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Who will succeed Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness? - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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As Martin McGuinness steps down, who will take over as Sinn Féin's leader in Northern Ireland?
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Northern Ireland
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Sinn Féin's successor as Northern Ireland leader of the party will be announced next week
Former deputy first minister Martin McGuinness has confirmed he will not stand in the Northern Ireland Assembly election.
His successor as Sinn Féin's leader in Northern Ireland will be announced next week.
So who will replace him? Three names are tipped as the most likely contenders - Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Health Minister Michelle O'Neill and MLA and former MP Conor Murphy.
Conor Murphy is a key member of the Sinn Féin negotiating team who has represented the party at the Hillsborough, Leeds Castle and St Andrew's negotiations as well as playing a key role in the Fresh Start agreement negotiated at Stormont House.
Conor Murphy has represented the party at the Hillsborough, Leeds Castle and St Andrew's negotiations
After his election to the assembly in 1998, he was the party's chief whip.
In 2005, he became the first Sinn Féin member to be elected as MP for Newry and Armagh.
Following Mr Murphy's re-election to the assembly in 2007, he was appointed minister for regional development, a position that he held until 2011.
He was criticised for the NI Water crisis as minister during the winter of 2010/11.
In 2012, ahead of a ban on double-jobbing, he left the assembly to concentrate on his role as an MP.
He returned to the Assembly in 2015 when Mickey Brady was elected MP for the constituency. Since re-entering the assembly he has been a member of both the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee and the Public Accounts Committee.
Health Minister Michelle O'Neill has held various senior positions within Sinn Féin.
She has worked in the Assembly since 1998, initially as political adviser to MP and former MLA Francie Molloy, before being elected to Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council in 2005.
As health minister since May 2016, tackling mounting hospital waiting lists has been a huge task for Mrs O'Neill
Mrs O'Neill was elected to the assembly for the Mid Ulster constituency in 2007, sitting on the education committee and serving as Sinn Féin's health spokesperson.
In 2011, she was appointed as minister for agriculture and rural development.
The following year, she announced that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) would move to a former British army barracks in Ballykelly, County Londonderry.
Following the announcement, it came to light that Strabane had been chosen as a more suitable location by an internal DARD assessment, a decision that Mrs O'Neill then overruled.
In February 2013, it was also revealed that the decision had been questioned by the Finance Minister Sammy Wilson.
As health minister since 2016, tackling mounting hospital waiting lists have been a huge task for Mrs O'Neill.
In October, she launched a 10-year plan to transform health service, saying it would improve a system that was at "breaking point".
Opposition politicians questioned the lack of details in the plan, which was not costed.
But it set out a range of priorities, including a new model of care involving a team of professionals based around GP surgeries.
Máirtín Ó Muilleoir has previously been a writer, journalist and publisher of the Belfast Media Group newspapers and the Irish Echo in New York.
Máirtín Ó Muilleoir became finance minister in May 2016
The former west Belfast councillor served as Lord Mayor of Belfast from June 2013-June 2014 and was broadly praised for reaching out to unionists, despite attacks by loyalist protestors.
Mr Ó Muilleoir subsequently stood unsuccessfully as Sinn Féin's candidate for South Belfast in the 2015 Westminster election, but was returned in the Stormont Assembly election of May 2016.
As finance minister, he was the first Sinn Féin minister to hold a major economic brief in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
His role has included leading the implementation of the devolution of corporation tax, due to happen in 2018.
However, he became embroiled in controversy in 2016 when news emerged about a back channel of communication between a Stormont committee chairman and a witness who was giving evidence on the Nama property loan sale.
Mr Ó Muilleoir denied knowledge of alleged coaching of loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson by finance committee chair Daithí McKay before his appearance.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38684941
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Cardiff Uni using jet sensors in osteoarthritis patch - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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Scientists are hoping to create a smart patch which could detect the early onset of osteoarthritis in patients' knees.
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Scientists are hoping to create a smart patch which could detect the early onset of osteoarthritis in patients' knees.
Cardiff University's team uses damage sensors from aircraft wings to catch subsonic cracking sounds in joints before the disease fully develops.
They believe a disposable patch using them could save expensive diagnosis and treatment of advanced osteoarthritis.
Dr Davide Crivelli, of the School of Engineering, explains how it could work.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38660739
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Manchester City 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur - BBC Sport
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2017-01-21
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Tottenham recover from two goals down to snatch a point from Manchester City, as Gabriel Jesus is denied a goal on his debut.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Son Heung-Min earned Tottenham a point in controversial circumstances as they came from two goals down to earn a draw at Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's side, looking to bounce back from a 4-0 loss at Everton, had swept into that commanding advantage courtesy of two uncharacteristic errors from Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris.
France international Lloris headed an attempted clearance straight at Leroy Sane four minutes after half-time to allow the City attacker a simple finish, then dropped Raheem Sterling's routine cross straight at Kevin De Bruyne's feet five minutes later.
Spurs responded swiftly through Dele Alli's header before they were the beneficiaries of a decision that left Guardiola raging and paved the way for the visitors to scramble a point.
Referee Andre Marriner ignored Kyle Walker's push on Sterling as he raced into the area - and seconds later Son swept a low finish past City keeper Claudio Bravo with 13 minutes left.
City pressed for a winner but were frustrated once more when Brazilian teenager Gabriel Jesus, on as for his debut as a substitute for Sterling, saw an effort ruled out for offside.
The result means Man City remain fifth, three points off second-place Tottenham and nine away from leaders Chelsea, who play Hull City on Sunday.
City boss Guardiola will have few complaints about the manner of their performance but they were let down by the familiar failing of a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal.
City played with verve and intensity as they penned Spurs back, but Sergio Aguero was frustrated on several occasions by Lloris, Pablo Zabaleta shot inches wide, Sterling missed that vital opportunity after he was fouled. New boy Jesus also headed inches wide.
Guardiola's animated body language spoke of his frustration - but there was also fury at the key incident - Sterling was shoved by Walker in the area seconds before Spurs attacked for Son to equalise.
He had every right to be angry. City deserved victory and for all the justified criticism aimed in their direction, there was not too much wrong with this performance.
Manchester City's Bravo provided the pre-match narrative with his growing reputation as the goalkeeper who rarely makes a save - but it was the man regarded as one of Europe's finest who was almost the real villain of the piece here.
Bravo was again the goalkeeping bystander as he extended his miserable recent sequence, but Tottenham's Lloris suffered a rare nightmare display and takes responsibility for both City goals.
He should have done better than head a routine long ball against Sane for the opener, while his fumble that led to De Bruyne's second was the sort of work he would normally complete without a second thought.
Bravo was powerless for the Spurs goals - although today's two goals make it 16 from the last 24 attempts on target against him - but Lloris' misfortune was proof of how matches, and the the reputation of even the best goalkeepers, can be decided by the finest margins.
Lloris has saved Spurs on many occasions but today he was saved by his colleagues.
Mauricio Pochettino's side would not put this display anywhere near the top of any list of their best performances this season - but they may come to regard this as a priceless point earned without playing well.
Spurs were over-run for much of the game, unsettled in possession by the pressure applied by City, but showed resilience and determination to get a draw they barely deserved.
They were also grateful for City's generosity in front of goal as they wasted as succession of chances, and to referee Marriner for refusing what appeared to be a clear penalty when Walker shoved Sterling as he raced clear in what proved to be a decisive moment.
Spurs' travelling fans celebrated as if this was a victory at the final whistle. Some days you just take the point and get home - to be able to do that at the home of close rivals will make it taste even sweeter.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola told BBC Sport: "We played good, it was an outstanding performance but it's a pity what happened. All you can do is create and play better and better but it is the same for the whole season. We are upset, sad at what happened but I am so proud about what we did and the players don't deserve that again.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino told BBC Sport: "It was a tough game for both sides. It is true, they were better in the first half and maybe deserved more, it was lucky for us to be 0-0 but in the second half the game was more balanced. We conceded two and it was difficult to come back but they always believed, that is important. It's a massive point for us.
• None Manchester City failed to win a Premier League game they were two or more goals ahead in for the first time since December 2014 against Burnley.
• None Six of Son Heung-min's seven Premier League goals this season have been scored away from home.
• None Dele Alli has scored more Premier League goals this season (11 in 21 games) than he had in the whole of last season (10 in 33).
• None Hugo Lloris made two errors leading to goals in the match - the first goalkeeper to do so in a Premier League match since Joel Robles in May 2016.
Tottenham return to league action on 31 January against Sunderland, after their FA Cup fourth-round tie with Wycombe next Saturday.
Manchester City travel to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup on 28 January before meeting West Ham on 1 February.
• None Offside, Tottenham Hotspur. Moussa Sissoko tries a through ball, but Harry Kane is caught offside.
• None Offside, Manchester City. Leroy Sané tries a through ball, but Sergio Agüero is caught offside.
• None Victor Wanyama (Tottenham Hotspur) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt missed. Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) header from the left side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Aleksandar Kolarov with a cross following a set piece situation.
• None Offside, Manchester City. Kevin De Bruyne tries a through ball, but Gabriel Jesus is caught offside.
• None Attempt missed. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by David Silva.
• None Attempt missed. Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Kevin De Bruyne with a cross. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38620041
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Man City 2-2 Tottenham: Pep Guardiola 'upset' not to win - BBC Sport
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2017-01-21
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praises his side's "outstanding performance" but says he is "upset" they could not beat Tottenham, who came from behind to to draw 2-2 at the Etihad Stadium.
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praises his side's "outstanding performance" but says he is "upset" they could not beat Tottenham, who came from behind to to draw 2-2 at Etihad Stadium.
The Spaniard was unimpressed by the first question he was asked by Match of the Day commentator Guy Mowbray. Three weeks ago, he gave a particularly awkward interview to another BBC reporter, Damian Johnson.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38707859
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T2 Trainspotting: Critics praise film sequel - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Critics broadly praise T2 Trainspotting, but many note it will not have the same impact as the original.
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Entertainment & Arts
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. T2 Trainspotting: What would you choose?
T2 Trainspotting has received broadly positive reviews from critics, although many noted it will not have the same impact as the original.
The sequel to 1996's Trainspotting sees most of the original cast reunited with director Danny Boyle.
Kate Muir of The Times said the film was "like riding a tragi-comic wave".
"The original actors have matured well, and while the lunatic enthusiasm of their youth has disappeared, they give their nuanced all here," she added.
Based on the Irvine Welsh novel Porno, T2 Trainspotting is set in the present day with the main characters now in middle age.
Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle and Ewen Bremner have all reprised their roles for the new film.
Writing in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw said: "Reuniting the cast of Trainspotting for a new adventure 21 years on could have gone badly.
"But Boyle and his four musketeers give it just the right frantic, jaded energy and manic anxiety."
He added that while "T2 isn't as good as T1", it "has the same punchy energy, the same defiant pessimism, and there's nothing around like this".
Danny Boyle (far right) directed both the original Trainspotting and the sequel
Boyle's masterstroke is to tackle the passing of time head-on. Where the characters in the original film were blissfully insouciant about their self-destructive hedonism, they are here all too aware of the cul-de-sacs and dead ends at which they've now arrived.
They are, to quote T2's most striking line, "tourists in their own youth" - a description that applies just as much to the audience member who goes to the film hoping to have the same giddy high they experienced two decades ago.
Overall, is it as good as the original? The answer is no - but it comes pretty darn close.
However, The Scotsman's Alistair Harkness was less positive about the film, awarding it three stars.
"The best that can be said about the new film is that it hasn't completely tarnished the original," he wrote.
"Boyle's frenetic, collage-like directing style gives the film a trying-too-hard feel and even though some of it does jolt T2 to life, the cast doesn't always have the emotional range to make it cohere."
The original cast have reunited for T2 Trainspotting
The Telegraph's Robbie Collin also gave the movie three stars.
"There's no chance of its successor matching that legacy, but it won't tarnish it either. Though the film feeds on its forerunner, it's worthwhile on its own terms," he said.
The Hollywood Reporter's Neil Young wrote: "T2 never threatens to find its own distinctive voice."
He also pointed out the female characters "are very much on the sidelines, even more so than in Trainspotting".
"Kelly MacDonald pops up for a one-scene, two-minute cameo (which nevertheless somehow nabs her fifth billing)," he said.
But the Scottish Daily Record's Chris Hunneysett was more positive, calling the film "an addictive hit of pure cinema".
He said that while it "won't capture the youthful zeitgeist the way Trainspotting did", Boyle "has created an unapologetically abrasive tale of longevity, loyalty and friendship".
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38689704
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Should all countries use the Shanghai maths method? - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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When children in Shanghai took part in the Pisa tests of educational attainment, the world was shocked by their maths results. Should the rest of the world be teaching maths the same way?
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Magazine
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When the Chinese city of Shanghai took part in the three-yearly Pisa test of 15-year-olds' academic ability in 2009 and 2012 it topped the table in maths, leaving countries such as Germany the UK and the US - and even Singapore and Japan - trailing in its wake. What is its secret?
The life of a teacher in a Shanghai primary school differs quite a bit from that of teachers in most other countries. For one thing each teacher specialises in a particular subject - if you teach maths, you teach only maths.
These specialist teachers are given at least five years of training targeted at specific age groups, during which they gain a deep understanding both of their subject and of how children learn.
After qualifying, primary school teachers will typically take just two lessons per day, spending the rest of their time assisting students who require extra help and discussing teaching techniques with colleagues.
"If you compare that to an English practitioner in a primary school now, they might have five days of training in their initial teacher training year, if they're doing the School Direct route, for example," says Ben McMullen, head teacher of Ashburnham Community School, London.
"They might have some follow-up training during the first or second year of training - inset, staff meetings etcetera - but there's no comparison between the expertise of someone who's had five years of training in a specific subject to someone who's had only a handful of days."
It's a similar story in secondary school, where teachers spend less time in the classroom with pupils than they do on planning and refining lessons.
There are other differences too. School days are longer - from 07:00 until 16:00 or 17:00. Class sizes are larger. And lessons are shorter - each is 35 minutes long, followed by 15 minutes of unstructured play.
There is no streaming according to ability and every student must understand before the teacher moves on. In the early years of school basic arithmetic is covered more slowly than in the UK, says McMullen, who has travelled to Shanghai in one of the groups of British teachers sent every year by the Department of Education to watch and learn.
"They looked at our curriculum and were horrified by how much we were trying to teach," he says.
"They wouldn't teach fractions until year four or five. By that time, they assume that the children were very fluent in multiplication and division.
"This is essentially a 'teaching for mastery' approach: covering less and making smaller incremental movements forward, ensuring the class move together as one and that you go over stuff again and again until it's truly understood."
In a world where a lot is going wrong there is also a lot going right. So what if you could build a country with policies that actually worked, by homing in on ideas around the world that have been truly successful?
It seems that other cities in mainland China may not be on quite the same level as Shanghai. In the 2015 Pisa test Shanghai was bundled together with Beijing, Jiangsu and Guangdong, and they jointly came fifth in maths, behind Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
It's also been suggested that Shanghai's results in previous years could have been skewed by the failure to include about a quarter of pupils in the city. However Pisa insists its results demonstrate that the children of menial workers in Shanghai outperform the children of professionals in the West.
This is one of the key attractions of the system - it helps poor children realise their potential, increasing social mobility. But there are also drawbacks, according to Henrietta Moore of the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College London.
"The idea there is that effort brings rewards and so you will get this totally driven sort of idea but what you don't get - and what Chinese maths teachers are currently grappling with - is this creative problem-solving that requires space and mulling and dwelling," she says.
"We're actually much better at this in the UK and they're trying to develop that and learn from us."
Another criticism of the system is that parents work children too hard. An estimated 80% of students receive private lessons outside school.
"One of the downsides of parental interest in education is they get competitive - they're more competitive than the children - so they want to have all these extra classes," says Moore.
So is this a system other countries would do well to adopt?
"I would adopt the idea that anyone who teaches maths needs a deep understanding of the conceptual building of maths and a deep understanding of how children learn that," says Anne Watson, emeritus professor of maths teaching at Oxford University. "I would also want to take on board the idea of high expectations for everyone."
"Two things really appeal to me about this," she says. "The idea that everyone can be more of a maths master than I think we believe here in the UK. I also really like the incredible attention to the micro-detail. I'm really interested in this notion of incrementalism and moving things on in small chunks.
"The fundamentals of this policy are right and it's incredibly inspiring to think everybody can become more freed up by maths."
Ben McMullen's primary school has already been borrowing some of Shanghai's ideas, he says.
There is no streaming, pupils are interacting more and there is a "different atmosphere" in class.
"The younger learners moving up the school have an incredibly robust sense of maths, calculation and of concept," McMullen says.
And for teachers there is another great upside, he says - less marking.
Join the conversation - find the BBC World Service on Facebook and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38568538
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Greenwich mum makes Jamaican Patois-speaking doll - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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A mother from London has created a Jamaican Patois-speaking doll for her daughter to reflect her heritage.
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A mother from London has created a Jamaican Patois-speaking doll because she could not find a toy for her daughter that reflected her Jamaican heritage.
Toya was developed by Saffron Jackson, from Greenwich, who wanted the doll to look and sound like her daughter.
It was launched six weeks ago and sales have been booming.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38704697
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Chapecoense: Brazilian team prepare for first game since plane crash - BBC Sport
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2017-01-21
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Those closely affected by the Chapecoense tragedy speak to the BBC on the eve of the club's first match since the fatal plane crash.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Sirli Freitas took one, final phone call from her husband Cleberson Silva before he had to switch off his phone.
"There was so much background noise," she said. "So much laughter and fun.
"I said, 'are you really on a plane, or in a bar?'"
Journalist Silva was on a plane that went down in the Andes on 29 November. He was one of 71 people who died along with almost the entire Chapecoense football team.
The players were en route to the biggest match in the club's 43-year history, the final of the Copa Sudamericana against Colombia's Atletico Nacional.
On Saturday, Chapecoense will play their first match since the crash - a friendly against defending Brazilian league champions Palmeiras.
The people of Chapeco will, once-again, fill the small Arena Conda to see some of the 22 new players who make up the squad.
Three of the six survivors were players, including central defender Neto, who was one of the team's leaders.
He lay for six hours, trapped beneath the fuselage and trees, before being the last to be pulled out.
"I remember the lights went out suddenly, then I started praying, asking God to help us," he said. "But a lot of people thought the plane was just landing, because it was not an abrupt fall.
"I remember the moment that I couldn't hear the plane engine anymore. It was just the wind, and then an alarm.
"But no-one got desperate, there was a lot of people praying. These are the last memories I have."
When Neto woke up in hospital, he was told he had been injured in the match because nobody knew quite how to break the news to him.
But the truth dawned on him when there were no video clips of the match or evidence of his injury.
Chapeco is a quiet, unassuming city with an air of settled contentment. Its population of about 209,553 is only slightly higher than the number of people who crammed into the Maracana Stadium to watch the 1950 World Cup final between Uruguay and Brazil.
But they form a tight-knit community, and a major part of that is the Chapecoense football team.
Club flags and signs adorn shops and bars all over the city.
The relationship between citizens and club is one of mutual and humble respect and affection, according to 41-year-old Karina Dini.
"It was a strong bond, we were all a family," she said, sitting in the office of the language school she runs with her husband.
"There weren't any players who were going to parties or anything. Most of them were very committed. We could meet them in restaurants or the supermarket.
"It was amazing because players from the first division don't get that contact with people. They have big cars, they can't talk to people."
Like Karina, whose husband's uncle died in the crash, most people here know someone who was on the plane, or someone, like Sirli Freitas, who's been affected directly.
"My eight-year-old son understands [what happened], but his sister, who's three, still asks for her dad even though she knows he's not here any more," she said, through tears.
"If you ask her about him, she says that he was on the plane that crashed, but but at other times she'll say, 'let's call daddy'."
Outside the Arena Conda, there's a message to the world: "We were looking for a word to say thanks for all the love we've received, and we found several."
Around the stadium, the streets have been painted green and white, in the club's colours.
There has been a steady procession of press conferences, introducing some of the 22 new players. Rui Costa was brought in from Brazilian club Gremio and made director of football a week after the tragedy.
Costa is adamant that Saturday's match is far more than a friendly.
"When I got here we had four players and a devastated dressing room. It was all about sadness and silence," he said.
"A dressing room should never be silent and here, it was. So we have accomplished our first goal - you can see a football team training here."
"We had a list with 90 names that we were interested in," he said, as he explained how he assembled the squad in less than two months.
"We were choosing based on technical characteristics, then behaviour, then salary.
"We were working almost 24 hours a day because we knew it was not about just putting them on the pitch to play together.
"We had to respect the culture of the club. That's what they hired me for."
The last time the people of Chapeco went to the Arena Conda, it was on a day of torrential rain, to receive the bodies of their players, directors and journalists.
On Saturday, they will return, to honour the city's fallen, and to meet their new family.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38695490
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Was there a Trump Twitter glitch? - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Twitter says it's resolving "complications" with the @Potus switchover, as some users claim they're following Trump against their will.
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Newsbeat
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Twitter says it's trying to fix "complications" with the switchover of the @Potus account.
The account for the President of the United States was handed over to Donald Trump on Friday and was supposed to keep its existing followers.
Those users were also meant to automatically follow a new archive account with the Obama administration's tweets - @Potus44.
But some claim they've not been moved over.
Others say they stopped following @Potus before the inauguration, but are now re-following the account even though they didn't choose to do so.
There are even claims some people who never followed Obama or Trump are automatically following Donald Trump as @Potus.
The White House had been working with Twitter on plans for the switchover for some time.
Before the inauguration on Thursday night, @Potus under Barack Obama had 13.6 million followers.
@Potus44 now has 14.2 million and @Potus under President Trump has 14.3 million.
It's unclear if it's down to new followers or a glitch.
It's been reported Twitter blames the complications on two scenarios.
It could be that those who blocked @Potus before the inauguration effectively blocked @Potus44 (because of workings going on behind the scenes at Twitter).
Another suggestion is that some unfollowed @Potus after Twitter had already counted them as a follower to be transferred over to Donald Trump's account.
Twitter previously told Newsbeat both @Potus and @Potus44 should end up with around 13 million followers after the transfer process. This may not account for new followers to both accounts.
The switchover took some time overnight with followers dropping on both accounts at first.
Meanwhile Donald Trump changed the image at the top of his new @Potus account after Twitter users spotted it was from Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration.
Several other accounts have also been switched over including @Flotus for Melania Trump and @WhiteHouse from @ObamaWhiteHouse.
It's not known if they're affected.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articles/38703956
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Friends' 30-year-search for Celtic treasure trove pays off - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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Two metal detector enthusiasts found a huge hoard of Celtic treasure, reports Robert Hall.
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A 30-year obsession finally paid off for two metal detector enthusiasts when they discovered one of the world's largest hoards of Celtic treasure.
The last coins of nearly 70,000 - worth millions of pounds - have now been removed from the site in Jersey.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38703914
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Ronnie O'Sullivan in 12th Masters final to play Joe Perry - BBC Sport
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2017-01-21
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Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan overcomes a split cue tip to beat Marco Fu 6-4 and reach the Masters final against Joe Perry.
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Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, Connected TV, Red Button, BBC Sport website and app from 13:00 GMT
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan overcame a split cue tip to reach his 12th Masters final with a 6-4 win over Marco Fu at Alexandra Palace in London.
Fu hit 110 to lead 2-1 before O'Sullivan needed to repair his cue.
The next four frames were shared with O'Sullivan knocking in breaks of 95 and 122 while Hong Kong's Fu hit 141, the highest of the tournament, and 89.
O'Sullivan won the last three frames and will play Joe Perry in Sunday's final after he beat Barry Hawkins 6-5.
"It is probably the best match I have won, given the circumstances," O'Sullivan told BBC Sport.
"The tip was gone, completely gone. It just couldn't take any chalk. I mis-cued five or six times. It was like chalking a bit of slate.
"I was going to wait for the interval but it was so gone and they said 'look, you can take the interval now' and that was sweet."
The interval normally comes after four frames, but tournament officials allowed the Englishman to fix his cue after frame three.
"I had my cue tip over a kettle because the steam softens it up but it had no effect. I just could not play any shots, I had no touch or feel, so I had to put a new tip on. I was lucky it was a decent tip," he said.
The new tip seemed to galvanise him as he made frame-winning contributions at every opportunity following the interval, knocking in four half centuries in the last three frames.
"If you're playing well you can get away with a new tip. If you're cueing badly and you put a new tip on, it's over," said O'Sullivan.
"I fancied the job. Even with a new tip. I thought 'if I can get a feel of it'."
Fu, runner-up in 2011, added: "It is better to lose like this than for me to collapse and miss easy shots with regret. If he plays like that in the end, you can't do anything. I am not too upset about it. It is just a joy to be involved in a match like this."
O'Sullivan, who has been beaten in three finals this season, is aiming to win the Masters for a record seventh time but when he was told he was in his 12th final, he replied: "I've only won six though so it's not a very good strike record is it?"
Perry was trailing 5-2 in his semi-final against last year's runner-up Barry Hawkins but won the eighth frame despite needing a snooker.
He followed that up by winning the next three, including a break of 70 in the decider, to take the match.
Perry said: "I really can't believe it. When Barry potted the ball to leave me a snooker, I was thinking about what to say to him and wish him all the best for Sunday. This game is mad, it never ceases to amaze.
"It is the best win of my career. I have to go out against O'Sullivan and play to the best of my ability. You don't know what can happen. From the go, I will go out there to win and not just enjoy the occasion."
Hawkins said: "I am devastated. After the eighth frame he started playing better and made an unbelievable break in that last frame."
Marco knows how good a performance has beaten him. You can only be admiring of that.
We have seen Ronnie O'Sullivan produce something special on a number of occasions but from the adversity of having to change his tip halfway through, against a player who was playing so well, that is just a magnificent performance.
Ronnie has to be very proud of himself.
Sign up to My Sport to follow snooker news and reports on the BBC app, or if you want to get involved yourself, read our Get Inspired guide.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38705567
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Anti-Trump protesters fill Trafalgar Square - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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Thousands of protesters in London fill Trafalgar Square as part of a Women's March on the first full day of Donald Trump's presidency.
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Thousands of protesters in London fill Trafalgar Square as part of a Women's March on the first full day of Donald Trump's presidency.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38704604
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Australian Open 2017: Rafael Nadal beats Alexander Zverev in five sets - BBC Sport
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2017-01-21
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Rafael Nadal beats German teenager Alexander Zverev in five sets in the third round of the Australian Open.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Former champion Rafael Nadal overcame rising star Alexander Zverev in a gripping contest to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open.
The Spaniard, who won the title in 2009, came through 4-6 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-2 in four hours and six minutes.
Zverev, 19, had recovered a break early in the final set before requiring treatment for cramp.
Nadal, 30, goes on to face France's Gael Monfils, who beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-4.
Canadian third seed Milos Raonic made it through to the last 16 with a 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3 win over Frenchman Gilles Simon.
• Watch highlights of day six on BBC Two from 15:05 GMT on Saturday.
Zverev has long been touted as a future world number one and it appeared as though he would make his Grand Slam breakthrough against Nadal.
The teenager's big serve and brilliant backhand earned him a 2-1 lead after three sets, only for ninth seed Nadal to battle his way back in characteristic fashion.
It is almost three years since Nadal won his 14th major title at the 2014 French Open, and that was the last time he got past the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam.
Injuries have taken their toll, but it was Zverev whose fitness failed him in the closing stages on Rod Laver Arena.
• None How to follow the Australian Open on the BBC
The German won a gruelling 37-shot early in the final set but the damage was done as he could not recover fully, despite treatment from the trainer.
"I won by fighting and running a lot," said Nadal. "I think everybody knows how good Alexander is. He's the future of our sport and the present too.
"It's been a very tough match for me. I didn't start playing my best and I was not feeling very well because I was losing too much court. When I felt I was feeling better I had more time to control from the baseline.
"It was a close one but he deserved to play a little more aggressive than me. I had to fight for every point."
Denis Istomin, the qualifier from Uzbekistan who stunned Novak Djokovic in round two, produced another superb effort to beat Spanish 30th seed Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4 4-6 6-4 4-6 6-2.
He will next play 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov after the Bulgarian produced a stunning performance to beat French 18th seed Richard Gasquet 6-3 6-2 6-4.
Belgian 11th seed David Goffin impressed with a 6-3 6-2 6-4 win over Croatia's Ivo Karlovic, setting up a clash with Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem, who beat Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-4.
Thirteenth seed Roberto Bautista won the all-Spanish battle with 21st seed David Ferrer 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 and next faces Raonic.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38702869
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Australian Open 2017: Johanna Konta beats Caroline Wozniacki to reach last 16 - BBC Sport
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2017-01-21
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Britain's Johanna Konta beats Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Britain's Johanna Konta saw off former world number one Caroline Wozniacki with a stunning display to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Konta, seeded ninth, won nine games in a row on her way to beating the Danish 17th seed 6-3 6-1 in 75 minutes.
It was an eighth successive victory for the Briton, who won the title in Sydney in the build-up to Melbourne.
Konta, 25, will face Ekaterina Makarova next after the Russian upset sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-3.
• Watch highlights of Konta v Wozniacki on BBC Two from 15:05 GMT on Saturday
"We played in the fourth round here last year and I think it was 8-6 in the third, so I am expecting a battle," Konta said.
"It will be tough, just like against anyone in any match, you don't have any easy matches any more."
"I think if she keeps playing like this, then she has good chances against Serena," Wozniacki said of Konta.
"Serena has won so many Grand Slams and she's been in tough positions. But I think Johanna is playing on a very high level right now."
• None Serena powers through to round four
• None How to follow the Australian Open on the BBC
After a tight start to the contest on Margaret Court Arena, Konta took control midway through the first set and powered away from Wozniacki.
The British number one's consistent aggression on serve, return and off the ground left the Dane struggling to find an answer.
A thumping drive volley gave Konta the first break of serve in game seven and she got the better of the Wozniacki serve once again to clinch the set.
A bewildered Wozniacki double-faulted twice to fall behind in the second set and in the end she did well to get on the scoreboard at all after going 5-0 down.
There was the odd sign of nerves from Konta as she closed in on victory but after double-faulting on her first match point, she converted the second to end the day with 31 winners to Wozniacki's six.
"I definitely played at a high level today," Konta said.
"Caroline really makes you work for it and doesn't give you anything so I am happy with my level.
"I knew it would be incredibly tough and I wanted to assert myself from the get go and play the match I wanted to play. What an amazing crowd, you guys were incredible."
Konta's Australian Open challenge is gathering some serious momentum. Always aggressive from the baseline, she hit 31 winners against an opponent who is very quick across the court and one of the best on tour at getting balls back in court.
Konta has now won eight matches and 16 sets in a row, and if she can get past Makarova in the fourth round, she is likely to face the ultimate test of Serena Williams after that.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38702928
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Trump inauguration: Violent protests in Washington DC - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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Violent protests broke out in Washington DC as President Donald Trump was sworn in as president.
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Violent protests broke out and a limo was set on fire in Washington DC as President Donald Trump was sworn in as president.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38700648
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Weightlifter Sarah Davies - beauty queen to lifting machine - BBC Sport
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2017-01-21
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Meet Sarah Davies, a former beauty queen turned weightlifter, who explains how the loss of funding in her sport will impact her career.
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Meet Sarah Davies, a former beauty queen turned weightlifter, who explains how the loss of funding in her sport will impact her career.
READ MORE: Eight sports to appeal over UK Sport funding for Tokyo 2020
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/weightlifting/38684584
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Melbourne car deaths: Mobile footage shows driver - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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A bystander films the driver of a car arrested in Melbourne in connection with the death of three pedestrians struck by a vehicle.
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Three people, including a young child, have died after a car deliberately hit pedestrians in central Melbourne, police say.
At least 29 people were injured, among them a baby who is in a critical condition after the car hit a pram.
Police have arrested the driver but say the incident was not terror-related.
Footage filmed by a bystander showed a maroon car driving in circles in front of nearby Flinders Street railway station.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-38688521
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Obama leaves Democratic party a skeleton of its former self - BBC News
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2017-01-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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With the end of their White House rule, Democrats are left hoping for a Tea Party-style insurgency
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US & Canada
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Following the inaugural ceremonies, Barack and Michelle Obama - private citizens once again - were whisked off by a military helicopter stationed behind the US Capitol.
They'll spend a few days on holiday at a California desert resort before, as Mr Obama tweeted from his personal account, getting "back to work".
And, for Democrats, there's a lot of hard work to be done. With Mr Obama's departure, the party is only just beginning its long journey in the political wilderness.
Democrats have lost Congress. They've been decimated in state legislatures. Their hoped-for liberal majority on the Supreme Court was blocked by intransigent Senate Republicans. And now the presidency is gone, as well.
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In the days ahead, the party that thought it had time and demographics on its side, that saw Mr Obama's coalition of young, ethnic and educated voters as a durable governing majority, will try to figure out what, exactly, went wrong.
Ironically enough, some liberals are looking at the Tea Party grass-roots conservative movement that emerged in the months after Mr Obama became president in 2009 as a model for their path back to power.
At the time, many on the left mocked the impromptu outbursts of conservative protest - which bedevilled Democratic politicians at constituent meetings - as ill-conceived, uninformed or ineffective. Now, they point to recent efforts to confront Republican legislators over attempts to repeal Mr Obama's healthcare reform as signs of life in a dispirited party.
Democrats face a tough challenge in the days ahead. They have to settle on a leader for their national committee - resolving an ideological battle between left-wing populists and those who preach continued Obama-style moderation and incrementalism.
They need to devise a strategy to win back Congress, complicated by the fact they have to defend 10 Senate seats in the 2018 mid-term congressional elections in states that Donald Trump won. And, before too long, candidates for the 2020 presidential nomination will begin jockeying for position.
More than anything else, however, they need to begin rebuilding their party on the local and state level. Mr Obama's successes glossed over a party that is bereft of young leaders working their way up through the ranks.
At the moment, the Democratic Party is a skeleton of its former self. Until they put some meat on its bones, memories of the 2008 hope that Obama ushered in - that they were a party of destiny - will seem to liberals like a cruel joke.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38696853
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Australian Open: Johanna Konta praises support from her family and friends - BBC Sport
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2017-01-21
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Great Britain's Johanna Konta says her family and coaches were crucial to her progress after the Lawn Tennis Association cut her funding.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Great Britain's Johanna Konta says her family and coaches were crucial to her progress after the Lawn Tennis Association cut her funding in 2015.
Konta, 25, has reached the last 16 of the Australian Open, after playing in the semi-finals in Melbourne last year.
In 2015, the LTA reduced Konta's funding, as part of wider cuts in support for emerging players, which saw Konta relocate her training to Spain.
"That period of time was very difficult," said the world number nine.
"When the organisation decided to stop funding me it wasn't in my benefit. It's not a cheap sport and whether through a federation, a private sponsor or a family, no-one gets there without help.
"I don't believe tough love is the answer and I was very fortunate to have very good people around me.
"My family, my support system, also my coaches at the time did a tremendous job in pulling together and making sure our focus remained on the work and not on external situations out of our control."
Sydney-born Konta has previously said she was grateful for the support the LTA has offered since she became a British citizen in 2012.
Konta plays 30th seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in the last 16 in Australia after a convincing 6-3 6-1 win over Danish former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.
"I was very happy with the way I was able to assert myself from the beginning and maintain my level to the end," said Konta.
"Against someone like Caroline, she's not going to give it to you - you really have to earn it."
Konta beat Makarova 4-6 6-4 8-6 in last year's Australian Open and the winner of their match on Monday could face six-time winner Serena Williams in the quarter-finals.
On Makarova, Konta added: "Every time we play, we have a battle. That match last year was a high-level match from both of us. She always seems to do well on these courts and I'm looking forward to it."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38704836
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Dan Evans: Britain's latest tennis star snubbed by Kevin Pietersen - BBC Sport
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2017-01-21
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Meet the new British tennis star who bought his own shirts and was snubbed by ex-England cricketer Kevin Pietersen.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Four days ago, Dan Evans was not exactly a household name.
The British tennis player had just reached his first ATP final and moved to number 51 in the world rankings.
But that was not enough to get a photograph with former England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen, who turned down Evans' request when they met outside a restaurant in Melbourne this week.
However, the 26-year-old might soon be the one getting asked for selfies after his stunning start to the Australian Open.
Evans caused a shock when he reached the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time with a 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-3) win over Australian 27th seed Bernard Tomic on Friday.
The Birmingham-born player will pocket at least $130,000 (£79,000) for reaching the fourth round, regardless of whether he beats France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
But the British number three was a little rankled by the snub from the batsman, 35, who is in Australia to play for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.
"There was some serious rage for about 20 minutes after that happened," said Evans.
"He didn't want me to have my picture with him. Quite funny, isn't it, how things work out? He was my favourite cricketer until that point.
"I think he was worse for wear, That was his excuse when he replied [on Twitter]. It was so embarrassing, as well. He didn't even just say, 'No'. He handed me off, as well."
However, it appears the two made up after the win over Tomic, with Evans tweeting a picture of himself at a Melbourne Stars game in the BBL on Saturday.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller asked if he had got the tickets from Pietersen and Evans replied with the message of "sure did".
'He would have been proud of my efforts'
Immediately after winning the final point of the match against Tomic, Evans was overcome with emotion and was seen pointing up to the sky.
He later revealed it was a tribute to his former coach Julien Hoferlin, who died of cancer last year.
In 2014 Hoferlin criticised Evans, saying tennis was just a "brief interlude in his life".
Speaking after his victory on Friday, Evans told the BBC: "When he [Horferlin] coached me I didn't give 100% at the time and there was off-court stuff he wasn't happy with.
"I wish he could have seen what happened tonight, he would have been proud of my efforts. He always said I could do it and that I should be playing top-40 tennis. Tonight was for him."
Evans managed to overcome being distracted by an unruly spectator at the Hisense Arena.
"This guy was coughing as I was throwing the ball up, as well as screaming at me when I was losing points," he said.
Evans was also asked about comments from Tomic's father and coach, John, who once told him he was not good enough to train with his son.
The British number three said Tomic Sr congratulated him in the changing room after the match.
"It was nice of him," added Evans. "I didn't have a problem with him at all, to be honest. It was his opinion."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38693517
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The English vet saving Sri Lanka’s street dogs - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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The vet who left behind her home in England to care for Sri Lanka’s street dogs.
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A vet has left behind her home in England to care for Sri Lanka’s street dogs.
Janey Lowes from Barnard Castle, County Durham, has spent the past two years caring for the neglected animals.
There are about three million street dogs on the island – about 60% of puppies born on the street do not survive to adulthood.
The 28-year-old set up charity WECare Worldwide to raise money to buy the equipment needed to treat the animals and to set up her own clinic in Talalla.
You can see more on this story on Inside Out on BBC One at 19:30 GMT on Monday.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38691375
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Our cat in Havana - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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In Havana, stray cats and dogs prowl the streets. Responsibility for looking after them lies with the public - as Will Grant found when he befriended a ginger tomcat.
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Magazine
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In Cuba's capital, armies of stray cats and dogs prowl the streets. The state does little to look after them, so responsibility lies with the public - as Will Grant found when he befriended a ginger tomcat.
My younger sister sometimes reminds me of the apparent indifference I showed when our family cat, Pippit, died in 1991. A slender tabby who lived well beyond her expected years, Pippit enjoyed a long and happy life with us. Finally, at the impressive age of 21, she died just as we returned from a family holiday.
Waking up to find that Pippit hadn't lasted the night, I took it upon myself to break the news to my sister. Sensitivity and tact weren't exactly high in my repertoire when I was 15 - I simply crashed into her room with the line: "Helen, the cat's dead!"
I don't know if you've ever seen anyone wake up and immediately burst into tears, but I should take this opportunity to apologise to Helen for what was probably the meanest thing I did to her when we were growing up.
So, given she has this image of me as callous when it comes to pets - unfair, I hasten to add - she was surprised, when she visited Havana recently, to find just how much Cuba has influenced my attitude towards animals.
There are no state-funded pet rescue organisations on this communist island, so caring for neighbourhood strays is down to local businesses or residents.
Around a dozen state institutions, from the Central Bank to the Museum of Metalwork, have adopted their own stray dogs. Under the scheme, the homeless hounds are named and duly issued with ID cards, which are placed on their collars to save them from the dog-catcher.
Vladimir, a former street dog, with his ID collar in Havana
The adoption system operates under the premise that they are now officially considered the government buildings' guard dogs, although the ones I've seen are docile street mutts rather than fierce Rottweilers.
The city government does operate a programme for neutering and spaying strays in Old Havana, but the handful of voluntary animal protection organisations that exist simply can't deal with the sheer numbers across the island.
Cubans are by and large dog people. There is a pretty significant culture of dog ownership, even among those who are barely scraping by.
Cats, on the other hand get a raw deal. Especially stray ones.
So, since we arrived in Cuba, we've tried to do our bit. We've already taken in two kittens we found lost and half-drowned during a torrential downpour one night. My girlfriend's mother is now the proud owner of the uniquely named Honorato and Carilda.
But for my sister, on her recent visit, it was my relationship with Django which really stood out.
A ginger-and-white tomcat, he started life inside our building's parking garage. We would often hear a faint mewing after we parked the car.
As a kitten, Django would hide deep inside the motor of some diplomat's SUV, seeking refuge by nestling near the carburettor.
Once he grew a bit and emerged from the darkness of the car park, he was almost instantly adopted by the building.
We would leave food out for him. As would some Russian neighbours. So, apparently, did Sindi, one of the doormen. He looks like he could find a second job as a nightclub bouncer, but fell for the scruffy, soot-stained Django as much as we did.
Django was the name my Mum gave the kitten when she came to Havana and it stuck. We were smitten.
Evenings would be interrupted and conversations broken off mid-flow so we could go out and feed him a mixture of leftovers and expensive kibble specially brought in from Mexico.
The treatment Django received in our building was well above the experience of most alley cats in Cuba with food regularly provided - if not by one neighbour, then another. Sometimes, both.
That brought with it the inevitable interest of other local waifs and strays. At one time there were three or four more trying to get in on the act. Fair enough - it's a dog-eat-dog world out there for a Cuban cat.
Still, we began to worry. There is a nasty habit in Cuba of angry neighbours removing a constantly barking dog or an unsightly stray cat by feeding it mince laced with rat-poison.
Alternatively - almost as cruelly - the witless pet might be shoved into the back of the car, driven out to the countryside and let out on the roadside, far from home. Noisy neighbourhood dog dealt with, even if the owners are now frantic with worry.
In the end, nothing like that befell poor Django. It was a far more inevitable fate, under the wheels of a car thundering down 70th Street.
The headlines of 2016 were full of high-profile deaths. But spare a thought for one of the year's final victims, taken on New Year's Eve in Havana - a much loved, slightly grubby, ginger-and-white street cat called Django.
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38609794
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Weather forecast for the UK - BBC Weather
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2017-01-22
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Weather forecast for the UK
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This is the weather forecast for the UK.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast-video/21416743
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Wayne Rooney: Man Utd striker on 'great feeling' of breaking record - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Wayne Rooney says it is a "great feeling" to break Sir Bobby Charlton's goalscoring record at Manchester United after scoring his 250th goal for the club against Stoke.
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Wayne Rooney says it is a "great feeling" to break Sir Bobby Charlton's goalscoring record at Manchester United after scoring his 250th goal for the club against Stoke.
WATCH MORE: Goals from the Man Utd record-breaker
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38706003
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Australian Open 2017: Andy Murray suffers shock defeat by Mischa Zverev - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Andy Murray's hopes of winning a first Australian Open title end with a shock defeat by world number 50 Mischa Zverev.
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Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Andy Murray's hopes of winning a first Australian Open title ended with a shock defeat by world number 50 Mischa Zverev of Germany in the fourth round.
Murray, the world number one, dropped serve eight times as Zverev won 7-5 5-7 6-2 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena.
It is the Briton's earliest defeat in Melbourne since 2009, and the lowest-ranked player he has lost to at a Grand Slam since the 2006 Australian Open.
Zverev goes on to face Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.
• Watch highlights of day seven on BBC Two from 17:15 GMT on Sunday.
"It was kind of easy to stay aggressive but it was tough to stay calm," said the German, who won in three hours and 33 minutes.
"I was expecting to maybe double fault in the last game but somehow I made it."
Zverev aggression too much for Murray
Murray had been hoping to go one better than five runner-up finishes in Melbourne, but he was unable to cope with the serve-and-volley skills of Zverev.
The 29-year-old German, a contemporary of Murray from junior days, was ranked outside the world's top 1,000 two years ago after a succession of injury problems.
He fought his way back up the rankings with an attacking style that he used to great effect against Murray, serve-volleying 119 times and winning 65 points at the net, while dismantling the Briton's second serve.
Murray ended the match with an impressive 71 winners to 28 unforced errors, but it was still not enough against an opponent constantly putting him under pressure.
The top seed began well, holding points to lead 4-1, but Zverev got the break back with a return winner and would not give the world number one a chance to settle from then on.
Zverev recovered another break in game nine and then moved ahead with a delicate drop volley before seeing out the set.
Murray roared in relief when he levelled at a set all with a rasping winner after again being pegged back twice, but from midway through the third set it was clear that Zverev was the man in command.
He reeled off five straight games to move two sets to one and a break up, and despite one desperately nervous smash into the net - managed to serve his way to victory.
The defeat is Murray's worst at a Grand Slam, in terms of the ranking of his opponent, since he lost to world number 51 Juan Ignacio Chela at Melbourne Park in 2006.
His chances of finally landing the third leg of the career Grand Slam looked to have been enhanced following the surprise defeat of six-time champion Novak Djokovic in the second round.
However, the wait for a first Australian Open title goes on and Murray will turn his attention to Britain's Davis Cup tie in Canada next month.
"He deserved to win because he played great when he was down, and also in the important moments," said Murray.
"I was kind of behind in the last couple of sets the whole way but I have had tough losses in the past and I have come back from them."
Andy will obviously be very disappointed but hopefully in a couple of days' time he can look back and realise what he's done over the last decade in Slams is absolutely phenomenal.
So as much as this one hurts, he's got an incredible record and he's got time now to go and prepare for the next one, the French Open and onwards.
Mischa Zverev played great. It was much talked about beforehand, he plays in a way that other players just aren't used to playing against - serve and volley all the time on the first serve, a lot of times on the second, hitting and coming in off returns. It just made it more difficult to get into the match because there's no rhythm.
I don't think this has any reflection whatsoever on how the rest of the year goes - they are here to play 18, 19 tournaments I think Andy plays on average per year - he's got all the Slams coming up, he's still world number one and in a very strong position.
One loss is not going to rock the boat too much or blow him off course. If anything it will motivate him to probably work harder - he's somebody who analyses these things, he likes to look into the reasons, what he could've done better, what went wrong and that's his mind, that's the way he works, that's why he's successful and he will use it along those lines to carry on.
He'll probably have another great year, he's in the driving seat.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38709479
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Wayne Rooney: Record-breaking striker 'a true great' says Sir Bobby Charlton - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Sir Bobby Charlton says Wayne Rooney is "a true great" after the striker broke his Manchester United all-time goalscoring record.
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Sir Bobby Charlton says Wayne Rooney is "a true great for club and country" after the striker broke his Manchester United all-time goalscoring record.
Rooney's injury-time equaliser at Stoke on Saturday was his 250th for United, breaking Charlton's 44-year-old record.
"I would be lying to say that I'm not disappointed to have lost the record," Charlton, 79, told the United website.
"However, I can honestly say that I'm delighted for Wayne. He deserves his place in the history books."
He continued: "He is a true great for club and country, and it is fitting that he is now the highest goalscorer for both United and England.
"It has been great to watch him every week since his arrival at Old Trafford in 2004; he set the tone with a wonderful hat-trick on his debut and he has thrilled us all in the years since, going on to enjoy a hugely successful career.
"I was 35 when I retired. Wayne is only 31 and still going strong, so I don't think he's done by a long stretch yet. He continues to show that he can contribute goals, assists and performances whenever called upon. He will raise the bar even further before he calls it a day.
"Now he's the man to beat, and I can't see anybody doing that for a long, long time."
Sir Alex Ferguson, who managed United from 1986 to 2013 and brought Rooney to the club in August 2004 from Everton, told ManUtd.com: "I would like to say huge congratulations to Wayne on reaching this milestone.
"Wayne thoroughly deserves his place in the history books of this great club and I am sure that he will go on to score many more goals."
Current United boss Jose Mourinho said: "It is the record of the biggest club in England and one of the biggest in the world.
"Before him the record belonged to a legend of English football. Now Wayne becomes a legend of Manchester United."
Stoke boss Mark Hughes, who had two spells as a striker with United said: "It is an outstanding record and won't be surpassed. It has taken 40-odd years for Sir Bobby's record to be broken which shows how high a mark it was."
Rooney, 31, said he was honoured to break the record.
"I am very proud," he told Sky Sports. "It is not something I expected when I joined. I am proud and I hope there is more to come.
"The players who have played for this club have been world class. I am proud to play for this club and to be all-time goalscorer is a huge honour."
Asked about Charlton by Gary Lineker for the BBC's Match of the Day, Rooney added: "He's such an iconic figure, and has been for so long. When you sign for the club, you realise how important he is. To surpass him in goals is something I never thought I'd do. I have the utmost respect for him.
"He came and congratulated me in the dressing room so I know he's pleased in some way.
"I'm a team player but records are important. When you finish your career you can look back on it and it's something to tell your kids."
Manchester United and England team-mate Michael Carrick hailed Rooney's longevity and ability to bounce back from criticism.
"It is tough to play so many games and have that scrutiny on you constantly, and how he has dealt with that and answered back, and how he has shut people up when they have questioned him, he is still going strong and it is not easy to do," the midfielder told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek.
"When he burst on to the scene he was so hungry and aggressive and explosive. He has calmed that down but he is quality in and around the box, to find that pass or that finish. He has done it all his career - 12-13 years - and to do it for so long is an incredible achievement and shows how good he is.
"I have seen more of Wayne than others like Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best. They are all icons and legends, not just for Manchester United but for football in general, and Wayne is right up there with the best of them. For him to get the record for club and country is an incredible achievement and something he should be proud of."
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who had urged the media not to "kill" Rooney when he left as national boss in 2006, called him a great player.
"He's still a fantastic player. He's clever and can play in different positions. He can play as striker, second striker, winger, midfielder," said the Swede.
Current England boss Gareth Southgate told the Football Association official website: "When you look at whose record he has broken and the way Sir Bobby is revered in this country and by his club, it shows you what an achievement it is.
"To have scored that many goals you have got to have performed so consistently over such a long period of time, which is a mark of an outstanding player. Wayne has managed to achieve that."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38706332
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Weird and wacky hot air balloons at Swiss festival - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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Chateau d'Oex in Switzerland is hosting its annual hot air balloon festival for the 39th time.
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Chateau d'Oex in Switzerland is hosting its annual hot air balloon festival for the 39th time.
It has a longstanding connecting with ballooning - in 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones took off from the Swiss city in the Breitling Orbiter to do the first tour of the world in a hot air balloon.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38711491
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10 things we didn't know last week - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Cambridge University has a professor of play, and more news nuggets.
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Magazine
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3. Some drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease have had the side-effect of turning patients into gambling addicts.
4. Vladimir Putin thinks Russian prostitutes are "undoubtedly the best in the world".
5. The expression to "shed crocodile tears" exists in 45 European languages as well as Arabic, Swahili, Persian, Indian languages, Chinese and Mongolian.
6. Legal marijuana businesses have created 123,000 jobs in the United States.
7. BMW exports more vehicles from the United States than any other manufacturer.
8. There are six men still alive who walked on the moon.
9. Native Americans are issued with cards by the federal government, certifying their "degree of Indian blood".
10. Getting trolled by Donald Trump can be good (as well as bad) for your business.
Seen a thing? Tell the Magazine on Twitter using the hashtag #thingididntknowlastweek
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38662601
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Women's March: A united message spanning generations - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Thousands of men, women and children took part in the Women's March in London.
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UK
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"Stand united, we will never be divided," was the message chanted by the crowd as people marched through central London.
Cheers erupted every few minutes as the crowd held up placards to the beat of drum and bass music from a portable sound system.
"Girls just wanna have fundamental rights", "Women won't be trumped" and "Burn bras not bridges" were some of the messages directed at US President Donald Trump from the UK.
Women - and men - of all ages descended on the capital for the Women's March in London on the first full day of his presidency.
There was a united message from the crowd, who came with glitter on their faces and even fancy dress to take part in the two-mile walk.
Many were parents who said they wanted to send out a message for the next generation that they have a voice and can stand up for the women's rights they believe to be under threat from the new US administration.
Danae Savvidou said she had attended the march for her 10-month-old daughter
Mum-of-one Danae Savvidou, 25, travelled alone from Gloucestershire to London to take part in the event for the sake of her 10-month-old daughter.
She said: "She was born during the presidency of a man who openly supported women's rights and protected them.
"I feel like we've gone back 100 years and I feel sad for her generation.
"Donald Trump isn't presidential material. He's openly misogynistic and racist as well. I see America as a leader and partners in the Western world. He represents such a big nation.
"Our leaders over here are right wing as well. It's not going the right way for me.
"Brexit is a concern. I hope we protect the rights the EU offers, such as employment rights and maternity. These issues need to be spoken about. When a nation is doing badly, women suffer.
"Personally I want my daughter to see what I've done today to show you can do things to change the world and she does have the power."
It was a message which resonated with many other parents as they walked with their children in the fresh winter's air along Piccadilly.
The march had many parents attending with their children
Nancy Pegg, 39, a mum-of-two from south-west London, came along with her daughter Sophie, nine, who carried a yellow banner emblazoned with the words "Yes to equality".
She said: "This is about equality for girls not in a fortunate position.
"Trump is a concern but empowering women is the main motivation. I think it's important for my daughter to have a powerful voice and to know she can be a strong force.
"We live in a male-dominated world. I want to show her anything her brother can do, she can do too. There are no boundaries."
Although the event was labelled a Women's March, there were hundreds of men in the crowd showing their support.
Car horns beeped to galvanise the demonstrators who, in turn, greeted the drivers with cheers as the march progressed to its rally in Trafalgar Square.
The Raise Voices Choir motivated the protesters by singing "Don't let Trump get his way" to their own version of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
Student Patrick Bone, from Shepherd's Bush, London, attended because he felt "progress made in the last decades is in threat of being eroded".
He added: "Trump's election signalled a rise of the populist right who look to blame economic problems on minorities or disenfranchised groups.
"His election was a catalyst for something that's been coming a long time.
"This march is to show we will stand and be counted. This is only the beginning. The work begins today."
Tom Amies, 33, a doctor from Middlesex, walked beside his wife Lydia, 34, as he carried their 11-month-old daughter Niamh in a baby carrier sling.
"This is for my daughter, he said.
"There has been a political slide to the right and a sense of misplaced trust. Trump wants to repeal Obamacare. It shows how good we have it with the NHS.
"There are going to be people there who have that healthcare for life-saving treatment and they will no longer be able to afford it."
Lydia Amie, husband Tom and daughter Niamh attended the march as a family
The demonstration brought representatives from all nationalities, including Americans who felt they needed to take a stand even though they were thousands of miles away from their country.
Retired banker Carol Moore, 68, originally from New York, came to represent the Democrats Abroad UK Women's Caucus.
She said: "I've come because of the horror of seeing Donald Trump win. He is divisive and will hurt the middle classes by repealing the healthcare act.
"This march has taken on huge visibility here in the UK because the issues are global. Women's pay was an issue when I worked in the City.
"There is still the issue of sexual violence and how it's prosecuted and handled here.
"I hope this is a message to women to recognise they have a voice to fight issues here in the UK and around the world."
Business development manager Anna McDermott, 29, originally from California, has been in the UK for 11 years.
She said: "As an American, I cannot accept what Donald Trump says and I can't accept him as a president.
"I do hope this sends out a message. 'Good morning. Welcome to day one of the resistance. This is the world shouting back'."
As the crowd moved into Trafalgar Square, the noise quietened so demonstrators could listen to the speakers on the stage, who included TV presenter Sandi Toksvig and Labour MP Yvette Cooper.
However, the final address was given by 10-year-old Sumayah Siddiqi who read out a poem to the crowd which had a message of optimism with the words "I shall stand for love".
Sumayah Siddiqi addressed the crowds at the Women's March
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38706746
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Chelsea 2-0 Hull City - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Diego Costa scores on his return to the Chelsea team as they beat Hull to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Diego Costa scored on his return to the Chelsea team as they beat Hull City to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.
The Spain striker missed last weekend's 3-0 win over champions Leicester, citing a back injury after a disagreement with a fitness coach, amid reports of Chinese Super League interest.
But the Blues' top scorer - cheered throughout the game by home fans - returned against struggling Hull and had an early impact, sending an effort from 20 yards fizzing just wide after only 10 seconds.
He got the opening goal when he converted Victor Moses' low cross from eight yards out in the seventh minute of first-half injury time.
The long stoppage was a result of an injury to Hull midfielder Ryan Mason, who went to hospital after being carried off on a stretcher wearing an oxygen mask following a clash of heads with Chelsea defender Gary Cahill. Hull later announced he had fractured his skull.
The Tigers played well but lacked cutting edge without the injured Robert Snodgrass and Cahill sealed the win when he headed home Cesc Fabregas' free-kick.
Last weekend, Chelsea's position at the top of the Premier League was looking far from secure. The Blues were five points clear after their long winning run was ended by Tottenham and Costa's future at the club seemed in severe doubt.
Fast forward eight days and the Blues - with Costa back in the first team - are now eight points above second-placed Arsenal, the only other team in the top six to win this weekend.
Antonio Conte's side were far from spectacular against the Tigers. In fact, Costa - with six shots - was the only Chelsea player to have more than one effort.
But a 15th win in their past 16 league games - and a 13th Premier League clean sheet of the season - takes them one game closer to a sixth English top-flight title.
The omens look good for Chelsea. No team have ever failed to win the Premier League title after picking up 55 points or more in their opening 22 games.
• None Listen: 5 live Football Daily - 'If Chelsea beat Arsenal & Liverpool, title is theirs'
Hull City have shown signs of improvement after sacking manager Mike Phelan and replacing him with Marco Silva. After beating Bournemouth in his opening Premier League game, they gave Chelsea a real match for large periods.
Whether they stay up - they are two points adrift of safety - might rely on Silva's transfer actions in the next nine days.
They left out West Ham target Robert Snodgrass, who has scored or assisted 50% of their league goals this season - and Silva said just before the game it was "impossible for him to stay".
Despite a good performance, they lacked incision without the Scotland international. A majority of their nine shots came from distance, with centre-back Harry Maguire having four efforts.
At 1-0, they could have had a penalty when Marcos Alonso kicked the back of Abel Hernandez's foot, but nothing was awarded.
Three of Silva's signings, Omar Elabdellaoui, Evandro and Oumar Niasse, played but the Portuguese wants more new faces - and he needs them after selling midfielder Jake Livermore to West Brom for £10m and the loss of Mason to injury.
However, whether anyone can make up for the apparently imminent loss of Snodgrass - their only player to score more than three Premier League goals this season - remains to be seen.
Manager reaction - 'Not easy to play this type of game'
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte told BBC Sport: "This game was very difficult for us.
"It is not easy to play this type of game. I think our opponent played very good, had good organisation and made it difficult for us.
"We are in the second part of the season and every game is now very tough for us and also for the other teams.
"You can see today the difficulty all of the teams have."
Hull City manager Marco Silva: "It was not what we wanted from the game. We came here to compete, to take points. Chelsea are in a very good moment but we try.
"In some moments we controlled the game. Chelsea had more ball possession but our team tried and conceded in the last minute of the first half which was cheap. If we changed some things the result might have been different.
"It was a good performance but I want more."
• None Only Ryan Giggs (162) and Frank Lampard (102) have provided more Premier League assists than Cesc Fabregas (101, same as Wayne Rooney).
• None In his 100th Chelsea game, Diego Costa scored his 52nd goal for the club.
• None Costa's strike was the latest first-half goal in the Premier League since exact times have been recorded by Opta (2006-07 - 51:35).
• None The Spain striker has scored in all four of his Premier League games against Hull City.
• None This is the fourth time a team have had 55 or more points after 22 Premier League games - and Chelsea have now done so three times (also 2004-05 and 2005-06).
• None Hull have now gone 20 Premier League games without a clean sheet since beating Swansea 2-0 back in August.
• None The Blues have now won 1,002 Premier League points at home, becoming the third club to reach four figures in the competition (Manchester United 1,116 and Arsenal 1,019).
• None Antonio Conte has the same number of points from his first 22 Premier League games that Jose Mourinho had in his (55).
Chelsea host London neighbours Brentford in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday (15:00 GMT kick-off), and visit Liverpool - 10 points behind them - in the Premier League on 31 January (20:00).
Hull host Manchester United in the EFL Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday (19:45), having lost the first game 2-0. An FA Cup visit to Fulham follows on Sunday (12:30) and their next Premier League game is away to United on 1 February (20:00).
• None Attempt saved. Oumar Niasse (Hull City) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Sam Clucas.
• None Attempt saved. Diego Costa (Chelsea) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Cesc Fàbregas with a through ball.
• None Goal! Chelsea 2, Hull City 0. Gary Cahill (Chelsea) header from very close range to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Cesc Fàbregas with a cross following a set piece situation.
• None Evandro (Hull City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Offside, Hull City. Evandro tries a through ball, but Michael Dawson is caught offside. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38626732
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Ryan Mason: Hull midfielder fractures skull in clash of heads at Chelsea - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Hull City midfielder Ryan Mason has surgery after fracturing his skull during Sunday's Premier League game at Chelsea.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Hull City midfielder Ryan Mason has had surgery after fracturing his skull during Sunday's game at Chelsea.
Mason, 25, clashed heads with Chelsea defender Gary Cahill 13 minutes into the Premier League match.
After eight minutes of treatment on the pitch, he wore an oxygen mask as he was carried off on a stretcher, and taken to St Mary's Hospital in London.
"Ryan is in a stable condition and expected to remain in hospital for the next few days," said a Hull statement.
"Everyone at the club would like to express their sincere thanks for the excellent and swift care given to Ryan by both the accident and emergency department and neurosurgery unit at St Mary's Hospital."
Hull added they would issue a further update on Monday.
The incident happened as Hull's record signing attempted to head the ball clear of his own box following a cross from Pedro from the right wing.
Mason got to the ball a split second before Cahill, who was already committed to his attempted header, and the pair collided.
Cahill, who continued playing, said: "I tried to get on the end of the cross. We smashed heads. I wish him all the very best."
Mason joined Hull from Tottenham last August for a club-record undisclosed fee.
He has scored one goal in 16 Premier League appearances for the Tigers.
Prior to his move, he made 53 top-flight appearances for Tottenham, and had loan spells at Yeovil, Doncaster, Millwall, Lorient and Swindon.
Hull lost Sunday's game 2-0 as goals from Diego Costa and Cahill gave Chelsea a victory that took them eight points clear at the top.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38713311
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Ronnie O'Sullivan in 12th Masters final to play Joe Perry - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan overcomes a split cue tip to beat Marco Fu 6-4 and reach the Masters final against Joe Perry.
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Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, Connected TV, Red Button, BBC Sport website and app from 13:00 GMT
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan overcame a split cue tip to reach his 12th Masters final with a 6-4 win over Marco Fu at Alexandra Palace in London.
Fu hit 110 to lead 2-1 before O'Sullivan needed to repair his cue.
The next four frames were shared with O'Sullivan knocking in breaks of 95 and 122 while Hong Kong's Fu hit 141, the highest of the tournament, and 89.
O'Sullivan won the last three frames and will play Joe Perry in Sunday's final after he beat Barry Hawkins 6-5.
"It is probably the best match I have won, given the circumstances," O'Sullivan told BBC Sport.
"The tip was gone, completely gone. It just couldn't take any chalk. I mis-cued five or six times. It was like chalking a bit of slate.
"I was going to wait for the interval but it was so gone and they said 'look, you can take the interval now' and that was sweet."
The interval normally comes after four frames, but tournament officials allowed the Englishman to fix his cue after frame three.
"I had my cue tip over a kettle because the steam softens it up but it had no effect. I just could not play any shots, I had no touch or feel, so I had to put a new tip on. I was lucky it was a decent tip," he said.
The new tip seemed to galvanise him as he made frame-winning contributions at every opportunity following the interval, knocking in four half centuries in the last three frames.
"If you're playing well you can get away with a new tip. If you're cueing badly and you put a new tip on, it's over," said O'Sullivan.
"I fancied the job. Even with a new tip. I thought 'if I can get a feel of it'."
Fu, runner-up in 2011, added: "It is better to lose like this than for me to collapse and miss easy shots with regret. If he plays like that in the end, you can't do anything. I am not too upset about it. It is just a joy to be involved in a match like this."
O'Sullivan, who has been beaten in three finals this season, is aiming to win the Masters for a record seventh time but when he was told he was in his 12th final, he replied: "I've only won six though so it's not a very good strike record is it?"
Perry was trailing 5-2 in his semi-final against last year's runner-up Barry Hawkins but won the eighth frame despite needing a snooker.
He followed that up by winning the next three, including a break of 70 in the decider, to take the match.
Perry said: "I really can't believe it. When Barry potted the ball to leave me a snooker, I was thinking about what to say to him and wish him all the best for Sunday. This game is mad, it never ceases to amaze.
"It is the best win of my career. I have to go out against O'Sullivan and play to the best of my ability. You don't know what can happen. From the go, I will go out there to win and not just enjoy the occasion."
Hawkins said: "I am devastated. After the eighth frame he started playing better and made an unbelievable break in that last frame."
Marco knows how good a performance has beaten him. You can only be admiring of that.
We have seen Ronnie O'Sullivan produce something special on a number of occasions but from the adversity of having to change his tip halfway through, against a player who was playing so well, that is just a magnificent performance.
Ronnie has to be very proud of himself.
Sign up to My Sport to follow snooker news and reports on the BBC app, or if you want to get involved yourself, read our Get Inspired guide.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38705567
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Friends' 30-year-search for Celtic treasure trove pays off - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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Two metal detector enthusiasts found a huge hoard of Celtic treasure, reports Robert Hall.
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A 30-year obsession finally paid off for two metal detector enthusiasts when they discovered one of the world's largest hoards of Celtic treasure.
The last coins of nearly 70,000 - worth millions of pounds - have now been removed from the site in Jersey.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38703914
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The policemen who dressed as women to hide from IS - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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When Islamic State seized control of his hometown and began killing his police colleagues, Iraqi officer Abu Alawi resorted to unconventional measures to stay alive.
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Magazine
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When the so-called Islamic State group seized control of a town near Mosul and began killing police officers, some of them resorted to unconventional measures to stay alive, reports John Beck.
For more than two-and-a-half years it helped keep the middle-aged former police officer hidden from IS and safe from the bullets and knives that killed almost all his colleagues.
When the jihadists arrived in his hometown of Hammam al-Alil in mid-2014, as they swept across northern Iraq, the first things they did was to round up police and army officers.
They killed the higher-ranking men immediately, but eventually offered an amnesty of sorts to the rest. If they renounced the government in Baghdad and pledged to live under IS rules, then they'd go free.
Abu Alawi stayed in hiding. At first in his home or a bolthole dug in his garden. But IS searches became more stringent and he realised that he'd have to move further afield.
Ahmed, 22, from a pro-government militia, stands in a burnt-out building used by IS as a prison
The solution, he decided, was a niqab - the black, face-concealing veil that IS forces all women under its rule to wear. From then on, when a sympathetic friend would tip him off about impending searches, he'd shroud his moustachioed face and portly figure and move somewhere safer, disguised as a woman.
There was a thrill, he said, in "playing" with IS, but when he passed close by the black-clad militants it wasn't fun any more. Then he feared he'd share the fate of friends who'd donned the same disguise but been less lucky, or less convincing, and were arrested as a result.
"They were near to me so many times and I was so afraid," he said, miming a heart pounding in his chest. "All the time I was thinking I was going to be checked and discovered."
IS eventually left Hammam al-Alil, setting oil wells alight as it went
Hammam al-Alil is a former spa town, once famous for the therapeutic powers of its thermal springs. It's hard to imagine holidaymakers visiting now. I met Abu Alawi there as he waited for a Danish non-governmental organisation to distribute blankets and solar heaters on a cold and damp winter morning. Men and women split into separate queues and stood patiently between the muddy puddles.
After IS arrived, I was told, they gathered the former officers in the town's main square. Then they blindfolded them, loaded them on to trucks that drove a short way out of town, and shot or beheaded them.
Federal police took me to one mass grave, a police shooting range turned rubbish dump. The awful smell was the first sign of what had happened there.
Then came the clouds of flies and, lying amid the refuse, between discarded children's toys and food packaging, the badly decomposed remains of a man - his hands and legs bound and marked by signs of torture.
"Under here it's all bodies," our escort said, gesturing towards a series of narrow trenches covered with bulldozed earth and he cautioned that the area was probably still booby-trapped with improvised explosive devices. He estimated there were at least 350 people buried in the area.
Another man in the aid distribution queue, Abu Ali - younger, taller and thinner than Abu Alawi - produced his old police ID card.
He'd buried it in his garden while IS was here, and he too had survived the massacre, in part thanks to a niqab.
"All I did was hide, hide and wear the veil like this," he said, stooping over to minimise his stature.
His brother, a fellow officer, was executed, leaving behind a wife and seven children. And when they left Hammam al-Ali, IS took Abu Ali's father with them to Mosul as a human shield.
This was not a unique story. Everyone I spoke to in the town had lost someone, some entire families. One militia member in his early 20s said IS had killed his parents and murdered or captured seven of his brothers.
But a semblance of normal life has in some ways returned to the town.
At the dilapidated thermal baths near the banks of the Tigris, smiling children and soldiers played in the warm waters.
Others collected grey mineral-rich mud in bottles and touted its therapeutic qualities.
It may be the start of healing, but the scars of occupation by IS will last for some time yet.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38663595
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Diego Costa: Chelsea boss Antonio Conte says speculation is over - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Chelsea boss Antonio Conte said he is happy to see the rumours about Diego Costa come to an end after the striker's goal against Hull.
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Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said he was happy to see the rumours about Diego Costa come to an end after his goal in the 2-0 win over Hull City.
The Spain striker missed the 3-0 win at Leicester, citing a back injury after a disagreement with a coach, amid reports of Chinese Super League interest.
However, he scored the opener on Sunday as the Blues went eight points clear.
"I am pleased for him and for the fans and club. Today finished all types of speculation," Conte told BBC Sport.
• None Football Daily podcast: 'If Chelsea beat Liverpool and Arsenal, the title is theirs'
The Italian had been consistently questioned about Costa's future in the aftermath of the Leicester game and during the week. He repeatedly insisted the striker had told the club he could not train in the build-up to the Foxes game because of a back problem, and also denied any bid from a Chinese club.
"In this situation I told always the truth," Conte added. "I am happy for him and to finish this speculation. He played and played very well.
"A lot of people asked me about his form, his attitude, and I said I took the best decision for the team. I think I made the best decision after this performance."
Costa's celebration of his 15th Premier League goal of the season involved moving his hands to imitate speaking, which may have been aimed at the media for discussing the reasons for his absence.
Conte said: "Honestly, I was very happy to see his celebration because I was celebrating the goal on the bench. The most important thing was he scored."
Defender Gary Cahill, who scored the Blues' second goal, said: "He is delighted to come back. There has been a lot of talk.
"If he misses one game you are hearing about all the different stories. It gets a bit tiring and the best way to respond is to get a goal. We are delighted to have him back in the team."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38713413
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Anti-Trump protesters fill Trafalgar Square - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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Thousands of protesters in London fill Trafalgar Square as part of a Women's March on the first full day of Donald Trump's presidency.
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Thousands of protesters in London fill Trafalgar Square as part of a Women's March on the first full day of Donald Trump's presidency.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38704604
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Wayne Rooney: Goals from the Man Utd record-breaker - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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BBC Sport picks out some great goals from Wayne Rooney's Manchester United career after the striker became the club's all-time leading goalscorer.
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BBC Sport picks out some great goals from Wayne Rooney's Manchester United career after the striker became the club's all-time leading goalscorer.
WATCH MORE: It's a great feeling - Rooney on breaking record
Available to UK users only.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38705054
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Us/Them play revisits Beslan school siege - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Belgian creators of a play, Us/Them, which relives the Beslan killings through the eyes of two children, say recent attacks have brought the story closer to home.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The 2004 Beslan school siege is remembered for the deaths of more than 330 people including 186 children, after a Russian school was seized by Chechen rebels. But the Belgian creators of a play, Us/Them, which relives the atrocity through the eyes of two children, say recent attacks have brought the story closer to home.
The actress Gytha Parmentier has now played Us/Them in three languages.
When the play opened in 2014 she was speaking in her native Flemish. Later she had to translate into French the words of her character - a young girl who dies in the Beslan siege.
Now she's making the one-hour piece work in English opposite Roman Van Houtven, the only other member of cast.
Last year the play was a hit at the Edinburgh Festival and it has now arrived at London's National Theatre.
"Acting in English, Roman and I had to learn to move our mouths in a very different way," she said. "But acting in a different language gives a new juiciness to what's in the script."
That script is by Carly Wijs, who also directs. She recalls the spark for the play came when her eight year-old son mentioned news coverage he'd just seen of the terror attack at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in 2013.
"Godfried had been watching the report on the children's news and I was struck by the way he described it. He spoke in a way which was almost aloof - at eight you're just becoming aware of things which are on your planet but not really of your own world of home and family.
"Then Bronks, which is a fantastic production company in Brussels, asked me for a theatre idea for children. So I thought I would break a taboo by writing about Beslan while borrowing Godfried's tone and his very objective manner."
In Belgium Wij/Zij has been listed as suitable for children of nine and above; in London the National Theatre pitches Us/Them for young people aged 12 and over.
The highly physical production is made for touring and the Dorfman stage at the National is almost bare apart from balloons and string.
The production avoids the off-putting cuteness which can trip up adult actors impersonating young children. The result is heart-breaking yet somehow heart-warming too.
The show may not strike theatregoers in advance as an obvious excursion for kids. But it's an unexpectedly charming hour in the theatre perfect for family viewing. However, the National has mainly programmed performances late in the evening which may be a bad call.
Wijs says her view of the events of 2004 was influenced by one TV documentary in particular.
"There was a beautiful BBC programme called Children of Beslan which was helpful: they spoke to many survivors. But our play isn't a documentary. It has to work for children who know nothing of Beslan and also for their parents who remember all that went on."
Parmentier says there are clear differences between how children and grown-ups react.
"Adults tend to laugh and cry in a different way: often the laughter is in relief when they think something horrible is about to happen on the stage and it doesn't.
"I think parents automatically work out a narrative arc in their minds but children are happy to switch their attention from one thing to another."
Wijs thinks for children almost the most horrifying thing is when the girl has to undress to her underwear because it's getting hot and stuffy in the school gymnasium.
"To them it's a nightmare but I suspect adults barely register the moment."
The play pre-dates last March's terror attacks in Brussels in which a total of 35 people died and hundreds were injured. Wijs lived in the Molenbeek district, a focus in the city of Islamist radicalisation.
"We haven't changed the play because of those bombings but if the Brussels attacks had come first I wonder if I could have created the play. I've just done another play in Brussels which is full of light and comedy - it's a reaction to the depressing times we live in.
But both women say they haven't ignored recent violence closer to home.
"In 2015 in Belgium we had a performance in Namur in (French-speaking) Wallonia, a few days after the Bataclan attack in Paris", says Parmentier.
"We and the theatre thought hard about whether we should cancel: would it be too hard to watch a play about so many people being killed? But instead the theatre arranged an audience discussion after the show and people were full of questions about what they had just seen. I think the play helped some of them process what had happened in Paris."
Us/Them is playing at the National Theatre until 18 February.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38695475
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Irish jockey Jack Kennedy performs amazing acrobatics to stay on horse - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Irish jockey Jack Kennedy manages to stay on his horse Bilko despite almost being thrown off it at a meeting at Thurles.
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Irish jockey Jack Kennedy manages to stay on his horse Bilko despite almost being thrown off it at a meeting at Thurles.
WATCH MORE: McCoy 'has breakfast every morning now'
Pictures courtesy of At The Races.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/horse-racing/38694316
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Andy Murray: How much should be read into Australian Open exit? - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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After early Australian Open exits for the world's top two players, Russell Fuller assesses whether more should be read into the upsets.
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Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have so much shared history.
And now, in the space of just four days in Melbourne, the world's top two players have both been on the receiving end of upsets almost without parallel in the past 10 years.
Former players were cheering Mischa Zverev on from the locker room - not because of any antipathy towards Murray, but because his opponent was playing the style of tennis many of them used to play to great effect.
Serving and volleying against the Briton seems counter-intuitive. Along with Djokovic, he is the best returner in the world - and if he does not manage to pass you, then he is more than likely to send a top spin lob fizzing over your head to within inches of the baseline.
But Zverev served superbly, and volleyed even better, again and again and again. The German hit some astonishing returns and made short shrift of Murray's second serve. And when the pressure started to rise, his level did not start to fall.
Pinned behind the baseline too frequently for comfort, Murray started missing more regularly. The Scot was unable to turn the tide or summon up the aggression that served him so well in the second half of last season.
• None Has Djokovic's obsession burnt itself out?
Andre Agassi addressed this subject before the match. The four-time Australian Open champion was very complimentary about Murray in a video link to Melbourne Park on Saturday, as he explained how the 29-year-old could improve still further.
"I have always sort of talked about Andy as a person that has never really utilised his game to his maximum potential. He's so good at certain things that it almost makes him a bit indecisive," Agassi said.
"If you actually minimised his defensive skills just 5%, he might even actually be a better player.
"He puts himself through unnecessary wear and tear on a court, because his offensive upside is, I think, still more than he shows."
Murray says he will now reflect on whether he could have done anything differently to prepare for the first Grand Slam of the year. He only had time for two weeks off after a frenetic end to last season, and must now balance the need for rest with his instinctive desire to play in Great Britain's Davis Cup first-round tie in Canada the week after next.
Murray suggested in the immediate aftermath of defeat that he intends to play in Ottawa, but his coaching team may well argue he should take a longer break before heading to Dubai in late February. The first two Masters events of the year follow in Indian Wells and Miami.
There is no immediate threat to Murray's world number one ranking - he will be 1,715 points ahead of Serb Djokovic when the list is refreshed at the end of the Australian Open.
He is certain to be number one until at least May because he has just a handful of ranking points to defend between now and the start of the clay court season.
Can anything further be read into the early exits of both Murray and Djokovic, who will both have turned 30 by the time the next Grand Slam is staged at Roland Garros in four months?
Ageing players are once again doing very well at this Australian Open, with half of the 12 men left in the draw on Sunday night older than the pair of them.
And yet in the modern era, men have found it tricky to win Grand Slam titles in their thirties. Stan Wawrinka and Agassi have each done it twice, but even Roger Federer has managed it only once.
Mats Wilander, who won the last of his seven Grand Slam titles at the age of 24, explains why it can become harder to find the consistency required over seven rounds.
"You have good days and you have bad days when you get older," Wilander told BBC Sport.
"You don't have to call on anything when you are younger - it's just there naturally. You don't worry about the consequences, you just play and you fight until the bitter end. I think the mind gets in your way when you get older."
There are still three Grand Slam champions left in the draw, with Federer, Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal all now over 30. The younger challenge is led by Milos Raonic, Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov.
Along with Federer - who will not now have to face Murray in the quarter-finals - it may be Raonic who takes most heart from Sunday's events.
You will not find him at the net as often as Zverev, but he did add the 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek to his team in December with the explicit intention of trying to move forward on a more regular basis.
We are a long way from declaring a new serve-and-volley era, but Melbourne Park's quicker courts have contributed to an enthralling first week - unless, that is, you happen to be ranked number one or two in the world.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38711323
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Your pictures: My diet - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Each week, we publish a gallery of readers' pictures on a set theme. This week it is "My diet".
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In Pictures
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And finally Teddy Everett sent in an image titled Fruit ninja. The next theme is "Winter views" and the deadline for your entries is 24 January. If you would like to enter, send your pictures to [email protected]. Further details and terms can be found by following the link to "We set the theme; you take the pictures," at the bottom of the page.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-38676099
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Danny Boyle: 'These stories belong here' - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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The stars of T2 Trainspotting have gathered in Edinburgh for the film's world premiere.
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The stars of T2 Trainspotting have gathered in Edinburgh for the film's world premiere.
Original cast members Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Kelly Macdonald and Ewen Bremner spoke to the BBC about working on the Trainspotting sequel.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38712425
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Ten seconds to demolish 19 buildings - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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Five tonnes of explosives are used to demolish a series of tower blocks in Wuhan, China.
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In just ten seconds, 19 buildings were demolished in Wuhan, China, in an operation using five tonnes of explosives.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38714059
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European Rugby Champions Cup: Leicester Tigers 0-43 Glasgow Warriors - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Glasgow score six tries to inflict a record European defeat on Leicester and reach their first Champions Cup quarter-final.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Glasgow roared into their first European Champions Cup quarter-final with a crushing six-try rout of a humiliated Leicester at Welford Road.
Warriors, just needing a win to secure a last-eight spot, had four tries and a bonus point in the bag by half-time.
Tommy Seymour stretched over before Glasgow earned a penalty try, Mark Bennett and Jonny Gray also crossing.
Ryan Wilson and Tim Swinson added further scores, the outstanding Finn Russell adding 13 points with the boot.
It was Leicester's record European defeat, surpassing their 38-0 defeat at Munster earlier in this season's group stage.
Rather than playing with the burden of pressure and expectation on their shoulders, Glasgow were carefree and thrilling. They grabbed the game by the throat and didn't let go.
From the opening minutes, when they went through 27 phases before Seymour finished brilliantly in the corner, their quality was not in a different league to Leicester's, but a different planet.
They came with bazookas and found that Leicester were packing peashooters. Wilson and Swinson were ridiculously good as ball-carriers and leaders but they had a heavy-duty cavalry with them.
The wit and variety in Glasgow's game was a joy. Leicester - missing some big names, it's true - were utterly humiliated in their own back yard. Their heroes of the past would have turned away from it all after barely 20 minutes of play.
Russell's boot had Glasgow 10-0 ahead by then. Mathew Tait was harshly binned soon after for a late shoulder on the splendid Lee Jones and while he was away, Glasgow accumulated a points mountain.
Leicester had no ball, not a lot of discipline and no way of surviving.
When Glasgow went for a try off a driven line-out, the Tigers collapsed it and a penalty try was given. Before Tait returned, Glasgow scored again. Another beauty.
It began in midfield when Gordon Reid and Swinson kept it alive in contact. Russell swept left where Glasgow had numbers, and Jones and Wilson put Bennett over in the corner.
Russell's conversion made it 24-0. The relentless barrage and total monopoly of the ball carried on and on.
Tait returned to the defensive line, but it made no difference. Clever footwork from Jones put Gray over for the bonus-point score. The conversion made it an eye-watering 31-0.
Within eight minutes of the start, Wilson got on the ball yet again from a clever line-out routine and blasted through what constituted Leicester defence. A brown paper bag would have offered more resistance.
Wilson finished what he started to bring it to 38-0. Swinson added another just after the tour - two huge performers on the day getting their reward.
The Leicester fans were vanishing now. This was mortification on an epic scale.
For Glasgow, it was lethal and historic. They had to front-up and they did. To a man, they were remorseless. A momentous day in Glasgow's story.
Glasgow head coach Gregor Townsend: "It's a great end to the chapter, from where Scottish rugby started in professional rugby and where it is today.
"Some 20 years ago, Glasgow were conceding 90 points, and 10 years ago there wasn't that much hope in the future of professional rugby with one of the (Scottish) teams closing down and the other two not doing well.
"Now, we've got a situation where we've had a huge number of fans down here and the team winning."
Leicester head coach Aaron Mauger told BBC Radio Leicester: "Glasgow played very well but they broke us down and sapped our energy.
"We just weren't good enough. There's nothing we can take out of the game as a real positive.
"It was clearly embarrassing for all involved and it's not a situation I've found myself in through my career, I've always been part of successful sides.
"It's not through a lack of effort or a lack of wanting to be better, but a lack of execution and collectively we need to be better."
Replacements: H Thacker (for T Youngs, 63), E Genge (for Bateman, 50), P Cilliers (for Cole, 67), D Barrow (for Fitzgerald, 62), W Evans (for McCaffrey, 75), S Harrison (for B Youngs, 50), G Worth, M Smith (for Betham, 65).
Replacements: P MacArthur (for Brown, 59), A Allan (for Reid, 64), D Rae (for Fagerson, 64), B Alainu'uese (for Swinson, 70), C Fusaro (for Strauss, 56), H Pyrgos (for Price, 56), N Grigg (for Dunbar, 64), P Murchie (for Hogg, 70).
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38656956
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World v Trump on global climate deal? - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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As the new president settles in, much of the world reaffirms its commitment to the Paris agreement.
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Science & Environment
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As a pro-coal president strides into the White House, the rest of the world is rallying in defence of the climate.
Donald Trump has called climate change "a hoax" and filled his cabinet with representatives of fossil fuel industries.
One of the world's leading climate scientists told me she was positively scared about his potential impact on the planet.
But so far the leaders who joined with President Barack Obama in Paris in 2015 to sign the global climate deal are standing firm.
As Mr Trump ponders pulling out of the UN climate deal, China, India, Germany, the EU and the UK have all reaffirmed their promise to curb CO2 emissions.
And in the USA itself, moves have already been made to consolidate the low-carbon economy in a sign that fossil fuel companies will still face a battle over CO2 emissions, even with support from the White House.
Only this week, China's President, Xi Jin Ping, warned Mr Trump that walking away from the Paris deal would endanger future generations.
As Mr Trump promises to boost jobs by scrapping President Obama's clean energy plans, China is pushing on with a $361bn (£293bn) investment in renewable energy by 2020.
China's Xie Zhenhua says the world will pressure the Trump administration over clean energy
China's green aspirations are undermined by its expansion of coal-fired power stations, but this week it also suspended plans for 104 new coal plants.
Xie Zhenhua, the veteran climate negotiator who forged a close partnership on clean energy between the two mega-powers, told China Daily that the global momentum behind low-carbon technology was unstoppable.
He was quoted as saying: "Industrial upgrades aiming for more sustainable growth is a global trend… it is not something that can be reversed by a single political leader.
"The international community and US citizens will pressure the Trump administration to continue clean energy policies."
The State Department may not dismiss this flippantly: while US-Chinese relations may be increasingly frosty in many areas, climate change and clean energy remain a valuable sphere of co-operation.
American politicians may also be wary of watching China seize the moral heights as world leader in tackling climate change.
Its energy minister, Piyush Goyal, said this week: "We respect the fact that America has chosen its leader.
"However, clean energy is not something that we are working on because somebody else wants us to do it - it's a matter of faith and the faith of the leadership in India.
"Nothing on Earth is going to stop us from doing that."
Solar energy prices are now on a par with coal in India, which boasts the world's biggest solar farm and the first chemical plant to eat its own CO2 emissions.
It will continue to expand coal-fired generation for the next few years, but its National Electricity Plan projects no further increase in coal-based capacity after 2022 - much earlier than previously suggested.
India's Tuticorin plant is the world's first zero-emission chemical facility
Dollars, technology and jobs will pour into clean energy in these countries, and the USA will surely be keen not to miss out.
Meanwhile, moves are being made to consolidate President Obama's climate legacy.
The US previously pledged $3bn to the UN's green fund to help poor countries adapt to climate change and get clean technology.
Mr Trump won support among some voters for promising to stop payments and spend the cash on American citizens instead.
But this week President Obama slipped the fund a further $500m.
And it won't just be on the international stage that Mr Trump's team will face fossil fuel battles.
Some early skirmishes on American soil are already under way.
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency cemented stricter efficiency standards for cars.
Republicans will try to reverse this - but when carmakers previously resisted efficiency rules, they ended up producing such uncompetitive gas-guzzlers that the industry had to be bailed out.
Even Republican plans to boost extraction of fossil fuels, while popular in some states because the industries create jobs, will provoke local resistance from people who don't want oil pipelines, or don't want the tops blown off their mountains to get to coal.
It may be hard to persuade investors to put cash into coal anyway.
Many states will resist fossil fuels, too.
California has long led the way on car emissions and recently insisted it will keep its right to set its own tighter regulations for cars.
Mr Trump's team may try to rescind this.
The Paris climate agreement resulted in 195 nations pledging to reduce emissions
There are already CO2 trading schemes between states on the east and west coasts, and last week New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to build enough offshore wind capacity by 2030 to power 1.25 million homes.
Here's the big picture: as the world moves together to tackle climate change, it is clearly problematic if the biggest historic polluter threatens to pull in the opposite direction.
Will Angela Merkel, for instance, be so sanguine about Germany's controversial switch to renewables if the US forces its already-low energy prices even lower, triggering protests from German industry?
In the words of Jo Haigh, professor of atmospheric physics at Imperial College, London: "If Trump does what he said he'd do, and others follow suit, my gut feeling is that I'm scared. Very scared."
But he may not. And they may not.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38676898
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Eight ways President Donald Trump will make history - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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From his bank balance to his lack of pets - here's how Donald Trump is making presidential history.
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US & Canada
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Donald Trump has already pulled off a series of presidential "firsts"
Donald Trump is guaranteed to make history as the 45th president of the United States.
And whether you love or loathe him, it's a fact that the Republican will set a range of records as soon as he occupies the Oval Office.
From his age to his bank balance, via his notable lack of pets - here are just some of "The Donald's" historic "firsts".
Donald Trump celebrated his 70th birthday on 14 June, which makes him the oldest man in US history to assume the presidency. The previous record-holder, Ronald Reagan, was 69 when he took office in 1981.
Perhaps keen to allay fears about his senior status, the business mogul had his doctor prepare a gushing letter pledging that he would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency".
Right-wing Indian activists celebrate The Donald's 70th birthday in New Delhi
The average age of all 44 previous incoming presidents is a sprightly 55.
The youngest ever incumbent - Theodore Roosevelt - got the job aged 42 years and 322 days, after President William McKinley's assassination in 1901.
Mr Trump is the first billionaire president. Exact estimates of his personal wealth vary, with Forbes putting it at $3.7bn (£3bn) and the man himself claiming in a statement that it's "in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS".
Many of America's past presidents have also been extremely wealthy, of course. Recent estimates say George Washington's estate would be worth half a billion in today's dollars.
Donald Trump has said he will take only a dollar in salary - like former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger (L)
Before his 1963 assassination, JFK reportedly lived off a $10m trust fund thanks to the vast wealth of his father - investor and alleged bootlegger Joseph P Kennedy, Sr.
Mr Trump will be following in the footsteps of former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger by taking just a symbolic dollar as a salary.
When Mr Trump began unveiling his cabinet picks, the number with fat wallets quickly drew the scorn of Democrats.
"Donald Trump's administration: of, by and for the millionaires and billionaires," tweeted Vermont Senator and Democrat presidential contender Bernie Sanders.
For better or worse, this will be the wealthiest administration in modern American history.
According to the Washington Post, commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross is worth around $2.5bn on his own - roughly 10 times what George W Bush's first cabinet were worth in 2001, when the media branded them an assembly of millionaires.
Treasury appointee Steven Mnuchin quite literally bought a bank after 17 years at Goldman Sachs, and reports put his wealth at over $40m.
It has been estimated that the cabinet could be good for an eye-watering $35bn, all told. As Quartz pointed out, this is more than the annual gross domestic product of Bolivia.
Mr Trump's triumph is also significant because, until now, no-one has been elected president in more than 60 years without experience as a state governor or in Congress.
The last president with no political experience, Dwight Eisenhower, was Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in World War Two, before he was elected to office in 1953.
Some Trump voters saw his lack of political experience as a guarantee of authenticity
But as Mr Trump tells it, his lack of links to the Washington establishment is an asset not a flaw - and more than made up for by his experience as a deal-maker.
Mr Trump has named his son-in-law, real estate developer Jared Kushner, as a senior adviser - prompting cries of nepotism from opponents.
Some claim the appointment makes the 36-year-old the most powerful presidential son-in-law in US history.
He isn't the first to fit that profile, however.
President Woodrow Wilson's Treasury Secretary, William Gibbs McAdoo, was also married to his daughter, Eleanor.
First Daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are set to wield considerable clout
That said, their case pre-dates America's 1967 anti-nepotism statute, and Mr McAdoo was already a cabinet secretary when he wed.
Ivanka Trump, Mr Trump's elder daughter and wife of Mr Kushner, is also being spoken of as the most influential "First Daughter" ever.
So much fuss has been made of what Donald Trump owns that you might have missed one glaring absence - a pet.
It looks likely that he'll be the first US President in over a century not to have an animal pal in the White House, after plans to have him adopt a goldendoodle dog reportedly fell through.
According to the Presidential Pet Museum, almost every commander-in-chief has had a pet, and some had a virtual menagerie.
John F Kennedy stands out for owning a veritable Noah's Ark - everything from a rabbit named Zsa Zsa to a canary called Robin - but the crown belongs to Calvin and Grace Coolidge (White House occupants from 1923-1929), who the museum says "quite literally had a zoo".
Barack Obama's Portuguese Water Dog, Bo, is among the more traditional pets to live at the White House
Their animal companions included at least a dozen dogs, a donkey named Ebenezer, and various creatures presented as gifts by foreign dignitaries - among them lion cubs, a wallaby, a pygmy hippo named Billy, and a black bear.
Donald Trump won the presidency on a pro-job platform, and has blamed free-trade policies for the collapse of the US manufacturing industry.
This is a rare stance for a US president, probably last seen in his fellow Republican Herbert Hoover in the 1930s.
In September 2015, Mr Trump told the Economist China is "killing us", and that millions of Americans are "tired of being ripped off".
He said that as president, he would consider a 12% import tax to make the Chinese "stop playing games".
During his election campaign, Mr Trump also threatened to rip up Nafta, the free trade agreement between Canada, the US and Mexico, which has been in place for 23 years.
The Republican has long been opposed to the TPP, which he views as a poor deal for the US
He also vowed that the US would quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, a 12-nation agreement, on his first day in the White House.
Former model Melania Trump is as trailblazing as her husband.
She will be the first presidential spouse from Slovenia, and the first non-native English speaker.
She is only the second FLOTUS born outside the US, though - the first being Louisa Adams, wife of the sixth US President, John Quincy Adams (1825-1829), who was born in London.
As Mr Trump has been married twice before, Melania will also be the first third wife to reside in the White House. The only other US president to have divorced was Ronald Reagan, who split from his first wife, actress Jane Wyman, long before leading the nation.
Melania speaks Slovenian, English, French, German, and Serbian, and may be the most competent linguist to hold the role of FLOTUS.
Melania Trump will be the first non-native English speaker to be FLOTUS
She is the first president's wife to have posed nude, for GQ magazine in 2000 among others.
Mr Trump is no stranger to men's magazines either. He appeared on the cover of Playboy in March 1990 with the tag-line: "Nice magazine, want to sell it?"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38637123
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Dave Ryding records Britain's best alpine World Cup result for 35 years - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Skier Dave Ryding matches Britain's best ever alpine World Cup result, finishing second in the Kitzbuhel slalom.
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Last updated on .From the section Winter Sports
Skier Dave Ryding matched Britain's best ever alpine World Cup result when he finished second in the Kitzbuhel slalom in Austria.
He was leading after the first run but was beaten by home favourite Marcel Hirscher to record the first podium of his career.
It was the best result for just over 35 years, since Konrad Bartelski came second in a downhill in Italy in 1981.
The 30-year-old had finished sixth and seventh already this season.
He told BBC Sport: "The first run was just insane. I knew I had skied it clean, but couldn't believe it when I crossed the finish line.
"In between runs I tried not to get the heart rate up or get stressed. I was trying to tell myself I wasn't the last one to go but it was tough. It was a mental battle with myself but I won the mental battle.
"Hirscher skied so well, so coming second almost felt like a victory. It's crazy. I'm just really proud of what I've achieved."
The Lancastrian races without UK Sport funding after it was withdrawn from the alpine programme in 2010 but does receive other sponsorship.
• None Watch highlights from Kitzbuhel on Ski Sunday on BBC Two and online from 18:15 GMT.
Ryding, who learnt to ski on a dry slope at Pendle Ski Club, has been a member of the British ski team since 2006 and competed in the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, finishing 17th.
He had a 0.29 seconds lead over Italy's Stefano Gross going into the second run with Hirscher 1.02 seconds behind. But the Austrian, who won the race in 2013 and has won the overall slalom title three times, had a storming second run to move from seventh to first, with Ryding ending up 0.76 seconds adrift.
More than 60,000 spectators were watching and Ryding said the noise was deafening.
"Kitzbuhel is like the FA Cup final in England. The downhill race is the number one but the slalom is also massive. The fans are incredible."
The alpine ski World Cup was formed in 1967 and, in 50 years of racing, Ryding and Bartelski are the only British men to finish on the podium while Gina Hathorn (1967) and Divina Galica (1968) scored top three finishes on the women's circuit.
When Bartelski did it in Val Gardena, Italy, it led a French commentator to say: "This is not possible, he is English!"
In the pre-World Cup era, Britain's Gordon Cleaver won the combined race on the Kitzbuhel's Hahnenkamm course in 1931.
While the alpine team are no longer funded by UK Sport, the Great British freestyle ski and snowboard team are.
Following Jenny Jones' historic slopestyle bronze in Sochi, they will receive £4.9m for the four-year cycle leading to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
They have had numerous World Cup successes with Katie Ormerod becoming the first snowboarder to win a World Cup big air, while cousin Jamie Nicholls has won in slopestyle, Lesley McKenna and Rowan Cheshire in halfpipe and Zoe Gillings-Brier in snowboardcross.
Meanwhile in cross-country skiing, Briton Andrew Musgrave recorded his best World Cup result, when he came sixth in a 15km race in Sweden on Saturday.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/38710917
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Andy Murray: Australian Open loss to Mischa Zverev is tough to take - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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World number one Andy Murray says his defeat by Mischa Zverev, ranked 50th, at the Australian Open is tough to take.
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Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Andy Murray says his shock defeat by world number 50 Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open is tough to take.
The German played aggressively to surprise Britain's world number one and register a 7-5 5-7 6-2 6-4 victory.
Murray, 29, has never won the title despite reaching the final five times, but was favourite to win after Novak Djokovic was knocked out on Thursday.
"It's a tough loss at one of the biggest events and one that I wanted to do better at," Murray told BBC Sport.
"I get a bit of time off now and try to learn from it and try to understand what I could have done a little bit better, and then come back and try again."
• None Venus eases through to last eight
It is the first time since 2009 that the Scot has not reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne.
Johanna Konta is now the only Briton left in the singles after Dan Evans' run was ended by France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Sunday.
"Mischa plays with a game style that not many players play these days and he played it extremely well," said Murray.
"In the slams, with the best-of-five format, you have time to turn things around. There's also time to mess it up as well."
Zverev's attacking serve-and-volley style meant that Murray was under pressure throughout.
The Briton grew more frustrated as the match progressed, turning and shouting to his box as he tried to halt Zverev's progress.
"I was getting myself pumped up and at the end of the set I was trying to get a little more energy, show positive body language," he added.
"I don't think I was flat, it just wasn't to be today. He deserved to win. It's a tough one to lose."
A clearly emotional Zverev, who is coached by his parents, paid tribute to his younger brother Alexander after he completed the win over Murray.
Alexander, 19, narrowly missed out on a place in the quarter-finals after a five-set contest with Rafael Nadal on Saturday.
"My brother inspires me all the time because he plays such great tennis and he challenges me to do better in myself," said Zverev, 29.
The German is the lowest-ranked player to beat Murray at a Grand Slam since Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela, then also ranked 50th, beat him at Melbourne in 2006.
He will go on to face Roger Federer, who he described as his idol, in the last eight.
"I was like in a little coma, just serving and volleying my way through it. There were a few points where I didn't know how I pulled it off but somehow I made it," Zverev added.
"It was kind of easy to stay aggressive but it was tough to stay calm. I was expecting to maybe double fault in the last but somehow I made it."
Andy will obviously be very disappointed but hopefully in a couple of days' time he can look back and realise what he's done over the last decade in Slams is absolutely phenomenal.
So as much as this one hurts, he's got an incredible record and he's got time now to go and prepare for the next one, the French Open and onwards.
Mischa Zverev played great. It was much talked about beforehand, he plays in a way that other players just aren't used to playing against - serve and volley all the time on the first serve, a lot of times on the second, hitting and coming in off returns. It just made it more difficult to get into the match because there's no rhythm.
I don't think this has any reflection whatsoever on how the rest of the year goes - they are here to play 18, 19 tournaments I think Andy plays on average per year - he's got all the Slams coming up, he's still world number one and in a very strong position.
One loss is not going to rock the boat too much or blow him off course. If anything it will motivate him to probably work harder - he's somebody who analyses these things, he likes to look into the reasons, what he could've done better, what went wrong and that's his mind, that's the way he works, that's why he's successful and he will use it along those lines to carry on.
He'll probably have another great year, he's in the driving seat.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38710107
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Iraqi Kurdish fashionistas make a splash - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A group of young men hopes to put Iraqi Kurdistan on the fashion map - and effect social change.
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Middle East
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Conflict and militancy may be first things that occur to many about Iraq, but a group of young fashion-conscious Kurds are hoping to help project a brighter, more optimistic image - and perhaps effect social change along the way.
The group calls itself Mr Erbil, after the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq that has been at the frontline of the struggle against the militants of the Islamic State (IS) group.
Mr Erbil's launch and first photoshoot last February quickly made waves on social media. Dubbed "gentlemen's gatherings" in a recent profile in Vocativ, it took place at the city's ancient citadel, a UN world heritage site.
Mr Erbil hopes to promote a new image for the region
The pictures of the 20 men posing in latest Western men's fashion - specifically, the style recently associated with hipsters, replete with the trademark sharp suits, tight trousers and lovingly trimmed beards - became wildly popular on Instagram.
Widely dubbed "Iraq's first gentleman's fashion club", Mr Erbil now has some 30 core members and more than 25,000 fans on Instagram, and a Facebook presence too.
The style may be Western, but Mr Erbil stress that what they are doing mixes "modernity" and cultural heritage, by harking back to the lifestyles of the traditional Kurdish landowning class, the effendis.
The favoured style appears to be mostly hipster-inspired
According to the Vocativ article, in days past, the "effendis" - literally, "lord" or "master" - would dress in their finest clothes to attend cultural salons or visit tea shops.
The group says that the focus of their activity is to organise trade shows and cultural events to promote fashion as "aesthetic expression".
But it is not just about fashion - there is also a serious, almost political side.
Mr Erbil sees itself as something almost akin to a movement representing young Iraqi Kurds who are looking for a better life and want to promote Kurdish culture to the world.
The group even hopes to effect social change and challenge traditional attitudes, particularly on women's rights.
The Mr Erbil account frequently posts pictures and musings about women's issues in Kurdistan, Iraq and the world.
The group's account is very popular on social media
The effect Iraq's near-constant conflict has had on women's lives is also a frequent subject.
Every Thursday, Mr Erbil writes a post on the "girl inspiration", in which they promote women working on behalf of the community.
One of them is Dashni Morad, who gives workshops in leadership skills to women who survived the massacre and rape of members of northern Iraq's Yazidi sect by IS militants.
"The effort she puts in for humanity, love and peace is so impressive!" says a post by Mr Erbil post on 19 January. "Keep up the good work, you are making us proud."
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38692382
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Chapecoense: Brazilian team play first game since plane crash - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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Chapecoense football team has played its first match since the plane crash that killed most of its athletes.
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Chapecoense football team has played its first match since the plane crash that killed most of its players.
Before the game’s start, the three players who survived the accident and families of the victims received medals and the Copa Sudamericana trophy.
The team was heading to Colombia to play in the first leg of the championship final when the accident happened.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38710231
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Week in pictures: 14-20 January 2017 - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A selection of the best news photographs from around the world, taken over the past week.
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In Pictures
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Ice skaters competed in the women's platoon during the first ice skating marathon on natural ice in Noordlaren, the Netherlands. Skating on natural ice in the Netherlands reportedly dates back into the 13th Century when it was a method to get fast and easily from one place to another on the frozen canals in the country.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-38688378
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Trump inauguration: Two Americas in 24 hours - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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In the space of 24 hours, events in Washington showed two Americas, poles apart.
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US & Canada
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In the space of 24 hours, Washington was the scene of two Americas.
President Trump's supporters came feeling they've just taken their country back.
The protesters on the women's march feel they have just lost theirs. It is that stark.
The mood at the march was determinedly cheerful, there were men, children and lots and lots of women. Grandmothers teaching their granddaughters the political ropes.
But the underlying message was clear - liberal America has just been shoved out of power.
These marches were enormous and they came out in cities across the country to repudiate not just Donald Trump, but his whole world view.
They didn't just protest about women's issues, there were also signs addressing his positions on climate change, healthcare and Muslims.
Can they change President Trump's agenda? Probably not.
But approval ratings matter - they are a form of political capital and when this many people really dislike the new president, that makes it harder for him to persuade members of Congress to support him on difficult issues.
The polls show us that Mr Trump is the most unpopular new president in American history. Those are the facts.
These marches put faces to those numbers.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38707721
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2,000 guitars in mini scale - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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A musician from Opole in Poland has made 2,000 mini guitars.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38712423
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Arsenal 2-1 Burnley - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Alexis Sanchez's 98th-minute penalty sees Arsenal claim a thrilling victory over Burnley at Emirates Stadium, despite Granit Xhaka's red card.
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Alexis Sanchez scored a 98th-minute penalty as 10-man Arsenal recovered from conceding in injury time to claim a thrilling win over Burnley at Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners' title chances appeared to have been derailed as substitute Francis Coquelin fouled Ashley Barnes in the 93rd minute and Andre Gray converted from the spot to level after Shkodran Mustafi's header had finally broken Burnley's resistance.
But, after Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was sent to the stands for protesting referee Jon Moss' decision, Ben Mee was then penalised for a high foot on Laurent Koscielny in the Burnley area, and Sanchez deceived Clarets keeper Tom Heaton with a Panenka-style penalty.
The hosts had dominated for most of the game until Granit Xhaka's second dismissal of the season for a reckless two-footed lunge on Steven Defour, from which Burnley profited, only for Sanchez to claim all three points in impudent fashion.
Arsenal's fifth consecutive league victory at home lifts them above Liverpool and Tottenham, who both dropped points on Saturday, but they remain eight points behind leaders Chelsea, who beat Hull 2-0 on Sunday.
The result also means Burnley's dismal away record this season continues, with Sean Dyche's side having collected only one point from a possible 30 on the road.
Heading into the seven minutes of added time, it appeared Arsenal had done enough to repel Burnley despite going down to 10 men, only for Coquelin to make a rash tackle on Barnes, with Moss showing no hesitation in awarding the penalty.
Wenger protested and was sent to the stands but it was a clear trip and Gray converted, despite Petr Cech getting a firm hand on his shot.
Burnley boss Dyche was similarly aggrieved moments later as Moss penalised Mee for a high foot on Koscielny, who appeared to be offside when the ball was flighted in to the back post, but once that was missed, a penalty was a fair result for the challenge.
Sanchez, who had earlier curled two efforts narrowly over either side of the interval, had one last moment of panache left, coolly chipping his effort straight down the middle as Heaton dived to his right, securing a vital win.
"It's a tough day for us in the end. To lose a game in that fashion, with an offside not given, is tough, particularly when you come to tough places like this," said Burnley boss Dyche.
"We know how tough this division is but you need officials to make the right decisions and that is the shame today. The officials have to be brave at places like this, I understand that, but you've got to think it has to be given."
An entertaining, if slightly routine, game had its complexion changed on 65 minutes when Xhaka's needless challenge on Defour saw him sent off by referee Moss after consultation with the linesman.
The 24-year-old's dismissal was his fifth in the league since the start of last season - more than any other player in Europe's top five divisions - and his second of this campaign, having also been sent off by Moss against Swansea in October.
His ninth red card in three seasons could have an adverse effect on Arsenal's title hopes with the midfielder now banned for the next four matches, including a crucial Premier League match at Chelsea on 4 February.
Prior to his reckless tackle, Xhaka displayed his impressive range of passing, releasing the likes of Mesut Ozil and Sanchez from deep and showing why he will be missed.
Xhaka's red also sparked an ill-disciplined end to the game for Arsenal, with Mustafi booked for dissent and Wenger also sent off for a futile protest against Burnley's penalty, for which he later apologised.
"I didn't see any penalty from outside but I should have shut up and I apologise, even if I was frustrated," said the Arsenal boss once tensions had cooled.
Sanchez's late winner provided a sickening end note for Dyche - who was taking charge of his 200th Burnley game - after he had appeared to get his tactics just right for long periods of the game.
Despite not electing to use a five-man midfield to try and match Arsenal, his side were disciplined in staying behind the ball to force the hosts into attempting increasingly elaborate ways of opening them up, while the pace of Gray kept Mustafi and Koscielny honest on the break.
The nature of Arsenal's opener will therefore irk Dyche, as Mustafi was easily able to free himself of the Burnley defence's attention to apply a simple finish to Ozil's corner, with no-one stationed on the back post.
With Arsenal down to 10 men, Dyche sent on Joey Barton and Sam Vokes and though Cech was rarely called into action, they applied enough pressure to induce a mistake as Gray scored the equaliser Burnley perhaps deserved.
Yet once again, they could not hold firm to secure a positive result on the road, falling to their ninth defeat in 10 away games this season.
The Clarets have secured 25 points at Turf Moor this year, just one less than Arsenal at the Emirates, but are bottom of the Premier League away table with a solitary point.
What the managers said
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "We finally got the win but of course it was very difficult for us. We couldn't get the second goal, we played with 10 men and they played well as well. In the end we got the three points we wanted.
"Burnley are well organised, they make the game simple but efficient. We won there in the last second and we one again in the last second today.
"Every week and every game is an unbelievable fight for everybody."
Burnley boss Sean Dyche: "To be fair to Arsenal they still attempted to come at us, but then they retreated in numbers, so we got bodies forward and made them uncomfortable and it paid off in the end with a penalty that was a penalty.
"Then after that you're thinking their chance may be something like a corner or a set-piece and it's just unfortunate.
"My players are doing the right thing, clearing box and catching him offside, it is offside and it's not given."
Arsenal leave it late against Burnley again
• None Arsenal have scored a 90th-minute winner in both of their Premier League games against Burnley this season. The only other time this has happened in the competition was Manchester United against Manchester City in 2009-10.
• None Alexis Sanchez took his third ever Premier League penalty, but this was his first successful one.
• None Since the start of last season, Granit Xhaka has been shown more red cards than any other player in the big five European leagues (5).
• None Arsenal have conceded seven penalty goals this season - more than they have in any other Premier League campaign.
• None The last time there were two 90th-minute penalties scored in the same Premier League match was in April 2011 - Arsenal v Liverpool at the Emirates.
• None Arsenal are the only side to have won (31) more games than they've lost (26) when having a player sent off in the Premier League.
Arsenal travel to Southampton in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday (17:30 GMT), before hosting Watford in the Premier League on 31 January (19:45 GMT). Burnley host Bristol City in their FA Cup fourth round tie, also on Saturday (15:00 GMT), before facing Leicester at Turf Moor in the league three days later (19:45 GMT).
• None Goal! Arsenal 2, Burnley 1. Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the centre of the goal.
• None Penalty conceded by Ben Mee (Burnley) after a foul in the penalty area.
• None Attempt saved. Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Aaron Ramsey.
• None Goal! Arsenal 1, Burnley 1. Andre Gray (Burnley) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the centre of the goal.
• None Penalty conceded by Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) after a foul in the penalty area.
• None Attempt saved. Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
• None Attempt missed. Matthew Lowton (Burnley) right footed shot from outside the box is too high.
• None Attempt blocked. James Tarkowski (Burnley) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38626832
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770 babies baptised in Georgian ceremony - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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The BBC's Rayhan Demytrie reports from a mass baptism ceremony in Tbilisi, Georgia.
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Hundreds of babies have been baptised at a mass ceremony in Georgia.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38708530
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Mild panic greets Trump digital transition - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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As Obama moves out the White House, he today also gives up key online real estate - a move already creating controversy.
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Technology
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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
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38699809
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UK-EU trade deal: Another WTO issue - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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If the UK and the EU are going to have a trade agreement, it is best to get as many sectors covered as possible to reduce the chances of a WTO challenge.
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Business
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The UK is set for a hard Brexit from the EU
So the UK, it seems, is headed out of the European Union's single market, perhaps also out of the customs union.
Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants to preserve barrier-free trade between the UK and the EU as far as possible.
One option that has been floated, if the two sides can't agree a comprehensive free trade agreement, is sectoral deals. They might cover cars, for example, or perhaps financial services.
But there is a problem with this approach: World Trade Organization rules.
Perhaps the most fundamental idea behind the WTO's rule book is non-discrimination.
It goes by the rather confusing name of "most favoured nation".
It is Article 1 of the WTO's main legal agreement. It means that you must give the same degree of access to your home market that you give to the most favoured nation to all WTO members. A favour for one should be given to all.
You should not discriminate for or against any WTO member.
There are a few situations where the rules allow countries to depart from this principle - the one that is relevant here is for free-trade areas and customs unions (the two have important similarities, but are not the same).
The World Trade Organization is based in Geneva and came into being in 1995
The WTO's rule book says the member countries "recognise the desirability of increasing freedom of trade by the development, through voluntary agreements, of closer integration between the economies of countries parties to such agreements".
So a trade agreement between the UK and the EU would be allowed under WTO rules, in fact welcomed, even though it is something that is intrinsically discriminatory. It would involve the EU and the UK discriminating in favour of each other against outside countries.
Of course, the EU itself has the same effect, offering EU members better access to each other's markets than is available to either China or the United States, for example.
But there is a catch. The WTO rules say such agreements should cover "substantially all the trade" between the members of the customs union or free-trade area.
What does "substantially all" mean? There is some case law which touched on this. A dispute between Turkey (which has a customs union agreement with the EU) and India went to the WTO's appeals body, which said in its report: "It is clear, though, that 'substantially all the trade' is not the same as all the trade, and also that 'substantially all the trade' is something considerably more than merely some of the trade."
Not as cut and dried as you might hope, but all the trade experts I have spoken to say that a deal covering just a few sectors wouldn't qualify.
That seems to be reinforced by what a WTO dispute panel said in another case. This one, as it happens was about cars, an agreement between the US and Canada in the 1960s known as the Auto Pact.
There is one line in the panel's ruling that is particularly relevant here: "The Auto Pact, nevertheless, is a purely sectoral agreement which does not meet the requirements of Article XXIV:8" - that is the provision that sets out the "substantially all the trade" requirement.
So such a narrow sectoral deal might well be vulnerable to challenge in the WTO.
But would it actually happen?
There seems to be a great deal of reluctance to challenge these agreements. (The India v Turkey and Auto Pact disputes were not fundamentally about the wider trade agreements, but about very specific restrictions that the complaining country thought were against the rules.)
More than 600 of them have been notified to the WTO or its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Many are thought to stretch the credibility of "substantially all trade", by having various sectors uncovered.
But that makes countries reluctant to challenge others, for fear of shining an unwelcome light on their own agreements. As one senior trade official put it to me: "It's a glass houses kind of thing."
So a sectoral agreement between the UK and the EU might be challenged, but it would depend on whether any country wanted to do so.
Think of cars. There is another factor that might make a challenge less likely. Japan and the United States have car industries that have a presence in Europe and might well benefit from a deal between the EU and UK.
So perhaps we might get away with a narrow trade agreement. Even so, the uncertainty would be unwelcome to the industry concerned.
There is also the possibility of simply ignoring any unwelcome WTO ruling. The WTO has no real powers of enforcement. It can allow the other side to retaliate, but it can't arrest the trade minister.
On the other hand, the British government appears to be keen on the rules-based system of international trade and would probably be very uncomfortable about defying a ruling.
All the more reason, if the UK and the EU are going to have a trade agreement, to get as many sectors covered as possible, to reduce the chances of a WTO challenge.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38658025
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Bulls and bullying: the fight over animal rights and tradition - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Animal rights activists caught in social media cross-fire regarding banned bull-taming tradition.
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BBC Trending
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Tamil actress Trisha Krishnan deleted her Twitter account as a result of a row over bull-taming
A ban on the ancient practice of bull-taming has spurred thousands to protest in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. While the demonstrations have been mostly peaceful, the argument over the festival has turned ugly online.
This week around 4,000 protesters camped out on a beach in the state's capital, Chennai (Madras) - with hundreds more gathering in other parts of the state.
The crowd, who are mostly students, are against India's ban on Jallikattu, a 2,000 year old bull-taming tradition, which takes place as part of an annual harvest festival.
Bull-taming involves men chasing and removing prizes tied to the bull's horns. Animal rights activists argue it's abusive and results in mistreatment of the animals, but protesters contend the practice central to Tamil identity and that the bulls are rarely harmed or killed.
The men participating in Jallikattu attempt to grab prizes attached to the bull's horns
Jallikattu was banned by India's supreme court in 2014, a ruling that was upheld in 2016. The lawsuit that led to the ban was filed by animal rights groups including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). And as protests against the ban have spread, PETA activists and supporters have found themselves targeted on social media.
"I have been threatened with rape I'm called all sorts of names which I can't repeat," says Poorva Joshipura, CEO of PETA India.
"The general public are being incited and influenced through lies and online bullying and fake news which has unfortunately become so common in our world today," Joshipura tells BBC Trending radio.
She takes particular issue with memes containing false personal information which have been shared online.
"One is a picture of me wearing my vegan boots (footwear made without leather or any animal ingredients), boots that I really like a lot. The meme falsely says that the boots are made of leather," Joshipura says. "I have been campaigning against the leather industry for years."
Hear more on this story on the BBC World Service.
The Indian film actress Trisha Krishnan has also been caught up in the debate. In 2010, Krishnan worked on a PETA campaign. Reports on social media suggested that she had tweeted, and then deleted, her support of a Jallikattu ban.
One of the social media posts spreading about the actress was a fake obituary claiming she had died of HIV.
The faked obituary poster of Trisha Krishnan lists cause of death as "HIV affected" - insinuating that the actress is sexually promiscuous. It also calls her father a "poramboku" (wastrel) and her mother a "peethasirukki" (boastful woman).
In response, Krishnan first denied that she supported the ban and later deactivated her Twitter account, releasing a statement saying: "I'm a proud Tamilian by birth and I believe and respect the Tamil culture and tradition and I will never go against the sentiments of my own people who have been instrumental in my growth and stature."
Krishnan declined a request by BBC Trending for an interview. Her spokesperson told us that "PETA and Trisha are separate", stressing that the actress had only collaborated with the group on one campaign.
Bull tamers must hold on to the animal's hump for about 15-20 metres or three jumps of the bull to win a prize
Krishnan wasn't the only high profile person targeted on social media. The actor Vishal also received online backlash for being a supporter of PETA, and subsequently deactivated his Twitter profile.
False allegations that the PETA India CEO Poorva Joshipura wears leather boots have been circulating online
The pictures and rumours have been spread by groups such as Chennai Memes, a politically active viral marketing agency which made up the leather boots rumour about Poorva Joshipura.
Gautam Govindaram, one of the founders of Chennai Memes, defended the group's decision in creating the meme, telling BBC Trending: "I'm sure she has at least one product that is made of leather. She can't say that she has never used any product in her lifetime that has not been made of leather. I can be 100% sure I mean if she's born and she's one year old or two years old she must have come across with something made of leather."
Operating primarily on Facebook, Chennai Memes create around 20 memes a day, often referencing local and national political and social issues.
The group were cited by local media as being key to galvanising and mobilising the youth-led protests over the Jallikattu ban - creating shareable posters and spreading information on dates and timings of events through their Facebook page, which has more than 600,000 fans.
Govindaram added that the group was not behind the memes targeting the actress Trisha Krishnan.
"It's not exactly only us, it's the entire people here in the state of Tamil Nadu who are making a stand," he says. "Why should an organisation from another country come here, tell us about our traditions and why do they have the government of India in the palm of their hand?"
A number of villages in Tamil Nadu are reported to have defied the Jallikattu ban and held bull-taming events this week. And other prominent South Indian film stars, like Rajinikant and Kamal Haasan, have expressed their support of the sport.
Next story: The Instagram star who cuts Michelle Obama's hair
Johnny Wright has several celebrity clients but perhaps none is as famous as the former First Lady. READ MORE
You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-38656721
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Could tuition fees really cost £54,000? - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The headline cost of increased fees might be £9,250. But repaid with interest over 30 years it could be much higher.
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Education & Family
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The last time tuition fees were increased there were waves of student protests
How much will it cost to get a degree in England when tuition fees increase to £9,250 in the autumn?
If that seems high for a three-year degree, that's how much a think tank has calculated a student could have to pay back with interest.
And that wouldn't be the full size of the debt. There could be another £40,000 still outstanding when fee loans are written off after 30 years.
When fees start increasing from this autumn, it will mean borrowing about £28,600 for three years, with the amount then rising with inflation each year.
But while students have battled for years over the headline figure of £9,000 and now £9,250, the Intergenerational Foundation says they're missing the much bigger picture of what it will really cost in repayments.
And it's going to publish its findings in a report called The Packhorse Generation.
These extra costs start to rack up while a student is still at university, because interest is charged as soon as students start their courses, adding thousands to the debt before students have even graduated.
Students pay back fee loans from their earnings after graduation
Students start paying back their fee loans once they earn more than £21,000 per year - and the more they earn the more they pay each month, until the debt, plus interest, is cleared.
So this means total repayments can vary widely.
The think tank, which campaigns for fairness between generations, forecasts that:
A more likely scenario is that a graduate would start on a lower salary and gradually progress upwards.
And the think tank gives an example of someone starting out on £22,000 and then rising over the years to £41,000, with the projection that they would pay back about £31,000 and leave a further £69,000 unpaid.
These are not necessarily bad deals for students if it helps them into a good career.
But Estelle Clarke, a former City lawyer on the advisory board of the Intergenerational Foundation, argues that we're failing to understand the "stranglehold" of debt that we're building up for young people.
She also warns we should be looking nervously at the vast scale of write-offs in the current system.
Would the sell-off of student loans mean tougher terms?
At present the taxpayer picks up the tab for unpaid loans after 30 years, allowing graduates to walk away from tens of thousands of pounds of debt and interest charges.
"Taxpayers end up paying for this system twice over. Firstly, they will shoulder the burden of an economy deprived of cash as millions of graduates' incomes are diverted to loan repayments," says Ms Clarke.
"And secondly, they shoulder the burden of the non-repayment of most loans due to the extortionate ratcheting up of interest in spite of regular payments made."
But the government has long considered selling off more of the student loan book to the private financial sector.
Would a private operator, looking hungrily at monthly repayments from millions of graduates, want more favourable terms and a bigger slice of that unpaid debt?
Ms Clarke warns that there is not nearly enough protection for students against future changes to repayment arrangements to "extract even more cash from graduates' pockets".
"No other lending has so little protection," she says.
New York plans to offer free tuition to middle-income families
By international standards, the only real comparison for such levels of student borrowing is the United States.
But as England is increasing the cost of tuition, the US has been trying to reverse out of a spiral of higher fees and higher debt.
This month the governor of New York announced a plan to scrap tuition fees at state universities and colleges for families earning up to $125,000 (£102,000) per year, which would help 80% of households.
It reflected deep-seated middle class anxieties about student debt - especially for families not rich enough to afford the fees and not poor enough to get financial support.
This really can be a lifetime of debt, with warnings this month of aggressive tactics from lenders trying to recover student loans from pensioners, with the over-60s in the US still owing £55bn of student debt.
Under the Obama administration there had been growing efforts to tackle student debt.
But with the election of President Trump the future of student loans, now measured in the trillions, has become much less predictable.
The Department for Education argues that England's system is already extremely accessible, because there are no upfront costs for any students.
Instead the costs are backloaded to be paid after graduates are working.
And since graduates are likely to earn more, they can afford the cost of repayments, which in turn supports the next generation of students.
"The English system of student funding is sustainable, and has been recognised as such by the OECD," said a Department for Education spokeswoman.
"Critically, our system removes financial barriers for anyone hoping to study - with record numbers of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university last year."
But this is something of a turning point - with fees and debts about to begin a long upward curve. And the Intergenerational Foundation's warnings cast a cold light on the scale of the escalating costs.
Will this be the next stage of a sophisticated, self-funding, open-access, affordable university system, or unwitting steps towards a financial sinkhole?
• None New York to scrap tuition fees for middle class
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-38651059
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Entertainment week in pictures: 14-21 January - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A look at some of the events in the world of entertainment and arts over the past week, including the launch of Britain's Got Talent and Shakira meeting Gordon Brown.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon launched the new series of Britain's Got Talent in Blackpool. Auditions will now get under way before the show airs on ITV in the spring. Ant (whose head you can see just above Amanda) and Dec will return to hosting duties.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38581136
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Sean Spicer: Who is President Trump's spin doctor? - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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New White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has warned that the media will be held "accountable".
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US & Canada
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In a 2014 lecture to students at his former high school, Sean Spicer outlined a set of 17 "rules for life" that they would be wise to follow.
Rule number 16, he told the students at Portsmouth Abbey in Rhode Island: "Follow your mom's advice: It's not what you say, but how you say it. The tone and tenor of your words count."
The now White House press secretary also told students that they should be true to themselves. Rule number eight, was relevant here, he said. "Trust your gut. If it does not feel right, use caution."
With that guidance in mind, Mr Spicer's bellicose press conference with the White House press corps on Saturday suggests that the new presidential spokesman will not sugar-coat his words over the next four years.
While the press secretary-journalist relationship is naturally an adversarial one, Mr Spicer has, in his first few days in the role, already cast himself as being in open conflict with much of the mainstream media, pledging to "hold the press accountable".
This, it appears, is the frontline of a strategy that White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus described as a will to "fight back tooth and nail every day" at supposed media efforts to "delegitimise" the president.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sean Spicer, White House press secretary said "no-one had numbers" for the inauguration
Mr Spicer, 45, is not a new hand at managing negative press coverage.
He previously served as spokesman and chief strategist for the Republican National Committee (RNC) and has long criticised coverage of his party and Mr Trump.
He took the post of communications director at the RNC in 2011, a time when it "was deep in debt and had a badly tarnished brand", according to the Republican Party website.
He is said to have helped turn around its fortunes by boosting the social media team, leading rapid response efforts to combat attacks, setting up an in-house video and production team and expanding the use of surrogates - people who can publicly appear on behalf of candidates, defend them and boost their appeal.
Mr Spicer has not shied away from criticising Mr Trump in the past. In July 2015, speaking on behalf of the RNC after Mr Trump questioned Republican Senator John McCain's status as a war hero, he said that there was "no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage those who have served honourably".
Mr Spicer claimed President Trump's inauguration was the "largest inaugural crowd ever"
He also described Mr Trump's June 2015 comments about Mexican immigrants being rapists and criminals as not being "helpful to the cause".
Before joining the RNC, he worked as Assistant US Trade Representative for Media and Public Affairs in the George W. Bush administration: a role that involved promoting the kind of free trade that his boss now fiercely criticises as being unfair for the American worker.
Still, Mr Spicer was loyal to Mr Trump on the campaign trail even as the path-breaking candidate split the party and many Republican luminaries distanced themselves from him.
The broad-shouldered, compulsively gum-chewing Republican ("Two and a half packs by noon," he told the Washington Post) is a long-time member of the US Navy Reserve.
He received a Masters degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College in Newport in 2012 and is known to be fierce, and deeply competitive.
One editor who has been blasted many times by Mr Spicer told the Post that her young child recognises his voice on the phone and bursts into tears.
His wife Rebecca is the chief of communications at the National Beer Wholesalers Association and previously worked in the Bush White House after a career in television news.
As press secretary, Mr Spicer will serve as President Trump's most visible spokesman, and is expected to hold daily televised media briefings, though he has spoken of his desire to shake up the way White House media is managed.
While he has said that Mr Trump will do press conferences, he also wants to utilise technology to "have a conversation with the American people and not just limit it through the filter of the mainstream media".
He has also described White House press briefings as having become "somewhat of a spectacle". Many would use that word to describe the first under the Trump administration.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38711850
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A message of hope at Washington march - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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More than half a million people demand to be heard a day after Donald Trump is elected.
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US & Canada
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For such a divisive figure, Donald Trump managed to unify hundreds of thousands of Americans at the Women's March on Washington.
Moments after Mr Trump was sworn in as the 45th president on Friday, he delivered a thundering speech in which he promised to improve the lives of millions of Americans.
A day later, throngs of women, men and children streamed into the same area where he made that pledge, in order to take a stand for gender and racial equality.
Though Mr Trump's named was mentioned frequently, the march, which organisers estimate attracted more than half a million, was not only about the new US president.
Messages ranged from "Thank you for making me an activist Trump" to "We will not be silenced," but the common thread throughout the patchwork of signs was hope.
"It's about solidarity and visualising the resistance," said Jonathon Meier, who took a bus from New York.
"And I think it not only helps with the healing process, but it gives me hope for the next four years."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Washington DC is leading anti-Trump protests around the world.
A sea of activists, some clad in knitted, pink "pussy" hats and others draped in American flags, ambled about the National Mall, stopping to catch a glimpse of some of the high-profile speakers and singing along to songs like "This Little Light of Mine".
Peppered among the many protest signs were images of ovaries and female genitals, a nod to concerns over losing access to birth control and abortion care under a Trump administration.
Jellema Stewart, who travelled from Buffalo, New York, said she was marching for her grandmother, who died at age 38 during an illegal abortion in the 1950s.
"I'm here to make sure her voice is heard," she said. "I marched in 2004 for reproductive rights and it's now 2017 and we're still fighting for the same thing."
Ms Stewart also said she was energised by thousands at the rally, insisting that it sends a message to the new president.
"He gave racism a voice again," she said of Mr Trump. "So we have to be louder than the racism and discrimination that came out of this election and show him that we are definitely a force. To show him that we count and we will be watching."
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All eyes across the world seemed to be watching, not only the march in Washington, but the dozens of other sister marches that took place in more than 60 countries.
Aerial images showed thousands massing in so-called "solidarity marches" in the UK, Canada, and Australia as well as in US cities including New York, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles.
For demonstrator Chrystian Woods, the marches signalled that the US would not be defined by who was in White House.
"It's not about being anti-Trump," she explained.
"It's letting the world know that America is more than just that. America is love, inclusiveness and unity and that America is accepting people who are not like us."
"I believe deeply this country is for all of us," said Brooklyn resident Amy Briggs.
"I would have been very dejected yesterday if I wasn't able to be here and experience this solidarity," she said as a young female approached her to sign a rainbow flag.
The mood was festive among the peaceful protesters, but some were cautious about what comes after the pink hats come off.
Leigh Caputo, a Baltimore public school teacher, said she did not want people to think a march was the only solution.
"I'm hopeful that this [march] mobilises people because there's a lot of work to be done," said Ms Caputo.
In the months leading up to the event, the organisers faced intense scrutiny over claims that the name exploited past African-American movements and catered to white women.
Critics on Facebook told white women to "check their privilege", leading to heated discussions about racial divisions and what the march could achieve.
It is difficult to ignore the fact that 53% of white women did vote for Mr Trump while the female half of more than 90 million eligible voters did not cast a ballot at all. So what about the sea of white women at the march?
Lesley Mansfield, who travelled from Sante Fe, New Mexico, agreed that it was puzzling that so many women voted for Mr Trump.
"It's a reality we have to be aware of," she said. "But being here reminds us that there are people who think like we do - like the majority who voted for Hillary Clinton."
Those sobering statistics did not seem to loom over those in attendance on Saturday, and like the Trump supporters who stood in the same spot 24 hours earlier, they were full of hope for America's future.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38707986
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Abu Dhabi Championship: Tommy Fleetwood claims title for second Tour win - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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England's Tommy Fleetwood wins his second European Tour title with victory at the Abu Dhabi Championship.
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Last updated on .From the section Golf
England's Tommy Fleetwood won the Abu Dhabi Championship to claim his second European Tour title.
Fleetwood, 26, was one shot behind overnight leader and countryman Tyrrell Hatton going into the final round and secured his success with a five-under-par round of 67 to finish on 17 under.
American Dustin Johnson made an eagle at the last to tie for second on 16 under with Spain's Pablo Larrazabal.
Hatton fell away badly, a 75 leaving him on 10 under.
Fleetwood's win was his first on the European Tour since the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in August 2013.
His closing round got off to a poor start when he bogeyed the third but he recovered with an eagle - chipping in at the 10th - and four birdies, including one at the 18th.
That final putt proved crucial with US Open champion Johnson later making an eagle on the same hole and Larrazabal a birdie as the pair, who both carded 68, finished one shot behind Fleetwood.
The victory continued the Southport golfer's recent good form after 10 top-20 finishes in his past 14 starts.
"I thought maybe the second win would come sooner to be honest," he told the European tour website. "It's been a massive comeback.
"I had a really hard time from July 2015 to July last year where I really struggled with my game. It's been an awkward curve.
"The only thing left was 'let's get a win' but, you know, if you keep knocking on the door it will come.
"The chip-in on 10, birdie on 11, changed everything. All of a sudden from nowhere and I was leading."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/38710973
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Sorry cats, doggos run the internet now - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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After years of stability, we've recently we've seen signs of a dramatic shift in online governance.
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Technology
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This is Igor, a very good dog
Like many a BBC reporter before, I come to you with news of a coup, and perhaps the most significant transition of power you’ll read about this weekend.
Cats on the internet are over. Done. "Cheezburgers" are off the menu. Play yourself out, Keyboard Cat.
While in years past we’ve perhaps welcomed the charming cynicism of the likes of Grumpy Cat, it seems people of the internet are now, in stranger times, longing instead for the unconditional and unwavering love of dogs - and I have the highly subjective data to prove it.
Let’s start with Reddit. The top three posts of all time on its r/aww subreddit, the section for all things cuddly, are all about dogs.
"But wait!" you might say. "The fourth one is a cat!". Ah, but is it? It begins with a cat, but watch closely as it climbs out of its cage and into the one next to it. What does the cat find? A dog! That should be all the proof you need.
If it isn’t, here’s something a bit more concrete.
This is Gavin, a very good dog
Socialbakers is a company that monitors social media for trends and stats relating to things that are most popular. I got in touch with them about this, and within hours they came back to me with the goods.
For starters, the runaway champion of most popular animal on Facebook is a dog named Boo. He’s got more than 17.5m likes, more than double that of his closest competitor, Grumpy Cat.
In third place, Nyan Cat - who isn’t even a real cat, for crying out loud.
On Instagram, fine, I’ll admit, the top celebrity is a cat. But 2nd, 3rd and 4th place? All dogs. All good dogs.
When it comes to searches on Google, dogs .
But more significant was the historic moment on 3 January 2016, when, for the first time, the term "cute dogs" overtook "funny cats" in global searches.
Like any viral phenomena, there’s a new vocabulary to get your head around if you are to be a part of this new term of internet governance.
Dogs aren’t just dogs. They’re doggos. Puppies are puppers. And while not all puppers can be considered doggos, all doggos are most certainly puppers. Or woofers. Woofers that bork. If you want, you can boop a doggo’s snoot. That is - to lightly bop on one’s nose.
This is Loki, a very good dog
When in mild distress, or sometimes just for emphasis, their chosen curse word is the ferociously aggressive "heckin".
Oh, and if a dog sticks his or her tongue out a little bit? That's a blep.
Like any new language, the best way to learn is to engross yourself in the culture - and one fine place that speaks fluent doggo is the happiest corner of the internet, Facebook’s Cool Dog Group (CDG).
Here you’ll find the likes of Igor, who, let me tell you folks, is a born superstar, believe me.
Igor’s just one of hundreds of puppers posted every week, a most welcome addition to news feeds that would otherwise be clogged up with baby pictures and wedding photos. You’re welcome.
It’s the grassroots of doggo appreciation that has the movement set to make huge strides in 2017.
It’s being spearheaded by Matt Nelson, a 20-year-old who studies golf course management in North Carolina, and a man described by serious newspaper Washington Post as "the internet’s most famous dog rater".
Nelson runs the WeRateDogs account on Twitter. People submit dogs to be rated, and Nelson will consider the merits of said dog and provide a score out of 10.
Recent scores: 12/10 for Hercules, 13/10 for Duchess and 14/10 for Sundance who, in a short clip, plays the drums.
Late last year this generous but fair system was brought into disrepute by the user Brant, who questioned why all the dogs got such unfathomably high ratings.
"They’re good dogs, Brent," replied Nelson - an era-defining retort which you can now buy on a hoodie. Or a mug.
Since then, popularity has exploded. He now has over a million followers.
"We started up an e-commerce store," Matt tells me. "We have a book deal. So many things I thought you could never do with just a Twitter account."
You could say there’s plenty of data out there to suggest that I’m wrong, and that cats are still very much in control. And you’d be right - I found plenty evidence which completely disproves the theory I’ve outlined here, but I’ve left it out as I don’t care.
There was one piece from Gizmodo in 2015 that suggested there were scientific reasons to why cat memes were more popular online - but to that I say WRONG. Fake meows.
Because the web is just different now. Looking at cat pictures was a way to waste time by mucking about on the internet.
This is Zulu, a very good dog
Now, like the therapy dogs of the real world, internet doggos are supplying a much needed diversion from the humourless drudgery that makes up much of the modern social web.
"Dogs are just a pure innocent thing," Matt Nelson says. "They are the embodiment of unconditional love, and that’s what people want now.
"I see my account as this refuge of something bright on the internet."
And so that’s it. Sorry cats. You had a good run.
Before publishing, my editor told me I was brave to write to this piece.
"No no," I said. "Brave is allowing people to leave comments…"
Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC and on Facebook
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38702996
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Obama leaves Democratic party a skeleton of its former self - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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With the end of their White House rule, Democrats are left hoping for a Tea Party-style insurgency
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US & Canada
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Following the inaugural ceremonies, Barack and Michelle Obama - private citizens once again - were whisked off by a military helicopter stationed behind the US Capitol.
They'll spend a few days on holiday at a California desert resort before, as Mr Obama tweeted from his personal account, getting "back to work".
And, for Democrats, there's a lot of hard work to be done. With Mr Obama's departure, the party is only just beginning its long journey in the political wilderness.
Democrats have lost Congress. They've been decimated in state legislatures. Their hoped-for liberal majority on the Supreme Court was blocked by intransigent Senate Republicans. And now the presidency is gone, as well.
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In the days ahead, the party that thought it had time and demographics on its side, that saw Mr Obama's coalition of young, ethnic and educated voters as a durable governing majority, will try to figure out what, exactly, went wrong.
Ironically enough, some liberals are looking at the Tea Party grass-roots conservative movement that emerged in the months after Mr Obama became president in 2009 as a model for their path back to power.
At the time, many on the left mocked the impromptu outbursts of conservative protest - which bedevilled Democratic politicians at constituent meetings - as ill-conceived, uninformed or ineffective. Now, they point to recent efforts to confront Republican legislators over attempts to repeal Mr Obama's healthcare reform as signs of life in a dispirited party.
Democrats face a tough challenge in the days ahead. They have to settle on a leader for their national committee - resolving an ideological battle between left-wing populists and those who preach continued Obama-style moderation and incrementalism.
They need to devise a strategy to win back Congress, complicated by the fact they have to defend 10 Senate seats in the 2018 mid-term congressional elections in states that Donald Trump won. And, before too long, candidates for the 2020 presidential nomination will begin jockeying for position.
More than anything else, however, they need to begin rebuilding their party on the local and state level. Mr Obama's successes glossed over a party that is bereft of young leaders working their way up through the ranks.
At the moment, the Democratic Party is a skeleton of its former self. Until they put some meat on its bones, memories of the 2008 hope that Obama ushered in - that they were a party of destiny - will seem to liberals like a cruel joke.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38696853
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Newspaper headlines: May's 'missile crisis' over Trident failure - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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Reaction to the reported failure of a Trident missile test is widely reported, while the prime minister's upcoming meeting with Donald Trump stays in the headlines.
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The Papers
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The revelation of a reported malfunction during the test firing of a Trident missile in June is widely covered in Monday's press.
The Daily Mail says it is likely the unarmed missile was made to crash harmlessly into the sea but the "fiasco" caused major panic in Downing Street.
Prime Minister Theresa May, reports the Times, will face intense pressure to answer charges of a cover-up after she refused to say whether she knew about the incident when questioned on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
The Daily Mirror describes it as "May's Missile crisis", saying in a leading article the "official news blackout only fans suspicions this was a serious failure".
The Guardian, which leads with the story, says critics of Trident may now seize on the failure to argue that the debate about renewing the system should be reopened.
Several papers report international trade will be one of the big issues when Theresa May meets Donald Trump on Friday.
The Times thinks it is a historic chance to make the case for genuine free trade, and an advantageous deal with Britain.
The Daily Telegraph says Mrs May and Mr Trump will hold talks over a deal that slashes tariffs and makes it easier for hundreds of thousands of workers to move between the two countries.
Kevin Maguire of the Daily Mirror thinks Mrs May is "a fool" for flitting over to America "to be photographic cover for a divisive, lying, racist, sexual predator".
But Trevor Kavanagh of the Sun says the "world is a reality show... and Britain has woken up as one of the biggest stars".
He sees opportunities, and dangers, and has this advice: "Hold tight... We are in for the ride of our lives."
Elsewhere, Mrs May has penned an article for the i explaining her new industrial strategy.
She refers to seeking a brighter future after Brexit, and making Britain a country that works for everyone. And she invites "the industries of the future" to tell the government what they need in order to grow and prosper.
The lead story in the Sun refers to a Food Standards Agency warning of a link between burned starchy foods and cancer - that pizza, chips and toast "are killers".
The headline on the front of paper is stark: "You've had your chips."
But not everyone is willing to agree.
The Daily Express asks: "Do scientists actually want us to lead miserable lives?" Alcohol, then sugar, fat, and now crispy roast potatoes. "Why can't people be left to lead their own lives without others meddling?"
Few things, says the Daily Telegraph, bring families together on a cold winter's day like a Sunday roast. And the paper cannot be enthusiastic about boiled beef, with steamed vegetables but no Yorkshire pudding or wine.
A cartoon in the Daily Mail shows an insolent boy smoking. His concerned mother says: "And remember, if anyone offers you a crunchy roast potato at the party - you know what to say."
Meanwhile, the Guardian has reassurance for shoppers who have been unable to find lettuce, spinach, or courgettes on their supermarket shelves.
Vast amounts of rain in south-eastern Spain, then heavy snow, wiped out much of their crops. But now, the farmers of Murcia believe the worst is over, and normal production looks set to resume, it reports.
Finally, the Daily Express says advisors to Margaret Thatcher were alarmed 30 years ago when she was asked to test drive a new Rover saloon outside Downing Street.
Papers, made public from her archive, reveal their concern that, as the Daily Telegraph reports, she might crash in front of the cameras.
Those fears proved groundless - she was allowed a practice at Chequers first. But the Sun cannot resist summing up their worries in a headline: "The lady's not for three-point turning".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-38714029
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Jetpack firefighting system showcased in Dubai - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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A firefighting system involving a jet ski and water-powered jetpack has been showcased in Dubai.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38711494
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India v England: Ben Stokes stars at Eden Gardens - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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England hold on to win the third one-day international against India by five runs as Ben Stokes finds redemption at Eden Gardens.
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Last updated on .From the section Cricket
England held on to win the third one-day international against India by five runs as Ben Stokes found redemption at Eden Gardens.
Stokes, hit for four successive sixes in Kolkata in the World T20 final loss, struck a 39-ball 57 in England's 321-8.
He removed key man Virat Kohli and ended a 104-run stand between Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya.
Jadhav remained with India needing 16 from the final over, but Chris Woakes had him caught for 90.
Not only did it give England a first international win on the tour after a 4-0 defeat in the Tests, but also just a fourth success in 26 ODIs in India.
India take the series 2-1, with the first of three Twenty20 internationals in Kanpur on Thursday.
Stokes' previous game in Kolkata ended with him slumped on the Eden Gardens turf after being clubbed for four maximums by West Indies' Carlos Brathwaite.
This return was a heroic one as he energised the end of England's innings with the bat and then took vital wickets with the ball.
England looked set to fall short of a competitive total at 246-6 after 43 overs, only for left-hander Stokes, using his feet and targeting the mid-on area, to blast a 34-ball half-century.
Master run-chaser Kohli was dropped at fine leg on 35 by Jake Ball and looked likely to make England pay before Stokes induced a wild drive and an edge behind.
And when India looked to have reversed the momentum, Stokes returned to bowl the 46th and 48th overs, conceding only seven runs, bowling Pandya and having Ravichandran Ashwin caught at mid-on.
In an incredible chase of 351 to win the first one-day international, right-hander Jadhav destroyed England with 120 from 76 balls.
Whereas then he was guided by captain Kohli, here he was forced to do the bulk of the work, first in the company of Pandya, who rode his luck for 56 in a century partnership that came in less than 14 overs.
Short of stature, Jadhav played cuts and pulls, and although wickets fell around him he looked on course to seal a remarkable victory as England's bowling got ragged, perhaps because of a dew-affected, slippery ball.
In the World T20 final, England were defending 19 off the final over. Here, Jadhav threatened to pull off something equally astounding:
• None 49.1 overs - Six - Full ball from Woakes, Jadhav goes deep in his crease and launches over extra cover.
• None 49.2 overs - Four - Similar delivery, similar stroke, this time a one-bounce four. Six needed from four balls.
• None 49.4 overs - Dot - Well bowled. Jadhav fails to squeeze out a yorker and calls for a change of bat.
• None 49.5 overs - Out - Full and wide from Woakes, Jadhav's brilliant knock is ended when he picks out Sam Billings on the off-side rope.
• None 50 overs - Dot - Woakes holds his nerve, Bhuvneshwar Kumar cannot hit the six that would have sealed an India whitewash.
On placid pitches in the the first two ODIs, England made scores of 350-7 and 366-8 only to lose both.
Here they were more comfortable on a surface that offered movement and bounce for the pace bowlers.
Still, a weakness of losing wickets at key moments and batsmen failing to convert good starts was repeated.
Jason Roy got into a tangle to be bowled by Ravindra Jadeja for 65, captain Eoin Morgan helped a long hop to short fine leg for 43 and Jonny Bairstow cut to point for 56 - both men victims of the excellent Pandya's 3-49.
Stokes' late hitting took England to a competitive score and their pace bowlers enjoyed the greater assistance to run through the India top order, even after David Willey was forced from the field with a shoulder injury.
Then came the charge of Jadhav and Pandya, but Stokes and Woakes, who earlier added 73 with the bat in only 40 balls, had the final say.
There wasn't any shame in losing those first two games. There was nothing in it for the England bowlers and they came up against some fantastic Indian batting.
Here, there was more in the pitch for England and they exploited it very well.
The Champions Trophy will have these kind of pitches and England look better suited when the ball does a little bit.
• None 2,090 runs is a new record for a three-match ODI series, beating the 1,892 scored between Asia XI and Africa XI in 2007.
• None The 7.00 runs scored per over is the second-highest for a series of any length, behind only the 7.15 of England's home series against New Zealand in 2015.
• None Jason Roy's 220 runs is the second-most by an England player in an away ODI series of three matches. Only Graham Gooch, 242 v Pakistan in 1987, has more.
• None England registered their first ODI win at Eden Gardens.
• None Ben Stokes struck a 34-ball half-century, the second-fastest for England against India. His record 33-ball knock came in the first ODI.
• None Virat Kohli reached 1,000 runs as India ODI captain in 17 innings, beating the record of 18 by South Africa's AB de Villiers.
'We deserved a win' - what they said
Man of the match Ben Stokes: "It was difficult when we came here last time. I put it down to good captaincy to get my overs out of the way before the last over!
"It was difficult at the start of my innings. The ball was doing a bit so I gave myself as much time as I could. Woakesy played a good part in that as well.
"It has been fantastic to be a part of the series. Thankfully we got a win."
England coach Trevor Bayliss: "We've been playing some good cricket, scoring a lot of runs and we felt we deserved a win.
"On this ground, I'm sure there were some memories. It sums up Ben Stokes that he was able to get over it and bowl very well."
England captain Eoin Morgan: "It has been hard work - a competitive series. It was tough for the bowlers. We were rewarded for our persistence and drive to get a result. We fought hard against a really good side."
India captain Virat Kohli: "It's been a series of a lot of positives. We almost got over the line today and we were getting excited to see two of our younger guys showing character lower down the order. I'm very pleased."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/38711556
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Family of Brighton cancer vlogger Charlotte Eades finds unseen videos - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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The family of a teenager who died from a brain tumour has discovered dozens of previously unseen videos she made.
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The family of a teenager who died from a brain tumour has discovered dozens of previously unseen videos she made.
Charlotte Eades, who died last February at the age of 19, was diagnosed with glioblastoma when she was 16.
On her YouTube channel the teenager from Brighton shared more than 100 inspirational videos about her battle with the disease.
You can see more on this story on Inside Out South East on BBC One at 19:30 GMT on Monday.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-38697237
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Brazil prison riots: Can containers end gang violence? - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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Brazilian security forces hope shipping containers will separate warring gangs at a prison.
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Brazilian security forces are hoping to end a week-long prison riot - by using shipping containers to separate rival gangs.
At least 26 people have died in the clashes in the northeastern city of Natal.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38710222
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Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Joe Perry to win record seventh Masters title - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Ronnie O'Sullivan fights back to beat Joe Perry 10-7 and secure a record seventh Masters title.
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Last updated on .From the section Snooker
Ronnie O'Sullivan won a record seventh Masters title by coming from behind to beat Joe Perry 10-7 in the final at London's Alexandra Palace.
Perry, in his first Triple Crown final at the age of 42, led 4-1 but missed a straightforward red for a 5-1 lead.
O'Sullivan won seven frames in a row to move 8-4 ahead before Perry, helped by breaks of 117 and 92, fought back.
But O'Sullivan, 41, sealed victory to defend his title and move ahead of Stephen Hendry's six Masters wins.
Victory means O'Sullivan claimed the newly named Paul Hunter trophy - in honour of the three-time champion who died of cancer aged 27 in 2006 - as well as the £200,000 winners' prize money.
It also ensured the world number 13 ended a run of three defeats in finals this season and defended the title he won last year by thrashing Barry Hawkins 10-1.
"Joe played a brilliant tournament, a really good match and he should've beaten me. I got lucky - I stole it," said O'Sullivan.
"Joe will come again and he is a tough competitor. I'm just relieved to have got over the line. The fans have been unbelievable and I really enjoyed this week."
On winning seven Masters titles, O'Sullivan added: "It is great to get some records, I still have the World Championship one to get.
"When I was younger I was just happy to win one, so to win seven, someone up there is looking after me."
'The Rocket' had to deal with a virus in his first-round final-frame victory over Liang Wenbo and needed to repair a broken cue tip in the semi-final against Marco Fu, which he said was the "best match he has ever won".
In the final, O'Sullivan seemed unsettled by noise coming from a backstage table early on, but pulled himself together to level the match 4-4 at the interval.
He claimed a 32-minute ninth frame to move into the lead for the first time, and then knocked in breaks of 85 and 68 to take control.
At 8-6 and with Perry fighting back, O'Sullivan made his first century of the match - a break of 112 - and 859th of his career.
The Englishman then held his nerve to win a 20-minute tactical frame and claim his 17th Triple Crown title.
Along with seven Masters - the first of which he won in 1995 - he has also claimed five World and five UK Championship crowns, and is now just one behind Hendry's record of 18.
'At 4-1 up I got a bit carried away'
Perry has only won one ranking title - the 2015 Players Championship - but seemed to take to the occasion well, with breaks of 72, 74 and 115 giving him a surprise lead.
But rattling the final red in the jaws of the pocket when presented with the opportunity to go 5-1 up seemed to dent his confidence.
Fair play to Ronnie, even when he is not at his best he is still amazing
Although he rallied by clawing back three frames late on, O'Sullivan's substantial advantage was too great to overturn.
"I've proved a lot, that there is still some life left in me and it has given me the belief to go on and win a big one," said Perry.
"At 4-1 up I got a bit carried away and it was not until I was 8-4 down I thought, 'I'm going for it'.
"It's given me the taste to go for more finals, it's a great feeling to be involved and you take snooker up for nights like this.
"Fair play to Ronnie, even when he is not at his best he is still amazing."
Three-time Masters champion Steve Davis: "To win seven Masters, he has made this event his own, and in such an entertaining way as well."
Former world champion John Parrott: "Ronnie's application and attitude has been spot on today. He was not at his best but was able to grind out the result."
Find out how to get into snooker, pool and billiards with our fully inclusive guide.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38710379
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Chile declares state of emergency over forest fires - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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Chile has requested international help to deal with forest fires.
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Chile has requested international help to deal with forest fires.
They broke out over a week ago and spread quickly in the dry and hot summer weather.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38710219
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Australian Open 2017: Roger Federer sees off Kei Nishikori in five sets - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Roger Federer continues his remarkable return from injury by beating Kei Nishikori in the Australian Open fourth round.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Roger Federer continued his remarkable return from injury by seeing off Kei Nishikori in five sets to reach his 13th Australian Open quarter-final.
The 35-year-old beat fifth seed Nishikori 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-1 4-6 6-3 to keep alive his hopes of an 18th Grand Slam and fifth Australian Open title.
Federer, seeded 17th, is playing his first competitive event since Wimbledon six months ago following a knee injury.
He will play Mischa Zverev, conqueror of Andy Murray, in the last eight.
• None How to follow the Australian Open on the BBC
Third seed Stan Wawrinka beat Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) and goes on to face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Dan Evans 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-4 6-4.
After dropping his opening two service games, Federer found the range that had seen him hammer Tomas Berdych in the previous round, giving Nishikori a torrid time.
"It was a great match and a joy to be part of it," said Federer.
"I wasn't playing badly in the first set - it's a quick court and things happen fast. It was about staying calm at 4-0.
"I thought it can't get any worse from there. It was hard not to win that first set after all the effort but it paid off in the end. This is a huge win for me in my career."
• Watch highlights of day seven on BBC Two from 17:15 GMT on Sunday.
From 5-1 down, the Swiss roared back - almost taking the set before losing out in a tie-break - and clinching the second set with a solitary break.
The third disappeared in a flash as Federer took apart the Nishikori serve, winning every point on the Japanese player's second serve, and he went close to breaking through again early in the fourth set.
Nishikori, 27, held on under huge pressure and forced a decider but it was Federer who proved the stronger, racing into a 3-0 lead and closing it out - to the delight of most of those on Rod Laver Arena.
Federer played just seven events in 2016 after injuring his knee the day after his Australian Open semi-final and having arthroscopic knee surgery.
He dropped out of the world's top 10 for the first time in 734 weeks last November, and arrived in Melbourne ranked 17th - his lowest position since May 2001.
The Swiss is the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final since the 39-year-old Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open.
But the departure of first Djokovic and then Murray has thrown the draw wide open, with Federer, as well as the likes of Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal, in with a chance of adding to their Grand Slam tallies.
"I felt like if Rafa and myself can be healthy, yes, you can expect us in the quarter-finals," Federer added.
"That Novak and Andy are not, that is a big surprise. I never thought that Mischa Zverev and Denis Istomin would beat those two big guys.
"I guess it's good for tennis that a lot of guys believe stronger now that the top guys are beatable, are vulnerable, especially on a faster court. It happened completely in different circumstances.
"But two huge surprises. No doubt about that."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38710660
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Bosnia's DNA quest to identify war dead - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A team of experts is using DNA technology to identify victims of the Bosnian war of the 1990s.
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Europe
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The people trying to identify Bosnia's war missing
A mid-afternoon congregation of mourners waits outside the mortuary in Visoko, about half an hour's drive from Bosnia's capital, Sarajevo. A funeral parade is due to begin, and finally some families will be able to pay their last respects.
Inside the building, work continues on the remains of unidentified victims from Bosnia's conflict of the 1990s.
Eight thousand people reported missing have yet to be found - while the remains of 3,000 people exhumed from mass graves still have not been identified.
Somewhere between the two figures is the potential to bring solace to thousands of families.
Both the tiles and the workers' scrubs cast a green tint in the room, where a small group of specialists methodically set about their task. They sit at tables, sifting through evidence that could help identify the missing.
Investigators check existing DNA samples and collect new ones with the aim of identifying more victims
Bones are set out in neat rows, alongside personal items - tattered Yugoslav-era identity documents, wallets and coins. Some workers squat on the floor, cleaning dirt from fragments of clothing.
"We do a full anthropological re-examination of the case," says Dijana Sarzinski, who is managing the "No Name" project for the International Commission on Missing Persons.
As its title suggests, this is an effort to identify remains that have been kept, unclaimed, in mortuaries across Bosnia.
The remains of thousands of Bosnian war victims are yet to be identified
"We reassess previously taken DNA samples, determine whether new DNA samples need to be taken and review all the accompanying documentation. We're trying to find out any bit of information that could lead us to identity."
With the project more than two-thirds complete, the ICMP has so far identified 80 missing people.
"I'm really proud. The ratio may seem small, but those are 80 people that we helped bring home," says Ms Sarzinski.
Ms Sarzinski says the number of successes has been small but important
Smilja Mitrovic hopes the efforts will help her to identify and bury her son, Dragan.
He was a 19-year-old conscript in the Bosnian Serb army who was two days away from completing his military service when he disappeared in September 1995.
On a visit to the ICMP's Sarajevo headquarters, she explains that hers is more than simply a personal quest.
"The missing persons issue is an open and painful issue that Bosnia is struggling with," she says.
The next step will need to be approached with some considerable delicacy. It involves collecting blood samples from relatives of people who were identified visually, before the ICMP developed its world-leading DNA-testing technology.
If there is a positive match with the unidentified remains, it may mean the wrong body was buried all those years ago. But this would offer an opportunity to set matters right.
Families would be able to lay the correct remains to rest - and Bosnia might move a little closer towards reconciliation.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38444808
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Manchester City 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Tottenham recover from two goals down to snatch a point from Manchester City, as Gabriel Jesus is denied a goal on his debut.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Son Heung-Min earned Tottenham a point in controversial circumstances as they came from two goals down to earn a draw at Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's side, looking to bounce back from a 4-0 loss at Everton, had swept into that commanding advantage courtesy of two uncharacteristic errors from Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris.
France international Lloris headed an attempted clearance straight at Leroy Sane four minutes after half-time to allow the City attacker a simple finish, then dropped Raheem Sterling's routine cross straight at Kevin De Bruyne's feet five minutes later.
Spurs responded swiftly through Dele Alli's header before they were the beneficiaries of a decision that left Guardiola raging and paved the way for the visitors to scramble a point.
Referee Andre Marriner ignored Kyle Walker's push on Sterling as he raced into the area - and seconds later Son swept a low finish past City keeper Claudio Bravo with 13 minutes left.
City pressed for a winner but were frustrated once more when Brazilian teenager Gabriel Jesus, on as for his debut as a substitute for Sterling, saw an effort ruled out for offside.
The result means Man City remain fifth, three points off second-place Tottenham and nine away from leaders Chelsea, who play Hull City on Sunday.
City boss Guardiola will have few complaints about the manner of their performance but they were let down by the familiar failing of a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal.
City played with verve and intensity as they penned Spurs back, but Sergio Aguero was frustrated on several occasions by Lloris, Pablo Zabaleta shot inches wide, Sterling missed that vital opportunity after he was fouled. New boy Jesus also headed inches wide.
Guardiola's animated body language spoke of his frustration - but there was also fury at the key incident - Sterling was shoved by Walker in the area seconds before Spurs attacked for Son to equalise.
He had every right to be angry. City deserved victory and for all the justified criticism aimed in their direction, there was not too much wrong with this performance.
Manchester City's Bravo provided the pre-match narrative with his growing reputation as the goalkeeper who rarely makes a save - but it was the man regarded as one of Europe's finest who was almost the real villain of the piece here.
Bravo was again the goalkeeping bystander as he extended his miserable recent sequence, but Tottenham's Lloris suffered a rare nightmare display and takes responsibility for both City goals.
He should have done better than head a routine long ball against Sane for the opener, while his fumble that led to De Bruyne's second was the sort of work he would normally complete without a second thought.
Bravo was powerless for the Spurs goals - although today's two goals make it 16 from the last 24 attempts on target against him - but Lloris' misfortune was proof of how matches, and the the reputation of even the best goalkeepers, can be decided by the finest margins.
Lloris has saved Spurs on many occasions but today he was saved by his colleagues.
Mauricio Pochettino's side would not put this display anywhere near the top of any list of their best performances this season - but they may come to regard this as a priceless point earned without playing well.
Spurs were over-run for much of the game, unsettled in possession by the pressure applied by City, but showed resilience and determination to get a draw they barely deserved.
They were also grateful for City's generosity in front of goal as they wasted as succession of chances, and to referee Marriner for refusing what appeared to be a clear penalty when Walker shoved Sterling as he raced clear in what proved to be a decisive moment.
Spurs' travelling fans celebrated as if this was a victory at the final whistle. Some days you just take the point and get home - to be able to do that at the home of close rivals will make it taste even sweeter.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola told BBC Sport: "We played good, it was an outstanding performance but it's a pity what happened. All you can do is create and play better and better but it is the same for the whole season. We are upset, sad at what happened but I am so proud about what we did and the players don't deserve that again.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino told BBC Sport: "It was a tough game for both sides. It is true, they were better in the first half and maybe deserved more, it was lucky for us to be 0-0 but in the second half the game was more balanced. We conceded two and it was difficult to come back but they always believed, that is important. It's a massive point for us.
• None Manchester City failed to win a Premier League game they were two or more goals ahead in for the first time since December 2014 against Burnley.
• None Six of Son Heung-min's seven Premier League goals this season have been scored away from home.
• None Dele Alli has scored more Premier League goals this season (11 in 21 games) than he had in the whole of last season (10 in 33).
• None Hugo Lloris made two errors leading to goals in the match - the first goalkeeper to do so in a Premier League match since Joel Robles in May 2016.
Tottenham return to league action on 31 January against Sunderland, after their FA Cup fourth-round tie with Wycombe next Saturday.
Manchester City travel to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup on 28 January before meeting West Ham on 1 February.
• None Offside, Tottenham Hotspur. Moussa Sissoko tries a through ball, but Harry Kane is caught offside.
• None Offside, Manchester City. Leroy Sané tries a through ball, but Sergio Agüero is caught offside.
• None Victor Wanyama (Tottenham Hotspur) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt missed. Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) header from the left side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Aleksandar Kolarov with a cross following a set piece situation.
• None Offside, Manchester City. Kevin De Bruyne tries a through ball, but Gabriel Jesus is caught offside.
• None Attempt missed. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by David Silva.
• None Attempt missed. Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Kevin De Bruyne with a cross. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38620041
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Australian Open 2017: Dan Evans' challenge ended by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Britain's Dan Evans is beaten in four sets by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last 16 of the Australian Open.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Britain's Dan Evans had his best run at a Grand Slam ended by a 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-4 6-4 loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last 16 of the Australian Open.
Evans, ranked 51 in the world, started off promisingly as he traded blows with the Frenchman before winning the opening set on a tie-break.
But Tsonga's heavy hitting and big serving took its toll as the 12th seed won the next three sets.
Tsonga will play 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.
Evans, who reached his first ATP final this month and beat former US Open champion Marin Cilic and home favourite Bernard Tomic to reach the last 16, survived long enough to be the last remaining Briton in the men's singles after Andy Murray's shock defeat by Mischa Zverev.
"He was just a bit too strong for me," said Evans. "I played pretty well. I was pretty sore.
"He was so physical. To win the first set took too much out of me. There was a long game at the start of the second set where I got broke. It was uphill from there."
Evans had to fend off four break points in the first set, while having only one on the Tsonga serve, before threatening to repeat the shocks of earlier rounds by taking the tie-break.
However, Tsonga heeded the warning and quickly went 4-0 up in the second set as he began to dominate the Briton with his powerful and accurate hitting.
While Evans sporadically threatened the 2008 finalist, and managed 43 winners to Tsonga's 59, the Frenchman was always in control after the first set and won the match with a service game to love.
"Dan played good tennis and he had nothing to lose," said Tsonga.
"It was difficult for me because he was hitting the ball really early. After that the game was pretty difficult, then I went over him and finished strong.
"I've played pretty good since the start of the tournament. It will be a good challenge against Stan Wawrinka - he's playing unbelievably."
Birmingham-born Evans described his exploits at the Australian Open as the best and "most exciting" week of his tennis career.
He now plans to go home before joining up with the Great Britain team for their Davis Cup tie in Canada from 3-5 February.
"I need to maybe get a bit fitter," added Evans. "I think today I was flagging pretty much after the first set. I did feel that.
"My body was sore. Maybe that's something I can improve on a bit.
"But, you know, I've still come a long way from where I was last year."
It was just an amazing run for Dan. He's played unbelievably well.
Getting two top 10 wins - beating Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic in the space of a week - really tells him where he's at just now in terms of his level, never mind his ranking, what his level could be.
His schedule suddenly looks a lot different to this time last year when he was setting off to Asia for some Challenger matches and now he can get ready for all the Masters Series events.
So it's changed days and exciting times for him.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38709892
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Donald Trump protests: 'Why I've decided to march' - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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As women globally take to the streets as part of a day of protests, Hannah tells us why she decided to march.
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As women across the world take to the streets as part of a day of protests against Donald Trump, Hannah tells us why she decided to join them.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38707101
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Australian Open: Johanna Konta praises support from her family and friends - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Great Britain's Johanna Konta says her family and coaches were crucial to her progress after the Lawn Tennis Association cut her funding.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Great Britain's Johanna Konta says her family and coaches were crucial to her progress after the Lawn Tennis Association cut her funding in 2015.
Konta, 25, has reached the last 16 of the Australian Open, after playing in the semi-finals in Melbourne last year.
In 2015, the LTA reduced Konta's funding, as part of wider cuts in support for emerging players, which saw Konta relocate her training to Spain.
"That period of time was very difficult," said the world number nine.
"When the organisation decided to stop funding me it wasn't in my benefit. It's not a cheap sport and whether through a federation, a private sponsor or a family, no-one gets there without help.
"I don't believe tough love is the answer and I was very fortunate to have very good people around me.
"My family, my support system, also my coaches at the time did a tremendous job in pulling together and making sure our focus remained on the work and not on external situations out of our control."
Sydney-born Konta has previously said she was grateful for the support the LTA has offered since she became a British citizen in 2012.
Konta plays 30th seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in the last 16 in Australia after a convincing 6-3 6-1 win over Danish former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.
"I was very happy with the way I was able to assert myself from the beginning and maintain my level to the end," said Konta.
"Against someone like Caroline, she's not going to give it to you - you really have to earn it."
Konta beat Makarova 4-6 6-4 8-6 in last year's Australian Open and the winner of their match on Monday could face six-time winner Serena Williams in the quarter-finals.
On Makarova, Konta added: "Every time we play, we have a battle. That match last year was a high-level match from both of us. She always seems to do well on these courts and I'm looking forward to it."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38704836
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France's Socialists open battle for party's future - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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France picks its Socialist presidential nominee in a fight for the party's direction, even its survival.
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Europe
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Seven candidates are vying for the Socialist nomination, including one woman, Sylvia Pinel
France is choosing its left-wing presidential candidate this weekend, in what is seen as a crucial test for the direction - even the survival - of the governing Socialist Party.
Six men and one woman are competing for the nomination, with former Prime Minister Manuel Valls currently seen as the frontrunner. But will this contest go any way to uniting a Left bitterly divided by five years in power, and a president too unpopular to seek a second term?
With the tide out, the muddy inlet of Saint-Brieuc seems to sleep in the watery afternoon sun. Its shore deserted but for two Portuguese men picking their way along the sand, looking for worms.
The northern coast of Brittany has until recently been a staunch Socialist area
Above them, a small, green-topped lighthouse sits on the rocks, and basking in the wan sunlight at its foot is a local pensioner, Patrick Labbe.
"This is a left-wing stronghold," Patrick told me. "But that's less and less the case. The Socialist Party has been a disaster on social issues - just look around Saint-Brieuc and you'll see so much destitution."
Saint-Brieuc sits on the northern coast of Brittany; one of the most reliably Socialist regions in France, and a source of support for left-wing candidates seeking to win the first round of the primary contest on 22 January.
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But Patrick says attitudes are changing: "I voted for [President] Hollande, and like a lot of French I'm disappointed."
"The Socialist Party will struggle to pick itself up. There's a lot of abstention. People are turning to the extremes, in particular Marine Le Pen. Those who are really disappointed want a big change."
Sparking interest in this primary is seen as crucial to reviving the chances of France's governing party, and uniting a scattered field of candidates on the left.
As Patrick Labbe headed home on his bicycle, Manuel Valls was arriving at a local factory a few kilometres away, to drum up some support.
Peering into the cabs of armoured cars, as men in blue overalls applied the finishing seals, Mr Valls seemed as coolly polite as the atmosphere itself, the workers barely glancing up as their former prime minister passed by.
Manuel Valls (R) is currently favourite but Arnaud Montebourg (L) is seen as one of his two main challengers
Mr Valls is the favourite to win the left-wing nomination - seen as more authoritative and experienced, according to one poll, if a little remote.
But after serving as prime minister to France's least popular post-war president, and forcing through some of the government's most hated liberal reforms, his challenge has been to reinvent himself as a unifier of the Left.
Since launching his campaign, the former prime minister has reversed his position on key issues like labour rights, and the government's use of the constitution to bypass parliament.
One opinion poll suggested Benoit Hamon (R) could win the nomination if he went through to the run-off
Perhaps it's no surprise, given the strong competition from party rebel Arnaud Montebourg, who has been snapping at his heels for weeks. A former industry minister, who was sacked after refusing to support Mr Valls's liberal reforms, he's promised an end to austerity and more investment.
And in the past couple of days, hard-left candidate, Benoit Hamon, has surged from behind to challenge Mr Montebourg for a place in the primary run-off on 29 January. Among his core proposals are a monthly payment of €750 (£650; $800) to every French citizen, regardless of income; and the legalisation of cannabis.
A fourth Socialist party candidate and former education minister, Vincent Peillon, is trying to catch up with them with plans to revamp Europe, lower taxes on the poor and invest in green technology.
Three hopefuls from other left-wing parties are currently trailing well behind: Sylvia Pinel (Radical Party of the Left), Jean-Luc Bennahmias (Democratic Front) and Francois de Rugy (Ecology party).
Far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon (L) and Emmanuel Macron are both polling ahead of all the Socialist candidates
But the real competition could come from outside the primary itself, because two of the Left's most popular politicians aren't even taking part.
Jean-Luc Melenchon is running for the presidency on his own, far-left ticket, and could pose a real challenge to candidates like Mr Montebourg or Mr Hamon, should they win.
And then there's Emmanuel Macron, the renegade protege of President Hollande, who resigned from his ministerial post to launch a new political movement called En Marche, promising liberal values and a fresh approach to politics.
His growing appeal among young voters has surprised many sceptics who initially wrote him off as a "champagne bubble" that would quickly burst.
These days his presidential campaign attracts crowds in their thousands, where the leading primary candidates manage only hundreds.
Mr Macron classes his movement as "neither left nor right" but his centrist agenda is attracting many formerly Socialist voters.
The truth about this primary contest is that whoever wins the nomination could quickly find themselves face to face with the real battle for the Left.
Follow BBC News coverage on the French presidential election campaign here
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38676370
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Brexit: Berlin business leaders unimpressed with UK's message - BBC News
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2017-01-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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An appeal over a post-Brexit trade deal was met with sniggers in Berlin, Damien McGuinness writes.
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Business
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Two British officials failed to win favour from German business leaders in Berlin
The distinguished audience members were too polite to heckle. But the eye rolling, frowns and audible tutting made it quite clear how the Brexiteers' message was going down with German business leaders.
Owen Paterson, a former minister and Conservative MP, and John Longworth, co-chair of Leave Means Leave, came to Berlin on Saturday with a clear mission - to persuade German business leaders to lobby Chancellor Angela Merkel to give Britain a good trade deal.
They should have been on safe territory.
The two men are confident, witty speakers with impressive business and free-trade credentials.
Mr Longworth is a former head of the British Chamber of Commerce. Mr Paterson's years spent trading in Germany meant he could open his address with a few remarks in German - which drew an appreciative round of applause - and a well-judged joke about multilingual trade.
But it turned out they had entered the lion's den.
The laughter from the audience quickly turned to sniggers as they heard the UK described as "a beacon of open, free trade around the world".
Westminster's decision to leave the world's largest free trade area does not look like that to Germany.
When Europe was blamed for spending cuts and a lack of British health care provision, there were audible mutters of irritation from the audience.
The occasional light-hearted attempts at EU-bashing - usually guaranteed to get a cheap laugh with some British audiences - was met with stony silence.
Brexiteers argue German manufacturers will want to still sell to UK customers
In another setting - at another time - this gathering of the elite of Germany's powerful business community would have lapped up the British wit.
Every ironic quip would ordinarily have had them rolling in the aisles. But British charm does not travel well these days.
Rattled by the economic havoc Brexit could unleash, Germans are not in the mood for gags.
Britain used to be seen by continentals as quirky and occasionally awkward - but reliably pragmatic on the economy.
However, since the Brexit vote, Europeans suspect endearing eccentricity has morphed into unpredictable irrationality. The UK has become the tipsy, tweedy uncle, who after too much Christmas sherry has tipped over into drunkenly abusive bore.
When the audience was asked how many of them welcomed Brexit, only one hand went up - and it turned out that belonged to a businessman who wanted more EU reform and was fed up with Britain slowing things down.
Brexiteer rhetoric over the past year has often focused on the size of Britain's market and how keen German manufacturers are to sell to British customers.
Many leave campaigners remain convinced that German business leaders will force Mrs Merkel to grant the UK a special free trade deal in order not to lose British trade.
But that's not what's happening.
Angela Merkel has said Britain will not be able to cherry-pick the best bits of the single market
Instead German firms are remarkably united in their support of the chancellor in her rejection of British "cherry-picking" - even if it means losing business in the short-term.
When you talk to German bosses they say their top priority is in fact the integrity of the single market, rather than hanging on to British customers.
That's because their supply chains span across the EU.
A German car might be designed in Germany, manufactured in Britain, with components made in various parts of eastern Europe, to be sold in France. This only works if there are no cross-border tariffs, paperwork or red tape.
German companies - more often family-owned and with deeper connections to their regional heartlands - tend to look at the wider picture, sometimes thinking more long-term.
They supported Mrs Merkel on sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, even though that meant a blow to trade. The financial hit was deemed less bad for business than worsening unrest in nearby Ukraine.
The same calculations are being made over Brexit.
Theresa May's speech on Brexit last week made front page news in Germany
This doesn't mean German business is thinking politically, and not economically. But rather, it indicates a wider attitude towards how business can thrive long-term.
German business leaders tell you that the British market may be important. But it is only one market, compared to 27 markets in the rest of the EU.
Leave campaigners also still underestimate the political and historical significance of the EU for Germany, where it is seen as the guarantor of peace after centuries of warfare.
It is tempting to see the clashes between Westminster and the EU27 as one big decades-long misunderstanding of what the EU is.
An idealistic peace-project versus a pragmatic free-trade zone. This makes it even more ironic that London may reject the free-trade area it spent so much time creating.
Germany was shocked and saddened by the UK's vote to leave the EU. But the decision was quickly accepted in Berlin.
"The Brits never really wanted to be members of the European Union anyway," is something you often hear these days.
Many Germans now want to just work out a solution that does the least amount of harm to the European economy. Hence the irritation in Germany when British politicians keep rehashing the pre-referendum debate.
"It was frustrating to hear the same old arguments from the referendum campaign," one business leader told me when I asked him what he had thought about Saturday's discussion.
Germany has moved on, he said. Maybe Britain should too.
The Brexiteers might not have persuaded their audience in Berlin. But if they return to London with a better idea of the mood in Germany's business community, then the trip may well have been worthwhile.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38707997
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Chapecoense: Emotional scenes at Brazilian team's first game since plane crash - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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There are emotional scenes as Chapecoense play their first match since most of the team were killed in a plane crash.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Brazilian club Chapecoense have played their first match since most of their team were killed in a plane crash. BBC Sport's Mani Djazmi was at the Arena Conda and describes Saturday's emotional scenes.
The lifting of trophies are among the metronomic ticks of any football season. You can set your holidays by them.
But there cannot have been a more enduring image than the lifting of the Copa Sudamericana trophy by the surviving players of Chapecoense on Saturday.
Neto, Alan Ruschel and Jackson Follmann were presented with the trophy that was awarded to the Brazilian club after their team-mates died in a plane crash on the way to face Colombia's Nacional in the first leg of the 2016 final on 29 November.
Follmann, who was the reserve goalkeeper, left his hospital bed for the afternoon to be at the stadium, where the club were playing their first match since the crash.
Recovering from a partial leg amputation, he was pushed on to the pitch in a wheelchair by former Chapecoense goalkeeper Nivaldo.
Neto has just started walking without crutches, while Ruschel is targeting May for his return to football. Remarkable when one considers what happened to them.
The first thing Ruschel did upon returning to Chapeco on Saturday was visit his favourite bakery.
"Yes, this was the first place I went to, we woke up really early and we hadn't eaten, so the first place we went to was the bakery," he said.
"We used to go there, me, [goalkeeper] Danilo and Follmann after training, so it was a good place for this new start."
While the trophy was being received, the families of the dead players, journalists and club directors were given medals.
"It was a hard day, a bit sad, but also a day that we felt the support of all these people," said Dhayane Pallaoro, whose father Sandro was the much-loved president of Chapecoense who died in the crash.
"We could never imagine the extent of football's solidarity.
"One of the things I'll never forget was my dad's speech that we watched on the big screen," the 28-year-old added.
"He used to say that Chapecoense was a big family, that from the kitmen to the president, they were all equal.
"They had a dream and they transformed Chapecoense into a big club, and we hope they can never be forgotten."
A mother of one of the journalists spoke about how it was her son's dream to report on Chapecoense.
"He lived for them," she said. "And he died with them."
Hanging from the perimeter fence that surrounds the pitch at the Arena Conda stadium were thousands of paper swans and hearts. Green and white ribbons streamed from the home end.
On banners and in songs, the repeated epitaph was 'eternal champions'.
One sensed this day was an opportunity for Chapeco to let out a big breath.
It was the next landmark after a funeral, when the pain and longing still burns, but the inexorable flow of life has taken everyone just a little bit further away from the agony.
But it was also a celebration by the people of who they are, and who their players were.
After the emotion of the build-up, the glorious triviality of a football match started, when Chapecoense's new striker, Wellington Paulista, kicked off their friendly with Palmeiras.
Finally, again, the Arena Conda embraced the sights and sounds for which it was built.
The drums, the undulations of the crowd with the balance of play, the truculent child who has to be taken home early.
And the fouls, the mis-placed passes, and the goals.
Douglas Grolli is a central defender who played for Chapecoense as they rose through the divisions.
He asked his club, Cruzeiro, if he could return, to help in the rebuilding process.
His first contribution was a goal from close range to make it 1-1.
Chapecoense's new era was underway and now, the crowd's emphatic oneness had a new focus.
Chapecoense took the lead just after half-time, but Palmeiras equalised with a fine strike from outside the area by Vitinho, prompting rousing applause by the home fans.
On the 71st minute, a minute's applause was held to remember the 71 who died.
The match was stopped, and players stood where they were.
That probably gave some Chapecoense players a chance to study the faces of their new team-mates.
The match ended 2-2 and it was an understandably disjointed performance by a team that had never played together before.
But football doesn't understand, and makes no allowances. So plenty of work lies ahead for Grolli and the rest, as they begin the dream of lifting another trophy. Or, for now, perhaps just staying in the top division.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38708226
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Leicester defeat shows when a diamond does not work - Danny Murphy - BBC Sport
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2017-01-22
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Leicester's latest away defeat came because they got their tactics wrong, says Match of the Day 2 pundit Danny Murphy
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Leicester's defeat at Southampton was a great example of how tactics, rather than players, are hugely important in deciding football matches.
You still need a talented, intelligent team with the ability to carry those tactics out for you, of course, but your system can win or lose a game for you - just the same as an amazing bit of skill will.
That is what happened as St Mary's when Leicester lined up in a diamond shape in midfield. They played it really poorly, because it looked to me as if they had not worked on it very much.
Southampton quickly worked out how to capitalise on their weaknesses and, by the time Leicester changed their shape at half-time, they were 2-0 down and as good as out of the game.
That tactical effect is not always so obvious when I watch Premier League matches.
A lot of the time both teams are playing a similar way, or both are well organised and working hard - and it is a moment of quality that wins the game.
On Sunday, Saints were much better tactically and they won the match because of it.
'A difficult system to master, without the ball'
I never played regularly in a diamond at any of my clubs, but we used it at certain times when I was at Liverpool and it worked quite nicely for us.
In particular, we did it a few times when we played Manchester United at home because we felt their strength was in central areas, trying to play through us.
Using the diamond forced them wide and they put crosses in, which was what we wanted them to do.
It also meant we could press them higher up the pitch because the two strikers would be backed up by the man at the point of the diamond.
It tends to suit teams who have the majority of possession and play a lot of football because you have got four men in the centre of midfield and, although you are lacking in the wide areas, you should have at least one extra man in the middle. That is the theory anyway.
What actually happened with Leicester was they did not try to play out from the back and keep hold of the ball to use that extra man.
And, when they lost the ball, the guys who were in the diamond were crossing positions too much because they were not sure when to look for the ball in middle or when to go and try to win it out wide.
'One of the hardest jobs a player can be asked to do'
It is a difficult system to master, especially when you have not got possession.
I am not against it, because I have played in it when it has worked, but it does not stretch the pitch as much as other formations and you do feel like you are doing extra work.
I played as the wide man in a diamond a few times in my career and it is one of the hardest jobs a player can be asked to do.
It involves a heck of a lot of running, because you are kind of playing in centre midfield, then you are playing right midfield - then right-back and on the right wing.
You have to know when to go and chase the ball and when to sit and, on Sunday, Leicester's Danny Drinkwater, for example, struggled to get that right.
We know Danny is a very good central midfielder - he was one of the best in the Premier League last season.
However, he was on the right of the diamond against Saints and was not used to that position, which let Saints left-back Ryan Bertrand really enjoy himself in the first half.
Sometimes Drinkwater was reacting to Saints attacks down his wing too late because he was too narrow and he could not get out to Bertrand in time, or he went out wide too early and left a gap inside.
He was not the only Leicester player to be caught between two places where they were meant to be and Saints utilised all this space really well because they kept switching play.
That left the two Leicester full-backs isolated a lot of the time and Southampton were getting a lot of crosses into their box - they scored their first goal from one of them.
Leicester need to find a settled formation again
I saw a lot of the Leicester players question each other during that first half and get angry about who was marking who and where they were supposed to be.
So Ranieri was right to come out afterwards and acknowledge the way they started the game was his fault because he had tried something new.
The players will always take some of the responsibility because they are out on the pitch, but asking them to work on a system for a few days then go away to a good side like Southampton is a bit too much to ask.
Compare that performance to the way Leicester were playing last season when all their players looked so comfortable playing 4-4-1-1 because they all knew their jobs. They had little partnerships all over the pitch, and it was perfect in so many ways.
Things are different now. They have brought in some new players and are trying to adapt a little bit and they also have to deal with teams raising their game against them because they are the champions.
The expectancy level has gone up and, maybe because they have had a bad run, they have changed things too much instead of sticking to what they know.
That is not a criticism of Leicester, because every club wants to evolve and improve their squad with better players . When you do that, you want to keep the ball a bit more and play in different ways.
But it did not work out for them last week when they switched to play with three at the back in their defeat by Chelsea either.
The sooner they get back to a settled formation, the sooner their results will pick up. I don't think we will see that diamond again any time soon, though.
What next for the Foxes?
Sometimes it is not the fact you lose a game that hurts you, it is the way you lose it.
Leicester's players will watch a recording of that Southampton game at some point this week and there are not many positives for them to take from it, even in the second half.
The league table does not look too good for the Foxes either - and their away form has been terrible all season.
They need to pick themselves up quickly, but I still look at the attacking quality they have in their squad compared to the other teams down at the bottom and think they can go on a run and climb the table.
Will they go down? You can never say never, but I would be shocked if they got sucked into the bottom three.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38713714
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Samsung reveals cause of Galaxy Note 7 phone fires - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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Samsung reveals what caused the overheating and burning of some of its Galaxy Note 7 mobile phones.
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Samsung reveals what caused the overheating and burning of some of its Galaxy Note 7 mobile phones.
The recall is thought to have cost $5.3bn (£4.3bn) and was hugely damaging for the South Korean firm's reputation.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38715836
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Our cat in Havana - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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In Havana, stray cats and dogs prowl the streets. Responsibility for looking after them lies with the public - as Will Grant found when he befriended a ginger tomcat.
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Magazine
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In Cuba's capital, armies of stray cats and dogs prowl the streets. The state does little to look after them, so responsibility lies with the public - as Will Grant found when he befriended a ginger tomcat.
My younger sister sometimes reminds me of the apparent indifference I showed when our family cat, Pippit, died in 1991. A slender tabby who lived well beyond her expected years, Pippit enjoyed a long and happy life with us. Finally, at the impressive age of 21, she died just as we returned from a family holiday.
Waking up to find that Pippit hadn't lasted the night, I took it upon myself to break the news to my sister. Sensitivity and tact weren't exactly high in my repertoire when I was 15 - I simply crashed into her room with the line: "Helen, the cat's dead!"
I don't know if you've ever seen anyone wake up and immediately burst into tears, but I should take this opportunity to apologise to Helen for what was probably the meanest thing I did to her when we were growing up.
So, given she has this image of me as callous when it comes to pets - unfair, I hasten to add - she was surprised, when she visited Havana recently, to find just how much Cuba has influenced my attitude towards animals.
There are no state-funded pet rescue organisations on this communist island, so caring for neighbourhood strays is down to local businesses or residents.
Around a dozen state institutions, from the Central Bank to the Museum of Metalwork, have adopted their own stray dogs. Under the scheme, the homeless hounds are named and duly issued with ID cards, which are placed on their collars to save them from the dog-catcher.
Vladimir, a former street dog, with his ID collar in Havana
The adoption system operates under the premise that they are now officially considered the government buildings' guard dogs, although the ones I've seen are docile street mutts rather than fierce Rottweilers.
The city government does operate a programme for neutering and spaying strays in Old Havana, but the handful of voluntary animal protection organisations that exist simply can't deal with the sheer numbers across the island.
Cubans are by and large dog people. There is a pretty significant culture of dog ownership, even among those who are barely scraping by.
Cats, on the other hand get a raw deal. Especially stray ones.
So, since we arrived in Cuba, we've tried to do our bit. We've already taken in two kittens we found lost and half-drowned during a torrential downpour one night. My girlfriend's mother is now the proud owner of the uniquely named Honorato and Carilda.
But for my sister, on her recent visit, it was my relationship with Django which really stood out.
A ginger-and-white tomcat, he started life inside our building's parking garage. We would often hear a faint mewing after we parked the car.
As a kitten, Django would hide deep inside the motor of some diplomat's SUV, seeking refuge by nestling near the carburettor.
Once he grew a bit and emerged from the darkness of the car park, he was almost instantly adopted by the building.
We would leave food out for him. As would some Russian neighbours. So, apparently, did Sindi, one of the doormen. He looks like he could find a second job as a nightclub bouncer, but fell for the scruffy, soot-stained Django as much as we did.
Django was the name my Mum gave the kitten when she came to Havana and it stuck. We were smitten.
Evenings would be interrupted and conversations broken off mid-flow so we could go out and feed him a mixture of leftovers and expensive kibble specially brought in from Mexico.
The treatment Django received in our building was well above the experience of most alley cats in Cuba with food regularly provided - if not by one neighbour, then another. Sometimes, both.
That brought with it the inevitable interest of other local waifs and strays. At one time there were three or four more trying to get in on the act. Fair enough - it's a dog-eat-dog world out there for a Cuban cat.
Still, we began to worry. There is a nasty habit in Cuba of angry neighbours removing a constantly barking dog or an unsightly stray cat by feeding it mince laced with rat-poison.
Alternatively - almost as cruelly - the witless pet might be shoved into the back of the car, driven out to the countryside and let out on the roadside, far from home. Noisy neighbourhood dog dealt with, even if the owners are now frantic with worry.
In the end, nothing like that befell poor Django. It was a far more inevitable fate, under the wheels of a car thundering down 70th Street.
The headlines of 2016 were full of high-profile deaths. But spare a thought for one of the year's final victims, taken on New Year's Eve in Havana - a much loved, slightly grubby, ginger-and-white street cat called Django.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38609794
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Is Saatchi Gallery selfie exhibition just self-promotion? - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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What happens when an art gallery gets together with a PR company and a smartphone manufacturer?
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Entertainment & Arts
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Taj Mahal Self-Portrait, a 1966 photograph by George Harrison that features in the exhibition
I have never taken a selfie. I'm far too ugly.
That said, I have ruined other people's, on those occasions when asked by a friend or arts fan to join them in a smartphone photo.
I'm happy to say yes - it's not as if I'm ever going to have to look back at the image.
I'd be horrified if I did, and mortified if it appeared in some public context like an art exhibition. I don't like causing offence.
Fortunately for us, such an occurrence is highly unlikely but it is possible, and increasingly so.
Selfie-themed exhibitions are to museums and galleries what dancefloors are to dads: a tempting opportunity to show how young and trendy they are while in reality communicating the exact opposite.
They all seem to be at it, from the venerable Mauritshuis in The Hague to the yoof-loving Tate Modern. The Saatchi Gallery is the latest to jump aboard the selfie bandwagon with a show it says "will be the world's first exhibition exploring the history of the selfie from old masters to the present day, and will celebrate the truly creative potential of a form of expression often derided for its inanity".
I'm not sure if the "world's first" claim is valid, but I'm absolutely certain that the long history of the self-portrait has not been "derided for its inanity".
Some of the greatest works of art ever produced are self-portraits. We know that. It has long been a respected genre used by artists to demonstrate their virtuosity, while having the added advantage of the sitter/model being free.
Anyway, to compare a painstakingly painted Rembrandt self-portrait with an opportunist snap taken by Helle Thorning-Schmidt flanked by David Cameron and Barak Obama at Nelson Mandela's funeral is silly.
It's like equating the diary entry of a lovelorn teenager with a novel by Alice Munro - they don't stand comparison. Both have their place, both can be art, but they are quite different.
When I first heard about the show, it sounded like the sort of idea the gallery's communications department might come up with to attract "new audiences". And then I read the press release and discovered it WAS the communications department that came up with the concept.
It had help from a PR company called H+K Strategies, part of the globe-spanning WPP Group, which counts Huawei, a Chinese smartphone brand, among its clients. This is not an unconnected fact. Huawei are the sponsors of the Saatchi Gallery show.
In fact, according to the press release, they are its co-authors: "Saatchi Gallery and Huawei, the world's number three smartphone brand, announce they have teamed up to present From Selfie to Self-Expression."
One of the team from H+K Strategies to whom I spoke talked of brainstorming sessions between the parties.
She made no mention of breakout groups and brightly coloured pens - but I'd hazard a guess they were present. Selfie to Self-Expression feels like a show that started life writ large in pink letters (with yellow asterisk to the side) on front of a flip-chart.
Huawei's involvement explains the comment in the press release about the self-portrait genre being "derided for its inanity". I don't think it meant self-portraiture, but selfie-portraiture.
This is a show designed to elevate the status of the selfie from what they say can be viewed as an inane activity to an artform. Hence the stated aim to "celebrate the creative potential of a form of expression…".
Add to this its commitment to "highlight the emerging role of the smartphone as an artistic medium for self-expression", and I think we know the corporate tail is wagging the art gallery dog.
I'm not saying this to criticise - needs must and all that. It might be a great show, and even if it isn't there is something marvellously Warholian about an art gallery founded by an ad man conceiving an exhibition with the world's largest ad agency network. As Warhol once said: "Good business is the best art."
No, the reason I mention the corporate sponsor is because I think its collaboration with the Saatchi Gallery is potentially more interesting than the show itself. The whole project would appear to be rooted in the notion of a new "purposeful age" in public relations as spelt out by H+K Strategies.
They say: "In the Purposeful Age companies and institutions have the opportunity to join a meaningful conversation around things that matter, take their place in culture and demonstrate their responsibility to society.
"At H+K our purpose in this new age is to inspire creative and curious conversations that help brands and the public communicate to build better outcomes for everyone."
Okay, it's a tad hyperbolic, but you've got to hand it to them - the Saatchi show is a good example of them practising what they preach.
It also helps makes sense of the whole enterprise, unifying the subject matter and the sponsor, which can be captured by simply adding three words to the current exhibition title: Selfie to Self-Expression - to Self-Promotion.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38724303
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Australian Open 2017: Johanna Konta beats Ekaterina Makarova, Serena Williams next - BBC Sport
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2017-01-23
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Britain's Johanna Konta beats Ekaterina Makarova to set up an Australian Open quarter-final against Serena Williams.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Britain's Johanna Konta produced another terrific performance to beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova and set up an Australian Open quarter-final against Serena Williams.
Konta, seeded ninth, saw off 30th seed Makarova 6-1 6-4 to reach the last eight without dropping a set.
The Briton, 25, reached her first Grand Slam semi-final in Melbourne last year.
Second seed Williams overcame stern resistance from Czech 16th seed Barbora Strycova to win 7-5 6-4.
• Watch highlights of day eight on BBC Two from 16:45 GMT on Monday
Asked about facing the 22-time Grand Slam champion for the first time, Konta said: "Believe it or not that's an incredible experience for me.
"She's one of the few players still playing who I watched growing up. As a young girl wanting to be a professional tennis player, it's an incredible honour and I can't wait to play on court with her.
"Once out on court, against anyone, anyone is out there to compete. Hopefully I'll come off as the winner.
"In terms of enjoying the opportunity and the competition, I will cherish every minute out there."
Konta arrived in Melbourne having won her second WTA title in Sydney, the city in which she was born, and Monday's victory over Makarova made it nine matches and 18 sets in a row.
She had needed three hours to beat Makarova at the same stage of the 2016 tournament, but 12 months on the Briton has established herself as a true Grand Slam contender.
Dominant in every aspect of the game, she raced through the first set in just 24 minutes, winning 78% of points on her serve and, more impressively, 62% on the Makarova serve.
Her constant aggression left the flat-hitting Makarova struggling to get a racquet on the ball much of the time.
Konta's level dropped in the second set as her first serve deserted her briefly, allowing Makarova to build a 4-1 lead, but the Briton came storming back with five games in a row - closing out the match superbly from 0-40 with two aces along the way.
"I think I came out definitely playing at a higher level than she did but she really put herself back into that match and made it difficult for me," said Konta.
"The way she pulled away in the second set, I don't feel like I did much wrong, she started playing some incredible tennis."
Williams' coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, picked Konta earlier in the week as a leading threat to his player, and the theory will now be tested when they meet for the first time.
Williams was not at her best in the opening match of day eight on Rod Laver Arena but did enough to see off a feisty opponent in Strycova.
The American six-time champion, 35, fell a break of serve down three times in the first set, but fought back to eventually win 7-5 6-4.
"She's a really smart player - she can do pretty much everything," Williams said of Strycova.
"It was a really good match for me and I'm glad I came through it."
Williams was under pressure on serve more than usual with a first-serve percentage of just 45%.
"It's good to know I have an plan B or option two," she added. "I wasn't serving my greatest but she was also putting a lot of returns in there."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38714633
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Ryan Mason: Hull midfielder fractures skull in clash of heads at Chelsea - BBC Sport
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2017-01-23
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Hull City midfielder Ryan Mason has surgery after fracturing his skull during Sunday's Premier League game at Chelsea.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Hull City midfielder Ryan Mason has had surgery after fracturing his skull during Sunday's game at Chelsea.
Mason, 25, clashed heads with Chelsea defender Gary Cahill 13 minutes into the Premier League match.
After eight minutes of treatment on the pitch, he wore an oxygen mask as he was carried off on a stretcher, and taken to St Mary's Hospital in London.
"Ryan is in a stable condition and expected to remain in hospital for the next few days," said a Hull statement.
"Everyone at the club would like to express their sincere thanks for the excellent and swift care given to Ryan by both the accident and emergency department and neurosurgery unit at St Mary's Hospital."
Hull added they would issue a further update on Monday.
The incident happened as Hull's record signing attempted to head the ball clear of his own box following a cross from Pedro from the right wing.
Mason got to the ball a split second before Cahill, who was already committed to his attempted header, and the pair collided.
Cahill, who continued playing, said: "I tried to get on the end of the cross. We smashed heads. I wish him all the very best."
Mason joined Hull from Tottenham last August for a club-record undisclosed fee.
He has scored one goal in 16 Premier League appearances for the Tigers.
Prior to his move, he made 53 top-flight appearances for Tottenham, and had loan spells at Yeovil, Doncaster, Millwall, Lorient and Swindon.
Hull lost Sunday's game 2-0 as goals from Diego Costa and Cahill gave Chelsea a victory that took them eight points clear at the top.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38713311
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Andy Murray: How much should be read into Australian Open exit? - BBC Sport
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2017-01-23
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After early Australian Open exits for the world's top two players, Russell Fuller assesses whether more should be read into the upsets.
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Coverage: Daily live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website; TV highlights on BBC Two and online from 21 January.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have so much shared history.
And now, in the space of just four days in Melbourne, the world's top two players have both been on the receiving end of upsets almost without parallel in the past 10 years.
Former players were cheering Mischa Zverev on from the locker room - not because of any antipathy towards Murray, but because his opponent was playing the style of tennis many of them used to play to great effect.
Serving and volleying against the Briton seems counter-intuitive. Along with Djokovic, he is the best returner in the world - and if he does not manage to pass you, then he is more than likely to send a top spin lob fizzing over your head to within inches of the baseline.
But Zverev served superbly, and volleyed even better, again and again and again. The German hit some astonishing returns and made short shrift of Murray's second serve. And when the pressure started to rise, his level did not start to fall.
Pinned behind the baseline too frequently for comfort, Murray started missing more regularly. The Scot was unable to turn the tide or summon up the aggression that served him so well in the second half of last season.
• None Has Djokovic's obsession burnt itself out?
Andre Agassi addressed this subject before the match. The four-time Australian Open champion was very complimentary about Murray in a video link to Melbourne Park on Saturday, as he explained how the 29-year-old could improve still further.
"I have always sort of talked about Andy as a person that has never really utilised his game to his maximum potential. He's so good at certain things that it almost makes him a bit indecisive," Agassi said.
"If you actually minimised his defensive skills just 5%, he might even actually be a better player.
"He puts himself through unnecessary wear and tear on a court, because his offensive upside is, I think, still more than he shows."
Murray says he will now reflect on whether he could have done anything differently to prepare for the first Grand Slam of the year. He only had time for two weeks off after a frenetic end to last season, and must now balance the need for rest with his instinctive desire to play in Great Britain's Davis Cup first-round tie in Canada the week after next.
Murray suggested in the immediate aftermath of defeat that he intends to play in Ottawa, but his coaching team may well argue he should take a longer break before heading to Dubai in late February. The first two Masters events of the year follow in Indian Wells and Miami.
There is no immediate threat to Murray's world number one ranking - he will be 1,715 points ahead of Serb Djokovic when the list is refreshed at the end of the Australian Open.
He is certain to be number one until at least May because he has just a handful of ranking points to defend between now and the start of the clay court season.
Can anything further be read into the early exits of both Murray and Djokovic, who will both have turned 30 by the time the next Grand Slam is staged at Roland Garros in four months?
Ageing players are once again doing very well at this Australian Open, with half of the 12 men left in the draw on Sunday night older than the pair of them.
And yet in the modern era, men have found it tricky to win Grand Slam titles in their thirties. Stan Wawrinka and Agassi have each done it twice, but even Roger Federer has managed it only once.
Mats Wilander, who won the last of his seven Grand Slam titles at the age of 24, explains why it can become harder to find the consistency required over seven rounds.
"You have good days and you have bad days when you get older," Wilander told BBC Sport.
"You don't have to call on anything when you are younger - it's just there naturally. You don't worry about the consequences, you just play and you fight until the bitter end. I think the mind gets in your way when you get older."
There are still three Grand Slam champions left in the draw, with Federer, Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal all now over 30. The younger challenge is led by Milos Raonic, Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov.
Along with Federer - who will not now have to face Murray in the quarter-finals - it may be Raonic who takes most heart from Sunday's events.
You will not find him at the net as often as Zverev, but he did add the 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek to his team in December with the explicit intention of trying to move forward on a more regular basis.
We are a long way from declaring a new serve-and-volley era, but Melbourne Park's quicker courts have contributed to an enthralling first week - unless, that is, you happen to be ranked number one or two in the world.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38711323
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Dairy farmers launch powdery protest - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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Dairy farmers launch a protest at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels on Monday.
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Dairy farmers launched a protest at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels on Monday.
It follows a decision by the EU to put some powdered milk stocks back on sale, following "encouraging signals about a pickup in the milk market,"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38726055
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Danny Boyle: 'These stories belong here' - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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The stars of T2 Trainspotting have gathered in Edinburgh for the film's world premiere.
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The stars of T2 Trainspotting have gathered in Edinburgh for the film's world premiere.
Original cast members Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Kelly Macdonald and Ewen Bremner spoke to the BBC about working on the Trainspotting sequel.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38712425
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Is burnt toast a health risk? - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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Experts say bread should be cooked to a golden yellow colour to reduce our intake of a chemical which could cause cancer.
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Experts say bread, chips and potatoes should be cooked to a golden yellow colour, rather than brown, to reduce our intake of a chemical which could cause cancer.
Acrylamide is produced when starchy foods are roasted, fried or grilled for too long at high temperatures.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38713959
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Why a Bollywood memoir has kicked up a storm about being gay in India - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Karan Johar has been criticised for not setting an example for gays in India.
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India
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Karan Johar is one of Bollywood's most influential directors
Bollywood director and talk show host Karan Johar's autobiography has kicked off a loud debate on being gay in India, writes Sudha G Tilak.
"Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is. I don't need to scream it out. If I need to spell it out, I won't only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this. Which is why I Karan Johar will not say the three words that possibly everybody knows about me," Johar says in the book.
The title of his memoir, An Unsuitable Boy, is a play on A Suitable Boy, the novel by award-winning Indian author Vikram Seth.
Seth has publicly spoken up against a draconian Indian law that criminalises homosexuality. His mother, a former judge and writer, has also written about Seth being gay.
In an interview Seth had said that it was a "sad dereliction of their responsibility" when famous Indians refused to come out and be "role models" for many others who were suffering silently.
However, Johar's memoir, co-authored with journalist Poonam Saxena, does not do that.
And Bollywood's budding filmmakers, activists and Twitterati have come down on him saying he has only trivialised being gay in his films. They say his decision to hold back from explicitly coming out, and opting to leave "bold clues" about his sexuality instead, belittles their suffering.
It has never been easy to be openly gay in India
In response to the criticism Johar writes, "The reason I don't say it out aloud is simply that I don't want to be dealing with the FIRs [police complaints]. I'm very sorry. I have a job, I have a commitment to my company, to my people who work for me; there are over a hundred people that I'm answerable to.
"I'm not going to sit in the courts because of ridiculous, completely bigoted individuals who have no education, no intelligence, who go into some kind of rapture for publicity."
According to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a 155-year-old colonial-era law, a same-sex relationship is an "unnatural offence". Last February, the Supreme Court agreed to revisit a previous judgement that upheld the law.
In deeply conservative India, homosexuality is a taboo and many people still regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate.
However that has not mitigated the outpouring of anger against Johar.
One of his strongest critics is Apurva Asrani, a script writer and editor of Aligarh, a gay rights Bollywood film based on true incidents.
Asrani went on social media to criticise Johar's autobiography and his resistance to coming out, saying that he was "appalled". He called Johar's extract on his sexuality a "regressive and a cowardly statement".
Johar's book also details his lonely childhood. He talks about growing up with weight issues in a plush neighbourhood in Mumbai among children of the film industry as his father was a producer.
The memoir talks about Johar's friendship with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan
The book also talks about Johar's well known friendship with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and his spats with Bollywood's leading ladies.
Johar's films have been set in locations in America or Britain dealing with the romantic issues of the rich and the beautiful.
His films have been criticised for stereotyping women as in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and for peddling fluff.
They have often poked fun of gay characters and have used innuendos and jokes while referencing gays in his films.
His production house may have backed many meaningful films that have spoken about gay issues with sensitivity, but his own storytelling in his movies and memoir is wanting, say critics.
In addition to his films, Johar also hosts a hugely popular television chat show filled with Bollywood's beautiful people discussing their crushes, courting controversies, fuelling gossip and adult jokes.
In the show, Johar also allows gay jokes, uses self-mocking throwaway lines about his sexuality and uses innuendo which has irked critics for trivialising his sexuality.
But he also has his supporters. "His book is remarkably candid and courageous. He has shared his vulnerabilities and fears," writer and publisher Shobhaa De said of Johar.
Johar, one of the cleverest and most influential Bollywood directors, isn't giving the pleasure of saying what everyone knows, gay rights notwithstanding.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-38687051
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Irish police put massive cannabis find on display - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Irish Police and the revenue service put €37.5 million worth of cannabis seized at Dublin Port on Friday on display.
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Europe
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Armed Gardaí (Irish police) pose with an estimated 37.5m euros worth of cannabis
Police and the Republic of Ireland's revenue service have put cannabis worth 37.5m euros (£32m), seized at Dublin Port on Friday, on display.
The seizure was bigger than the total quantity of the drug seized in the Republic in the past two years, according to national broadcaster RTE.
A total of 1,873 kilos of herbal cannabis was discovered concealed in wide-load containers.
They were labelled as containing machinery parts.
The containers arrived on a ship from mainland Europe.
The drugs were vacuum packed and concealed to avoid detection by X-rays and sniffer dogs.
Gardaí and Irish revenue officials with almost 2,000 kilos of cannabis seized at Dublin Port
Gardaí (police) said investigations are continuing both locally and internationally.
Garda assistant commissioner John O'Driscoll said: "We are all about trying to achieve results and this, I believe in anyone's estimation, is a great result.
"We are about trying to tackle organised crime in a significant manner. The business of organised crime will be impacted."
He listed a string of recent operations including the seizure of firearms from groups "intent on killing each other" in an apparent reference to recent gangland killings in the city.
Mr O'Driscoll added: "All of these actions together combine to have a significant impact on organised crime."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/38719871
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Garth Crooks' team of the week: Sanchez, Rooney, Brunt, Cahill - BBC Sport
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2017-01-23
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Who is Southampton's "new Morgan Schneiderlin"? Who is the "best team player of his generation"? Find out in Garth Crooks' team of the week.
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Chelsea beat struggling Hull 2-0 to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points. Arsenal were the only other team in the top six to win, beating Burnley 2-1.
Manchester City and Tottenham drew 2-2 on Saturday, while Wayne Rooney scored a record 250th Manchester United goal as they rescued a point at Stoke.
Elsewhere, there were wins for Southampton against Leicester, Swansea against Liverpool, Everton at Crystal Palace, West Ham at Middlesbrough and West Brom against Sunderland. Bournemouth and Watford drew.
Do you agree with my team of the week or would you go for a different team? Why not pick your very own team of the week from the shortlist selected by BBC Sport journalists and share it with your friends?
Pick your Team of the Week Pick your XI from our list and share with your friends.
I was tempted to go for Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois for another clean sheet. His save from Hull's Oumar Niasse in the closing minutes nearly clinched it, but I have gone for Petr Cech. The former Chelsea keeper was first class throughout the messy affair. He took a blow to the head that caused a moment's concern but recovered to put in a solid performance against a very dangerous Burnley.
You can count on Cech to be professional in a crisis and there were times in this match when Arsenal seemed to be out of control. The behaviour of Arsene Wenger was jaw-dropping. To push the fourth official, who was well within his rights to ask Wenger to leave the area having been dismissed, was appalling. It's just as well the Arsenal manager has apologised to him, it's the least he could do. Now he will have to wait to hear what the FA thought about this unseemly affair. I suspect it won't be good.
What a finish by Seamus Coleman. If there is one full-back you want the ball to drop to in the opposition's penalty area minutes from time then Coleman's the man. Palace can moan all they want about Jeffrey Schlupp requiring treatment for cramp. The referee is under no obligation to stop the match unless he considers the matter serious. For Everton - and Coleman in particular - to take advantage of Palace's misfortune is precisely what the game is all about.
To be perfectly honest, Coleman was superb all afternoon. He was a constant menace down Crystal Palace's left side and caused all sorts of problems for the Eagles. Time is running out for Sam Allardyce. Having suffered that earth-shattering experience of losing the England job in such an undignified fashion, I wondered if it has destroyed what has hitherto been an impregnable confidence? I hope not because Palace are going to need it.
Trying to win a football match with 10 men is one thing - but it becomes considerably more difficult when your manager and team-mates seem to have lost the plot while you are trying to do it. That's what appeared to be the situation facing Shkodran Mustafi in a mad spell at Emirates Stadium. It all started when Granit Xhaka made a totally outrageous tackle on Steven Defour, followed by an equally needless challenge by Francis Coquelin that resulted in a penalty.
The madness didn't stop there either; Arsene Wenger was then removed from the dugout for remonstrating about a decision the referee Jon Moss got absolutely right. Fortunately, Mustafi kept his cool at a time when all around him were losing theirs.
This was not an easy game for Chelsea or Gary Cahill but they both got through it. The Chelsea captain suffered a nasty bang on the head having clashed with Ryan Mason. Mason never recovered and went straight to hospital, while Cahill went on to score the goal that sealed a difficult victory. The Blues have now stretched their lead at the top of the table, having kept their discipline and their composure.
Notably, we saw the return of Diego Costa from the naughty corner, adding his goalscoring talents to the side. No doubt Cahill read Costa the riot act on behalf of the players and dressing room order seems to have been restored. Now they go to Liverpool in two weeks' time with an opportunity to put this title race beyond the Merseysiders. It's amazing what a team can achieve with discipline, talent and composure.
What a strike by Chris Brunt. We know the Northern Irishman can whack a ball, but his goal against Sunderland was so sweetly struck that it was an object of sheer beauty. What was not so pretty was the altercation between Darren Fletcher and Papy Djilobodji when the Senegal defender appeared to shove the West Brom captain in the face. Based on the evidence, no punches were thrown - but hands were certainly raised.
Why West Brom manager Tony Pulis, in his post-match interview, devolved his 'opinion' to the MOTD studio on this specific matter I don't really understand. Managers can seriously defend a player's actions or condemn them - Pulis elected to do neither. I hope we are not coming into a period in the game where managers (Pep Guardiola included) no longer think it their job to express an opinion. However, there was one thing we all agreed on: Brunt's goal was a cracker.
The penalty that settled this fixture was controversial but it took a big man to convert it. Once I saw Alexis Sanchez step up to the spot I knew the game was over. The fact Jon Moss got the decision wrong in my view is immaterial now, but what did the referee think Ben Mee was going to do, let Laurent Koscielny head the ball into the back of the net?
The defender is entitled to clear the ball regardless of where the opposing player is prepared to stick his head. Nevertheless, the penalty was awarded and Sanchez showed his class with a coolly taken spot-kick in a white hot atmosphere. It's just as well Arsenal have a player who in this sort of situation can cope with the pressure.
The former Tottenham midfielder gave Liverpool fair warning early in the first half when he hit the woodwork. However, it was the way this young talent seemed to run the show that impressed me. He spent long periods dictating the play - irrespective of the presence of Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana and Georginio Wijnaldum - and did so with real purpose. Swansea's first league win at Anfield was masterminded by a 24-year-old who did not have much Premier League experience.
Last week, we saw Liverpool defend heroically at Old Trafford - but courage alone is not enough. Liverpool need know-how and a central defender who can organise and marshal his defensive colleagues in isolation and one that doesn't need the assistance of the cavalry every time there is a set-piece or counter-attack. The Reds now have to face Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal at Anfield in a matter of weeks. I keep saying that Liverpool can't win the title with this defence, but it's obvious Jurgen Klopp disagrees.
He's only gone and done it. Wayne Rooney has broken Sir Bobby Charlton's record and Bobby was there to see it. 250 not out. It was a landmark goal by the best team player of his generation. Rooney was so consumed in his post-match interview by the fact that Manchester United had salvaged a point in such difficult circumstances that his record-breaking exploit had become secondary.
This typified a player who I have grown to greatly respect over the years. He never misses an England match if called upon and plays for his club in any position when required. Rooney stood up to Sir Alex Ferguson (and quite rightly) when he felt his manager wasn't buying the players befitting of Manchester United, prolonged David Moyes' tenure at the club with virtuoso performances having been told he was surplus to requirements - and now sits on the bench without a moment's fuss or hesitation under Jose Mourinho, waiting to come to the rescue if needed. This is a player who deserves all the plaudits. After all, he's earned them.
This was a game in which Leicester City were unrecognisable from the side who won the Premier League title. Admittedly, Southampton and James Ward-Prowse in particular contributed to their demise, but I must say the Foxes are playing with fire. Better teams than them have gone down and Claudio Ranieri had better pull his finger out.
In the meantime, Southampton have worked their way through a very difficult period and as a result unearthed a new Morgan Schneiderlin. Every time I see Ward-Prowse play, he gets better and better and he was the architect of Leicester's downfall. That said, if Leicester are serious about staying in the Premier League, they should seriously consider how they manage their Champions League fixtures because they can't succeed in both.
Crisis, what crisis? I said last week if Andy Carroll can stay fit between now and the end of the season, Dimitri Payet can take a running jump. In fact, I will drive him to Marseille myself.
The former Liverpool and Newcastle striker looks in great form at the moment and destroyed Middlesbrough, who seem to be punching above their weight. I have an enormous amount of time for manager Aitor Karanka's team, who remind me a bit of Jack Charlton's Boro in the 70s. There wasn't a great deal of stardom in that side either but tremendous endeavour. Unfortunately, against a rampant West Ham led by Carroll, effort wasn't enough.
I just didn't see this result coming and that's why you can't take your eyes off the Premier League for a moment. Swansea may have the worst defensive record in the division but that didn't mean a row of beans to the Swans on the day.
Llorente's first goal was an opportunist's toe-poke, but his second was superb. The way he attacked the ball was brave and full of intent and gave Swansea what they deserved. Liverpool still find themselves in a fantastic position regardless of this result - but a wonderful opportunity will soon evaporate if they don't fix what has been glaringly obvious to me all season. Liverpool need a central defensive general.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38711481
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Nicola Adams: Two-time Olympic champion turns professional - BBC Sport
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2017-01-23
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Two-time Olympic champion Nicola Adams turns professional and will make her debut in Manchester on 8 April.
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Last updated on .From the section Boxing
The 34-year-old from Leeds will not be part of the Great Britain squad in the build-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but could still compete at the Games.
"I can still go back and do Tokyo as well - I wouldn't like to rule anything out. Never say never," she said.
Adams has signed with promoter Frank Warren and will make her professional debut on 8 April in Manchester before a bout in her home city on 13 May.
Adams said: "My hero was Muhammad Ali. I said after watching him I wanted to box at the Olympics and turn pro."
In signing with Warren, Adams said she had found "a team that believes in my dream".
She added: "Together we can help take women's boxing to new levels and I can't wait to get to get in the ring in April and start working towards becoming a world champion."
The Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) approved changes in June permitting professionals to compete at the Olympics.
Warren's association with Adams comes three months after Ireland's London 2012 Olympic lightweight champion Katie Taylor began fighting professionally under Eddie Hearn's promotion.
Warren, 64, had previously said he was not an advocate of female professional boxing.
"I am eating humble pie," said Warren. "My head has been turned by the fantastic achievements of this young lady.
"Of all of all the signings I have made in my 35 years in the sport of boxing, this is among the most I have been excited about.
"I think Nicola will be challenging for world titles within a year. We intend to lead her to become a multiple world champion."
Adams told BBC Radio 5 live she was delighted to be the fighter who convinced Warren to alter his opinion.
"He said to me that I was the person who changed his mind," she said. "I opened up his eyes to the opportunity of wanting a female boxer."
In November, Adams was a guest on the BBC's Desert Island Discs when she spoke of wanting to be the first female boxer to headline at Las Vegas and how the professional game was "waiting for a big name to step in there and open up the doors".
Adams became the first woman to box for England in 2001 and joined the Great Britain squad in 2010. In beating China's Ren Cancan to win flyweight gold at London 2012, she became the first Olympic women's boxing champion.
She also won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2015 European Games and 2016 World Championships, before retaining her Olympic title by beating France's Sarah Ourahmoune in Rio.
The second Olympic title made her the first British boxer to retain gold in 92 years.
GB Boxing performance director Rob McCracken said: "Nicola has won everything there is to win and her place in history is secured as the first woman to ever win a gold medal for boxing and then top it by winning a second one in Rio."
GB Boxing said it was open to Adams competing as a professional in 2020 but wanted "to continue to encourage young boxers to come through the system so selection for major tournaments will be based on picking boxers that are part of the world class performance programme".
Adams, who was appointed an MBE in 2013 and an OBE in 2016, will continue to compete at flyweight.
But in leaving the GB Boxing training centre in Sheffield, she will have to find her own training venue and support staff, as well as adjusting to competing without a headguard.
"I think it's going to be quite different," added Adams. "I'm excited about that, to have my own team and know that we all have the same goal."
Adams is the third high-profile woman to turn professional in the past six months, following Taylor and American fighter Claressa Shields, who won Olympic middleweight gold at London 2012 aged 17 and retained her title in Rio.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/38717913
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India v England: Ben Stokes stars at Eden Gardens - BBC Sport
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2017-01-23
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England hold on to win the third one-day international against India by five runs as Ben Stokes finds redemption at Eden Gardens.
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Last updated on .From the section Cricket
England held on to win the third one-day international against India by five runs as Ben Stokes found redemption at Eden Gardens.
Stokes, hit for four successive sixes in Kolkata in the World T20 final loss, struck a 39-ball 57 in England's 321-8.
He removed key man Virat Kohli and ended a 104-run stand between Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya.
Jadhav remained with India needing 16 from the final over, but Chris Woakes had him caught for 90.
Not only did it give England a first international win on the tour after a 4-0 defeat in the Tests, but also just a fourth success in 26 ODIs in India.
India take the series 2-1, with the first of three Twenty20 internationals in Kanpur on Thursday.
Stokes' previous game in Kolkata ended with him slumped on the Eden Gardens turf after being clubbed for four maximums by West Indies' Carlos Brathwaite.
This return was a heroic one as he energised the end of England's innings with the bat and then took vital wickets with the ball.
England looked set to fall short of a competitive total at 246-6 after 43 overs, only for left-hander Stokes, using his feet and targeting the mid-on area, to blast a 34-ball half-century.
Master run-chaser Kohli was dropped at fine leg on 35 by Jake Ball and looked likely to make England pay before Stokes induced a wild drive and an edge behind.
And when India looked to have reversed the momentum, Stokes returned to bowl the 46th and 48th overs, conceding only seven runs, bowling Pandya and having Ravichandran Ashwin caught at mid-on.
In an incredible chase of 351 to win the first one-day international, right-hander Jadhav destroyed England with 120 from 76 balls.
Whereas then he was guided by captain Kohli, here he was forced to do the bulk of the work, first in the company of Pandya, who rode his luck for 56 in a century partnership that came in less than 14 overs.
Short of stature, Jadhav played cuts and pulls, and although wickets fell around him he looked on course to seal a remarkable victory as England's bowling got ragged, perhaps because of a dew-affected, slippery ball.
In the World T20 final, England were defending 19 off the final over. Here, Jadhav threatened to pull off something equally astounding:
• None 49.1 overs - Six - Full ball from Woakes, Jadhav goes deep in his crease and launches over extra cover.
• None 49.2 overs - Four - Similar delivery, similar stroke, this time a one-bounce four. Six needed from four balls.
• None 49.4 overs - Dot - Well bowled. Jadhav fails to squeeze out a yorker and calls for a change of bat.
• None 49.5 overs - Out - Full and wide from Woakes, Jadhav's brilliant knock is ended when he picks out Sam Billings on the off-side rope.
• None 50 overs - Dot - Woakes holds his nerve, Bhuvneshwar Kumar cannot hit the six that would have sealed an India whitewash.
On placid pitches in the the first two ODIs, England made scores of 350-7 and 366-8 only to lose both.
Here they were more comfortable on a surface that offered movement and bounce for the pace bowlers.
Still, a weakness of losing wickets at key moments and batsmen failing to convert good starts was repeated.
Jason Roy got into a tangle to be bowled by Ravindra Jadeja for 65, captain Eoin Morgan helped a long hop to short fine leg for 43 and Jonny Bairstow cut to point for 56 - both men victims of the excellent Pandya's 3-49.
Stokes' late hitting took England to a competitive score and their pace bowlers enjoyed the greater assistance to run through the India top order, even after David Willey was forced from the field with a shoulder injury.
Then came the charge of Jadhav and Pandya, but Stokes and Woakes, who earlier added 73 with the bat in only 40 balls, had the final say.
There wasn't any shame in losing those first two games. There was nothing in it for the England bowlers and they came up against some fantastic Indian batting.
Here, there was more in the pitch for England and they exploited it very well.
The Champions Trophy will have these kind of pitches and England look better suited when the ball does a little bit.
• None 2,090 runs is a new record for a three-match ODI series, beating the 1,892 scored between Asia XI and Africa XI in 2007.
• None The 7.00 runs scored per over is the second-highest for a series of any length, behind only the 7.15 of England's home series against New Zealand in 2015.
• None Jason Roy's 220 runs is the second-most by an England player in an away ODI series of three matches. Only Graham Gooch, 242 v Pakistan in 1987, has more.
• None England registered their first ODI win at Eden Gardens.
• None Ben Stokes struck a 34-ball half-century, the second-fastest for England against India. His record 33-ball knock came in the first ODI.
• None Virat Kohli reached 1,000 runs as India ODI captain in 17 innings, beating the record of 18 by South Africa's AB de Villiers.
'We deserved a win' - what they said
Man of the match Ben Stokes: "It was difficult when we came here last time. I put it down to good captaincy to get my overs out of the way before the last over!
"It was difficult at the start of my innings. The ball was doing a bit so I gave myself as much time as I could. Woakesy played a good part in that as well.
"It has been fantastic to be a part of the series. Thankfully we got a win."
England coach Trevor Bayliss: "We've been playing some good cricket, scoring a lot of runs and we felt we deserved a win.
"On this ground, I'm sure there were some memories. It sums up Ben Stokes that he was able to get over it and bowl very well."
England captain Eoin Morgan: "It has been hard work - a competitive series. It was tough for the bowlers. We were rewarded for our persistence and drive to get a result. We fought hard against a really good side."
India captain Virat Kohli: "It's been a series of a lot of positives. We almost got over the line today and we were getting excited to see two of our younger guys showing character lower down the order. I'm very pleased."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/38711556
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Freezing fog covers London landmarks - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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Freezing fog has covered most of southern England, cancelling flights at London airports and raising pollution levels.
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Freezing fog has covered most of southern England, cancelling flights at London airports and raising pollution levels.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38723923
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Why Bill Clinton helped a 33-year-old build a $1bn firm - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How Andy Kuper built investment firm Leapfrog, which aims to help pull people out of poverty in the developing world by investing in insurance and healthcare firms.
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Business
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It took Andy Kuper a year and a half before he secured any investment for his company
If you are going to get someone famous to launch your global business officially, it is hard to do better than President Bill Clinton.
Yet as Andy Kuper will attest, it can be a nerve-racking experience.
Back in September 2008, President Clinton was so impressed with Andy's new company, Leapfrog Investments, that he decided he would unveil it during his keynote speech at the annual meeting of his Clinton Global Initiative foundation.
It meant that President Clinton would invite the then 33-year-old Andy on to the stage to speak to the few hundred attendees at the event in New York.
Andy says: "I had done a lot of public speaking before, but this was a rock 'n' roll thing. I was worried about stumbling on the stairs and falling on the president."
Thankfully for Andy, he managed to stay on his feet and give a speech that wasn't too overshadowed by President Clinton's well-known oratorical talents.
Andy says: "President Clinton was amazing, he is an incredible public speaker, I owe him a great deal."
But why was President Clinton so impressed with a South African businessman he had only recently met?
Andy had ambitious plans to help transform the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the developing world, to help pull them out of poverty.
Instead of giving them aid, his plan was to invest in, help run and expand indigenous companies, mostly insurance and healthcare funds, so that populations would not be blighted by ill-health.
And instead of being a charity or non-profit organisation, Leapfrog planned to be very much profit-making and offer its investors a decent rate of return. The idea was to make globalisation and capitalism work for the world's poorest people.
After a very slow start, the business today has more than $1bn (£800m) of funds on its books. It currently invests in 16 companies across 22 countries in Africa and Asia that have a combined 100,000 employees and serve 91 million people.
The son of anti-apartheid campaigners and brought up on a farm outside of Johannesburg, Andy doesn't seem qualified to run a global investment firm on first glance at his CV.
He has no business qualifications and instead studied philosophy at university, before going on to lecture in the subject.
Leapfrog typically invests in insurance and healthcare firms across Africa and Asia
Yet he started investing in the stock market aged 10, using money he made from selling the family's crops on the side of the road. By aged 13, he was making money for clients.
After attending the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Andy went to Cambridge University. It was while at Cambridge that Andy spent a summer working for a non-government organisation in India, which he said was "one of his most formative experiences" and is the genesis of his future idea for Leapfrog.
"We were trying to get Indian farmers to adopt drip irrigation, which could triple their production and lift them out of poverty," says Andy, now 41.
"But they just wouldn't do it. At the time, I thought they were being so irrational, but they weren't - they weren't prepared to take the risk of doing something new and seeing their crops fail as a result. Why? Because this would have meant that their children starved.
"So I thought, why don't we give these people a safety net to enable them to take a chance on bettering themselves, such as insurance cover."
After spending his 20s lecturing and heading up an organisation that supports social entrepreneurs, Andy started work on Leapfrog. Initially, he got nowhere fast, because, he says, the idea was so new.
Most Leapfrog firms, such as insurer Bima, utilise mobile technology
He says: "It seemed close to impossible to begin with, but I just believed so fundamentally in the idea, which I call profit with purpose, of investing in companies that serve the other half of humanity - the four billion people that conventionally have not been served."
With no money coming in, Andy had to live off his and his wife's savings until Leapfrog got its first small investment after a year and a half.
The Clinton connection then followed, thanks to Andy knowing someone who worked for the organisation.
However, the president's September 2008 speech failed to immediately open the investment floodgates, because it was quickly overshadowed by global events.
A week later, investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed and the world was plunged into the global financial crisis.
Yet despite this backdrop, Leapfrog was able to secure $135m of investment by late 2009. Today its institutional investors include Goldman Sachs, Axa, JP Morgan, AIG, Swiss Re and the European Investment Bank.
Companies that Leapfrog invests in and helps run include All Life, a South African insurance firm that gives low cost cover to people with HIV, Kenyan pharmacy chain Goodlife, and India's Mahindra Insurance Brokers. Andy says that Leapfrog helps the firms see revenues grow by an average 43% per year.
Robert van Zwieten, president of Emerging Market Private Equity Association, the trade group for firms that invest in the developing world, says that Andy and Leapfrog have been "trailblazers" in helping to create a new industry known as "impact investing". These are firms that invest both to make money and to achieve a positive social impact.
He adds: "The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) event at Davos has for several years been struggling to work out how to make globalisation and capitalism work for the many and not just the few, but Andy and his team at Leapfrog are already doing just that."
Now based in Sydney, Australia, after previously being in New York, Andy says: "You can do more good if you are profitable, and make more profit because you are good [doing virtuous things]."
Follow The Boss series editor Will Smale on Twitter @WillSmale1
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38650096
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Milton Keynes: The middle-aged new town - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Milton Keynes is perhaps the best known of the 20th Century's "new towns", but how has it changed over the past 50 years?
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Beds, Herts & Bucks
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The rhythm of the tree planting and its relationship to the columns of the buildings they stand near are "not accidental", says Mr Shostak
Most towns grow and evolve over hundreds if not thousands of years. Not so Milton Keynes, which is 50 years old. Perhaps the best known of the 20th Century "new towns", it has its detractors but is also much loved by its residents.
The town was born with an Act of Parliament in 1967 which approved the building of a new community of 250,000 people covering 8,850 hectares (21,869 acres) of Buckinghamshire farmland and villages.
Built to ease the housing shortages in overcrowded London, its founding principles were for an "attractive" town that enshrined "opportunity and freedom of choice".
App users should tap here to fully explore the interactive images, showing archive and current photographs
The media has not always been kind to Milton Keynes: it has mocked its concrete cows (now housed in a museum), accused it of blandness and told of the "new city blues" suffered by early residents.
Those who have grown up there tell of a very different Milton Keynes.
Simon Clawson arrived in MK aged four. He now lives there with his two children and wife Hannah.
"It was fantastic," he says of his childhood. "I remember summer days were always outside.
"Somebody once told me that with all the lakes we have here, we have more waterline than Brighton."
His youth in the town was marked by a series of exciting arrivals - the first cinema called The Point, the football stadium and the Snowdome building.
"We had to wait for a lot of things here but when they came they tend to be more modern and spectacular than anywhere else.
"We are adaptable here because everything is always changing."
Former Team GB Olympic badminton player Gail Emms has also made Milton Keynes her home, having first moved there to train.
"Milton Keynes is one of the best places for families - I am spoilt for choice here," she says.
"So many of my friends take the Mickey about where I live.
"But then I tell them we have a great school a short walk away and about the facilities we have.
"It is so family-centred now. My kids are going to grow up in Milton Keynes, so it is now about what they need and want."
Not everybody feels that way.
Theo Chalmers, of the campaign group Urban Eden, claims recent development in the town has "betrayed" its founding principles.
"The principles of the original master plan were brilliant," he says.
"But those who have been in charge have bit by bit, like a death by a thousand cuts, destroyed the very things that made Milton Keynes extremely special and a user-friendly community."
He cites the narrowing of boulevards around The Hub leisure quarter and the filling in of underpasses as examples.
The Snowdome building created a great deal of excitement in Milton Keynes when it was built
Some claim the closing of some of the town's network of underpasses goes against its founding principles
So how will Milton Keynes look in 100 years' time?
It will be bigger, with greater architectural diversity and more homes, says Lee Shostak, one of the town's early planners.
He arrived in 1971 as a PhD student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) intent on studying the new development.
"Very little had actually been built," he says, "and trying to understand what was going on from outside the (Milton Keynes) Development Corporation was going to be impossible."
So, in 1972, the American research student joined the development corporation as a planner.
"People came to Milton Keynes to be part of something new where everyone could shape their place called home," says the council leader Peter Marland
The colourful weather boarded homes of Far Holme in Milton Keynes Village are one of the town's newer developments
Mr Shostak, who made Milton Keynes his home from 1972 until 1995, said the town had been an "outstanding success".
As the years pass the "city's parks and trees will be even bigger and more luxurious".
"The achievements of making the landscape in Milton Keynes rivals that of Capability Brown," he added.
"In garden city terms Milton Keynes is a grown up. But by real city standards, Milton Keynes is at best an adolescent."
"By real city standards, it is at best an adolescent," says former planner Lee Shostak
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-38594140
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Brexit: Berlin business leaders unimpressed with UK's message - BBC News
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2017-01-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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An appeal over a post-Brexit trade deal was met with sniggers in Berlin, Damien McGuinness writes.
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Business
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Two British officials failed to win favour from German business leaders in Berlin
The distinguished audience members were too polite to heckle. But the eye rolling, frowns and audible tutting made it quite clear how the Brexiteers' message was going down with German business leaders.
Owen Paterson, a former minister and Conservative MP, and John Longworth, co-chair of Leave Means Leave, came to Berlin on Saturday with a clear mission - to persuade German business leaders to lobby Chancellor Angela Merkel to give Britain a good trade deal.
They should have been on safe territory.
The two men are confident, witty speakers with impressive business and free-trade credentials.
Mr Longworth is a former head of the British Chamber of Commerce. Mr Paterson's years spent trading in Germany meant he could open his address with a few remarks in German - which drew an appreciative round of applause - and a well-judged joke about multilingual trade.
But it turned out they had entered the lion's den.
The laughter from the audience quickly turned to sniggers as they heard the UK described as "a beacon of open, free trade around the world".
Westminster's decision to leave the world's largest free trade area does not look like that to Germany.
When Europe was blamed for spending cuts and a lack of British health care provision, there were audible mutters of irritation from the audience.
The occasional light-hearted attempts at EU-bashing - usually guaranteed to get a cheap laugh with some British audiences - was met with stony silence.
Brexiteers argue German manufacturers will want to still sell to UK customers
In another setting - at another time - this gathering of the elite of Germany's powerful business community would have lapped up the British wit.
Every ironic quip would ordinarily have had them rolling in the aisles. But British charm does not travel well these days.
Rattled by the economic havoc Brexit could unleash, Germans are not in the mood for gags.
Britain used to be seen by continentals as quirky and occasionally awkward - but reliably pragmatic on the economy.
However, since the Brexit vote, Europeans suspect endearing eccentricity has morphed into unpredictable irrationality. The UK has become the tipsy, tweedy uncle, who after too much Christmas sherry has tipped over into drunkenly abusive bore.
When the audience was asked how many of them welcomed Brexit, only one hand went up - and it turned out that belonged to a businessman who wanted more EU reform and was fed up with Britain slowing things down.
Brexiteer rhetoric over the past year has often focused on the size of Britain's market and how keen German manufacturers are to sell to British customers.
Many leave campaigners remain convinced that German business leaders will force Mrs Merkel to grant the UK a special free trade deal in order not to lose British trade.
But that's not what's happening.
Angela Merkel has said Britain will not be able to cherry-pick the best bits of the single market
Instead German firms are remarkably united in their support of the chancellor in her rejection of British "cherry-picking" - even if it means losing business in the short-term.
When you talk to German bosses they say their top priority is in fact the integrity of the single market, rather than hanging on to British customers.
That's because their supply chains span across the EU.
A German car might be designed in Germany, manufactured in Britain, with components made in various parts of eastern Europe, to be sold in France. This only works if there are no cross-border tariffs, paperwork or red tape.
German companies - more often family-owned and with deeper connections to their regional heartlands - tend to look at the wider picture, sometimes thinking more long-term.
They supported Mrs Merkel on sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, even though that meant a blow to trade. The financial hit was deemed less bad for business than worsening unrest in nearby Ukraine.
The same calculations are being made over Brexit.
Theresa May's speech on Brexit last week made front page news in Germany
This doesn't mean German business is thinking politically, and not economically. But rather, it indicates a wider attitude towards how business can thrive long-term.
German business leaders tell you that the British market may be important. But it is only one market, compared to 27 markets in the rest of the EU.
Leave campaigners also still underestimate the political and historical significance of the EU for Germany, where it is seen as the guarantor of peace after centuries of warfare.
It is tempting to see the clashes between Westminster and the EU27 as one big decades-long misunderstanding of what the EU is.
An idealistic peace-project versus a pragmatic free-trade zone. This makes it even more ironic that London may reject the free-trade area it spent so much time creating.
Germany was shocked and saddened by the UK's vote to leave the EU. But the decision was quickly accepted in Berlin.
"The Brits never really wanted to be members of the European Union anyway," is something you often hear these days.
Many Germans now want to just work out a solution that does the least amount of harm to the European economy. Hence the irritation in Germany when British politicians keep rehashing the pre-referendum debate.
"It was frustrating to hear the same old arguments from the referendum campaign," one business leader told me when I asked him what he had thought about Saturday's discussion.
Germany has moved on, he said. Maybe Britain should too.
The Brexiteers might not have persuaded their audience in Berlin. But if they return to London with a better idea of the mood in Germany's business community, then the trip may well have been worthwhile.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38707997
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