted the boy's parents. Some online called for them to be prosecuted for negligence. The boy's mother was cleared of any wrongdoing.
"There was definitely a sincere element of outrage over this," says Aja Romano, who writes about web culture for news site Vox.
"It just spiralled out of control and was immediately a giant social trend, because it involved an element of supposed animal cruelty. You could argue that by keeping Harambe in the zoo to begin with, the zoo was fostering this unfair environment where the gorilla didn't really have a chance."
That wave of emotion was in turn hijacked by comedians, pranksters and trolls who mocked those who were making so much of the story.
"People online kind of get off on being mad about things that they don't actually care about," says Brandon Wardell, a stand-up comedian and one of those who poked fun at the Harambe mourners. "You didn't know Harambe, your life wasn't really affected by this."
Wardell coined a jokey phrase that - to put it one way - sarcastically encouraged people to expose themselves in tribute to the dead gorilla.
"I think I was probably drunk when I tweeted it and then it just got out of control," he tells Trending.
It got him branded the "voice of a generation" by Rolling Stone magazine.
Then things took a dark turn when the memes were picked up by the alt-right, an amorphous but internet savvy white nationalist movement.
The gorilla's image was used in racist messages.
"I feel like it was driven to the ground so quickly," Wardell recalls. "It stopped being funny to me two days after.
"I didn't love that there were Nazis that were all of a sudden into a meme that I created."
But the Harambe phenomenon was also too large to be totally owned by one fringe group. The Cincinnati zoo declared itself unimpressed with all the riffs on its dead animal - but that certainly didn't put an end to the jokes. Memes comparing Harambe to David Bowie, Prince and Muhammad Ali have since gone viral. He's been the subject of fake news stories, books, comics - and a parody of the Book of Genesis.
Hear more on this story and others on the BBC World Service.
"If you were really tired of seeing media hysteria dominate news cycles and dominate conversations, the sheer absurdity of Harambe as a social issue was a really easy thing to mock," says Romano, the Vox writer.
"I think it spoke to a level of outrage fatigue. If you're seeing people freaking out about a dead gorilla, over say thousands of people dying in the Syrian refugee crisis, then what do you do with that anger?
"The only way to sort of express your anger was to just turn this sort of worship of Harambe and turn this deep cultural grief over Harambe's death into a meme."
Indeed, not just any meme, but the meme of 2016.
You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-38383126
|
Richard Cockerill: Leicester Tigers sack director of rugby - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Leicester Tigers sack director of rugby Richard Cockerill after nearly eight years in charge.
| null |
Leicester Tigers have sacked director of rugby Richard Cockerill after nearly eight years in charge.
The 46-year-old has been on the Premiership club's coaching staff since 2004, took over as head coach in 2009 and became director of rugby in 2010.
"It is with great sadness and regret that I leave my position. I still believe that I am the right person to lead the team," Cockerill said.
Head coach Aaron Mauger will take over on an interim basis.
Leicester won three Premiership titles under Cockerill and were twice runners-up Leicester were runners-up in the European Cup in Cockerill's first season in charge and won the LV Cup in 2011-12
Tigers are fifth in the Premiership, 15 points adrift of leaders Wasps having lost five of their 12 league games so far this season. They were beaten 16-12 by Saracens on New Year's Day.
Cockerill, who has spent 23 of the last 25 years of his career with Tigers, said he "respected the board's decision" to make a change they see as being "in the best interests of the club".
He added: "This club has made me the person and the coach I am today and I will never forget what they have done for me. I will miss being part of the Tigers family."
Last month, following the 18-16 Champions Cup win over Munster, Cockerill said reports claiming he faced the sack and that described the coaching structure at Leicester Tigers as toxic were "rubbish".
• None Listen: 'Lancaster would be a very good choice for Leicester'
Former England and Tigers hooker Cockerill spent 10 years with the club as a player from 1992 before returning to Welford Road as an academy coach.
After two spells in interim charge he was appointed full-time head coach in April 2009, with Tigers winning the Premiership title and reaching the European Cup final in his first season in the role.
Leicester have never failed to reach the Premiership semi-finals under Cockerill and as well as winning the final in 2008-09, they were also victorious in 2009-10 and 2012-13.
Tigers chairman Peter Tom CBE said: "We thank Richard for his loyal and dedicated service as a player, coach and director of rugby. He has a great passion for the club and for the game of rugby, and has shared in many massive occasions with the Tigers.
"The club always has aspirations to contest the major honours in the game and that remains unchanged but the board believes this is the right time to make a change."
As a player, hooker Cockerill made 262 appearances for Tigers, winning five league titles, two domestic cups, two Heineken Cups and he also played 27 times for England.
I am not surprised. Tigers cannot stand the fact they are in fifth position and quite a bit away from the top four; they want to be top two and won't get there this season.
They haven't been there for the last three or four seasons and that is one of the reasons that Tigers have reluctantly had to say goodbye to Richard.
His record is second to none. He is man and boy with the Tigers and if you cut him in half he would be Tigers colours through and through.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38489596
|
In pictures: Secrets of French diplomacy - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
War gets plenty of artistic representation - but what about the art of peace? An exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris explores the imagery of peace-making over the centuries. For history-lovers, it is a rare chance to see the originals of scores of treaties, concordats and other diplomatic treasures preserved in the French national archives. Hugh Schofield takes a closer look.
|
Europe
|
Officially this document is a memorandum of understanding between France and the UK over fishing rights in Newfoundland, some islands off Guinea, and zones of influence in Madagascar and Egypt. In fact, it is the physical embodiment of the entente cordiale - the friendly compact agreed in 1904 between the two countries that lasted through two world wars and down to this day. The silver case contains the seal of King Edward VII.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38320567
|
Mariah Carey: Row over New Year's Eve performance - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
This video has been removed for rights reasons.
| null |
This video has been removed for rights reasons.
Watch an excerpt from Mariah Carey's New Year's Eve performance, which went wrong with the singer complaining of sound difficulties.
Her representative has since told Billboard the producers "set her up to fail", which Dick Clark Productions has furiously denied.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38487939
|
Reflections on Africa - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
The BBC's Southern Africa correspondent looks back on nearly 12 years of reporting from the continent.
|
Africa
|
As she moves on from her posting, the BBC's Southern Africa correspondent Karen Allen looks back on nearly 12 years of reporting from the continent.
Africa is not a country. It is a continent that feels like it has come of age. Despite the very real problems of poverty, corruption and the sense you sometimes get in some quarters, that no-one is held to account, business types hail Africa as the "final frontier". After nearly 12 years reporting this region, for me it feels like a place where one grows up.
I have met priests and politicians, warlords and entrepreneurs, gangsters and teachers. Ordinary mums and dads. Each of them has helped to shape my impressions and many have become firm friends.
One of the first lessons I learnt in Kenya was survival. There is no safety net here when times get tough.
In the early days on a visit to the slum known as Kibera, an elderly lady called me over as she stirred her supper in a thick, black, cast-iron pot. "Hey sister, where are you from?" she asked. "London," I replied. "Yes, but where in London?" I was rather puzzled as she pressed me further. "I know London," she nodded, sagely. "In fact, I know Paris and Berlin, too."
It emerged that this friendly stranger had once been a glamorous stewardess for an international airline. She had drunk the best champagne and visited the fanciest European hotels but when times got hard in the 1980s and the airline folded, she lost her job.
She was now selling samosas in the slum to survive. From that day onwards I learnt never to make any assumptions about Africa: a jet-setter one day, a slum dweller the next. It is the drumbeat of so many who take the knocks, but reclaim their dignity and survive.
Yet, in absolute terms, people are getting poorer in Africa because the population continues to grow. During my time on this continent I witnessed a colleague of mine - away from the BBC - lose two of his three young children. That is never OK.
When I arrived in Africa more than a decade ago, Boko Haram in Nigeria did not exist, Somalia's al-Shabab insurgency group had yet to be formed - not to mention so-called Islamic State - and Sudan was one vast, sprawling country emerging from more than two decades of civil war.
I arrived to a continent of 53 states. I now leave behind 54. South Sudan's independence in 2011 marked the newest addition to the globe. The birth pains are still being felt.
When I arrived, George W Bush was beginning his second term as US president, oil and gas had yet to be discovered in many parts of Africa and mobile phones were just beginning to open up a world of possibilities from e-commerce to telemedicine.
Mobile phones have transformed the lives of millions of Africans
Now, two US presidents later (give or take a week or two), China has become the second-biggest investor in Africa, with India hard on its heels. The brain-drain is beginning to slow down as African talent is being retained, especially in the technology sector.
And there is more money flowing back into Africa from remittances, than the entire aid budget for the continent.
With this growing economic confidence, powered by a rising middle class, has come a new political assertiveness. And, with growing insecurity, the West knows it needs Africa more than ever before.
You see it in the UN Security Council. South Africa has held its ground on issues such as Libya during the fall of Gaddafi. The African Union is pushing for permanent seats and a greater say in world affairs as the continent now contributes more troops to peacekeeping operations than anywhere else on earth.
You see this assertiveness in matters of international justice. Countries like South Africa and Burundi have turned their backs on the International Criminal Court.
And you see this push back on matters of wider society and the tussle between the old way of doing things and what some see as imported Western ideas.
Gay rights remain a controversial subject in many parts of the continent
A rapidly growing young urban class, more connected with the world through mobile phones, is making new demands, touching on everything from gender equality to gay rights.
A young female couple I met in Kenya back in 2006 had been forced out of their business as florists because word had got out that they happened to be gay.
In Uganda, activists like David Kato would be murdered a few years later, for the simple fact that he was gay. Yet slowly, very slowly, there has been a perceptible shift. Constitutions are being shaken up.
But there is still a tangible sense of mistrust between many African nations. Principles of sovereignty and non-interference, just like in many other parts of the world, are jealously guarded.
And the settling of old scores between neighbouring continues to be played out in places such as Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and its newer neighbour South Sudan.
In many places, the slow roll-out of infrastructure is blamed for underscoring this continued sense of separation and investors say corruption continues to frighten off potential investors.
Karen Allen reporting from an internally displaced persons' camp in Chad
Yet 2016 saw the creation of the first continent-wide trading bloc. At the moment only 10% of the continent's trade is conducted between African nations. But the potential is huge - 620 million consumers.
The political landscape is also being redrawn. Regrettably, I have been banned from working inside Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe's leadership persists. And, as I write, the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and The Gambia are resisting pressure to stand down.
But transfers of power are happening more peacefully. We have seen it, for instance, in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal, and maybe also in Angola, where President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos has ruled supreme for the past 37 years but has indicated that he will not stand again for re-election.
I never really understood that institutions mattered until I moved to South Africa but, oh, how they do. The country's history may set it apart from other African states but South Africa's constitutional court, its free press and parliament have all challenged the legitimacy of President Jacob Zuma.
And no-one has been killed for speaking out. It is a template other nations are keen to follow and I predict that, for many, it will soon come.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-38393661
|
Where are the black dolls in High Street stores? - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
An internet search for black dolls will bring up millions of results in less than a second - but parents have discovered the toys to be increasingly hard to find on the shelves of High Street stores. Why is this?
|
Nottingham
|
While black dolls can be bought online, they are absent from the shelves of many British toy stores
An internet search for black dolls will bring up about 20 million results in less than a second - but parents have discovered the toys to be increasingly hard to find on the shelves of High Street stores. Why is this?
Three-year-old Sofia-Lily is the only mixed-race girl in her playgroup. She often points out this difference to her mother Abbey Potter, who has been trying to reassure her child, partly through dolls that look like her.
"They make her feel like it's OK to look the way she does," said Mrs Potter, who is from Nottingham.
But sourcing these toys is not straightforward.
"I have found a lot of trouble finding dolls of any other ethnicity than white," she said. "I got a Cabbage Patch doll from eBay - it took me so long to find one and I think it was from America.
"My parents go to a lot of different countries like Mexico and Jamaica and they get Sofia-Lily dolls from these places.
"On her first holiday, we went to Spain and I found these dolls that were hard-bodied and smelt like cocoa butter. The next year, we found dolls with curly and different types of hair.
"I would say to big toy manufacturers that they need to evolve and they need to produce more dolls of different varieties: race, disability, size. If they don't, it could affect our children, because they grow up having been affected by all sorts of things."
A dark-skinned doll, carried by Johnathan Thurston's daughter Frankie at last year's Australian Rugby League final, was seen as a moment of inclusion and diversity
Despite the revolution of internet shopping, some families' finances do not stretch as far as a bespoke broadband package - and on the High Street, they can find their retail options are significantly reduced.
Abbey Rose, 32, who has 11-year-old and four-year-old girls and a three-year-old boy, said a lack of black dolls could stunt a child's emotional development, leading them to be "less affectionate".
"My four-year-old daughter said she wanted a baby doll for Christmas," said the black mother-of-three from Nottingham.
"I said: 'Do you want a white or black one?' She said a white one because 'they were prettier'."
Abbey Potter, pictured with daughter Sofia-Lily, has called on toy manufacturers to "evolve" and produce more black dolls
But why are black dolls and toys absent from the shelves of many stores in the UK? Is the demand just not there?
Census data for 2011 from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed a population in England and Wales of 56,075,912. About 14% of these people are from non-white backgrounds - so is that enough of a market for toy companies to make big bucks?
Given that estimated 14% equates to nearly eight million people, the answer would seemingly be yes. Additionally, this somewhat unscientific calculation is assuming white parents solely buy white dolls for their children.
While most people in England and Wales are from white backgrounds, parents believe there is more than enough demand for a greater number of black toys to feature on the shelves of high street stores
But it would appear that a lack of demand is the underlying narrative from toy firms in the UK.
An email sent in October 2015 by an executive at Zapf Creation - the firm behind the famous Baby Born and Baby Annabell dolls - said the sales of an ethnic version of its Baby Annabell went "step-by-step down" from 1998 to 2013.
The executive said at the end of 2013 it was decided that production of this doll would stop as of 2014.
"As a public limited company, we are forced to make decisions like that if business figures do not justify to keep a product in the range," the executive said.
A Zapf Creation spokeswoman told the BBC: "Whilst the black version of the Baby Annabell doll was discontinued due to lack of demand, the black version of the Baby Born Interactive doll is still in production and available to all UK toy retailers. However, some retailers take the decision not to stock all versions of the dolls and accessories due to shelf space constraints."
Lecturer Sheine Peart said white dolls and ethnic dolls should be "side by side" on the shelves
Speaking at the annual Toy Fair in London, Peter Ireland, from Bigjigs Toys Ltd, said the importance of black dolls was clear, but added a firm's ability to sell them might depend on the company's size.
"There's no reason why we shouldn't stock black dolls... we have far more white dolls in our range as the sales on these are greater than those of black dolls, but if we don't stock any then people are never going to get black dolls," he said.
"If you're [a business that is] all over the world, then you've got a bigger market, but if you're just in the UK, your market's a bit limited."
Numerous toy companies were contacted several times by the BBC. The Entertainer declined to comment, while Disney, Smyths Toys and Toys R Us failed to respond.
An organisation that represents toy manufacturers, the British Toy & Hobby Association, said in a brief statement: "Toy makers offer a diverse range of dolls, including different ethnicities."
Last year, Mattel introduced its new generation Barbies, a moment hailed by black rapper, actor and producer Queen Latifah as "the industry catching up with what the public wants".
But a walk around four major toy store departments in ethnically-diverse Nottingham - John Lewis, Toys R Us, The Entertainer and Disney - garnered a total of three types of black doll on sale.
BBC News came up short in its quest to find black toys and dolls in Nottingham's John Lewis store
A black doll by Barbie manufacturer Mattel was found inside Toys R Us
In the same store, a dark-skinned DC Super Hero Girl was found - but the vast majority of the toys were white
No black toys were found in The Entertainer store in Nottingham
One type of black doll - based on Princess Tiana in The Princess and the Frog - was on sale at the Disney store in Nottingham
BBC journalist Khia Lewis-Todd, who has made a film on this subject, said the toys currently on offer "do not support" her daughter's culture.
"Carrying out the doll test at a school and youth group in Nottingham and going to the Toy Fair opened my eyes in terms of how some children portrayed toys of ethnicity, and how some suppliers approach them," she said.
"Some suppliers believe they are important, but if something doesn't sell as well, why should they continue to make it? Some critics have argued this is putting profit over the importance of what children need to see."
Accurately representing physical features is just as important as offering dolls of different skin colours, according to the Race Equality Foundation's Jane Lane
Jane Lane, from the Race Equality Foundation, believes the issues are not solely to do with colour.
"The key issues, I think, are not only a range of skin colour differences but accurate depictions of physical features," she said. "Mouth, lip shapes, nose and eye shapes and hair texture.
"The main point about black dolls is they are, for a child, white or black, a true three-dimensional representation of real people - unlike book pictures and jigsaws.
"They need to be accurate because our society is... racist and dolls need to counter this by being positive and not stereotypical of some mythical concept."
Toy manufacturers should work closely with local communities to properly assess demand, says lecturer Sheine Peart
Sheine Peart, a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, said a lack of black dolls "marginalises" black children.
"If I want to have black figures, Lego figures provide that, as do Playmobil, and I can buy a black Barbie and a black male doll called Steve - who's the equivalent of Ken," she said.
"I can buy them, but I have to hunt them out if I want to buy them as a parent. I've never seen this black Steve anywhere but I've seen Kens in the shops - it should almost be side by side.
"If there's a black child, and they see no black toys, it almost creates a colonial environment and that effectively says, 'there's no place for me'.
"It positions the black child as an outsider and not integral to society. It marginalises them. Psychologically, that probably will have some impact."
Ms Peart has called on schools across the country to help kick-start a change.
"The dolls need to be marketed more, displayed more and advertised more, and supermarkets can't put them on the shelves unless the manufacturers are producing them," she said.
"I'd like to see schools ensure they have a stock that is available and a stock that is replenished.
"I would also like to see manufacturers work with youth groups, schools and other members of community groups so they can find out [the need]. Making things happen is not just a case of money and availability, it's also a case of will."
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-38065205
|
Turkey nightclub attack: 'I played dead' - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Francois al-Asmar says he played dead to survive the attack on an Istanbul nightclub that left 39 people dead.
| null |
So-called Islamic State says it was behind the new year attack on a Turkish nightclub that killed 39 people.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38488572
|
PDC World Darts Championship: Michael van Gerwen to meet Gary Anderson - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Michael van Gerwen posts the highest average in PDC World Darts Championship history to book a final meeting with defending champion Gary Anderson.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Darts
Michael van Gerwen posted the highest average in PDC World Darts Championship history to defeat Raymond van Barneveld and book a meeting in Monday's final with defending champion Gary Anderson.
Van Gerwen, the world number one, averaged 114.05 to beat Phil Taylor's previous best of 111.21.
Fellow Dutchman Van Barneveld himself posted 109.34, but still lost 6-2.
World number two Anderson, winner in 2015 and 2016, came past fellow Scotsman Peter Wright 6-3.
He will attempt to become only the third man, after Taylor and Eric Bristow, to win three successive world titles in either the PDC or BDO tournaments.
To do that he will have to overcome Van Gerwen, who was imperious in first withstanding Van Barneveld's brilliance, then mercilessly pulling away.
Van Barneveld, a five-time world champion, produced five checkouts in excess of 100 to be level at 2-2, but was broken in the first leg of the fifth set and Van Gerwen did not look back.
Legs were rarely won in any more than 13 darts, with the 2014 champion agonisingly close to a perfect nine-dart leg, missing double 12 in the first leg of the eighth and final set.
"It was a phenomenal game, and Raymond pushed me to play that well," said Van Gerwen.
His performance will serve as a warning to Anderson for Monday's final, with the second seed missing doubles to allow Wright back into their semi-final clash.
Wright, the world number three, missed 10 straight darts at doubles as Anderson took a 2-0 lead, but the defending champion wasted three to win the fifth set and two to win the sixth to find himself pegged back at 3-3.
However, a 157 checkout gave Anderson the seventh set and, as Wright began to struggle, Anderson comfortably reached his fourth final in seven years.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/darts/38486633
|
Turkey nightclub attack: 'I thought I would die' - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
A woman who was in the bathroom during the Turkish nightclub attack says she feared she would die.
| null |
One of the survivors of the Istanbul nightclub attack says she feared she would "die in the bathroom".
Tuvana Tugsavul spoke to the BBC's Mark Lowen about the attack which killed 39 people.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38492668
|
Watford 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Tottenham outclass Watford at Vicarage Road as two goals apiece for Harry Kane and Dele Alli take them into the top four.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Football
Harry Kane and Dele Alli scored two goals apiece as Tottenham thrashed lacklustre Watford to move into the Premier League's top four for the first time since October.
Spurs dominated from the off at Vicarage Road - having 13 shots in the first half alone - and seconds after Alli struck the bar, Kane coolly finished a well-weighted Kieran Trippier pass.
The same duo combined for the second, Kane stealing between two static defenders to prod home Trippier's fine cross from six yards.
It was the England striker's 59th goal in his first 100 Premier League appearances, matching Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.
Alli made it 3-0 by passing low into the net after Younes Kaboul skewed the ball into his path, then arrived unmarked to finish Kane's cross for his fifth goal in three matches.
Watford, who did not have a shot on target until Kaboul bundled home a late consolation, drop to 13th having won just once in seven matches.
Spurs' fourth successive win briefly took them third, before Arsenal moved back ahead of them with victory over Crystal Palace.
Having won at Southampton by the same scoreline on Wednesday, Tottenham have scored four goals in consecutive away games for the first time since October 1960 - the season they did the Double.
Their 10-point deficit on leaders Chelsea, whom they host on Wednesday, will temper any title talk, but there can be no doubt Spurs are in menacing mood.
Trippier, in for the suspended Kyle Walker, impressed on just his third league appearance of the season and underlined the strength in depth at White Hart Lane.
The former Burnley player was a constant outlet - having more than 100 touches - and his early assists allowed Kane to show the ruthlessness of his finishing.
Had Son Heung-Min been more clinical with any of his five shots, the damage could have been worse.
But boss Mauricio Pochettino will be thrilled with a 100% record over a busy festive period in which his side secured their first league away wins since September.
It is easy to praise Tottenham, but Watford's early defensive offering was non-existent.
Manager Walter Mazzarri has stressed he will use the transfer window to find cover for as many as eight first-teamers out injured.
But his side can have no excuse for their dire defensive work against Spurs - the third time this season they have been three goals down at half-time.
With 34 goals conceded, 14 more than at this stage last season, holes at the back need plugging urgently, but there are also problems at the other end of the pitch.
Odion Ighalo, drafted in after Camilo Zuniga limped out of the warm-up, was peripheral, with just 23 touches, only two more than 68th-minute Spurs substitute Ben Davies. He and Troy Deeney have contributed 10 goals between them this season, 14 fewer than at the same stage in 2015-16.
The Hornets next face Stoke and Middlesbrough. Their fans could be looking over their shoulders at the bottom three by mid-January, unless they can find some form.
• None No player has been involved in more Premier League goals on New Year's Day than Harry Kane's six ( four goals and two assists) - level with Andrew Cole and Steven Gerrard (both five goals and one assist)
• None Spurs were three goals up at half-time for the first time in a Premier League away game since March 1997 v Sunderland
• None This was the first time the Hornets had let in four goals in a Premier League game at Vicarage Road
• None Watford have never beaten Tottenham in a Premier League match, drawing twice and losing five
'One of the best this season' - manager quotes
Watford manager Walter Mazzarri: "Zuniga was the 10th player to get injured, five or six are starting 11, we had four under-23s in the 18 players that we brought today. Unfortunately this is the situation."
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino: "We played very good, to a very high standard. The first half was one of the best we've played this season. I'm very happy because it was a difficult game, and the team responded."
Tottenham will try to end Chelsea's 13-game winning streak when they host Antonio Conte's side in a 20:00 GMT kick-off on Wednesday. Watford have a day less to recover as they travel to Stoke for a 20:00 GMT kick-off on Tuesday.
• None Attempt blocked. Abdoulaye Doucouré (Watford) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jerome Sinclair.
• None Goal! Watford 1, Tottenham Hotspur 4. Younes Kaboul (Watford) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box to the bottom left corner following a set piece situation.
• None Attempt saved. Younes Kaboul (Watford) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom right corner.
• None Offside, Tottenham Hotspur. Eric Dier tries a through ball, but Vincent Janssen is caught offside.
• None Attempt missed. Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur) left footed shot from outside the box is too high following a set piece situation.
• None Craig Cathcart (Watford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt missed. Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38429666
|
What to look out for in Africa during 2017 - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
In our series of letters from African journalists, Joseph Warungu identifies key people, places and events to watch out for in Africa in 2017.
|
Africa
|
After the New Year festivities, what will 2017 hold for countries across Africa?
In our series of letters from African journalists, media and communications trainer Joseph Warungu gives a personal guide to some of the key people, places and events to watch out for in Africa in 2017.
Africa will go through six human actions this year - it will stand, kneel, squat, bow, fall and then rise again.
In the group of those who will be standing in Africa in 2017 is Donald Trump.
Yes, I know it's an act of treason to associate him with Africa.
But when he's sworn in as president, his foreign policy (or tweetplomacy) will have a bearing on our continent.
His critics warn that his isolationist stand might mean less attention will be paid to Africa.
But it could just force Africans to find solutions from within, by strengthening our institutions, improving infrastructure, governance and security and trading more amongst ourselves.
Another man who also takes office in January is Nana Akufo-Addo, the president-elect of Ghana.
Ghana's Nana Akufo-Addo (pictured in background in pink, and on T-shirt) takes over in 2017
He's tried to enter Flagstaff House (the presidential residency) through the ballot box as the New Patriotic Party candidate since 2008.
Now that he has the keys, Ghanaians will wait to see how he delivers his pledge of one district, one factory, lest he becomes one man, one term.
And then there's the state of emergency in Ethiopia, which still stands.
It was put in place last October following violent protests.
The government says the security situation has improved save for some clashes in the northern part of Amhara region.
Some 9,000 people detained under the state of emergency have been released and the government says it could lift the emergency before its six-month period is over.
There are two prominent men who will be kneeling before voters to ask for a job.
Paul Kagame has been president for the last 16 years, but Rwandans appear to want more of him and have voted to remove the term-limit barrier.
In August, Mr Kagame will therefore use his constitutional right to ask for a new employment contract.
Rwanda's Paul Kagame (L) and Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta are both seeking re-election in 2017
In the same month, his Kenyan neighbour Uhuru Kenyatta will also be reapplying for his job.
Last September, while warning the main opposition leader Raila Odinga to mind his own party and leave the ruling Jubilee party alone, President Kenyatta famously said: "… as you continue to search for a seat and salivate, we are feasting on the meat".
It will be clear in August whether Kenyans will give Jubilee more time to feast or turn the party itself into mince meat.
"The Nigerian economy... enters 2017 in the squat position"
The African Union has been searching for a new Chief Executive Officer and will fill the position in January.
Three men and two women from Botswana, Kenya, Chad, Senegal and Equatorial Guinea will fight it out to replace the outgoing South African Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, as Chair of the AU Commission.
Now to some situations and people who can't decide whether to stand or sit.
The Nigerian economy has caught its nastiest stomach bug in more than two decades.
And so it enters 2017 in the squat position.
A combination of factors including a crash in the global price of oil, which Nigeria relies a lot on, and a fall in the naira, the country's currency, contributed to the sizeable contraction of the economy in 2016.
The anger and frustration among the people was aptly captured by this online comment from one Nigerian in November: "We are now going into depression and deep S***! Buhari has himself to blame for unfortunately being a gentleman!"
Nigeria's economy has a lot of ground to make up
Over in The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh is no gentleman - he's chosen to squat at State House.
He lost the presidential election to Adama Barrow and publicly conceded defeat.
A little later, the thought of leaving the seat he has called his own for the last 22 years overpowered him and he changed his mind.
Africa and the world have asked him to go home, but he is defiant.
As his last day in office approaches on 19 of January, the same force he used to gain power in 1994 could be used to relieve him of his office.
There are three notable people who will be bowing out of office in 2017.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first elected female head of state in Africa, is coming to the end of her second and final term of office in Liberia.
One of those waiting on the touchline to join the succession race is football star George Weah.
The former AC Milan and Chelsea striker failed to score in the 2005 presidential tournament but hopes 2017 will be his year.
Angolans will have a chance to replace the only man they've known as president for nearly 40 years.
Many young Congolese are hoping President Kabila will go without a fight
Although Jose Eduardo dos Santos has announced he'll step down, his blood will still flow through the veins of power and the economy in Angola.
His daughter, Isabel, heads Sonangol, the state oil company and is considered by Forbes to be Africa's richest woman, while his son, Jose, is chairman of the country's sovereign wealth fund, Fundo Soberano de Angola.
In neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, 2017 could mark the beginning of the end for another family dynasty, which started in 1997 when Laurent Desire Kabila became president after overthrowing Mobutu Sese Seko.
Laurent Kabila's son Joseph picked up the reigns after his father's assassination in 2001, and was bent on staying in power until attempts to change the constitution to allow him a third term backfired.
Violent street protests have piled pressure on President Kabila to exit from office this year and the issue is bound to continue into the new year.
The theme of falling is alive in South Africa.
The #FeesMustFall campaign by university students sought to fight the rising cost of higher education and saw violent clashes between police and protesters, disruptions in the university calendar and the arrest of a number of students.
2017 promises more of the same because not only have the fees not fallen, some top universities have announced an 8% increase.
And then there's the question of the country's President Jacob Zuma.
Hemlines are just one of the many things that could fall in 2017
In December 2017, his tenure as leader of the governing ANC party runs out, but his term as the country's president only ends in 2019.
Allowing Mr Zuma to continue as head of state but with the ANC under someone else's leadership could create two centres of power, which could be political suicide.
So will the ANC #LetZumaFall as it did President Thabo Mbeki under similar circumstances?
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is another that could face the threat of falling in Africa if more African countries continue to withdraw from the Rome Statute.
A number of countries have notified the UN Secretary-General of their intention to withdraw, saying the ICC unfairly targets African leaders in its application of international justice.
And now to international trends where fashion, like history, has a habit of repeating itself.
A quick glance at catwalk signs for 2017 shows that the hems of women's skirts will be falling - to just below the knee.
Apparently midi-skirts elongate the figure and flatter the wearer, so this must be a good fall.
The Africa Cup of Nations tournament kicks off in mid-January in Gabon and Uganda carries the hopes of East Africa.
The region has a terrible record in continental football.
Uganda's last appearance in the finals was in 1978 when it lost to Ghana in the final.
Uganda are hoping to become the first East African winners of Afcon for 55 years
Kenya and Tanzania have never progressed beyond the group stage, so if Uganda can rise, East Africa can stand tall.
In politics, despite all manner of socio-economic challenges, the spirit of the Africans is on the rise - they've already just about removed one long-serving president from power (The Gambia, even if he is still resisting ) and in 2017 a couple more might follow (DR Congo, Angola)
When Africa stumbles, it must rise because as they say in Nigeria, the sun shines on those who stand before it shines on those who are sitting.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-38458406
|
Manu Tuilagi out of England training camp after injury in Leicester defeat - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Manu Tuilagi is withdrawn from England's two-day training camp after suffering a knee injury playing for Leicester Tigers.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Manu Tuilagi has withdrawn from England's two-day training camp after suffering a knee injury playing for Leicester Tigers.
The 25-year-old centre was forced off inside the opening eight minutes of Sunday's 16-12 defeat by Saracens.
Tigers expect to find out the full extent of the injury by Tuesday.
Bath wing Semesa Rokoduguni will replace Tuilagi when the 33-man squad meets in Brighton on Monday, with the start of the Six Nations a month away.
"It looks like a knock and a bit of swelling, but it is too early to say," Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill told BBC Radio 5 live.
Tuilagi, who has won 26 caps for England, has been beset by injuries in the last couple of years and only recently returned to action after two months out with a groin problem.
England head coach Eddie Jones was in the crowd at Welford Road on New Year's Day to see Tuilagi replaced after he damaged his knee while being tackled by three Sarries players.
"He's [Tuilagi] a bit cheesed off as you can imagine," Cockerill added. "He has hurt the outside of his right knee.
"His groin is good, his knee is a bit sore. We will assess it over the next 48 hours and we will deal with whatever comes."
Meanwhile, Saracens boss Mark McCall says England lock George Kruis will return to action "in plenty of time for the Six Nations" ahead of the first game against France on 4 February.
The 26-year-old sustained a fractured cheekbone in Sarries win over Newcastle on Christmas Eve but McCall told BBC Radio 5 live the injury was "not too serious".
England duo Chris Robshaw (arm) and Jack Clifford (concussion) were also injured and replaced before the second half of Harlequins' defeat at Worcester.
"Chris should have come off when he had the bang but bravery kept him out there as we were in a mess. Our medics will report to England, they are due down there at noon tomorrow, so he'll probably go regardless," said Quins director of rugby John Kingston.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38485970
|
Arsene Wenger: Olivier Giroud scorpion goal one of Arsenal manager's top five - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Olivier Giroud's 'scorpion' goal in Arsenal's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace is one of "the top five" strikes of Arsene Wenger's 21-year reign.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Football
Olivier Giroud's 'scorpion' goal in Arsenal's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace is one of "the top five" strikes of manager Arsene Wenger's 21-year reign.
Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp goals are among Wenger's favourites but he said "this will be the Giroud goal".
He added: "Technically it's not impossible but you must have that reflex. The cross didn't come ideally and Olivier did something special."
French forward Giroud said his strike owed much to "maximum luck".
A swift counter-attack ended with Giroud flicking an Alexis Sanchez cross from behind him over his shoulder and into the goal, via the crossbar, with his left heel.
The goal broke the deadlock as Arsenal moved into the top three with a comfortable home win.
Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp showed excellent touch to pluck a lofted ball from the air with his left foot, take it round a dumbfounded Matt Elliott with his right, then kept his composure to place the ball high past Kasey Keller.
Perhaps Bergkamp's most famous of his 120 Arsenal goals came against Newcastle, when he flicked the ball around his marker Nikos Dabizas with the instep of his left foot, before slotting past goalkeeper Shay Given with his right.
Henry made a reputation for scoring spectacular goals during his time at Arsenal, but his winner against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in 2006 is the first of Wenger's favourites.
The France striker picked the ball up with back-to-goal on the halfway line, turned, accelerated away from three defenders, beat another, then slotted home with him weaker left foot.
Two years earlier, Henry had set the template for his wonder-goal in Madrid.
Receiving the ball close to the halfway line with Liverpool's defence assembled in front of him, the Frenchman danced past defenders before opening up his body and stroking the ball past Reds keeper Jerzy Dudek.
Giroud was quick to put the goal down to luck after the game.
"It's not difficult to say that's the best one," he said.
"I needed God's help to score that goal. It was a bit lucky but it was the only thing I could do.
"The ball was behind me and I tried to hit it with the backheel. I tried to deflect it. In that position you can't do anything else."
Arsenal right-back Bellerin: I couldn't believe it. It's a great goal. I've seen him do stuff like that in training and we know what he's capable of.
Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey: There seem to be a lot of wonder goals recently. I haven't seen it again but it was a fantastic strike for him.
Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce: It was an outstanding, brilliant finish.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38486130
|
Istanbul attack: Footage shows lone 'gunman' in nightclub - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Unverified video footage on Turkish media apparently shows a gunman in a nightclub in Istanbul.
| null |
Police in Istanbul are hunting for a gunman who opened fire at a night club, killing at least 39 people.
The attack happened at Reina nightclub early on Sunday, as hundreds of revellers marked the new year.
Unverified video footage on Turkish media apparently shows the killer in the club.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38483233
|
Sheringham New Year's Day dip revived after a decade - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Swimmers make a splash about the start of 2017 by reviving a seaside dip for the first time in a decade to raise money for the RNLI.
| null |
Swimmers made a splash about the start of 2017 by reviving a Norfolk seaside dip for the first time in a decade to raise money for the RNLI.
In biting cold winds, about 50 people took the New Year's Day North Sea plunge off the coast at Sheringham with many in fancy dress and some ticking the activity "off the bucket list".
Dippers ran into the sea at 11:00, with some even going in twice.
The event raised nearly £300 for RNLI Sheringham.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-38489364
|
Roger Federer beats Dan Evans on return from injury in Hopman Cup - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Roger Federer marks his return from injury with victory against Dan Evans as Switzerland beat Great Britain in the Hopman Cup.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Roger Federer marked his return from injury with a 6-3 6-4 victory against Dan Evans as Switzerland beat Great Britain 3-0 in the Hopman Cup.
Federer, 35, made short work of the British number three in his first match after a six-month knee injury setback.
World number 76 Heather Watson lost her tie against Belinda Bencic 7-5 3-6 6-2 to give Switzerland the victory.
Federer and Bencic then combined to seal the whitewash, beating Evans and Watson 4-0 4-1 in Australia.
The Hopman Cup, played in Perth, comprises two singles matches and a mixed doubles contest between nations in a round-robin format with two groups of four.
France beat Germany in Group A's other fixture, with USA, Spain, Australia and the Czech Republic completing the line-up in Group B.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38488915
|
West Ham United 0-2 Manchester United - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Manchester United move level on points with fifth-placed Tottenham by beating West Ham, who had Sofiane Feghouli controversially sent off.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Football
Manchester United moved level on points with fifth-placed Tottenham after victory at West Ham, who played for 75 minutes with 10 men following the controversial dismissal of Sofiane Feghouli.
Referee Mike Dean showed Feghouli a straight red card after the midfielder's 15th-minute challenge on Phil Jones.
Replays showed it was more of a coming together between two players committed to winning the ball than a reckless tackle meant to cause harm.
Antonio Valencia was guilty of an astonishing miss for the visitors before Juan Mata scored from 10 yards after a clever pass by fellow substitute Marcus Rashford.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was one of three players offside when he doubled the lead after Pedro Obiang's clearance fell to Ander Herrera.
It was Jose Mourinho's side's sixth straight Premier League win and their seventh in all competitions.
• None Relive the action from London Stadium as it happened
• None Listen: 'Man Utd are back in the title race'
Dean at the centre of controversy - again
The Hammers have beaten Bournemouth, Sunderland, Burnley and Hull at home this season, yet their hopes of claiming a first major scalp at London Stadium were undone by the fastest sending off in the Premier League this season.
There is no doubt Feghouli lost control of the ball and deserved a booking for his challenge on Jones.
But Dean, who sent off Southampton's Nathan Redmond in the 4-1 defeat by Tottenham on Wednesday, brandished a red card for the fifth time this season, much to the fury of West Ham boss Slaven Bilic.
Jones, who was clearly hurt and rolled over several times before receiving treatment, was booed by home fans for the rest of the game each time he touched the ball.
Feghouli is now set to miss his side's FA Cup third-round home tie against Manchester City on Friday, while Hammers supporters showed their anger at the official by chanting 'Mike Dean - it's all about you'.
In the second half, Dean kept his cards in his pocket after Cheikhou Kouyate's reckless challenge on Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
This was far from vintage Manchester United, yet Mourinho's team started 2017 as they finished 2016 - with three points.
They are now unbeaten in their past 13 games in all competitions, while they have taken 25 points from the last 33 on offer.
Valencia will surely be haunted by his 36th-minute miss. It was a brilliant save by Darren Randolph to deny him from close range, but the Ecuador international should have buried the chance, as should Jesse Lingard, who hit the post with the follow-up.
Mourinho's decisions to bring on Mata at the start of the second half and Rashford before the hour mark proved decisive.
The pair combined to break West Ham's spirited resistance - the busy and menacing Rashford evading a couple of challenges before cutting back for Spaniard Mata to find the net.
The 19-year-old England striker hit the post before Ibrahimovic, standing in an offside position, scored a controversial second to complete West Ham's misery.
Beaten by Leicester City on Saturday, it has been a 48 hours to forget for West Ham in terms of results.
However, they dug deep, displayed a steely resolve - and might even have got something from the game despite the visitors' extra-man advantage.
David de Gea twice saved well from Manuel Lanzini, before Michail Antonio's glancing header flashed agonisingly wide as the Hammers threatened.
And shortly before Mata broke the deadlock, Antonio found himself clean through after Lanzini's perfectly weighted pass, only for De Gea to block his effort.
'We are champions of bad decisions'
West Ham boss Bilic: "I was pleased with the performance, we fought hard and gave everything. I told my players that if we did this we will be all right in the table.
"Ten men against a team like this is very hard - but we had chances.
"I am disappointed with the result and frustrated by how we lost it, but I am proud of my players."
Manchester United manager Mourinho: "It was hard for us to think well with one more man - and it was very hard for them physically.
"I was happy with my choices in Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford, they gave us what we needed. Rashford is very professional and very mature. He is a Manchester United player with Manchester United DNA.
"I don't feel sorry for West Ham - I didn't watch the decisions. I think if you talk about decisions, we are the champions of bad decisions."
• None Manchester United are now 13 games unbeaten in all competitions - longest run since March 2013 (18 games).
• None Ibrahimovic has already scored more goals in all competitions than Manchester United's top scorer last season (Martial, 17).
• None This is Mourinho's longest winning run in all competitions (seven) since January 2014 when in charge of Chelsea.
• None West Ham have lost consecutive Premier League games without scoring for the first time under Bilic.
• None Since the start of last season, no team has been shown more Premier League red cards than the Hammers (eight - level with Southampton).
• None Mata has been involved in 40 Premier League goals (25 goals, 15 assists) since his Manchester United debut. Only Wayne Rooney with 46 - 29 goals and 17 assists - has a better record in that time.
• None Dean has shown 14 red cards in the Premier League since the start of last season - at least six more than any other referee.
West Ham are back in action on Friday when they host fellow Premier League side Manchester City in the FA Cup third round (19:55 GMT kick-off).
Manchester United start their defence of the famous trophy at home against Championship club Reading - managed by former Old Trafford defender Jaap Stam - on Saturday (12:30).
• None Håvard Nordtveit (West Ham United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt blocked. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
• None Attempt saved. Ander Herrera (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Marcus Rashford.
• None Attempt blocked. Andy Carroll (West Ham United) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Michail Antonio with a cross.
• None Attempt saved. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Marcos Rojo.
• None Goal! West Ham United 0, Manchester United 2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Ander Herrera.
• None Attempt blocked. Ander Herrera (Manchester United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Paul Pogba.
• None Attempt saved. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38433519
|
Losing the most precious thing I own, 7,000km from home - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Eloise Dicker lost her late mother's treasured gold bracelet. Then a Facebook message changed everything.
|
Magazine
|
While travelling through Kyrgyzstan, Eloise Dicker lost her late mother's treasured gold bracelet. Then a Facebook message changed everything.
It was on the second day of our five-day trek that I realised it was missing.
We had packed up the tents and loaded the horses. I reached up to the horse's mane to pull myself up and saw that my wrist was bare.
"My mum's bracelet! It's gone," I thought, and immediately burst into tears.
Made from melted-down rings she inherited from her own mother, the bracelet had always been worn by my mum for almost as long as I could remember.
Eloise Dicker's wrist with and without the bracelet
Her wrist was very slender even towards the end of her life, with steroids puffing her up like a blowfish. There came a point, however, when she couldn't wear it any more.
She had taken it off and placed it on her bedside table. While clearing up the cups and tissues, tablets and tinctures, I had picked the bracelet up and put it on.
She'd smiled, put her hand on my wrist and said how lovely it was to see me wearing it and that one day I would pass it on to my children.
She died a couple of months later, and I had never taken the bracelet off.
Rosemary Dicker, wearing the bracelet six months before her death on Mother's Day 2015
Now I felt pain in my throat and a sinking feeling in my stomach. It could be anywhere in this vast landscape - the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia.
There was a silence as we all realised there was no point in even trying to find it. We were two days up into the mountains and surrounded by grass.
I had one last look around our camp. It was no use. I couldn't re-trace my steps, we were in the middle of nowhere. I climbed back on the horse.
I walked behind the others, crying and thinking. All the memories of her passing away came back to me, bit by bit.
My naked wrist still made me feel incomplete. I wanted to go back in time to the moment I decided to bring it with me. Why hadn't I left it at home?
But maybe it was meant to be here, I thought to myself. Mum was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the UK, and this was half way.
An endless lush landscape with wild horses, snowy peaks, birds of prey and the sound of the river. Maybe it should be lost here.
That night I looked in the tents with a bit of hope left that it might be in some corner. Nothing.
I crawled into my sleeping bag feeling deeply sad, and accepted it was gone for good.
Later, in the city of Karakol, recovering from our trek, I visited the Russian Orthodox church.
I was just about to leave, having lit a candle in remembrance of my mother, when the Russian nun took my arm and walked me to a painting of the Virgin Mary.
She kissed the glass frame of the picture and gestured that I do the same. I'm not a believer, and was not brought up religious in any way, but I followed her invitation.
When I kissed the glass I looked up at the picture. I started crying. The picture was adorned with gold necklaces and rings.
It was feeling just how jewellery was so significant to humans that made me cry. As a student of anthropology, I have always been interested in the meaning we humans ascribe to objects.
Jewellery by its very nature says: Look at me, see what I can afford, observe what I was given, admire how significant I am.
When inherited from a beloved, it also brings people into relationship, solidifying a kinship or affection, creating a sense of connectedness and of presence.
That bracelet was a physical part of my mother who is no longer physically in the world. It became part of me, and now was gone.
I had already made peace with the loss of the bracelet when, some weeks after I had returned to Europe, I received a Facebook message from Elaman Asanbaev, one of the guides from the Community-Based Tourism (CBT) office in Karakol.
There was a picture attached. "This is it or not, I don't know," he asked.
It was it. It was the bracelet.
It was suddenly back in existence, but what should I do? Should I get Elaman to send it? Should I leave it there? Ask him to throw it in the river?
When I looked into secure courier services, they advised against sending precious stones or metals. I was also reluctant to trust the postal system, it being so far away.
It did occur to me that I could find someone who would be travelling there, but when I saw that flights were cheap in November I decided I would go and get it myself.
London-Moscow-Bishkek. Then a six-hour drive from the capital Bishkek to Karakol with Azamat Asanov, the CBT manager. It was 05:00 and -11C in the capital, the roads icy with thick snow.
As we drove, I watched the country waking up. Children in their winter clothes walking to school, horses with snow on their backs, men in the traditional pointed Kyrgyz hats known as kalpaks.
The next morning we picked up Elaman. "This is for you," he said as he jumped in the car.
There it was. This slim piece of gold that I have known all my life.
This part of mum, here in this car 7,000km (4,350 miles) from home in the freezing mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
Elaman described to Azamat where he found it. I didn't understand anything except a word that sounded like "toilet".
Azamat translated - it was in our first campsite, a yurt camp, lying on a path towards the toilets (or, more accurately, a shed with a hole in the ground).
We laughed. Not the most romantic of places.
I felt its weight and its shape. Mum held this. Putting it back on I felt complete again, and I couldn't stop looking at it.
I gave Elaman a designer flask and wrapped some money around it as a reward for handing in the bracelet.
There was another day in the snow on horseback before I turned round and made the long 21-hour journey back home.
We took the horses up the Bos Uchuk valley, which means "colourful point". This was where we had camped on our last day of the summer trek. I could recognise the shape of the mountains and the river.
On my way back to the town I sprinkled some of mum's ashes in the river - something to exchange for the bracelet in the ground, something to put her between home and where she was born, Hong Kong.
At this point I felt that these rituals were almost too much.
Yet back home, looking at photographs of mum, I notice the bracelet in every picture. I think how strange it is to know that it had a story waiting of being lost and found far away in a wonderful place.
Is this still the most precious thing that I own? Yes. Would I take it again on an adventure? Probably.
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38385480
|
Diego Costa: Chelsea striker says he wanted to leave club in summer - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Chelsea striker Diego Costa says he wanted to leave the club in the summer but "continues to be happy" at Stamford Bridge.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Football
Chelsea striker Diego Costa has said he wanted to leave the club in the summer.
Costa joined the Blues for £32m in 2014, and was understood to be close to a return to former club Atletico Madrid after a difficult 2015-16 campaign.
The Spain international has since scored 14 Premier League goals, as Chelsea have taken a six-point lead courtesy of 13 successive victories.
"Did I want to go? Yes, yes, I was about to leave. But not because of Chelsea," said the 28-year-old.
"There was one thing I wanted to change for family reasons but it wasn't to be, and I continue to be happy here."
Costa scored 20 goals in his first season in England, as Chelsea won the Premier League title under Jose Mourinho.
But he had netted only four more by the time Mourinho was sacked in December 2015, finishing the season with 12 before being heavily linked with a move.
Brazil-born Costa says he has also made a conscious effort to curb his aggressive nature on the pitch.
"I knew I had to improve that aspect because here in the Premier League there is no mercy," he said.
"A lot of the time it seemed [referees] were against me. If they're not going to change, I had to change."
Chelsea return to action against London rivals Tottenham on Wednesday (20:00 GMT).
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38487554
|
Paul Clement: Bayern Munich assistant given permission to speak to Swansea City - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Bayern Munich give assistant boss Paul Clement permission to speak to Swansea City over their vacant manager's job and he is set to be appointed at the Welsh club.
| null |
Paul Clement: Bayern Munich assistant given permission to speak to Swansea City Last updated on .From the section Football
Paul Clement left Derby in February after eight months in charge Bayern Munich assistant manager Paul Clement has been given permission to speak to Swansea City. The Swans, bottom of the Premier League, are set to appoint the former Derby County boss on Tuesday. Clement had been interviewed by Swansea prior to former manager Bob Bradley's appointment in October. The 44-year-old is set to be their third boss of the season and is likely to be at Selhurst Park on Tuesday for Swansea's game against Crystal Palace.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38489937
|
Arts news in 2016: Knocking on death's door - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
BBC arts editor reflects on a year spent reporting on the deaths of so many major arts figures.
|
Entertainment & Arts
|
Will Gompertz appeared with Huw Edwards on the BBC One Ten O'Clock News on the night of David Bowie's death
Each specialism within journalism has its area of breaking news.
For foreign correspondents, it tends to be a conflict or catastrophe. Politicos deal in shock resignations or revelations. For us in the arts unit, it is award ceremonies - and celebrity deaths.
An instant obit of a once great, but now late, talent is what programme editors demand from us.
And you can be as Boy Scoutish as you like in your preparations, but the artistic life - and death - isn't about pleasing the establishment: creative souls do things their own way.
So, I was not entirely awake on Monday 11 January 2016 when my phone rang around 6.55am. It was a producer at the Today programme.
Had I heard the news, he asked? M…maybe - I hedged. What news? David Bowie is dead, he said.
Oh no! Oh no for lots of reasons. Firstly, it was awful news. I loved David Bowie; couldn't imagine him dead. He was still making great records. He wasn't particularly old, and now - well - he was no longer here.
And then, oh no - I had to make sense of his incredible life, without much time to pause for thought. Six minutes later, I was on-air talking to Today's Nick Robinson.
I got home late from work that night, put Heroes on and thought… sad day, but thankfully rare - a once-a-year occasion at worst.
But three days later came another call from another producer. Had I heard the news…?
Oh dear. Alan Rickman was fine actor whom one generation fell for Truly, Madly, Deeply, in 1990, and a new generation got to know and eventually love as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films.
By the time news emerged of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies's death on 14 March, we had already paid our tributes to Pierre Boulez, Harper Lee and Sir George Martin. All titanic figures, but at least they had led full lives.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Will Gompertz looks back at the life of "trailblazer" Dame Zaha Hadid
And then on 31 March, another shock.
Dame Zaha Hadid had died. I had interviewed the Bagdad-born British architect just a few weeks before, when she appeared as hale and hearty and feisty as ever.
She was frustrated with her adopted country, rightly so. Her fellow Brits had been sniffy and slow in recognising her brilliance - and now she was gone, still in her prime, before amends could be made.
2016 was beginning to feel like a weird year. A sense compounded three weeks later with the announcement of Victoria Wood's death.
That was a blow, too. We adored her. She was great. Always funny, jokes on the money; and never mean. We need such towering talents in our lives, not scythed down by the Grim Reaper. But he wasn't done yet.
Tributes were left to Prince after his death in April
The very next day, at around 3pm our time, social media stories started bubbling up speculating that Prince had died at his Paisley Park estate. Now, come on! Don't be silly. Don't be true. Don't be dead.
At this point, articles started to appear asking if arts deaths were at an all-time high. Columnists wrote think pieces explaining to us that it was all to do with our obsession with celebrity in a post-Warholian media age.
Meanwhile, the man in charge of obituaries at the BBC noted his services had been called upon far more frequently in the first third of 2016 than in the same months of the past five years.
It had been an extraordinary period. It has been an extraordinary year - with a sting in its tail.
On 11 November at 1:15am - a call from a producer on the Today Programme. Had I heard the news?
I knew he was frail and unwell, but there is something about truly great, unique artists - which he was - that you hope can circumnavigate that realities of live and death.
That pop's longstanding poet-in-residence had succumbed while still making fine work seemed unfair, to us and to him. He knew better:
You Want it Darker by Leonard Cohen (2016)
And so we went into the festive season. Surely Death was done?
Sadly not. In fact, he indulged in a Christmas rush with many unpleasant surprises to unpack.
The news about Status Quo's Rick Parfitt broke on Christmas Eve. George Michael was found dead on Christmas Day. And then, the following day Richard Adams passed away. So did Carrie Fisher, and her mother - Debbie Reynolds - 24 hours later.
I think it is fair to say 2016 was a most unusual year.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38394697
|
Rebecca Ferguson asked to perform at Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
The 2010 X Factor runner-up wrote she would "graciously accept" the invitation on the understanding she can sing "controversial" song Strange Fruit.
|
Newsbeat
|
Rebecca Ferguson says she's been asked to perform at Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony.
The singer tweeted she would "graciously accept" the invitation from the American president-elect if she can perform Strange Fruit.
"[It's] a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the United States," she posted.
Strange Fruit was originally recorded by Billie Holiday but was written as a poem by Abel Meeropol.
A sample from Nina Simone's 1965 rendition was used on Kanye West's Blood on the Leaves.
The words of Strange Fruit describe the lynching of African Americans in the early 20th century: "Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze".
It's been described as one of the first great protest songs.
Rebecca wrote that the song "speaks to all the disregarded and down trodden black people" in the US and if she can sing it she will "see [Mr Trump] in Washington".
The 2010 X Factor runner-up released an album covering Billie Holiday songs in 2015, although Strange Fruit does not feature on the track listing.
Warning: third party content, may contain adverts.
Reports from the US suggest America's next president is struggling to find musicians to perform at his swearing in ceremony on 20 January.
When Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009 Beyonce and Aretha Franklin performed.
Claims were made that Trump's team have considered breaking protocol and will offer an appearance fee to get an A-list performance.
One confirmed artist for the event is America's Got Talent runner-up Jackie Evancho who will sing the national anthem.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articles/38491238
|
The psychological secrets to successful resolutions - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
There are psychological tricks which can help people achieve and stick to their new year goals.
|
Health
|
It's important to have achievable goals
After the excesses of the festive season, the thoughts of many turn to making resolutions to stop bad habits and take up healthier ones.
Unfortunately, quite a few fail.
But there are some psychological tactics which can be employed to increase the chances of success.
Psychologist Prof Richard Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, has carried out research into the key to sticking to resolutions.
In a study of 5,000 people who made resolutions, it was those with a "fatalistic attitude" who were less likely to succeed.
He advises it's more than likely old habits will creep back in sometimes, so see those occasions as temporary set-backs and not a reason to give up altogether.
"Failure is the main thing that stops people If, on day one of their diet, they raid the biscuit tin, they think 'that's it' and give up. But persistence is the key. Start again the next day."
Support from friends and family can help people stick to their goals.
But Prof Wiseman says women might be more likely to benefit. "They are generally better at offering moral support. Men tend to try and encourage you to have more dessert."
Noting down progress can help
This can be something public like a blog - or the fridge door - or more privately, in a spreadsheet or a journal.
It might help to note down each gym visit, or decision not to have cake.
Prof Wiseman also advises having a checklist to show how life will be better once your goals are achieved - and allow small rewards throughout the process to keep up motivation levels.
It has to be something specific that can be realistically achieved.
Running a marathon, say, would be too much for a non-runner to aim for, while a vague desire to 'get fit' is hard to measure.
"Maybe start by saying you'll go to the gym once a week, then you can look at moving up to two," advises Prof Wiseman.
And be realistic - it's best to choose one thing to focus on rather than having a raft of goals to increase the chances of success.
This is important in terms of knowing what prompts behaviour you want to avoid - and to help encourage healthier habits.
"It could be as simple as not having biscuits in the house so you're not tempted - or understanding the stress triggers that make you reach for a cigarette," Prof Wiseman says.
And he says it's possible to create new triggers to prompt you in your new, healthier habits.
"You can decide that when the news starts, that's the time when you set off for the gym".
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38470263
|
How are Australia's Syrian refugees coping? - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Australia has so far resettled about half of the 12,000 Syrian refugees it agreed to take last year.
|
Australia
|
Australia has resettled about half of the 12,000 refugees it agreed to take in over the past 13 months from the conflict in Syria, but how are they adapting to life in their new country?
It is a year since Iymen Baerli, a refugee from Syria, arrived in Sydney with his wife and three young children.
Within days, the skies above the harbour of Australia's biggest city sparkled and glowed as arguably the world's finest fireworks display ushered in another new year.
The newcomers shared their adopted homeland's optimism about the journey ahead. Iymen, a 52-year old former pharmaceutical sales rep, had ambitions to open up a catering business, helped by his brother, who ran a well-established cake shop in suburban Sydney.
But 12 months later much of that hope has withered and the Baerli family are living at their modest apartment in Guildford, a multicultural district 25km (15 miles) from Sydney Opera House.
War had forced them out of their home in Homs, Syria's third largest city, and they sought safety in Egypt. Resettlement down under would eventually follow.
"It was very hard moving from Syria to Australia. There are huge differences in the culture and tradition," he told me through a translator. "I have been struggling and it is not easy but I am hoping that in the future it is going to be easier for me."
Iymen's English is rudimentary and, although he is receiving tuition, his lack of language skills has been a major hindrance, as has a chronic back injury.
Most of the new arrivals have been staying with relatives in Sydney, but community workers believe that, for many, the transition has been hard.
Ahmad Hemmed, a migration agent, who has helped many Syrian families in Sydney, told the BBC that the majority of the refugees have been unable to adapt.
"There are people that after I meet them here after even a year, they do not like the country and they are scared to mix with the Australian community," Mr Hemmed explained.
"They are still isolating themselves with similar cultural background people and I think they are raising their kids in the same way, which for me it is really concerning. They live in Australia but they are not actually carrying Australian values."
The city of Homs, dubbed "the capital of the revolution" suffered widespread destruction
It is a harsh assessment, but officials have conceded that many of those fleeing the Syrian conflict have found life tough in Australia and that finding jobs in particular has not been easy.
"It is that extraordinary mixed feeling," said Prof Peter Shergold, the New South Wales co-ordinator general for refugee resettlement.
"At one level I think their first feeling as they get out of the airport is just sheer relief, expectations that they can build a new life, but of course absolute fear of what they have left behind, is this the right decision?"
He believes it is crucial the migrants mix with the broader community.
"They are coming to a society in which 27% of Australians were born overseas and a similar number had a parent born overseas.
"They are coming to a society which is used to diversity and that helps integrate into society and, yes, initially you'll tend to live in areas where other people from your ethnicity or religion live, [but] they need to get outside that if they are going to get employment," Prof Shergold added.
The remaining 6,000 refugees from the Syrian crisis are expected to arrive in Australia within a year.
Immigration minister Peter Dutton has said the refugee resettlement programme might expand
But Alex Greenwich, an independent MP in the New South Wales state parliament, believes the humanitarian programme needs to move faster.
"The refugee and asylum seeker immigration process is intensely bureaucratic," he said.
"It is much better for a refugee to spend less time in a camp and get into being welcomed into a community. It is better for their health, their mental health. It is obviously something that we should be prioritising and fast-tracking."
In Canberra, the government has indicated it could resettle more of those displaced by atrocities and fighting in Syria.
"If we get this programme right, [it allows us] to say to the Australian people that we may want to expand this programme," Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told local media.
"If people have faith in the integrity of the process, then it does give the government the ability to expand beyond the 12,000."
As the conflict grinds on in Syria, 14,000km away in Sydney, Iymen's wife Abir Baerli closely follows developments on Arabic TV channels and online. With relatives and friends still in harm's way in Syria, or seeking sanctuary in neighbouring countries, these are frightening times.
"I am scared and I wish that the war would end," she told me with the help of a translator.
While her three children - a 10-year old daughter and two younger boys - are at school in Sydney, making friends, playing football and gradually conquering English, Abir and her husband yearn for just one thing - to one day be able to peacefully return home to their beloved Syria.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-38301489
|
Belfast chip shop goes viral after delivery order for cold and flu tablets - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
A Belfast chip shop goes viral after receiving an order for cold medicine from a customer.
|
Northern Ireland
|
The unusual chip shop order has attracted more than 8,000 likes on Facebook
Takeaway chip shops are used to getting orders for burgers, fish and sausages - but one in Belfast has gone viral after a flu-stricken customer asked them to deliver medicine.
Feeley's Fish and Chip Shop revealed the unusual request on its Facebook page on Friday.
The online order asked the driver to stop and get cold and flu tablets.
"I'll give you the money, only ordering food so I can get the tablets Im dying sick," it added.
The chip shop posted the note online and said: "Good to see customers making use of the 'add comments' section!"
The post has attracted more than 8,000 likes on Facebook and more than 1,000 comments.
It later posted a picture of the medicine and added a message of "get well soon" to the customer.
The shop also said on Facebook that they would send a free meal if the woman let them know when she is better.
She replied: "Yous are real angels will do."
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38485402
|
Myanmar police officers detained over Rohingya beatings video - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
A video posted online showing Myanmar police officers beating boys from the Muslim Rohingya minority has led to several arrests, as David Campanale reports.
| null |
A video that appears to show Myanmar police officers beating members of the Muslim Rohingya minority during a security operation has emerged on Burmese social media.
The government said the incident, apparently filmed by a police officer, happened in restive Rakhine state in November and several officers had been detained.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38490957
|
North Dakota Pipeline protesters scale stadium - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Two people are held after unfurling a giant banner protesting against the North Dakota Access Pipeline.
| null |
Two people have been arrested after scaling the US Bank Stadium in Minnesota to unfurl a giant banner protesting against the North Dakota Access Pipeline.
Karl Mayo, 32, and Sen Holiday, 26, lowered a sign with the word "Divest" calling for U.S. Bank to sever ties with the project.
Officers waited for The Vikings to finish playing the Chicago Bears before removing the protesters.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38487931
|
Premiership: Leicester Tigers 12-16 Saracens - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Owen Farrell scores all of Saracens' points against Leicester, but victory is not enough to send the Londoners top.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Owen Farrell scored all of Saracens' points against Leicester, but victory was not enough to return the London club to the top of the Premiership.
In a tense first half, during which Leicester's injury-plagued England winger Manu Tuilagi limped off, the scores were locked at 6-6 as Farrell traded penalties with Owen Williams.
Farrell scored and converted the only try after adding a further penalty.
Williams kicked two penalties to ensure Leicester took a losing bonus point.
Leicester pressed until the final moments as they looked to avoid just their second defeat in 15 home games in all competitions, but two missed penalties from Williams proved costly.
In a game England boss Eddie Jones watched from the stand, much attention was focused on centre Tuilagi, who was called up on Saturday for a national team training camp.
But it proved little more than a cameo showing by the 25-year-old as he was forced off with an apparent right knee injury, suffered as he came down in a tackle.
Saracens were dealt a setback of their own as winger Chris Ashton - making his first start in 15 weeks after serving a suspension for biting - was forced off after a clash of heads with Jack Roberts.
However, despite losing the prolific Ashton, Saracens came up with the game's only try soon after - Brad Barritt collecting the ball from Williams after a poor Ben Youngs pass before Farrell threw a dummy to race clear.
Saracens did enough to hold on for the win, moving them to within one point of Wasps at the summit.
Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill:"It was tight, we played very well, they played well. We defended outstandingly well and our set-piece was dominant.
"Saracens' pack don't get dominated very often but we dominated their pack today. Our boys were fantastic.
"There are a lot of positives. I know we are five points from the top four but we were playing the best side in Europe last season.
"If we can play like that away we will win more than we lose and we will keep in the mix."
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall: "We are chuffed to bits to come here and win where they have not lost this season.
"Not everything in our game was perfect, far from it. But what was tremendous was the fight we had and the effort we showed all the way through the game.
"We had to win without a platform because our scrum today was poor. To get a result without a scrum is tough."
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38445575
|
Rory Cellan-Jones becomes video game character - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
A video games developer digitises BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones to appear in its next blockbuster game.
| null |
One of the UK's leading independent video game companies has digitised BBC's technology correspondent for a forthcoming blockbuster.
Rebellion shared a first look at what it had done with Rory Cellan-Jones' features for Sniper Elite 4.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38403943
|
Michael van Gerwen beats Gary Anderson to win PDC World Darts Championship - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Michael van Gerwen outclasses defending champion Gary Anderson to win his second PDC World Darts Championship.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Darts
Michael van Gerwen outclassed defending champion Gary Anderson to win his second PDC World Darts Championship.
The world number one won 7-3 at the Alexandra Palace in a match that contained 42 180s, a record for a single darts match.
Scotland's Anderson, winner in 2015 and 2016 broke the Van Gerwen throw to lead the favourite 2-1 after three sets.
But Van Gerwen won 12 of the next 13 legs and, despite an Anderson rally, the Dutchman hit bullseye to seal it.
Overall, Van Gerwen averaged 107.79, the best in a final since Phil Taylor beat Raymond van Barneveld in 2009.
"I feel absolutely over the moon," said the 27-year-old, who won his first title in 2014. "My average says it all.
"He put me under pressure and I missed a few doubles but I managed to come into the game.
"I've been working for this because it's the most important one. We all fight for this really hard and I'm really glad I did the right thing at the right moments because Gary is a phenomenal player."
Anderson was looking to join Taylor and Eric Bristow as only the third man to win three successive world titles in either the PDC or BDO.
His average of 104.93 was better than in his 2015 final win over Phil Taylor and 2016 defeat of Adrian Lewis.
He nailed 22 maximums to Van Gerwen's 20, but his checkout percentage of 37.78 was inferior to the number one seed's brilliant 44.26.
"It's well deserved for Michael, but I've had a good three years," said Anderson. "At 2-2 I just started to drop and got punished."
In winning a second title, Van Gerwen, who won 25 tournaments in 2016, becomes the fifth man to win multiple PDC world crowns since the organisation's first staging of its own tournament in 1994.
He first threw for the match at 6-2 up, but was interrupted by a spectator who invaded the stage and lifted the trophy.
Anderson went on to take that set, but Van Gerwen closed it out in the 10th to pick up the £350,000 prize money.
"I worked really hard for this all year through," he added. "I've got great support from my family and this means a lot to me. This feels phenomenal."
As two of the world's top four, Van Gerwen and Anderson automatically qualified for the Premier League, which begins in February, alongside Peter Wright and Lewis.
Taylor and Barneveld have been handed wildcards and are joined by James Wade, Dave Chisnall, Jelle Klaasen and Kim Huybrechts.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/darts/38492223
|
Rail fares: Hike 'result of success' - rail boss - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Chief Executive of the Rail Delivery Group says increase in rail fare is for investment
| null |
Rail passengers are facing up to higher fares across the UK as average prices increases of 2.3% are introduced on the first weekday of the new year.
Paul Plummer is the chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group which represents train operators and Network Rail. He told the Today programme ticket prices are rising because they "need to invest more to provide more and better journeys".
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38487659
|
The Chinese burger designed by Asia's 'best female chef' - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
May Chow has just been voted Asia's best female chef. She shares her story with the BBC.
|
China
|
May Chow secretly interned at restaurants to pursue her dream of becoming a chef
The humble steamed bun is taking Hong Kong's culinary scene by storm - and scooping up awards along the way.
May Chow, the owner of restaurant Little Bao, has just been voted Asia's best female chef by a panel of over 300 experts.
The 32-year-old's restaurant serves what she calls Chinese burgers: steamed white buns filled with braised pork belly, fried chicken or fish.
And there are even burgers for dessert, in the form of fried buns sandwiched with ice cream.
Winning the award is no mean feat, considering Asia's competitive food scene, but the restaurant might not have started at all if Ms Chow hadn't sneaked behind her parents' back.
She developed a love of cooking from watching her mother cook in Canada - where a typical meal involved serving more than 20 people in the extended family.
"Growing up I told my parents I wanted to be a chef," Ms Chow tells the BBC.
"But back then, cooking was considered low-class work, and my parents felt it would be a waste of my education."
The buns are assembled with leek and red onions
As a result, Ms Chow studied hotel management at university in the US instead, but says her love for cooking kept calling out to her. By her third year at university, she was ready to take the plunge.
"I didn't tell my parents, but I started interning with restaurants."
That paved her way to becoming a full-time chef at high-end restaurants in Hong Kong.
Her ambition didn't stop at being a chef, either. She says: "The first day I started working at a restaurant, I decided that I wanted to open my own restaurant."
Just a few years later, and after road-testing her dishes at local food markets, Ms Chow opened Little Bao.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A novel take on the humble bao
Bao means bun in Chinese, and Ms Chow says she drew on her own identity, as a Chinese person who had grown up in North America, when designing her signature dish.
"If you define me, my food is exactly me," she says. "Am I really Chinese? Why do I sound so American?"
"That bao is me - Chinese but understands American culture - putting [the two sides] together in an honest way."
She says she is happiest with the authenticity of her buns when her mother and grandmother enjoy them.
Their approval "comes from 30 years of eating bao - you have to stand up to that quality check".
Ms Chow's kitchen is full of mouth-watering smells, including fresh meat being grilled and seafood being fried
Little Bao sells over a hundred buns each day
The buns are cooked in a giant steamer
The dish has also proved a hit with Hong Kong diners and she has just opened a Bangkok branch of Little Bao, as well as a beer bar, Second Draught.
But there were plenty of challenges in the move to becoming a business owner, including the high rents and high build-out costs in Hong Kong.
"It's almost been like taking a real-life business masters degree," she says. "I've grown a lot over the past three years. At first you get emotional, now you just look at things and try to fix problems."
What does she think of being named Asia's best female chef 2017?
It was "stressful", and she jokes that her first reaction, when she learnt of the award, was: "Oh, I don't want it."
The logo for Little Bao is a smiling baby
There is some pressure that comes with the title, because "there really are not that many female chefs [and] local chefs in that field to be talked about".
She's aware that some will find it strange there is an award specifically for female chefs, but also appreciates how the award has given her a platform to raise awareness about the industry.
She's vocal about what she thinks needs to change to encourage more women, and local Hong Kongers, to join the trade.
Being a chef "is a very labour intensive job. The environment is hot, sticky, typically not a favourable environment."
"Do we really need to work 70 hours a week? Are women allowed to have babies when they're [working] in the kitchen? It's so intense - it's not like a desk job. There are things that need to be improved."
There isn't always "the freedom to dream" in Hong Kong's competitive education system, she adds.
In the past, vocational jobs were seen as jobs for people who couldn't be doctors or lawyers, so there was "no recognition" for jobs in the food and beverage industry.
Still, she argues that the internet, Michelin guides and growing awareness about fine dining has helped, while local chefs are increasingly learning from restaurants abroad.
On a more personal level, she credits her mother with part of her determination to do well in a male-centric field.
"Stereotypical Shanghai women are fierce and loud," she says with a grin.
Her mother's influence, she adds, "let me be bold. I never grew up thinking I had to limit myself".
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-38391848
|
360 video: London New Year's Eve fireworks - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
360 video
|
UK
|
If you couldn't get to the New Year's Eve fireworks in London, you can still get a 360-degree experience of the celebrations.
Clicking on the image below will play the 360 video on the BBC News YouTube channel.
Tap here to see the 360 video
To watch 360 video you will need the latest version of Chrome, Opera, Firefox or Internet Explorer on your computer. On mobile - you will need to open the video in the latest version of the YouTube app for Android or iOS.
You can view this 360 experience in several ways
1. On desktop once you have pressed play, use your mouse to move up, down or sideways.
2. On your mobile via the YouTube app. You can move your device to control your view.
3. On your mobile via the YouTube app using Google Cardboard or similar headset.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38463678
|
Sunderland 2-2 Liverpool - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Jermain Defoe scores two penalties as Sunderland twice come from behind to earn a point against second-placed Liverpool.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Football
Jermain Defoe scored two penalties as Sunderland twice came from behind to earn a point against second-placed Liverpool.
The Reds took a deserved lead when Daniel Sturridge flicked in a header after Dejan Lovren's mishit shot.
Sunderland equalised six minutes later as Defoe scored from the spot following Ragnar Klavan's trip on Didier Ndong, before Sadio Mane put the visitors back ahead with a close-range finish.
However, Mane then handled in his own 18-yard box and Defoe converted the penalty to snatch an unlikely point.
• None Relive Sunderland's draw against Liverpool as it happened
• None Reaction and updates from the other Premier League matches
The result leaves Liverpool five points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea, who play their game in hand on Wednesday at Tottenham (20:00 GMT kick-off).
However, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp will surely see it as two points dropped after his side led twice, had 71% of the possession and had 15 shots on target.
Only an inspired performance from Black Cats keeper Vito Mannone denied Liverpool further goals, before Mane, playing his last game before representing Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations, needlessly stuck out an arm to block Seb Larsson's free-kick, costing his side dearly.
To make things worse for Liverpool, Sturridge, who scored only his second Premier League goal of the season, limped off late on with an ankle injury after he clashed with Papy Djilobodji.
The England international was only making his fifth league start of the campaign, has also suffered calf and hip injuries this season and was limping badly at the final whistle.
Reds club captain Jordan Henderson missed the game at the Stadium of Light with a heel injury and Klopp could be without three influential players for the trip to Manchester United in 13 days' time.
In his post-match news conference Klopp said he did not believe Sturridge's injury was a serious one. "He got a knock on his right ankle, I don't think it's too bad," said the German.
Sunderland boss David Moyes described his side's performance in their 4-1 loss at Burnley on Saturday as "dire" and had demanded better.
He will surely have been delighted with the response. His team battled hard, gave everything, defended deep in numbers and showed their fighting spirit when Liverpool looked like they might run away with the match.
Sunderland remain in the bottom three, but Moyes will be encouraged by the point as the Black Cats look to extend their 10-year Premier League stay.
However, like Klopp, Moyes faces a battle to juggle his squad. Sunderland's lengthy injury list includes first-choice goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, defender Lamine Kone, midfielders Lee Cattermole and Steven Pienaar and strikers Duncan Watmore and Victor Anichebe.
Midfielders Didier Ndong (Gabon) and Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia) are also set to play at the Africa Cup of Nations in January to provide further problems for Moyes.
• None Liverpool have now lost just one of their past 18 Premier League games (won 12).
• None Moyes has only one victory from his past 17 Premier League games as a manager against Liverpool (10 defeats).
• None Jack Rodwell made his 34th start for Sunderland but is yet to be on the winning side (16 draws and 18 losses); extending the Premier League record.
• None Defoe is the fourth player to score 10 or more goals in 10 different Premier League seasons, along with Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard.
• None Sunderland are the first team to score two penalties in a Premier League game against Liverpool since West Brom in April 2011.
• None Sturridge has scored in consecutive Premier League games after a run of 12 appearances without a goal.
• None Mane has had a hand in five goals in his past seven Premier League appearances (three goals, two assists).
What they said
Sunderland manager Moyes said: "I expect them to get results, but I'm really pleased after the few days we've had. We didn't play well (against Burnley) and what they have done is show how well they can do.
"I thought we did quite well, matched Liverpool's energy for long periods of the game and deserved a draw. We had big chances as well.
"I never thought we were out of it. The important thing was to not concede a third goal. In the end we got a deserved penalty.
"Towards the end of the season we are going to have to pick up a lot of results. Today was a tough draw and we have to make sure we win at home - that's key."
Liverpool boss Klopp said: "I am not able to explain it because I don't know exactly what I saw. My team were fighting but I wasn't sure if they could do it.
"We can play better but I'm not sure if you can play better with that (two-day) break."
On Sunderland's second penalty, the German added: "There was no foul before the free-kick for the second penalty. You need a little bit of luck, but Sunderland worked hard too and maybe they deserved it."
Both sides are next in action in the third round of the FA Cup. Sunderland entertain fellow Premier League side Burnley on Saturday (15:00), one week after losing 4-1 to the Clarets in an away league match.
Liverpool take on League Two high-flyers Plymouth Argyle on 8 January (13:30), before playing at Southampton on 11 January in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final (19:45).
Sunderland next play in the Premier League on 14 January with a home game against Stoke (15:00), with Liverpool away at Manchester United at 16:00 the following day.
• None Offside, Liverpool. Lucas Leiva tries a through ball, but Divock Origi is caught offside.
• None Attempt saved. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Alberto Moreno with a cross.
• None Attempt saved. Adam Lallana (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
• None Sadio Mané (Liverpool) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Delay over. They are ready to continue.
• None Delay in match Papy Djilobodji (Sunderland) because of an injury.
• None Divock Origi (Liverpool) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Attempt saved. Ragnar Klavan (Liverpool) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Alberto Moreno with a cross.
• None Attempt saved. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Sadio Mané.
• None Goal! Sunderland 2, Liverpool 2. Jermain Defoe (Sunderland) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.
• None Sadio Mané (Liverpool) is shown the yellow card for hand ball.
• None Penalty conceded by Sadio Mané (Liverpool) with a hand ball in the penalty area. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38433522
|
Sherlock beats the Queen in festive TV ratings - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Eight million people saw the return of Sherlock on BBC One - more than watched the Queen's Christmas message.
|
Entertainment & Arts
|
Benedict Cumberbatch is back as Sherlock for the new three-part series
More than eight million people tuned in to see the return of Sherlock on BBC One on Sunday, overnight ratings show.
That means it was the UK's second-most watched programme of the festive period - behind the New Year's Eve fireworks, which were watched by 11.6 million.
The biggest Christmas Day audience came for the Queen's Christmas message, which was seen by 7.7 million people.
The first episode of the fourth series of Sherlock had an average audience of 8.1 million.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Benedict Cumberbatch talks about the new Sherlock series
The episode, entitled The Six Thatchers, was based on Arthur Conan Doyle's story The Adventure of the Six Napoleons and involved six smashed statues of the former UK prime minister.
It "reached new heights of action and emotion", according to The Guardian's Mark Lawson, who saw parallels between Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.
He wrote: "The episode felt very Bond overall - Holmes has never done so much running towards or away from explosions."
The Telegraph's Ben Lawrence wrote that it was "a dizzying triumph of complex plotting (although the much-talked-about demolition of six busts of Margaret Thatcher was an unnecessary piece of iconoclasticism) and beautifully choreographed action scenes".
Martin Freeman has made Watson "a nuanced, compelling character", he said, but added: "It is, of course, Cumberbatch's show and here he looked tanned and lean, ready for action but heading, ultimately, for a fall.
"Cumberbatch is an actor who invests so much in every scene that watching him is an exhilarating experience and an almost psychological exercise."
The programme's overnight ratings were slightly down compared with those for last year's New Year's Day one-off Sherlock special, which had 8.4 million.
Elsewhere in Sunday's BBC One schedule, Mrs Brown's Boys was watched by an estimated 6.7 million, while six million saw Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell's demise in EastEnders.
EastEnders narrowly lost the battle of the soaps to Coronation Street, which attracted 6.2 million on ITV.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38488141
|
Usain Bolt calls Manchester United phone-in show - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Usain Bolt calls a Manchester United TV phone-in show to say how Saturday's 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough was like watching the Red Devils "of old".
| null |
Nine-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt calls a Manchester United TV phone-in show to say how Saturday's 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough was like watching the Red Devils "of old".
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38480275
|
The A-Z of Brexit - BBC News
|
2017-01-02
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
An alphabetical guide to the biggest story of the next two and a half years.
|
UK Politics
|
"Brexit means Brexit" is something we've all heard many times. But it's still not entirely clear what it actually means. If you're feeling lost, help is at hand: here's our handy guide to the A-Z of Brexit.
Known as the "exit clause", Article 50 sets out the process the UK will go through to leave the European Union.
It sets the clock ticking on negotiations, giving a deadline of two years before the UK's membership of the EU ends - unless all EU member states' leaders vote unanimously to extend that period.
It says that any deal negotiated between the UK and EU will come down to a vote of European leaders, where it will need to be passed by a qualified majority and passed by the European Parliament.
Previously tasked with cleaning up the continent's financial services, Michel Barnier is the European Commission's chief Brexit negotiator.
He's a politician with a long career as an MEP, vice-president of the centre-right European People's Party, French foreign minister, and European commissioner.
Mr Barnier is also known for not being keen on giving interviews in English. At the height of the eurozone crisis he implied this policy was led by caution, saying: "One wrong word, and we could move markets."
The European Council is made up of the 28 EU heads of government, plus the European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
The council doesn't make laws, but the heads of EU governments can vote on the union's political direction through a process that weights their votes according to the size of the country they represent.
Although Prime Minister Theresa May represents the UK on the council, she won't attend any meetings or votes it holds on the subject of Brexit negotiations after Article 50 is triggered.
More properly known as the Department for Exiting the European Union, DexEU is the government department responsible for the UK's negotiations with the EU.
It is led by David Davis. The department will conduct negotiations on Brexit with the EU, as well as talking to individual states about bilateral agreements after the UK leaves the EU.
Academic Sara Hagemann, who is Danish, said she had been told she could no longer advise the government on Brexit.
Leave campaigner Michael Gove made waves during the EU referendum campaign when he claimed Britain had "had enough of experts."
More recently, academics at the London School of Economics said that Foreign Office officials had told them non-UK nationals would no longer be able to brief the department on issues relating to Brexit.
The FCO insisted that it was a misunderstanding, saying "We will continue to take advice from the best and brightest minds, regardless of nationality."
Trading with other countries without customs duties, import bans or quotas is the goal of International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who has previously said that free trade "transformed the world for the better".
EU membership means the UK isn't allowed to make its own deals with other countries - deals like the Ceta free trade agreement signed between Canada and the EU after seven years of negotiations.
But opponents of free trade deals like Ceta and the proposed TTIP deal between the EU and US have claimed that the deals harm workers' rights and damage environmental safeguards.
Greenland provided the closest thing Brexit has to a precedent when it left the European Economic Community - a precursor to the EU - in 1982.
Greenlandic objections to its membership to the EEC, as part of the Kingdom of Denmark, centred on the Common Fisheries Policy which allowed European trawlers to fish in its waters.
Since then, Greenland's fishermen have fared better than its fur industry, which since 2010 has been barred from selling any seal products within the EU.
The style of Brexit favoured by campaigners like Nigel Farage, "hard Brexit" would entail the UK leaving the European single market.
It would allow the British government more direct control over policies on immigration, but may mean tariffs on exports to the EU.
It's often presented as the opposite of "soft Brexit", which sees the UK remain in the EU single market - potentially having to accept EU rules like freedom of movement as a part of the deal.
Nigel Farage said 23 June should go down in history as the UK's "independence day" in commemoration of the vote to leave the EU.
But a petition calling for a national holiday on 23 June received a negative response from the government, which said it had "no current plans to create another public holiday" because of the economic cost of days off.
Former Prime Minister of Luxembourg and President of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker will be a key figure during the Article 50 negotiations with the EU.
Before the vote to leave, Mr Juncker warned the UK that "out is out", and that there would be no way back.
The European Commission is the EU body that will carry out much of the negotiating between the EU and UK, before a final deal is approved by the European Council's 27 non-UK EU leaders.
It's reported the Russian government of Vladimir Putin may stand to gain from Brexit, as the UK's decision to leave the EU could distract from its sanctions against Russia.
Former Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said the UK had supported a harder line on EU-Russian relations.
Mr Plevneliev said: "If Brexit is going to be a divorce, we should stay the best possible and the closest friends."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Lord Kerr says Article 50 was drawn up in the event of a coup
Ratified in 2009, the Lisbon Treaty aimed to streamline the EU's decision making process following a period of expansion that saw membership grow.
It created the post of President of the European Council (currently held by Poland's Donald Tusk) and expanded the use of the proportional qualified majority voting system that awarded votes according to the size of a member state.
The Lisbon Treaty also contains Article 50 - drafted by Scottish peer Lord Kerr - the mechanism that dictates the way in which a member state can leave the EU.
The leader of the EU's largest member state, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has said "Brexit negotiations won't be easy" but that there's no need for the EU to be "nasty" to the UK during negotiations.
German leader since 2005, Ms Merkel will face a re-election battle in 2017. Her decision to welcome more than one million refugees to Germany is likely to be a big issue in that campaign.
Norway isn't a member of the EU, but is a part of the European Economic Area, the European Free Trade Association and the Schengen Zone.
Norway has been mooted as one of the models a post-Brexit UK could emulate after a "soft Brexit", but Prime Minister Erna Solberg said the UK "wouldn't like" finding itself on the fringes of the EU after Brexit.
The Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban is a strident critic of many aspects of the EU. Since the UK voted to leave, he has spoken of the opportunity it presents for change, saying: "We are at a historic cultural moment. There is a possibility of a cultural counter-revolution right now."
In October Mr Orban held a referendum of his own, calling on Hungarian voters to reject the EU's refugee quotas.
A member of the European Council, Mr Orban will be one of the EU leaders voting on the UK's Brexit negotiations.
Nothing to do with the colour of your UK passport, this is the process by which London-based financial institutions can operate in the rest of the EU.
Passporting became a concern for global banks after the referendum, as they feared they could lose their rights to access the European single market.
International Trade Minister Mark Garnier suggested that such a thing could happen. When asked if passporting could end and be replaced by something else, he replied: "Exactly."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. US President Barack Obama: "UK is going to be in the back of the queue"
President Barack Obama enraged Leave campaigners before the referendum with his suggestion that a post-Brexit UK would find itself at the "back of the queue" to negotiate trade deals with the US.
Boris Johnson called his intervention "hypocritical", while Tory MP Dominic Raab called him a "lame-duck president".
In-coming US president Donald Trump has been much more positive... See entry below, for T.
The Commons Library says the position of UK citizens in the EU - and vice versa - after Brexit remains uncertain.
It does, however, suggest that people already using their freedom of movement to live in other EU countries are unlikely to be affected, as it would be difficult - practically and politically - to change their residency rights retrospectively.
The UK could give up its membership of the European Union, but still have access to the single market.
This would make trading with other European countries easier, as there would be less change after Brexit.
The price would most likely be some kind of free movement agreement - meaning that EU citizens could still move to the UK to live and work, even after Brexit.
The incoming American president is a fan of Brexit, even saying in the days before his election victory over Hillary Clinton that a win for him would be "like Brexit plus-plus-plus."
He has befriended leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage - who was the first foreign politician to meet the president-elect after his win over Hillary Clinton.
Some in the UK, including Mr Farage, hope a Trump administration will move the UK to the front of the queue for trade deals with the US, heralding a new economic special relationship.
The UK's nations and regions weren't united in voting leave - Scotland, Northern Ireland and London voted to remain in the EU.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has suggested she will hold a second independence referendum if the UK goes for a hard Brexit.
In Northern Ireland there are mixed responses. Some fear the return of border controls - the Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny is planning an a summit on the issue. Meanwhile, the border town of Newry has seen an influx of shoppers from the Republic, keen to take advantage of the euro's increased spending power.
Former Belgian Prime Minister and the European Parliament's lead Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, has suggested he is unwilling to negotiate on the free movement of people, saying: "European values will never be up for negotiation."
He has already held a preliminary meeting with David Davis (See entry for D, above) which the two said afterwards "a good start". And he has since warned that the European Parliament would negotiate directly with the British if EU leaders "don't take the parliament's role seriously".
Home Secretary Amber Rudd sparked controversy with an announcement that firms would have to publish the percentage of overseas workers they hired - although the government later rowed back on the idea.
There is also uncertainty over what could happen to UK employment rights, as some things like agency workers' rights and limitations on working time are guaranteed by EU law.
Police figures showed a rise in religious or racially motivated hate crimes in the weeks following the EU referendum.
In response, the government launched a new hate crime action plan to combat the increase.
Or more specifically, the yeast-based spread Marmite.
The falling value of the pound after the UK voted to leave the EU led to a row between Tesco and the manufacturer, Anglo-Dutch corporation Unilever, which wanted to raise the price of Marmite and other products.
The companies resolved their differences, which came after Unilever said the weak pound made selling its wares in the UK less profitable.
The capital of Croatia, the EU's newest member state.
The Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovac expressed his concerns about the effect Brexit could have on the EU's growth plans, saying: "We also want stability in southeastern Europe and we will work so that Brexit does not have too much effect on the enlargement process."
Croatia's fellow Balkan states Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are all currently in the process of joining the EU.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37761607
|
Manchester City 2-1 Burnley - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-02
| null |
Ten-man Manchester City move up to third as they withstand a spirited Burnley fightback in front of a relieved Etihad Stadium.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Football
Ten-man Manchester City moved up to third as they withstood a spirited Burnley fightback in front of a relieved Etihad Stadium.
Fernandinho was dismissed towards the end of an even first half for a two-footed challenge on Johan Gudmundsson.
But the hosts improved after the break as Gael Clichy squeezed home a shot before Sergio Aguero, on as a substitute, fired home from a tight angle.
Ben Mee smashed home via the underside of the bar shortly after but Burnley could not force a leveller despite a fine chance for Andre Gray late on.
Beginning the day 10 points behind leaders Chelsea, anything less than victory would have prompted some to begin reading the last rites on City's title challenge.
As it is, Pep Guardiola's side will look at the league table with renewed optimism as they closed to within two points of second-place Liverpool with one and possibly both of Chelsea and Tottenham to drop points when they face each other on Wednesday.
However, Fernandinho's dismissal meant they had to fight harder than they might have expected for victory.
The City captain took some of the ball as he contested a 50:50 ball in midfield, but his reckless scissor-action style meant that referee Lee Mason's decision to show red could be easily justified.
It is not the first time City's discipline has hindered their title ambitions. Including Sergio Aguero's retrospective red against West Ham, they have been shown seven red cards in Guardiola's 30 games in charge.
Fernandinho's third red card in six games for City means he will be banned for four matches and not available again until 5 February.
Should Fernandinho have been sent off? MOTD analysis
Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Kevin Kilbane: "There's no doubt it is a red for Fernandinho. It is quite clear. He's reckless and out of control. Referee Lee Mason is in a good position. It is a bad one. You see those sort of challenges and you hope for the best for the opposing player."
Ex-Arsenal defender Martin Keown: "It is a 100% red card all day long. His third in six games. It is indefensible, you don't want to see that in the game."
Aguero off the bench and to the rescue
Well before Fenandinho's lunging challenge, Guardiola's team selection seemed to have hampered rather than helped City's cause.
Aguero, who was spared the rigours of the festive fixture list after only making his comeback from a four-match ban in the New Year's Eve defeat by Liverpool, was left on the bench with Kelechi Iheanacho preferred up front.
Iheanacho missed the best of what little City created in the first half and Aguero brought a more threatening edge to the hosts' attack when he was introduced alongside David Silva at half-time.
The Argentine's dead-eyed finish from a tight angle, past two covering defenders, provided the winner and convincing evidence for an immediate recall.
Burnley come close on return to Manchester
Burnley have only won a single point away from Turf Moor this season, but they can count themselves unlucky not to follow their October draw at Old Trafford with similar on their return to Manchester.
While they confounded United with a stubborn rearguard action, Sean Dyche's side went toe-to-toe with City even before Fernandinho's red card gave them an extra man.
Mee's goal, awarded with help by the decision review system, exposed goalkeeper Claudio Bravo's uncertainty in the air, but Burnley created enough to take a point without City's errors.
The precision that Gray showed in scoring his hat-trick against Middlesbrough last time out deserted him in injury-time while Sam Vokes glanced just wide when well placed.
The Clarets remain 11th, eight points above the drop and well above par for the season so far.
• None Fernandinho is the first City player to see two reds in a Premier League season since Mario Balotelli in 2011-12.
• None Raheem Sterling has been directly involved in nine Premier League goals for City this season (5 goals, 4 assists), compared to eight in his first season at the club.
• None Gael Clichy scored just his third Premier League goal in 311 games (two for City, one for Arsenal). His last goal came in November 2014 v Southampton.
• None City have only kept a clean sheet in two of their 10 Premier League games at the Etihad this season.
• None Burnley's goal was only the third they have managed away from home this season.
• None The Clarets have still taken just one point from their away games this season, with 22 of their total of 23 coming at Turf Moor (drawing one and losing eight away).
"I'm so happy, believe me" - manager quotes
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola gave a series of short answers to BBC Sport's Damian Johnson after the match, a selection of which appears below:
Damian Johnson: "What was your view of the red card for Fernandinho?"
Pep Guardiola: "You are the journalist. Not me."
DJ: "You're the manager. I'm sure the fans would like to know.
PG: "Ask the referee - not me."
DJ: "You don't seem that happy that you've won."
PG: "More than you would believe. More than you would believe I am happy."
PG: "I'm so happy believe me. I'm so happy. Happy new year."
DJ: "Are Manchester City in the title race?"
PG: "Yesterday no. Why today are we in the title race?"
Burnley manager Sean Dyche: "We gave away two poor goals, but the two players that they brought on at half-time are not bad players. I thought that they had an effect.
"It is a missed opportunity. We lost our way a bit when they went down to 10 men. They came out really hard and fast after half-time. We made a game of it after that. There was no lack of effort, but we could not find a way through.
On Fernandinho's red card: "It was a red by modern standards. In years gone by, maybe not, but today I think it is."
Manchester City travel to West Ham in the third round of the FA Cup on Friday with Burnley taking on Sunderland the next day in the same competition.
• None David Silva (Manchester City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Andre Gray (Burnley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt saved. Michael Keane (Burnley) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Stephen Ward with a cross.
• None Attempt missed. Andre Gray (Burnley) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right.
• None Attempt missed. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Raheem Sterling.
• None Delay over. They are ready to continue. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38433598
|
Russian TV chief labels US intelligence report 'a joke' - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
| null |
The editor-in-chief of Russia's state broadcaster RT has defended its coverage of the US election campaign.
| null |
Earlier this month, a US intelligence report concluded that the Kremlin had set out to influence the outcome of the US election, through cyber attacks, internet trolls and “Russia’s state-run propaganda machine”.
The report highlighted the role of state-funded broadcaster RT.
In an interview with the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg, RT’s Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan told the BBC the report was “a joke”.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38688519
|
Quiz of the week's news - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
A weekly quiz of the news, 7 days 7 questions.
|
Magazine
|
It's the weekly news quiz - have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?
If you missed last week's 7 days quiz, try it here
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38679701
|
BBC reporter joins locals in icy river dip - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
| null |
The BBC’s Tom Burridge takes a dip in Kiev's Dnipro frozen river to celebrate Epiphany.
| null |
People in Kiev have been bathing in the frozen Dnipro river to celebrate Epiphany.
It is when Orthodox Christian countries, like Ukraine, mark the baptism of Christ.
The BBC’s Tom Burridge went into the water, which is blessed by local priests.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38685336
|
Italy avalanche aerials show stranded rescuers - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
| null |
Aerial footage reveals the wall of snow blocking rescuers from reaching a hotel engulfed by an avalanche in central Italy.
| null |
Rescuers have struggled to reach the hotel engulfed by an avalanche in central Italy because of heavy snow.
Aerial pictures show scores of rescue vehicles lined up as a snow-plough tries to break through.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38682034
|
Deepika Bhardwaj: The woman who fights for men's rights - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
In India, where crimes against women are rampant, a female activist speaks up for harassed men.
|
India
|
In India, where crimes against women are rampant, a female activist and documentary filmmaker stands out for being a rare voice for abused men. The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi profiles Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj as part of a series on the Asian women likely to make the news in 2017.
India regularly gets hauled over the coals for its shabby treatment of women. And rightly so.
Every 15 minutes a rape is recorded, every five minutes an incident of domestic violence is reported, a bride is killed for dowry every 69 minutes and every year hundreds of thousands of female foetuses are aborted and infant girls are killed, leading to an appallingly skewed gender ratio. Girls and women also have to battle lifelong discrimination, prejudice, violence and neglect.
In a climate like that, 31-year-old Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj knows she sticks out like a sore thumb, but she has some questions that are reasonable enough: "Are men not vulnerable? Do they not face discrimination? Can they not be victims?"
And she goes on to add: "Just as you don't have to be a woman to fight for women, similarly, you don't have to be a man to fight for men. I don't talk about atrocities against women because there are millions who are talking about it."
Protests against the tough anti-dowry law have been growing
Her fight at the moment is against the misuse of Section 498A of the Indian penal code which is a tough anti-dowry law. Ms Bhardwaj is travelling across India, screening Martyrs of Marriage, her first feature-length documentary, in an attempt to persuade the authorities to re-write the law.
India introduced Section 498A in 1983 after a spate of dowry deaths in Delhi and elsewhere in the country. There were daily reports of new brides being burnt to death by their husbands and in-laws and the murders were often passed off as "kitchen accidents". Angry protests by female MPs and activists forced parliament to bring in the law.
"It was a law made with very noble intentions," agrees Ms Bhardwaj. "But a law that was made to save lives, has taken many lives."
Ms Bhardwaj is not alone in her criticism. Over the years, Section 498A has acquired the reputation of being the "most abused law in the history of Indian jurisprudence".
With cases of divorce in India steadily rising, campaigners say that disgruntled women, aided by unscrupulous lawyers, routinely misuse the law to harass their husbands and their relatives.
It has also been questioned by the Supreme Court with one judge describing its misuse as "legal terrorism", warning that it was "intended to be used as a shield and not as an assassin's weapon", and the National Commission for Women expressing concerns over its misuse.
Martyrs of Marriage focuses on the abuse of the anti-dowry law
As the law prescribes the immediate arrest of those named in a complaint, 2.7 million people, including 650,000 women and 7,700 children, were arrested between 1998 and 2015. The accused in some of the cases were as young as two years old and, in a particularly bizarre case, a two-month-old baby was hauled into a police station.
Perturbed by such reports, in July 2014, the Supreme Court ordered the police to follow a nine-point checklist before arresting anyone on a dowry complaint.
Ms Bhardwaj, a former journalist, says she began researching the subject in 2012 after "a very personal experience".
"In 2011, a cousin's marriage fell apart within three months and his wife accused him and our entire family of beating her and demanding dowry from her. She filed a false case against us. I was also named as an accused, as someone who beat her and tortured her regularly," she says.
Ms Bhardwaj says her family paid "a large sum of money" to buy peace, but "even though the case got over, I was not at peace".
"The law has become a tool for extreme blackmail and extortion," she says.
Avadhesh Yadav's parents are unable to come to terms with the loss of their son
Her research took her to police stations and courts, and put her in touch with the Save Indian Family, an NGO fighting for the rights of wronged men.
The documentary, which took four years to complete, has powerful first-person accounts from men who have been falsely accused under the anti-dowry law - from husbands who spent years in jail only to be acquitted later by courts; from the parents of young men who killed themselves unable to bear the harassment and ignominy of being labelled wife-abusers; a tearful video message from a husband recorded minutes before he hanged himself; and a suicide note from a young banker questioning the "one-sided law".
We also hear from a retired Delhi high court judge who says the law is often "used as a leverage to settle scores"; a former Indian law minister who admits to the failure of governments to deal with the "abuse of this law"; one women's rights activist who believes the law must be amended; while a second insists that "cases of misuse are few" and the law must remain unchanged to protect women from dowry abuse.
Ms Bhardwaj, however, insists that laws must be gender neutral.
"You cannot deny it saying the number of such cases is small. In the past few years, thousands of people have reached out to me for help and I've referred them to the Save Indian Family. In Delhi, I'm told that 24% of calls to women's helplines are from men in distress. Lives are being destroyed. People are killing themselves."
She now wants to organise a screening of Martyrs of Marriage for Indian MPs.
"I have shown the documentary to judges, police officials and magistrates, activists and general public, men and women impacted by the law. I have received a tremendous response from the viewers. Now I want to take it to the parliament, to lobby for a change in the law to stop its misuse."
Retired Delhi judge SN Dhingra says the anti-dowry law is often used to settle scores
In recent months, Ms Bhardwaj has also been speaking out against false rape cases. After the December 2012 gang rape of a young woman on a bus in the Indian capital, Delhi, and her subsequent death, India introduced Section 376, a tough new anti-rape law.
Since then, there has been a surge in the registration of rape cases, amid reports from courts that many are filed by women after a consensual relationship has gone sour or to settle other disputes.
Judges across India have warned against its misuse and the Delhi Commission for Women has said that 53.2% of the rape cases filed between April 2013 and July 2014 were found to be false.
India's Supreme Court has also questioned the abuse of the anti-dowry law by some women
Ms Bhardwaj, too, has often taken to social media to speak up for men accused in false cases, attracting a severe backlash - she regularly gets trolled on social media, feminists and women's rights activists accuse her of bias, she's been called a "pimp for rapists" and is berated for her "love for rapists".
Even her two-year-old niece has been dragged into the sordid debate by internet trolls who claim to feel sorry for the toddler "for having an aunt like her".
But Ms Bhardwaj remains unfazed. "Some feminists say it's politically incorrect for me to fight for men, but I want justice for everyone, regardless of their gender. My work is not against women. My work is against injustice."
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-38647822
|
Pies & defeats - sport quiz of the week - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-20
| null |
What hospitality did Plymouth provide to Klopp? Who ended Real Madrid's unbeaten run? Test yourself with BBC Sport and A Question of Sport's weekly quiz.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Sport
After a winter break the BBC Sport and A Question of Sport's weekly quiz is back - have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world of sport in the past week?
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/38692152
|
Netflix's gamble pays off as subscriptions soar - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Netflix's choice to bin old films and shows in favour of ploughing money into original content is, for now at least, reaping rewards.
|
Technology
|
Netflix took a decision to invest in original content
Hundreds of movies disappeared from Netflix over 2016, the result of the streaming service’s decision to end several key content deals with top studios and distributors.
It was a brave move - particularly given that its main rivals, such as Hulu, jumped at the chance to take on some of those titles Netflix decided it no longer wanted.
The reason for the cull? Original content.
Netflix was being bold - its aspirations were no longer to be your on-demand DVD collection, but instead the place where you discovered and consumed new and exclusive shows.
So rather than pay money out to studios for the right to show existing content, it instead ploughed its cash into shows such as Stranger Things, The Crown, Luke Cage and the remake of Gilmore Girls.
In 2016, those “Netflix Originals” - already a term you could argue has become synonymous with quality - came thick and fast.
The firm said it produced 600 hours of original programming last year - and intends to raise that to about 1,000 hours in 2017. Its budget to achieve that is $6bn (£4.9bn) - a billion more than last year.
On Wednesday we learned the company has been rewarded handsomely for putting its eggs in the original content basket. After hours trading on Wednesday saw the company’s stock rise by as much as 9% on the news it had added 7.05 million new subscribers in the last three months of 2016.
That’s far greater than the 5.2 million they had anticipated, and left them ending the year with 93.8 million subscribers in total - and an expectation of breaking the symbolic 100 million mark by the end of March.
The kids of Stranger Things become overnight superstars - and helped earn Netflix millions
In all, 2016 saw Netflix take in $8.83bn (£7.1bn) in revenue - with a profit of $186.7m (£151.6m).
All looking good, then - but there’s still work to do.
In a letter to shareholders, Netflix underlined, as it is obliged to do, the potential risks to its success going forward - chiefly globalisation and competition.
While international expansion has been rapid, with the majority of the new sign-ups are coming from outside of the US, it will require a lot of expenditure for Netflix to dominate with original content in the 189 other countries it serves.
It has put some of its budget into non-English language shows, such as “3%”, a Portuguese sci-fi series. Intriguingly, Netflix noted that many English viewers opted to watch the dubbed version, providing an unexpected added audience.
Still, when local TV players kick into action and give up so-called linear TV - episodes once a week, and so on - in favour of Netflix’s model there’s a chance the company’s head start could be clawed back.
The company notes that the BBC became the first “major linear network” to push into a “binge-first” strategy, and it expects American network HBO to follow suit pretty soon.
The company also took a somewhat unusual political step in its earnings, drawing attention to the ongoing debate over so-called net neutrality.
Net neutrality is the concept that all data traffic on the internet is treated equally - and that internet service providers (ISPs) cannot, for example, charge extra for data-heavy services like video streaming.
The cost could be passed on to either companies like Netflix or the consumer - but is currently not allowed. However, there are concerns the incoming Trump administration may abolish the current laws that ensure net neutrality.
Netflix said any weakening of net neutrality laws would not affect its business in any significant way, but stressed, as many advocates have done, that it would hinder competition across the board.
“Strong net neutrality is important to support innovation and smaller firms,” the company wrote.
"No one wants ISPs to decide what new and potentially disruptive services can operate over their networks, or to favour one service over another. We hope the new US administration and Congress will recognise that keeping the network neutral drives job growth and innovation.”
Finally, Netflix reiterated its reluctance to get into the business of broadcasting live sport - something the company argued was the last real incentive for someone to have a traditional cable or satellite subscription.
My hunch there is that it’s biding its time.
Netflix boss Reid Hastings said his company was not interested in going after sports rights
Right now, sports rights - even for just one market - cost astronomical amounts of cash.
But if big cable firms continue to be weakened by the likes of Netflix, their spending power will decrease. At which point the new players could see the prospect of getting a far better deal than if they were to go after it today.
What Netflix has made clear is that it’s no longer content with signing up content to show only in select markets, it’s instead focusing on deals that can be shown in every country.
How much would global rights to the Premier League be worth, I wonder?
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC and on Facebook
• None Netflix to allow TV and movie downloads
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38672837
|
Martin McGuinness: In pictures - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
A look at the career of Martin McGuinness in pictures.
|
Northern Ireland
|
Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness are pictured after being sworn in as first and deputy first ministers of the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007 - they were later to be dubbed the 'Chuckle Brothers'
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38681038
|
Trump and Obama: Two characters in search of a legacy - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Will Barack Obama's legacy rest on that of Donald Trump?
|
US & Canada
|
So the pendulum swings again. They are polar opposites, inversions, thesis and antithesis, from the skinny kid with the funny name to the old guy with the funny hair, chalk to his cheese. It says a lot about the Disunited States of America that two such different brands are its best-selling political products.
In his final week, President Barack Obama's many admirers are determined to behave with the brittle exaggerated optimism of mourners at a wake, determined to celebrate the achievements of a dear friend, rather than wail over his absence. They may even convince you it is hope that makes their eyes glisten so brightly.
Their love - not too strong a word - for this man they mourn begs the question: "What achievements, what legacy?"
And in what way did he fail? For Democrats can blame turnout, blame Twitter, blame Hillary Clinton, blame fake news, but surely the failure of his party to get a third term in the White House was in some sense Mr Obama's responsibility? As he said, his name wasn't on the ballot, but his achievements were.
This goes to the heart of a question about character: his, Donald Trump's, most importantly their country's sense of self.
President Obama often appeared to be deep in thought
From the moment of his first victory in 2008, President Obama was pinned in place by America's horrible history.
Even extraordinary actions would struggle to escape the orbit of the mundane, buried under the weight of that primary achievement.
The first line in the encyclopaedias would always be: "The USA's first black president." So it has come to pass.
But few, eight years ago, expected him to be followed into the White House by someone who is in every respect his opposite.
You could argue President Obama has no legacy, the achievements of eight years already lie shredded by the election of Donald Trump.
Mr Trump has indeed promised to undo Obamacare, the Iran deal, the Paris climate change deal, new environmental rules and regulations and much else that he has derided as "horrible".
But we can't really judge Mr Obama's legacy until we know how profoundly it will be undone.
How history sees Barack Obama depends on Mr Trump, in more ways than one.
Because this is about character, charisma and storytelling.
For a masterful writer, for a man who quite literally wrote his own tale long before others could define him, it is sobering the way Mr Obama lost control of the narrative in the White House.
What were seen as positive qualities, a relief and a reaction after George W Bush, looked less favourable to some as time went on.
Thoughtfulness seemed like dithering, eloquence became loquaciousness, "no drama Obama" wasn't the soap opera some in the American public craved.
Mind you, there was no massive switch thrown where most of America changed its mind.
The votes involved were comparatively few: this is still the old story of two Americas, as different as Donald Trump and Barack Obama.
Mr Obama is cool, Mr Trump is hot. Indeed, Mr Obama is cool when Mr Trump is not. He's deliberative, Mr Trump is instinctive. Mr Trump is angry where Mr Obama is preternaturally calm.
Donald Trump's inauguration takes place against the backdrop of a divided US
One suspects Mr Obama walking alone in the Rose Garden conducts several inner monologues at once, we know Mr Trump blasts out his first thoughts in 140 characters on Twitter.
Mr Trump would eat crocodiles and drink vinegar while Obama soliloquises on maybes and might-have-beens.
If US politics was a Western, Mr Obama would be the magical preacher, mystically advocating collective action, Mr Trump would be charismatic snake oil salesman, shouting from the side of the wagon, captivating, infuriating and embodying a certain sort of frustration.
We don't know whether, when the black hats ride into town, he'll surprise us all with heroic feats, or be discovered cowering under the saloon counter.
But Mr Trump is already much closer than Mr Obama to an American archetype - the boaster -bumptious, self-confident, quick to anger, but with a confidence and optimism in his own abilities, which respect no horizons.
What is attention-grabbing is when the horizons have to buckle and broaden and widen in the face of that force of will.
Mr Trump is the embodiment of the sort of America who shocks Europeans: brash and vulgar and unsophisticated.
Many in the US, particularly on the coasts and in the cities, share that horror.
But the truth is this is a deeply divided country.
Mr Trump speaks for those other Americans who felt Mr Obama never did.
When Mr Obama says: "The great American hero - Lincoln - could see the fundamental contradictions of the American experiment clearly," they can't.
They didn't want empathy towards other cultures and religions.
They didn't want, in the end, cool.
They want righteous fury and clear promises to do something dramatic to make it stop hurting - whatever "it" is.
Two Americas face each other, watching their new president.
These are an optimistic people, and he is, after all, not a passing politician but their head of state, the person who embodies their country.
Even those who want him to fail, want their country to succeed.
In mining country, in West Virginia, I was struck by those who had hope for a new future under a new president.
Not faith, not trust, but hope, some what shop-soiled and held together with gaffer tape, but hope nonetheless.
That, at least, is similar to 2008.
But what the first line of Mr Trump's biography says is not defined from the first day.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38663825
|
US President Donald Trump sworn in - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
| null |
Donald Trump is sworn in as US president in Washington DC.
| null |
Donald Trump is sworn in as US president in Washington DC.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38696960
|
Mild panic greets Trump digital transition - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
As Obama moves out the White House, he today also gives up key online real estate - a move already creating controversy.
|
Technology
|
President Trump's first tweet on the @POTUS account showed this image
Much is written about the Herculean effort to move one family out of the White House and a new family in within the space of just a few hours.
But in our modern age, the digital moving trucks must also roar into action, as prime presidential online real estate gets a makeover, and eight years of President Obama's social media chat is confined to the national archives.
Let’s start with WhiteHouse.gov, the official website for the President, which as of noon Friday, has a brand new look - and has already provoked mild panic.
Many noted that pages about climate change were swiftly deleted. So too were pages about LGBT rights and various science policies.
But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Pages about everything were deleted as what was essentially Obama’s homepage was replaced with Trump’s.
That means posts about any former policy positions no longer exist on the White House website if you follow the original links.
So while the web address pointing to the White House’s position on climate change no longer works, the same can be said about Obama’s pages relating to the economy. Unpredictable as he is, no-one is suggesting Donald Trump is about to describe “money” as a hoax.
That said, on the new whitehouse.gov, a search for “military” will yield 154 results. “Climate change”? None.
Nervous internet sleuths have found one reference to climate change, a promise to lift the "harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the US rules".
Make of that what you will. People on Twitter certainly are.
Also wiped clean was the White House's petition website. On Friday, by 4pm in DC, only two petitions were posted on the site. The first demanded the release of the President's tax returns. The other demanded he put his businesses in a blind trust. If either petition gets 100,000 signatures, the White House has to provide a response - at least, that was the rule the previous administration set itself.
Trump reportedly gave up his cell phone upon assuming the presidency
Speaking of which, it’s all change on Twitter too.
From today @POTUS - President of the United States - has been taken over by the Trump team. All previous tweets from Obama’s team - and Obama himself - have been deleted from that account, but archived under @POTUS44. The 44 relating of course to the fact Obama was the 44th US President.
The tweets were not, as a smattering of people blurted out, “deleted by Trump” once he had control of the account.
Twitter removed them - and that's because scrubbing the account of Obama’s tweets is a smart move for everyone involved. Had Twitter left the old tweets in place you’ll find yourself seeing people retweeting Obama’s words but with Trump’s identity attached, a recipe for misinformation disaster.
Trump’s first tweet on @POTUS posted a picture and a link to his inaugural address - the full text of which was posted on Facebook. Is Trump having a change of heart over his social network of choice?
Maybe. Facebook certainly offers the chance to speak more clearly at length, and, as the leader of the free world, it would be more useful to post to an audience of almost two billion rather than Twitter’s rather limited 300m.
We won’t know for sure until about 3am, DC time, tomorrow morning. Everyone will be surely waiting for those twilight hours to see if the President springs back into life posting his thoughts on his own personal account, @realDonaldTrump.
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC and on Facebook
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38699809
|
Tight security for El Chapo extradition - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
| null |
Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been extradited to the US under tight security.
| null |
Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been extradited to the US, the Mexican government announced on Thursday.
He arrived in New York on a flight from Ciudad Juarez under tight security and is expected to appear in a US federal court in Brooklyn on Friday.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38688523
|
Eddie Jones: England lack leaders because modern players are too 'sheltered' - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-20
| null |
England head coach Eddie Jones believes modern players are too 'sheltered' - causing a potential leadership drought in the national team in future.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Eddie Jones believes England lack leadership figures because of the "sheltered" nature of modern sport.
Jones says his squad has a "small and good group", but need to develop more if they are to win the World Cup in 2019.
"We need to get eight or nine guys who are consistently leaders, and we don't have that at the moment," Jones said.
"We need eight or nine to be a World Cup-winning side, and that's what we are aiming to be."
He added to BBC Radio 5 live: "I think it's a reality of the way society is - every sport faces the same problems.
"Nowadays guys don't go to university, they don't go out and work, they are in more sheltered environments such as academies."
And Jones says the England coaches are working to try to develop more figures who could potentially lead the side.
"We have a number of players now who have started individual leadership plans," Jones added. "We will see those players develop over the next period of time."
Having skippered England to an unbeaten year in 2016, hooker Dylan Hartley will again captain the side in the Six Nations - fitness-permitting - with Jones highlighting playmaker Owen Farrell as a likely replacement should he be unavailable.
"Owen makes sure the standards are kept high, as does [fly-half] George Ford," Jones said. "Certainly if Dylan wasn't ready Owen could be a very strong candidate."
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38692947
|
CIA fears about 1980s Labour 'threat' revealed - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Newly accessible records reveal CIA concerns about the strength of Labour's left wing in the 1980s.
|
UK Politics
|
Denis Healey was accused in the papers of attacking US policies
The Labour Party is "in the hands of urban leftists given to ideological extremes with only fringe appeal".
That isn't an assertion about today's politics. It was the verdict of the US Central Intelligence Agency on Labour back in 1985, in a memo for the agency's director on the early phase of Neil Kinnock's leadership.
This memo is one of millions of the CIA's historical records which have just been made available online. Previously researchers had to actually visit the US National Archives in Maryland in order to access this database of declassified documents.
The records reveal the deep level of concern inside the CIA about the strength of the Left within Labour in the early 1980s, a political force which the agency regarded as anti-American.
A report written in the run-up to the 1983 general election states that "a Labor majority government would represent the greatest threat to US interests".
The agency was particularly worried by Labour's then policy of opposition to nuclear weapons, which included cancelling plans for the Trident submarine programme.
This report was especially scathing about leading figures on the traditionally pro-nuclear Labour right who had compromised with this stance.
It said that "most disheartening from the viewpoint of US interests" was the position of the party's deputy leader, Denis Healey.
The CIA documents released contain two references to Jeremy Corbyn - then a backbench Labour MP
It reported that he still had ambitions to lead the party and as a result "he apparently has decided to appease the left by attacking US arms control policy, denouncing Trident, and denying he ever supported the NATO INF [Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces] program".
The report added that the growing power of the Left meant that "even moderates like Healey have been forced to ape anti-American rhetoric".
Entitled "The British Labor Party: Caught between Ideology and Reality", the document is a detailed account of the balance of power between left and right in the party and trade unions, as seen by the CIA.
It also records that leading Labour politicians had told US officials they did not take all of the party's policy programme seriously.
The CIA was also concerned by what it saw as Europe's large centre-left and socialist parties (including Labour) being too sympathetic to the Soviet Union.
One 1982 report concluded "We have long contended that Moscow's most effective allies in Western Europe are not the Communist Parties, but self-styled Social Democrats who have betrayed the original tenets of social democracy."
Another newly accessible document is a record of a 1981 meeting between delegations led by the US Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger and Margaret Thatcher, who was on a prime ministerial visit to Washington.
The meeting discussed the controversial American plans for an Enhanced Radiation Weapon (ERW), more commonly known as the "neutron bomb", a weapon which was said to be able to kill very large numbers of people while leaving buildings standing.
Also present at the meeting was Mrs Thatcher's Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, who told the Americans that "it is considered unsporting in Europe for a weapon to kill people only".
The database contains just two references to the current Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn. One noted his support in 1986 for an El Salvadoran trade union federation, Fenastras, which was linked to Marxist guerrillas during the country's civil war, while the Americans backed the military government.
This is just a small immediate selection from millions of pages covering a wide range of American and international issues which reveal the CIA's analyses and preoccupations in the past. Records relating to more recent events have not yet been declassified.
The CIA's decision to make all these documents searchable and accessible followed a legal case brought by MuckRock, a US organisation that promotes access to public records.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38677632
|
Six Nations 2017: England include Mike Williams, Nathan Catt and Alex Lozowski - BBC Sport
|
2017-01-20
| null |
Defending champions England name three uncapped players in their Six Nations squad, and also recall Maro Itoje and James Haskell after injury.
| null |
Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
England have named three uncapped players in their Six Nations squad.
Back rower Mike Williams, prop Nathan Catt and versatile back Alex Lozowski are the uncapped trio, while prop Ellis Genge, 21, is also in the 34-man squad.
Flanker James Haskell, lock Maro Itoje, winger Anthony Watson, back rower Jack Clifford and winger Jack Nowell all return for the champions after injury.
"We are looking forward to being daring in our [first] game against France on 4 February," said head coach Eddie Jones.
England are without a number of players through injury, including both Mako and Billy Vunipola and former captain Chris Robshaw.
Of those players in the squad, the likes of Haskell, Anthony Watson, Joe Launchbury and George Kruis have either just returned from injuries or are still fighting their way back to full fitness.
The experienced Tom Wood retains his place after a fine November series, while lock Charlie Ewels, prop Kyle Sinckler and hooker Tommy Taylor have just a handful of caps between them.
England go into the tournament as defending champions having won the Grand Slam in 2016, and on the back of a 14-game winning streak, equalling the record set by Sir Clive Woodward's side in the build-up to the 2003 World Cup.
"This time last year I said the long-term strategy for England is to develop a side who can be the most dominant team in world rugby," added Jones.
"Obviously I've been pleased with how the team's progressing, but there's still plenty to improve on.
"At the start of last year's Six Nations I probably didn't realise the enormity of the tournament and how intense the rivalry is between the countries, so this year we'll be better prepared for it."
Jones said Catt, Williams and Lozowski are "all guys who have great physical capabilities", adding: "With a number of injuries to some key players it's a great opportunity for them."
And he praised his returning big names who missed the autumn Tests because of injury, saying he was "looking forward to those guys coming in and challenging for a spot and adding strength".
He continued: "Maro Itoje has done well for his club [Saracens] as has Jack Nowell [Exeter]. James Haskell was magnificent for England last year and is a fierce player. Anthony Watson has been a fine player for England and is one the most prolific try scorers for the number of Tests he has played."
Jones has also added visual awareness coach Dr Sherylle Calder to his coaching team.
Calder, part of Woodward's back-up staff, will work with the team on a consultancy basis.
After constantly throwing selectorial curve balls over the past year, this is by far Eddie Jones' most predictable squad yet.
With Mako Vunipola ruled out and Joe Marler struggling, Jones has named four loose-head props, including uncapped Nathan Catt and Leicester tyro Ellis Genge.
And while there are injury absentees - notably the Vunipolas and Chris Robshaw - key players such as Maro Itoje and Jack Nowell return.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38689099
|
Fewer beds, higher patient demand - NHS pressure mounts - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Was the NHS right to reduce bed numbers at time of unprecedented demand for its services?
|
Health
|
With many hospitals close to full in these difficult winter weeks, there has been much debate about the resources available in the health service.
Patient demand is rising faster than the budget increases allocated to the NHS in England.
Yet the number of hospital bed numbers has fallen steadily in recent years. So what is going on?
The total number of overnight hospital beds in England fell from 144,455 at the start of the 2010/11 financial year to 129,458 in the middle of 2016 (the last recorded figures). The number of day beds over that period increased from 11,783 to 12,480.
Looking further back into history reveals a sharper rate of decline.
That current figure of overnight beds compares with almost 300,000 in 1987-88 according to figures from the Nuffield Trust.
There was a steep fall in the late 1980s and early 1990s, then a more static position between 2000 and 2005 and then a resumption of the downward curve.
The fall in bed numbers coincided with big changes in patterns of care.
Institutionalised mental health treatment gave way to more care in a patient's local community so fewer beds were needed.
Elderly care medicine changed too, with more older patients cared for closer to home.
Medical advances meant that more patients could be treated as day cases.
Average stays in hospitals for those needing overnight beds have fallen. There was a similar trend in other healthcare systems.
As bed numbers fell in England, occupancy rates did not shoot up. This suggests that the health service has been more efficient with its care and dealing with more cases outside hospitals.
Over the first three months of 2016 in England, 89% of beds were occupied on average compared to 86.6% over the same period in 2011.
But has the system reached a tipping point? Hospital bed occupancy rates have crept up to 95% in the first weeks of 2017.
Trust chiefs have reported days when they have been literally full with a new patient admitted only when one has been discharged.
Back in October 2014, a Nuffield Trust report noted that pressures were immense with demographic change and an ageing population the most significant drivers.
"Our analysis shows that if admission rates continue to rise, the NHS will need an additional 6.2m 'bed days' by 2022 - which equates to 22 hospitals with 800 beds each," it said.
Nuffield went on to say that building new hospitals was not the answer and that curbing demand had to be part of the solution along with more joined up health and social care to keep people out of hospital where possible.
That was their prognosis in 2014. Two-and-a-half years on there have been no obvious signs of progress.
The drive for efficiency savings will continue but the calls for more investment in the NHS have become louder.
The Chief Inspector of Hospitals in England, Sir Mike Richards, told the BBC this week that he was "very concerned" about the degree of strain experienced by hospitals.
He continued by saying "I believe the government will need to put more money into the NHS" - though he added it was important the money was spent "wisely".
The budget watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) argued this week that it was inevitable that health spending would rise because of demographic factors and the advance of medical technology.
The OBR said health spending could rise from 6.9% of economic activity (GDP) in 2021 to 12.6% in 2066.
The watchdog noted this could put great strain on public finances unless governments raised taxes or cut spending elsewhere.
Ministers argue they have given the NHS in England above inflation increases in funding through till 2020.
They also say that progress is being made at local level in joining up health and social care.
But the demands for more money will continue, including from some on the Conservative benches in the Commons.
And questions will be asked about the wisdom of reducing bed numbers and whether that can be reversed.
Have you used NHS services in 2017? What was your experience? Email your comments to [email protected]
Or you can contact us in the following ways:
SMS/MMS: 61124 or if you are outside of the UK +44 7624 800 100
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38681383
|
Desert Island Discs at 75: David Beckham is anniversary show castaway - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
David Beckham chooses his favourite eight songs for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, as it celebrates turning 75.
|
Entertainment & Arts
|
Beckham told Kirsty Young music was a big part of his life
Former England captain David Beckham is being cast away for the 75th birthday celebrations of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs next weekend.
More than 3,000 guests have been on the show since it was first broadcast on 29 January 1942.
Presenter Kirsty Young said having Beckham choosing his favourite tracks for the anniversary show was "the perfect gift".
Beckham, 41, said music has been a "huge" part of his family's life.
He is married to former Spice Girl singer turned fashion designer Victoria Beckham and the couple's youngest son Cruz, 11, released a Christmas-themed single last month.
It is not yet known if he has picked any of his wife's hits with the pop group, or any of her solo endeavours.
Beckham said: "I'm delighted to join Desert Island Discs for its 75th anniversary celebrations.
"Music has been a huge part of my - and my family's - life and it is a real pleasure to highlight that on such an iconic programme."
Young said of her guest: "His sporting legacy is of course extraordinary. And along with his charisma, cultural impact and humanitarian work, he is a modern man of many parts.
"He'll be a fascinating guest to welcome on to my little interview island."
Desert Island Discs' anniversary will be marked with a three-hour programme on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 28 January, presented by Young, featuring some of the guests from past shows.
They include Cilla Black, talking about her early career singing with The Beatles, and Richard Dimbleby, discussing taking a cutlery set from Hitler's bunker after being one of the first correspondents to visit it after the dictator's death.
Extracts from recently rediscovered episodes that are being added to the show's online archive will also feature.
The show featuring Beckham will reintroduce the sound of the sea to the opening and closing of the programme for the first time since the 1960s.
BBC Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra controller Gwyneth Williams said: "A sure way to uncover an elusive British national identity is to listen to this programme week after week.
"The broad range of guests is a measure of contemporary talent and achievement, and the music opens up different eras and prompts emotional memory in all of us."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38678970
|
Putin spokesman denies US election hack - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
| null |
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman denies any Russian government involvement in hacking to influence the 2016 US election result.
| null |
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has told the BBC that neither the Russian government nor the president himself were involved in hacking to influence the 2016 US election result.
Speaking exclusively to Hardtalk, Dmitry Peskov added that Russia suffered “hundreds and thousands of cyberattacks every day” emanating from the West.
The full Hardtalk interview is running on the BBC News Channel on Saturday 21 January at 0030 and 1530 GMT and Sunday 22 January 1630 GMT. It will also be on BBC World News on Saturday 21 January at 0730 and 1630 GMT and Sunday 22 January 2030 GMT.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38684643
|
Meet the mum with quadruplet toddlers - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Meet the mum to quadruplets who went viral after sharing a video that 'sums up motherhood'.
|
Education & Family
|
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ashley and Tyson Gardner had two sets of identical twins by IVF
What is it like being the mother of quadruplets?
Utah couple Ashley and Tyson Gardner had struggled to conceive for eight years, but they eventually had two sets of identical twin girls by IVF treatment.
A photo of Ashley holding the ultrasound scans had already attracted huge attention online so shortly after the girls' second birthday, she posted a video on YouTube, that went viral, to show what her everyday life is like.
The film, suitably called "Sums up motherhood in 34 seconds", shows Ashley having a brief break from the constant job of looking after her children by sneaking into in the pantry and treating herself to a stick of red liquorice.
"They don't ever go away. They want everything you have," she says in the video and to prove her point, after only a few seconds, one of her daughters peeks under the door and calls out to her.
The couple have a large social media following and their pages are littered with photos of smiling babies, but when they were told they were going to have four children at once, they did not know what to think.
"When we first found out we were having quadruplets, it was pure terror and pure joy at the same time," Ashley explained.
"The doctors said we only had a 40% chance of having one baby, so to have all four to come at once was a huge blessing and a huge miracle.
"The odds of both eggs splitting are literally one in a million.
"But I didn't know anyone who'd had quadruplets. I didn't know if it was physically possible for a woman, I knew nothing about it.
"I had vertigo and morning sickness for the first 16 weeks. I couldn't eat anything and I lost 20 pounds in my first trimester.
"My body hurt, my bones hurt and my hips would dislocate every time I rolled over."
In order to support the family, the couple run four businesses from home.
"We work when the girls are asleep - during their naptime and then after they go to bed, until one or two in the morning, every single night.
"It's really helpful we both work from home, because every other morning one of us takes the girls and the other gets to sleep in.
"Having quads was expensive in the first months.
"They were on a high-calorie formula that cost $25 (£20) a can and needed lots of nappies."
The couple's social media fans helped to ease the expense.
"My heart was truly touched by the amount of nappies and baby outfits that turned up by our door when they were born," she said.
"There really are amazing, kind, good people out there and I'm so grateful to those who follow our story and love these babies."
Ashley and Tyson regularly blog and vlog about their children's progress.
"When my pregnancy announcement went viral, so many people prayed for me and my babies. Now I feel it's my duty to show these people what they prayed for," she explained.
Ashley insists that she goes about her daily life "like anybody else, it just takes a bit longer".
"We do everything times four. We take them shopping with us and load them into the car several times a day.
"Just because there are four of them, we can't let that stop us living our lives. We don't just stay at home."
Ashley described the "special relationship" that the toddlers share.
"There are four of them and they work together to conspire against you, which is really funny. They're definitely tearing the house down.
"Each set of twins has their 'own language' and talk to each other.
"If one girl steals a toy from another one, her twin will steal it back for her. They protect one another."
At times, the quads can be overwhelming for Ashley and Tyson.
"We're first time parents and we're learning as we go like anyone else. There are definitely anxieties.
"Not many people have raised four toddlers at the same time so you're kind of on your own.
"I feel like we're doing a good job. Just the fact that there's four of them and they're all healthy and happy and growing and thriving is an amazing miracle to science and to God."
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-38690621
|
Bake Off: Angus Deayton to present Creme de la Creme - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Angus Deayton will take over from chef Tom Kerridge as host of the Bake Off spin-off.
|
Entertainment & Arts
|
Deayton previously hosted Have I Got News For You
Angus Deayton is to host Great British Bake Off spin-off Creme de la Creme.
The show, for professional pastry chefs, is staying on the BBC despite the main show moving from BBC One to Channel 4.
The first series, broadcast on BBC Two in 2016, was hosted by chef Tom Kerridge.
Deayton is best known as a former presenter of topical quiz Have I Got News For You. He was sacked from the show in 2002.
The show will see 10 teams of chefs competing in tasks to make perfect pastries and spectacular showpieces.
Deayton will be joined on the Love Productions show by judges Benoit Blin, chef patissier at Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire, and Cherish Finden, executive pastry chef at The Langham, London.
Tom Kerridge had taken on presenting duties for the debut series
Love Productions' executive producer Kieran Smith said: "We're delighted Angus has taken up the baton to host the new series.
"His distinct humour and presenting style brings a fresh dynamic to the show."
The show will return to BBC Two later this year.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
• None Bake Off format 'to stay the same'
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38688912
|
From bombs to bytes: How Beirut's tech scene is thriving - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Lebanon's capital Beirut has had a troubled past, but it's now becoming the Middle East's tech hub.
|
Business
|
Hookah pipe smoking is an integral part of Lebanese culture
One of the most familiar sights in the Middle East is of local citizens gathering in cafes smoking hookah pipes as they drink coffee strong enough to knock out an Arabian horse.
But in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, such traditional pastimes are being given a hi-tech twist.
Not only is the city as hip and cool as any city in the West, Lebanese technology is even changing the nature of the hookah pipe.
Finding the ideal tobacco flavour in the bowl at the right temperature is the Holy Grail of hookahs, but a start-up called Nara - Arabic for flame - is solving this with the first "internet of things" hookah pipe.
Compact fast-lighting spheres of charcoal are supplemented by a dense battery and internet-connected sensors that measure air flow, moisture and temperature - all vital elements for a perfect smoke.
Beirut, as seen from Zaitunay Bay, looks a lot more prosperous and peaceful these days
Nara does its best to keep everything in the bowl perfectly balanced. And the collected data can be used by cafe owners to prepare a personal mix for returning customers.
With more than 500 million people across the region enjoying a daily hookah pipe, this is one of several innovations that the Beirut start-up ecosystem is beginning to create.
Nara is the brainchild of Lebanese-born Fady Isshak, Joe Zoghzoghy, and Mark Haidar - the latter now a highly successful US-based entrepreneur.
But Mr Haidar's start in life was far less auspicious.
Raised in a "mixed" South Lebanese refugee area of Bedouins, Palestinians and other displaced peoples, Mr Haidar created his first product, a smart chair, when he was 17 and without the use of electricity.
Mark Haidar made his money in the US but is now investing in his home country, Lebanon
Smart and ambitious, he left Beirut when he was 23. Four days later he had received his US visa, after charming the interviewer by saying he'd learned English by watching the "two best documentaries on America": The Simpsons and Seinfeld.
The reason for his swift departure was the beginning of the 2006 war.
His father ordered him to get out of Beirut and gave his son the family's life savings of $2,200 (£1,785), asking only for him to leave "$300 for food".
Mr Haidar took his chance, managed to get to the border, and like many refugees after him, travelled through Syria, Turkey and Germany before finally flying to the US and getting a job in a Detroit petrol station.
The rest was another example of the American Dream come true. His companies include Silvr, a payments company, and Dialexa, a technology and product development firm.
While Mr Haidar has invested in a Beirut start-up as part of Lebanon's diaspora, several other companies are starting life in the city itself. And smoking seems to be a key theme.
Samer El Gharib founded Slighter, a smart cigarette lighter that helps smokers quit gradually. The lighter records the user's smoking habits in the first week that they use the device and then sends them notification of times they are allowed to smoke - one of several steps on the way to giving up completely.
The Slighter smart lighter and app aims to help people quit smoking
Another (non-smoking) Lebanese start-up is Play My Way, an educational way to stop children spending too much time on their smartphones and tablets.
At parent-specified intervals, Play My Way interrupts any running app with an educational question and will only return to the app once the question is answered.
Of clearly global appeal, last month the app was the third most downloaded app, not in Lebanon, but in the UK.
Other global players in the tech scene are taking an interest in Beirut.
Two months ago, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak made his first visit to the city. He was the keynote speaker at the BDL [Banque du Liban] Accelerate conference in November, one of the 10 biggest tech conferences in the world. Tony Fadell, creator of the iPod and iPhone, also addressed the 25,000-strong audience.
Event organiser Samer Karam was originally a photojournalist in Lebanon, covering all the traumatic events of the region in the early 21st Century. Now, he is probably the most influential tech person across the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region.
Beirut, renowned for its nightlife and cuisine, is also becoming a tech hub
In 2010, he raised $700,000 and founded Seeqnce, one of MENA's first start-up accelerator programmes and whose first two batches of start-ups raised more than $10m.
He regularly advises the Central Bank of Lebanon on best practices in venture capital and was a member of the founding steering committee of Lebanon's $600m start-up fund, BDL Circular 331.
The Lebanese tech sector witnessed significant growth between 2009 and 2014 - the so-called "youth bulge".
Young talented individuals have been able to start companies in their own country, rather than having to move abroad like so many others. There are 15 million Lebanese living in other countries, from Brazil to Melbourne.
The establishment of new incubators and accelerators such as the UK Lebanon Tech Hub - an initiative between the Central Bank of Lebanon and the UK government - is creating jobs, revenues and investment for start-ups.
"We have already seen the ICT sector here take huge strides forward as a result of incentives, such as the introduction of Circular 331," says Colm Reilly, chief executive of UK Lebanon Tech Hub.
"There is huge R&D capability from academia here and if we get this right, Lebanon can become the tech gateway to the Middle East."
While nothing in Beirut is ever certain, at least it is now much easier to find that perfect hookah pipe smoke, thanks to technology.
Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebook
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38663134
|
Johnny Wright: The Instagram star who cuts Michelle Obama's hair - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
| null |
Throughout his time in the White House, Michelle Obama's personal hairdresser has become a flamboyant social media star.
| null |
Johnny Wright has several celebrity clients but perhaps none is as famous as the First Lady.
Throughout his time in the White House, Wright - Michelle Obama's personal hairdresser - has become a flamboyant social media star, with nearly 24,000 Instagram followers.
He admits he's sometimes had to tone down his pics because of his high-profile customer.
As Mrs Obama makes way for Melania Trump, how does Wright think the FLOTUS has changed American style?
You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38666098
|
Turnips pummell Jarramplas at annual Spanish festival - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
| null |
People at a festival in Piornal in Spain throw turnips at a character called Jarramplas, who represents a cattle thief in folklore.
| null |
People at a festival in Piornal in Spain throw turnips at a character called Jarramplas, who represents a cattle thief in folklore.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38688517
|
MH370: Should Malaysia fund new MH370 search? - BBC News
|
2017-01-20
|
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
|
Might the search for missing airliner MH370 resume, and if so who would pay for it?
|
Asia
|
Many distraught relatives have called for the search to continue
The announcement on 17 January that the search for MH370 was being suspended should have surprised no-one.
At the tripartite meeting last July of the three countries involved in the search, Malaysia, Australia and China, they agreed that it would not be continued beyond the current 120,000sq km area (46,332 sq miles) of the southern Indian Ocean, unless there was credible new information showing a specific location for the crashed airliner.
Nonetheless the families of the victims have condemned this requirement for a "precise location", calling it "at best an erroneous expectation, and at worst a clever formulation to bury the search".
They have pointed to a statement in December by the Australian Transport Safety Board, which is leading the search operation, that in view of the drift modelling carried out by the Australian scientific organisation CSIRO for debris from MH370 found along the East African coast, there was "strong evidence that the aircraft is most likely to be located to the north of the current indicative underwater search area".
And with no trace of the airliner found after an exhaustive two-and-a-half-year search, all the experts agree they have been looking in the wrong area.
There were 14 nationalities among the 227 passengers and 12 crew on board the plane
The CSIRO drift models suggest the search should be shifted to a 25,000sq km area immediately north of the existing zone, along the arc that satellite data shows the plane must have travelled. It might require an additional $40-50m to extend the search operation into the new area, on top of the $160m already spent.
But the three governments appear unmoved, sticking rigidly to the formula they agreed last July, although the Australian and Malaysian governments insist cost is not a factor in their decision to stop searching.
However in an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester made the point that any decision to resume the search was "primarily Malaysia's call".
That underlines a problem which has troubled the search operation from the start: who is really responsible?
Back in February 2015 Australia submitted a request to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which regulates international air travel, for clearer guidelines on which country should be responsible for both organising and funding an extended search operation.
Under existing guidelines Australia is responsible for initial search-and-rescue efforts in the vast areas of ocean off its western coast. But once it was clear there would be no survivors, it became a search-and-recovery operation, for which responsibility is not clear.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
The ICAO designates to Malaysia, the flag state of the missing plane, the task of leading the accident investigation, but it is not clear whether that includes running the extended search.
This was important because by 2015 Australia had shouldered most of the financial burden, and people were beginning to complain. After all, the specialised ships and detection equipment used in the search had to be rented from a Dutch salvage company; any of the three countries could have covered this cost.
Only six of the MH370 passengers were Australians, whereas 153 came from China, which has so far contributed relatively little, around $16m, although the ICAO imposes no requirement on it do so. The Malaysian government now says it has contributed a total of $112m, but the official Australian figures suggest it has actually spent less than that.
So why does Malaysia not take the initiative to fund an extended search? The Malaysian Transport Ministry responded to this question with the formula from last July, that all three countries had agreed they first needed indications of a specific location for the crash site, despite that fact that such detailed information in a huge expanse of sea is extremely unlikely to be found.
Pieces probably from the plane have been found as far away as Madagascar
Relatives of the passengers have also criticised the Malaysian authorities for being so slow to request recovered pieces of debris, eight of which are now believed to be almost certainly from the missing airliner.
That debris is important: it has not only helped ascertain a probable alternative location for the plane; it has also helped confirm how the aircraft ended its flight, with Australian investigators concluding that it plunged into the sea, and was not under the control of the pilot.
Malaysia has at times given the impression of being a reluctant lead investigator, happy for Australia to do most of the legwork.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Grace Subathirai Nathan: "I want to know what happened to my mother"
Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas describes Malaysia's approach as "inexcusable and irresponsible. It is their plane, and their responsibility to find out what happened to it. They are walking away from their commitment to international aviation and the flying public".
The Malaysian Ministry of Transport says only that "all decisions with regards to the MH370 search have and will always be in the spirit of tripartite co-operation."
If it is primarily Malaysia's call to restart the search operation, it looks unlikely to make it.
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38676289
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.