diff --git "a/eval/news_summarization/data/bbc2024_qwen_reference.json" "b/eval/news_summarization/data/bbc2024_qwen_reference.json" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/eval/news_summarization/data/bbc2024_qwen_reference.json" @@ -0,0 +1,2002 @@ +[ + { + "article": "The Duke of Sussex can go ahead with claims against Associated Newspapers of unlawfully obtaining information, as a court ruling opens the way for a trial. The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday publishers wanted to stop the case, arguing claims of getting \"information by deception\" were out of time. But a judge has decided the case, involving Prince Harry and six other high-profile claimants, can proceed. Associated Newspapers strongly denied the allegations as \"preposterous\". In a High Court ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Nicklin said Associated Newspapers had \"not been able to deliver a 'knockout blow' to the claims of any of these claimants\". As well as Prince Harry, the newspaper group faces multiple claims of \"gross breaches of privacy\" from Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, Sir Simon Hughes and Baroness Doreen Lawrence. Sir Elton John was among the claimants welcoming the judge's ruling This includes allegations of bugging devices in cars, listening into phone calls and dishonestly obtaining medical and financial information. \"We are delighted with today's decision which allows our claims over serious criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy by the Mail titles to proceed to trial,\" said a joint statement from the claimants. But a statement from Associated Newspapers said: \"As we have always made unequivocally clear, the lurid claims made by Prince Harry and others of phone-hacking, landline-tapping, burglary and sticky-window microphones are simply preposterous and we look forward to establishing this in court in due course.\" The newspaper group also welcomed as a \"significant victory\" the ruling that unpublished information given on \"strict grounds of confidentiality\" to the Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking could not be used as evidence in this case. Prince Harry had made a surprise court appearance when the case was initially heard in March Prince Harry, in this latest battle with the UK's tabloid press, made a surprise appearance at an earlier hearing of the the case against Associated Newspapers, at the High Court in London in March. The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday publishers had categorically denied the allegations and said the claims had \"no real prospects of succeeding\". But their lawyers had also argued that in any event the allegations were outside the requirement to bring claims within six years. Some of the allegations are from decades ago, but lawyers for Prince Harry and the claimants successfully argued that new evidence had come to light and they were unaware at the time of how information was being covertly acquired. Mr Justice Nicklin's ruling accepted that the claimants might not have known about such \"concealed\" gathering of information about them. \"In my judgment, the claimants have a real prospect of demonstrating not only that the unlawful acts themselves were concealed, but also, in many instances, further devices were employed in the published articles to throw the subject 'off the scent',\" said the judge's ruling. \"Several claimants complain that they believed that their confidences were being betrayed by people close to them.\" Baroness Doreen Lawrence also attended an earlier court hearing about her allegations The judge's decision was welcomed by actor Hugh Grant, the director of the Hacked Off group, which campaigns for press reforms. \"This ruling is a significant blow to the Daily Mail and great news for anyone who wants the truth about allegations of illegal press practices to come out,\" he said. Privacy lawyer Philippa Dempster, of the law firm Freeths, said the ruling that the claims can go ahead despite the passage of time would \"send a shockwave across the press industry\". The ruling could also mean another in-person court appearance from Prince Harry, who earlier this year stepped into the witness box to give evidence in a hacking claim against another newspaper publisher, Mirror Group Newspapers. He became the first senior royal in modern times to make such a court appearance, facing questions over two days, with the outcome of that case still to be decided. You can see more royal stories in the free BBC Royal Watch newsletter emailed each week - sign up here from within the UK. or here, from outside the UK.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A UK court has allowed Prince Harry's case against Associated Newspapers to proceed, alleging unlawful obtaining of information, with the judge stating the claims are not out of time. The newspaper group, which publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, denies the allegations and calls them \"preposterous.\" The case involves Harry and six other high-profile individuals who claim breaches of privacy through activities like phone tapping and bugging." + }, + { + "article": "Harry Styles surprised and delighted fans with his appearance at Kenilworth Road Pop star Harry Styles turned football fans' heads when he was spotted in the crowd for Luton Town's match against Manchester United. The former One Direction star - a United fan - also dropped in to the Sky Sports studio ahead of the match. \"We see your Taylor Swift at the Superbowl, American pop culture, and we raise you Harry Styles at Kenilworth Road for Luton vs Man Utd,\" posted one X user. Styles saw his team win the match 2-1. Manchester United fan Styles would have been happier with the result than Luton Town legend Mick Harford (right) Fans were amused to see him accepting a sweet from Luton Town legend Mick Harford, who he sat next to. \"Mick Harford giving Harry Styles a Trebor Extra Strong mint before kick off is the most Kenilworth Road thing I've ever seen,\" posted radio presenter Matt Dyson on X. \"Trebor sugar high could well be the next big hit song...\" replied another poster. This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Match of the Day This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter\u2019s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post by Match of the Day Fans seemed surprised to see the 30-year-old star at Kenilworth Road, which has achieved cult status among fans due to the its 11,500 capacity and the quirky entrance to its away end, sandwiched between a row of terraced houses. \"Never thought I'd see Harry Styles setting foot in Kenilworth but here we are,\" posted one fan. \"Harry Styles at Kenilworth Road was not on my Sunday bingo card,\" posted another. If Styles' visit to Luton has whetted his appetite, he may get the chance to return in May. That is when the town hosts Radio 1's Big Weekend - and the headline acts are yet to be announced. This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Luton Town FC This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter\u2019s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Harry Styles surprised fans by attending Luton Town's football match against Manchester United at Kenilworth Road, where he was seen in the crowd and even visited the Sky Sports studio. The pop star, a Manchester United fan, enjoyed a sweet moment with Luton Town legend Mick Harford, who gave him a mint, delighting fans and sparking social media reactions." + }, + { + "article": "The London event coincides with a 24-hour rally being held in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv Thousands have attended a pro-Israel rally in London to mark 100 days since the 7 October attacks and call for the release of all hostages from Gaza. People gathered in Trafalgar Square carrying Israeli flags and holding pictures of some of the 132 people still believed to be being held. Appearing remotely, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that \"this battle belongs to the whole free world\". It comes as Israel faces mounting pressure over civilian deaths in Gaza. The London event coincides with a 24-hour rally being held in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. President Herzog told the crowd: \"In the face of those who wish to scare us into silence, you've stood up and spoken out with clarity, pride, and passion.\" He also thanked the King, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for their expressions of support following the 7 October attacks. Other speakers included Israel's ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, and Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy. A minute's silence was also held. People in the crowd told the BBC they were worried the hostages were being forgotten and that they felt compelled to attend and show support for Israel. One organiser told the audience he had \"never been prouder to be Jewish\", prompting cheers. The event also heard from Conservative peer Lord Pickles, the UK's special envoy for post-Holocaust issues, and Labour MP Christian Wakeford, a supporter of Labour Friends of Israel. Lord Pickles said that Gaza could be rebuilt and peace brought to the Middle East, but that such a process could only begin if \"we bring the hostages home\". Former home secretary Suella Braverman was in the audience and said she was \"here to stand in solidarity with Israel\". \"It has been 100 days since innocent people have been taken hostage by the Hamas terrorists and we need to bring them home now,\" she told the PA news agency. Security for the event was tight, with attendees having to wait in long queues and undergo bag searches before being allowed to enter the square. The weeks following the 7 October attacks brought what the Metropolitan Police described as a \"massive increase\" in antisemitic incidents in London. They saw Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups cross into Israel and carry out attacks on civilian and military targets, killing around 1,200 people and taking an estimated 240 hostages. A six-day ceasefire at the end of November saw 105 hostages released - 132 hostages are still in Gaza. A further four hostages have been held captive by Hamas in Gaza since 2014. Following the attacks, Israel launched a ground invasion and bombing campaign in Gaza with the stated aim of destroying Hamas and removing the group from power in the territory. On Saturday, thousands attended a march on Westminster calling for an end to the operation and a ceasefire in Gaza. Israel is also facing a case at the International Court of Justice, brought by South Africa, which accuses it of committing genocide. The Hamas-run Health Ministry says that more than 23,000 people have so far been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its campaign.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Thousands attended a pro-Israel rally in London, marking 100 days since the 7 October attacks and calling for the release of hostages from Gaza. The event, which coincided with a 24-hour rally in Tel Aviv, featured speeches by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and other officials, with attendees expressing support amid concerns over civilian deaths in Gaza and the ongoing hostage situation." + }, + { + "article": "Facing little competition, former President Donald Trump won the Nevada Republican caucus by a large margin. He only faced an unknown candidate, as Nikki Haley skipped the contest over an electoral process dispute between the party and the state. With those favourable conditions, Mr Trump took over 99% of the vote. Now he will likely receive all of Nevada's 26 delegates, and takes a large lead acquiring the 1,215 needed to become the Republican nominee. Briefly addressing a victory party in Las Vegas on Thursday, Donald Trump said: \"If we win this state, we easily win the election in November.\" Two separate ballots were held in Nevada because of a dispute between the state Republican Party and the Democratic-controlled state legislature. Nevada lawmakers voted to change the state voting process from a caucus to a more traditional primary after there were some counting issues in 2020. Donald Trump's only serious challenger left in the race, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, had opted not to take part in the Nevada caucus and to appear in the state's primary vote instead. She skipped campaigning in the state because of the ongoing dispute. Ms Haley's team said they did not take part in the caucus, claiming it had been \"rigged for Trump\". She did appear on the state primary ballot, which did not include Mr Trump's name, but her campaign limited their efforts in Nevada. That, in part, contributed to Ms Haley's stinging loss to the \"none of these candidates\" in Tuesday's primary, which did not count towards picking a nominee but did buoy calls for her to drop out of the race. The situation in Nevada caused confusion and frustration among voters and contributed to diminished turnout in both of Nevada's races. It had been criticised by the state's Republican governor, who said there should have been a single ballot for voters. But it still helped Mr Trump in his effort to recapture the Republican nomination. He has now won contests in three states - Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire - making him the leading Republican candidate in November's general election. He also won a Republican caucus in the US Virgin Islands, an unincorporated territory. Although the result of the Nevada caucus was a foregone conclusion, the state will be hotly contested in the November presidential election. The vote is effectively guaranteed to be a rematch between 2020 candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Mr Trump's next stop will be South Carolina, where he will again go head to head against Nikki Haley. Despite three defeats, she has vowed to fight on, arguing that Republican supporters want to see an alternative to Donald Trump and that \"voters want an election, not a coronation\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Former President Donald Trump won the Nevada Republican caucus overwhelmingly, taking over 99% of the vote due to a lack of significant competition, with Nikki Haley abstaining from the contest. This victory will likely secure all of Nevada's 26 delegates, boosting Trump's path to becoming the Republican nominee. The confusing dual-ballot system in Nevada, resulting from a dispute between the state party and legislature, contributed to low turnout and frustration among voters. Despite this, Trump's wins in Nevada, Iowa, and New Hampshire solidify his position as the leading GOP candidate, setting the stage for a rematch with Joe Biden in the November election." + }, + { + "article": "PropertyPal is the largest property website in Northern Ireland for sales and rentals A group of estate agents have said they will stop posting listings on the website PropertyPal in a row over fees. It came after PropertyPal announced it had a new system for charging for listings. PropertyPal is the largest property website in Northern Ireland for sales and rentals. The company said the decision to increase fees was \"aimed at delivering enhanced value and services\". In a statement to BBC News NI, Errol Maxwell, chief executive officer at PropertyPal, said the company \"takes pride in offering the most competitive pricing of any property portal in the UK and Ireland\". The intention of some estate agents to stop listings on the site was communicated in a letter sent on behalf of a steering group representing agents from across Northern Ireland. Speaking on behalf of the group, Stephen McCarron, an estate agent based in Londonderry, said agents felt \"coerced and bullied\". He said that under the new system estate agents could expect to pay 25-45% more per listing on the PropertyPal website. The steering group is made up of several of the largest property retailers in Northern Ireland including CPS, Simon Brien, UPS, Reeds Rains, and Donnybrook. In the letter, seen by BBC News NI, the estate agents said they feel they \"have no alternative but to take drastic action\". \"As such we need to inform you of our collective intention to cease placing any new listings on the PropertyPal platform from midnight on Thursday 29th February, until further notice,\" the letter continued. Mr McCarron said that his group felt that PropertyPal were using their \"dominate market position\" to force estate agents into accepting their terms. Mr Maxwell said PropertyPal's \"new membership plan allows estate agents to advertise all their properties for an average of \u00a320 per listing and provides them with a powerful suite of new tools to support their business\". He added: \"We're delighted that the majority of estate agents have embraced the change and recognise the significant value it brings to their partnership with us.\" On its website, PropertyPal claims to host listings for more than 60,000 properties for sale and rent in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Estate Agent Stephen McCarron said any price increase from PropertyPal would be passed on to clients It is understood the proposed changes to the pricing structure would move from a set fee per listing to a membership-type scheme with different tiers. Mr McCarron said estate agents would have to pass on any costs to their clients, which he said was \"really unfair on the consumer\". He said the changes were made with \"zero consultation\" with estate agents and a \"refusal to meet with our steering group or acknowledge the very real concerns that we have\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A group of estate agents in Northern Ireland plan to stop posting listings on PropertyPal, the region's largest property website, due to a dispute over increased fees. The agents claim they could face a 25-45% hike under PropertyPal's new membership system, which they argue is coercive and would lead to higher costs for clients. PropertyPal says the changes provide enhanced value and services, with the majority of agents supporting the update." + }, + { + "article": "\"No basis\" for stopping pub selling alcohol, an expert tells the Covid inquiry There was \"no basis\" for stopping pubs selling alcohol during the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has been told. Ex-Public Health Wales communicable diseases director Dr Roland Salmon said it seemed to be \"an overly enduring legacy of the chapel heritage\". He also told the fourth day of the Covid inquiry in Wales that school closures would translate to a \"loss of life expectancy\" among children. Another expert said that masks should have been mandatory sooner. Dr Salmon criticised the Welsh government's decision to restrict access to certain supermarket aisles and prevent pubs from selling alcohol as part of its strategy to stop the spread of Covid. \"I can think of no basis on why you might think they would work, \"he said. \"Whether you leave the aisles open or you leave them shut really doesn't matter. Actually, if people are going into the supermarket, why do you want to shut one aisle and not the other one? \"Pubs and restaurants settings are an issue when people congregate in them. \"Those people who are vulnerable are best avoiding them and advised to do so. But opening up and not having a beer, that seems perhaps an overly enduring legacy of the chapel heritage, I don't know.\" This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dr Roland Salmon criticises the Welsh government's strategy for pubs and supermarkets Dr Salmon also felt the restrictions disproportionately affected children, students and young adults. Schools in Wales were shut for more than three months during the first lockdown in 2020 and later some classes were done online. \"Those losses of opportunities and that economic loss will translate into ill-health and loss of life expectancy,\" he told the inquiry. \"It may not be as immediate, but it will certainly be there.\" Good adherence to restrictions was needed to help reduce Covid's spread in Wales in October 2020, not a 17-day firebreak lockdown, according to Dr Salmon. He said because up to 30% of cases in young adults were asymptomatic, the spread of the virus would increase once any firebreak ended. The two-week firebreak lockdown introduced in Wales in late October 2020 should have been longer, according to Prof Michael Gravenor of Swansea University. Dr Chris Williams, epidemiologist for Public Health Wales, said he believed making wearing face masks mandatory sooner \"would have been a reasonable approach\". He recalled \"verbally arguing for face masks\" during the Wales Technical Advisory Group's meetings. \"I thought it might be worth a try of masks, even in the absence of evidence,\" he added. From late summer of 2020, the Welsh government used computer modelling by experts from Swansea University to try to predict the severity of future Covid waves and try to test the effects various counter-measures. So, for example, if ministers were thinking of changing rules about mixing or hospitality - this would be fed into a super computer which would try to plot what impact it would have on infection rates. Before introducing the autumn firebreak the modelling was used to see to what extent it would bring infection rates down. Prof Michael Gravenor, who led the modelling team, said ultimately the two-week firebreak worked and it took 39 days for infections to return to pre-firebreak levels. With hindsight, he said a longer firebreak would have been much more effective in suppressing the second wave further into winter. This contrasts the earlier evidence of Dr Salmon who said that firebreak was \"hard to justify\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An expert told the Covid inquiry in Wales that there was \"no basis\" for stopping pubs from selling alcohol during the pandemic, calling it an \"overly enduring legacy of the chapel heritage.\" Another expert suggested that masks should have been made mandatory earlier, while Dr. Roland Salmon criticized the Welsh government's decisions to restrict supermarket aisles and said school closures would lead to a \"loss of life expectancy\" for children." + }, + { + "article": "Paul Scully MP says he \"regrets\" using the \"no-go areas\" comment London Conservative MP and former minister Paul Scully has apologised for suggesting there are \"no-go\" areas in parts of Tower Hamlets. He made the comment in radio and TV interviews on Monday, prompting accusations of Islamophobia and a rebuke from the prime minister. Mr Scully had also said some people were \"fearful for going out\". In a BBC Radio London interview on Tuesday, he said he \"put his hands up\" for using language he \"regrets\". Mr Scully added he was \"frustrated in the language\" he used and lost \"nuance\" in the issues he wanted to get across. The former minister for London, who was also a former mayoral candidate, said: \"What I was trying to say, I thought I was being specific about but clearly not, is the fact that a lot of the conversation, and the vacuum that's allowed to then be filled by populists, is when prejudice builds up because of perception. \"There are areas of this country where there are tiny, tiny groups of people that cause people to feel uncomfortable in particular areas. \"That might be a white gang, that might be a black gang, a Muslim gang, whatever, and that then tends to write off whole communities for some people,\" he added. The Sutton and Cheam MP described this perception about some communities as \"totally inappropriate\". His original comments on Monday - made to BBC Radio London, and later BBC London TV - criticised fellow MP Lee Anderson's remarks that Islamists had \"got control\" of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. He began the radio interview by saying Mr Anderson's comments were \"wrongheaded\" and \"really inflammatory\" and that he needed to apologise, but he could see what he was \"trying to drive at\". One female resident told BBC London she found Mr Scully's comments about Tower Hamlets \"really offensive\" However, Mr Scully went on to say parts of Tower Hamlets as well as Sparkhill in Birmingham were \"no-go areas\". He then defended those comments in the later TV interview, saying people were concerned by \"neighbourhoods changing\". He added: \"There are areas where there are a tiny minority of people who make people uncomfortable about not being of their religion, of their culture, who are misinterpreting their own doctrine. That's not to say Tower Hamlets itself is a no-go area.\" Mr Scully's remarks have drawn criticism from Tower Hamlets Council, which said it was \"surprising and extremely disappointing\". A spokesperson for the borough said the area was actually an \"example of how people of all backgrounds get on together\". Tower Hamlets residents also spoke of their anger about what was said. During a visit to the borough, one woman told BBC London the MP's comments were \"completely inaccurate\" and \"really offensive\". \"I think he's just chatting a load of nonsense to be honest because Tower Hamlets is a very inclusive area,\" she said. One man questioned why non-Muslims should feel threatened in a Muslim majority area while he is comfortable in a \"Christian country\" One man told the BBC in Whitechapel: \"Of course, if you come here you'll recognise that most people are Muslim. But that shouldn't hold you back. Why does that have to hold you back?\" He added: \"I'm Muslim and I'm in a Christian country, so should I say, 'I'm scared to be here because it's a Christian country?'.\" One woman said Mr Scully's apology was \"worthless\" if it's not backed up by actions. Another woman commended the MP for apologising, but added: \"Once it's out there, it's out there. It's going to cause people to feel a certain kind of way.\" Covering an area of about eight sq miles (21 sq km) in London's East End and with a population of more than 310,000 people, Tower Hamlets is the most densely populated borough in England. It also has the fastest-growing number of residents, according to the 2021 census. Tower Hamlets has many residential areas as well as as the business centre Canary Wharf In the same census, just over 51% of the population said they were born in England, while Bangladesh was the country that was next most represented, with about 14% of people saying it was their place of birth. The borough also has extremes in terms of deprivation and wealth. Parts of borough have high levels of poverty, but the area also covers very wealthy places like Canary Wharf and the edges of the City. The council spokesperson added the area was \"one of the most popular places in the country to live, work and visit\". \"Tower Hamlets is a microcosm of an international city. We are an example of how people of all backgrounds get on together in one of the most diverse places in the country. \"In fact, 87% of people said they get on with each other in our recent survey of residents,\" they added. MP Lee Anderson has been criticised for his remarks that Islamists had \"got control\" of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan Meanwhile, a source close to London mayor Sadiq Khan accused Mr Scully's original comments of \"resorting to a notorious Islamophobic trope\", adding: \"As a former government minister, Mr Scully should be striving to unite our communities, not sending out deeply divisive messages about Muslims.\" Ali Milani, of the Labour Muslim Network, said comments like the ones made by Mr Scully had \"real world consequences\". \"I've had death threats through my door as a result of comments made in the House of Commons and by MPs, so Muslims become less safe as a result of the comments that are made.\" Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "London Conservative MP Paul Scully apologized for suggesting there are \"no-go\" areas in Tower Hamlets, a borough in London, after facing accusations of Islamophobia. He acknowledged that his language was inappropriate and lost nuance in the issues he wanted to address, emphasizing that his comment was not meant to generalize about the entire community." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A Los Angeles mansion belonging to British model and actress Cara Delevingne has been devastated by fire. The 31-year-old was not there at the time, as she is currently starring in a stage performance on London's West End. Pictures show huge flames coming from the roof of the luxury home, and later, the blackened, smouldering ruins. \"My heart is broken\", Delevigne wrote on Instagram when she thought her two pet cats had died in the blaze. \"Life can change in the blink of an eye. So cherish what you have,\" she said. However, she later updated her 42 million followers with the good news that the cats had survived the blaze: \"They are alive! Thank you to the firefighters,\" she wrote. Two people were injured in the fire, which engulfed the two-storey property in the hills of Studio City, north-west of Hollywood. A firefighter was taken to hospital in a stable condition, and a resident suffered minor smoke inhalation, the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) said. Firefighters were called to the scene after a 911 call was made at approximately 04:00 local time (11:00GMT) on Friday. According to an incident report, the blaze started at the back of the 1970s house and rapidly spread to the attic, causing the roof to collapse. It took 94 firefighters more than two hours to bring the flames under control. Residents in the area were evacuated as fire crews worked to contain the flames and stop the fire spreading to other homes, the BBC's US partner CBS News reported. Fire chiefs said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the blaze. Delevingne thanked \"from the bottom of my heart... all the firefighters and people that showed up to help\". The actress, who made her stage debut this week as Sally Bowles in Cabaret at London's Kit Kat Club, reportedly bought the house in 2019. In a home tour for Architectural Digest in 2021, she described it as \"one of my favourite places to be\", likening it to \"an adult playhouse\" and citing Hugh Hefner as an inspiration behind her choice of decoration. Inside, she had a \"David Bowie shrine\", a ball pit and a collection of Japanese puzzle boxes.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A Los Angeles mansion owned by British model Cara Delevingne has been severely damaged by a fire, with Delevingne expressing her heartbreak on Instagram, initially believing her two pet cats had perished. However, she later confirmed that the cats survived, thanking firefighters. Two people were injured in the blaze, and an investigation is ongoing to determine the cause." + }, + { + "article": "The Dad's Army actor Ian Lavender, who played Private Pike in the hit TV series, has died at the age of 77. Birmingham-born Lavender was just 22 when he was cast as the guileless platoon member, in what was then a new BBC sitcom. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Ian Lavender's sings ''Whistle while you work'' as Private Pike But it made him a household name, and he ended up spending 10 years as part of the comedy classic. Lavender, who died on Friday, was the last surviving main cast member of the series. Away from Dad's Army, he also acted in other TV comedies such as Yes Minister, and appeared on stage, including in The Merchant of Venice. He also had a stint on EastEnders as Derek Harkinson, a role he reprised in 2016 for a festive storyline. Lavender grew up in the Midlands but studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He was barely out of drama school before being cast in the role for which he was to become most known. Dad's Army, a much loved series about a Home Guard platoon during World War Two, ran on BBC One from 1968 to 1977. It also starred Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey and John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, among others. The hapless Pike was the youngest member of the troop and a bank clerk. He frequently had run-ins with Mainwaring, who would shout at him: \"You stupid boy!\" The series regularly attracted more than 18 million viewers in the 1970s, and has had a long-lasting impact on British popular culture. Some of its other catchphrases are also still used, such as \"don't panic!\", \"put that light out!\", and \"they don't like it up 'em!\" Lavender joined EastEnders in 2001 and remained on the BBC One soap for four years. He returned to Walford briefly, fifteen years after his first appearance, but he left in 2017 after becoming ill with sepsis. The following year marked the 50th anniversary of Dad's Army, which was commemorated by Royal Mail with a collection of stamps featuring the main characters.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ian Lavender, best known for his role as Private Pike in the classic TV sitcom Dad's Army, has passed away at the age of 77. He was the last surviving main cast member of the series and had a career spanning across other TV comedies and stage performances, including a role in EastEnders." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: The male orca (in the foreground) was captured on camera hunting a juvenile shark A solitary killer whale, or orca, has been filmed hunting and killing a great white shark in an \"astonishing\" attack. Scientists said it was \"unprecedented\" and showed the exceptional predatory skills of killer whales. Two orcas in particular off South Africa's coast have been observed before working together to hunt and kill sharks, including great whites. \"But this caught us off guard,\" said shark biologist Dr Alison Towner. Dr Towner, who is from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, has studied the animals for several years. She and her colleagues published a detailed and grisly account of their new observations in the African Journal of Marine Science. The attack - filmed in 2023, which you can watch here - was, scientists, said \"solo and swift\". The male killer whale killed the shark and consumed its liver - all in under two minutes. In 2022, scientists captured aerial footage of orcas working together to hunt great whites Scientists first captured drone footage of two male orcas working together to hunt great white sharks in 2022. The scientists then reported that the animals, nicknamed Port and Starboard because their dorsal fins are bent in opposite directions, \"exhibited a predilection for extracting and consuming the sharks' livers\". During the attacks, the sharks would tightly circle the killer whales, in a desperate attempt to avoid predation,\" recalled Dr Towner. In this newly reported attack, Starboard hunted on his own. Scientists described how the orca gripped the left pectoral fin of a 2.5m long juvenile shark and \"thrust forward several times before eventually eviscerating it\". Marine mammal scientist Dr Luke Rendell from the University of St Andrews said it was \"a really beautiful observation\" of the behaviour. \"It's interesting that it's just one animal,\" he told BBC News, and how much skill it demonstrates in tackling the shark - ramming it in the side and grabbing the pectoral fin to keep away from those big, nasty jaws. \"A great white shark is a nice, big concentration of food, so it's perhaps unsurprising that some populations [of orcas], where these sharks occur in sufficient numbers, have learned to exploit that.\" The solitary orca (seen on the right of the image) 'eviscerated' the shark in under two minutes It raises questions about how killer whale behaviour might be affecting the shark populations in the areas. The scientists do not know what is driving the behaviour, but Dr Towner told BBC News that it was becoming evident that \"human activities, like climate change and industrial fishing, are exerting significant pressures on our oceans\". And there could be health repercussions for killer whales hunting sharks, including ingesting toxins and metals from shark flesh. \"Disruptions in the balance of apex predators can affect other species too,\" explained Dr Towner. \"Endangered African penguins could face increased predation by cape fur seals [if the fur seals are not being eaten by] white sharks.\" Dr Rendell pointed out that there was no way of knowing if the behaviour was new or simply observed for the first time. \"But what really stands out is how skilful these animals are as hunters.\" Dr Towner added that every discovery in these interactions [between orcas and sharks] was \"fascinating\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A solitary male orca has been filmed swiftly hunting and killing a great white shark off South Africa's coast, consuming the shark's liver in under two minutes, an unprecedented and astonishing display of the orca's predatory skills. This solo attack by the orca, named Starboard, adds to previous observations of orcas working in pairs to hunt great whites, raising questions about the impact of such behavior on shark populations and the marine ecosystem." + }, + { + "article": "The Financial Times said Sarah Snook gives a \"virtuoso performance\" in The Picture of Dorian Gray Actress Sarah Snook has been warmly praised by critics for her performance in a one-woman stage adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Succession star plays 26 characters in the show, which is based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel and will run in London's West End until May. In a five-star review, the Guardian said it was \"beautiful, brilliant and maniacally unmissable\". But the Times said that while \"Sarah Snook impresses, the script doesn't\". The adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel is an unusual proposition, even in a West End that has seen a string of one-person shows in the last two years. Technology plays a central role, with Snook surrounded by a camera crew so her performance can be beamed on to overhead screens. Often, these screens display pre-recorded performances of Snook portraying other roles, so that characters are able to interact with one another. The result, according to the Evening Standard's Nick Curtis, is a \"technically adroit and complex production in which a team of stage managers play almost as important a part as Snook\". Snook is surrounded by cameras that beam her performance onto overhead screens \"Often it's hard to see where the live footage ends and the pre-recorded imagery begins, or quite who is filming her at any given time,\" he wrote in a four-star review. \"Whether you enjoy this show as a star vehicle, a Wildean debate on morality versus self-expression, or a cutting-edge piece of mixed-media art, it's an extraordinary event.\" The use of cameras, screens and selfie filters feeds into the play's themes of vanity. In one scene, Snook is seen playing around with her character's digital appearance until the doctored image looks grotesque. In his five-star review, the Telegraph Dominic Cavendish said the adaptation combined \"Victorian melodrama with modern technological nightmare\". \"You're not only in the grip of a dazzling conceit (image-consciousness lying at the heart of the tale) but in the hands of an actress of exceptional pluck and mercurial power,\" he continued. Snook plays 26 characters in the play, including the titular Dorian Gray First published in 1890, Wilde's novel centres on Gray, a young man who makes a deal to retain his youth and beauty, while a painted portrait of him begins to age instead. Gray's actions in real life begin to have an impact on the portrait, and as the character feels increasingly empty and soulless, he begins to grapple with what he has given up. Sarah Hemming of the Financial Times awarded the show five stars, saying it was \"a virtuoso performance in an astonishing piece of theatre\". Director Kip Williams \"has the super-smart idea of packaging Wilde's Gothic classic for our own age - a world obsessed with image where you can curate your life, your likes and your looks on the smartphone in your hand\", she wrote. \"The third-person narration and melodramatic twists do begin to grate\", she added, \"and you miss the society of other actors - which is maybe part of the point.\" There was also some scepticism from the Times' Clive Davis, who praised Snook's \"energy and concentration\" but awarded the show three stars overall. Sarah Snook stars in Succession alongside (left to right) Alan Ruck, Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin \"The tale unfolds with next to no variation in tone,\" he suggested. \"For all the bravura camerawork, we might as well be watching the Victorian equivalent of Acorn Antiques. \"Like a modern-day Instagrammer, Dorian has fun toying with selfie filters as a way of masking the corruption of his soul. The self-referential jokiness wears thin after 30 minutes or so, let alone two hours.\" Davis also took issue with ticket prices of up to \u00a3250, saying the West End risks becoming \"just another upmarket boutique\". But most critics were agreed on Snook's performance, which WhatsOnStage writer Sarah Crompton said was \"utterly superb\". \"Her confidence on stage is breathtaking; she owns the space, elegantly playing with all the technology, never being drowned by it,\" she continued. Snook is best known for her role in Succession as Shiv Roy, one of four children battling for control of their bad-tempered father Logan Roy's media empire. The final series of the show won a string of Emmy Awards last month, including best drama actress for Snook. Time Out said Snook was \"lavishly costumed\" in an \"incredibly camp\" production \"Even the implacable Logan Roy would smile in delighted amazement if he could see this,\" Fiona Mountford of iNews wrote of Snook's stage performance. She described The Picture of Dorian Gray as \"a show that is dazzling on every possible level\", adding: \"I struggle to recall ever seeing a more bravura performance in the West End.\" Writing about the tone of the adaptation, Time Out's Andrzej Lukowski said it was \"literally one of the campest things I've ever seen, a show that makes Mamma Mia! look like a monster truck rally\". \"Wilde was of course, famously both gay and a waspish wit,\" he said in his four-star review, \"and Dorian Gray contains some of his most famous aphorisms. \"But there is something particularly revelatory about adaptor-director Kip Williams staging it as pretty close to a celebrity drag king show.\" Snook won an Emmy Award for best drama actress last month for her performance in Succession's final season The Guardian's Arifa Akbar awarded the show five stars, describing it as \"a juggling act of high order for Snook\". \"She must perform in real time, react to the recorded footage and manipulate the technology herself in some scenes. She speaks in dialogue but also narrates omnisciently. \"Some scenes require athleticism, others sudden stillness. It demands an exacting synchronicity and she gets it pitch perfect, powering through 26 characters.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Actress Sarah Snook receives critical acclaim for her one-woman stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's \"The Picture of Dorian Gray\" in London's West End, playing 26 characters and utilizing technology to interact with pre-recorded performances. While some reviews praise the production as \"astonishing\" and Snook's performance as \"virtuoso,\" others criticize the script and the show's tone, with ticket prices also drawing scrutiny." + }, + { + "article": "Ukraine insists there were no military at the hotel hit by Russian missiles Two Russian missiles have struck a hotel in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, injuring 11 people, the Kharkiv governor says. Photos from Ukraine's State Emergency Service showed the hotel heavily damaged and firefighters at the scene. Governor Oleh Synehubov said the injured included Turkish journalists. Two S-300 missiles struck at about 22:30 (20:30 GMT), he said. Russia has stepped up air strikes on Ukrainian cities in the past two weeks. Ukrainian officials say dozens of civilians have died in those attacks from drones and missiles. Kharkiv, just 30km (19 miles) from the Russian border, has suffered extensive damage from Russian air strikes since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the latest strike, nine injured were taken to hospital, including a 35-year-old man in a serious condition, the governor said on the Telegram messaging service. The city's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, quoted by Ukraine's Unian news agency, said \"there were no military at all\" in the hotel at the time, but 30 civilians were there. It is in the city's central Kyiv district. He said several homes and cars nearby were also damaged. The Russian city of Belgorod, 74km north of Kharkiv, was hit by Ukrainian missiles and drones on 30 December which Russian officials say killed 25 civilians. Russia has started moving hundreds of Belgorod children to holiday camps further away from Ukraine for three-week stays. A camp in Voronezh region received 93 on Wednesday and later 280 arrived in Kaluga region, state TV reported, adding that teachers would join them there. President Volodymyr Zelensky, on a visit to Lithuania on Wednesday, urged Western allies to provide more air defence weapons. The Baltic nation is among the staunchest allies of Ukraine in bolstering Kyiv's resistance to the Russian forces. \"Air defence systems are what we lack the most. The fight against drones. I am happy that we have agreements with Lithuania and many other partners,\" he said in Vilnius. Lithuania and its two Baltic neighbours, Latvia and Estonia, are ex-Soviet states now in the Nato alliance. In terms of GDP, Lithuania is the biggest donor of military aid to Ukraine, Germany's Kiel Institute for the World Economy reports. The US contribution to Ukraine's defence is, however, by far the largest. Mr Zelensky, quoted by Interfax-Ukraine, said Vladimir Putin \"will not calm down until he destroys Ukraine\". \"He wants to fully occupy us. And sometimes our partners' doubts over financial and military assistance to Ukraine, quick reaction, gives courage and strength to the Russian Federation.\" He said the Russian leader \"won't finish this [war], until we all finish him together\" and warned that the Baltic states and Moldova \"may be next\". In recent days, the Ukrainian leader has held intensive talks with Western allies aimed at maintaining vital arms deliveries. Kyiv's counter-offensive late last year made little progress, and some in the West have questioned Kyiv's strategy, fuelling concern about the cost of the war. With Russia now committed to much higher military expenditure, Nato countries are struggling to boost production of artillery shells and other heavy weapons. An EU aid package worth \u20ac50bn (\u00a343bn; $55bn) for Ukraine is stuck because of a Hungarian veto, while the divided US Congress has stalled over a new tranche of military aid. After a video conference with the Ukrainian government on Wednesday, Nato said it had plans to provide \"billions of euros of further capabilities\" to Ukraine this year. \"Nato strongly condemns Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians, including with weapons from North Korea and Iran,\" Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Two Russian missiles struck a hotel in Kharkiv, Ukraine, injuring 11 people, including Turkish journalists, amidst an escalation of Russian air strikes on Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian officials report that there were no military personnel at the hotel, and Mayor Ihor Terekhov confirmed that 30 civilians were present during the attack." + }, + { + "article": "Stephen Baxter and Carol Baxter were discovered unresponsive at their seaside home in April A man used an app on his phone to watch a married couple dying, having allegedly poisoned them with the opioid painkiller fentanyl, a court heard. Stephen Baxter, 61, and Carol Baxter, 64, were discovered unresponsive at their seaside home in Essex on 9 April. Luke D'Wit, their employee and friend, had photos on his phone of the couple in their armchairs, where they were found dead by their daughter. A jury heard Mr D'Wit, of Churchfields, West Mersea, claimed to be like an \"adopted son\" to the Baxters. Their daughter Ellie Baxter arrived at the couple's home in Victory Road, West Mersea, on Mersea Island, on Easter Sunday and saw her parents dead inside the conservatory, the court heard. Toxicology reports later showed fentanyl had been a factor in both deaths. The couple were found dead in their conservatory by their daughter Tracy Ayling KC, prosecuting, said Mr D'Wit had installed a \"mobile security surveillance application\" on his phone. She said this allowed him to monitor a camera from another device. Ms Ayling said that police who analysed the defendant's phone found images of Mr and Mrs Baxter \"in their armchairs\" on the afternoon of 7 April, with one timed at 17:14 BST. She told the court doorbell camera footage captured Mr D'Wit walking towards the Baxters' home \"looking at a phone\" that day. \"The prosecution case is that he was looking at these images of the Baxters in their conservatory sitting in their armchairs,\" the prosecutor said. \"The same chairs they were discovered in by [their daughter] Ellie [Baxter] two days later.\" This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Man accused of murder calls 999 after bodies of a married couple found in Essex home She said the couple \"did not move at all\" after the images were taken, as if they had done so, a pacemaker fitted to Mrs Baxter \"would have recorded it\". Addressing the jury, Ms Ayling asked: \"Why was Mr D'Wit watching Mr and Mrs Baxter in the conservatory? \"Was he watching them die? Both were already incapacitated. \"Was this when Mr D'Wit made everything pristine, cleaning up the cups and not leaving any trace?\" Tests showed Stephen and Carol Baxter died after ingesting the synthetic opioid drug, fentanyl She said Mr D'Wit did not leave the couple's home until 19:55 on 7 April, when he was captured by a doorbell camera. Mr D'Wit told police he left the Baxters' address at 19:55 that day, and that Mrs Baxter was asleep and Mr Baxter was in the kitchen, saying he would make some dinner. Ms Ayling added: \"He was the last person to see them alive. \"He watched them dying on his phone.\" Mr and Mrs Baxter were found dead at their seaside home The jury earlier heard the defendant had \"rewritten their will and stolen Carol's jewellery, among many other things, to benefit from their deaths\". The trial, expected to last six weeks, continues. Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A man is on trial for allegedly using a surveillance app to watch a married couple die after poisoning them with fentanyl. Stephen and Carol Baxter were found dead in their Essex home, and their employee, Luke D'Wit, is accused of monitoring them through a camera on his phone and being the last person to see them alive." + }, + { + "article": "The Nova festival was one of the sites of alleged sexual violence on 7 October A UN team says there is \"convincing information\" that hostages held in Gaza have been subjected to sexual violence including rape and sexualised torture. There were grounds to suspect the abuse was still ongoing, the UN said. The UN team also found \"reasonable grounds to believe\" sexual violence, including gang rape, took place when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October. Israel's foreign ministry said it welcomed the \"definitive recognition that Hamas committed sexual crimes\". The UN Security Council should now designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation and impose international sanctions on it, spokesman Lior Haiat said. Hamas rejected the UN report as \"baseless and only aimed at demonising the Palestinian resistance\". The group denies its gunmen sexually assaulted women during the attacks or mistreated female hostages they took to Gaza. Warning: Contains graphic descriptions of rape and sexual violence Pramila Patten, the UN's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said her team had \"found clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualised torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment\" had been committed against hostages. There were \"reasonable grounds\" to believe such violence could be \"ongoing against those still held in captivity\", she told reporters. Hamas gunmen infiltrated southern Israel on 7 October - killing about 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage. The UN report said \"the mission team found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred in multiple locations during the 7 October attacks\". These happened in at least three locations - the Nova music festival site and its surroundings, Road 232, and Kibbutz Re'im, it added. Reports of sexual violence carried out by Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and others - began to emerge soon after 7 October and have accumulated steadily ever since. The BBC has also seen and heard evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women. Israel responded to the 7 October attack by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which 30,500 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The UN team visited Israel between 29 January and 14 February. The mission, led by Ms Patten along with nine experts, was not investigative in nature, but designed to gather and verify allegations, the UN said. It added that 33 meetings were held with Israeli representatives, and more than 5,000 photographic images were examined as well as 50 hours of video footage. The report said that \"despite concerted efforts to encourage\" victims to come forward, the team was unable to interview any of them. Some allegations of rape and sexual violence were \"unfounded\", the report explained, including the graphically publicised case of a pregnant woman whose womb was reportedly torn open and her foetus stabbed. Other reports could not be verified due to limited imagery, the UN said. It also said it had not been able to establish a discernible pattern of genital mutilation. The UN report also said there had been allegations of sexual violence against Palestinians in Israeli custody, including \"unwanted touching of intimate areas\" and \"prolonged forced nudity\" in detention settings, during house raids and at checkpoints after 7 October. The report said that while no instances of rape against Palestinians were reported, conservative cultural norms could have impeded reporting of sexual assault. Israel's foreign ministry rejected this part of the report. \"That is a derisive and deliberate Palestinian manoeuvre aimed at creating an intolerable equivalence between the horrific crimes that were committed, and continue to be committed, by Hamas and malicious and baseless claims made against Israel and Israelis,\" Mr Haiat said. Israel has rejected similar allegations made previously by a panel of independent UN experts as \"despicable and unfounded\". Mr Haiat also said Israel opposed a recommendation made in the report that the country co-operate with the UN's international Commission of Inquiry, which is trying to conduct an investigation into potential war crimes on all sides. He accused the inquiry of being hostile to Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Monday recalled the country's ambassador to the UN for \"consultations\", accusing the UN of an \"attempt to silence the grave UN report on the mass rapes\". He criticised UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres for not convening the Security Council to discuss the findings and in order to declare Hamas a terrorist organisation. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that Mr Guterres \"has fully supported\" Ms Patten's work in her visit to Israel. \"In no way, shape or form did the secretary-general do anything to keep the report 'quiet'. In fact, the report is being presented publicly today,\" Mr Dujarric said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A United Nations team has reported that there is convincing evidence of sexual violence, including rape and torture, being committed against hostages held in Gaza by Hamas during the conflict in October. The team also found indications that such abuse might still be ongoing. Hamas has rejected the report, calling it baseless and a means to defame the Palestinian resistance. The UN's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, shared the findings, which also mention allegations of sexual violence by Hamas during their attacks on Israel. Israel's foreign ministry welcomed the report and called for Hamas to be designated a terrorist organization, while rejecting parts of the report that implicated Israeli forces in sexual violence against Palestinians." + }, + { + "article": "The conflict in the Middle East has had a profound effect on UK politics. Earlier this week, Rishi Sunak warned of \"polarisation\" in the debate. That was personified on the one hand by the former Conservative deputy chairman, Lee Anderson, who was accused of making Islamophobic comments about London mayor Sadiq Khan. And on the other by the disowned Labour candidate at the Rochdale by-election, Azhar Ali. He made remarks widely alleged to be antisemitic. But does the drama of George Galloway's victory in Rochdale really represent a crisis for mainstream parties? The winner claimed he'd given them a spanking. Sure, the Conservative vote plummeted in Rochdale by 19 points. But in campaigns where the Middle East conflict was less of a prominent issue, it also fell substantially - by 21 points in the recent Kingswood by-election and by 37 points in Wellingborough. What, then, does the Rochdale result tell us about Labour? I would be hesitant about reaching sweeping conclusions. The party clearly messed up in the selection of its candidate and in initially hesitating to disown him. Sir Keir Starmer apologised to the town's voters earlier on Friday. Nonetheless, disown Mr Ali they did. The party closed down its campaign headquarters and ordered members not to knock on doors for him. Therefore, it is impossible to know if Mr Galloway would have had a sweeping victory - or any victory at all - if Labour had actually campaigned there. To avoid potentially damaging divisions, the Labour leadership's position on Gaza has recently \"evolved\", with calls for a \"humanitarian pause\" scaled up to a demand for an \"immediate humanitarian ceasefire\". So what remains untested is whether pro-Palestinian voters would have welcomed this shift, or punished the party for the time it took to get there. The Rochdale result is certainly more than a little local difficulty for Labour. Some of the party's MPs shared privately their thoughts on the Galloway victory. Overall, the feeling was one of depression. And in some cases, apprehension. There was a fear that more division within and between communities could be fostered. They felt Mr Galloway's victory - and imminent return to Parliament - had granted him a platform and that his contribution to politics would be toxic. And it was not just the view of left-wing Labour MPs that a perceived slowness by the leadership to shift position on Gaza had helped create a space in which Mr Galloway could thrive. However, they all felt the party's policy was now in the right place. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. It seems unlikely that Rochdale is a harbinger of wider electoral doom. Labour easily won the by-elections in Kingswood and Wellingborough, which took place after the Rochdale candidate row blew up and before Labour called for a \"humanitarian ceasefire\". These two areas do not have large Muslim populations, unlike Rochdale, where about 30% of the electorate are Muslim. But party insiders say in their focus groups, the phrase they hear most often is \"time for a change\". So Mr Galloway - and whatever else he is, he is a talented campaigner - was the change in Rochdale. He dedicated his victory to Gaza, but he also campaigned on local as well as global issues in Rochdale - such as the declining state of the town centre and its lack of a maternity ward. So he perhaps articulated concerns which some voters felt had previously gone unheeded. But in most parts of the country the change is still Labour, currently well ahead in the polls. And there was some optimism amongst Labour MPs that the party could win Rochdale back at the general election. It did so in Bradford in 2015 - having lost a by-election to Mr Galloway in 2012. In his victory speech, Mr Galloway did mention some other Labour seats which could be vulnerable. Privately, while some Labour MPs felt the Galloway victory was unique, others felt Labour's hold on a small handful of constituencies might be shaky. In Tower Hamlets, east London, left-wing candidate Lutfur Rahman, beat the Labour candidate to be the mayor of the borough in 2022, even before the Middle East conflict erupted. The Parliamentary constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, which Mr Galloway himself held between 2005 and 2010, is in the borough. The newly-elected Rochdale MP has raised the prospect of his Workers Party of Britain standing in 60 seats at the general election. Some Labour MPs are more worried about the Green candidates eating in to potential majorities. And some ceasefire-supporting supporters of Jeremy Corbyn have also been discussing whether to contest a number of Labour-held seats. Ilford North - held by shadow health secretary Wes Streeting - would be seen as a particularly coveted prize. While few in Labour circles think that opposition from the Left will have any serious impact on the general election result, the nervousness of some the party's MPs is likely to persist for as long as the conflict in Gaza continues.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The conflict in the Middle East has influenced UK politics, with recent by-elections highlighting divisions within parties. The Labour Party's stance on Gaza may have contributed to a loss in Rochdale, but broader electoral impact is uncertain, and the party remains ahead in national polls. The victory of George Galloway, a pro-Palestinian campaigner, has caused concern within Labour about potential divisions and the influence of his Workers Party of Britain. However, it is not seen as a sign of widespread electoral doom for the party." + }, + { + "article": "Ofcom is to gain more powers over BBC online services, including the BBC News website, as part of a series of changes unveiled by the government. Under the plans, the media regulator will be able to take enforcement action if articles don't meet relevant broadcast standards. The move is intended to give audiences greater confidence that the BBC is being held to account, ministers said. The BBC said it remained \"the number one source for trusted news\". Ofcom said it welcomed the government's recommendations, \"which will support us as we continue to hold the BBC to account on behalf of audiences\". The BBC is investing more money into digital journalism, as audiences increasingly switch from television to online news. Currently, Ofcom oversees the BBC's TV, radio and on-demand output, but it has no formal enforcement powers for BBC online material. It can only issue an opinion on whether the BBC has observed editorial guidelines in its online content. But the government is now extending Ofcom's regulation to parts of the BBC's digital services. This includes to areas over which the broadcaster has editorial control, including the BBC News website and the BBC's YouTube channel. The move is part of a package of changes which are being recommended by ministers following a review of the BBC, at the halfway point of its current charter. The review looked at areas such as editorial standards and impartiality, the way the BBC handles complaints about coverage, and the effectiveness of its governance arrangements. The government consulted with the BBC and Ofcom in developing the recommendations. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said impartiality remains \"an ongoing issue for audiences\" and cited \"a lack of public confidence\" in the way the BBC currently handles complaints. It said it would review the effectiveness of the BBC's new social media guidelines, which were brought in following a row over Gary Lineker's social media posts. Other recommendations include greater independent scrutiny of complaints handling, and improving transparency for commercial media organisations. And Ofcom will be given a new legally binding responsibility to review more of the BBC's complaints decisions. The BBC is also being urged to better reflect diverse views in decision-making and improve engagement with underserved audience groups. Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said the government wanted to see \"a strong, independent BBC\" that would thrive in years to come. But she warned that in a rapidly changing media landscape, the BBC needed to adapt or risk losing the trust of audiences. \"We have recommended reforms that I believe will improve accountability while boosting public confidence in the BBC's ability to be impartial and respond to concerns raised by licence fee payers,\" she said. \"These changes will better set up the BBC to ask difficult questions of itself, and make sure Ofcom can continue to hold the broadcaster to account.\" A BBC spokesperson said the review was designed to look at the corporation's governance and regulation, adding: \"We're pleased the government's findings reflect that overall these are working well.\" On the topic of impartiality, the spokesperson said \"no other organisation takes its commitment to impartiality more seriously\", and that the corporation has well-established plans to continue to improve standards. \"We know this matters to audiences and the BBC continues to be the number one source for trusted news, with the highest scores for impartiality and accuracy,\" they said. The spokesperson said the BBC was \"operationally and editorially independent\", adding: \"We remain committed to continuous improvement to ensure we deliver for all licence fee payers.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government is giving media regulator Ofcom more powers to oversee the BBC's online services, including the BBC News website, allowing enforcement action if content doesn't meet broadcast standards, aiming to increase public confidence in the broadcaster's accountability. The move is part of a review of the BBC's governance, with other recommendations including greater independent scrutiny of complaints handling and improved transparency for commercial media organizations." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Police ask Constance Marten and Mark Gordon: ''Where's your child?'' Jurors have seen dramatic video of the moment Constance Marten was arrested in the street and asked repeatedly: \"Where is your child?\" Ms Marten and her partner Mark Gordon did not tell police officers where their newborn baby was during their arrest in Brighton last year, the trial heard. The couple are accused of the manslaughter by gross negligence of their newborn baby girl, Victoria. They both deny the charges. Ms Marten, 36, and Mr Gordon, 49, had allegedly been living with their baby off grid in a tent on the South Downs while on the run from police. Last February 27, police finally tracked them down to the Hollingbury area of Brighton after they were spotted by a member of the public. In footage played at the Old Bailey, police officers could be heard asking \"where's your child?\", but the couple do not reply. As the officers attempted to restrain Mr Gordon on Golf Drive, he started trying to eat some food he had just bought. \"You can eat in a minute once I have found out who you are,\" Police Sergeant Robert Button told him. Ms Marten can be heard telling officers to leave Mr Gordon alone as officers tried to handcuff him. \"I can't watch... leave him alone. Let him eat his food... he's starving,\" she said. \"Please stop, he's not well.\" Responding to her pleas, Sgt Button told her: \"If he's not well, he needs to comply, doesn't he?\" At the time of her arrest, Ms Marten told officers her name was Arabella. \"Constance, Arabella, whoever you are,\" Sgt Button said while looking at a photograph of Ms Marten on his phone. \"Where's your child?\" he asked, but the couple did not reply. At one point in the footage, Ms Marten seemed to refer to Mr Gordon as \"Daddy Bear\" when asked once again about the child's location. \"Daddy Bear, are you alright?,\" she later asked Mr Gordon. \"I love you,\" she added. When told she was under arrest, she replied: \"You can't arrest me for hiding a pregnancy.\" A court sketch of Mark Gordon (left) and Constance Marten (right) at the Old Bailey The court was also shown footage from the camera of PC Matthew Colburn. In the footage, Mr Gordon refused to answer questions about where his baby was and kept asking for food instead. PC Colburn offered ginger beer, chicken and crisps from Mr Gordon's shopping bag. When Mr Gordon then asked for mayonnaise to go with his chicken, PC Colburn replied: \"I'm not going to make you a sandwich. We need to work out where your child is.\" Mr Gordon then asked the officer: \"What's the big deal?\" \"What's the big deal? We need to find your child,\" he replied. \"That's the bigger deal than getting you your food.\" He added: \"The number one priority is your child. It might not be your priority but it is everyone else's priority.\" Mr Gordon is later asked by PC Colburn if the baby is dead, to which he replied: \"The crisps are really good.\" PC Colburn told the court that he had never given food to a suspect after arresting them before, but offered it to Mr Gordon as he \"had potentially not eaten for days, weeks or even months.\" At another point in the footage, the couple told each other \"I love you\" while being asked for their child's whereabouts. \"Be good. I love you forever,\" Mr Gordon said. \"Forever and ever more,\" he added. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jurors saw Constance Marten's baby for first time in a court video A few minutes before their arrest on 27 February, a CCTV camera had filmed Ms Marten in the Post Office on Hollingbury Place in Brighton. She was seen putting a tin of food in her pocket which then fell through onto the floor, after which she picked it up and returned it to the shelf. Then two other cameras recorded Ms Marten outside the nearby Mulberry's convenience store making three cash withdrawals, and Mr Gordon paying cash for some shopping. They had been spotted by Dale Cooley who recognised them as the couple from the news who were missing with a newborn baby. In a statement read to the jury, Mr Cooley recalled how he had followed the couple in his car. Ms Marten seemed to be in a rush and Mr Gordon was following behind with a \"massive stick\". \"Their behaviour seemed strange as though they were trying to stay hidden,\" he said. \"The female was ahead of the male and looked to be in a hurry.\" He said at one point he tried to engage the couple in conversation, asking about the road they were on, but Mr Gordon just replied: \"We do not know.\" Eventually, Mr Cooley dialled 999 and told the police what he had seen and Mr Gordon and Ms Marten were arrested on Golf Drive. It was seven weeks and a day since they had first walked onto the South Downs with their newborn baby. Earlier, the jury watched footage recorded on CCTV cameras at Hollingbury Golf Club in the early hours of 20 February 2023. It showed Mr Gordon going up a fire escape and then apparently trying to force a door of the building. The footage also showed Mr Gordon and Ms Marten rummaging through a large wheelie bin, taking things out of it and putting them in a \"bag for life.\" The jury has heard that two days after their arrest, on 1 March, the body of Mr Gordon and Ms Marten's newborn baby Victoria was found under some rubbish in a Lidl \"bag for life\" inside a shed on some nearby allotments. As well as manslaughter, the couple are also accused of four other offences: cruelty to their baby; concealment of the baby's birth; causing or allowing her death; and perverting the course of justice by concealing the body.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A video shown at the Old Bailey trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon shows police asking Marten repeatedly about her missing newborn child during their arrest in Brighton last year. The couple, who deny the charge of manslaughter by gross negligence of their baby girl Victoria, had been living in a tent with the infant while evading police. The baby's body was later found in a Lidl bag on allotments, and the pair also face additional charges related to the child's welfare and concealing her death." + }, + { + "article": "Democrats who have spent time with Mr Biden have defended him as sharp and focused Democrats are defending President Joe Biden after a report on his handling of classified documents raised concerns about his age and mental fitness. Mr Biden will not be charged for keeping classified documents, but the report cast him as a \"well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory\". Vice-President Kamala Harris slammed the description as \"gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate\". She also alleged the prosecutor was \"clearly politically motivated\". Robert Hur, a Donald Trump appointee who has previously clerked for two well-known conservative judges, was appointed to lead the Biden classified document probe last year. His selection by US Attorney General Merrick Garland that January came as the justice department faced criticism from Republicans over a separate special counsel appointment to investigate Donald Trump's alleged mishandling of top secret files. But Mr Hur's publicly-released report included a letter from the White House asking that the comments about the president's memory be revised \"in a manner that is within the bounds of your expertise and remit\". Ms Harris, who has previously served as a prosecutor, echoed that criticism at a news conference on Friday. \"The way that the president's demeanour in that report was characterised could not be more wrong on the facts, and clearly politically motivated,\" she said. \"When it comes to the role and responsibility of a prosecutor in a situation like that, we should expect there would be a higher level of integrity.\" Democratic allies on Capitol Hill also told the BBC they believed Mr Hur's remarks went beyond the scope of the investigation. \"I think it was an entirely inappropriate way to approach the remit of the special counsel and the role of the special counsel,\" Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said. \"It's unfortunate it wandered into territory that was so inappropriate.\" Minnesota's Tina Smith called Mr Hur's comments \"outrageous\" and \"despicable\", accusing him of \"blatantly politicising\" his role as special counsel. Since launching his re-election campaign, Mr Biden has been plagued by concerns about his age and mental capacities. He is 81, just a few years older than the front-runner Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, 77. This report has done little to assuage voters' concerns. It alleged that Mr Biden could not remember when his son Beau died of cancer or when he served as vice-president during interviews with investigators. But Democrats who spoke to the BBC on Friday said they remain unconcerned about the president's mental faculties. Summing up his takeaways from the report, Senator Jon Ossoff from Georgia said: \"No charges recommended. Unusual commentary straying from what one would typically expect in a focused and substantive report. Ultimately just noise.\" The youngest member of the Senate, Mr Ossoff emphasised that he had spent a \"substantial amount of time\" with the president in recent months. \"I've found him to be sharp, focused, impressive, formidable and effective,\" he said. Mr Ossoff's colleagues agreed, including Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who called the president \"thoughtful and experienced\" at a Friday news conference. Democrats remain \"absolutely confident\" in the president, he said. \"We want to stick with somebody who understands what this country needs.\" This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Biden responds to special counsel - \"I'm elderly and know what the hell I'm doing\" But some of his counterparts across the aisle said Mr Hur's observations had added fuel to the growing perception that Mr Biden is not up to the job of president. \"He's trying to do his best, and his best is beginning to concern me,\" North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis told the BBC. \"I don't care if you're 78 or 178, if you're going to be the leader of the free world, you've got to be on your game 100%,\" the moderate Republican said. Concerns about Mr Biden's age are \"an enduring problem\" for his re-election campaign, Larry Sabato, the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, told the BBC. Experts have noted that polling suggests Mr Trump does not face as much criticism from voters about his age, despite having similar gaffes as Mr Biden on the campaign trail. In recent months, both Mr Biden and Mr Trump have made a series of public errors while publicly speaking, confusing names of world leaders and US politicians on several occasions. But Mr Trump's bombastic style and \"constant offensive posture\" may fuel perceptions of him as a more energetic candidate, said Chris Borick, the director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. Worries about Mr Trump's age \"don't seem to stick in the same way\", he said. But for Mr Biden, his campaign will have to be focused on addressing the perception that he is not mentally fit for office. \"The report adds to the steepness of [Biden's] efforts to overcome what is undoubtedly a significant hindrance to his campaign,\" Mr Borick said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Democrats are defending President Joe Biden's mental fitness after a report on his handling of classified documents described him as a \"well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory\". Vice-President Kamala Harris criticized the description as politically motivated and inaccurate, while some Democratic allies expressed concern about the special counsel's remarks straying from the investigation's scope. Despite this, Democrats remain supportive of Biden's capabilities, with Senator Jon Ossoff highlighting his sharpness and effectiveness. The issue of Biden's age continues to be a concern for some, particularly in light of the recent report." + }, + { + "article": "The UK's medical regulator says it is \"truly sorry\" for its past homophobia and taking disciplinary action that ended some gay doctors' careers. The General Medical Council admits it added to the harm some male medics faced when convicted of having sex with men. Records show eight were struck off the register, so they could no longer work. The last erasure was in 1966 - a year before the decriminalisation of sex between men in England and Wales. The archives reveal the GMC considered cases against at least 40 practitioners, for engaging, or attempting to engage, in consensual sexual activity and intimacy with other men. Prof Dame Carrie MacEwen, who chairs the regulator, said homophobic laws and attitudes, which remained into the 1980s and beyond, had caused personal and professional harm. \"We compounded that harm when we also took additional regulatory action against those who were on the medical register,\" she said. \"In some cases, that meant the end of a practitioner's career. \"For this, we are truly sorry. \"We cannot be sure of the true number of doctors we took historic action against based on convictions that would now be considered unjust. \"But the impact on every one of them, and on those close to them, will have been considerable. \"Laws and attitudes have changed in the years since, as has the GMC. \"These are historic cases but it is right that we apologise for them.\" In the 1960s, homosexuality was partially decriminalised, but related criminal offences were still illegal, including gross indecency. These offences targeted gay and bisexual men and meant men were still being charged with related offences up until the 1990s. The GMC says that at the time, by law, it had to investigate these offences, but now recognises that doing so was wrong. Dr Duncan McGregor, from Gladd, The Association of LGBTQ+ Doctors and Dentists, said: \"The profound impact of these actions on their lives cannot be overstated. \"This apology is an important step in righting the wrongs of the past and, while the hurt and damage that has been caused to those doctors cannot be undone, it is important to acknowledge past injustices.\" But while doctors were no longer struck off for their sexuality, prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender healthcare staff persisted. \"We hope this gesture brings some measure of solace to those affected doctors and their loved ones,\" Dr McGregor said. \"It is particularly important to recognise that this initiative came from within the GMC. \"And we extend our gratitude to members of the GMC's LGBTQ+ staff network for their work and dedication in helping to bring about this apology.\" Ms Ginny Bowbrick, who chairs the Pride in Surgery Forum (Prism) at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: \"We strongly welcome the GMC's apology today. \"It recognises the considerable impact unjust decisions have had on so many doctors. \"This apology is progress for LGBTQ+ doctors - but we are mindful that much work remains to be undertaken by us all to achieve true equity.\" \u2022 None LGBT veteran in 'last battle' for navy ban compensation The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK's General Medical Council has apologized for its past homophobia, acknowledging that it contributed to the harm suffered by gay doctors whose careers were ended due to disciplinary actions resulting from convictions for consensual same-sex relationships, which were then illegal. The regulator admits that at least eight doctors were struck off the register between the 1940s and 1966, with the last erasure occurring a year before the decriminalization of homosexuality in England and Wales." + }, + { + "article": "Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells was shortlisted to be Bishop of London in 2017, sources have told the BBC. The Rev Paula Vennells is an ordained Anglican priest but does not hold a senior position in the Church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury pushed her application and was seen as a supporter of her, two of the sources added. It comes as Ms Vennells said she would return her CBE amid the fallout of the Horizon scandal. She ran the Post Office when it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system. More than 700 Post Office branch managers were prosecuted based on information from the faulty software, which made it look like there was money missing from their sites. Some went to prison following convictions for false accounting and theft, while many were financially ruined. Ms Vennells has long faced questions over her role in the scandal, which has been described as one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice the UK has ever seen. But the issue is back in the spotlight following an ITV drama, which was broadcast last week. Ms Vennells was interviewed for the role of Bishop of London - the third most senior in the Church of England - but not appointed from a final shortlist of three. She was still chief executive of the Post Office at the time, eventually standing down in 2019 - the same year she was awarded a CBE for services to the Post Office and to charity. There had been growing calls for her to be stripped of her honour, with a petition passing more than one million signatures this week. On Tuesday Ms Vennells said in a statement she was returning her CBE with \"immediate effect\". \"I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system,\" she said. She added that she would continue to focus on cooperating with an ongoing public inquiry into the issue. Ms Vennells was ordained in the Church of England in 2005. She stepped back from her role as an associate minister in the St Albans diocese in 2021 amid intensifying controversy about her Post Office career. Sarah Mullally, who was formerly England's chief nursing officer before she became a priest, was announced as the first female Bishop of London in December 2017 instead. A spokesperson for the Church of England said: \"We never make any comment on who is a candidate, or not, in what is a confidential discernment process.\" Before joining the Post Office in 2007, Ms Vennells worked for beauty brand L'Or\u00e9al and hospitality business Whitbread. Ms Vennells started as a group network director, then became managing director in 2010 before being promoted to the position of chief executive in 2012. She held the top job until February 2019, when she stepped down amid anger over the Horizon scandal. Ms Vennells took over as chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in April of the same year, but later stepped down, around the same time as a group of former sub-postmasters won a court case to have their convictions quashed.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells, who has faced criticism over the Horizon scandal, was shortlisted to become the Bishop of London in 2017, with the Archbishop of Canterbury supporting her application; she has now returned her CBE amid the controversy, acknowledging the devastation caused to sub-postmasters wrongfully prosecuted due to the faulty IT system." + }, + { + "article": "Rebecca and Angharad had heart attacks three days apart Two sisters who had heart attacks just days apart have said more should be done to raise awareness of a condition that can be fatal. Rebecca Lewis, 48, had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), when a tear appears in the wall of a coronary artery. Although not conclusive, it is likely that her sister Angharad experienced the same thing three days later. SCAD is a rare condition that cannot currently be predicted or prevented. The majority of cases affect women in their 40s or 50s or those who have recently had a baby. Rebecca, a teacher from Cardiff, was marking work in her classroom last November when she felt huge pressure on her chest. The school's quick-thinking head teacher took Rebecca to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, where she was told she had had a heart attack. An angiogram a few days later showed that it had been caused by a SCAD. A SCAD happens when the inner layers of a coronary artery tear away from the outer layer, restricting blood flow. In some cases this can lead to a heart attack or cardiac arrest. Symptoms can include chest pain, tightness or pain in the arms, neck, jaw, back or stomach; feeling dizzy or lightheaded; feeling tired or out of breath; nausea, and feeling sweaty or clammy. Rebecca Lewis, 48, said she felt huge pressure on her chest while at work one day Rebecca said she was lucky that the consultant who treated her had previously worked at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, which is a leading centre for research into SCAD. \"The consultant that actually did my angiogram... had been trained to know what SCAD looked like on an angiogram and was able to pick it out with me,\" she said. The morning after visiting her in hospital, Rebecca's sister Angharad also had a heart attack. An angiogram suggested she too had suffered a SCAD. Angharad was treated at a different hospital, but Rebecca said she was adamant that Angharad should be checked for a SCAD. Angharad had a heart attack three days after her sister \"They were happy to discharge me,\" Angharad recalled. \"So I was very fortunate that I had a big sister looking after me saying 'you need to get this test, you need to mention what has happened to me and what they found'. \"So, eventually, the consultants spoke to each other and I was sent down to Cardiff. If it wasn't for Becky, I would've been sent home not knowing why I'd had my heart attack.\" There are currently 2,000 patients helping the research at Glenfield Hospital. Prof David Adlam, who leads the research, said many cases go undiagnosed. \"We try to encourage our colleagues across the health services, who will be potentially seeing patients who might have SCAD, to think of it. Because if you're not thinking of it, then you may miss it,\" he said. \"When you have a conventional heart attack... generally it's caused by a fixed narrowing in the coronary artery, and we often treat that by stretching open that narrowing and inserting a stent. \"In SCAD patients we do the opposite,\" he added. \"We're trying to manage the artery to let it heal by itself. And the reason for that is that it's a different disease. It has a different underlying cause.\" Rebecca and Angharad are still coming to terms with what happened to them. \"It's affected the whole family,\" said Angharad. Angharad says the experience has affected the whole family \"I've been very fortunate to have support from friends. They've been coming here just because they are aware that I'm a bit nervous about doing things and being out and about.\" Rebecca said the experience had knocked her confidence. \"It caused a lot of distress when it happened,\" she said. \"It was the last thing I was thinking at 48 years of age that I'd be having a heart attack.\" Research into SCAD is currently funded by the Beat SCAD charity, although the Scottish government is also running a pilot project. Prof Adlam hopes the Welsh government will do the same. \"We would very much like to work with our friends and colleagues in Wales to ensure that these patients are properly cared for,\" he said. \"It's really important to raise awareness,\" Angharad added. \"At the moment we are saying it's very rare, but if we're looking at my experience, maybe it's going undiagnosed. Becky came home with a diagnosis, with a label. Fortunately, I've ended up with the same, but it could have been very different.\" The Welsh government said: \"We expect NHS Wales to deliver care for acute coronary syndrome in line with professional guidelines from organisations such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). \"For more rare cardiac conditions, NHS Wales is prepared to work with counterparts across the UK on research.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Two sisters from Cardiff, Rebecca and Angharad Lewis, had heart attacks caused by spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) just three days apart, highlighting the need for increased awareness of the rare condition that mostly affects women in their 40s or 50s. SCAD occurs when a tear forms in a coronary artery, restricting blood flow and can lead to heart attacks, with symptoms including chest pain and dizziness. The sisters advocate for more recognition and research into SCAD to ensure proper diagnosis and treatment." + }, + { + "article": "Much of northern Gaza has been reduced to rubble The Israeli army says it has \"completed the dismantling\" of Hamas's command structure in the northern Gaza Strip. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters that Palestinian militants are now operating in the area only sporadically and \"without commanders\". He said Israel had killed around 8,000 militants in north Gaza. The BBC cannot independently verify this number. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are now focused on dismantling Hamas in south and central Gaza, he said. Israel has killed more than 22,000 people since the war began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. On Sunday, the territory's health ministry said it had recorded more than 113 deaths over the past 24 hours. Gaza has been devastated during Israel's war with Hamas, and most of the territory's population of 2.3 million has been displaced. Israel's offensive started after Hamas gunmen launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking about 240 people hostage. More than 100 remain following some releases in a six-day pause in fighting in November. On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was focused on ensuring the Gaza conflict does not spread and turn into \"an endless cycle of violence\" after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israeli territory on Saturday, in what it called a preliminary response to the killing of a top Hamas official in Beirut earlier this week. Mr Blinken was speaking in Greece at the start of a week-long trip to the region. He has since flown to Jordan, meeting King Abdullah on Sunday before heading to Qatar. \"Washington should put pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,\" King Abdullah told Mr Blinken, warning him of the \"catastrophic repercussions\" of the continuation of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, a palace statement said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Saturday that Israel would continue its campaign to \"eliminate Hamas, return our hostages and ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel\". \"We have to put everything aside... until the complete victory is achieved,\" Mr Netanyahu said in a statement. In other developments, on Sunday the eldest son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh, Hamza al-Dahdouh, was killed along with another journalist, Mustafa Thuraya, in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza. Six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid in the city of Jenin in the occupied-West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday. Palestinian media said the raid involved a large deployment of Israeli forces. In addition to the raid, an Israeli air strike reportedly targeted a gathering in the West Bank, after an Israeli military vehicle struck an explosive device, killing one officer. Jenin has been a scene of repeated Israeli operations over the past 18 months and they have intensified since the war in Gaza started on 7 October. On the northern border of Israel, Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israeli territory on Saturday following the killing of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in a suspected Israeli attack in the Lebanese capital. A statement by the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement says it hit an air traffic control base in Meron with 62 rockets. The Israeli military said it had identified about 40 launches from Lebanon, and that it had responded.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Israeli army claims to have dismantled Hamas's command structure in northern Gaza, resulting in the deaths of around 8,000 militants, although this number cannot be independently verified. The conflict has left over 22,000 people dead, with Gaza severely devastated, and efforts are now focused on dismantling Hamas in the south and central regions. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is working to prevent the conflict from escalating further after Hezbollah's rocket attack on Israel." + }, + { + "article": "A journalist said there was a \"state of panic\" among people at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, seen here from nearby Rafah Residents of Khan Younis in southern Gaza say they have faced one of the most intense nights of air strikes since the start of Israel's offensive. Videos showed flames light up the sky as the sounds of Israeli bombings and gunfire reverberated across the city. Displaced families have been fleeing a local hospital as fighting closes in. Meanwhile, medicines are being sent for Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for more aid for Palestinian civilians under a Qatar-mediated deal. The White House says Qatar has also been overseeing \"very serious, extensive discussions\" about a possible new hostage release deal, which were joined by a US envoy. \"This is the loudest sound of armed clashes [between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters] that I've ever heard,\" Yasser Zaqzouq, who has been sheltering at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis with his family, told the BBC. \"This is the first time we saw such scenes [of air strikes]. We were in terror. All the kids were screaming and crying.\" The UN says Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis is at risk of closure due to hostilities in the surrounding area A local journalist, Tariq Dahlan, said: \"There is a state of panic among the displaced people in the hospital.\" \"People are running away from this area towards the West, but nobody knows where they're going and what his fate will be.\" Israeli tanks were said to be just metres from the hospital. A woman in southern Gaza, who did not wish to be named, said children could not sleep \"because of the sounds of missiles\". \"We are living in fear and terror,\" she told the BBC, adding that many of the children had begun to wet themselves out of fear. \"The air strikes were very intense and very close around my house,\" another resident who lives opposite Nasser hospital, Abu Omar Al-Husseini, told the BBC. \"We fled under fire at dawn today. We carried a few blankets and walked for 5km (3.1 miles) to reach the entrance to the city of Rafah, and now we are in the street, not knowing where to go.\" On Wednesday the Jordanian army said its military field hospital in Khan Younis had been badly damaged as a result of Israeli shelling in the area. The Jordanian army said it held Israel responsible for a \"flagrant breach of international law\". The UN says that the war has displaced around 85% of Gaza's 2.3 million people, many of whom have been forced to cram into shelters and are struggling to get basic supplies. In a joint statement, a number of UN special rapporteurs said: \"Currently every single person in Gaza is hungry, a quarter of the population are starving and struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent.\" Israel's Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, has said that the intense stage of Israel's military operations against Hamas would \"soon\" wind down in the south of Gaza, including Khan Younis, where it is thought local leaders of the armed group may be hiding. He said that the military had already switched to more targeted action in the north, where it began its ground offensive. However, in recent days, the return of Israeli tanks to parts of the north which ground forces had previously left has led some Gazans - who had been planning to return home - to think again. Israeli military officials have repeatedly warned that the fighting will continue for months. Qatar now says that medicines are being flown from Doha to El-Arish in northern Egypt to be transported to Gaza, as part of a deal it brokered between Israel and Hamas. The plan had previously been announced but was apparently held up by logistical problems. It is not clear how exactly the medicines will be delivered to some 45 of the remaining more than 100 Israeli hostages, who are reported to be suffering from chronic diseases or in need of other life-saving drugs. The Israeli prime minister's office said \"Qatari representatives in the Gaza Strip\" would be involved and it is thought that the International Committee of the Red Cross may have a role. The agreement is also said to involve a significant increase in medicines for Palestinians. On Tuesday, the White House spokesman, John Kirby said Washington was \"hopeful\" that a new deal could soon be reached to free the hostages. Both Qatar and Egypt, who are key mediators, have recently laid out plans that would see them released in exchange for a halt in fighting.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Intense air strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, have caused panic and displacement, with families fleeing a local hospital as fighting intensifies. Qatar is mediating a deal to send medicines to Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for aid for Palestinian civilians, while the UN reports that 85% of Gaza's population has been displaced." + }, + { + "article": "Their families described David and Margaret Edwards as well known and respected members of the community A married couple died in a house fire, the cause of which remains a mystery, an inquest has heard. David Bowen Edwards, 60, was the main carer for his wife Margaret Eleanor Edwards, 55, who had mobility issues and slept downstairs in a medical bed. The couple - described as being devoted to each other - were found dead at home in St Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire, in the early hours of 11 December 2022. The inquest heard an investigator could not be certain what started the fire. A hearing in Haverfordwest was told the couple met 35 years ago and had been married for 18 years. Police were called to their small terraced house on a narrow street in St Dogmaels which was said to be \"well alight\". Coroner's officer, PC James Lang-Ford said flames were coming through the roof and police had to force the front door open. Mrs Edwards was found in an armchair and was pronounced dead just after 02:30 after unsuccessful attempts at CPR. Her husband's body was recovered a few hours later from a downstairs room - it is believed the bed containing Mr Edwards fell from the first floor as it collapsed. A post-mortem examination found Mr Edwards died as the result of burns while his wife died as the result of carbon monoxide poisoning. Floral tributes were left at the scene following the fire at St Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire A fire investigation report, read by fire scene investigator Stephen Christopher Rowlands, said it was a \"very, very cold evening\" and the retained crew responded \"slower than normal\" because of the conditions. Crews managed to make it to the first floor, but had to withdraw because of the ferocity of the fire shortly before the floor collapsed. Mr Rowlands explained that a finger tip search was carried out and a number of items were examined, including cable reels, hair straighteners, and the gas supply. There was no evidence of smoking as a cause and Mr Rowlands concluded that it was likely that the fire started in the downstairs bedroom but \"couldn't say with 100% certainty what started the fire\". Assistant coroner Gareth Lewis told the inquest that the carbon monoxide levels in Mrs Edwards' blood were 90.1 - anything over 50 is normally fatal. He concluded that both Mr and Mrs Edwards died as the result of an accident in their home. Mr Lewis added that there was some evidence of a \"lack of servicing and maintenance\" of the mechanical bed and mattress provided to Mrs Edwards by Pembrokeshire Community Equipment Service, and that there would be improved monitoring of the equipment in future.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A married couple, David and Margaret Edwards, died in a house fire in St Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire, with the cause remaining uncertain; an inquest heard that David was the main carer for his wife, who had mobility issues, and both died due to the fire, David from burns and Margaret from carbon monoxide poisoning. The fire investigation could not definitively determine the origin of the fire, but the coroner noted potential issues with the maintenance of the medical equipment provided to Margaret." + }, + { + "article": "Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has repeatedly criticised Israel over its campaign in Gaza Israel has condemned Brazil's president after he accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, comparing its actions to the Holocaust. Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva said Israel's military campaign was between a \"highly prepared army and women and children\". Israel's foreign minister described Lula's comments as antisemitic and said he was \"persona non grata\" in the country until he retracted them. The main Jewish organisation in Brazil has also criticised Lula's comments. Speaking from an African Union summit in Ethiopia, Lula said: \"What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews. \"It's not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It's a war between a highly prepared army and women and children.\" The veteran left-wing politician condemned Hamas after its gunmen killed at least 1,200 people and seized 253 hostages in a surprise attack on Israel on 7 October. But he has since been vocally critical of Israel's retaliatory military campaign, which the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says has killed more than 28,800 people, mainly women and children. His latest comments come after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with an offensive in Rafah - the southernmost Gazan city, where some 1.5 million people have fled - in the face of increasing international pressure. \"We will not forget nor forgive,\" Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in response. \"It is a serious antisemitic attack. In my name and the name of the citizens of Israel - tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he takes it back.\" Mr Netanyahu earlier said Lula's remarks amounted to \"Holocaust trivialisation and an attempt to harm the Jewish people and the right of Israel to defend itself\". \"The comparison between Israel and the Holocaust of the Nazis and Hitler is crossing a red line,\" he said in a statement. Six million Jewish people were systematically murdered by Hitler's Nazi regime during the 1930s and 1940s. Israel summoned the Brazilian ambassador for a meeting on Monday. The Brazilian Israelite Confederation - the country's main Jewish organisation - said Lula's remarks were a \"perverse distortion of reality\" which \"offend the memory of Holocaust victims and their descendants\". Lula endorsed South Africa's case of genocide brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year. Judges at the ICJ ruled in January that South Africa's case against Israel could proceed. The court instructed Israel to prevent its military from committing acts which might be considered genocidal, to prevent and punish incitement to genocide, and to enable humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza. But the court stopped short of calling on Israel to immediately halt its military operations in Gaza. Brazil and South Africa are members of the Brics group of countries - an alliance of some of the world's most important developing economies brought together to challenge wealthier Western nations. On the ground in Gaza, the World Health Organization has said the territory's Nasser hospital has ceased to function following an Israeli raid. The IDF said its operation was \"precise and limited\" and accused Hamas of \"cynically using hospitals for terror\". Meanwhile, efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been taking place in Cairo, though Qatar mediators said recent progress was \"not very promising\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has criticized Israel's actions in Gaza, accusing it of committing genocide and comparing the campaign to the Holocaust, prompting Israel's foreign minister to declare him \"persona non grata.\" Lula's comments were condemned as antisemitic, with the Brazilian Jewish community also expressing offense." + }, + { + "article": "Donald Trump testified on Thursday in the defamation trial brought by writer E Jean Carroll, but his much-anticipated time on the stand was kept brief. The former president - who has already been found to have defamed Ms Carroll for comments he made about her in 2019 - was under strict rules on what he could say. But he told the jury that he stood \"100%\" by a deposition given in 2022 in which he strongly denied her sexual assault allegations and called her a \"whack job\". Other comments he made were struck from the record by the judge for breaching the restrictions, which took significant time to agree before he took the stand. Mr Trump has been testing the limits of the courts in his various legal cases that have become intertwined with his re-election campaign. It's a strategy which keeps his political base invested and tuned in, and gives him considerable press coverage as he looks set to become the Republican presidential nominee. A related civil trial last year found that he had sexually assaulted Ms Carroll, a magazine columnist, in a New York department store in the 1990s and pay her about $5m in damages. The jury also found him liable for defamation for calling her accusations a lie. Despite that ruling, he continues to regularly deny the attack in public comments. This civil trial focuses on separate defamatory comments Mr Trump made about Ms Carroll in 2019 while in the White House, with the jury considering how much Trump must pay in damages. Closing arguments will take place on Friday and a ruling could swiftly follow. Mr Trump's continuing denials of Ms Carroll's sexual assault allegations - despite what a court already found - are the reason why he was under severe limits on what he could say in his testimony in the New York court on Thursday. The legal complications meant the judge and lawyers spent much more time arguing about what Mr Trump would be allowed to talk about compared to his four minutes of testimony. Judge Kaplan said the first trial established the facts and the only issue remaining was how much Mr Trump must pay Ms Carroll, if anything. The Republican frontrunner was told he would not be allowed to deny that he sexually assaulted Ms Carroll. The strict terms made it impossible for Mr Trump to launch into a monologue or to campaign from the witness stand. It's perhaps a lesson learned from one of Mr Trump's other legal battles. In a New York civil fraud trial earlier this month, Mr Trump was initially told he could not give his closing argument. The judge in that case asked whether Mr Trump would keep it short and stick to the matters of the case. Mr Trump responded with a six-minute monologue in which he argued he was a victim of political persecution. The defamation trial on Thursday gave the 77-year-old much less leeway. Asked if he stood by his deposition, Mr Trump said: \"100% yes.\" His lawyer Alina Habba then asked if he denied Ms Carroll's accusation. \"That's exactly right, yes I did,\" he responded. He went on to say \"she said something that I considered a false accusation - totally false\". But Judge Kaplan quickly cut Mr Trump off and told the jury to ignore that last statement. Finally, Ms Habba asked if her client had ever instructed anyone to hurt Ms Carroll, to which Mr Trump said: \"No, I just wanted to defend myself, my family and frankly, the presidency.\" The judge again ordered the latter part stricken from the record. And with that, the testimony was over. As he left the courtroom Mr Trump was heard saying: \"It's not America. This is not America.\" Earlier in the day, Judge Kaplan warned him to stop interrupting proceedings by \"talking loudly\". That included a moment when he was heard muttering under his breath that he had \"never met this woman [Ms Carroll]\". Trump looks on as his lawyer Alina Habba questions former New York TV news anchor Carol Martin Testifying outside of the limitations outlined by the judge on Thursday could have theoretically caused Mr Trump to face hefty fines or even five years in prison for perjury. Ronnell Andersen Jones, a professor of law at the University of Utah, told BBC News the case showed the \"wide gap\" between Mr Trump's strategies in court and on the campaign trail. While the former president and his lawyers may want to convince the jury that his comments in the White House did not show \"ill will that warrants punitive damages\", that is easier said than done considering his actions. \"This will be a hard row to hoe, given that this same jury is daily receiving new evidence that the defendant, outside the courtroom, continues to spread the lie undeterred,\" Ms Jones said. The defamation trial will resume on Friday at 09:30 ET (14:30 GMT) with closing arguments. It is not yet known if Mr Trump will attend.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Donald Trump testified in the defamation trial brought by E Jean Carroll, where he stood by his previous denial of her sexual assault allegations and called her a \"whack job.\" The former president faced strict limitations on his testimony, with some comments struck from the record by the judge, as the jury considers the damages he must pay for defamatory comments made in 2019. Closing arguments are set for Friday, and Trump's continued denial of the assault, despite a previous civil trial ruling against him, has led to tight restrictions on his testimony to avoid perjury risks." + }, + { + "article": "The Abu Dhabi-backed bidder for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph has said journalists will be given total editorial freedom. The ownership of the papers was due to be transferred to the Gulf-backed RedBird IMI consortium. But the government intervened over fears the papers might come under the control of an autocratic foreign state. Jeff Zucker, who is leading the bid, told the BBC commitments were backed by legally binding agreements. An independent editorial trust board will further protect the Telegraph's editorial independence, the former CNN executive added. The bid is largely funded by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan - owner of Manchester City Football Club and vice-president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Despite providing 75% of the money, Mr Zucker insists the UAE will remain a \"passive investor\", with no influence over editorial decisions. There have been grave concerns from MPs, many of the Telegraph's current and former journalists, and its readership that the newspaper might fall under the control of an authoritarian foreign state. But Mr Zucker, who will take over as chief executive of the Telegraph and Spectator if the deal gets the go-ahead, insisted his investment firm would be a responsible owner of the titles. The Telegraph and the Spectator magazine were put up for sale last year when they were seized by Lloyds Banking Group from long-time owners the Barclay family, which had failed to pay back a loan of more than \u00a31bn. Lloyds commenced an auction process, but at the last minute, the Barclay family paid off their debt with money lent by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan. In return, the Barclay family agreed to transfer its ownership of the Telegraph and Spectator to RedBird IMI, a joint venture between US firm RedBird Capital and International Media Investments (IMI) of Abu Dhabi, managed by Mr Zucker. That was the point at which the UK government intervened by issuing a Public Interest Intervention Notice. Addressing why RedBird IMI had not entered the auction process for the publications like the other bidders, Mr Zucker said he had wanted certainty that his group's bid would clinch the deal. \"We were a little smarter than some of our competitors and our ability to do that doesn't mean that there was anything nefarious about it. It just means we were a little bit smarter,\" he added. The Daily and Sunday Telegraph wield significant influence in Britain - particularly among conservative voters and politicians. Boris Johnson, when Prime Minister, once famously quipped that The Daily Telegraph \"is my real boss\". Senior figures in the Conservative party have expressed deep misgivings at the proposed takeover, including veteran Tory MP David Davis who said: \"The UAE is an authoritarian regime with a pretty dismal human-rights record. Its leaders are not fit to preside over our media.\" One solution, floated by people close to the deal, was a plan to dilute the Abu Dhabi shareholding by finding additional investors for the bid, reducing its stake to a level below controlling interest. However, this was rejected by the potential buyers. Mr Zucker insisted his bid was \"American led\" and said the proposed structure would preserve the papers' independence. \"We are confident that our commitments and the incredibly robust legally underpinned editorial protections that we have submitted will be sufficient to address any concerns,\" he asserted. The establishment of an editorial trust board is key to RedBird IMI's editorial protection assurances. Mr Zucker said the board would serve three functions: to ensure the editorial independence of the titles, to handle all disputes that arise, and to approve the appointment of an editor. \"I think that taken collectively, there's no UK newspaper that has stronger protections of editorial independence,\" he added. The Telegraph's current editor, Chris Evans, would stay in place, according to Mr Zucker, though he admitted he had not yet had that conversation with Mr Evans. The former editor of the Sun newspaper, David Yelland, said that the editorial guarantees in the Zucker document were \"as robust as any I have seen\". \"Furthermore, by their own admission, the Abu Dhabi investor has no editorial experience or interest in getting involved unlike Rupert Murdoch, who is a journalist down to his fingertips or previous owners of the Telegraph, such as Conrad Black, and indeed the current ownership,\" he added. The transfer of control is far from certain, however, and the whole process could easily drag on for many months as the government may also refer the matter to the Competition and Markets Authority - which could leave the ownership of the paper in limbo during a critical election campaigning period. Gulf states have been very significant investors in the UK in recent years. UAE-based investors have poured billions into ports, housing projects, windfarms and science parks and are being courted for an investment in a new nuclear power plant at Sizewell in Suffolk. The Conservative government potentially risks offending deep-pocketed friends if it draws a line at its favoured newspapers. But opponents of the deal point to examples of breaches of press freedom, including reports of a mass firing of journalists at Al Roeya, a newspaper in Dubai owned by IMI, after its editors had decided to run a story on high fuel prices in UAE. An IMI spokesperson said: \"We are fully committed to the editorial independence of the Telegraph and the Spectator. The legal undertakings we are making to the UK government to protect the journalistic freedom of the titles include a separate independent Editorial Trust to act as guardian, an additional undertaking from IMI to not engage in any way with journalists or their reporting, and the structural separation in the RedBird IMI fund buying the Telegraph and Spectator. This is a business investment for us and we will play no part in the running of the Telegraph or the Spectator.\" The decision will ultimately fall to the Culture and Media Secretary, Lucy Frazer, either to let it go ahead, require further guarantees or amendments, or block it outright. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment. The BBC understands that Ofcom and the government received the plans more than a week ago and a preliminary ruling is expected some time in February.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Abu Dhabi-backed bidder for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, led by Jeff Zucker, has promised total editorial freedom for journalists and established a legally binding agreement with an independent editorial trust board to protect the newspaper's independence. The bid, funded mostly by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has raised concerns about foreign control, but Zucker insists the UAE will be a \"passive investor\" with no influence over editorial decisions. The UK government is still considering the takeover, with concerns about the potential impact on press freedom." + }, + { + "article": "The government will \"fully support\" new legislation to combat puppy and kitten smuggling, MPs have been told. A bill banning the import into the UK of puppies, kittens and ferrets under the age of six months has cleared its first Commons hurdle. Heavily pregnant animals and those with mutilations such as cropped ears or a docked tail would also be covered. Private members' bills which get government backing stand a greater chance of becoming law. Despite this, there is no guarantee the bill will become law before a general election, expected later this year. Ministers first promised to raise the age at which puppies can be imported in 2021, but dropped their legislation in 2023. Conservative MP Selaine Saxby said her Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill would ensure that pets were not sold or traded as objects. Opening a Commons debate, the North Devon MP said: \"As a dog owner myself, it is horrific to hear stories of puppies and kittens being smuggled across the border, and the poor conditions they have to endure. \"Pets are more than just property, they are family.\" Her bill would deliver a Tory manifesto commitment by \"closing loopholes exploited by unscrupulous commercial trading,\" she added. The RSPCA said the measures would stop people \"making a quick buck out of the suffering and exploitation of animals\", but some organisations which rescue dogs from abroad worry that raising the importation age could put vulnerable puppies at risk. Former Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey gave her backing to the legislation, but urged ministers to roll out its measures swiftly. She raised concerns that rules limiting the number of pets a person can travel with would not come into force when the bill became law. \"I appreciate there might be transition, but at the moment it says six months,\" she said. The Commons also heard from Conservative Neil Hudson, a vet, that Disney Pixar films such as Up and celebrity culture were normalising ear cropping in dogs. \"If you look really closely at the dogs in that film, many of them are cropped. And so if people are going to the cinema with their kids, and seeing this on the big screen, that looks normal and that is wrong. \"So we need to educate people that these dogs have been horrifically mutilated,\" he said. Ms Saxby told MPs that despite not receiving \"strong representations\" from the ferret-owning community, ferrets were included in the bill because they were in the same category as dogs and cats when it came to the risk of rabies. Labour MP Samantha Dixon joked that the Commons had not discussed ferrets enough, as opposed to government \"reverse ferrets\", in the current Parliament as she also spoke in favour of the bill. During the debate it was revealed that Attorney General Victoria Prentis used to have a pet ferret, called Roulette. Environment minister Mark Spencer confirmed the government would back the legislation, telling the Commons: \"I would like to thank (Ms Saxby) again for taking forward this important bill, and look forward to seeing it progress through the remaining stages in the House and in the other place (House of Lords).\" Labour has indicated it will back the bill, but has accused the Conservatives of having \"bottled their manifesto promises\". Major animal welfare charities, such as the Dog's Trust, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, and the RSPCA, have backed the proposals after years of campaigning. Under the current rules, puppies can be imported from the age of 15 weeks. Amy Ockelford, from the RSPCA, said raising the age would help prevent puppies being taken away from their mothers too early and being put at risk of disease and behavioural problems. \"It's also making them less marketable to the people who are exploiting their cute puppy charms because they'll be a little bit older by the time they come into the country, a little bit healthier and those welfare issues won't be so significant. Ear cropping involves removing all or part of a dog's ear flap and is often done to make them appear more intimidating But some dog rescue organisations have expressed concerns. Rachael O'Regan runs a not-for-profit company, The Responsible Dog Rescue, in Southport, which rescues dogs from Romania. She says the harsh winter weather combined with conditions in public dog shelters and the prevalence of potentially fatal diseases such as parvovirus make young puppies very vulnerable. \"The chances of them contracting an illness and suffering as a result of that, potentially dying, are massively increased. The behaviour issues and being able to correct those and being able to train them becomes more difficult if you are bring them over from six months onwards. \"It's immediately making the job more difficult for the rescuers and for the adopters.\" Definitive figures for the number of puppies smuggled into the country do not exist, but, between 2015 and 2023, the Dog's Trust reported that it had rescued more than 3,000 dogs linked to illegal imports. According to government figures, 116 puppies and kittens were quarantined at the Port of Dover in 2023 for being below the current legally-required minimum age for import. The new bill would limit - to five by car, or three on foot - the number of cats and dogs people can travel with, to stop traders using the Pet Travel Scheme to smuggle in animals, pretending they are their own pets. This measure would apply in England, Scotland and Wales. Painful cosmetic procedures, such as ear-cropping and declawing, are already illegal in the UK. Ear cropping involves removing all or part of a dog's ear flap, while declawing is partially amputating a cat's toe.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government has pledged to support a new bill aimed at combating puppy and kitten smuggling, which would ban the import of these animals under six months old, as well as heavily pregnant animals and those with mutilations. The Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, proposed by Conservative MP Selaine Saxby, has passed its first Commons vote, though its passage into law before a general election is not guaranteed. The legislation also targets unscrupulous commercial trading and seeks to raise the minimum age for importing puppies from 15 weeks to six months, but some rescue organizations warn this could put vulnerable puppies at risk." + }, + { + "article": "Willie Mullins doffed his hat to mark his 100th winner Coverage: Commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, with feature races on BBC Radio 5 Live. Racecards, live text, results & reports on the BBC Sport website and app. Trainer Willie Mullins claimed a historic 100th Cheltenham Festival victory as his son Patrick won the Champion Bumper on Jasmin De Vaux. It sealed a treble on Wednesday for the Irishman, who is the first person to post a century of wins at the Festival. Patrick was greeted by a huge roar as he returned on the 9-2 winner. \"Whoever dreamt any trainer, never mind me, could do it,\" said a delighted Mullins after securing his sixth victory of the 2024 Festival. He had been denied the landmark in the Queen Mother Champion Chase when favourite El Fabiolo was pulled up in a race won by Captain Guinness. Mullins had earlier reached 99 victories via Ballyburn and Fact To File. The 67-year-old is out on his own for Festival victories, with Nicky Henderson his nearest challenger on 73 wins. His first big Cheltenham triumph came with Tourist Attraction in 1995, and he is almost certain to be the week's leading trainer for the 11th time in the last 14 years. Two trebles on the meeting's opening two days brought Mullins to the milestone. While top cricketers might give an extravagant wave of the bat to the pavilion on reaching a century, Mullins marked his historic ton by holding his trilby aloft with a wide smile. The son of trainer Paddy Mullins, who guided the brilliant mare Dawn Run to an unprecedented Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double in the 1980s, Willie has reached new levels of success. His gentle charm and ability to recruit leading owners and top bloodstock agents, willingness to experiment and the top team in the background have all contributed to his achievements. Patrick is a key part of the set-up, with Willie's wife Jackie running things behind the scenes and leading former jockeys Ruby Walsh and David Cary among advisors. \"It's huge for them. I think they are probably going to enjoy it more than I will. It's extraordinary stuff,\" he said. His remarkable tally can be put into perspective when you consider it is more than double the number of victories achieved by Paul Nicholls, who is third on the all-time Cheltenham list. A 13th victory in the Bumper was a fitting triumph as he has always targeted this race for younger horses. \"His willingness to expand always amazed me,\" said Walsh. \"It's only ever going in one direction with Willie, even to this day he will start his entries with the bumper horses. That's not because he loves bumpers, it's because he is always looking to the future.\" Major Mullins winners over the years read like a who's who of racing stars - Florida Pearl, Hedgehunter, Hurricane Fly, Quevega, Faugheen, Vautour, Douvan, Annie Power... the list goes on. Even when Mullins lost a major backer five years ago, he regrouped and went on to even greater success. The withdrawal of horses owned by Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown House Stud in a row over training fees could have been damaging long term. Mullins lost around 60 horses - a third of his yard's occupants. He did not stand still. \"In his early 60s instead of consolidating, he went out and got more horses and more owners,\" said Patrick. \"Then there's the calibre of staff here and the owners he has built. He has made the very most of everything he has been able to.\" Mullins senior has his own way of doing things - a Christmas present to himself was a bespoke mini weather station for his Closutton yard in County Carlow using a special app on his phone. Asked what it was like working with him, Patrick said: \"Several headaches. He could say something one day and then give out the next day for doing it. \"He is always chopping and changing. He can't be told no. He has outside the box thinking, at times it can be like man from the moon, but enough times it works. \"He is a funny man in that the more you try to tell him to do something, the more he will try to do the opposite.\" Mullins' stranglehold was illustrated by Ballyburn leading home a 1-2-3-4-5 for him in the Gallagher Novices' Hurdle. That is in stark contrast to the fortunes of British trainer Henderson, who has withdrawn several runners this week with his stable badly out of form. Any sports needs proper competition, and Mullins appears to appreciate the bigger picture. \"We're good pals and we like the competition, and it's just awful for people,\" said Mullins. \"You save it all up for the whole year - your energy, everything, put it all into this and then the horses are taken out because of some mystery, whatever's going through the yard. It's tough, really tough. \"It's not good for the racing - we like competition. We have to have it.\" The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Trainer Willie Mullins achieved a historic 100th Cheltenham Festival victory as his son Patrick won the Champion Bumper on Jasmin De Vaux, becoming the first person to reach a century of wins at the event. Mullins, with six victories this year, celebrated the milestone with a hat doff, and his success is a testament to his dedication, team, and innovative approach, outpacing second-placed Nicky Henderson's 73 wins." + }, + { + "article": "Bananas are set to get more expensive as climate change hits a much-loved fruit, one of the world's top experts from the industry tells BBC News. Pascal Liu, senior economist at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, says climate impacts pose an \"enormous threat\" to supply, compounding the impacts of fast-spreading diseases. The World Banana Forum meets in Rome on Tuesday to discuss the challenges. In its natural yellow wrapper, the nutritious and tasty banana is the world's most exported fruit. The UK alone imports around 5 billion bananas ever year, with around 90% sold through the major supermarkets. Last week saw shortages of bananas in several UK supermarkets, which retailers said were down to storms at sea, delaying supplies. Most consumers won't have noticed, according to Prof Dan Bebber from the University of Exeter, who has studied efforts to make bananas more sustainable. \"The supply chain fluctuates but the UK is actually quite good at buffering those types of effects,\" he told BBC News. \"Mainly, because the ripening centres can accelerate or decelerate the rate at which they ripen the bananas when they arrive, which helps to buffer those types of fluctuations.\" But while banana supplies can cope with short-term weather events like this, experts are concerned about the growing threats from a warming world, and from the diseases that are spreading in its wake. \"I think climate change is really an enormous threat to the banana sector,\" said Mr Liu of the World Banana Forum, a UN umbrella group that brings together industry stakeholders including retailers, producer countries, exporters and research institutions. As well as severe weather impacting production, bananas are sensitive to temperature rises which could wipe out crops in some locations. Perhaps the biggest immediate threat is the fact that rising temperatures are helping to spread disease. The one causing the most worry is Fusarium Wilt TR4, a fungal infection, which has moved from Australia and Asia to Africa and now to South America. Once a plantation is infected, it kills all the banana trees and experts say it is extremely hard to get rid of. The fungus has also mutated to threaten the Cavendish, the world's favourite banana variety. \"We know that the spores of this Fusarium Wilt are extremely resistant, and they can be spread by flooding, they can be spread by strong winds,\" said Mr Liu. \"So, this type of phenomenon will disseminate the disease much faster than if you had more normal weather patterns.\" Producers are also facing pressures from rising costs of fertilisers, energy and transport as well as problems in finding enough workers. Taken together with the impacts of climate change on supply, prices in the UK and elsewhere are likely to go up - and stay up. \"There will be some price increases, indeed,\" said Mr Liu. \"If there's not a major increase in supply, I project that banana prices will remain relatively high in the coming years.\" Among the issues that the banana industry will discuss at its gathering in Rome is the critical question of sustainability. Producers are suffering from rising costs of energy and labour Consumers are increasingly looking to buy bananas and other commodities that are produced in a sustainable way. For banana growers this means not only making their means of production greener, but also paying independent examiners to certify that their fruit are sustainable. \"These regulations are a good thing in a way because they help producers seize the opportunity of making their production systems more sustainable,\" said Mr Liu. \"But of course, they also come with costs for producers because they require more control and monitoring systems on the part of the producers and the traders. And these costs have to trickle down to the final consumers.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Climate change and spreading diseases pose a significant threat to banana supplies, potentially leading to increased prices for consumers, according to a UN expert. The World Banana Forum is meeting to discuss these challenges, including the spread of the devastating fungal infection Fusarium Wilt TR4, which could impact the popular Cavendish variety." + }, + { + "article": "Tyres were set on fire outside the main prison in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince Haiti's government declared a 72-hour state of emergency on Sunday after armed gangs stormed a major prison. At least 12 people were killed and about 3,700 inmates escaped in the jailbreak. Gang leaders are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whose whereabouts are unknown since he travelled to Kenya. Gangs control around 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince. A government statement said two prisons - one in Port-au-Prince and the other in nearby Croix des Bouquets - were stormed over the weekend. It said the acts of \"disobedience\" were a threat to national security and said it was instituting an immediate night-time curfew in response, which started at 20:00 local time (01:00 GMT on Monday). Haitian media reported that police stations were attacked, distracting authorities before the coordinated assault on the jails. Speaking to the BBC from Haiti, Serge Dalexis from the International Rescue Committee said that many police stations were under gang control on Friday, with \"many police killed over the weekend\". Among those detained in Port-au-Prince were suspects charged in connection with the 2021 killing of President Jovenel Mo\u00efse. Gang violence has further escalated since his assassination in 2021. Mr Mo\u00efse has not been replaced and presidential elections have not been held since 2016. In the capital, gangs have erected barricades to prevent security forces from encroaching on their territory, while their strongholds in Port-au-Prince's vast shantytowns are still largely on lockdown. Schools and many businesses are closed, and there are reports of looting in some neighbourhoods. People are scared and the streets are empty, Boby Sander from the humanitarian aid organisation Food for the Hungry told the BBC. Since Friday, 15,000 people have been displaced from their homes and many are now staying in a school building in the centre of Port-au-Prince, Mr Sander said. His organisation has only been able to provide them with hygiene kits to last a few days. \"We don't have adequate capacity to deal with the complexity of the need increasing,\" he added. The latest upsurge in violence began on Thursday, when the prime minister travelled to Nairobi to discuss sending a Kenya-led multinational security force to Haiti. Gang leader Jimmy Ch\u00e9rizier (nicknamed Barbecue) then declared a co-ordinated attack to remove him. Prison cells stood empty after the weekend prison break which saw thousands of inmates escape \"All of us, the armed groups in the provincial towns and the armed groups in the capital, are united,\" said the former police officer, who is accused of being behind several massacres in Port-au-Prince. Haiti's police union had asked the military to help reinforce the capital's main prison, but the compound was stormed late on Saturday. On Sunday the doors of the prison were still open and there were no signs of officers, Reuters news agency reported. Three inmates who tried to flee lay dead in the courtyard, the report said. A journalist for the AFP news agency who visited the prison saw around 10 bodies, some with signs of being shot. One volunteer prison worker told the Reuters news agency that 99 prisoners - including former Colombian soldiers jailed over President Mo\u00efse's murder - had chosen to remain in their cells for fear of being killed in crossfire. Superficial edits were made to this content to improve technical quality, in line with editorial guidelines. Anger at the shocking levels of violence, on top of the political vacuum, have led to several demonstrations against the government, with protesters demanding the resignation of the prime minister. Under a political deal, he was due to stand down by 7 February - but planned elections were not held and Prime Minister Henry remains in post. Speaking to the BBC's Newsday, Claude Joseph - who was serving as acting prime minister when President Mo\u00efse was assassinated and who is now head of the opposition party called Those Committed to Development - said Haiti was living through a \"nightmare\". \"He [Ariel Henry] agreed to step down on 7 February. Now he decides to stay, despite the fact that there are huge protests throughout the country asking him to step down... now those criminals are using violent means to force him to step down.\" If you are in Haiti, tell us what is happening where you are by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Haiti's government has declared a 72-hour state of emergency after armed gangs attacked a major prison, leading to the escape of about 3,700 inmates and at least 12 deaths. Gang leaders are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whose whereabouts are unknown, amid escalating violence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where gangs control 80% of the area." + }, + { + "article": "Hunter Biden will face a criminal trial in the midst of his father's bid for re-election US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, has pleaded not guilty to tax offences in a California federal court. He was indicted last month on nine criminal counts, including for failing to pay his taxes on time from 2016 to 2019, filing false tax returns in 2018 and tax evasion. If convicted on these charges, Mr Biden could face up to 17 years in prison. He is also facing federal charges over felony gun offences, to which he has already pleaded not guilty. Mr Biden, 53, made his first appearance in the tax case at a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday afternoon, where a sea of cameras had gathered outside and US Secret Service officers had earlier conducted a security sweep. Bypassing the press through a rear entrance, he sat solemnly at the defence desk between his lawyers, then stood as his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. The father of four agreed to be released without detention on several conditions, including that he cannot drink, consume drugs, maintain employment or buy guns. If he violates the terms of his release, the judge warned there would be an arrest warrant out for the president's son and he may be imprisoned. The 30-minute arraignment was the latest development in a five-year investigation by federal prosecutors into Mr Biden's finances. Over the summer, he appeared to be close to a plea deal that would see him admit wrongdoing on his tax offences, undergo drug treatment and monitoring for two years to resolve his gun offences, and avoid jail time. But the agreement, which was heavily criticised by Republicans as a \"sweetheart deal\", collapsed under scrutiny from a judge. As a result, Mr Biden was indicted in Delaware in September on three charges related to his illegal purchase of a firearm in 2018. According to the 56-page charge sheet filed against Mr Biden in December over his tax charges, he made more than $7m (\u00a35.5m) in gross income between 2016 and 2020 from business dealings in Ukraine, and related to connections from Romania and China. Prosecutors say Mr Biden \"wilfully\" failed to either pay or file his taxes to the Internal Revenue Service from 2016 to 2019, instead spending his money on personal extravagances. \"Between 2016 and Oct 15, 2020, the defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,\" the document states. Both the tax and gun charges span a period when Mr Biden was addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine. In his memoir Beautiful Things, he wrote that he had abused substances to cope with the grief of losing his older brother Beau to brain cancer in 2015. Since then, Mr Biden says he has become sober. He has also paid off all his tax debts, including penalties and interest, largely with the help of loans from Kevin Morris, a close friend and LA-based entertainment attorney. But Mr Biden's latest indictment presents a fresh challenge to his father, who is seeking re-election to the White House later this year. The collapse of his plea deal has all but ensured Mr Biden will face a criminal trial while President Biden is on the 2024 campaign trail. Congressional Republicans are also investigating the younger Biden's finances as part of their impeachment inquiry into the president. They have alleged that Mr Biden and his relatives improperly profited off his father's \"brand\" during Joe Biden's vice-presidency. The inquiry has yet to provide evidence that directly implicates the president of wrongdoing. On Wednesday, two Republican-led panels voted to recommend that Mr Biden be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify behind closed doors in their impeachment probe. But the president's son and his lead defence lawyer, Abbe Lowell, threw the House oversight committee room into chaos when he showed up as the panel began debating the contempt resolution. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"Hunter Biden was and is a private citizen,\" Mr Lowell told reporters after leaving the room. \"Despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father.\" In an MSNBC interview broadcast on Thursday morning, First Lady Jill Biden said: \"I think what they are doing to Hunter is cruel, and I'm really proud of how Hunter has rebuilt his life after addiction.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, has pleaded not guilty to tax offenses and faces a criminal trial, potentially risking up to 17 years in prison if convicted. The trial will take place during Joe Biden's re-election campaign, adding a challenging dimension to the political landscape, while Republicans also investigate Hunter's finances in an impeachment inquiry." + }, + { + "article": "Friday's elections have been seen as a crucial test of legitimacy and national support for Iran's leadership - but a low turnout was expected Election officials in Iran are counting ballots after Friday's parliamentary election, as unofficial reports suggest the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The election was the first since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, triggered widespread protests in 2022 . A number of reformists are boycotting the election, amid widespread hardship. Two separate polls took place on Friday: one to elect members of parliament, and another to elect the Assembly of Experts. The assembly selects and oversees Iran's most powerful figure and commander-in-chief, the supreme leader. Iran has been badly hit by international sanctions, an economic crisis and violent unrest. More than 61.2 million Iranians were eligible to vote. Despite Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's appeal for people to cast their votes, many Iranians were split on whether or not to take part. The 2020 parliament was elected during the Covid-19 pandemic with a turnout of 42.57% - officially the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. An Iranian woman shows her ink covered finger after she cast her vote at Ershad mosque in northern Tehran Early polling on Friday suggested the election's turnout could be at a new record low and is thought to be particularly low in the capital, Tehran. A state-linked polling agency projected a 41% turnout for the parliamentary elections - which, if accurate, will be the lowest turnout in the past 12 such votes. Caroline Davies, the first BBC reporter in Tehran since 2019, reporting on the election This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. With votes tallied manually, Iran's ballot takes time to count. Some of the results have been announced. According to Iran's state news agency, IRNA, most of the Assembly of Experts for major cities have been counted. This assembly is a group of 88 Islamic clerics who have the responsibility to select the next supreme leader when the time comes - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is 84 and the new assembly will sit for eight years. Current Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been re-elected to this body, according to IRNA, after reportedly winning 82.5% of the votes in South Khorasan province. Around 50 of the 290 parliamentary seats so far have been declared by some city councils. The final results are likely to be clear tomorrow. No official turnout figure has been announced. Analysts suggested a low turnout would be a show of disenchantment with politics after many of the country's officials called for voters to head to the polls. The Supreme Leader, who cast his vote first, did so saying \"vote as soon as possible, the eyes of Iran's friends and ill wishers are on the results\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Iran's parliamentary election saw an unofficially reported low turnout, potentially the lowest since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with many Iranians divided over participating, despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's urging to vote. The election, which also included voting for the Assembly of Experts, comes after widespread protests in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini and amid economic crisis and international sanctions. Early projections indicate a 41% turnout, which would be a new record low." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Deep below the River Clyde lies a once bustling thoroughfare that only a select few are now allowed to enter. Two circular rotunda buildings, one of them in the shadow of Glasgow's famous Finnieston Crane, mark the exit and entry points for a long-abandoned Victorian tunnel. It was in the 1890s that the Glasgow Harbour Tunnel Company began its excavations, promising a new means of crossing the river. The city was in the grip of tunnelling mania at the time, as workers carved out the subway system and a \"low level\" underground platform at Central Station. The Harbour Tunnel Company built not just one but three parallel tunnels at the site between Finnieston and Mavisbank Quay. Two were for horse-drawn vehicles using a one-way system, and a third, a little closer to the surface, was reserved for pedestrians. A horse drawn wagon emerges from the tunnel elevators at Finnieston in the 1920s A New York firm supplied six hydraulic cage lifts that would lower the horses and carts down a 24m (78ft) shaft before they clattered their way through a 5m (16ft) wide passageway. \"The horses generally have taken most kindly to the lifts, and are carried up and down without trouble,\" reported the Otis Elevator Company when the tunnels opened in 1895. Pedestrians took less kindly to the experience. Access for them was via a long wooden staircase and the foot tunnel gained a reputation for being slightly leaky. By the 1930s the pedestrians were instead sharing the vehicular tunnels - which were now being used by \"motors\" as well. The well-worn treads of the wooden staircase that provided access to the pedestrian tunnel A columnist to the Evening Citizen described his descent in the elevators in 1932. \"Choosing the company of a horse and lorry as preferable to that of a motor-car, I soon found myself smoothly and quietly descending among a bewildering medley of wheels and cables, through which I could see the mouth of the old disused foot-passenger tunnel as we passed on the way down,\" he wrote. \"At the bottom water oozed through the iron sides of the great tube, which has never been totally watertight. At one place a single stalactite a foot long hung from the roof.\" The tunnels were never the financial success the tunnel company hoped for, with bridges and \"horse ferries\" proving a more popular means of crossing the river. The city authorities began subsidising them during World War One, and took them over completely in 1926. During World War Two they were back in use as a safe passage for dockers and shipyard workers, but in 1943 city officials, fearful of the rising upkeep costs, ordered the removal of the lift equipment. The metal was said to be needed for the war effort. This picture of the north shaft from the late 1960s shows the flagstones leading to the vehicle tunnel entrances. The lattice-like structures are supporting the staircase The pedestrian tunnel reopened in 1947 and remained in use until 1980, when it was finally closed to the public. It had been a handy route for fans heading to Ibrox, but in 1988 the Bell's Bridge footbridge would offer a fresh air alternative. By now the two vehicle tunnels had been filled in, and the foot passageway might have faced a similar fate had it not been for the very substance it was built to traverse. Since 1938 it has provided a convenient route for a water main, still maintained by Scottish Water, who regularly send down inspectors. For Glaswegians who still remember using the tunnel, it is often a childhood memory of a creepy passageway with alarming drips coming down the tiled sides. Colin Duncan was a teenager when he used it to nip into the city centre from the south side, and he has fonder memories. \"I loved it, and stories of it being rat-infested and scary are just not true. It was well-lit and sort of almost warm,\" he recalled. But he had his doubts about the staircase. \"If only anyone looked over the wooden steps wall, they would have crept back up them. \"The stairs seemed suspended from nowhere, and it was quite a drop into the dark.\" Colin Duncan has fond memories of using the tunnel in the 1960s The domed rotundas are now listed buildings which have seen a variety of uses over the years. The north rotunda has been a casino and restaurant - and is set for redevelopment again. On the south bank in Govan, the rotunda has served as a pop-up Nardini's ice cream shop during the Glasgow Garden Festival, a puppet show venue, and a \"Dome of Discovery\", before being extensively renovated as offices for Scottish marine engineering group Malin. Malin's marketing and business development director, Helenor Fisher, feels it is fitting that the building is now home to a marine engineering and transportation company that can trace is history back to the same era \"with a shared aim of safely transporting cargo\". Last year, for Doors Open Day, the company welcomed the public into the rotunda. They were not permitted to enter the tunnel, but Helenor filmed a walkthrough video showing the visitors what it was like. Glass windows now span the columns where horses and carts once entered the elevators of the south rotunda A small metal staircase which has now replaced the old wooden treads descends into the shaft before concrete steps lead into the tunnel itself. \"I felt some trepidation as it's a pretty sharp descent,\" she recalled. \"I remember seeing a tile with the name of the firm that made the tunnel on the wall.\" \"I think I imagined the tunnel itself was going to be pretty unpleasant, like a dank underpass - but I wasn't expecting it to be in such good condition or have such a precise finish given it was constructed by hand.\" Walking beneath the River Clyde she splashed through a few shallow puddles of brown water. Some subway style tiles have fallen from the walls but the cast iron segments holding up the roof remain solid. \"It was a pretty awe inspiring experience,\" said Helenor. \"It really hits you when you're in there that this is a piece of 130-year-old engineering - and it's pretty much all in place.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The article discusses a long-abandoned Victorian tunnel beneath the River Clyde in Glasgow, built in the 1890s for horse-drawn vehicles and pedestrians but now used as a water main. The tunnel, featuring two listed rotunda buildings, had a brief revival during World War Two but closed to the public in 1980. Scottish Water still maintains the tunnel, and occasional visits are allowed, revealing its surprisingly well-preserved condition despite never achieving the popularity hoped for by its original builders." + }, + { + "article": "A woman who stole more than \u00a3300,000 from the GP surgery she managed has been jailed for three years. Clare Boland, 51, from Briton Ferry, was a practice manager at Fairfield Surgery in Port Talbot when she began making unauthorised payments from her employer's account in August 2017. Swansea Crown Court heard Boland had stolen \u00a3324,706.85 by the time she was suspended in March 2022. She pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position at a previous hearing. At a sentencing hearing on Friday, the court heard how Boland, who was on a salary of \u00a353,000 a year, was given \"sole responsibility for the day-to-day financial operations of the surgery\" since she started the role in 2009. She had the \"full trust\" of the partners and her actions have put them under \"substantial financial risk and pressure\", the court was told. One of the senior partners was said to have required counselling, had trouble sleeping and suffered panic attacks since discovering Boland's crimes, which took place over a five-year period. Some of the monthly payments made into Boland's account, ranging from around \u00a32,500 to \u00a313,000, \"far exceeded\" the partners' own salary payments. When a senior partner at the surgery discovered money was being wrongly paid into an account every month, Boland claimed it was an administrative error, then that there had been an underpayment to HMRC. Clare Boland pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position at a previous hearing After being questioned by her employers, she wrote a letter claiming she \"felt under stress and felt humiliated in the way they'd approached her in respect of these payments\", the court heard. But when the money was found to be going into her own bank account, she was arrested at home. The court heard it had a \"devastating\" effect on staff at the surgery, which serves more than 800 patients. Sentencing Boland to three years in prison, judge Catherine Richards noted the fact Boland was the single parent of a 10-year-old daughter. But she added: \"The impact of this sort of fraud is varied - emotional, practical and financial.\" Boland will serve half her sentence in custody, with the remainder on licence. Following sentencing, Cheryl Hill, deputy operational fraud manager for the NHS Counter Fraud Service Wales, said: \"Boland abused her position and the trust of her employers and colleagues for her own personal greed. \"NHS CFS Wales will now use their powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to recover the money Boland stole and return it to the victims.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Clare Boland, a 51-year-old woman from Briton Ferry, has been sentenced to three years in jail for stealing \u00a3324,706.85 from the Fairfield Surgery in Port Talbot, where she was the practice manager. Boland abused her position to make unauthorized payments from the surgery's account over a five-year period, causing significant financial strain on the practice and emotional distress to its partners." + }, + { + "article": "Police have been searching for Abdul Shokoor Ezedi since the attack on 31 January Clapham chemical attack suspect Abdul Shokoor Ezedi may be dead after going into the River Thames, police say. The 35-year-old has not been seen since the night of the attack on 31 January, when an alkali substance was thrown over a mother and her two children. At a press conference on Friday police said their working hypothesis was that he had gone into the water after last being seen at Chelsea Bridge. No body has been found and officers said one may never be recovered. At the briefing Metropolitan Police officers said Ezedi could be seen on CCTV \"walking with purpose\" for four miles to the Thames and said his behaviour changed at Chelsea Bridge. They said he could be seen to \"lean over the railings\" of the bridge before CCTV sightings ceased. Speaking at Scotland Yard, Cmdr Jon Savell said officers had spent the last 24 hours \"meticulously\" following CCTV and their \"main working hypothesis\" was that he had gone into the water. \"We have looked at all of the available cameras and angles, and with the assistance of Transport for London and CCTV from buses that were travelling over the bridge at the relevant time and there is no sighting of him coming off the bridge,\" he said. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Cmdr. Jon Savell says Ezedi is thought to have died in the Thames Detective Superintendent Rick Sewart said death was the \"most probable outcome\" if Ezedi had gone into the water. From the hundreds of hours of CCTV officers have combed through, it does not look as though Ezedi has been in contact with anyone else, the force said. The search for Abdul Shakoor Ezedi, wanted over a chemical attack in Clapham. The most recent sighting of him remains an image captured on CCTV at about 23:27 GMT on 31 January, crossing Chelsea Bridge. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Police have released CCTV of Ezedi on Chelsea Bridge Cmdr Savell said the forces' marine support unit would be searching the river but said experts had warned that if someone had gone into the river it might take some time for them to surface. He added that police had spoken to a member of Ezedi's family to \"break that news\". A manhunt had been ongoing for more than a week, with police raids carried out in the Newcastle area at properties linked to Ezedi on Thursday. He is wanted on suspicion of attempted murder over the attack, which took place in Lesser Avenue at about 19:25. The woman, who police revealed had been in a relationship with the suspect, remains sedated in hospital and there are concerns she may lose sight in one eye. Both children, aged eight and three, have been discharged. Police said their thoughts remained with the mother, who was still \"very poorly and unable to speak to police\". The suspect, who is not the father of the children, suffered serious facial injuries in the incident which police had said could be fatal. Ezedi is an Afghan refugee who came to the UK in a lorry in 2016. He had his asylum claim rejected twice before he successfully appealed against the Home Office after claiming he had converted to Christianity. Ezedi was also convicted of two sexual offences in 2018 but was allowed to stay because his crimes did not meet the threshold for deportation.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, the suspect in the Clapham chemical attack on a mother and her two children, is believed to have died after entering the River Thames, according to police, who have been searching for him since the incident on January 31st. Despite no body being found, officers suggest Ezedi's behavior on CCTV indicates he might have gone into the water, and they are now focusing on river searches, though recovery may be challenging." + }, + { + "article": "Oliver Bearman is stepping up from his reserve role to replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Oliver Bearman's Formula 1 debut is coming in unexpected circumstances, after Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz's appendicitis diagnosis. But it has merely accelerated what was already an inevitability - the British driver has looked destined for F1 for some time. The 18-year-old from Chelmsford will be the youngest British driver to start an F1 race and third youngest debutant behind Max Verstappen (17) and Lance Stroll (18). However, Bearman is being thrown in at the deep end at this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and it is unwise to expect too much. His team-mate is Charles Leclerc, who many feel is the fastest man in F1 over one lap. But Bearman has already proved himself to be an accomplished performer in an F1 car. A member of the Ferrari driver academy since 2021, he drove in two practice sessions for the Haas team last year, and impressed greatly in both. Bearman was immediately competitive, but what impressed onlookers just as much was the smooth and mature progress he made. Haas trackside engineering director Ayao Komatsu - who has been promoted to team principal over the winter - said he \"really could not fault\" Bearman in his weekend debut in Mexico in October. That appearance made him the youngest British driver to participate in a grand prix weekend. Now, he has prevented new Ferrari signing Lewis Hamilton, who joins the team in 2025, from becoming the first driver from the United Kingdom to race for Ferrari in F1 since Eddie Irvine in 1999. At any one time, there are a number of drivers all trying to make it into F1, but very few have a sense of inevitability about them. Bearman, though, is one. His track record had already marked him out as a potentially special one. He made his Formula 2 debut last year, and in dominating the weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix became the first driver in the history of the category to top every practice session and win the feature race. He started karting when he was eight years old, made his single-seater debut in 2020, won both the Italian and German Formula 4 titles in 2021, finished third in his debut season in Formula 3 in 2022 and sixth in F2 last year, when brilliant weekends were punctuated by difficult ones, as is often the case for a rookie. Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kim Antonelli are the favourites for this season's F2 Championship This year, he started his second season in the F2 championship as one of the favourites. His battle with his team-mate at the Prema team, Mercedes junior Andrea Kim Antonelli - who has been dubbed the \"next Verstappen\" - was highly anticipated. Sainz's illness has put that fight on hold for now, although there will be plenty of time for it to resume. For now, Bearman has the chance to make an impression in the toughest field of all. As a Ferrari driver, alongside one of the best drivers in the world, on one of the fastest and most demanding tracks on the calendar. Speaking last year, he was under no illusions about the demands of F1. \"Once you join F1, you're going up against guys with a lot of races under their belts, and coming in as a rookie is a difficult job,\" he said. \"It's something we've thought about and it will be really important that before I start an F1 campaign, I need to be really prepared.\" He has spent plenty of time in the Ferrari simulator, but a race weekend having missed the first practice day is a whole other matter. This weekend will not break his career - expectations will be low, as everyone realises the size of the task facing Bearman. But it could certainly make it. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Oliver Bearman, an 18-year-old British driver, will replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after Sainz's appendicitis diagnosis. Bearman, the youngest British driver to start an F1 race, has shown promise in F2 and impressed in F1 practice sessions for Haas last year, but this weekend's debut on a challenging track alongside Charles Leclerc sets a high bar for his performance." + }, + { + "article": "Labour will act to block people not fit to be MPs, shadow defence secretary John Healey has pledged, as the party struggles to deal with an ongoing row about comments made by its candidates. He insisted the party was diligent when picking candidates to be MPs but added: \"You can't see everything, everywhere.\" The Jewish Labour Movement said it had not been Labour's \"finest hour\". Chair Mike Katz said members who failed to call out offensive language should also be suspended. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has defended himself against criticism, saying he \"acted decisively\". In the past week, the party has suspended two of its parliamentary candidates, over comments they allegedly made at a meeting, which the BBC has been told was attended by Labour politicians and leaders from the local Muslim community. Azhar Ali had been the party's candidate in the Rochdale by-election, due to take place on 29 February. Over the weekend, the Mail on Sunday reported that Mr Ali had suggested Israel \"allowed\" the 7 October attacks by Hamas, at the meeting. Mr Ali \"unreservedly apologised\" for his remarks and Labour said it would continue to campaign for him. However, the party subsequently withdrew support after the Daily Mail reported Mr Ali had blamed \"people in the media from certain Jewish quarters\" for the suspension of MP Andy McDonald from Labour. On Tuesday, the Guido Fawkes website published audio allegedly from the same meeting, in which Graham Jones, the Labour candidate in the Hyndburn constituency, used an expletive to describe Israel and said British people who fight in the Israel Defense Forces \"should be locked up\". Mr Jones was suspended by the party and is now facing an investigation. The leader of the Labour group on Hyndburn Borough Council Munsif Dad also attended the meeting and has been spoken to by Labour. He has not been suspended from the party. Mr Healey told the BBC's Today programme, Mr Jones' comments had been \"unacceptable\". Asked if all Labour councillors who were at the meeting should also be suspended, Mr Healey said the party would \"follow the hard evidence that comes to us\". \"What is important is, if new info comes to light - as in this case - we will act to investigate, we will act to block those who are not fit to serve as MPs.\" He said that withdrawing support from its candidates was \"regrettable but essential\" and that Labour would put the \"country's interest before party interest\". The shadow minister added that he \"really feels\" for the people of Rochdale who want to vote Labour. \"We have left them without a candidate,\" he said. Although Labour has withdraw its support, electoral rules mean Mr Ali will remain on the ballot paper as the party's candidate. The party has withdrawn support for Azhar Ali but it came too late to stop campaign leaflets landing on doormats in Rochdale Mr Katz also welcomed the \"swift\" suspension of Mr Jones adding: \"To be in that meeting, to have heard that rhetoric, to have been a bystander, to have not called it out at the time, or indeed subsequently, that really calls into play your judgement.\" He added that the party owes people in Rochdale an apology for having selected Mr Ali as their by-election candidate prior to his suspension. \"This has not been the party's finest hour - we have huge lessons to learn but the direction of travel is very much upwards, it's very much in the right direction.\" He said it was now \"highly likely\" that George Galloway will be elected in Rochdale. The former Labour and Respect MP is running in the by-election for the Workers Party of Britain and has focused his campaign on the conflict in Gaza. Conservative Justice Minister Laura Farris told Times Radio: \"It is absolutely extraordinary in this day and age that there could have been a public meeting where...parliamentary candidates, were spreading the worst kind of conspiracy theories about what was a pogrom on the 7 October. \"And that that obviously wasn't just one lone voice, but it was an attitude that was sort of fostered and shared.\" She said the Labour leader had \"stood by somebody who said that effectively Israel had done it to itself\". Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar defended Sir Keir, saying he had been \"resolute\" in tackling antisemitism in the party. He said people had the right to criticise Israel but that was separate to \"general comments about Jewish people\". \"Just like we have to separate Hamas from the Palestinian people, we have to separate Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government from the Israeli people....the people of Israel want peace, the people of Palestine want peace - those blockers to peace are the ones we have to break through.\" Labour's divisions over the Gaza conflict will be tested next week when Parliament will vote on an SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn said: \"The time for equivocating is over....the UK parliament cannot just sit on its hands and do nothing. \"International pressure is paramount if an immediate ceasefire is to happen - and the UK has a moral duty to do its part.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Labour Party is facing a row over offensive comments made by its candidates, with shadow defence secretary John Healey pledging to block those unfit for MP roles. The party has suspended two candidates over their remarks, including one who blamed \"people in the Jewish quarters\" for a suspension, while the Jewish Labour Movement has criticized the party's handling of the situation." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: The manhunt to catch suspect on run after dousing woman and her two daughters with chemical Witnesses have described a \"horrific\" scene after a mother and her two girls were doused in their car with a \"corrosive substance\" in south London. One witness told the BBC the mother cried: \"I can't see, I can't see\" as he tried to help. \"It was quite horrific,\" he added. The Metropolitan Police said injuries to the mother and the younger girl, three, could be \"life-changing\". The attack is believed to be targeted. Police said an alkaline substance was used in the attack, which happened on Lessar Avenue, near Clapham Common on Wednesday evening. Shannon, who lives on the street, said she ran outside after hearing \"a lot of shouting\" then a \"bang\" and \"someone saying 'help'\". \"As I run outside, I've seen this guy throwing a child on the floor, he picked her up and threw her again.\" Shannon said she ran over and grabbed the child, carrying her to safety in her block of flats. \"I've then seen her mum walking up the road saying 'I can't see, I can't see'.\" At that point her partner set off after the suspect. \"I chased him halfway down the road, but I was in slippers so didn't get very far,\" her partner told the BBC. \"As I came back, that's when I saw the woman who had been attacked ... so I ran inside to get some water and just sprayed her down with water.\" He described seeing what looked to be serious burns to her face. Shannon, who suffered less serious burns to her face, arm and lips after caring for one of the children involved, was taken to hospital but later discharged. \"My skin started tingling as well, my face started tingling,\" she said. A man was seen fleeing the scene and a police helicopter was used on Wednesday night to search for him. A resident named Abdul said he saw baby's shoes on the street as he was returning home from a dentist appointment. \"People were just screaming everywhere, there were fifteen police cars and fire brigades, it was quite a stressful moment.\" \"It was so shocking that it would happen right next to my house.\" He said police often patrol the street. Another resident, who told the BBC his name was David, witnessed the aftermath of the incident. \"The people on the street [are] fearful. This is a safe neighbourhood, so this is shocking,\" he said. As the search for the attacker began, residents said they heard the whir of helicopters through the night. The nature of the attack has left residents distressed. \"How can people do this sort of thing?\" one neighbour asked. Did you witness the attack? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A mother and her two daughters were attacked with a corrosive substance in south London, with injuries potentially being life-changing. The incident, believed to be targeted, saw a man throw the alkaline substance at the victims on Lessar Avenue near Clapham Common, prompting a police manhunt for the suspect." + }, + { + "article": "Bartlomiej Kuczynski (left), 45, Jasmin Kuczynska, 12, and nine-year-old Natasha Kuczynska were found dead by police officers in Costessey on Friday Police have confirmed the names of four people from the same family who were found dead at a house near Norwich. Police said the deceased were Bartlomiej Kuczynski, 45, Kanticha Sukpengpanao, 36, Jasmin Kuczynska, 12 and Natasha Kuczynska, nine. Post-mortem examinations showed Mr Kuczynski and Ms Sukpengpanao died from stab wounds to the neck. Norfolk Police has twice referred itself to the police watchdog in connection with the case. Detectives have said they are not looking for anyone else following the discovery on Friday in Costessey. Post-mortem tests on the two girls are due to take place on Wednesday. The IOPC said a man inside the house in Costessey had called 999 and said he was confused and worried about his mental state Earlier on Tuesday, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed a man called 999 from inside the property in Allan Bedford Crescent, on the Queen's Hills estate, before the bodies were found and said he was confused and worried about his mental state. He was advised to seek medical advice and contact the NHS on 111, it is understood. The initial 999 call was made shortly before 06:00 GMT, but police did not attend the house until about 07:15 when they received a call from a concerned dog walker. Officers forced their way into the property and discovered four bodies inside. The IOPC said it would be examining whether the handling of the contact with the caller \"was appropriate and in line with force policy, training and procedures\". \"We will be making contact with the families of the deceased to explain our role,\" the IOPC's regional director Charmaine Arbouin said. Ms Sukpengpanao was visiting the house at the time of the deaths, police said, while Mr Kuczynski lived there with Jasmin and Natasha. Flowers have been placed by the road sign for Allan Bedford Crescent Pupils have been offered support at the two local schools attended by the girls. Dr Roger Harris, head teacher of Taverham High School, near Norwich, described their pupil Jasmin as a \"lovely young lady\". He said: \"She was quiet and a little bit cheeky sometimes. But as a parent myself, you'd be very proud to call her your daughter.\" Dr Harris said he had asked teachers to think about their seating plans \"to be mindful of that one empty seat\". Dr Harris says he wants the school to remember Jasmin but for pupils to also \"move forward\" Matthew Cross, head teacher of Queen's Hill Primary in Costessey, which Natasha attended, also paid tribute to her. \"I'll remember Natasha for the way in which she was just so kind and gentle to everybody and I think those values and those qualities just resonated through her,\" he said. \"She was just one of those pupils you wanted in your class. She was kind, generous and took so much pride in her learning.\" Both schools said they had been working with Norfolk County Council's critical incident support team to ensure they had extra provision in place for \"pupils and staff at this difficult time.\" Mr Cross says Natasha's death is \"really hard\" for pupils and staff Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A man, a woman, and two young girls from the same family were found dead in a house near Norwich, with the man and woman dying from stab wounds. The police had earlier received a 999 call from a man at the property expressing confusion about his mental state but did not attend until a concerned dog walker called later. The police are not seeking anyone else in connection with the deaths, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the handling of the initial call." + }, + { + "article": "Conservative Chris Skidmore is quitting as an MP over the government's energy plans, triggering a by-election to replace him. The former minister said he could not continue as a Tory MP ahead of a vote on a bill on Monday to guarantee annual oil and gas licensing rounds. The Kingswood MP added his \"personal decision\" meant his constituents deserved the chance to elect a new MP. He had already announced plans to leave Parliament at the next election. His seat near Bristol has a Conservative majority of 11,220, but was previously held by Labour from 1992 to 2010. It will present another headache for Prime Minster Rishi Sunak, who already faces a by-election in Wellingborough after local voters ousted scandal-hit Peter Bone. In by-elections in October, Labour overturned Tory majorities of 24,664 in Mid Bedfordshire and 19,634 in Tamworth. The government announced the bill in November, in a bid to draw a dividing line with Labour, which has said it will not issue new licences if it wins power. Ministers say the legislation, which will fix yearly North Sea fossil fuel licensing in law, will help improve the UK's energy security. They argue the UK will still need oil and gas to meet its energy needs, even if it reaches its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. But Mr Skidmore, who signed the UK's 2050 net zero commitment into law as an energy minister under Theresa May, said the bill would send a \"global signal that the UK is rowing ever further back from its climate commitments\". In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, he added it would \"in effect allow more frequent new oil and gas licences\" to be issued. He added he could not support this in next week's vote, adding: \"The future will judge harshly those that do. \"We can not expect other countries to phase out their fossil fuels when at the same time we continue to issue new licences or to open new oil fields. \"It is a tragedy that the UK has been allowed to lose its climate leadership, at a time when our businesses, industries, universities and civil society organisations are providing first-class leadership and expertise to so many across the world,\" he added. Labour's shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband welcomed Mr Skidmore's decision to quit, saying he was \"standing up to this desperate Conservative government\". Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said it was an \"embarrassing mess for Rishi Sunak,\" showing voters \"simply don't trust the Conservatives on the environment\". Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said it left the government's green credentials \"in tatters\". Mr Skidmore confirmed to the PA news agency he would officially tender his resignation as an MP when Parliament returned from its Christmas recess next week. A date for the by-election to replace him will be fixed at a future date.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Conservative MP Chris Skidmore is stepping down over the government's energy plans, which would guarantee annual oil and gas licensing rounds, sparking a by-election in his Kingswood constituency. Skidmore, a former energy minister, opposes the bill, saying it undermines the UK's climate commitments, and his resignation poses another challenge for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak." + }, + { + "article": "Kelsey Brown's death in a Marbella hospital is being investigated in Spain The family of a pregnant Liverpool mum who died during labour at a Spanish hospital say they are still waiting for answers two-and-a-half years later. Kelsey Brown, 34, was in \"horrendous pain\" and bleeding for more than five hours before she became unresponsive, an inquest heard. An investigation is now underway into what happened at Ceram hospital in Marbella. Miss Brown's family said they were \"hopeful\" of some answers. Gerard Majella Courthouse in Liverpool heard a delivery of blood did not arrive until minutes before Miss Brown died, on 20 July, 2021 - more than five and a half hours after she began bleeding. Miss Brown's mum, Maria Brown, told the BBC her daughter was a \"loving mum\" to her surviving child, aged five at the time of her death. Andre Rebello, senior coroner for Liverpool and Wirral, said his ability to investigate the circumstances of her death was limited because crucial medical documents had not been provided by the authorities in Spain. The court heard hairdresser Miss Brown, who moved to Spain with her partner in December 2019, had been expecting her second child and all her antenatal appointments had been normal. She went into labour on 20 July, and was admitted to Ceram hospital. The court heard that shortly after her arrival at the hospital, a scan revealed that her baby had died. Mr Rebello said: \"Kelsey was advised she could not have a caesarean and she could not have an epidural, and would have to give birth naturally.\" At about 13:30 CEST (11:30 GMT) Miss Brown began losing blood, and medical staff arranged to deliver her baby using forceps. Mr Rebello said Miss Brown's partner and sister were also in attendance at the hospital, and described her as in \"horrendous pain\" and \"bleeding profusely\". The baby, named Tom, was delivered at 16:30, and it became clear his cord had been wrapped around his torso and arm preventing him from feeding. A coroner at Liverpool's Gerard Majella Courthouse said he had not had access to crucial medical documents The inquest heard Miss Brown was still bleeding but the hospital had no supplies of blood on-site. A consignment arrived at 18:45, but Miss Brown was declared dead by a doctor at 19:15. Mr Rebello said a post-mortem examination had taken place in Spain, but the results were \"withheld\". The court heard Miss Brown's body had been repatriated and a further post-mortem was carried out in Liverpool, but that medical notes about the care received at Ceram hospital were unavailable and the medical cause of death could not be ascertained without that \"context\". The Foreign and Commonwealth Office had advised there could be lengthy delays before the Spanish authorities provided the results of an investigation. Mr Rebello said he could only reach an open conclusion due to the lack of evidence. He told Mr and Mrs Brown: \"Hopefully the Spanish authorities will make efforts to bring justice to what occurred, they will be looking to see if there were opportunities to do something meaningful for a different outcome.\" Mrs Brown replied: \"Hopefully they will give us some answers.\" Speaking outside the courthouse, Mrs Brown told the BBC: \"Kelsey was a loving mum, she has left her five-year-old son behind. She was very healthy, she didn't drink or smoke, Kelsey really looked after herself. \"She was a great daughter, a great sister and a great mum.\" Mr and Mrs Brown said they did not wish to comment on the circumstances of her death until the Spanish authorities had completed their investigation. Why not follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The death of Kelsey Brown, a pregnant Liverpool woman, during labor at a Marbella hospital in 2021 is being investigated in Spain, with her family still seeking answers two years later. An inquest revealed that blood transfusion did not arrive until minutes before her death, and crucial medical documents have not been provided, limiting the investigation." + }, + { + "article": "US Open champion Wyndham Clark holds a healthy four-shot lead at the halfway point of the Players Championship after carding a second seven-under-par 65. Xander Schauffele and Nick Taylor are on 10 under, with Matt Fitzpatrick and Maverick McNealy a stroke further back. World number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler battled through a neck injury to improve to eight under. Rory McIlroy mixed five birdies with four bogeys and a double bogey as he slipped back to six under with a 73. The world number two, who was joint overnight leader with Clark and Schauffele, is eight shots off the lead despite making 15 birdies in his opening 36 holes. Clark had 16 birdies in his opening two rounds. McIlroy struggled to match the control he showed on Thursday as he scrambled his way around the iconic Sawgrass course. He had three bogeys and three birdies in his opening six holes then another birdie on the ninth was cancelled by a bogey on the 12th. Although the Northern Irishman knocked in a 16-foot birdie putt on the next, a wayward drive into sand led to two more shots going on the 14th. While he toiled, Scheffler showed remarkable resilience to post five birdies in his 69 despite playing most of the round in discomfort. The American, who started on the 10th hole, said: \"I hit a shot on my second hole and I felt a little something in my neck. \"Then I tried to hit my tee shot on 12 and that's when I could barely get the club back. So I got some treatment, maybe it loosened up a tiny bit, but most of the day I was pretty much labouring. \"I did what I could to stay in the tournament and hopefully it'll loosen up and then I'll be able to make somewhat normal swings. \"The way I was getting around the course, the way my neck was feeling, I didn't know if I was going to be able to continue playing, so yeah, good fight out there.\" The 28-year-old, who won last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational by five shots, is looking to become the first player to win successive Players titles in the 50th staging of the PGA Tour's flagship tournament. But he will go into Saturday's third round six adrift of Clark, who won earlier this season at Pebble Beach. Clark holed five birdies in six holes to edge clear of the field and knocked in two more in his final four holes to take control of the tournament. \"My iron play's been very solid, I've rolled in a handful of putts and then I've really been mentally strong, so I'd say all of those things are why I'm sitting where I am right now,\" said the American. Fitzpatrick, the man Clark succeeded as US Open champion, built on his opening round of 66 by charging into the lead on 10 under with four birdies in six holes around the turn. But he chunked his second from deep rough into water on his 13th hole as he dropped two shots. A birdie on the par-five ninth, his last hole, saw him sign for a 69. \"Anything can happen over the weekend, so it's just about trying to stay patient, just keep doing what I'm doing and go from there,\" said the Sheffield-born player. Olympic champion Schauffele followed his opening 65 with a 69 that included a double bogey after finding water on the par-five 11th and an eagle three on the long 16th after hitting his second shot to nine feet. He was joined on 10 under late in the day by Canadian Taylor, who birdied the 15th and 16th holes as he carded a 68. And Open champion Brian Harman catapulted himself into contention with a 65 to move to seven under. The infamous 17th claimed yet more victims, with Beau Hossler hitting the 1,000th ball in the history of the tournament - since it moved to Sawgrass in 1982 - into the water that almost surrounds the green of the par-three hole. England's Justin Rose also fell foul of the hole. He was in contention to make the cut when he stood on the tee on one under but put two balls in the lake as he made a ruinous quadruple-bogey seven that sent him to three over par. Two players will return on Saturday to complete their second rounds after darkness curtailed play once again but both have chances of making the cut, which is set to exclude all those at level par or worse. That means Rose will join the likes of American duo Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in missing the final two rounds. However, Japan's Ryo Hisatsune will tee off on the par-five ninth, his final hole, on level par, knowing he must at least make birdie to make the cut. Canada's Ben Silverman has a more outside shot. He is at one over but has played two shots on the ninth and must hole from 109 yards for eagle to make the weekend.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Wyndham Clark holds a four-shot lead at the Players Championship after two rounds, with a total of 14-under-par, while Xander Schauffele and Nick Taylor are tied for second at 10 under. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, despite a neck injury, improved to eight under, and Rory McIlroy slipped to six under after a challenging round." + }, + { + "article": "Police say they are \"very confident\" that they have found the bodies of Luke Davies (left) and Jesse Baird (right) Australian police say two bodies have been found during the search for missing Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies. \"We are very confident that we have located Luke and Jesse,\" New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner Karen Webb said. Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, a police officer who once dated TV presenter Mr Baird, was earlier charged with murder. The bodies were discovered on a rural property in the town of Bungonia. Police said that after initially refusing to cooperate with the investigation, Mr Lamarre-Condon finally disclosed where the two bodies were located on Tuesday morning. Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty said the remains were found \"near the entrance to the property\" and that attempts had been made \"to cover the bodies with rock and debris\". He added that police believe two \"surf bags\" were used to transport the deceased couple in a white van from Mr Baird's inner city Paddington home, where it is believed they were killed. Investigators found a bullet matching Mr Lamarre-Condon's work-issued gun there last week, along with a \"significant\" amount of blood and upturned furniture. Mr Lamarre-Condon, who appeared in court on Friday and was refused bail, has not commented on the charges against him. He first joined the police force in 2019 and was previously a celebrity blogger. Police began focusing their efforts on a Bungonia property - some two hours south of Sydney - after learning Mr Lamarre-Condon had visited it in the white van believed to be carrying the pair's bodies with an acquaintance last Wednesday. The acquaintance has been described by police as \"an innocent agent\". After severing a lock on a gate, Mr Lamarre-Condon then left the female acquaintance there before driving the van on to the property and returning 30 minutes later. Police had been investigating whether Mr Lamarre-Condon then returned to the location to move the bodies. And on Tuesday, Mr Lamarre-Condon told detectives the remains were located at another property in the same town. The case - which has gripped Australia - is believed to be the first suspected murder carried out by a New South Wales police officer in decades, and it has prompted a review into the out-of-hours access officers have to their firearms. Police officer Beaumont Lamarre-Condon is accused of murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies It has also led organisers of Sydney's iconic Mardi Gras parade to uninvite NSW police from this year's march, a decision which has sparked fierce debate online and disappointment from police, who allege the murders were a crime of \"passion\" not \"gay-hate related\". Sydney's Mardi Gras parade has a complex history of both LGBT activism and police brutality, after the first march in 1978 resulted in dozens of people being beaten and arrested by local officers. In the decades since though it has been a unifying event, with uniformed police taking part every year since 1998. Tributes have flooded in for Mr Baird, a former presenter and red carpet reporter, and Mr Davies, who worked as a flight attendant for Qantas. \"Obviously Jesse and Luke were very much an active part of the community and I look at their photos online and know they had a great life,\" Commissioner Webb said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Australian police have found two bodies believed to be those of missing Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, and a police officer, Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, who had dated Baird, has been charged with their murder. The bodies were discovered on a rural property after Lamarre-Condon disclosed their location, and he is accused of using a white van and \"surf bags\" to transport the bodies from Baird's home, where evidence of a crime scene was found. The case, involving a police officer, has led to a review of officer access to firearms and has impacted the relationship between the police and the LGBT community, with Sydney's Mardi Gras parade organizers uninviting NSW police from this year's event." + }, + { + "article": "Dan Wootton had been suspended from GB News since September 2023 Dan Wootton has parted company with GB News, a day after media regulator Ofcom found that an episode of his show broke its broadcasting rules. Wootton was suspended by the channel in September after comments by Laurence Fox about a female journalist prompted 8,867 complaints to the watchdog. Ofcom's ruling, published on Monday, said Fox's remarks \"were clearly and unambiguously misogynistic\". Wootton said he had left GB News to launch his own independent platform. He said it would not be regulated by the \"Ofcommunist censors\", adding: \"Yesterday's chilling Ofcom report clearly raises far bigger issues.\" In its statement on Tuesday, the TV channel said: \"Dan Wootton joined GB News before its launch and was a part of the first on-air line up. \"Dan is no longer employed by GB News and we thank him for his contribution and wish him well with his future endeavours.\" On the 26 September episode of Dan Wootton Tonight, Fox made remarks about journalist Ava Evans that Ofcom has concluded were sexist, misogynistic and offensive. Fox, an actor turned politician, drew condemnation after asking what \"self-respecting man\" would \"climb into bed\" with her, during a live show. Wootton could be seen smiling and laughing throughout Fox's remarks, before adding for \"a touch of balance\" that Evans had qualified her comments, and called her a \"very beautiful woman\". On Monday, Ofcom said Fox's remarks \"constituted a highly personal attack on Ms Evans and were potentially highly offensive to viewers\", adding that the comments \"were clearly and unambiguously misogynistic\". \"[The comments] reduced her contribution to a broadcast discussion on mental health - in her professional capacity as a political journalist - to a judgment on whether she, or women like her who publicly expressed their political opinions, were sexually desirable to men,\" Ofcom said in its ruling. Ofcom added that Wootton's reaction and limited challenge \"did not mitigate the potential for offence\" and instead \"exacerbated it by contributing to the narrative in which a woman's value was judged by her physical appearance\". It added that \"no apology was made after the interview with Mr Fox in the remainder of the two-hour programme - nor were any other editorial techniques used to address the potential for offence\". The broadcasting regulator also said it had \"significant concerns about GB News' editorial control of its live output\" and told the channel to \"provide further detailed information about its compliance practices in this area\". In his response, Wootton hit out at the watchdog, writing: \"How can any broadcaster or publisher truly stand for freedom of expression when state goons have the power to decide what you are and are not allowed to say on air?\" He added: \"It's not broadcasters who should be fearful of a carpeting from Ofcom: it's Ofcom that should be summoned in by this supposedly Conservative government to be reined in.\" Following the original comments, GB News suspended both presenters from the channel and said the insults were \"totally unacceptable\". Fox was sacked a week later. The publisher of the MailOnline also announced it had sacked Wootton, who had written a column for the newspaper since 2021, \"following events this week\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Dan Wootton has left GB News after the channel's episode featuring remarks by Laurence Fox that were deemed misogynistic by Ofcom. Wootton, who was suspended in September over the incident, said he is launching an independent platform, criticizing Ofcom as \"Ofcommunist censors.\" GB News thanked Wootton for his contribution and stated he is no longer employed by the channel." + }, + { + "article": "Simone Varga, St Columba's Hospice charity shop manager, with the doll she named Annabelle A \"creepy\" doll which terrified shoppers after it went on display in an Edinburgh charity shop has been bought by celebrity psychic Deborah Davies. The toy went viral after a picture of it in the window of the Morningside store was posted on social media. The shop put up an \"I'm not creepy\" sign and halved the price of the doll, which it named Annabelle. But now it has been bought by Deborah after the picture was shared by some of her social media followers. The star of Unexplained: Caught on Camera paid \u00a3200 for the doll from the St Columba's Hospice shop and now plans to keep it at her home in Cheshire. Deborah Davies has now received the doll at her home in Cheshire \"This doll will be with me under 24 hour surveillance,\" she told BBC Scotland News. \"I'm actually going to keep it at my home, which I normally never do. I keep all my dolls in my office.\" Deborah has about 70 dolls - some costing as much as \u00a310,000 each - but she said Annabelle would be the most special because of the feeling it gave her. She said she planned to speak to the doll and carry out an \"investigation\" because she believed it had a human soul attached to it. Deborah, who starred in two series of The Real Housewives of Cheshire, said she had decided to keep the name Annabelle. Sorry, we're having trouble displaying this content. View original content on Facebook The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Facebook content may contain adverts. Simone Varga, St Columba's Hospice charity shop manager, said one of her volunteers had originally donated the doll because she was moving away from Edinburgh. \"When I opened the box I saw its creepy long legs and real shoes and then saw its eyes had pupils and its nails had the white bits on it. I thought it looked very human,\" she said. \"Then I saw on the back of its neck that it was an Ashton-Drake Galleries doll, which are very expensive, so I priced it and put it in the window. \"But when everyone on social media started saying it was creepy, menacing and freaking out about it I thought it's not going to sell so I put the price down and put a sign on it saying: 'I'm not creepy.\" The price of the doll was reduced from \u00a3180 to \u00a390. Simone Varga put a note on the doll in the window saying 'I am not creepy' As the days went by, Ms Varga started wondering if the doll would come alive. \"It's been terrible, my mind started running away,\" she said. \"I kept thinking the shop door bell would ring and the doll would be standing there, so I kept looking over my shoulder.\" When she received a call from Deborah asking to buy the doll, and offering to pay more than the original price, she was overjoyed. \"It's been absolutely mental all this,\" she added. Ewa Well, 41, a customer who lives in Ratho, said she thought the doll was a real child when she entered the shop with her mother, Alice Drabarczyk. \"I had to have a peek closer because I thought it was real,\" Ms Well said. Alice Drabarczyk with her daughter Ewa Well with the doll Mrs Drabarczyk, 74, who is on holiday from Warsaw in Poland, said: \"I remember having a special dress my uncle had sent me when I was seven from Bedford in England exactly the same as the one on this doll. \"I like the doll but I like old fashioned things. The face is too grey for a child though.\" Another customer, 72-year-old Phil Canale, said: \"It looks like something from an American film that could come alive. I wouldn't have it in my house.\" Arne Strid, 82, from Morningside, added: \"When I first saw the doll I thought it was striking and a bit creepy. \"It made me stop in my tracks then I saw the price and thought it must be special.\" Ann Jones, 74, a customer, said: \"It looks a bit different and makes me want to know how old it is. I think it has nice eyes and hair and looks cheery.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A \"creepy\" doll that went viral after being displayed in an Edinburgh charity shop has been bought by celebrity psychic Deborah Davies for \u00a3200. The doll, named Annabelle, was initially feared by shoppers and featured in the window of the St Columba's Hospice shop, prompting the addition of an \"I'm not creepy\" sign and a price reduction. Davies, known for her appearances on Unexplained: Caught on Camera, plans to keep the doll at her home in Cheshire and conduct an \"investigation\" into its potential human soul attachment." + }, + { + "article": "Many have packed up their belongings and fled the Haitian capital (file photo) As the passengers from Port-au-Prince disembark at the bus terminal in Cap-Haitien, the harrowing journey is evident on their faces. The trip out of the beleaguered Haitian capital city involves running the gauntlet along risky and dangerous roads, trying to avoid gunmen and sporadic violence along the way. \"It took us several hours longer than it should as we had to reroute from the gang checkpoints along the way and there was gunfire\", says one passenger, who didn't give his name and was clearly shaken by the experience. Haiti's already precarious situation has quickly deteriorated over the past weeks as gangs launched co-ordinated attacks on key facilities, forcing the resignation of the country's prime minister. In total, more than 360,000 people have been internally displaced. To seek refuge from the chaos, many have come to Cap-Haitien, a coastal city in the north of Haiti. In truth, Cap-Haitien suffers from almost all of Haiti's deepest problems: grinding poverty, chaos, disorder and corruption. But crucially, not gang violence. As such, it's fast becoming the country's main safe haven for people forced to leave their homes. Phanel Pierre made the same treacherous bus journey six months ago. It's almost impossible to pull yourself from poverty in Haiti. Somehow, through years of hard graft creating an import business for construction materials, Phanel managed it. But becoming a middle-class businessman also made him a target for the gangs. They destroyed his business, ransacked his house and tried to kidnap him. In doing so, they plunged him and his family back into poverty. Phanel and his family once lived in a seven-room home in Port-au-Prince The 53-year-old shows us the tiny breezeblock shack he shares with his wife, his two youngest children and his mother-in-law. It is a far cry from the seven-room home he built in Port-au-Prince. \"This is just 2% of the life I used to live,\" he laments. \"In fact, I'm not living, I'm just existing.\" He pulls up a photograph of a younger, healthier-looking version of himself from a few years ago on his phone. The stress has affected his health, he says, and his children haven't been able to enrol in school in their new city. After the gangs took so much from him, Phanel is an advocate for an extreme solution to the country's security problem. \"We need a long-term intervention. Not just one or two thousand police\", he says, referring the planned deployment of a 1,000-strong Kenyan-led security force in Haiti. Rather, he thinks the solution will involve tens of thousands of personnel over a period of years. He heralded the hard-line anti-gang strategy of El Salvador's President, Nayib Bukele, as a blueprint for Haiti. Still, even if Phanel got his wish, the task to restabilise Haiti is daunting. One of Haiti's most powerful gangs, Unite Village de Dieu, has released a slickly produced but terrifying video, currently circulating online. It shows a well-armed militia, dressed in black combat gear, prepared to take on the Haitian state and any international force which might be deployed here. Little wonder the number of internally displaced people is rising. While Haiti's security situation is that of a failed state, so are its politics. Youri Latortue was the head of the Senate and is currently under US sanctions for alleged links to drug trafficking and armed criminal gangs. Youri Latortue was formerly President of the Senate in Haiti In a leaked cable from the US ambassador some years ago, Mr Latortue was described as \"one of the most brazenly corrupt leading Haitian politicians\" - an ignominious title which he robustly denies. Rather, he points the finger of blame at the outgoing administration of the recently deposed prime minister, Ariel Henry. \"We have anarchy because the gangs have become another institution of the state,\" he says. \"The government works with the gangs\", he adds bluntly. \"This is the problem. During the past three or four years, the government has always, always worked with the gangs. So, the police can't do anything.\" I put it to him that he is accused of the same thing. Indeed, of worse: trafficking cocaine from Colombia to Haiti. He shrugged the allegation off and instead issued a warning to Washington. \"Don't come and try to do everything,\" he says, recalling the mishandled global response to the devastating 2010 earthquake. \"We need help from outside, from the international community. But Haitians themselves must do the big effort. Let's work together.\" Mr Latortue thinks the US, Canada, France and others need to talk to politicians not aligned to the previous administration to find a route out of the current mess. A route out of the mess also what Brian Kontz was looking for. Brian Kontz left Haiti on a charter flight for Americans trapped in the country Mr Kontz said he hasn't been frightened these past few weeks as he worked as an agricultural scientist in the north of the country. But, sitting in the departures lounge of Cap-Haitien's international airport shortly before boarding a charter flight to Florida organised for Americans stuck in Haiti by the US State Department, he said it was time to leave. \"Two weeks ago, when my flight was suddenly cancelled,\" Mr Kontz explains, \"that flight had been scheduled more than a month early. So, I have work to get back to the US\". He had been looking at other routes, including with church missionary flights, when the State Department announced its charter. \"But this is not an emergency for me,\" he explains. Flying out of Haiti is a luxury, of course, which isn't extended to millions of Haitians for whom the situation is most certainly an emergency. In fact, it's Haiti's biggest humanitarian emergency in many years. Yet aid is still only trickling in. Getting into a country mired in crisis, whose main international airport and land crossings remain closed, is presenting huge challenges for those who would help. Hunger in Haiti is worsening. Hundreds of thousands are facing famine-like conditions unless there is a massive and co-ordinated response soon. At the border with the Dominican Republic, there are huge tailbacks of traders who can cross into the neighbouring nation for the day to buy urgently needed supplies, even if they must physically carry them into Haiti.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The situation in Haiti has significantly worsened as gangs have forced over 360,000 people to flee their homes, with many seeking refuge in the city of Cap-Haitien, which is relatively free from gang violence. The country's prime minister resigned due to the escalating violence, and residents like Phanel Pierre have lost everything, advocating for a large-scale international intervention to address the security crisis. Amidst political instability and a failing state, aid is struggling to reach those in need, with hunger reaching critical levels." + }, + { + "article": "Ms Begum was 15 when she joined Islamic State group in 2015 Shamima Begum has lost an appeal against a decision to revoke her UK citizenship. The Court of Appeal ruling means the 24-year-old must remain in Syria. The government stripped her citizenship on national security grounds in 2019. Ms Begum left London nine years ago aged 15 to travel to Syria and join Islamic State group, or IS. The ruling by three appeal judges was unanimous. It could still be challenged in the Supreme Court by Ms Begum. Her solicitor Daniel Furner said that her legal team was \"not going to stop fighting until she does get justice and until she is safely back home\". However the judges wholly dismissed all of Ms Begum's arguments - a highly significant rejection that could affect her ability to gain a full appeal at the Supreme Court. Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said: \"It could be argued the decision in Ms Begum's case was harsh. It could also be argued that Ms Begum is the author of her own misfortune. \"But it is not for this court to agree or disagree with either point of view. \"Our only task is to assess whether the deprivation decision was unlawful. We have concluded it was not, and the appeal is dismissed.\" Ms Begum's lawyers went to the Court of Appeal after losing a hearing last year. They argued that the Home Office's decision to remove her citizenship was unlawful, in part because British officials failed to properly consider whether she was a potential victim of trafficking. In that hearing Sir James Eadie KC, for the Home Office, said the \"key feature\" in the case was national security. \"The fact that someone is radicalised, and may have been manipulated, is not inconsistent with the assessment that they pose a national security risk,\" he said. The Court of Appeal ruling represents a substantial victory for the government and averts a potential legal crisis: were the decision to be reversed, home secretaries would in future need to balance national security considerations with questions of whether someone was a victim. Responding to the court's decision, the Home Office said it was \"pleased\" at Friday's ruling, adding that its \"priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK\". A spokeswoman for the prime minister said the government would \"always take the strongest possible action to protect our national security\", adding that it never took decisions to remove citizenship lightly. Outside court, however, Ms Begum's solicitors said that it was very likely they would ask the Supreme Court to get involved. A response however could take up to a year. Gareth Peirce, of Ms Begum's legal team, said the UK was under a moral duty to take Ms Begum back, as other nations had with citizens found in Syria. Begum (right) as she left London for Syria with two friends Ms Begum, born in the UK to parents of Bangladeshi heritage, was one of three east London girls who travelled to Syria in 2015 to support the IS group. She left with her friends Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase. Ms Sultana is thought to have died when a house was blown up. The fate of Ms Abase is unknown. Ms Begum lived under IS rule for more than three years. She married a Dutch member of IS, who is currently held in a Kurdish detention centre, and lived in Raqqa, once a stronghold of the group. She had three children, all of whom have died. She was found in al-Roj camp in northern Syria in 2019 following the defeat of IS, and remains there to this day. Her lawyers say conditions in the camp have reached a \"critical point\", with \"near starvation\" and disease now seen daily. \"The fact of the matter is this - that Shamima, as with other British women and children, is arbitrarily detained in a prison camp in North East Syria,\" her lawyers said in a written statement on her behalf. \"It is not a refugee camp - those detained are unable to leave and the conditions have, with ever greater urgency, been categorised by every international body as well as by the UK courts in Shamima's case itself, as constituting torture and inhuman treatment.\" Ms Begum has admitted knowingly joining a proscribed organisation. She said that she was \"ashamed\" to have done so and regretted it. The Shamima Begum Story podcast is available on BBC Sounds and a feature length documentary of the same name, is on BBC iPlayer (UK only). \u2022 None Who is Shamima Begum and how can you lose your citizenship?", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Shamima Begum, who joined the Islamic State group at age 15, has lost her appeal against the UK government's decision to revoke her citizenship. The Court of Appeal ruled that the 24-year-old must stay in Syria, stating that the deprivation decision was lawful. Begum's legal team plans to continue fighting for her return to the UK." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"Tata Steel no way, UK steel is here to stay\": Hundreds protest steel job losses Hundreds of people have taken to the streets to protest at the proposed loss of thousands of steel jobs. Tata said 2,423 jobs across the UK are at risk, with 1,929 of those in Port Talbot, which employs 3,859 people. One of the firm's bosses said much of its operation at the site is at \"the end of life\" and leading to losses of \u00a31.7m a day. A protest was held in Port Talbot, while workers from the Llanwern site have marched in Newport city centre. Tata employs 917 there, with 113 jobs at risk, and about 500 people took part. Speaking at the Port Talbot rally, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said there have been almost 6,400 jobs lost in the British steel industry since 2015. \"Together our politicians have sat by and watched our steel industry be decimated,\" she said. \"They have let communities wither on the vine. They have failed us all.\" People in Port Talbot and the surrounding area were determined to have their voices heard \"Today showed that Port Talbot, Newport and south Wales - steelworkers, politicians, local businesses and community groups - are united in opposing Tata's bad deal for steel, which would be disastrous not just for communities here which have been built on steel, but for the UK as a whole,\" said Community union General Secretary Roy Rickhuss. He added: \"There is so much at stake here, and the weeks and months ahead are absolutely critical for our industry, our steel communities, and the country as a whole.\" Chairman of the multi-union committee at Port Talbot, Alan Coombs described \"uncertain times\". He added: \"Many of us are anxious about what lies ahead for Port Talbot. One thing is certain though - steelworkers will fight tooth and nail for the future of our industry and our livelihoods.\" This is not just being felt in Port Talbot, but also in south east Wales, as his counterpart in Llanwern Reg Gutteridge explained. \"Wherever you go in Gwent you will meet someone with a connection to the steel industry - from those who worked or had loved ones employed at sites like Pontymister, Ebbw Vale, Tredegar or Orb which are sadly no longer with us, or those with a connection to the proud workforce at Llanwern today,\" he said. \"Llanwern has always been a hub for skilled and well-paid local employment in our area, and is still at the cutting edge of steel technology.\" Protestors are out on the streets of Newport The protests came after unions decided to ballot members on strike action over the proposals. \"I went into the steel industry straight from school, it's all I've ever known, it's my livelihood,\" said Jason Wyatt, an electrical engineer and Unite union representative at Port Talbot. Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, he said morale among workers was \"very low\", describing proposals as the \"decimation of our industry and by connection the decimation of the community\". While he said Tata had not told workers which departments would be affected by the job cuts, the firm plans to replace existing, and heavily polluting, blast furnaces at the site with greener electric arc furnaces. It said: \"Much of our existing iron and steelmaking operation in Port Talbot is at the end of its life, is unreliable and inefficient, and contributing to losses of \u00a31.7m a day in the last quarter alone. \"Our restructuring proposals would mean that we are able to sustain the business as we transition to new electric arc furnace technology. \"We believe we have a very exciting future ahead, providing the high quality, low-CO2 steels that our customers in the UK and overseas are so desperate for.\" Its plans will see a phased closure of the site's two blast furnaces, with the first furnace and coke ovens expected to cease operation by the middle of the year. Of Tata's announced job losses, the bulk are expected to come from Port Talbot A winding down of its remaining heavy-end assets will follow in the latter half of 2024. The UK government has said it will contribute \u00a3500m towards the \u00a31.25bn cost of the electric furnace. However, Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock described this plan as \"shoddy\" and \"unacceptable\". Port Talbot workers have described the steelworkers as at the heart of the local community Describing the steel industry as \"the beating heart of our economy and community\", he said: \"The deal that's been done is not the right one because it doesn't work in terms of decarbonisation. \"It involves importing (instead) millions of tonnes of steel from India where the steel production process is a lot more dirty and carbon intensive than it is in the UK.\" While he agreed one blast furnace and the coke ovens were reaching their \"end of life\", blast furnace four has \"lots of life left\". But Conservative Welsh Secretary David TC Davies said ministers were forced to \"choose between 3,000 people losing their jobs and 17,500 people losing their jobs\" in giving their backing to the changes. The UK government said it would help staff at a \"concerning time for Tata's employees\", adding it had committed \u00a380m in direct support for those affected. The Welsh government has called for further talks on a longer transition at Port Talbot to protect jobs.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Hundreds of people protested against the proposed loss of thousands of steel jobs in the UK, with Tata Steel planning to cut 2,423 positions, including 1,929 in Port Talbot. Unions are balloting members for strike action, and while the UK government has pledged \u00a3500m towards greener technology, critics argue the plan doesn't support decarbonization and could lead to job losses." + }, + { + "article": "Research shows that two thirds of women between the ages of 40 and 60 experienced menopausal symptoms at work Menopause symptoms can be considered a disability and employers face being sued if they do not make \"reasonable adjustments\", a watchdog has said. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued the guidance to clarify the legal obligations to workers going through the menopause. The EHRC said bosses should offer changes such as providing rest areas or flexible hours to help. Relaxing uniform policies to allow women to wear cooler clothes could also help. Menopause marks the end of a woman's menstrual cycle, and usually happens in her 40s or 50s. Failing to make \"reasonable adjustments\" amounts to disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 if the symptoms have a \"long-term and substantial impact\" on a woman's ability to carry out their usual day-to-day activities, the EHRC said. A video explaining the guidance says: \"The costs of failing to make workplace adjustments for staff can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds when taking into account the loss of talent and costs of defending a claim.\" The EHRC cited research showing that one in 10 women surveyed who worked during their menopause were forced to leave their job due to the symptoms. Two-thirds of women between the ages of 40 and 60 experienced menopausal symptoms at work, which largely had a negative impact. Very few asked for adjustments during this time because they were concerned about the potential reaction, it added. The EHRC adds that taking disciplinary action against women for a menopause related-absence could amount to discrimination, and that language that ridicules someone's symptoms could constitute harassment. EHRC chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner said the watchdog was \"concerned both by how many women report being forced out of a role due to their menopause-related symptoms, and how many don't feel safe enough to request the workplace adjustments\". She added that employers \"may not fully understand their responsibility to protect their staff going through the menopause\", and that the new guidance had been issued to provide advice on how they can support their staff. Women's health campaigner and author of Everything you need to know about the menopause (but were too afraid to ask) Kate Muir said the announcement was a \"side alley\" in the wider conversation around menopause. \"It's not a disability,\" she told the BBC's Today programme. \"It's something every woman goes through and legislation is not going to give you your missing hormones back.\" Ms Muir said the main focus should be promoting \"menopause education\" to inform women about \"safer kinds of HRT which mean they don't need to have symptoms at all\". She argued the NHS should give women a \"proper consultation\" when they go through menopause, as she said \"good HRT\" protects against cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. \"Those are the messages we should be getting out to women so they can work, be powerful and go through this stage and be happy,\" she added.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has warned that menopause symptoms can be considered a disability, and employers could face legal action if they do not make adjustments for affected employees, such as providing rest areas or flexible working hours. Research shows that two-thirds of women between 40 and 60 experience menopausal symptoms at work, with one in 10 forced to leave their job due to the impact. The EHRC's guidance aims to clarify employers' legal obligations and prevent disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010." + }, + { + "article": "The two defendants deny fraudulently buying and reselling tickets for gigs, including Ed Sheeran performances \"Greed and dishonesty\" motivated a ticket tout firm that \"exploited\" music lovers out of more than \u00a36.5m, a court has been told. TQ Tickets Ltd used multiple identities to buy tickets for artists such as Ed Sheeran and Little Mix, before selling them on secondary ticket sites, prosecutors said. Mark Woods, 59, and Lynda Chenery, 51, of Dickleburgh, Norfolk, each deny three counts of fraudulent trading. Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court the firm sold about \u00a36.5m in tickets between June 2015 and December 2017 on sites such as Viagogo. The firm bought 47,000 tickets during that period using 127 names and 187 different email addresses, he said. \"What this case is about is greed and dishonesty. The two defendants were ticket touts,\" he \"They were part of a dishonest scheme that, over a number of years, exploited the love and passion that many of us have for our favourite pop bands, our favourite artists - people like Ed Sheeran and so forth.\" Leeds Crown Court was told a firm exploited the passion of music lovers like fans of girl group, Little Mix The jury was told the firm would speculatively list tickets for sale before they had sourced them, which sometimes led to fans being refused entry to venues. The prosecutor explained how, using various members of staff including \"corrupted\" students, the firm made multiple applications for tickets, sometimes using fictional identities and a range of bank and debit cards. Mr Sandiford referred to practices including \"doing a fraudie\", which involved sending customers ripped envelopes to infer that the tickets were lost-in-transit, or \"using fraud juice\", which involved the use of correcting fluid, or more sophisticated digital methods, to amend tickets. The prosecutor told jurors how the firm was originally set up as a coach company and retained a \"veneer\" of legitimacy. He said: \"That was a very thin veneer. You didn't have to probe very deep into it to see that this was a dishonest business.\" Jurors were told the defendants' partners Maria Chenery-Woods, who called herself Ticket Queen, and Paul Douglas, who referred to himself as Ticket Boy, had already admitted fraudulent trading. Mr Sandiford said Chenery-Woods \"was the driving force\" but that the two accused were also part of the \"dishonest enterprise\". The court was told, that in a message, Douglas told Chenery-Woods that the purpose of the business was to \"simply rinse consumers for as much profit as they are willing to pay\". There was \"no dispute that the fraudulent scheme exists\", Mr Sandiford added. Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 0800 169 1830 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Two defendants, Mark Woods and Lynda Chenery, deny fraudulent trading charges for allegedly using multiple identities to buy and resell tickets, including for Ed Sheeran concerts, through their company TQ Tickets Ltd, which made \u00a36.5m between 2015 and 2017. The prosecution claims the firm exploited music fans' passion with greed and dishonest practices, such as speculative ticket listings and fraudulent tactics to obtain and resell tickets." + }, + { + "article": "A boy holds a sign to protest against the kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolchildren this week Nigeria's spate of abductions worsened on Saturday as more than a dozen students and four women were kidnapped from a school in Gada, Sokoto. Local MP Bashir Usman Gorau told the BBC that 15 students were among those kidnapped early in the morning. Meanwhile, the army is still searching for hundreds of schoolchildren taken in the western town of Kuriga on Thursday. In an update, the state governor Uba Sani told the BBC that at least 28 of these children had escaped. Thursday's kidnapping - which saw 280 students taken - was the biggest mass abduction from a school since 2021. Gangs of armed men on motorbikes took primary and secondary school children between the ages of eight and 15, school authorities and parents said. Nigerian troops are working with police and local search teams to comb forests within the state of Kaduna, where Kuriga is located, as well as neighbouring states. Almost every family in the town is thought to have a child among those kidnapped. One pupil, believed to be 14 years old, who had been shot by the gunmen and was being treated in hospital, has since died. The kidnappings followed women and children taken from a remote town in Borno state the day before. Mr Sani said the lack of boots on the ground was the main reason for the rise in kidnappings in the area. Families of the abducted children have formed vigilante groups and are seeking help from neighbouring communities on the whereabouts of the children. Nigeria's Vice President Kashim Shettima is visiting Kaduna and is due to meet the governor. President Bola Tinubu said on social media he was confident the victims will be rescued. He tweeted: \"Nothing else is acceptable to me and the waiting family members of these abducted citizens. Justice will be decisively administered.\" The Kaduna mass abduction has evoked memories of the nearly 300 girls in Nigeria's north-eastern town of Chibok in 2014. In parts of northern Nigeria, parents fear for their children's safety and are wary of allowing them to go to school. As a result, thousands of children are not attending school. The last major abduction of children in Kaduna was in July 2021 when gunmen took more than 150 students. They were re-united months later after their families paid ransoms. But in 2022, Nigeria passed a law banning ransom payments to kidnappers and imposed a 15-year jail term for making them. It also made abduction punishable by death in cases where victims die.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "In Nigeria, over a dozen students and four women were kidnapped from a school in Gada, Sokoto, adding to the country's spate of abductions. This comes after 280 schoolchildren were taken in Kuriga on Thursday, with at least 28 escaping. The military is searching for the captives, and the Kaduna mass abduction has drawn comparisons to the 2014 Chibok girls kidnapping." + }, + { + "article": "The ship belongs to Spanish charity Open Arms, and will be carrying food provided by US charity World Central Kitchen A ship carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid is expected to set sail this weekend, bound for Gaza. The Spanish vessel, Open Arms, is scheduled to depart from Cyprus - the closest EU country to Gaza - and hopes to use a newly opened shipping route. With no functioning port and shallow waters, it is still unclear where the ship will dock when it reaches Gaza. The UN says a quarter of the Strip's population is on the brink of famine and children are starving to death. The ship, expected to reach Gaza in the next few days, belongs to the Spanish charity of the same name, Open Arms. It docked three weeks ago in Larnaca and will tow a barge loaded with items provided by US charity World Central Kitchen, Open Arms founder Oscar Camps told the Associated Press. Open Arms said Israeli authorities have started inspecting the cargo of \"200 tonnes of basic foodstuffs, rice and flour, cans of tuna\". Laura Lanuza told AFP news agency the vessel could embark \"today or tomorrow\" depending on all the \"authorisations and permits, and when we get them\". The ship will take around two to three days to reach an undisclosed location off the coast of Gaza, Mr Camps said. He added that the final mile of the journey - which is about 216 nautical miles in total - would be \"the most complicated operation\", but added that he was not \"concerned at all about security\". At the destination point, a team from the World Central Kitchen has been building a pier to receive the aid, he said. The group has 60 kitchens throughout Gaza, where it will be able to distribute the food. \"What initially appeared as an insurmountable challenge is now on the verge of realization,\" read a post on Open Arms' X account. \"Our tugboat stands prepared to embark at a moment's notice, laden with tons of food, water, and vital supplies for Palestinian civilians.\" World Central Kitchen said its team had been waiting for a sea corridor to open to be able to scale up its efforts in Gaza World Central Kitchen said it had been preparing for the aid trip for weeks, waiting for the shipping route to open. The maritime corridor was announced by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Friday, while she was in Cyprus. That came a day after President Joe Biden announced that the US plans to build a temporary floating port to Gaza's shoreline. The Pentagon later said it would take up to 60 days to complete and need about 1,000 troops to build - none of whom would go ashore. The port will be able to receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters, US officials said. Initial shipments will arrive via Cyprus, where Israeli security inspections will take place. A Pentagon spokesman said the pier could help to deliver up to 2 million meals every day. It is unclear whether, or how, the US' temporary pier and the EU's sea corridor will work together, as neither Mr Biden nor Ms Von der Leyen mentioned the other's plans. On Saturday afternoon, the US said it dropped 41,400 \"meal equivalents\" and 23,000 bottles of water into northern Gaza as it said more aerial deliveries were planned. Getting aid into the Gaza Strip has been increasingly difficult and dangerous - the World Food Programme paused its deliveries to northern Gaza last month, after its convoys endured \"complete chaos and violence\", the organisation said. With land deliveries near impossible, several nations have turned to air drops, but the situation in Gaza is so dire, the drops are an inefficient way of getting supplies to people. On Friday there were reports that five people had been killed by a falling aid package, when its parachute failed to open properly. Israel's military launched an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip after Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage. More than 30,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says. The conflict has created a growing humanitarian crisis, and the UN has warned that famine in Gaza is \"almost inevitable\". At least 576,000 people across the Gaza Strip - one quarter of the population - are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity and one in six children under the age of two in the north are suffering from acute malnutrition, a senior UN aid official warned last week. Save the Children welcomed the recent international efforts to provide more aid into Gaza, but said children there \"cannot wait\" for the time it may take to build a temporary port to eat. \"They are already dying from malnutrition and saving their lives is a matter of hours or days - not weeks,\" the charity said in a statement. Doctors Without Borders said the US plan for a temporary pier was a \"glaring distraction from the real problem\", urging Israel to facilitate the flow of supplies.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A Spanish charity ship, Open Arms, carrying humanitarian aid provided by US charity World Central Kitchen, is set to sail from Cyprus to Gaza to deliver food amidst a severe crisis. The ship will face challenges in docking due to Gaza's port conditions, and a newly opened shipping route and a temporary floating port planned by the US aim to facilitate aid delivery, though details on their coordination remain unclear. The situation in Gaza is dire, with the UN warning of impending famine and thousands facing food insecurity." + }, + { + "article": "Schauffele won the Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021 -17 X Schauffele (US); -16 W Clark (US); -15 B Harman (US); -13 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) M McNealy (US) Selected: -12 S Theegala (US), S Scheffler (US); -11 N Lashley (US); -10 H Matsuyama (Jpn); -9 L Aberg (Swe), R McIlroy (NI) Xander Schauffele produced a stunning bogey-free third round to open a one-shot lead heading into Sunday's finale of the 50th Players Championship. The American hit seven birdies in a 65 that saw him overhaul halfway leader Wyndham Clark's four-shot advantage and finish on 17 under par at Sawgrass. Clark is 16 under after a scrappy 70 while Open champion Brian Harman is 15 under after a superb 64. Matt Fitzpatrick had six birdies in his final 10 holes to get to 13 under. No English player has won the PGA Tour's flagship event but the 2022 US Open champion had a sensational back nine to keep himself in contention. \"I am massively proud and really really happy,\" Fitzpatrick said on Sky Sports. His challenge looked to be fading on the front nine after he dropped two shots on the par-four fourth for the second successive day and a bogey on the sixth meant he slipped to seven under. But birdies on the ninth and 10th holes lifted the Yorkshireman and he knocked in four more in his closing five holes. \"I have been trying to work on my attitude this week and I knew I have been playing well over the past two days. That helped me as I felt like could turn it around,\" he added. On how he will approach the final day, he joked: \"If I can play better on the fourth hole, that will probably be a good start.\" Scottie Scheffler is also still in with a shout of becoming the first player to win successive Players titles, carding a four-under 68 to be a shot behind Fitzpatrick, despite playing with a neck injury. The world number one, who took the unusual step of having physio during Friday's second round, played with tape on his neck in round three and looked in discomfort at various points. \"I was proud of how I battled,\" said the American who finished his round with a hat-trick of birdies. And when asked if he thought the injury would hamper his chances of competing at next month's Masters, the first major of the season, he replied: \"I don't think so. When it's happened to me before, it's usually been back to normal in a few days.\" Number two-ranked Rory McIlroy also closed on a high with three successive birdies as he posted a 69 that lifted him to nine under par. Nobody in the field has recorded more than McIlroy's 21 birdies over the opening three rounds but he again struggled for consistency, with a scruffy double bogey on the par-four 14th stalling the momentum of back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th. But, like his Ryder Cup team-mate Ludvig Aberg, who shot a 67 to also reach nine under, McIlroy will need the leaders to come back to him to have any chance of adding to his 2019 Players victory. US Open champion Clark was imperious on the opening two days, hitting successive 65s to reach 14 under par but Schauffele had caught him by the 12th. \"It's moving day so I figured I'd better get moving,\" said Schauffele who was joint runner-up in 2018. \"I had a few sketchy moments scrambling towards the end but I am really happy.\" He holed six birdies in his opening dozen holes to go level with Clark who scrambled a par on the 12th after hitting his tee shot into water. But Schuaffele moved clear when he knocked in a 58-footer for his seventh birdie on the 14th. Clark responded with a 30-foot birdie on the par-five 16th to join Schauffele on 17 under but he then duffed his shot to the par-three 17th, his ball plunging into the water well short of the green. He hit his third shot to seven feet and escaped with a bogey. \"I weathered the storm,\" said the American who was ranked outside of the top 100 in the world this time last year. \"I didn't have my best day but I am still in the final group going into Sunday.\" The pair will be hunted by Harman, who knows how to win big championships after romping to a six-shot victory at last year's Open at Royal Liverpool. The left hander quietly plotted his way round the iconic Florida course, with precision irons and solid putting helping lift him to third. And after starting the week with a level-par 72, he will feel he has momentum on his side, having picked up 15 shots in his past 36 holes. Follow live radio and text commentary of Sunday's final round from 17:00 GMT on the BBC Sport website.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Xander Schauffele took a one-shot lead at the Players Championship with a bogey-free third round, finishing on 17 under par, while Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman are close behind. Matt Fitzpatrick's strong back nine kept him in contention, and Scottie Scheffler, despite a neck injury, remains in the hunt for successive titles." + }, + { + "article": "City Hall said time is needed to assess the latest data before it is released Sadiq Khan has been accused of concealing the real impact of expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) from voters ahead of the mayoral election. The zone was extended to outer London six months ago but Londoners will not see data on its effect on air quality before the May vote. The Conservatives claimed he is hiding figures likely to show a negligible impact on pollution. A spokesman for the mayor said it took time to \"properly assess\" the data. The Liberal Democrats say Mr Khan is misleading Londoners by attributing benefits to Ulez that have come from other measures. In a new report, the mayor claimed that since he was elected in 2016, air quality had improved faster in London than the rest of the country - with Ulez a big factor. Mr Khan said he had cut nitrogen dioxide pollution in half and achieved the lowest annual levels on record - although the figures for a lot of the year were provisional. But the Lib Dems said the report showed most of the improvements came before Ulez and resulted from cleaner lorries, modernising the capital's bus and taxi fleets, and people naturally replacing older, more polluting vehicles. An emissions levy called the T-charge was introduced in 2017, buses had to comply with a separate Low Emission Zone by 2016 and the regulations on lorries were tightened in both 2012 and 2021. Lib Dem mayoral candidate Rob Blackie said the report showed that in 2016-17 there was a 77% drop in the number of hours where roadside monitoring sites picked up high levels of nitrogen dioxide, and the reduction tailed off after that. But City Hall said the monthly average nitrogen dioxide roadside concentrations came down sharply after that time thanks to Mr Khan's policies including improvements in the bus fleet and preparations for Ulez. Mr Blackie said: \"The mayor is making claims that are misleading, by confusing the impact of the Ulez with other policies and longer-term trends towards cleaner cars. \"He has admitted that proper studies of the impact of Ulez won't be published before the election. \"The mayor can't have his cake and eat it. The data on the impact hasn't been published - so he can't take credit for it.\" A spokesman for the mayor confirmed the first assessment of the effect of Ulez - expanded to outer London - would come after the election. \"There has always been a gap between the launch of a scheme and the publication of a corresponding evaluation report,\" he said. \"For example, there was a nine-month period between the inner Ulez London expansion (October 2021) and the publication of the six-month on report (July 2022).\" The figures are likely to show a negligible impact on pollution, the Conservatives say Without having access to comparisons of air quality before and after expansion, voters are left with official forecasts. The key study carried out by consultants Jacobs in 2022 found that extending Ulez to outer London would have a \"minor\" impact on exposure to nitrogen dioxide pollution and a \"negligible\" impact on carbon emissions, one of the main agents of climate change. Introducing Ulez to central and inner London reduced pollution in outer London well below legal limits - leading critics to question why it needed to be expanded. The study said there would be a \"moderate\" reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel vehicles, and the health impacts were forecast to be small. Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall said Mr Khan had \"decided to hide\" the true impact until after the election. \"He was told from the beginning that it would have a negligible effect on air quality, but he didn't listen,\" she said. \"It is a joke but no-one is laughing. I will listen to Londoners and scrap Ulez expansion on day one.\" The plan to extend Ulez was not in Mr Khan's 2019 manifesto and proved controversial. Ahead of Ulez's implementation in August 2023, it prompted objections from some Labour MPs, a failed High Court challenge from five local councils and was held responsible for Labour's failure to win the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election last summer. The plan to extend Ulez was not in Mr Khan's 2019 manifesto The latest report from the mayor says 360 tonnes of nitrogen oxide emissions were eliminated by the Ulez expansion, equating to the annual emissions of commercial shipping on the River Thames, or a combination of the emissions of small private boats, rail transport in London and accidental fires. Mr Khan also announced a fund of \u00a35m for 17 borough-led projects to improve London's air quality in local communities. Zoe Garbett, the Greens' mayoral candidate, said: \"The mayor continues to build road projects that damage air quality, like the Silvertown Tunnel in east London. \"More traffic and more pollution damages people's health, and we cannot force more damage on to some communities while improving things for others.\" Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been accused of withholding data on the impact of expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) until after the mayoral election, with the Conservatives claiming he is hiding potentially insignificant pollution reduction figures. A City Hall spokesperson says time is needed to properly assess the data, while the Liberal Democrats argue that most air quality improvements came from other measures, not the Ulez expansion." + }, + { + "article": "Jannik Sinner is the youngest player to win the Australian Open men's title since Novak Djokovic in 2008 Jannik Sinner landed the Grand Slam title he has long promised with an extraordinary fightback to beat Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final. Italy's Sinner, 22, trailed by two sets before recovering to win 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 in his first major final. Fourth seed Sinner initially could not cope with the Russian's pace but imposed himself as the contest wore on. It was another bitter experience for Medvedev, who also blew a two-set lead against Rafael Nadal in the 2022 final. A first-time champion in Melbourne was guaranteed after Sinner knocked out 10-time winner Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. Sinner ensured his name goes on the trophy - fulfilling the talent that many had predicted would lead to a Grand Slam triumph - after an courageous comeback in a match lasting almost four hours. \"It feels great. I just have to process it, I guess, how it feels the first time,\" Sinner told Australia's Channel Nine. \"It has been a hell of a journey even if I'm still only 22.\" Third seed Medvedev, 27, has lost five of his six major finals, including ones against Djokovic in 2021 and Nadal in 2022 at Melbourne Park. Sinner clinched victory with a forehand winner down the line, falling to his back on the baseline in celebration. Medvedev trudged around the net to offer his congratulations before Sinner thumped his heart on his way to celebrate with his team. Looking disconsolate as he tried to process the loss while sitting on his chair, Medvedev managed to give a thumbs-up to the crowd when they applauded his efforts. \"It hurts to lose in the final but probably being in the final is better than losing before,\" said Medvedev, who set a record for the most time spent on court at a Grand Slam tournament with 24 hours and 17 minutes. \"I always want to win and I guess I have to try harder next time.\" Sinner won the first Australian Open men's final since 2005 which did not feature Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic Sinner was brought to the forefront of conversation when discussing Grand Slam champions in 2024 following a stunning end to last season. A ceiling-breaking ATP 1000 title in Toronto, significant wins over the very best players and inspiring Italy to Davis Cup victory all increased the belief he would go on to greater things this season. Sinner has managed to do exactly that in the first major tournament of the year. Throughout this fortnight Sinner has shown an added confidence that this could be his time and did not drop a set until facing Djokovic. By taking out Djokovic, the Italian answered the question which had long been posed: why could the younger generation not topple the Serb in Melbourne? Once he managed that, Sinner's next challenge was backing up a memorable victory with another against Medvedev. Sinner had insisted he knew the job was not finished by beating Djokovic. He demonstrated his mental fortitude by refusing to accept he was beaten - even in such a perilous position - and continued to trust in his powerful groundstrokes. With Medvedev's stamina fading, Sinner picked up the pace and accuracy of his returns, cracking 28 winners in the final two sets. \"The match was going so fast in the first two sets,\" said Sinner, who was backed by a large Italian contingent on Rod Laver Arena. \"I had zero chance to play at this level but I was looking for just the small chances. I managed to break him and then win one set at a time, one game at a time.\" Medvedev is the first player to lose two Grand Slam finals after winning the opening two sets So many players with the experience of a Grand Slam final have talked about how different the occasion can be, particularly if it is the first time, and potentially overwhelming. Medvedev, whose sole major triumph came at the 2021 US Open, hoped his greater experience in these situations would tell against Sinner. While Sinner did not appear to be hampered by nerves, Medvedev simply suffocated him with an attacking approach in the opening two sets which proved to be a smart strategy. Ultimately, the change in his fortunes boiled down to endurance - and perhaps some mental scars from the defeat by Nadal on the same stage. Medvedev had spent almost six hours more on court over the Melbourne fortnight than his younger opponent. Three times he had to outlast his opponents in five-set matches and twice fought back from two sets down, including a remarkable semi-final against German sixth seed Alexander Zverev. Before the final, Medvedev spoke about Sinner having the physical advantage and knew he would have to make a fast start to maximise his chances. However, he was unable to maintain the ferocity and depth of his groundstrokes, looking increasingly weary as Sinner fought back. \"I got a little tired physically. But I was trying to be proud of myself and I am,\" said Medvedev. \"I was fighting, I was running. I thought 'if tomorrow I don't feel my legs it doesn't matter, I'm going to try everything I can until the last point' and I did it. Another five-setter on Sunday meant Medvedev surpassed the previous record for time spent on court at a single Grand Slam tournament, which had been the 23 hours and 39 minutes Spain's Carlos Alcaraz spent on his way to his 2022 US Open title. After losing to Nadal, Medvedev started his post-match news conference with a sombre monologue where he said he had \"stopped dreaming\". This time, he struck a more upbeat tone and even managed to joke about his time on court. \"At least I got a record in something. I'm in the history books,\" he said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Jannik Sinner, 22, became the youngest player to win the Australian Open men's title since Novak Djokovic in 2008, defeating Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling five-set final. Sinner, Italy's fourth seed, overcame a two-set deficit to win 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3, denying Medvedev, who lost his fifth major final. Sinner's victory marked his first Grand Slam title and ended a 10-year reign of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Djokovic in the Australian Open final." + }, + { + "article": "Dani Alves has been in prison for more than a year since being accused of forcing a woman to have sex with him Former Barcelona and Brazil football player Dani Alves has gone on trial in Spain accused of raping a woman in a nightclub. The 40-year-old has been in prison without bail for more than a year since the alleged incident took place in December 2022. Mr Alves could face up 12 years in prison if found guilty. He first denied having met his accuser, but later said they had had consensual sex. His trial ends on Wednesday. More than 30 people, including Dani Alves and his estranged wife, are expected to testify. The Barcelona court on Monday denied his request to suspend the trial so that he could be given more time to prepare - rejecting his claim that he had suffered a trial by media. Mr Alves's accuser was among those to give evidence on the first day of the trial - speaking from behind a screen to protect her identity. She alleges he lured her into a toilet in the VIP section of a nightclub in Barcelona, and then forced her to have sex with him. The woman's cousin and a friend, who were both with her on the night of the alleged assault, also testified on Monday. They said that Mr Alves had groped and flirted with them earlier in the evening. They also said the woman had initially been unwilling to make a complaint because she feared she would not be believed. In Spain, a claim of rape is investigated under the general accusation of sexual assault, and convictions can lead to prison sentences of four to 15 years. The public prosecutor in the case is seeking a nine-year jail term for Mr Alves, and for him to pay damages of \u20ac150,000 (\u00a3128,000) to the woman. His mother, Lucia Alves - who was at the court on Monday alongside her son - could face prosecution herself after she named her son's accuser in a social media post before the trial. That was after a court had ruled that the woman could not be identified for her protection. Mr Alves was formally charged in August and a court later decided that there was enough evidence to send him to trial. Repeated requests for him to be released on bail have been denied because the courts considered the Brazilian national a flight risk. Dani Alves is one of the most decorated footballers in history and has played for a host of top clubs including Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain. He made more than 400 appearances for Barcelona, winning six league titles and three Champions Leagues across two spells, and was also part of Brazil's 2022 World Cup squad. His most recent club, Mexican side Pumas UNAM, terminated the Brazilian's contract with immediate effect in January 2023.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Former Brazilian footballer Dani Alves is on trial in Spain for allegedly raping a woman in a nightclub, facing a possible 12-year prison sentence if found guilty. He has been in prison without bail for over a year, and despite denying the initial accusation, later admitted to consensual sex. The trial is expected to conclude on Wednesday, with over 30 witnesses, including Alves and his estranged wife, set to testify." + }, + { + "article": "Military officers and senior soldiers have said they will quit the Army in droves over new accommodation rules. Currently, military personnel are entitled to subsidised housing based on their rank, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) wants to change the rules to focus on families' needs. The plan could mean many officers will lose entitlement to larger housing. It is feared the crisis in army recruitment and retention could get worse if the new plans are implemented. The BBC has obtained testimony from more than 20 officers and their partners - in a sign of growing protest over the new policy. One said: \"Signed off before Christmas and changes to service family accommodation was one of the factors that influenced us as a childless couple\". Dozens more said they were ready to \"walk out the door\". More than 300 officers took part in a survey on social media and 78% said they would be prepared to leave if their accommodation entitlement is reduced. An online petition calling for a review of the policy has already received 18,000 signatures. The MoD will launch its New Accommodation Offer (NAO) for military personnel in March. Under the new offer, a married major with no children would be entitled to a two-bedroom property instead of a three- or four-bedroom house - leaving them with around 38% less space. A married private with three children will get a larger house - gaining around 27% more space. Rosie Bucknall, the wife of a major, said in theory it sounds like a great initiative \"but in practice it adds further stress and uncertainty for families constantly on the move\". She and her husband currently live in a three-bedroom military house, but under the new rules they would be entitled to a two-bedroom flat. Many officers and their families see it as the removal of one of the last remaining perks to deal with the unpredictability of service life - which sees many posted to different locations every few years. Most of the testimony obtained by the BBC has been given anonymously. One lieutenant colonel said: \"Based on the new accommodation model, we have decided that remaining in service is no longer a tenable situation for us\". Another lieutenant colonel said: \"I have started to consider leaving since the announcement of this policy. It's the removal of another perk, and the pros no longer outweigh the cons.\" An army captain said: \"I could conceive of no single policy better placed to drive quality officers out of the service and tear the heart out of the organisation\". He added that he was planning to resign within the next two years, saying: \"Anecdotally, most of my peers are also now planning to leave on varying but similar timetables\". Among those affected include many experienced soldiers who've been commissioned as officers after rising through the ranks. One said: \"Joined at 16, given my adult life and had real aspirations to be a lifer\u2026 but I feel as though the aspirations I had have been taken away from me by this policy, it feels like a punishment\". He said that several of his cohort were also now considering leaving the Army. Several officers and their wives said the new accommodation policy would also have a devastating impact on family life, with grown-up children now no longer being able to return to a place to call home. One officer said: \"I have a boy and girl just over the age of 18. Knowing I'd be allocated a three-bedroom house meant we could still get a family home. This policy changes it.\" The wife of another officer said the policy would make life harder as they had children with special needs and needed the extra space - with parents often visiting to help out. In a statement the MoD said the NAO \"will make provision fairer through allocating accommodation on need, not just rank and recognising long-term relationships\". The MoD said the new rules will also allow soldiers to access the private rental market as an alternative, but in practice any private landlord would have to agree to strict MoD terms of ending a lease at short notice. It also said there will be a three-year transition period and during that period no-one will be left worse off. But the underlying problem is a shortage of adequate military accommodation and there has been growing dissatisfaction with the state of military housing. Mrs Bucknall said the MoD's decision to commit to meeting a big increase in demand, without making changes to the supply of homes, was \"madness\". An MoD survey last year found fewer than half of personnel were satisfied with the overall standard of accommodation. More than a quarter said it was a factor influencing decisions to leave. Some families have been living in damp and poorly maintained military quarters. For many this latest policy is the final straw. Another officer wrote: \"The negative impact on our family is too much now, and sadly this is going to push us to look at leaving the military.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Many military officers and soldiers are threatening to leave the Army due to proposed changes in accommodation rules that would reduce their entitlement to larger homes, focusing instead on family needs. This has led to protests, with over 78% of surveyed officers indicating they would quit if their housing entitlement is reduced, and an online petition against the policy gathering 18,000 signatures. The Ministry of Defence plans to launch the New Accommodation Offer in March, which could exacerbate the army's recruitment and retention crisis." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Man Utd Marcus Rashford says people questioning his commitment to Manchester United need to show \"more humanity\". Rashford, 26, has scored five goals for United this season and faced criticism about perceived attitude issues. He missed United's FA Cup win over Newport, days after he was reportedly seen in nightspots in Northern Ireland. \"If you ever question my commitment to United, that's when I have to speak up,\" the England forward said in a piece for The Players' Tribune. \"It's like somebody questioning my entire identity, and everything I stand for as a man. \"I grew up here. I have played for this club since I was a boy. My family turned down life-changing money when I was a kid so I could wear this badge.\" Manchester-born Rashford came through the United youth ranks before making his first-team debut as an 18-year-old in 2016. He has gone on to make 391 appearances for the Red Devils, scoring 128 goals. Rashford finished last season with a career-best tally of 30 goals, but he has been unable to make the same impact this time around as United have struggled to build on their first campaign under manager Erik ten Hag. They sit sixth in the Premier League after 26 games. \"I can take any criticism. I can take any headline. From podcasts, social media and the papers. I can take it,\" Rashford added. \"But if you start questioning my commitment to this club and my love for football and bringing my family into it, then I'd simply ask you to have a bit more humanity.\" Rashford has faced questions about his work-rate on the pitch and criticism about his off-field conduct. In January, there were reports he had been seen in Belfast nightspots before missing training at United a day later through illness and then the Newport game. He was dropped from the starting line-up for a Carabao Cup tie against Newcastle in November because Ten Hag was unhappy at him being seen out celebrating his birthday just hours after a 3-0 defeat by rivals Manchester City. Another disciplinary measure saw Rashford put on the substitutes' bench for United's Premier League game at Wolves last season after oversleeping and being late for a team meeting. Rashford believes there is a \"tone which other footballers don't get\" in media coverage about him, putting that partly down to his high-profile child food poverty campaign which prompted a government U-turn in 2020. \"It seems like they've been waiting for me to have a human moment so they can point the finger and say, 'See? See who he really is?'\" Rashford wrote. \"Listen, I'm not a perfect person. When I make a mistake, I'll be the first one to put my hand up and say that I need to do better.\" \u2022 None Our coverage of Manchester United is bigger and better than ever before - here's everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment \u2022 None Everything United - go straight to all the best content \u2022 None Listen to the latest The Devils' Advocate podcast from BBC Radio Manchester", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Manchester United's Marcus Rashford has defended his commitment to the club, stating that criticism questioning his dedication is akin to questioning his identity, and has asked for more humanity from those making such claims. The forward, who has faced scrutiny over his performance and off-field activities, believes there is a different tone in media coverage of him due to his high-profile social campaigns, but acknowledges he is not perfect and is willing to improve." + }, + { + "article": "Sweden applied to join the military alliance after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine Sweden has officially become the 32nd member of Nato after it completed its accession process in Washington. The handover of documents took place at a ceremony two years after Sweden applied to join the military alliance following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that \"unity and solidarity\" would be Sweden's \"guiding lights\". Nato today \"is stronger than ever,\" US President Joe Biden said. \"Nato stands more united, determined, and dynamic\" the US leader said, adding that \"together with our newest ally Sweden - Nato will continue to stand for freedom and democracy for generations to come.\" \"This has been a little bit of a road but we've known from day one that we would be here one day,\" US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg posted on X that Sweden brings with it \"capable armed forces and a first-class defence industry\" and that the alliance had become \"stronger and safer\". Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky also welcomed Sweden's accession to Nato, saying \"one more country in Europe has become more protected from Russian evil.\" Russia has vowed to take unspecified political and military measures in response to Sweden's move. Sweden applied to join the defence alliance after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 - but its request was blocked by two members. Turkey initially withheld approval in a row over what it called Sweden's support to Kurdish separatists. It eventually lifted its veto in January of this year. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused Sweden of being hostile to it and delayed its approval until last week, when the Hungarian parliament eventually voted to ratify the bid. All Nato members are expected to help an ally which comes under attack. Mr Blinken recalled Sweden's 200-year policy of non-alignment which lasted until Russia invaded Ukraine, saying that Nato expansion was not \"foreordained\" or \"foreseeable\". Mr Kristersson said: \"We are humble, but we are also proud. We will live up to all expectations.\" \"We share burdens, responsibilities and risk with other allies.\" He added that security situation in the region had not been this serious since World War Two, and added that Sweden was joining Nato both to provide and to gain security. Finland formally joined in April last year, doubling the length of the alliance's border with Russia. On Monday a flag-raising ceremony to mark Sweden's accession will take place at the Nato headquarters in Brussels.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Sweden has officially joined NATO as its 32nd member, completing the accession process in Washington, two years after applying following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The move was welcomed by US President Joe Biden, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while Russia has vowed to respond with unspecified measures." + }, + { + "article": "Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, has not been seen since Wednesday Police say they believe the suspect in the Clapham chemical attack \"is being helped by others\", as they spent their sixth day trying to track him down. Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, was last seen last Wednesday, hours after an attack on a mother and her two girls with corrosive liquid in south London. A new image has been released of Ezedi, who the force now says was last seen heading to Victoria Embankment. The policing minister said \"all resources\" were being used to find him. The 31-year-old mother remains sedated in hospital and may lose her sight in her right eye following the attack on Wednesday. In an updated statement Met Cdr Jon Savell said investigations would continue to target associates of Ezedi, for whom there is a \u00a320,000 reward in place for information leading to his arrest. \"It remains our belief that he is being helped by others and yesterday we arrested a man for assisting an offender,\" he said. \"Our inquiries continue to target more of Ezedi's associates.\" Policing minister Chris Philp told BBC News that \"nobody should be harbouring this man or offering him any kind of protection\". The comments come after a 22-year-old man was arrested in London on Monday on suspicion of assisting an offender. He has since been bailed. A new court document obtained by BBC News has also revealed more details about Ezedi's previously known sexual assault and exposure convictions, to which he pleaded guilty in 2018. Ezedi had grabbed a woman's bottom without her consent in 2017, as well as exposing himself in public that same year, according to a court indictment. He was placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work when he was handed a suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court on 9 January 2018, as previously reported. Ezedi was later granted asylum after two failed attempts. He was allowed to stay in the country after a priest confirmed he had converted to Christianity. The Catholic Church covering the North East of England has previously confirmed Ezedi was a client of a charitable project it ran which \"assists a wide range of people who come to us in need\". The Met said officers from the Counter Terrorism fugitive team have traced Ezedi to a new last known location. At 21:54 GMT on Wednesday he was seen travelling along Upper Thames Street and then into Paul's Walk, near the Millennium Bridge. He then passed the City of London School before heading towards Blackfriars Bridge. His last sighting was at 22:04, passing the Unilever building and heading towards Victoria Embankment. Ezedi's previous last known location was Allhallows Lane near Southwark Bridge at 21:47. Police have issued new images in Upper Thames Street, before Ezedi headed into Paul's Walk, near the Millennium Bridge Police have two main hypotheses about Ezedi's whereabouts: that he has come to some harm; or that someone is looking after him. Detectives are trawling through hundreds of hours of CCTV from Transport for London and tracked Ezedi's movements on the Tube network via his bank card, which was last used on Wednesday, police said. They are also chasing up leads received from more than 200 calls from people who have contacted police. Police believe Ezedi, who is from the Newcastle area but believed to have travelled to the UK on a lorry from Afghanistan in 2016, is not the father of the children, aged eight and three, injured in the attack and was in the capital visiting the mother. Officers are trying to establish how long Ezedi and the woman have known each other and what sort of relationship they had. Ezedi travelled to London from Newcastle in the early hours of Wednesday before the attack happened outside a Clapham hotel in Lessar Avenue at 19:25. The mother and two girls were hurt after the substance was thrown at them. Ezedi then attempted to drive away from the scene, crashing into a stationary vehicle and fleeing on foot. Five Met Police officers were also injured as they responded to the attack, as were four members of the public who tried to help.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, is sought by police in connection with a chemical attack on a mother and her two daughters in Clapham, London. Investigators believe Ezedi is receiving assistance from others, and a man has been arrested for assisting an offender. The police are using all resources to locate Ezedi, who has a history of sexual assault and exposure convictions, and there is a \u00a320,000 reward for information leading to his arrest." + }, + { + "article": "Ruth Perry: The headteacher took her own life after an inspection downgraded her school to \"inadequate\" MPs have called for an end to single-word Ofsted judgments after school inspections. The cross-party education select committee's report also said schools should not be automatically graded \"inadequate\" for minor safeguarding concerns. But it said most in the sector still wanted \"strong accountability\" in schools. Ofsted welcomed the report and said it would respond to its recommendations. Changing one or two-word judgments - like \"inadequate\" or \"requires improvement\" - can only be done by ministers. The report said there was \"general agreement\" between school leaders, teachers, parents and others, on the need for an independent inspectorate for schools. But it said relationships with Ofsted had become \"extremely strained\" and trust was \"worryingly low\". The appointment of Sir Martyn Oliver, the new chief inspector, in January represented a \"crucial opportunity to reset and restore these relations\", the report said. The committee's inquiry ended just weeks after the conclusion of the inquest into the death of Ruth Perry, who took her own life after an Ofsted inspection at her school in November 2022. She had been head of Caversham Primary, in Reading, Berkshire, for 13 years. A coroner said the inspection, which was at times \"rude and intimidating\" and downgraded her school to the lowest rating, \"inadequate\", contributed to her death in January 2023. The school has since been regraded as \"good\". Mrs Perry's death prompted calls from across the sector for changes to Ofsted. After December's inquest, coroner Heidi Connor warned of a risk of further deaths \"unless action is taken\". Ofsted has since promised a full review of lessons to be learned and apologised fully for the first time for the role it played in Mrs Perry's suicide. Sir Martyn Oliver's appointment is a \"crucial opportunity\" to restore relations with teachers, MPs say \"We have started making changes to the way we work, but we know more must be done to address the pressures faced by school leaders and staff,\" an Ofsted spokesperson said. Mrs Perry's sister, Prof Julia Waters, welcomed the committee's report and urged the government to respond to it. Speaking to BBC 5 Live, she said one or two-word judgements were \"dangerous, misleading and simplistic.\" \"All I can say is that one word was catastrophic for my sister,\" she said. The committee's report said \"one of the most strongly criticised\" aspects of the inspection process was the one or two-word judgments handed down to schools after an inspection. It said Ofsted needed to work with the Department for Education to find an alternative. Intervention measures for schools rated \"inadequate\", including heads losing their jobs and schools being made to become academies, were adding \"further stress\" by creating a \"high-stakes\" inspection system, the report added. It recommended that those measures should not be imposed until a reinspection of schools rated inadequate for \"uncomplicated\" issues that can be resolved quickly. No school should be graded inadequate over safeguarding concerns unless it is \"fundamentally failing\" to keep children safe, it added. How Ruth Perry's death put Ofsted in the spotlight. In Sheffield, thousands of parents signed a petition last year after King Edward VII secondary school was told it had to become an academy, when Ofsted inspectors rated it inadequate because of safeguarding. Hundreds of people joined a protest outside Sheffield City Hall in April 2023, calling for the academy plan to be reversed. Mother Emma Wilkinson said: \"For us, that 'inadequate' wasn't simple, because it was inadequate in one area - in safeguarding - but good everywhere else. \"Personally I think the word 'inadequate' is not helpful. I think we should be talking about areas where schools can improve, because to me that describes a really failing school - and that clearly wasn't the case at King Edward's. \"It wasn't failing its children, but it's labelled with this awful word - inadequate - and all the staff and teachers and children and parents have got this label hanging over them.\" She also called for parents to be listened to during the inspection process, and for inspectors to recognise the \"huge pressure\" schools are already under. Emma Wilkinson campaigned against King Edward VII school in Sheffield being made to become an academy after an 'inadequate' judgment Tom Middlehurst, inspection specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders union, said he was \"pleased\" the committee had added to calls for an end to single-word judgments. He said the work already done by the new chief inspector was cause for \"cautious optimism\", but added that the report \"underlines the scale of the challenge in front of him\". Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said the committee's report meant there was an \"overwhelming consensus that single-word judgements have had their day\". But Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the report \"does not grasp the true scale of the problem\". \"Any model of change must begin by understanding the deep crisis that schools are enduring in respect of workload, staffing, attendance and mental health,\" he said. \"We don't see such an understanding reflected in these recommendations. While we recognise the greater transparency they will bring to Ofsted's work, they fall well short of the reform that we need.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The education select committee's report calls for an end to single-word Ofsted judgments after a headteacher took her own life following an \"inadequate\" inspection, and recommends that schools should not be automatically graded inadequate for minor safeguarding concerns. The report acknowledges the need for strong accountability in schools but highlights strained relationships with Ofsted, urging the new chief inspector to reset relations." + }, + { + "article": "Shazia Saddiq and Sue Palmer said the scandal had had a \"devastating\" impact on their lives \"I lost absolutely everything. It has been absolutely horrendous.\" Shazia Saddiq is one of many former Post Office branch managers wrongly accused of crimes due to accounting errors caused by a faulty IT system. Along with Sue Palmer, who told the BBC the allegations \"ruined my life\", the pair are still waiting for full compensation several years on. A report on Monday called for action and law changes to stop issues \"blocking full and fair compensation\". The head of an inquiry into the Post Office scandal, Sir Wyn Williams, said schemes set up to compensate sub-postmasters and sub-postmistress wrongly accused of crimes were a \"patchwork quilt with some holes in it\". Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 Post Office branch managers were given criminal convictions when faulty accounting software, called Horizon, made it look as though money was missing from their sites. The cases constitute Britain's most widespread miscarriage of justice. Some people went to prison following convictions for false accounting and theft, and many were financially ruined. Some victims have since died. There has been a public inquiry, led by Sir Wyn, which has been examining the treatment of thousands of sub-postmasters, and to establish who was to blame for the wrongful prosecutions and why nothing was done to prevent them. Sir Wyn said on Monday that his criticisms over delays in compensation \"remain justified\". Ms Saddiq, 39, along with fellow former sub-postmistress Mrs Palmer told the BBC the scandal had had a \"devastating\" impact on their lives. Ms Saddiq, who used to run three Post Offices in Newcastle upon Tyne, said she had \"lost everything\" as a result of being accused of crimes a decade ago, including her home above one branch. She did not end up facing criminal prosecution, but she had to leave the area with her two young children after being assaulted with flour in the street. \"I had to flee, me and my children overnight. They left their friends behind, they had to change schools,\" she said. Mrs Palmer, who was found not guilty after a trial, said the allegations had \"ruined my life\". \"I was made homeless, I now live in a one-bedroom studio flat (because of the financial impact),\" she said. Mrs Palmer, from Essex, had previously told the BBC she received a compensation payment in December, but soon realised it was not what it seemed, with a significant chunk of the money going straight to pay her creditors. She is now seeking proper compensation for the scandal. The former postmistresses welcomed the latest report by Sir Wyn, but both called for the compensation process to be sped up. \"To keep a human being in this fight mode for such a long time, it's torturous. I want to be free from this now,\" Ms Saddiq said. Mrs Palmer added: \"Words are no good now, we need actions. We need the Post Office to have accountability and the government.\" Sub-postmasters and mistresses celebrated the quashing of their convictions In the report laid before Parliament, Sir Wyn said there was no \"valid legal reason\" why the government and Post Office \"cannot give effect to the commitments they which they have made\" in providing \"full and fair\" compensation. The retired judge said it was his job to make sure ministers and Post Office executives \"made good on those promises\" made to provide compensation to legitimate claimants \"promptly\" and to make sure the amounts paid out was \"recognised to be full and fair\". Sir Wyn has long held concerns about the slow progress of compensation for Post Office staff. But the Post Office chief executive, Nick Read, told the BBC's World At One programme that the \"sheer scale\" of the miscarriage of justice had \"gone above and beyond anything that anybody could realistically expect\". \"It really is a huge apology from the Post Office. We are all in this together and we are all on the same side,\" he said, but he rejected claims the Post Office was deliberately delaying proceedings. Sir Wyn said it had been 16 months since he first started to hear the experiences of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses, which he said \"consisted of graphic descriptions of hardship and suffering\". The former High Court judge there were 438 applications for compensation still to be resolved as of 27 April, which he said the Post Office had accepted were \"difficult to resolve\". \"I am left with the distinct impression that the most complex cases have not been addressed as speedily as might have been the case,\" he said. As the Post Office scandal has developed, three different compensation schemes have been set up. But Sir Wyn said he was \"sure\" that if the government and Post Office were devising a scheme to deliver compensation to all involved now, there would not be three of them. He also warned there was a \"clear and real risk\" that final compensation payments under one scheme - the Group Litigation Order set up by the government last year - \"will not be delivered to each applicant\" by the 7 August 2024 deadline. He set out a series of recommendations, one of which was for payments to be made after the deadline, which he described as an \"entirely artificial cut-off point\". Kevin Hollinrake, the Post Office Minister appointed last autumn, said the government would review the report and respond in due course. \"It is vital that we establish the facts behind this scandal and learn the lessons so that something like this can never happen again,\" he said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Former Post Office branch managers Shazia Saddiq and Sue Palmer have spoken about the devastating impact of being wrongly accused of crimes due to a faulty IT system, with some still awaiting full compensation years later. A report by Sir Wyn Williams calls for action and law changes to prevent delays in compensation, highlighting the ongoing issues faced by victims of the UK's largest miscarriage of justice." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Navalny's widow urges Russians to protest against Putin on election day Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has called for an election day protest against President Vladimir Putin. As part of the protest, people should form long queues at polling stations on 17 March at midday, Ms Navalnaya said. \"We need to use the election day to show that we exist and there are many of us,\" she said in a video message. Ms Navalnaya's husband died suddenly at a Russian penal colony on 16 February. She has blamed Mr Putin for his death. Her call for a polling day protest has been dubbed \"Midday against Putin\". Russia's presidential election - which most international observers do not believe will be free or fair - will take place from 15 to 17 March. Mr Putin is widely expected to win a fifth term in office. Ms Navalnaya said turning up at polling stations at the same time was a \"very simple and safe action\" that could not be prohibited by the authorities, but would allow like-minded people to \"see that there are many of us and we are strong\". People can then vote for any candidate except President Putin, spoil their ballot or write \"Navalny\" in big letters, Ms Navalnaya said. The idea of a midday gathering at polling stations was put forward by Navalny two weeks before his death. Navalny - who continued to keep up a social media presence from jail through messages posted by his lawyers - wrote on X that the election day protest had the chance to be a real \"all-Russian protest action... available to everyone, everywhere.\" \"Millions will be able to take part in it. And tens of millions will witness it,\" Navalny wrote. Navalny himself was barred from running in the 2018 presidential vote because of an embezzlement conviction widely condemned as politically motivated. He died while serving a lengthy prison sentence on politically motivated charges. The Kremlin has said the 47-year-old died of natural causes, but his supporters and many foreign leaders have blamed Mr Putin for his fate. Ms Navalnaya stepped into the political spotlight soon after husband's death was announced, and has since addressed the European Parliament and held talks with US President Joe Biden. In her YouTube message, she spoke of being heartened by the large crowds that came out last week for her husband's funeral in Moscow. Since last Friday, thousands of people have continued to turn up to Borisovskoye Cemetery, and Navalny's grave has been submerged by flowers. \"I can't tell you how much that has meant to me,\" Ms Navalnaya said. \"Alexei dreamed of the beautiful Russia of the future - and that is you,\" she added.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has called for a protest against President Vladimir Putin on election day, March 17, urging people to form long queues at polling stations at midday. This \"Midday against Putin\" protest is a response to her husband's death, which she blames on Putin, and aims to show the strength of opposition despite the expected unfair election." + }, + { + "article": "Euan Ingram, pictured with his sister at the Commonwealth Games esports tournament, is among millions making money in esports A man who made thousands of pounds playing video games competitively in his bedroom is backing an ambition to bring an esports event to Wales. Euan Ingram, 26, is among millions of video gamers across the world making money in esports. With some prize pots worth millions of pounds, the esports market is expected to be worth $1.87bn (\u00a31.46bn) by 2025. Euan believes the competitive video gaming industry in Wales has a bright future. \"Generally, the UK has been behind places like the United States when it comes to esports but putting in the groundwork as is happening with esports in Wales, it will help it to grow even more,\" Euan, from Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said. \"When I first started out playing Rocket League the first prize pool was \u00a3250 and now some prizes can be worth \u00a3100,000 for a team. But it wasn't about the money back then for me.\" Although he made about \u00a340,000 in career earnings, he said he struggled financially at times which affected his mental health. Euan now coaches others as Rocket League manager and head coach at Resolve, a gaming and entertainment brand, to ensure professional video gamers are fit and healthy, that they get enough sleep and take time away from playing too. He added: \"It's phenomenal to have a professional body like Esports Wales which is putting structures in place that will help to reap rewards even if it will take time.\" Chief executive of Esports Wales, John Jackson, said: \"We'd love to bring something like eChampions League final or the European Championships to Wales. \"With each esports title they have different audiences and size audiences. \"You could potentially look at the Principality stadium but also Swansea Arena, potentially Wrexham's stadium.\" He said some informal talks had taken place. \"But we've got to develop and make sure we've got the talent here in Wales to support these events,\" he said. Recently, Esports Wales was granted full membership of the European Esports Federation. There is also a growing focus on esports in a number of schools and colleges, and the first Esport Wales Schools and Colleges Cup was held in 2023. Among the competitors were Gower College Swansea Owls, who also experienced success at the British Student Championships last year. Morgan Lagoleth, 19, who competes in online shooting game Overwatch, said: \"I've been playing games my whole life but Overwatch got me into esports and studying it at Gower College then I saw you could do it as a career pathway. \"We put a lot of preparation into our team and have extensive trials to ensure we have the best players possible. \"It's definitely very intense, especially at the higher levels.\" Lowri, 17, said: \"I've always been interested in video games but then as I got better at them I thought this is something I could do in my own time as a way to get more competitive or find more fun in it. \"Then over Covid I actually found lots of organisations and leagues on console and then I just found my way to esports and found something I'm passionate about,\" she said. \"I have been to a few [tournaments], it's kind of something that brings everyone together that you all really enjoy. It's like going to see a band play or to see a sport.\" Kiran Jones says future careers could be made in esports Computing and esports lecturer at Gower College, Kiran Jones, said it was more than just gaming. \"It's things like event management, branding, marketing, video editing and streaming. There are a whole host of skills and future careers to be had,\" he said. \"We make sure they take enough time away from the game, make sure they sleep well at night and eat healthily. Win or lose, we make sure we look after them and for next time they get better and are ready for any sort of circumstance that comes their way.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Euan Ingram, a former professional video gamer, supports the growth of esports in Wales, a sector expected to be worth $1.87bn by 2025, as he backs plans to bring major esports events to the country. Ingram, now a coach, highlights the importance of structure and player well-being in the industry, with Esports Wales working to develop talent and potentially host events like the eChampions League final." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Football Sebastien Haller was the hero for Ivory Coast again as the Elephants came from behind to beat Nigeria and win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final on home soil. The striker, who had also netted the semi-final winner just 13 months on from his return from testicular cancer, flicked in Simon Adingra's cross with the toe of his boot with nine minutes remaining to complete a second-half comeback and spark wild celebrations in Abidjan. William Troost-Ekong had put Nigeria ahead seven minutes before the end of a cagey first half when the centre-back rose highest to powerfully head in from nine yards out following a corner. Franck Kessie nodded in the equaliser in the 62nd minute when he was left unmarked at the back post from Adingra's corner. After a remarkable run to the final, which included the departure of coach Jean-Louis Gasset after two defeats in the group stage, the Ivorians clinched a third continental title with a deserved victory. The West Africans add to their previous Nations Cup wins in 1992 and 2015 and become the first tournament hosts to triumph since Egypt lifted the trophy in 2006. Interim coach Emerse Fae masterminded Ivory Coast's passage through the knockout stages, which included dramatic victories over defending champions Senegal and Mali after late equalisers in both games. Ivory Coast spent more than $1bn (\u00a30.79bn) on hosting the tournament, investing a similar amount on improving infrastructure in the country, and Ivorian President Alassane Outtara joined in the post-match celebrations in the stadium bearing his name. The Elephants pick up $7m (\u00a35.54m) in prize money, with Nigeria handed $4m by the Confederation of African Football. Nigeria, three-time continental champions themselves, had previously been unbeaten at the finals, including a 1-0 win over the Ivorians in the group stage, but the Super Eagles rarely imposed themselves after sitting back for most of the contest. Ivory Coast dominated most of the first half in front of a fervent crowd at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, but failed to carve out chances as Nigeria sat deep and soaked up pressure. The game sparked into life after the drinks break on the half-hour mark, with Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali saving Adingra's shot from a narrow angle with his chest before Nigeria left-back Zaidu Sanusi won a corner when his effort was blocked by Odilon Kossounou. Ademola Lookman's inswinging corner was headed up into the air by Ivory Coast midfielder Jean Michael Seri at the near post, and Troost-Ekong leapt above Serge Aurier to guide the ball back across goal and past the despairing dive of Elephants keeper Yahia Fofana. The Ivorians came out with renewed purpose after the break, with the lively Adingra at the heart of their best moments on the left flank. A dangerous low cross from the Brighton winger was tipped away by Nwabali and Calvin Bassey made a crucial block to prevent an equaliser after Max Gradel pounced on the loose ball. Nwabali then had to dive to his right to scramble a long-range shot from Kossounou wide, and the Elephants equalised from the resulting corner as the Nigeria defence somehow failed to pick up Kessie and the midfielder headed through the goalkeeper's arms. The Super Eagles had a chance to retake the lead when Troost-Ekong headed a free-kick from Ademola Lookman wide, but the decisive moment came from an inspired finish by Haller when the Borussia Dortmund man stuck out his right leg to guide Adingra's cross past Nwabali. The tournament, which was delayed from its intended staging in June and July last year because of weather concerns in West Africa, will live long in the memory after a record number of goals, unrelenting upsets and an apparent capacity for unceasing drama. Much of that was provided by the hosts, who had appeared on the brink of an early exit after a shock 4-0 defeat by Equatorial Guinea in their final Group A outing. Gasset departed as coach and Fae managed to instil renewed belief after inheriting a side which were given a second life as one of four best-ranked third-placed sides. Progress had been secured after Morocco - whose national flag Ivory Coast co-captain Gradel waved before lifting the trophy - beat Zambia in the final round of group games to stop the southern Africans stealing their spot. Elephants supporters had understandably been left reeling after what was a record defeat at home but rallied behind a side which showed incredible mental fortitude to eliminate Senegal and Mali in two epic ties, prior to a far more routine victory against DR Congo in the semi-finals. Fae, who was part of the Ivory Coast side that finished runners-up to Egypt in 2006 - a campaign in which he featured in every match, has now won Africa's biggest prize in just his fourth game in senior management. The resilience of the 40-year-old's side was underlined as the hosts held their nerve after falling behind against the run of play in front of a sea of orange in the final. Ivory Coast become the 12 host nation to win the Nations Cup title, while Nigeria will be left to rue a fifth defeat in the showpiece game - and their second in Abidjan after losing to Cameroon in 1984. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Alhassan Yusuf (Nigeria) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left following a set piece situation. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Wilfried Singo (C\u00f4te d'Ivoire) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Ibrahim Sangar\u00e9. \u2022 None Ola Aina (Nigeria) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigeria) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Joe Aribo. \u2022 None Substitution, C\u00f4te d'Ivoire. Ibrahim Sangar\u00e9 replaces Seko Fofana because of an injury. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ivory Coast won the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final by coming from behind to beat Nigeria 2-1 on home soil, with Sebastien Haller scoring the winning goal. The match saw a dramatic second-half comeback, with William Troost-Ekong giving Nigeria the lead before Franck Kessie equalized and Haller secured the victory. This is Ivory Coast's third continental title, and they become the first tournament hosts to win since 2006." + }, + { + "article": "Birmingham Council is one of 19 authorities that will get the additional budget flexibilities Nineteen cash-strapped English councils will be allowed to sell property and other assets to pay for services next year, the government has announced. Councils are normally banned from selling assets to cover day-to-day spending. But the government is relaxing the rules for authorities in deep financial trouble, including Birmingham and Nottingham. They will also be allowed to raid their long-term investment budgets. The move will enable the local authorities to raise up to \u00a31.5bn to help balance their books. The government said the financial wriggle-room had been provided on an \"exceptional basis\" to help them deliver services from April. It comes amid a wider cash crisis for local government, with many councils warning of cuts to parks, leisure facilities, and culture, as well as maximum council tax rises of up to 5%, to meet cost pressures. Councils in England will have \u00a364bn to spend next year, assuming they raise council tax by the maximum, including an extra \u00a3600m announced in January following pressure from councils and MPs. Ministers say this is 6.5% more than the equivalent allocation for this year. But councils argue this won't cover longer-term financial pressures caused by a rising demand for mandatory services they provide, such as social care, as well as rising costs due to inflation. Now the government has announced that 19 councils will require additional flexibility to balance next year's budgets. It is significantly more than the eight given equivalent flexibility this year, or the five that received it the year before. The nineteen include Birmingham, Woking, Thurrock, Slough, Nottingham and Croydon in London - six of the eight English councils that have effectively declared bankruptcy. The biggest budgetary wriggle room, of \u00a3685m, has been offered to Birmingham, which is proposing to raise council tax by 21% over the next two years to cover budget shortfalls. In a statement, the local government department said some of these cases had resulted from \"significant local failures in governance and financial management\". Eleven of the 19 councils will also get support worth over \u00a3900m to balance budgets from this year, and previous years. The changes means the councils will be able to use their long-term investment budgets to pay for day-to-day services, something they are not normally allowed to do. This can include money raised through the sale of council-owned assets such as land, or buildings including community centres, swimming pools, and civic halls. They will also be able to borrow from a Treasury-backed loans board to cover day-to-day spending - something they can normally only do to invest in long-term projects. Details of how each council plans to cover its shortfall will be set out in so-called capitalisation directions, published at a later date. Some councils have said they plan to cover their shortfalls from borrowing, rather than making a new request to sell assets. In a statement, the local government department said it was releasing the information \"in the interests of transparency\" following behind-closed-doors talks with struggling local authorities. It added that the support did not include direct grants to councils, and there would be conditions attached to the support. This could include external reviews to assess their financial management, and \"improvement and transformation plans\" to help them stabilise their financial position in the medium term, it added. Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, said the additional flexibility given to councils should not be a \"substitute for a long-term plan to sufficiently fund local services\". The Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), a think tank, said it was a \"last-minute reprieve that wards off immediate financial collapse\". \"But we should not mistake this for generosity on the part of the government,\" added Jonathan Carr-West, the LGIU's chief executive. \"They are simply allowing councils to borrow and to sell their own assets,\" he added. The nineteen councils given increased flexibility are: How have your local services been affected by your council's financial difficulties? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government has allowed 19 financially struggling English councils, including Birmingham and Nottingham, to sell assets and use long-term investment funds to cover day-to-day spending, a move aimed at helping them raise up to \u00a31.5bn to balance their books. This exceptional measure comes amid a wider cash crisis for local government, with many councils warning of cuts to services and increased council tax to meet cost pressures." + }, + { + "article": "Michael Gove says Kingspan still \"has a responsibility to make good\" after the Grenfell tragedy Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has said he \"has had enough\" of Cavan-based insulation company Kingspan \"trying to wriggle out of their responsibilities\". During the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, Kingspan's business practices were criticised. \"This is a company that gives capitalism a bad name,\" Mr Gove told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme. Kingspan said it had engaged with both Mr Gove's team and \"in all remediation enquiries received to date\". On Wednesday Ulster Rugby announced its association with the firm would end by June 2025. Seventy-two people died in a fire at Grenfell Tower in west London in 2017. For 14 years Kingspan's insulation was sold for use on high-rise buildings - including Grenfell - without a relevant large-scale fire test. Its insulation passed a test in 2005 but Kingspan changed the product a year later. Subsequent tests turned into a \"raging inferno\". Kingspan continued to sell its insulation using the 2005 test on the old material. This test was only withdrawn in October 2020 after the company accepted it did not represent the product on sale. But the company said its products made up only 5% of the insulation at Grenfell and were used without its recommendation. The first phase of the inquiry into the fire found the cladding was the principal reason for its rapid spread, which was not made by Kingspan. \"Kingspan still has a responsibility to contribute to making good the terrible, terrible loss that the Grenfell families endured,\" Mr Gove said. In a statement, Kingspan said it had \"agreed to contribute to a restorative justice project to benefit the community affected by the fire\". It has also committed to pay its share of remediation costs \"in circumstances where we have responsibility for the inappropriate use of K15 [insulation] in buildings\", and its safe retention cannot be supported by testing. The company added it was \"committed to contributing to an appropriate joint government and industry-wide scheme to address the wider fire safety issues on buildings where those responsible can't or won't pay\". \"We have since reiterated our prior offers to contribute to an appropriate joint government and industry-wide scheme and discussed the importance of prioritising a building-by-building assessments using the fire risk appraisal PAS 9980 to give residents certainty about the safety of their specific building,\" a spokesperson said. However, Mr Gove branded the company's comments as \"weasel words\". \"We know that there are developments, people who were responsible for buildings who have contributed and I'm grateful to them and grateful to builders and developers across the United Kingdom for making a contribution,\" he said. \"But Kingspan continue, I'm afraid, to evade their responsibilities and the idea that they can say that their products were used inappropriately. \"[It] is part of a pattern of behaviour on their part where they will not fully acknowledge their responsibility to the victims of this tragedy. \" Ulster previously defended its links to Kingspan and there was no reference to Grenfell in the announcement that the sponsorship deals were not being renewed. The government previously called for Ulster Rugby to reconsider its relationship with Kingspan, which sponsors the team's jerseys as well as its home stadium. \"The fact [Kingspan] are trying to minimise their involvement shows that they still just don't get it,\" Mr Gove continued. \"I'm very pleased, however, that the chief executive of Ulster Rugby has appreciated that an association and involvement with Kingspan is inappropriate and I want to now ensure that we can work with Ulster Rugby, and others, in order to ensure that grassroots rugby across the whole of Northern Ireland can be supported. \"For Kingspan, I have a simple message, which is: you can wriggle as much as you like, but the evidence is clear, you have to own up to your responsibility.\" Ulster Rugby said it had no further comment to make following Mr Gove's interview.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Michael Gove, the UK's Levelling Up Secretary, has criticized insulation company Kingspan for not taking enough responsibility after the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy, stating that the company \"gives capitalism a bad name.\" Kingspan, whose products were used in the Grenfell Tower, has been accused of evading responsibility and attempting to minimize its involvement, with Gove urging the company to \"own up to its responsibility.\" Ulster Rugby has announced it will end its association with Kingspan by June 2025." + }, + { + "article": "Women's Euro 2025 qualifying: Draw to take place on Tuesday Last updated on .From the section Women's Football European countries will learn their fate in Tuesday's Women's Euro 2025 qualifying draw at 12:00 GMT in Nyon. Of Uefa's 55 countries, 51 will enter the draw including Switzerland who have automatically qualified for next year's tournament as the host nation. Defending champions England are in the draw, hoping to qualify and retain their crown. The new-look format will see 15 teams earn qualification. BBC Sport explains the draw and looks at who the home nations could face. How does the draw work? The 51 teams hoping to qualify for next year's tournament in Switzerland have been split into three leagues - A, B and C. Which teams enter which league was determined by the results of the 2023-24 Nations League campaign. Leagues A and B consist of 16 teams, while League C has 19 teams. In each league, the teams have been split up into four seeding pots. In Leagues A and B, four groups will be drawn consisting of a team from each pot. League C has five groups, with only three teams in one of them. The top two sides from each League A group will automatically qualify for Euro 2025. The remaining seven spots will be decided via play-offs involving the best-ranked sides not to automatically qualify. The qualifiers, taking place between April and July, will see each team play six games, facing the other teams in their group home and away. Which pot are teams in and who could home nations face? Although hosts Switzerland have already qualified for the tournament, they will still enter the draw as one of the top-ranked teams in League B. Holders England could be drawn in the same group as Republic of Ireland, while Northern Ireland could face either Scotland or Wales in their group. Who are in the play-offs? After the group winners and runners up from each League A group have qualified, the remaining seven places will be taken by the best-ranked sides from all three leagues. All third and fourth-placed teams from League A will qualify for the play-offs. The top three teams in each League B group will also make the play-offs. If Switzerland finish in the top three of their group, then the best ranked fourth-place team from League B will qualify for the play-offs. From League C, the five group winners and three best-ranked runners-up will reach the play-offs. The 28 teams making the play-offs will be whittled down to seven, with the first round being split into two teams. The eight sides from League A will be drawn against the eight sides from League C. The six best teams from League B will face the six worst teams from League B. Both sets of matches are two-legged. In the second play-off round, the 14 teams will be split in seedings. The top seven ranked winners will be drawn against the other seven winners, and the winners of those fixtures will take up the final seven play-off spots. \u2022 None Matches, highlights and analysis from Wales at the Six Nations \u2022 None The biggest names in Welsh sport and the stories behind them", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The draw for Women's Euro 2025 qualifying will take place on Tuesday, with 51 European countries, including defending champions England, vying for 15 qualification spots. The draw will be divided into three leagues, and the top two from each League A group will directly qualify, while the remaining spots will be determined through play-offs. Host nation Switzerland, as a top-ranked team in League B, will also participate in the draw." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Cricket England are hopeful Jofra Archer can play in the T20 World Cup in June, according to managing director Rob Key. Fast bowler Archer, 28, has not played any professional cricket since May after a recurrence of a long-standing elbow injury. He did train with the England white-ball team on their tour of the Caribbean in December. \"Our plan is the T20 World Cup, building him up slowly,\" Key told the Tailenders podcast. \"I saw him bowl in the Caribbean and it was like he'd never been away.\" Archer has been been plagued by back and elbow injuries for three years. He has not played at the highest level since last year's Indian Premier League, with a return of the stress fracture in his right elbow causing him to miss a second successive home summer. However, as England were playing West Indies in Archer's native Barbados at the end of last year, he did play for his former school side without the knowledge of the England hierarchy. Key did suggest Archer could join the England Test side on their ongoing training camp in Abu Dhabi before the Test tour of India, but it is understood the Sussex man is not in attendance. England will defend the T20 World Cup they won in 2021 at this year's tournament in West Indies and the USA, opening their campaign against Scotland on 4 June. \"I don't want to get back to this thing where he plays and then goes down again,\" said Key. \"He wanted to play in the IPL, but we said not this time. Hopefully the years he has missed he can add to the end of his career. He is such a talent.\" Key also called for dedicated windows to be made in the global calendar for Test cricket in order to protect the oldest and longest form of the game. South Africa have opted to send a makeshift Test squad to New Zealand because the two-match series in February clashes with their domestic T20 competition. \"Test cricket needs to have windows,\" said Key. \"There was a two-month window for the Ashes last summer - that could be one. There could be one at Christmas. \"There are all of these franchise competitions, like the IPL, and there is a global white-ball competition every year. Test cricket needs a window where you can't play anything else. \"The rest of us - England, Australia, India and the International Cricket Council in particular - need to look after the other countries. \"We have to stop being snobby about Test cricket. We have this view that you can't play Test cricket unless you have played 150 red-ball games, or play in a certain way. No, just pick the most talented players.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "England's Jofra Archer is expected to return for the T20 World Cup in June, according to managing director Rob Key, who says the fast bowler is being slowly built up after a long-standing elbow injury. Key also called for dedicated windows in the cricket calendar to protect Test cricket, suggesting there should be specific periods for the longest format to ensure its survival amidst the growing popularity of franchise tournaments." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Women's Football Relationships between team-mates can be \"challenging but not inappropriate,\" says ex-England defender Anita Asante. Chelsea boss Emma Hayes said on Thursday that player-coach relationships and player-to-player relationships are inappropriate. Hayes also said relationships between team-mates can be hard for a coach to navigate. \"I just don't think it [player-to-player relationships] has any relevance to this issue at hand,\" Asante said. Leicester City boss Willie Kirk is being investigated by the club following an allegation of a player-coach relationship. It is understood a complaint has been lodged with the club about an alleged current relationship between Kirk and a player. BBC Sport has approached Kirk for comment regarding the allegation. Hayes said on Thursday that \"player-coach relationships are inappropriate, player-to-player relationships are inappropriate\". \"We have to look it at in the context of where the game has come from,\" Hayes said. \"We're in a professional era now where the expectation in place for players and coaches is such that all of our focus and attention has got to be on having the top standards.\" Asante, 38, played at the top of the women's game for 19 years before announcing her retirement at the end of the 2021-22 season. \"I can imagine in terms of the context she [Hayes] is saying, yes those relationships can be challenging but they are not inappropriate, they are just challenging,\" Asante, who is a coach with England women's Under-23 team, told BBC 5 Live. \"But of course that's a conversation probably to be had at some point because of course it can be challenging.\" Everton boss Brian Sorensen said he had never experienced a problem with player-to-player relationships. \"I can understand why it could become a problem because as I said before, the game has become so much more professional,\" he said. \"I don't think it's in the same ball park as the other [player-coach relationships].\" Liverpool manager Matt Beard added: \"I personally don't see it [player-to-player relationships] being a problem. \"I think one in five people meet their long-term partner in work environments. I think the key thing is, if there is a relationship, that it doesn't affect your day-to-day job. I've got no issues with it.\" There are several high-profile players in relationships in the Women's Super League (WSL). Chelsea duo Jess Carter and Ann-Katrin Berger are a couple, as are Arsenal's Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead. Chelsea striker and Matildas captain Sam Kerr is engaged to West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis while Tottenham players Amy Turner and Angharad James became the WSL's first married couple in June 2023. On her return from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, Mead spoke about how the support of team-mate and partner Miedema, who suffered the same injury a month later, was vital. \"We're competitive people, we always have been and throughout the process we pushed each other and we've helped each other in different moments,\" said Mead. \"I think it has pushed us in getting back quicker than we possibly could have or we could have slacked off in certain instances so when you've got that competition between each other, it's always been good but it's not been without its arguments and its ups and downs.\" \u2022 None Where and how to watch the WSL this weekend Former England and Great Britain hockey captain and Olympic gold and bronze medallist Kate Richardson-Walsh posted on social media about relationships between players and staff. Walsh began a relationship with international team-mate Helen Richardson in 2008. They married in 2013 and both changed their last names afterwards. The pair won Great Britain's first women's hockey gold medal at an Olympics at the Rio Games in 2016. \"Definitely not 'inappropriate' and certainly not being 'phased out',\" Richardson-Walsh wrote of player-to-player relationships. \"And, for the record, relationships between staff and players are inappropriate. They are an abuse of power.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ex-England defender Anita Asante says relationships between team-mates in women's football can be challenging but not inappropriate, disagreeing with Chelsea boss Emma Hayes' statement that player-to-player relationships are inappropriate. Leicester City boss Willie Kirk is being investigated by the club over an alleged player-coach relationship, while Hayes and other managers have expressed concerns about relationships potentially affecting professionalism in the sport." + }, + { + "article": "2024 Six Nations: 'Every facet has to be spot on' for Scotland in Dublin - Johnnie Beattie Last updated on .From the section Scottish Rugby Coverage: Live text on BBC Sport website and app, BBC Radio Scotland & BBC Five 5 Live commentary There will be an emotional reaction from Scotland in Dublin, a willingness to scrap, a realisation that a strong finish and a first Triple Crown since 1990 is still possible. None of the current squad were born the last time Scotland managed that feat. Coach Gregor Townsend was only 16-years-old. The issue is that we're up against a side that saw a possible Grand Slam go south when whipped by England. They won't be lacking in motivation themselves. Win the game and Ireland are champions again. In front of their own crowd. After a massive disappointment against England. On Paddy's Weekend. They'll be as psyched for this as Scotland will be. Ireland have won nine in a row against Scotland and we don't need to look too far back to find the last one - the World Cup pool game at Stade de France. Ireland were cruelly comfortable with our attack that night. It was a humiliation for Scotland who need to use the memory of it as a driver. It was one-way traffic in Paris. For the story to change this time then Scotland will need to mix up their game. Instead of flashing the ball along the face of Ireland's defensive line they need to tap into some of what England did on Saturday. Physicality, variation in attack, a flawless kicking game that applies constant pressure, excellent discipline, tempo, power. Every facet has to be spot-on. \u2022 None We had dark couple of days after Rome - Gilchrist \u2022 None In the BBC Sport app you can now set notifications for Scottish rugby, ensuring you never miss any of the news, views and conversation around Scotland at the World Cup. The notifications are easy to add - head to the My Notifications section of the menu and then choose Scottish rugby news. Ireland score a huge percentage of their tries off lineout starter plays. Scotland need to cause chaos on that front. Look at the Ben Earl try last weekend. An Irish lineout disrupted, an Earl surge downfield, Peter O'Mahony scrambling back and getting binned amid the mayhem. And then Earl scored in the phases that followed. It was frenetic stuff. The English blitz defence shut Ireland down save for the two brilliant tries they scored, both originating with lineouts. When they get into that kind of rhythm they deliver masterclasses, as Scotland witnessed at the World Cup. England were having none of it. Scotland can't allow Ireland to settle, can't give them easy footholds and soft shoulders, They have to cause total bedlam for 80 minutes, if that's possible. In this column, before the World Cup game, I remember talking about the different shots that Scotland needed to fire and I'm saying it again now. Scotland's carriers need to be unrelenting. Everything they do needs to be close to perfect. Did Scotland go off script in Rome reverse? Rome was maddening for everyone. When looking at the stats we see that there was a big shift in either the pre-planned strategy compared to rounds 1-3 or an on-field deviation from the game plan by players. With the pressure on did they have a collective rush of blood to the head in going away from the script? Only Gregor, the coaching staff and the players will know the answer to that question. Was this an intentional shift away from what they did in the first three games or was it just the players going off piste? What I mean is this - Scotland went from a kicking game to a passing game. In rounds 1-3 their average number of passes per match was 120. Against Italy it was 244. They kept ball in hand to manipulate and overpower Italy and for half an hour it worked. And then it really, really didn't. Scotland's total passing metres in rounds 1-3 was 741, in Italy it was more than 1,500. In-play kicks in rounds 1-3 were an average of 37. In Italy that came down to 22. The kicking dropped and the passing rose. I know that's a lot of numbers to get your head around, but they illustrate a different way of playing in Rome compared to what we saw in the two wins and the near-win that went before it. Finn Russell and Ben White kicked more ball in the first three games than any other players from any other country. That kicking game had served them well whereas in Rome, either pre-game or mid-game, they decided they had the power and technical ability to take the game to Italy with ball in hand. In the early minutes they were ruthless but as the game went on we saw the unforced errors, the little bits that fell apart in the heat of the contest. As a Scotland fan, will we ever get that consistency of performance? That's the eternal question. I still say we have a small player pool and we manage to bang out incredible performances. We long for the days when we knock over the titans all in one season, but there's an acceptance that we'll fall off the horse from time to time. I still feel that this team is evolving and improving, but this competition is tough. England beat Ireland who beat France who beat Scotland who beat England who beat Italy who beat Scotland. I'm wary of wading into the Scottish boys because they were a bad refereeing call away from being three from three going to Rome and I think Rome was one that got away. It's a horrible feeling. The infuriating nature of that result means that Scotland can still finish fifth. They can also finish first (I know, I know\u2026) or second. It's desperately tight. Scotland can't, and won't, wallow in the what-might-have-beens of Rome. They have a chance, and they're massive underdogs, to finish with a historic flourish in Dublin. Would you call it redemption? Maybe. It would certainly be sensational. One last push. One more chance to show that they can mix it with the very best, an opportunity to end the campaign on a high and with a Triple Crown. Nothing in this competition is harder than the mission that awaits Scotland on Saturday. \u2022 None The business revolution behind the beautiful game: Are Manchester City changing the face of football forever? \u2022 None Has one of aviation's greatest mysteries been solved? The new evidence making sense of flight MH370's disappearance", + "qwen_reference_summary": "In the 2024 Six Nations, Scotland faces a challenging match against Ireland in Dublin, with a chance to secure their first Triple Crown since 1990. Despite Ireland's recent dominance, having won nine consecutive matches against Scotland, Scotland aims to mix up their game, emulate England's physicality and tactical variation, and capitalize on Ireland's lineout vulnerabilities to achieve an upset victory and potentially become champions." + }, + { + "article": "West Ham captain Dagny Brynjarsdottir has been praised for taking part in an \"incredible\" film that shows her pregnancy journey and the challenges she faced as an elite footballer. The Iceland midfielder, 32, gave birth to her second son last month and will not feature for her club this season. Her eldest son Brynjar was born in June 2018 while Brynjarsdottir was with Portland Thorns in the United States. New documentary 'Omarsson' was released by West Ham ahead of Mother's Day. BBC Sport watched the film at an exclusive premiere in London on Wednesday, alongside Brynjarsdottir's West Ham team-mates and staff. Among those in attendance was Australia international Katrina Gorry, her two-year-old daughter Harper, and her partner, who is expecting a second child. Gorry told BBC Sport: \"It's absolutely incredible [there is a documentary on pregnancy]. I think the more people that get to see it, the more people that know the struggles that exist but also the beautiful moments. They get to share in it. \"Dagny is paving the way not just for footballers but for athletes all across the world. I thought growing up I'd have to hang up my boots before starting a family; now it's nice that things are changing and clubs are becoming more supportive. \"Dagny has great family support and club support - so you can see why she thrives on the field. It brings so much more enjoyment when you play and you have someone else to play for. \"When you walk off the pitch, they give you a smile. Nothing else matters in the game or anything like that. As a footballer, I don't think you can ask for more.\" In the short film, Brynjarsdottir praised West Ham's support and looked back at when the club held a gender reveal party at the Chadwell Heath training ground in October. She also revealed that she \"cried for several days\" after finding out she was pregnant with her first child, but was reassured by her mother that she could return to the highest level in football. Brynjarsdottir's husband Omar - whose name features in the documentary title - described her as a \"super-mum\" and said she \"proved us all wrong\". \"I wanted to show people I could still play in one of the best leagues and be a mum,\" said Brynjarsdottir. \"In 2024, after one match, I'll have both of my boys walking on the pitch with me.\" Gorry joined West Ham in January, after leaving Swedish side Vittsjo, and a big part of her decision to move was the club's support for daughter Harper. \"I spoke to Dagny a fair bit before I signed and I knew she had great support here, the girls were awesome and super supportive. That was the main factor for me,\" said Gorry. The midfielder spoke about her own journey into motherhood as part of the series 'Matildas' which aired on Disney+ in the build-up to the 2023 Women's World Cup, co-hosted by Australia. \"The documentary we did definitely [touched other people's lives],\" added Gorry. \"There were so many people and athletes from around the world wanting to lean on [us] for advice and support. If Dagny can do that for any athlete hoping to start a family, while juggling work or football or any sport, it will be brilliant.\" West Ham striker Viviane Asseyi said Brynjarsdottir was an inspiration to her and a \"good example for all of us\" on how to be a professional footballer. \"I have respect for everyone but even more so for the mums because Dagny has two kids and it's like 'wow',\" Asseyi told BBC Sport. \"We thought before it was difficult to have a baby. But for me, it's life. You have football of course, but you need to have your life also. \"It's good that we now have a lot of examples like Dagny to show everyone that it's possible to have a baby and have a life.\" Striker Emma Harries said she had not \"personally seen growing up that you could be a mum and a professional footballer\" but was at Reading in 2021 when Scotland international Emma Mukandi gave birth. \"Now I'm surrounded by these really cool role models and sportspeople. It just shows how it's been promoted,\" added Harries.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "West Ham captain Dagny Brynjarsdottir has been praised for a documentary that showcases her pregnancy journey as an elite footballer, with the Iceland midfielder's film 'Omarsson' highlighting the challenges and joys of balancing motherhood and sport. The documentary, released by West Ham, is being seen as a milestone for female athletes, with Brynjarsdottir's story inspiring others and demonstrating the support now available for players starting families." + }, + { + "article": "A delivery driver in north London suffered life-changing injuries when his e-bike caught fire while charging A government plan to double the maximum legal power of e-bikes has drawn warnings that it could increase the risk of severe battery fires and other injuries. The Department for Transport is consulting on the proposals which would also allow e-bikes that don't require pedalling to travel much faster. The government said it wanted to make riding e-bikes more attractive. But critics said the plans posed safety risks. There were more fires caused by e-bikes and e-scooters in London in 2023 than in any previous year. London Fire Brigade said it supported green transport but described lithium battery fires as \"London's fastest growing fire trend.\" \"The risk of more severe battery fires - because of these more powerful models - which the consultation does highlight, is a significant concern\", said Assistant Commissioner for Fire Safety, Charlie Pugsley. Campaign group Electrical Safety First said: \"Substandard e-bike batteries are already causing devastating fires across the country.\" MPs should focus on making current batteries safe, it said. Currently the motors of e-bikes - or electrically assisted pedal cycles (EAPCs) as they are officially known - must not exceed 250 watts. The government wants to increase that to 500 watts in England, Scotland and Wales. It is also consulting on increasing the top speed that users on e-bikes with throttles can travel, to 15.5mph up from 3.73mph at the moment. In its consultation document, the government acknowledged that higher speeds and more power could increase road risks, including collisions. It said it could also make battery fires more severe, with risks heightened by tampering. However, it said having greater power might also reduce the incentive for people to tamper with their bikes - one of the issues contributing to safety problems with e-bikes at the moment. The government said boosting e-bike power might also encourage more delivery bikes, cutting congestion and air pollution, while making rides easier and more enticing to users. But Volt, which makes e-bikes, said the plan to boost the power would \"attract unsafe batteries and potentially encourage users to tamper with them\". Volt managing director James Metcalfe said lawmakers were \"failing to understand what our industry truly needs\". \"It is our infrastructure that is lagging behind, not the technology in e-bikes,\" he said. \"Ministers need to take action to build more cycle lanes and increase incentives for sustainable transport.\" Campaign group Cycling UK said the main reason more people don't cycle was that they don't feel safe on the roads. It warned that the proposals presented \"a huge safety risk to pedestrians and others who cycle\". \"The dramatically increased power would mean faster acceleration and much heavier bikes, which we're really concerned about,\" said Cycling UK's director of external affairs, Sarah McMonagle. She said the government should invest in better cycling infrastructure, and give financial assistance to people who need it for bikes. Three people died in London last year in fires thought to have been caused by e-bike lithium batteries. The risk of e-bike fires has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, with one delivery rider telling the BBC that, due to the high price of reliable e-bikes, people will buy \"cheaper, less reliable and often dangerous batteries\". The Bicycle Association, which represents the UK cycle industry, said it was concerned the proposals could legitimise the process of tampering with e-bikes to boost their power - with a higher potential power leading to \"possibly very serious fire safety consequences\". It said it also feared the changes could lead to calls for \"moped-like\" regulations for the sector - such as mandatory insurance, registration and helmets - which could make e-bikes \"significantly less attractive\" to people. The government said it would use any feedback it received through consultation responses to consider how to mitigate risks. A government spokesperson said: \"We're launching this consultation to gather views on how we can increase power safely for certain users, including those with mobility issues and e-cargo bike operators. Safety is always at the heart of any decisions made around e-bikes and the results of the consultation will be published followings its closure.\" The consultation will end on 25 April 2024.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government's plan to double the maximum legal power of e-bikes to 500 watts has raised safety concerns after a delivery driver in London was severely injured when his e-bike caught fire while charging. Critics warn that the proposal could lead to more battery fires and accidents, with the London Fire Brigade highlighting lithium battery fires as a growing concern. The government argues that increasing power might reduce tampering and encourage green transport, but campaigners call for improved cycling infrastructure and safety measures." + }, + { + "article": "After 929 days that included European glory, red cards and effervescent quotes, Jose Mourinho's Roma spell has come to an end. In what was the 60-year-old's 10th full-time role as a manager, his time in the Italian capital saw him win the hearts of the Giallorossi. However a faltering league campaign, poor discipline and another defeat by city rivals Lazio signalled the end of his spell in Rome. How did it go so wrong for Mourinho after successive European finals which appeared to signal a resurgent Roma - and where does a manager who just days ago compared himself to Harry Potter go next? It is often said about Mourinho that his third or fourth season in a job is where it starts to go downhill and the same could certainly be said for him at the Stadio Olimpico, with this being his fifth role to end within its third season. Back-to-back sixth places finishes in Serie A going into this campaign were no more than satisfactory compared to seventh, fifth and sixth place finishes immediately prior to Mourinho's reign. It was through runs in Europe where Mourinho would find success and more importantly, win the hearts of the Roma faithful. His appointment in the summer of 2021, just weeks after being sacked by Tottenham Hotspur, came with the chance to lead Serie A's first representatives in the inaugural Europa Conference League. Among the bigger footballing nations, there was questioning of the need for a third-tier European competition. However, Roma's 1-0 win in the final over Feyenoord in Tirana, matched with post-match tears from the well-travelled and highly successful Mourinho gave the competition an immediate level of credence. Having already won the Champions League, both formats of the Uefa Cup and Europa League and then the Europa Conference League, he marked the triple crown with a tattoo, which he says was partly because of the love he felt from the Roman public. Last season, Roma went all the way to a tournament final in Europe again, only this time in the Europa League - the sixth European final of Mourinho's managerial career, losing to Sevilla on penalties. Heading into this season, there was some surprise Mourinho stayed at Roma after disagreements over what he was allowed to do in the transfer market and links to taking the Paris St-Germain job at the end of last season. Finances were limited because of the risk of breaching Europe's Financial Fair Play regulations, meaning loan signings and free transfers were the maximum Roma could manage. That however did not stop them from signing big names such as Romelu Lukaku, Renato Sanches and Houssem Aouar. Six games into this Serie A season, Roma were sat in 16th place with just five points. At that point, Mourinho said that he wasn't the problem. \"Three months ago the idea of me leaving was seen almost as a tragedy,\" he said. \"I received the biggest and craziest offer a coach has ever received in the history of football. And I turned it down. \"Three months later, it seems like I'm the problem. I can't accept that.\" Their only win in that run had come in the form of a 7-0 victory over Empoli, the biggest win of any side in Serie A since 1961, properly fitting the chaos that often goes with a Mourinho managerial reign. In a fluctuating season all-round, Europe was again a big boost for Roma and Mourinho's success. They finished second in their Europe League group, setting up a tie against Feyenoord for a third straight season, with a place in the round of 16 up for grabs. Domestic results had started to pick up after a slow start. As recently as a month ago, Roma had been sat in fourth place and in contention for a place in next season's Champions League. Even in that run of better form, Mourinho could not keep himself out of the headlines, getting sent off for making crying gestures at officials during a 1-0 win over 10-man Monza in October. Then, after a run of one win in six matches that included dropping to ninth in the table, two red cards and a Coppa Italia exit to arch-rivals Lazio, a departure seemed an inevitability as opposed to a possibility. Mourinho's discipline, getting sent off in back-to-back defeats, in the build-up to Sunday's 3-1 defeat by AC Milan meant that his final match as Roma's manager was one that he could only watch from the stands. As Roma manager, Mourinho's win percentage of 49% was his lowest for two decades. In Serie A, his win percentage of 45.8% was eclipsed by form in Europe with just three defeats in 36 and a 58.3% win rate and triumphs including the club's first major honour in 14 years. Last Thursday's Coppa Italia exit to arch-rivals Lazio was Roma's fourth defeat in six against their rivals since Mourinho's arrival. Mourinho's support from Roma fans was shown by a run of more that 40 straight sell-out Stadio Olimpico crowds during his tenure, but the latest loss to Lazio and a Coppa Italia exit marked the beginning of the end. In the statement announcing his departure, Roma said: \"We thank Jose on behalf of all of us at AS Roma for the passion and commitment he has shown since his arrival in the Giallorossi, \"We will always have great memories of his stewardship, but we believe that, in the best interests of the club, immediate change is necessary.\" If ever there was a statement that showed its gratitude but also unwanted reality it was this. Changing fortunes was a must, but the memories will simply last a lifetime for Mourinho, his Roma players and the club's fan base.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Jose Mourinho's tenure as Roma manager has ended after 929 days, marked by European success but hindered by a faltering league campaign and poor discipline. Despite winning the Europa Conference League and reaching another European final, consecutive sixth-place finishes in Serie A and a recent defeat by city rivals Lazio led to his departure, with the club citing the need for change." + }, + { + "article": "A doctor who has opened a private GP surgery says the private sector can help ease the pressure on the NHS. Dr Beth Howells had worked in the NHS for nearly 20 years before leaving recently to begin a surgery on the Ceredigion/Carmarthenshire border. She believes there will be an expansion of private primary healthcare at a time when GP services are under pressure. The Welsh government said it was up to individuals if they wanted to use private health care instead of the NHS. Last year, Dr Howells returned her NHS contract and opened her own surgery in Newcastle Emlyn. Dr Howells said people opted to pay for a private GP as they felt they could not wait two or three weeks for a GP appointment at their NHS practice. She believes that her role as a private GP will take some of the pressure off the NHS, at a time when GP services are in the headlines. Figures from the British Medical Association (BMA) show that the number of patients per full time equivalent GP in Wales have gone up from 1,676 in 2013 to 2,210 in 2022. \"It's difficult to predict the future and how things will evolve and where the demand will be,\" said Dr Howells. \"But I personally think it's impossible for the NHS to provide everything to everybody. \"The population has expanded enormously, people are living longer due to good health care, which means that there will be a role for additional services which the NHS will not be in a position to offer.\" BMA Wales said doctors leaving the NHS for the private sector was \"a symptom of... the impact of chronic underinvestment in general practice over a number of years\". It added: \"Welsh government must commit to a reversal of this underfunding and restore NHS general practice to its place as the foundation of a high-quality, cost-effective health system.\" The Welsh government said it had provided financial incentives to attract GP trainees to speciality training schemes in mid, north and west Wales, \"areas which, historically, have been difficult to recruit for\". Neris Davies says she is happier since moving to the private sector After more than 32 years in the NHS, nurse Neris Davies has decided to move to the private sector due to the pressure. Ms Davies said she dreaded going to work while in the NHS as she felt she was constantly playing catch-up with her work. \"People would come in quite irate because you were behind time and, as a nurse, I wanted to give patients the time that they needed. \"So going home was also frustrating because you felt that you haven't given your best and it's hard to switch off from that. Since changing surgeries last year, she said she felt happier coming to work and feels the pressures are not the same. On the streets of Newcastle Emlyn, people were both interested and reluctant in paying for a GP service. Oliver Evans, 31, thinks more need to be done to improve access to NHS GPs Alex Baker, 24, said: \"If it was life or death and you can't get to A&E and there's a GP you have to see. But if it's for something that isn't major, then no.\" But Iris Rush, 76, added: \"If you need to see them, then you do what you have to. So if I had to pay, I'd have to pay.\" Oliver Evans, 31, believes more needs to be done to improve access to NHS GPs. \"If it comes to it, everybody will have to pay for private healthcare and that's why we have to protect the NHS,\" he said. \"If everyone had the money, they would go and do it. But at the end of the day, the NHS is what makes this country Great Britain, to a certain extent, it's one of our greatest achievements. \"It's a necessity to have your healthcare. So if it's pushed in that direction, us as a working class won't have a choice, will we,\" he said. The Welsh government said it wanted people \"to be able to access GP services on the NHS in Wales as quickly as possible, based on need\" but it was up to individuals if they wanted to go private instead.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A doctor who opened a private GP surgery in Wales believes the private sector can alleviate pressure on the NHS, as patient numbers per GP in Wales have increased significantly. Dr. Beth Howells argues that with the NHS facing challenges, there will be a role for private healthcare to complement its services, while the BMA Wales attributes doctors leaving the NHS for private sector due to underinvestment in general practice. The Welsh government acknowledges the issue and is working on incentives to attract GP trainees but emphasizes that using private healthcare is a personal choice." + }, + { + "article": "Many cancer patients will recognise the way the King was diagnosed - it is known as an incidental diagnosis, when the disease is spotted during care for another condition. The King, 75, went in for treatment for an enlarged prostate - and during that procedure, the signs of cancer were spotted, leading to the diagnosis made public on Monday. This route to diagnosis is surprisingly common. While there is a big focus on screening programmes and urgent referrals from GPs, one in five cancers is actually diagnosed when patients are being seen for something else, according to Macmillan Cancer Support analysis of NHS data. Over the past 12 months, 66,000 cancers have been diagnosed and treated through this route. But where the experience of the public differs from that of the King is how quickly all this happens - he was admitted to a private hospital, for treatment for the enlarged prostate, less than two weeks ago and has already started cancer treatment. The NHS target is for cancer treatment to start within 62 days of the disease being suspected. But over the past year, one out of every four patients diagnosed incidentally in England waited longer. And the waiting time has gradually lengthened during the past decade or so. It is a similar story for those diagnosed through other routes, such as via screening or a GP referral. Overall, more than one out of every three waits more than 62 days. There are many reasons why performance has deteriorated. An analysis by Cancer Research UK, last month, described a \"long-term failure to plan and invest in the NHS workforce and key facilities and equipment\". Lack of diagnostic testing equipment is said to be the biggest bottleneck - the NHS has four times fewer scanners than Germany, for example. And those having cancer treatment are well aware of this. A survey by Macmillan and YouGov, last year, found half of them were worried about pressures on the NHS affecting their chances of survival. But an incidental diagnosis such as the King's also depends on another part of the NHS. Patients needing treatment for something that is not thought to be cancer-related are put on the general hospital waiting list. The backlog currently stands at 7.6 million, close to a record-high after a sharp increase since before the pandemic. Patients can wait weeks even months before they get tested or see a doctor that results in them being put on a cancer waiting list. That is why Macmillan's Kate Seymour says cancer patients diagnosed incidentally are facing a \"double hit\". \"They are having to wait for tests both before and after being moved onto the cancer pathway, as well as then waiting for diagnosis and treatment, adding to people's stress and anxiety as their lives are turned upside down. \"NHS staff are doing the very best they can, but chronic staff shortages in cancer care, long-standing delays and constant growing demand have led to a system struggling to cope. \"People living with cancer deserve better and ultimately, we need to see people getting diagnosed and treated quicker.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The King's cancer diagnosis was an incidental finding during treatment for an enlarged prostate, a common method of detection for one in five cancers. However, many patients in the NHS face longer waiting times, with one in four not starting treatment within the 62-day target, highlighting issues in the healthcare system's capacity and workforce planning." + }, + { + "article": "Roberts said she's \"very forthright\" in expressing her views on film sets Julia Roberts has said she has made the choice not to do nude scenes throughout her 35-year film career. \"You know, not criticising others' choices, but for me to not take off my clothes in a movie or be vulnerable in physical ways is a choice that I guess I make for myself,\" she said. The actress, interviewed by Notting Hill writer and director Richard Curtis for British Vogue, also said she nearly didn't take the film's starring role. \"Honestly, one of the hardest things I've ever had to do was your movie, playing a movie actress,\" she told him. \"I was so uncomfortable! I mean, we've talked about this so many times, but I almost didn't take the part because it just seemed - oh, it just seemed so awkward. I didn't even know how to play that person.\" The star was also asked if she chose roles that represented her views on feminism. \"It would be more to the point that the things I choose not to do are representative of me,\" she replied. She added: \"But in effect, I'm choosing not to do something as opposed to choosing to do something.\" Roberts said she'd had a \"G-rated career\" - referring to the US film rating for movies suitable for a general audience. She had a body double for revealing scenes as a prostitute in 1990's Pretty Woman, and has previously spoken about asking for an explicit sex scene in 2009's Duplicity to be changed. \"It's not really what I do, so if you're going to ask me to do it, you have to expect it to be toned down. You know, as a mum of three, I feel like that,\" she was reported to have said at the time. She also once said: \"I wouldn't do nudity in films. To act with my clothes on is a performance. To act with my clothes off is a documentary.\" During the new Vogue interview, Curtis said there was a \"tough side\" to Roberts. \"I think I speak very plainly,\" the Oscar winner responded. \"That's kind of how I see myself. I'm very forthright. \"There are a lot of personalities in the world that don't accept that easily, and it can seem really harsh, even if I feel like I'm just being honest about something and just saying, 'This is how I see it'. I never am trying to be unkind.\" Roberts almost turned down her role in 1999's Notting Hill She recalled that she \"loathed\" a costume that had been chosen for her to wear in a key scene in Notting Hill, so decided to send her driver back to her flat to fetch her own clothes for her to wear instead. \"It was my own flip-flops and my cute little blue velvet skirt and a T-shirt and my cardigan.\" Roberts was interviewed for Vogue by Richard Curtis Roberts also said young film stars have a more \"exhausting\" and \"chaotic\" time now compared with the late 1980s and early 90s, when she made her name. \"I don't know if it's better [today], because it's not my experience, but it just seems very different,\" she said. \"And in a way, it seems so cluttered. There are so many elements to being famous now, it just seems exhausting. \"Whereas I feel like, and again this is just my perception, because I don't really know - I'm not a young person starting out in show business in the 21st Century - but it seems to me that it was: you meet people, you read for parts, you try to get jobs, you get a job, you try to do a good job, and from that job, you might meet some new people who might suggest you to some other people and then you might get another job and you might get paid a little bit more for that job, and it might be a little bit of a better job. \"It kind of just made this sort of structural sense, and now it just seems more chaotic. There's more elements, there's more noise, there's more outlets, there's more stuff.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Actress Julia Roberts, in a conversation with Richard Curtis for British Vogue, revealed she has avoided doing nude scenes in her 35-year career, stating it's a personal choice, and she prefers to be \"very forthright\" in expressing her views on film sets. Roberts also mentioned that the film industry seems more \"chaotic\" and \"exhausting\" for young actors now compared to when she started, with more elements and noise around fame." + }, + { + "article": "Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to kick Donald Trump out of court after he was overheard loudly criticising E Jean Carroll's testimony Donald Trump's lawyers accused E Jean Carroll of courting publicity on Wednesday, as she said her reputation was left \"shattered\" after accusing him of sexual assault in the 1990s. The second day of the civil defamation trial featured several fiery exchanges. At one point, the judge threatened to kick Mr Trump out of court after he was overheard criticising her testimony. A jury found Mr Trump liable for sexually abusing Ms Carroll last year, but he continues to deny the claim. He was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, though not for rape, and Ms Carroll was awarded $5m. That trial was based on his 2022 remarks that her story was a \"con job\" and a \"hoax\". The current case focuses on different remarks - which the judge has already ruled were defamatory - that Mr Trump made while he was president in 2019, when he called her allegation \"totally false\". This second trial will determine additional damages. But much of Wednesday's proceedings were marked by angry exchanges between Mr Trump and the judge, who threatened to revoke the former president's right to attend trial after a lawyer for Ms Carroll heard him call the case a \"witch hunt\" and criticise his accuser's memory within earshot of the jury. \"Mr Trump has a right to be present here,\" Judge Kaplan said, frustration evident in his voice. \"That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive, which is what has been reported to me, and if he disregards court orders.\" \"Mr Trump,\" he continued. \"I hope I don't have to consider excluding you from the trial. I understand you're probably eager for me to do that.\" \"I would love it,\" the former president replied. \"I understand you're probably very eager for me to do that because you just can't control yourself in these circumstances,\" Judge Kaplan barked back. In all his years of bomb throwing and political attacks, Mr Trump has rarely had to face the subjects of his ire. But on Wednesday, aside from those comments, he was forced to remain silent as Ms Carroll told a jury how he had damaged her reputation. In 2019, she alleged Mr Trump forced himself on her after a chance encounter decades earlier inside the luxury Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. \"I am here because Donald Trump assaulted me, and when I wrote about it, he said it never happened,\" Ms Carroll, 80, said. \"He lied, and it shattered my reputation.\" After building a 50-year career as a journalist, she told the court: \"now I'm known as a liar, a fraud and a whack job\". \"I am here to get my reputation back and to stop him from telling lies about me.\" E Jean Carroll told the court Trump \"lied, and it shattered my reputation\" Lawyers for Ms Carroll displayed a series of death threats, rape threats and insults she says she has received since coming forward. One message told her to \"stick a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger\", while another called her a \"Satan worshipping Nazi\" - abuse, she said, that left her fearful. In the light of these safety concerns, Ms Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, asked her client about a photo showing her smiling next to a man in a rubber Trump mask as she walked past Trump Tower in Manhattan. Ms Carroll said she felt safe there because of the large police presence. Sitting two rows back with his legal team, Mr Trump listened intently, staring at Ms Carroll and shaking his head at one point. During cross-examination, his lawyers went on the attack. Alina Habba - Mr Trump's attorney - tried to make the case that Ms Carroll wanted fame, citing her multiple television and podcast appearances to talk about her book and the allegations. She said Ms Carroll continues to give interviews about the case she won last year. \"After all those appearances, you want to gain more publicity don't you?\" Ms Habba asked. Ms Carroll responded that she had her fill of that, adding that she did not like saying Mr Trump's name but interviewers always wanted to ask about him. Trump attorney Alina Habba clashed repeatedly with the judge on Wednesday As the court returned for its afternoon session, the tension between Mr Trump, his legal team, and the judge resumed after they asked Mr Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, to recuse himself for \"general hostility toward the defence\". The motion was denied. Ms Habba repeatedly clashed with the judge as the day wore on. She asked for the trial to be delayed so Mr Trump could attend his mother-in-law's funeral on Thursday, saying it would be \"insanely prejudicial\" to have him sit in court. \"The application is denied. I will hear no further argument on it,\" Judge Kaplan said. \"None. Do you understand that word? None.\" Though the former president was deposed in the earlier trial, he did not attend in person or testify, both of which he is doing voluntarily in these proceedings. He is expected to take the stand on Monday. Speaking after court on Wednesday, he fumed at the refusal, calling Judge Kaplan \"a nasty man\" and a \"Trump hating guy\". \"It's a disgrace frankly, what's happening. It's a disgrace, [he] happens to be a [President] Clinton appointment, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with it.\" Mr Trump, who also faces 91 felony charges across four criminal cases this year and is awaiting judgement in a New York civil fraud trial, is currently the Republican frontrunner for president. On Monday, he scored a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses, the first of the state-by-state votes in the race to become the Republican party's White House candidate. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "During a civil defamation trial, Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to remove Donald Trump from court after he criticized E Jean Carroll's testimony. Trump's lawyers accused Carroll of seeking publicity, while Carroll claimed her reputation was ruined following Trump's sexual assault allegations. The jury previously found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and this trial will determine additional damages for his 2019 defamatory comments. Trump is expected to testify on Monday." + }, + { + "article": "There are more than one million Palestinians crammed into Rafah, a city in southern Gaza Israel's sudden threat to unleash its controversial ground operation in the southern Gazan town of Rafah unless all hostages are freed by 10 March has ratcheted up the pressure on the tortuous talks to secure an elusive agreement. Even before Benny Gantz, a leading member of Israel's war cabinet, threw down the gauntlet, Arab leaders were already anxiously focused on this start of the Islamic holy month - a time of communal fasting and prayer which can intensify a prevailing mood. \"Ramadan is ahead of us and if the situation in Rafah evolves, it will be a very, very dangerous time in the region,\" warned Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the annual Munich Security Conference over the weekend. The palpable apprehension by an Arab leader directly involved in the protracted negotiations to swap Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and reach a truce in this grievous war, is being forcefully echoed by other Arab officials. Their principal preoccupation is the highly combustible situation in the occupied West Bank, where tensions and violence have been steadily escalating. \"The West Bank is a powder keg waiting to explode and, if it does, it is game over,\" stressed Jordan's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi in a BBC interview in Munich on Sunday, before Israel seemed to set a deadline. Conversations in Munich with several Arab and western officials with knowledge of these high-stake talks underscored a bleak prognosis. They all spoke off the record because of the sensitive nature of the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas involving US, Egyptian and Israeli spy chiefs, as well as Qatar. \"The gaps are still wide,\" regretted one source. Another described the process as \"stuck\". Humanitarian groups fear there could be dire consequences for civilians in Rafah if Israel launches an offensive The main stumbling blocks are said to include Hamas's high price for the release of the hostages. A figure of 1,500 Palestinian prisoners for five female Israeli soldiers was cited by one source as one example. In the first swap in November during a one-week truce, 105 hostages - mainly elderly women and young children - were swapped for 240 Palestinians, many of them teenagers, detained in Israeli prisons. About 130 hostages are said to be still in captivity in Gaza, although a small number are believed to have been killed in this war. It was always known that Hamas would hike the price to release Israeli soldiers, who they see as one of its most valuable bargaining chips. Sources say negotiators have been trying to bring down these numbers by introducing other incentives such as increased deliveries of desperately needed humanitarian aid. Hamas's broader demand for an end to this war and the pull-out of all Israeli troops are utterly unacceptable to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas's proposed plan as \"delusional\". Negotiators have been searching for a less controversial form of words, including \"restoring calm\". Israel is also said to be adding new issues to the negotiating table, including its accusation that Hamas failed to deliver medicines to hostages as part of an earlier initiative mediated by Qatar and France. Mr Netanyahu has also been criticised for holding back on presenting any counterproposals until Hamas comes back with more acceptable offers. Hamas first put forward its own proposal in early February, which included a three-stage ceasefire and a phased release of hostages in exchange for prisoners and humanitarian aid over 135 days. \"That's why we have negotiations,\" insisted Jordan's Mr Safadi, who accused the Israeli leader of walking away from the talks. \"There are a lot of people who are trying very hard to get a deal.\" Beyond the details of any agreement, some players are vexed that Hamas will claim credit for hugely important Palestinian issues such as prisoner releases. It is yet another element complicating this highly charged crisis. Those who insist a deal is still doable point out that both Hamas and Israel would benefit from a truce - even if it is only temporary. Hamas is thought to still be holding about 130 hostages Israel is under mounting pressure, especially from its staunchest ally the United States, to create a \"credible plan\" to evacuate more than a million Gazans now squeezed into Rafah. About half of Gaza's population, displaced many times over during this punishing war, are now living in tents. In the midst of Israeli declarations it must send its troops into Rafah to complete its operation to \"destroy Hamas\", Egypt has been strengthening defences along its border, including the construction of a walled enclosure. Satellite images showing an area of roughly eight square miles fenced by seven-metre high walls have provoked speculation that Cairo is preparing for a worst case scenario - that thousands of Palestinians will have nowhere else to seek refuge except across the border. \"The risk is speculative, but it exists,\" Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry admitted to me in Munich while trying to downplay the significance of Egypt's move. He reiterated the call being sounded with growing urgency by a chorus of Arab and western leaders, as well as aid organisations, for Israel to halt any plans for a Rafah ground operation which would create a \"humanitarian catastrophe\". The US - which is playing a pivotal role in this process - has been pressing for a hostage deal and a humanitarian pause which it hopes can evolve into a more permanent ceasefire. Washington and its Arab allies also view it as a vital breathing space to focus on a highly ambitious plan for the \"day after\" the war ends. That vision - including a Palestinian state, a reformed Palestinian Authority and the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia - would do nothing less than redraw the political map of the Middle East. For now, minds are concentrated on the growing urgency to find a way out of this mounting crisis in the next few weeks.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israel has threatened to launch a ground operation in Rafah, Gaza, unless all hostages are freed by March 10, escalating tensions in the region, especially with Ramadan approaching. Arab leaders and humanitarian groups express concern over the potential consequences for civilians if Israel carries out the offensive, while indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, involving the US, Egypt, and Qatar, are struggling to bridge wide gaps, particularly over the release of hostages and prisoners." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Scottish Rugby Coverage: Live text on BBC Sport website and app, BBC Radio Scotland & BBC Five 5 Live commentary Head coach Gregor Townsend knows Scotland need \"something special\" to topple Ireland in Dublin on Saturday. A draw is enough to clinch back-to-back Six Nations titles for the hosts, who seek a 10th straight win over Scotland. The Scots' last away win over Ireland came in 2010. \"We need to deliver our best performance this season to come away with a positive result,\" said Townsend, who makes two changes to his starting XV after defeat to Italy in Rome. \"We know how tough it's going to be. They are one of the top two teams in the world at home where they have been virtually unbeatable over the last few years. \"It's going to require something special but we believe in the players. \"The frustration is that we are not going to Dublin with four wins. We feel we had a win taken away from us against France and we could have been better against Italy.\" Stafford McDowall makes his first tournament appearance. The Glasgow centre, 26, made his debut against Italy last summer but was not included in the World Cup squad. He takes over from Cameron Redpath to join club-mate Huw Jones in midfield. Ben White returns in place of George Horne at scrum-half having been rested for last weekend's disappointing 31-29 loss in Rome, which left Scotland third in the standings. \u2022 None Six Nations title permutations going into final day Both Horne and Redpath drop to the bench, where they are joined by experienced loose-head prop Rory Sutherland, who has yet to feature in this year's tournament. Former captain Jamie Ritchie, Ali Price and Alec Hepburn are the trio dropping out of the squad. \"We feel he deserves the opportunity,\" said Townsend of McDowall. \"It will be a very physical match and he's probably the biggest guy in our backline, outside of Duhan [van der Merwe]. He's a hard worker too. \"His cohesion with Huw means they should hit it off like they have been doing for their club.\" Scotland squandered a 22-10 lead last weekend, but Townsend has faith in the group he leads as he approaches the end of his seventh Six Nations campaign as head coach. \"If you change what you've been doing because of one defeat or one performance that had negative elements then you're forgetting what went on beforehand,\" he said. \"Before that 20-minute period when we lost our focus, we played a lot of good rugby and we played a lot of good rugby leading up to the Italy game.\" The most recent meeting was a one-sided 36-14 Irish win at the World Cup in October, with Scotland conceding six tries before getting on the scoreboard. \"You can't knock off for a second,\" warned Townsend. \"We learned the hard way in Paris where we actually had a lot of the game in the first 20 minutes but we knocked off a couple of rucks and that cost us because Ireland are very good with their possession. \"That's something we have to accept; they will score points. It will be a real test for our defence and we have to score points, get to 20 or more, which will be tough, but we believe the players can do that against any team.\" \u2022 None THE STATE WE'RE IN: What can we do about our schools, hospitals and prisons?", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Scotland's rugby team aims for a historic win against Ireland in Dublin, needing a remarkable performance to disrupt Ireland's pursuit of a second consecutive Six Nations title. Head coach Gregor Townsend makes two changes to the starting lineup, with Stafford McDowall and Ben White coming in, acknowledging the challenge of facing an almost unbeatable Irish team at home." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Premier League The Premier League has charged Everton and Nottingham Forest with breaching its financial rules. Both clubs have been referred to an independent commission for alleged breaches of profit and sustainability rules in their accounts for 2022-23. Under Premier League regulations, clubs can lose a maximum of \u00a3105m over a three-season period, or \u00a335m per campaign, before facing sanctions. Clubs that breach those rules are at risk of a fine or a points deduction. \u2022 None Will there be 'chaos' at end of Premier League season? - Everton & Forest charges explained \u2022 None 'Mismanagement on a grand scale - trauma on a loop at Everton' Everton are currently appealing against a 10-point deduction from a previous charge. The Premier League said in a statement that Everton and Nottingham Forest \"have each confirmed that they are in breach of the league's profitability and sustainability rules\". It added: \"This is as a result of sustaining losses above the permitted thresholds for the assessment period ending season 2022-23. \"In accordance with Premier League rules, both cases have now been referred to the chair of the judicial panel, who will appoint separate commissions to determine the appropriate sanction.\" The clubs now have 14 days to submit their formal responses, and under league rules the hearings must be concluded within 12 weeks. Appeal hearings must be held before 24 May 2024 and the complaint resolved before 1 June. Clubs are in breach of profit and sustainability rules (PSR) if their calculation over the relevant period results in a loss in excess of \u00a3105m, although that threshold is reduced by \u00a322m for each season a club spends in the Championship over the course of that relevant period. Nottingham Forest spent two seasons in the Championship within the three-year assessment period, meaning the maximum loss for the club is \u00a361m. Clubs had to submit their accounts for 2022-23 by 31 December under new rules designed to speed up the reporting process and ensure any penalties were imposed during a season when the alleged transgression took place. The Premier League had 14 days from the reporting date to inform clubs whether they were in breach or not. Everton are 17th in the Premier League table and sit just one point above Luton Town, who are in the relegation zone having played a game more, while Nottingham Forest are four points clear of the drop zone in 15th. \u2022 None Go straight to all the latest Everton news, analysis and fan views Everton 'will continue to defend its position' Everton have acknowledged the Premier League's decision to refer them to an independent commission for a breach of profit and sustainability rules for the assessment period from the 2019-20 campaign through to the end of the 2022-23 season. They received an immediate 10-point deduction - the biggest punishment in the Premier League's history - in November after an independent commission found the club's losses to 2021-22 amounted to \u00a3124.5m. Their appeal is due to be heard before the end of this season. In a statement, Everton said: \"The club must now defend another Premier League complaint which includes the very same financial periods for which it has already been sanctioned, before that appeal has even been heard. The club takes the view that this results from a clear deficiency in the Premier League's rules. \"Everton can assure its fans that it will continue to defend its position during the ongoing appeal and, should it be required to do so, at any future commission - and that the impact on supporters will be reflected as part of that process.\" Thousands of Everton fans held anti-Premier League protests following the points deduction, while a number of regional politicians raised concerns, including Mayor of Liverpool Steve Rotheram and Mayor for Greater Manchester Andy Burnham. In a new statement on Monday, Rotherham said he had \"grave concerns\" about the transparency of the process and that by being potentially penalised twice in the same season Everton are facing \"double jeopardy\". He added: \"It is not about one club but ensuring that our game is open and fair in its treatment of all clubs. \"It is difficult to see how anybody can have any confidence in a process as opaque as this.\" The new charges against Everton come at a time of significant uncertainty for the club. In September, owner Farhad Moshiri agreed to sell his 94% stake in the club to American investment fund 777 Partners. The takeover has been given the green light by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Football Association (FA), but Everton are awaiting approval from the Premier League. The club are also in the process of building a new stadium on the banks of the River Mersey at Bramley-Moore Dock, which is due to open in late 2024. Nottingham Forest join Everton and Manchester City as the only top-flight clubs to be charged with breaking profit and sustainability regulations. City were referred to an independent commission in February 2023 over more than 100 alleged rule breaches between 2009 and 2018. Since securing promotion from the Championship in May 2022, Forest have spent a reported \u00a3250m on new signings. In September 2022, the club broke the British record for most signings in a single transfer window after welcoming 21 new arrivals. \"Nottingham Forest acknowledges the statement from the Premier League confirming that the club has today been charged with a breach of the league's profitability and sustainability rules,\" the club said in a statement. \"The club intends to continue to cooperate fully with the Premier League on this matter and are confident of a speedy and fair resolution.\" Forest have employed leading sports lawyer Nick de Marco to argue their case, which is thought to centre around the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham for up to \u00a345m in September. This took place after the accounting deadline, but Forest argue their negotiating tactics allowed them to generate a higher fee than if they had been forced to sell by 30 June 2023. Manchester City are the only other club to have been charged by the Premier League for financial breaches, when they were referred to an independent commission over more than 100 alleged rule breaches between 2009 and 2018. Treble winners City were charged in February 2023 - before Everton's initial charge - and that case is ongoing. Meanwhile, Chelsea could face further scrutiny from football's authorities over reports of payments connected to the club's former owner Roman Abramovich. Chelsea were fined \u00a38.6m by European football governing body Uefa in July for \"submitting incomplete financial information\" between 2012 and 2019 as part of a settlement for breaking Financial Fair Play rules. \u2022 None Our coverage of your Premier League club is bigger and better than ever before - follow your team and sign up for notifications in the BBC Sport app to make sure you never miss a moment", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Everton and Nottingham Forest have been charged by the Premier League for breaching financial rules, with both clubs facing independent commissions over alleged breaches of profit and sustainability regulations in their 2022-23 accounts. This comes as Everton is already appealing a 10-point deduction from a previous charge, and both clubs now have 14 days to respond to the new charges, with hearings required to be concluded within 12 weeks." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"I will die here\": Evacuation \"angels\" help front-line town's last residents flee After months of fierce fighting, small groups of Russian troops have reached the heavily damaged eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka and are trying to gain a foothold there. The small number of civilians left have been fleeing the town in greater numbers under relentless fire, and as Ukrainian forces try to repel the attacks. Avdiivka is a gateway to the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk. It has been effectively on the front line since 2014 when the conflict in eastern Ukraine started. All attempts by Russian troops to advance there have failed. Until now. Residents who have fled and volunteers who try to evacuate others from Avdiivka told the BBC that Russian troops had recently seized several streets in the southern part of the town. One volunteer, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed they were first seen in the outskirts on 19 January. \"Some people managed to get out from those areas but it was two days ago,\" he said. \"Now, no-one is coming out. We are only getting information that there are bodies on the streets but it's too dangerous to go there.\" Residents of Avdiivka have fled in greater numbers in the last few days as fighting has intensified Avdiivka had a pre-war population of more than 30,000. Last summer it was closer to 1,650. Now, there are just over 1,000 remaining. Many have fled, but many have also been killed. The head of the town's military administration, Vitaly Barabash, says it was small Russian sabotage groups who managed to get to the outskirts, and not large units. \"They didn't enter with serious forces. Yes, they had certain success, but the street that everyone is talking about - Soborna Street - is under our control. We have pushed them out,\" he told the BBC. This is, however, the first time that Russians have managed to enter the town since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Since last October, the Russians have unleashed a relentless campaign of artillery and air strikes. Authorities say that in January alone, they dropped more than 300 guided aviation bombs. And as its buildings have been reduced to rubble, Avdiivka has become a graveyard as well as a ghost town. The dead are left under the rubble as there are neither emergency services nor equipment to clear the wreckage. Some of the locals say Russian soldiers have seized several streets in the southern part of the town Vlad Mahovsky, a volunteer who evacuates civilians, showed the BBC a message from a resident a few days ago. \"The basement where people were staying on Soborna Street has been hit, a lot of people have died,\" it says. The volunteer was unable to get there because the street is now the new front line. Gennadiy Yudin and his colleague Dmytro Soloviy are part of the \"White Angels\" police unit that organises evacuations. They are often the first to arrive at the scene of explosions, meaning they are often targeted in follow-up attacks. Earlier this month at the site of an air strike, they discovered a woman bleeding badly inside a house. Shots rang out nearby as they were tending to her wounds. Shortly afterwards, a drone dropped a bomb that narrowly missed their car. Vitaly Barabash says a small group of Russians have managed to get to the outskirts of Avdiivka Many residents avoid staying in basements in large groups now. The Russian drones are able to spot where they gather and drop bombs, says Vitaliy Barabash. They can detect the smoke from stoves too, he adds. Despite the bombardments and unbearable living conditions, there is still a contingent of holdouts who do not want to be evacuated. Mr Yudin said many people were scared of the uncertainty of moving to a new location. In one of the videos the White Angels shared with the BBC, they visit an elderly woman after several rockets fell near her house. They beg her to leave to join her grandchildren, but she refuses. \"Let me die here,\" she tells them with a weak voice. She can barely walk. There is a perception among many Ukrainians that those who remain in front-line villages and towns have pro-Russian views. In some cases that may be true, but those staying at this point - when death could come at any moment - are unlikely to be motivated by politics. And there has been an increase in those leaving as the fighting intensifies - 400 people since October, according to the town's military administration. Some leave because they are wounded and require urgent medical care. \"My wife is very ill, so I decided to leave,\" says Victor. \"It's unbearable. I need to leave to save her.\" Victor is among six people who left with volunteer Vlad Mahovsky. They spoke to the BBC when they made a short stop in Myrnohrad, some 50km (30 miles) away from their hometown. They looked on with interest as people walked along the pavement and cars waited at traffic lights. They hadn't seen such scenes for nearly two years. The White Angels have been responding to emergency calls and help organise evacuations Just half an hour before, as they were leaving Avdiivka, a shell landed near their second car but luckily no-one was hurt. Ekaterina Vasylyivna, 79, is still shaking from the journey through what is now known as the \"road of life\". Three times shells and rockets fell near her house but it was the death of her husband that pushed her to leave. \"He went out to get bread and never came back,\" she said, crying. \"I've been left alone. I was so scared during the strikes that my leg got paralysed.\" She wipes tears off her face but memories keep coming. \"My house burnt down, the ceiling collapsed. They hit a house next to mine - there was a bang and it turned into dirt. Nothing left of it.\" Her fellow passenger, Roma, left behind his grandparents who refused to leave. \"My grandmother is paralysed and immobile,\" he said. \"Ok, let's go!\" announces the driver. \"Thank God it's quiet here!\" And for the first time, a glimpse of a smile appears on the faces of his passengers as they drive away from the horrors of the war.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Russian troops have reached and seized parts of the heavily damaged Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, leading to an increase in the evacuation of the remaining residents amidst intense fighting. The town, a key gateway to the Russian-controlled Donetsk, has seen its population dwindle from over 30,000 before the war to just over 1,000 now, with many civilians fleeing and some choosing to stay despite the danger." + }, + { + "article": "Three-time world champion Max Verstappen, who spent all day in the Red Bull, was quickest in both morning and afternoon sessions Red Bull's Max Verstappen made an ominous start to Formula 1 pre-season testing with a lap time that put him more than a second clear of the field. The three-time world champion was 1.14 seconds quicker than McLaren's Lando Norris in second, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz 0.1secs behind in third. Lap times in testing are notoriously unreliable form guides, because of the number of variables at play. However, Verstappen's car looked poised and quick whenever it was out on track. Red Bull enter 2024 on the back of the most dominant season in F1 history last year, in which they won all but one of the 22 races. The new RB20 car has drawn admiring glances up and down the pit lane for the number of innovations it includes, despite the team describing it as an \"evolution\" of last year's model. Verstappen ran all day in the Red Bull, completing 143 laps - more than two race distances - with no obvious problems, while many other teams split their running between two drivers. And when he set his fastest time, his race engineer Giampiero Lambiase could be seen grinning with satisfaction in the Red Bull garage. Fuel load, track conditions, time of day, tyres and power-unit settings are among the factors that can distort the competitive picture in testing as teams seek to hone their cars before the first race. This season, the opener will come on 2 March at the Bahrain International Circuit, the same venue that is hosting this week's three days of testing. Those who ran in Wednesday's first session, when track conditions were hotter and slower, were at an immediate disadvantage when it came to outright lap time. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, second and third behind Verstappen at the lunch break, still finished the day in overall seventh and eighth places though, despite handing their cars over to their team-mates at the lunch break. However, Verstappen looked almost as strong in the morning as he proved in the afternoon - Leclerc was 0.8secs off his pace, Alonso less than 0.1secs further back. Sainz had just 0.015secs on Daniel Ricciardo - driving for Red Bull's second team, now known as RB. Alpine's Pierre Gasly was fifth fastest, followed by Aston Martin's Lance Stroll. Mercedes, for whom George Russell was only 12th fastest, spent the first session working on bigger set-up changes, including on the floor, and then did long runs on harder tyres in the second, eschewing the single-lap runs completed by many rivals. Lewis Hamilton did not drive on Wednesday. It was a difficult day for Williams. Their car was the last to take to the track for an initial shakedown test, running only the day before testing started, while all other teams had been out previously. Logan Sargeant was 11th fastest but managed only 21 laps, punctuated with a spin at Turn Nine, before driveshaft problems ended his running. Team-mate Alex Albon, who drove in the first session, completed 40 laps but stopped early with a fuel-pump failure. \u2022 None * = time set in morning session; all other times in afternoon/evening \u2022 None Albon's time set on C4 tyres, Russell on C2 and Ocon on C1. All others on C3. C5 is softest, C1 hardest. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Max Verstappen began Formula 1 pre-season testing with a dominant lap time, over a second faster than McLaren's Lando Norris in second place, as Red Bull's new RB20 car impressed with its innovations. Despite lap times being unreliable indicators, Verstappen's strong performance and the car's stability suggest a promising start for Red Bull, who dominated the 2023 season." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A soldier who mistakenly shot a child while on duty had waited five years for therapy when he took his own life, his wife has said. George Du Preez, who served as a private in Afghanistan, developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the incident in 2011. His wife Katriona said he did not know he was firing at the child at the time. Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board said it was committed to helping veterans with mental health issues. Meanwhile the Army said service personnel health was taken \"extremely seriously\" but added it would not comment on the specifics of individual cases. Mr Du Preez was born in Namibia and later joined the British Parachute Regiment, with whom he served in Afghanistan as a private. Mrs Du Preez said she received a call from her husband in February 2011 where he asked her if God would forgive someone who had killed a child. \"Instantly thinking he was talking about the Taliban, I told him that I thought it was deplorable,\" she said. But when he returned home, her husband told her more. \"It transpires that when George was being ordered to shoot a target, it was radioed through shortly afterwards that the target that he had shot was that of a child,\" she said. \"That was the key trigger for his PTSD.\" Katriona Du Preez says the family received \"no explanation\" for why her husband's care was delayed He received military and civilian treatment while living in Colchester, Essex, where his regiment was based, and was medically discharged from the Army in 2014 with PTSD. The couple and their young son moved to Bridgend in south Wales to be closer to Mrs Du Preez's family, and were told the ex-soldier's treatment plan would be transferred and he would be seen by mental health professionals within weeks. But that did not happen, said Mrs Du Preez, 42, who claimed her husband was placed \"back of the queue\" for support upon arriving in Wales. \"He was a really sweet guy, pretty shy - very religious,\" she said. \"He had seen some really awful things. \"There was an awful lot of paranoia and flashbacks.\" George Du Preez was diagnosed with PTSD after returning from Afghanistan Shortly after the move, Mr Du Preez had an emotional breakdown. He received medication and was re-admitted to hospital several times between 2014 and 2019, but never received the therapy he was waiting for. Aged just 37, he was found dead at home by his wife in November 2019 having killed himself. \"He was actually still on that waiting list for treatments when he died,\" she added, and said Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board had never explained why her husband's treatment had to start from scratch after moving to Wales. In December, a coroner ruled actions by Mr Du Preez's GP, mental health services and the probation service in the weeks before his death did not contribute to his death. However, Mrs Du Preez said she believed more could have been done to provide him with veteran specific mental health care in the years before his death. \"It's frustrating because I know there are people receiving treatment with similar conditions over the border in England, and it feels very much like a postcode lottery,\" said Mrs Du Preez, who works as a civil servant. \"I've got a little boy at home who doesn't have daddy.\" According to Welsh government figures, there are about 115,000 veterans in Wales, and a higher percentage in Wales than in England. The Welsh government said it set up Veterans NHS Wales in 2011 to provide dedicated therapists for veterans, and said it introduced a new scheme in 2023 to improve GP services for ex military personnel and all ensure health boards had an armed forces champion. George Du Preez struggled with his mental health after unknowingly shooting at a child target in Afghanistan But Dave Singletary, of the Parachute Regimental Association in Wales, said therapy lists were full and Wales did not have the facilities to offer the same care as was available in England. \"The care and treatment that they require could be available, should be available, but isn't available - and I can't find an excuse for that,\" he added. The Army said it had \"improved the support provided\" to help identify mental health distress and seek support earlier. Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board said it extended \"heartfelt condolences to George's family\", adding: \"As a health board, we are committed to the Armed Forces Covenant and provide a range of services to veterans with mental health needs.\" If you are affected by any of the issues in this article you can find details of organisations that can help via the BBC Action Line.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A soldier who developed PTSD after mistakenly shooting a child in Afghanistan in 2011 took his own life five years later, with his wife saying he waited for therapy that never came. The Army and Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board are under scrutiny for the delay in providing mental health support to George Du Preez, who was found dead in 2019 while still on a waiting list for treatment." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. One person has died and 21 people were wounded in a shooting in Missouri at the end of the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade. Officials said they treated eight victims who were in immediately life-threatening condition and seven others who had suffered injuries that could prove life-threatening. Nine children were among the wounded - all are expected to recover. Police said they have arrested three suspects in connection to the shooting. At a news conference on Wednesday, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said a total of 22 people were struck by gunfire - one of whom is dead - and three individuals were arrested. More than 800 police officers were already on the scene to monitor the parade. Ms Graves said they responded immediately after the gunshots broke out and detectives who were on the scene quickly opened an investigation. The fire brigade also sprang to action, administering aid to the injured. A local radio station said one of its DJs, Lisa Lopez, was killed in the shooting. The surviving victims were transported to three local hospitals, officials said, with the immediately life-threatening cases taken to hospital within 10 minutes of the shooting. Nine children aged six to 15 with gunshot wounds are being treated at Children's Mercy Hospital, chief nursing officer Stephanie Meyer said. \"The one word I would just use to describe what we saw and how they felt when they came to us was fear,\" Ms Meyer added. Local hospitals said they were also treating people who were not shot, but who had suffered other injuries in the sudden stampede that followed the shooting. City officials did not release the names of any of the victims. They also did not share any information about the suspects who were arrested, including what might have led to the shooting. Police Chief Graves said the motive for the shooting was not yet clear. A law enforcement source told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that the shooting appeared to be the result of an argument that turned violent. The source said it was not terrorism-related. The shots were fired west of Union Station, the train station in downtown Kansas City, which was where the parade ended at about 14:00 local time (20:00 GMT). Thousands of fans had gathered there to watch the festivities. Local reports said Kansas City Chiefs players were still on a stage there when the first shots rang out. The gunfire caused the watching crowd, including the city's mayor and his family members, to run for cover. Police said they were investigating a motive and gathering physical as well as digital evidence. A 46-year-old man, Paul Contreras, told local television station, KETV, that he was one of the fans who helped \"tackle\" the man, and saw him drop a gun when he was knocked down. \"The whole time, he's fighting to get up and run away,\" Mr Contreras said, adding police arrived within moments. \"We're fighting each other, you know. We're fighting to keep him down and he's fighting to get up.\" He said his 23-year-old daughter, Alyssa, managed to capture the encounter on her phone. Chief Graves said she was aware of a video purporting to show fans subduing a person, and that investigators were reviewing the footage to determine if the individual was one of the people taken into police custody. Gunfire erupted as the city celebrated the victory of the Kansas City Chiefs in America's biggest sporting event. But this lesser-known American city was robbed of its exhilarating and unifying moment. Kansas City's Mayor, Quinton Lucas, said he was inside Union Station when he and others heard the sound of gunfire. He and members of his family started running. \"We went out today like everyone in Kansas City looking to have a celebration,\" Mr Lucas said at Wednesday's news conference. \"I was there with my wife, I was there with my mother. I never would've thought that we, along with Chiefs players, along with fans, hundreds of thousands of people, would be forced to run for our safety today.\" In a statement, the Kansas City Chiefs organisation said it was \"truly saddened\" by Wednesday's violence. It added that its players, coaches and staff - as well as their families - were accounted for and safe. Travis Kelce, the star tight end of the team whose relationship with Taylor Swift became a cultural phenomenon, wrote on social media that he was \"heartbroken over the tragedy that took place today\". Marquez Valdes-Scantling, a wide receiver for the Chiefs, also took to social media after the tragedy. He said he wanted to get in touch with the young victims of the shooting. \"I want to make sure they're doing OK,\" Mr Valdes-Scantling said. \"But would love to help them out any way I can and get them some stuff from the team to help with the recovery.\" The mayor emphasised that the city had security measures in place, and it should make the public think deeply about a path forward. Despite hundreds of law enforcement present, he said, this incident still occurred because of the presence of bad actors with guns. In a statement, US President Joe Biden also reflected on the issue of gun violence in the country. \"Today's events should move us, shock us, shame us into action,\" he said, as he called for gun reform and a ban on assault rifles in the US. Are you in the affected area? If it is safe to do so, email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "One person died and 21 others were wounded, including nine children, in a shooting during the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade in Missouri; three suspects have been arrested, and the motive is under investigation. The incident occurred despite the presence of over 800 police officers, and while the shooting does not appear to be terrorism-related, it has cast a shadow over the city's celebration." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Championship Riley McGree's stunning goal sank Birmingham and made it three straight wins for Middlesbrough to revive their hopes of reaching the Championship play-offs. The Australia international crashed a 25-yard shot into the top corner to deepen the relegation troubles of the club for which he played on loan before joining Boro in 2022. That means the Birmingham have picked up just one point in the five games since manager Tony Mowbray had to step aside in order to have medical treatment, to leave them just one point ahead of 22nd-placed Huddersfield. The home side were second best all night and failed to seriously trouble Seny Dieng in the visitors' goal. \u2022 None Relive Middlesbrough's win at Birmingham in the Championship This was a game in hand that both teams were banking on to advance their hopes at either end of the table, but it was resurgent Boro who made use of it with a dominant performance to go ninth. Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick reflected their recent form by naming an unchanged side for the third game on the run, the first time he has done so this season, following victories over Norwich and QPR. The home side went into the game with just two wins from their previous eight home Championship games and their nervousness showed as Marcus Forss almost pounced on an under-hit Marc Roberts backpass in the opening two minutes, with goalkeeper John Ruddy racing out to clear. Boro continued to make the running and in the 17th minute McGree, who spent over a year on loan at Birmingham from Major League Soccer side Charlotte, reminded the home fans of his quality. Luke Ayling can take some of the credit, his excellent tackle preventing Alex Pritchard from launching a counter-attack while the Leeds loanee slipped the ball to McGree, who found the top corner with Ruddy well beaten. Birmingham were further handicapped by the loss of Roberts through injury, and their only real opportunity of the first half was a slick attack that ended woefully as Pritchard got his shot all wrong. Emmanuel Latte Lath and Matt Clarke, with a far-post header from Jonny Howson's corner, went close to adding goals for Boro, and Birmingham caretaker manager Mark Venus responded by sending on subs George Hall and Juninho Bacina at half time. The response failed to materialise, with the main drama of an uneventful second 45 minutes coming from the officials, as referee Andy Davies limped off to be replaced by fourth official Jeremy Simpson. Venus' last throw of the dice was to send on skipper Lukas Jutkiewicz, whose equaliser at Hull earned the Blues their only positive result since Mowbray was forced to relinquish control. He came closest to forcing something, his challenge causing goalkeeper Dieng to miss a cross, but Rav van den Berg was on hand to sweep the ball clear. That meant Birmingham have lost seven of their past 10, while Boro have beaten the hapless Blues for the fifth successive meeting, for the first time in their history. Birmingham City caretaker manager Mark Venus told BBC Radio WM: \"It wasn't a good night for anyone connected with the club. We're all disappointed and you've got to pick yourself up and go again. \"We had plenty of energy and application but not enough quality with the ball. Everyone can see it and we have to try to solve it. \"Technically, it was a poor night. There was no quality in the team in [terms of] passing, control, movement - we just completely lacked any quality on the night. We've got to do a lot better. \"We want leaders. We want people who've got personalities to show up on the pitch and we're lacking them at the moment. \"We have to give everything for this football club in the next nine games. We have to leave everything on the grass and nowhere else. Everybody has to understand the severity of where we are.\" \"It wasn't the most glamorous of football matches in terms of the type of football that was on the pitch. It was dogged, solid, disciplined and there was a steel and determination about us that I really liked. \"We didn't give much away and we looked dangerous in the first half, when we could have had another goal or two and should have had a penalty. \"Credit to the boys, they made a difference, dug in and found a way to win. \"Riley (McGree) has moments in him. He had a couple last year when he pulled one out, with Norwich being the stand-out one. \"In terms of the 'wow' quality of the finish, tonight was pretty special, a hell of a strike, and the only goal of the game.\" \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Ethan Laird (Birmingham City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Jay Stansfield (Birmingham City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. \u2022 None Emmanuel Latte Lath (Middlesbrough) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. \u2022 None Attempt missed. George Hall (Birmingham City) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the left following a corner. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Rav van den Berg (Middlesbrough) header from the centre of the box misses to the left following a corner. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Emmanuel Latte Lath (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Jonny Howson. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Middlesbrough secured a third consecutive victory in the Championship with a 1-0 win over Birmingham City, thanks to a spectacular 25-yard goal from Riley McGree, boosting their play-off hopes while deepening Birmingham's relegation worries. Birmingham, now one point above the relegation zone, have only gained one point since manager Tony Mowbray stepped aside for medical treatment." + }, + { + "article": "(Left to right) Samantha Drummonds, Dolet Hill, Denton Burke and Tanysha Ofori-Akuffo There were \"serious failings\" in the probation supervision of a quadruple murderer, the chief inspector of probation has said. Joshua Jacques, 29, killed girlfriend Samantha Drummonds and her family with a knife in Bermondsey, south London, on 25 April 2022. Jacques was on probation and was intoxicated with cannabis at the time of the incident. Jurors at the Old Bailey found him guilty in December. Police found the bodies of Ms Drummonds, 27, her mother Tanysha Ofori-Akuffo, 45, grandmother Dolet Hill, 64, and Ms Hill's partner Denton Burke, 58, after being alerted to a disturbance by a neighbour. During his trial, the Old Bailey heard that Jacques took 3g of skunk cannabis a day and refused to consider cutting down, saying he would carry on smoking marijuana \"even if it killed\" him. Jurors were told Joshua Jacques had 11 previous convictions for 20 offences, including for cannabis, being in possession of a silver knuckle duster and robbery Chief Inspector of Probation Martin Jones, who conducted an independent review into Jacques' supervision by the Probation Service, said it failed to organise a drug abuse intervention for Jacques, despite it being a condition of his release. Jacques had been released on licence on 11 November 2021, following a 51-month custodial sentence in 2019 for drug-related offences. The judge found Jacques' offending had been contributed to by cannabis abuse, and he was \"well aware\" of the impact of it on his mental health. Mr Jones said: \"The case records show that Jacques was routinely using cannabis whilst on probation, and his licence contained a condition to engage in a drug abuse intervention on release from prison. Police believe all five people were known to each other \"No such intervention was organised by the Probation Service and our inspection found no evidence of a referral to a drugs agency.\" Mr Jones said the enforcement of Jacques' probation was \"inconsistent\" despite concerns about repeated non-compliance. \"There were serious failings in the supervision of Joshua Jacques,\" he said. \"Despite concerns about repeated non-compliance with his licence conditions, enforcement practice was inconsistent and opportunities to recall Jacques to custody were missed.\" He said Jacques was incorrectly allocated to a newly-qualified probation officer and management oversight of the case was \"insufficient\". Jacques was also assessed as posing a \"high risk\" of serious harm to the public before being released from custody, he said, but his risk to former partners or probation staff was \"underestimated\". Mr Jones said that the case was \"symptomatic\" of issues observed across the Probation Service in recent years. All victims suffered numerous stab wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene of the home of Jamaican-born NHS worker Dolet Hill and her partner Denton Burke \"As a result of this review, eight recommendations were made to HMPPS (HM Prison and Probation Service). They have accepted all these recommendations and responded with an action plan for implementing them.\" Tracey-Ann Henry, Mr Hill's daughter told the BBC before the report was published: \"If he actually had these issues he should have had a social worker or something who is checking on him. \"And then we realised he'd recently got out of prison. He should have had a tag or something.\" Asheka Jones, Denton Burke's niece said it was hard to \"hear the long record he had\". She said: \"I feel like maybe something should have been done prior to give him the support he needed to prevent this from happening.\" Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hellobbclondon@bbc.co.uk \u2022 None Man guilty of murdering four members of same family The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The chief inspector of probation has highlighted \"serious failings\" in the supervision of Joshua Jacques, a quadruple murderer who killed his girlfriend and her family while on probation and under the influence of cannabis. The Probation Service failed to provide a drug abuse intervention for Jacques, despite it being a condition of his release, and inconsistent enforcement allowed him to remain free despite repeated non-compliance with his license conditions." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Premier League Arsenal underlined their Premier League title credentials as they recorded their sixth consecutive win with a dominant display against Newcastle. The result sees Mikel Arteta's side sit two points behind leaders Liverpool and a point behind second-placed Manchester City at the top of the table. The outcome of this contest appeared inevitable from the moment visiting defender Sven Botman turned the ball in after Gabriel's header from a corner had been well saved by Newcastle goalkeeper Loris Karius. While there was an element of bad luck to that for the Dutch defender, who simply could not get out of the way as his Newcastle team-mate Tino Livramento tried to clear, there was little else about Arsenal's performance that was owed to good fortune. The Gunners' intensity and fluent passing repeatedly carved Eddie Howe's side apart, particularly down the Magpies' left flank with Livramento and Botman enduring difficult evenings. Kai Havertz swept in a deserved second shortly after, with Gabriel Martinelli making the most of indecision in the Newcastle defence to cut the ball back into the German forward's path. With Arsenal continuing to press, Bukayo Saka twisted and turned Livramento one way and then another before dispatching a left-foot shot into the bottom left corner add to the hosts' advantage. Arteta also enjoyed the luxury of being able to take off his captain Martin Odegaard, Havertz and Saka well before full-time after Jakub Kiwior's effort deflected past the helpless Karius from another Declan Rice corner. Newcastle, who remain eighth in the table, managed a late consolation courtesy of Joe Willock's looping header, but there was little else for the visiting supporters to cheer. Arsenal look real deal this time around By this stage last term Arsenal's title challenge had already begun to implode, with defeats by Everton and City sandwiched either side of a home draw against Brentford. In the end they finished five points behind Pep Guardiola's side, having enjoyed an eight-point advantage towards the end of January. However, while their early-season form has not been as impressive this time around, they look to be peaking nicely for the run-in. An outstanding sequence of results since January has included a deserved victory over Liverpool, and they have now scored 25 goals and conceded just three times in six matches in the English top flight. Not only are they playing with the swagger of early last season, there seems to be a new resilience to this Arsenal team that has perhaps not been evident since their last title triumph in 2004. At times in the intervening period, Arsenal have been notably targeted aerially by other Premier League sides at corners and free-kicks. However, Arteta has a physically imposing side - with the likes of Gabriel, Ben White, Kiwior and William Saliba all capable in the air - and no side has scored more set-piece goals than the Gunners' 19 this term. Illness meant Martin Dubravka was absent in goal for Newcastle but there was very little Karius could do, almost 12 months on from his last appearance for the Magpies in their Carabao Cup final defeat by Manchester United. The German goalkeeper made several saves as those in front of him struggled badly to stem the tide of Arsenal attacks. Basic mistakes saw them concede possession in dangerous areas and the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Sean Longstaff and Lewis Miley fought to make an impact in midfield. Such was Arsenal's control, the visitors failed to record a single shot during the first period of a top-flight game since March 2014. While the introductions of Willock, Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy in particular appeared to inject energy into a laboured performance, on this evidence there is a significant gulf in class which Howe's side needs to bridge to be on a level with the sides competing for the title. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Reiss Nelson (Arsenal) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Declan Rice. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. \u2022 None Delay over. They are ready to continue. \u2022 None Delay in match because of an injury Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal). \u2022 None Delay in match because of an injury Fabian Sch\u00e4r (Newcastle United). \u2022 None Substitution, Arsenal. Mohamed Elneny replaces Jorginho because of an injury. \u2022 None Goal! Arsenal 4, Newcastle United 1. Joe Willock (Newcastle United) header from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Dan Burn with a cross. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Eddie Nketiah. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Arsenal extended their winning streak to six games in the Premier League with a dominant victory over Newcastle, showcasing their title credentials. The win puts them two points behind leaders Liverpool and one point behind Manchester City. Arsenal's strong performance, particularly down Newcastle's left flank, led to goals from Sven Botman's own goal, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, and Bukayo Saka. Newcastle managed a late consolation goal from Joe Willock, but the result solidifies Arsenal's position as serious title contenders." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Charles Spencer said press intrusion used to be \"worse\" Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, has told the BBC that press attention suffered by his sister was \"more dangerous\" than the scrutiny surrounding the current Princess of Wales. But, in an interview to broadcast on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he also said he worries about \"what happened to the truth\", amid conspiracy theories about Catherine. He also told me about violence he and his sister suffered at home. As children, he and his sister Diana were punished by a nanny in \"painful\" ways, he said. He has just written a book, A Very Private School, about the shocking levels of violence and sexual abuse that he suffered as a young boy when he was sent to boarding school at the age of eight. Re-living the experience led to him suffering a breakdown and receiving residential treatment for trauma, but he is resolute abuse victims \"must speak out\". Earl Spencer, one of the most prominent aristocrats in the country, said \"damaging violence to children\" affects them, whatever family they are born into. He is perhaps best known for his criticism of the press after his sister's death in 1997, when he gave a controversial speech at her funeral, promising to protect William and Harry from the kind of intrusion their mother received. The earl is loath now to talk specifically about the pressures on his two nephews and the rift between them. But after weeks of speculation online about the health of the current Princess of Wales, I asked if he thought today's pressures were more potent. Sign up for the Off Air with Laura K newsletter to get Laura Kuenssberg's expert insight and insider stories every week, emailed directly to you. He told me the situation had been more risky for Diana, saying, \"I think it was more dangerous back in the day.\" Diana died when her car crashed as it entered an underground tunnel in Paris while it was being pursued by photographers. \"I think, if I look back to '97 and Diana's death, I think that was so shocking too - the circumstances of her death were so shocking, that it did make the industry that supports the paparazzi really consider more carefully what it could and couldn't do,\" he said. \"Not because they had a moral judgement, but because it was unacceptable to the public.\" Looking back, Earl Spencer now thinks he used to take on the press, most famously through a powerful and eloquent eulogy at Diana's funeral, because he had \"an absolute hatred of injustice\" influenced by his treatment at school. Following weeks of conspiracy theories about his nephew's wife, Catherine, he added: \"I do worry about what happened to the truth.\" Earl Spencer, Diana's younger brother, told me at length about the regular beatings and grooming he says he experienced as a child at the hands of staff at Maidwell School. He has alleged in his book that a female member of staff groomed and abused him and other young boys in their dormitory, and also that the school's then headmaster, John Porch, inflicted \"brutal beatings\". The earl explained he did not tell anyone at the time about the abuse due to the \"biggest unwritten rule\" at the school being \"don't tell tales.\" Maidwell School said in a statement: \"It is sobering to read about the experiences Charles Spencer and some of his fellow alumni had at the school, and we are sorry that was their experience. \"It is difficult to read about practices which were, sadly, sometimes believed to be normal and acceptable at that time. Within education today, almost every facet of school life has evolved significantly since the 1970s. At the heart of the changes is the safeguarding of children, and promotion of their welfare.\" Earl Spencer's childhood experiences have left him feeling strongly about children being sent to boarding school before they hit puberty. \"I don't think it's fair,\" he said. \"I would never send any of them [his children] away... I couldn't have done it to them.\" In our interview, Earl Spencer also revealed he and his sisters suffered violent punishments at home as young children. He said one of the nannies that looked after him and Diana, named in his book as Nanny Forster, \"used to crack our heads together, if we were both found to have done something naughty, obviously without my father's knowledge, but it really hurt\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Diana's brother Earl Spencer says nanny 'cracked our heads together' \"It wasn't a tap on the wrist,\" he said, \"it was a cracking crunch, you know, and I remember it still.\" Earl Spencer told me he doesn't blame his parents, who \"did their best, like 98% of parents do\". But his treatment highlighted the \"disconnect\" between parents and children in some aristocratic families, he said. Another nanny, who looked after his older sisters, but not Diana, used laxatives to punish them, he told the BBC. \"A different nanny was punishing them by ladling laxatives down them, and my parents couldn't work out why they were constantly ill.\" There is no question that the levels of abuse and violence that Spencer suffered at school were appalling. Hearing his testimony in person was both compelling and uncomfortable, especially to discover that he and his sisters had also sometimes been hurt at home by people employed to care for them. But there was also something incongruous to hear about his brutal experiences in the lavish surroundings of one of the most exclusive addresses in London, Spencer House. It is a property built for his aristocratic ancestors in the 18th Century, with glittering chandeliers, priceless art works and - quite literally - gilded walls. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. There is little sense that Spencer is looking for sympathy. He seems to be seeking to tell his story for himself, almost as a form of therapy, and on the behalf of others who suffered the same kind of abuse. He is clearly aware that other children from all walks of life suffered in silence all too often in that era. Yet speaking to him reveals the specific pressure of keeping terrible secrets in the name of the English aristocracy's so-called \"stiff upper lip\". The expectation to carry that tradition down the generations was intense, even if it meant small children suffered, or were even in danger. Perhaps privilege is no protection from violence or abuse, nor, as the world witnessed through his sister's troubled life, any guarantee of being happy.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, has expressed concern about the impact of press scrutiny on his sister and the current Princess of Wales, stating that the attention Diana received was \"more dangerous.\" In a BBC interview, he also shared his own experiences of violence and abuse as a child, including at boarding school and at home, and discussed the importance of speaking out against such experiences. He has written a book, \"A Very Private School,\" detailing the abuse he suffered." + }, + { + "article": "Brianna Ghey's mother Esther is calling for mobile phones that are only suitable for under-16s Parents cannot be expected to monitor what their children are doing online 24/7, an MP has warned as she backed a campaign by Brianna Ghey's mum. Esther Ghey has called for the government to stop children having access to social media apps. Charlotte Nichols, Warrington North MP, said a balance needed to be struck as technology firms currently do not take the responsibility they should. The prime minister declined to say if he would consider such a proposal. Brianna, 16, was stabbed to death after being lured to Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington, Cheshire, on the afternoon of 11 February 2023. Her teenage killers - Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe - who were given life sentences on Friday, had a fascination with violence, torture and murder and had planned the killing for weeks using a messaging app. Jenkinson had also watched videos of violence and torture on the dark web. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Esther Ghey wants a law introduced so under 16s cannot access social media on their phones Ms Ghey told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg it was \"just not doable\" for parents to check what children were seeing online. She called for the government to stop children having access to social media apps on smartphones and said she wanted companies to flag searches of inappropriate material to parents. \"We'd like a law introduced so that there are mobile phones that are only suitable for under-16s,\" she said. \"So if you're over 16, you can have an adult phone, but then under the age of 16, you can have a children's phone, which will not have all of the social media apps that are out there now. \"And also to have software that is automatically downloaded on the parents' phone which links to the children's phone, that can highlight key words. \"So if a child is searching the kind of words that Scarlett and Eddie were searching, it will then flag up on the parent's phone.\" Labour MP, Ms Nichols, told BBC Radio Manchester it was about making sure \"we are doing everything we can\" to tighten safeguarding online. \"Technology companies and social media companies in particular don't take the responsibility they should,\" she said. \"But I also don't think it's reasonable to put all of the responsibility on parents when, with the best will in the world, they cannot be expected to monitor what their children are doing online 24/7 when they have a smartphone in their pocket. \"There's got to be a balance and I think we already understand there are age-specific bans on all sorts things including cigarettes and alcohol, cinema classifications, but there needs to be a way of looking at the online space in the same way.\" Ms Nichols said she wanted to ensure no family would \"ever again have to go through something like the Gheys have\" She added that the Online Safety Bill had taken an \"inordinate amount of time\". \"I think this is why Esther's proposals are so interesting,\" she said. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is on a visit to Northern Ireland, said his thoughts were with Brianna's family after the \"unspeakable, unspeakable, awful act\" but declined to say whether the government might consider such a proposal. Mr Sunak, echoing comments from Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, pointed to the \"tough new powers\" now in force under the Online Safety Act. The legislation passed into law in November and requires social media companies to curb the spread of illegal content on their platforms and protect children from seeing potentially harmful material. Large fines are mong the potential penalties for those who breach the new rules. Mr Sunak said: \"As a parent, I am always worried about social media and what my young girls are exposed to. \"That's why I'm pleased we have passed the Online Safety Act over the last year and that means the regulator now has tough new powers to control what is exposed to children online. \"And if the big social media companies do not comply with that, the regulator is able to levy very significant fines on them and the priority now is making sure that act is up and running.\" How Brianna Ghey's teenage killers tried to get away with murder. File on 4 also tells the story behind the brutal killing of the 16-year-old on BBC Sounds. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Brianna Ghey's mother, Esther, is campaigning for a law that would restrict under-16s from accessing social media apps on smartphones, following her daughter's murder by two teenagers who had planned the killing using a messaging app. Labour MP Charlotte Nichols supports the idea, arguing that technology firms should take more responsibility for online safety, while acknowledging that parents cannot constantly monitor their children's online activity. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, expressed condolences but did not commit to the proposal, instead highlighting the recently enacted Online Safety Act." + }, + { + "article": "Scientists have shared a reconstructed image of what the lizard might have looked like 66 million years ago Scientists say they have discovered fossils belonging to a \"nightmarish\" sea lizard species that hunted the oceans 66 million years ago. The creature, Khinjaria acuta, was about 26ft (8m) long - the same as an orca - and had \"dagger-like\" teeth. Researchers said the species would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops. The study is based on analysis of a skull and other skeletal remains found at a mine in Morocco. Dr Nick Longrich from the University of Bath, who led the study, wrote that the \"freakish\" species had \"a demon's face and teeth like knives.\" Its teeth and strong jaw gave the creature a \"nightmarish appearance\" and \"a terrible biting force\", researchers said. It also led the team onto finding the perfect name for the species. \"The word khinjar being an Arabic word for \"dagger\", and acuta being Latin for \"sharp\", so literally, \"sharp dagger\" or \"sharp knife\"\", Dr Longrich added. The sea lizard's jaw and sharp teeth helped to eat its prey Khinjaria acuta is a member of a family of giant marine lizards known as mosasaurs, distant relatives of today's Komodo dragons and anacondas. Researchers believe the lizard was just one out of a range of top predators that inhabited the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco. \"This is one of the most diverse marine faunas seen anywhere, at any time in history, and it existed just before the marine reptiles and the dinosaurs went extinct,\" Dr Longrich said. Both the mosasaurs and dinosaurs became extinct towards the end of the Late Cretaceous period, around 66 million years ago. Their extinction opened the seas up for whales, seals and fish like swordfish and tuna. But it also meant that, in modern marine food chains, there are fewer apex predators. \"There seems to have been a huge change in the ecosystem structure in the past 66 million years,\" Dr Longrich said. \"This incredible diversity of top predators in the Late Cretaceous is unusual, and we don't see that in modern marine communities. \"Whether there's something about marine reptiles that caused the ecosystem to be different, or the prey, or perhaps the environment, we don't know. \"But this was an incredibly dangerous time to be a fish, a sea turtle, or even a marine reptile.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Scientists have uncovered fossils of a 26-foot-long sea lizard called Khinjaria acuta, a fearsome predator with dagger-like teeth that lived 66 million years ago alongside dinosaurs. The creature, belonging to the mosasaurs family, had a \"nightmarish appearance\" and its remains were found in Morocco, shedding light on the diverse marine life before the Late Cretaceous mass extinction." + }, + { + "article": "Dr Lalsingh says he and others are regularly seeing more than the 25 recommended patients a day Seeing a GP could become as difficult as accessing an NHS dentist, a County Antrim doctor has said. Larne Medical Practice is the 18th surgery in Northern Ireland to hand back its contract to the Department of Health. Dr Ian Lalsingh, one of the practice's five partners, told BBC News NI there were simply not enough of them to safely oversee its 8,500 patients. He said he was worried the GP system would \"collapse\". Unless the practice recruits at least one other GP partner, in May an alternative provider will step in - possibly the local health trust - which will supply GPs including locums. \"My worry is that general practice will collapse. That's my greatest worry - I see so many have handed back their contract and there will be more this year,\" Dr Lalsingh said. \"My biggest worry is that we would end up with a system that is similar to how the dentists operate now, that it's very difficult to get to see an NHS dentist.\" In 2023, two surgeries in Larne merged to become the largest medical practice in the area. However, since then one GP has resigned which means there are too many patients for the remaining GPs to safely oversee. Handing back a contract is a last resort and, according to Dr Lalsingh, a move no one wants. He said the worry for any new service was that it would rely on\" stand-in doctors\". Dr Lalsingh said because these doctors would not be partners, he was concerned there would not be continuity of care and patients would see a different doctor every time. At 52, Dr Lalsingh said he had hoped at this stage in his career to continue being a partner in a thriving surgery. With no plans to retire, he hopes to be part of the solution but is realistic that finding other permanent GPs is unrealistic. Northern Ireland has 318 practices, 9% fewer than in 2014 despite a growing and aging population. While 18 practices have handed back their contracts to the Department of Health, another 100 practices are receiving \"rescue support\". When GPs operating a medical practice hand their contract back it means they no longer intend to run it. That may be due to issues such as retirement, staffing and recruitment problems or financial pressures facing the practice. The Department of Health will then attempt to find a new GP or a group of GPs to take over the running of the surgery. \"At the moment there's a lot of doom and gloom around general practice and I don't believe that's a true picture\", says Dr Black Northern Ireland has the second-highest number of GPs per 100,000 registered population in the UK - Scotland has the highest. General practice is fragile across the UK with issues including recruiting, retention, and funding familiar themes. Dr Margaret Black who is also a partner in the Larne Practice, said she felt privileged to be a community doctor. A GP for several decades, Dr Black is thinking of an exit plan but said she was not ready to go just yet. \"At the moment there's a lot of doom and gloom around general practice and I don't believe that's a true picture. \"Work-life balance is important but younger people view working differently now compared to older generations, \" she said. \"The thing about it is if more people did a little more it would be better,\" she said. The recommended daily number for each GP is 25 consultations According to the BMA's safe working guidelines, once GPs have seen their recommended number of consultations any other patients should be advised to attend the local emergency department instead. The recommended daily number for each GP is 25 consultations/patients. Dr Lalsingh said he and others were regularly exceeding that number, which was not safe for either the patient or the doctor. He explained that once his team reached capacity, they had no other option but to advise patients to use the \"Phone First\" service or go straight to hospital. The Department of Health said it recognised that GPs and their practice teams were continuing to work in \"increasingly challenging circumstances\". It said stabilisation of practices is a key concern. However, the department also said: \"The report of the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body published in July 2023 recommended a 6% uplift for independent general medical practitioners for 2023-24. \"Within the context of the department facing a funding deficit, it has not been possible to progress the DDRB recommendations for 2023-24.\" It added that it had provided \u00a33.4m in funding to meet winter pressure demand and \u00a34.3m to assist GPs to deliver proactive support and care to those in nursing homes. In response to this, GPs said some of the funding was not new and did not meet increasing demand. A GP who introduced a new service offering private appointments alongside NHS work said its first week of operation had as not been without challenges, but he believed it was a sustainable system. Dr Tom Black described the \"hybrid\" model as a last resort to secure the future of Abbey Medical Practice in Londonderry, which caters for more than 6,000 patients. \"We are working hard to try to meet the needs of those patients,\" Dr Tom Black told BBC Radio Foyle's The North West Today. \"Obviously we are putting our own NHS practice first and it's been very busy with all the different diseases around at the moment like Covid and the flu. \"We're struggling a little to combine the two, but the important thing is to ensure that the NHS practice, free at the point of delivery, is guaranteed and then do private patients in addition to that.\" Dr Black said it is all \"about getting that balance right\" to ensure delivery of service.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A County Antrim doctor has warned that accessing a GP in Northern Ireland could become as difficult as finding an NHS dentist, with Larne Medical Practice being the 18th to hand back its contract due to a shortage of GPs. Dr. Ian Lalsingh expressed concern that the GP system might \"collapse\" unless more doctors are recruited, fearing a situation similar to the challenges faced in accessing NHS dental care." + }, + { + "article": "A West Lothian skatepark described by Tony Hawk as a \"legendary place\" has become the first skatepark to be listed in Scotland. Livingston, or \"Livi\", skatepark opened in 1981 and has attracted world-famous skaters such as Steve Caballero and Mike McGill. Skating icon Tony Hawk drew crowds when he appeared at the bowl in 1991. Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said it was the oldest purpose-built skatepark in Scotland. It said concrete skateparks from this time were increasingly rare across the UK as many had been filled in or demolished. Livi has been designated as a listed structure at category B, meaning it is an architecturally and historically important site. The only other listed skatepark in the UK is Rom skatepark in London. Listing the site does not prevent it being used as a skatepark, but it ensures the long-term protection and maintenance of the facility. Skateboarding became popular in Scotland in the 1970s, which prompted local skater Kenny Omond to approach the Livingston Development Corporation with the idea for a skatepark. It was designed and built by architect Ian Urquhart after he was inspired by his skater wife Dee Urquhart. The pair travelled across the United States to learn how to construct and assemble a skatepark. Mr Omond designed an extension to the park in 1992, when very few skateparks were being built. It has become iconic among the skating community. Skateboarding at Livingston in May 1981 Skateboard Scotland, the official governing body for skateboarding in Scotland, helped HES survey local and national opinions on the skatepark. The survey gathered over 500 responses, where locals told of meeting lifelong friends and partners at the park and teaching their children wheeled sports there. Skaters from further afield spoke of travelling hours and crossing borders just to visit the skatepark. Andrew Murray told the survey how he first skated Livi at just nine-years-old. \"I made friends there, I broke bones there, I saw professional skateboarders display lines I didn't know,\" he said. \"It was my portal into an activity and common language that I have carried forward for a 40-year period.\" Skater Cameron Brougham said it was \"deeply ingrained in the DNA of Scottish skateboarding\". HES said the skatepark was an authentic reflection of the skate culture of the 1970-80s. Head of designations Dara Parsons said: \"Iain Urquhart's original design is grounded in early skate culture, and the park is known around the world for its pioneering design, the quality of the skating experience, and as a prototype for later concrete skateparks. \"Tony Hawk, who skated there back in 1991, described it as 'a legendary place', and it is clear that this remains a highly-valued creative and social space for the community of Livingston and the skating and biking community. \"Through designation, we hope to recognise and protect the best examples of our cultural heritage. \"Listing Scotland's oldest skatepark helps demonstrate the variety of our historic environment and especially the important role the built environment of the late 20th Century structure has in telling Scotland's story.\" Rick Curran, secretary at Skateboard Scotland, said he was pleased to hear the news as \"this designation will help ensure Livi retains the essence that makes it a famously strong foundation for Scottish skateboarding\". \"Livi is a beloved, world-renowned skatepark recognised by many for its ground-breaking design,\" he said. \"But at 43 years old it is showing considerable signs of age, so we are extremely keen to see the necessary steps taken to ensure this essence is protected for future generations through sympathetic, considered stabilisation and restoration.\" West Lothian Council first applied to secure historic status for the site in 2022. Council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said he was delighted with the decision to list the \"unique facility\". He added: \"As the custodians of Livingston Skate Park, we are well aware of the importance of the park, and adding it to the list of Scotland's significant structures will help ensure it is protected for future generations.\" \u2022 None The kids saving an 80s skatepark with some help from Tony Hawk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Livingston skatepark in West Lothian, known for attracting famous skaters like Tony Hawk, has become Scotland's first listed skatepark due to its historical and architectural significance. Designed in 1981, it is now a category B listed structure, ensuring its long-term protection and maintenance, and is recognized as an authentic reflection of 1970-80s skate culture." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey has said she is \"open\" to speaking to the mother of one of her daughter's killers. Esther Ghey told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg she wanted the mother of Scarlett Jenkinson to know she did not blame her for what happened. \"If she ever wants to speak to me, I'm here,\" she said. In an emotional interview, Ms Ghey said she would like to understand \"how their life was, and what they went through\". \"I also want her to know that - I understand how difficult being a parent is, in this current day and age, with technology and phones and the internet, and how hard it is to actually monitor what your child is on,\" she said. Jenkinson, who killed Brianna with Eddie Ratcliffe, had watched videos of violence and torture on the dark web. They plotted the murder using messaging apps. Speaking for the first time since the killers' sentencing, Ms Ghey said: \"You can always look back and wish that you'd done things differently and maybe if I had done things differently, then this wouldn't have happened.\" This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Esther Ghey wants a law introduced so under-16s cannot access social media on their phones Ms Ghey called for the government to stop children having access to social media apps on smartphones, calling the internet the \"Wild West\". She said it was \"just not doable\" for parents to check what children were seeing online. Ms Ghey, who is launching a petition to demand the changes, also wants companies to flag searches of inappropriate material, like the videos Jenkinson saw, to parents. She said: \"We'd like a law introduced so that there are mobile phones that are only suitable for under-16s. \"So if you're over 16, you can have an adult phone, but then under the age of 16, you can have a children's phone, which will not have all of the social media apps that are out there now. And also to have software that is automatically downloaded on the parents' phone which links to the children's phone, that can highlight key words. \"So if a child is searching the kind of words that Scarlett and Eddie were searching, it will then flag up on the parent's phone.\" During the interview, she said she believed \"without a doubt\" that Brianna would not have been killed if such safeguards were already in place, adding that \"they wouldn't have been searching that in the first place. And if they did search it then the parents would know and to be able to get them some kind of help.\" Ms Ghey also said that she had struggled to monitor what Brianna was consuming online - and that she had accessed pro-anorexia and self-harm material. She said her daughter was \"very protective over a phone - it was the cause of a lot of arguments. I can imagine that in most households, this will be the case too. If she couldn't have accessed the sites, she wouldn't have suffered as much.\" She told the BBC it was very powerful watching Mark Zuckerberg being confronted by bereaved American parents at a fiery hearing in the US Senate and said \"greed needs to be taken out of the picture\". \"I think that the focus is always on making such a lot of money, and not really how we protect people or how we can necessarily benefit society,\" she said. Responding to Ms Ghey, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg they understand this issue is \"worrying to parents\". She described the government's own plan to ban mobile phones in schools as \"radical\", saying they will put out guidance on the issue with a consultation to follow. Asked if the ban would definitely happen, she said: \"We want it to happen.\" She added the Online Safety Act had a \"lot of tools in there to try and make this content not be there in the first place\" as well a greater emphasis on age verification. Shadow technology secretary Peter Kyle told the programme he had been discussing with bereaved families how to protect young people \"from what happens on the dark web\", saying the government should use legislation to force Ofcom to look at this issue. The dark web is another layer of the internet where connections are usually encrypted and anonymised, making activity harder for law enforcement to track. Mr Kyle criticised the government, saying its Online Safety Bill had taken too long. But he added that responsibility lies with the technology companies, saying social media companies should be looking at the connection between their platforms and the dark web. He said if Labour was in government, they would force companies, particularly those working in artificial intelligence, to publish data on what they were working on so it could be scrutinised and the safety implications considered. How Brianna Ghey's teenage killers tried to get away with murder. File on 4 also tells the story behind the brutal killing of the 16-year-old on BBC Sounds.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey has expressed her openness to speaking with the mother of one of her daughter's killers, Scarlett Jenkinson, and is advocating for a law that would restrict under-16s from accessing social media on smartphones, emphasizing the need for parental monitoring tools and safer phone options for children. Esther Ghey believes that such safeguards could have prevented her daughter's murder, as the killers had watched violent content on the dark web and planned the crime using messaging apps." + }, + { + "article": "Adam Sandler may not be up for any Oscars this weekend for Netflix's Murder Mystery 2 - but he can console himself with the fact that the rom-com-thriller sequel helped make him the best-paid actor in Hollywood last year, according to Forbes magazine. Sandler's success on Netflix, appearing in and producing three films for the streamer in 2023, contributed to his $73m (\u00a357m) earnings, Forbes said. That put him above Barbie star Margot Robbie, who at 33 is the youngest person in the top 10 by a decade. She was also a producer on Barbie, which was the biggest box office hit of 2023, and cult hit Saltburn. Tom Cruise is third on the Forbes list, with Robbie's Barbie co-star Ryan Gosling joint fourth with Matt Damon, and Sandler's Murder Mystery castmate Jennifer Aniston in sixth. Sandler and Aniston play hapless husband-and-wife private detectives in the enjoyably throwaway film series. Carey Mulligan and Sandler premiered Spaceman at the Berlin Film Festival last month Murder Mystery 2 was Netflix's fifth most-watched film of last year, with 173 million hours viewed. The film was never likely to trouble the Oscars voters and was panned by some critics - with The Observer calling it a \"crass comedy caper\" and CNN saying the best thing about it \"is that it's mercifully short\". Other reviewers were pleasantly surprised, however. The Los Angeles Times admitted its stars \"are better than they need to be\", while Vulture demanded to know: \"How dare Murder Mystery 2 be any good?\" Last year, Sandler's lucrative relationship with Netflix also saw him write, produce and voice animation Leo; and appear in and produce comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. This year, he has already starred in sci-fi drama Spaceman - also for Netflix. \"There's no such thing as too much Sandler,\" the company said when renewing his deal following the success of 2019's original Murder Mystery. His earnings were boosted by 44 stand-up comedy dates last year, Forbes reported. It is the first time Sandler has topped the magazine's list since 2002. Tyler Perry was best-paid in 2022, with Dwayne Johnson on top for the three years before that. But neither star is in the latest top 10.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Adam Sandler, known for Netflix's Murder Mystery 2, was named the best-paid actor in Hollywood in 2023 by Forbes, earning $73 million, thanks to his Netflix films and stand-up comedy gigs. Margot Robbie, the youngest in the top 10, ranked second, while Tom Cruise was third, and Jennifer Aniston, Sandler's co-star, placed sixth." + }, + { + "article": "Brian Low was shot dead on a remote track near Aberfeldy Police officers did not notice a 65-year-old man had been shot after his body was found near Aberfeldy, Police Scotland has said. Brian Low was shot while he walking his dog in Pitilie on the outskirts of the Perthshire town at about 08:30 on Saturday 17 February. His death was initially thought to be non-suspicious and medically-related. A post-mortem examination then took place six days after his death, prompting a murder investigation. Local area commander Greg Burns told a police press conference: \"From the officers' initial assessment, it presented as a non-suspicious, medically-related death at that point in time. \"I think that probably gives you an indication how the body presented at that time.\" Mr Low worked as a groundsman at a nearby sporting estate before retiring in February last year. His body was discovered on a remote track next to his black Labrador, which was unharmed. Saturday 17 February - Brian Low's body is found with his dog on a remote track in the Pitilie area near Aberfeldy Wednesday 21 February - Medical examination establishes that Mr Low had injuries consistent with being fatally shot Friday 23 February - A post mortem confirms that Mr Low had been shot Saturday 24 February - Police tell Mr Low's family that he had been murdered Tuesday 27 February - Police announce they have launched a murder investigation into Mr Low's death Det Ch Insp Martin Macdougall, of Police Scotland's major investigation team, declined to release information about the location of Mr Low's wounds or the type of weapon used in the killing. On Wednesday 21 February, a medical examination established that Mr Low had injuries consistent with being fatally shot. A post-mortem confirmed this two days later. When initial suspicions were raised, Det Ch Insp Macdougall said the scene had been secured by officers and police had taken \"every opportunity to recover evidence from site\". The murder inquiry was launched on Friday and Mr Low's family was updated on Saturday. Det Ch Insp Martin Macdougall and Cdr Greg Burns addressed the media on Thursday Det Ch Insp Macdougall added: \"Since criminality was established on the Friday evening, the major investigation team have carried out a number of lines of inquiry and we are keeping an open mind of the motive in this case.\" This included the possibility of him being targeted, but the death was not being considered accidental. He said that a photo of Mr Low had not yet been released due to the wishes of his family as \"they have enough grief to deal with.\" Detectives have set up an online portal where members of the public can submit information. \"We're doing all we can to piece together the full circumstances and find whoever is responsible,\" said Cdr Burns. \"High visibility patrols remain in the area and there is an increased police presence as the investigation continues.\" The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Brian Low, 65, was initially thought to have died from natural causes after being found near Aberfeldy, Scotland, but a post-mortem examination revealed he had been shot, leading to a murder investigation. Police initially did not notice the gunshot wounds, and his body was discovered on a remote track with his unharmed dog." + }, + { + "article": "She is perhaps most famous for yelling \"Rickaaaaay!\" to her on-off partner on EastEnders. But more than 30 years after Patsy Palmer was cast as feisty Bianca Jackson in the BBC One soap, she is set to reprise her role for a short stint this spring. The actress, 51, said she was \"so excited\" to be returning after an absence of more than four years. She has already started filming her scenes, the BBC said. \"EastEnders holds such a special place in my heart,\" Palmer said. \"So it's always a pleasure to be back.\" Palmer was 21 when she first joined the soap in 1993 as 16-year-old Bianca, the sharp-tongued daughter of Carol Jackson, played by Lindsey Coulson. Bianca, like many of Albert Square's residents, has had her fair share of problems. Her storylines included her tumultuous romantic relationship with Ricky Butcher, played by Sid Owen. The couple became known for their sometimes comical arguments, with Bianca regularly shrieking his name across the square. They divorced in the programme in 1999 but remarried when EastEnders turned 25 in 2010. She also discovered her teenage stepdaughter, Whitney Dean - played by Shona McGarty - was being abused, and learned that the character David Wicks was her father. Bianca last appeared in Walford in September 2019, for a brief appearance before the pandemic struck. In the upcoming episodes, she will be visited in Milton Keynes - where she now lives - by Whitney, following her off-screen break-up with Terry Spraggan, played by Terry Alderton. \"But it's not long before chaos ensues,\" the BBC trailed. Chris Clenshaw, EastEnders' executive producer, said: \"I'm thrilled to welcome the fabulous Patsy back to the iconic role of Bianca Jackson.\" He said that despite being absent from the show for more than four years, \"Bianca still remains a fan favourite\". \"We know our audiences will be thrilled at her return as she is thrust into the heart of the drama alongside step-daughter Whitney.\" Palmer, who is also a DJ, relocated with her family to the United States in 2014 after a previous stint on EastEnders came to an end. She took part in BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in 2005. Last year, she was a contestant on ITV1's Dancing On Ice.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Patsy Palmer, known for her role as Bianca Jackson in EastEnders, is set to reprise her character for a short stint this spring after a four-year absence. The actress expressed excitement about returning to the soap, where she first joined in 1993, and has already started filming." + }, + { + "article": "Riot police on horseback clash with anti-government demonstrators in Tel Aviv Israel's war cabinet has been briefed on talks over a ceasefire deal in Gaza, after reports of progress made in talks in Paris on Saturday. It comes as police broke up protests in Tel Aviv calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation. Riot police on horseback charged demonstrators as they tried to make their way to Democracy Square. The Paris talks are part of negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire and the return of hostages. The deal would also see the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. On Saturday evening, the Israeli war cabinet was briefed on negotiations in Paris with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US. \"We are working to obtain another outline for the release of our hostages,\" Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. \"That is why I sent a delegation to Paris - and tonight we will discuss the next steps in the negotiations.\" Later, it was reported that Israel was sending a delegation to Qatar for further talks this week. On Sunday, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said an understanding of the \"basic contours\" of a hostage deal and temporary ceasefire had been reached. Anti-government demonstrations were relatively frequent in Israel before the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October - the demonstrators' loathing for Mr Netanyahu and his hardline cabinet goes back more than a year. But Saturday's unrest was the first time since October that police have resorted to tougher measures. The demonstrators have been spurred on by the war in Gaza - and the fear their government is more interested in defeating Hamas than freeing hostages. The Justice Ministry has opened an investigation into an incident in which an officer is seen - in a widely circulated video - using the reins of his horse to strike a protester as he fell to the ground clutching his head. The main opposition leader, Yair Lapid, criticised the police for their aggressive treatment of the demonstrators who gathered outside the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The right to protest \"cannot be taken from protesters with batons and water cannons,\" he said. At least 21 arrests and dozens of injuries were reported. As well as the anti-government protest, families of the Israeli hostages gathered in the city to call for a diplomatic solution to the war and a focus on their return. Protesters run as police use water cannon to disperse the crowd Earlier on Saturday, Israeli media reported progress had been made at talks in Paris on a hostage and ceasefire deal. Israel's spy chief, David Barnea, met mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US on Saturday in the French capital. They reportedly agreed the outline of a deal to form the basis for further negotiations, which was then presented to the Israeli war cabinet on Saturday night. Israeli media report that the war cabinet agreed to send a delegation to Qatar, where they will continue talks on a deal which would see a weeks-long truce and the release of hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. But the Israeli national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said in a televised interview on Saturday evening: \"Such an agreement does not mean the end of the war.\" A senior Palestinian official with close knowledge of the talks had previously told the BBC that no real progress was made in Paris and accused negotiators of leaking inaccurate information to increase pressure on Hamas. Hamas has also not commented on the latest reports of progress in reaching a deal. However, Egyptian state media said on Sunday that negotiations have resumed in Doha between \"experts from Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Israel.\" The reports say Hamas representatives are also present there. Efforts to secure a ceasefire have intensified following mounting international pressure amid a desperate lack of food in Gaza. International aid agencies have warned that the entire population - 2.2 million people - is experiencing food insecurity at crisis level or above. Displaced Palestinian children wait to receive food at a donation point in Rafah Meanwhile fighting and air strikes continue to claim lives in the enclave. In his post on X, Mr Netanyahu said he would convene his cabinet this week to approve plans for an operation in Rafah in Gaza's far south, where around 1.2-1.5 million people are crammed into any available space. Increased Israeli air strikes there are already making aid operations more difficult. Aid agencies and many Western governments have warned that the consequences of an assault on Rafah could be dire. UNRWA - the UN agency for assisting Palestinian refugees - says it has paused aid deliveries to northern Gaza because convoys are being looted by desperate residents. One of its trucks was also hit by Israeli gunfire on 5 February. The UN has warned of the growing risk of famine in Gaza, with widely circulated footage showing Gazans in Jabalia in the north queuing for food in desperate conditions. Local media report that a two-month-old Palestinian boy died from starvation at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Friday. The Hamas-run health ministry says at least 29,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes, and thousands more bodies are likely unaccounted for under rubble across Gaza. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the 7 October attacks on southern Israeli communities near the border with Gaza, in which around 1,200 Israelis, mainly civilians, were killed and about 250 others taken hostage to Gaza.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "\u4ee5\u8272\u5217\u8b66\u65b9\u4e0e\u53cd\u653f\u5e9c\u793a\u5a01\u8005\u5728Tel Aviv\u53d1\u751f\u51b2\u7a81\uff0c\u800c\u4ee5\u8272\u5217\u6218\u4e89\u5185\u9601\u5f97\u77e5\u52a0\u6c99\u505c\u706b\u534f\u8bae\u7684\u8c08\u5224\u8fdb\u5c55\u3002\u5df4\u9ece\u4f1a\u8c08\u6d89\u53ca\u505c\u706b\u548c\u88ab\u4fd8\u4eba\u5458\u91ca\u653e\uff0c\u4ee5\u8272\u5217\u5c06\u6d3e\u4ee3\u8868\u56e2\u524d\u5f80\u5361\u5854\u5c14\u7ee7\u7eed\u8c08\u5224\uff0c\u4f46\u5185\u653f\u90e8\u957f\u8868\u793a\u8fd9\u5e76\u4e0d\u610f\u5473\u7740\u6218\u4e89\u7ed3\u675f\u3002\u540c\u65f6\uff0c\u56fd\u9645\u793e\u4f1a\u5bf9\u52a0\u6c99\u98df\u54c1\u5371\u673a\u7684\u538b\u529b\u589e\u52a0\uff0c\u4eba\u9053\u4e3b\u4e49\u63f4\u52a9\u56e0\u6218\u6597\u800c\u53d7\u963b\u3002" + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The US Supreme Court has struck down efforts by individual states to disqualify Donald Trump from running for president using an anti-insurrection constitutional clause. The unanimous ruling is specific to Colorado, but it also overrides challenges brought in other states. Colorado had barred Mr Trump from its Republican primary, arguing he incited the 2021 Capitol riot. The court ruled that only Congress, rather than the states, has that power. The top court's decision clears the way for Mr Trump to compete in the Colorado primary scheduled for Tuesday. Mr Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination and looks likely to face a rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden in November's general election. On Monday, the ex-president immediately claimed victory following the ruling, taking to his Truth Social media platform to claim a \"big win for America\". The message was followed by a fundraising email sent to supporters of his campaign. Speaking from his estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, soon afterwards, he said that the decision was \"very well crafted\" and will \"go a long way towards bringing our country together, which it needs\". \"You can't take someone out of a race because an opponent would like it that way,\" Mr Trump added. Colorado's Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, said that she was disappointed by the ruling and that \"Colorado should be able to bar oath-breaking insurrections from our ballot\". Additionally, the watchdog group that brought the case in Colorado, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew), said in a statement that while the court \"failed to meet the moment\", it is \"still a win for democracy: Trump will go down in history as an insurrectionist\". Maine and Illinois had followed Colorado in kicking Mr Trump off the ballot on similar grounds. The efforts in both those states were put on hold while his challenge to the Colorado ruling was escalated to the Supreme Court. \"We conclude that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office,\" the court's opinion says. \"But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Sections 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency.\" The nine justices ruled that only Congress can enforce the 14th Amendment's provisions against federal officials and candidates. Part of the Civil War-era amendment - Section 3 - bars federal, state and military officials who have \"engaged in insurrection or rebellion\" against the US from holding office again. Groups including Free Speech For People had argued that the attempt to delay the peaceful transfer of power on 6 January 2021 matched the definition of insurrection outlined in the amendment. One of the court's justices, Amy Coney Barrett, wrote separately that the fact that all nine justices agreed on the outcome of the case is \"the message that Americans should take home\". The case argued that President Trump had incited the crowd that stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 \"The court has settled a politically charged issue in the volatile season of a presidential election,\" Justice Barrett wrote. \"Particularly in this circumstance, writings on the court should turn the national temperature down, not up.\" But the court's three liberal justices argued that the ruling seeks to \"decide novel constitutional questions to insulate this Court and [Trump] from future controversy\" by announcing \"that a disqualification for insurrection can occur only when Congress enacts a particular kind of legislation\". \"In doing so, the majority shuts the door on other potential means of enforcement,\" they added. Atiba Ellis, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, told the BBC that while the court's concerns about Mr Trump's exclusion from the ballot are \"fair\", the ruling \"may have far-reaching consequences\". \"It opens the door to constitutional interpretation matters that weren't at issue in the case. The decision throws the problem to Congress at a time when partisan deadlock will guarantee inaction on this matter,\" Mr Ellis added. \"The decision effectively ensures that the question of the former president's constitutional eligibility under Section 3 will not be resolved prior to the 2024 election.\" Another legal scholar, Albany Law School's Ray Brescia, said the court's decision prevents a situation in which there is a \"patchwork of states with different processes\". \"If the court was to allow Colorado to proceed in this way, what's to stop some rogue prosecutor in another state from saying that a candidate from a different party is not a viable candidate because they engaged in insurrection?\" he said. Republican voters in Colorado and 14 other states will vote on Tuesday in a marathon contest dubbed Super Tuesday. The former president is widely expected to sweep the board and defeat his sole remaining opponent, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, in every battleground.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The US Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot disqualify Donald Trump from running for president using an anti-insurrection clause, stating that only Congress has the power to enforce such a decision. This clears the way for Trump to compete in the Colorado primary, and potentially other states, as he seeks the Republican nomination for the 2024 election." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The suspect in a corrosive-substance attack on a mother and her daughters was last seen on the London Underground at King's Cross, police say. Abdul Shokoor Ezedi was last seen boarding a Victoria line train heading southbound at 21:00 GMT on Wednesday. Detectives have released new images of the suspect inside the station about 90 minutes after the attack in Clapham, south London. The mother, 31, remains \"very poorly\" with expected life-changing injuries. Her daughters, aged three and eight, suffered injuries not \"as serious as first thought\" and \"not likely to be life-changing\". Speaking at a news conference, Metropolitan Police Cdr Jon Savell called on Ezedi - who has very significant injuries to the right side of his face - to come forward. \"Abdul, you clearly have got some very significant injuries,\" Cdr Savell said. \"We've seen the images. You need some medical help, so do the right thing and hand yourself in.\" He also revealed \"significant and important pieces of evidence\" were recovered following search warrants in east London and Newcastle on Thursday. Two empty containers labelled with corrosive warnings were found at an address in Newcastle, and forensic tests are under way to determine if they held the substance used during the attack. The wanted man left the Newcastle area in the early hours before travelling down to the capital, where the attack happened in Lessar Avenue, Clapham, at 19:25 on Wednesday. This is the latest image to be released by the Met Police - showing Ezedi at King's Cross The mother and her two girls were seriously hurt after the substance was thrown at them, according to initial details. Three women and a man attempted to stop the attacker as he fled the scene. He tried to leave in a car, but he collided with a parked vehicle and then ran on foot towards Clapham Common. Three members of the public, who came to the aid of the family, have all been discharged from hospital with minor burns. Five officers who attended the attack were also treated and have now left hospital. Ezedi was later seen at a Tesco in the King's Cross area before boarding a southbound Victoria Line tube from the area's underground station at 21:00 on Wednesday. The latest update comes after it emerged Ezedi, who is believed to have travelled on a lorry from Afghanistan in 2016, was convicted of a sexual offence in 2018. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said he was sentenced on 9 January 2018 after pleading guilty to one charge of sexual assault and one of exposure. He was given a suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court and put on the sex offenders register for 10 years. Ezedi was later granted asylum after two failed attempts. He was allowed to stay in the country after a priest confirmed he had converted to Christianity. An asylum seeker can claim asylum in the UK if they fear religious persecution in their native country. It is not yet known which Christian denomination supported Ezedi's claim. The Catholic Church in the North East confirmed Ezedi was part of a justice and peace charitable project, but has yet to confirm whether he was helped in other ways. The BBC has spoken to the owner of a supermarket in Byker, Newcastle, who said he saw Ezedi in his shop on Tuesday. \"He seemed normal and relaxed and in general was always respectful and polite. He worked six or seven days in a pizza shop behind the counter,\" the shop owner called Yaya said. \"I was shocked. He was working hard. In the two years I knew him he never drank. \"A few months ago he said he was working hard to go back to Afghanistan to get married to a woman and bring her back to the UK, because he was tired of being single.\" \u2022 None 'I can't see': Witnesses recount 'horrific' scene in south London", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The suspect in a corrosive substance attack on a mother and her daughters in Clapham, London, has been identified as Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, who was last seen on the Victoria line train at King's Cross. The mother remains in critical condition with life-changing injuries, while her daughters' injuries are not as severe as initially thought. Police have recovered significant evidence, including empty containers with corrosive warnings, and are urging Ezedi, who has facial injuries, to surrender." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has made a surprise appearance in an ITV drama about the Post Office IT scandal. He plays himself questioning then-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells in a 2015 Commons committee inquiry into the Horizon computer system. The drama is being screened this week. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were wrongly prosecuted for false accounting, theft and fraud, on the basis of faulty Horizon information. Some went to prison. Many were financially ruined. Some have since died. Mr Zahawi told the BBC he agreed to a \"cameo\" appearance in Mr Bates vs The Post Office \"for free and for any fees to be donated to charity\". Previously vaccines minister during the Covid pandemic and education secretary, he became chancellor in the final months of Boris Johnson's government. He remained in the cabinet under Liz Truss and was made party chairman by Rishi Sunak in October 2022. But he was sacked by Mr Sunak in January 2023 when Laurie Magnus, the prime minister's independent adviser on ministers' interests found Mr Zahawi had failed to declare an HMRC investigation into his tax affairs when he was appointed chancellor. He had previously insisted that he acted properly, and that his tax error was \"careless and not deliberate\". The BBC understands that he paid around \u00a35m in total, including a penalty, to settle his tax bill. Mr Zahawi appears in the third episode of the four-part drama, as Ms Vennells answers questions from the Commons business committee about \"alleged issues with the Horizon IT system and the mediation scheme set up by the Post Office to address these claims\". During the exchanges, he describes the Post Office's handling of the developing situation as \"a shambles\". Mr Zahawi was a member of the committee between 2010 and 2015. It is highly unusual for a sitting MP to appear as his or herself in a drama based on real events. Former Tory MP James, now Baron, Arbuthnot - a strong supporter of the affected Post Office staff's campaign for justice - is played in the series by actor Alex Jennings. Mr Zahawi's appearance has prompted plenty of comments on social media. One person wrote on X: \"They've found an actor who looks really, really like him. Well done casting... oh my god it is actually Nadhim Zahawi.\" An ITV spokesperson told RadioTimes.com: \"In factual dramas, it is common for real-life figures - journalists, TV personalities and other public figures - to play themselves in small roles as a way of adding further authenticity to the series. \"We have chosen to feature Nadhim Zahawi - who appears in the context of a select committee - for this reason. The television presenter James Naughtie will also feature in the drama for the same reason.\" Meanwhile, campaigning in Surrey where the Liberal Democrats are hoping to win a number of Conservative-held seats at the next general election, party leader Sir Ed Davey said he regretted not asking \"tougher questions\" of Post Office managers when he was postal affairs minister in the coalition government from 2010 to 2012. Asked why he refused to meet Alan Bates, the postmaster who led the campaign to expose the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, he said: \"It is a national scandal... dreadful and it's been going on for so long. The Conservative government really needs to sort out the compensation. \"I regret not having asked the Post Office managers even tougher questions than I did.\" Asked why he accepted the Post Office's assertions at face value, Sir Ed replied: \"I asked really tough questions of Post Office managers and indeed the officials. I wish I'd gone further.\" He congratulated Mr Bates for his campaign, he added.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Former UK Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi made a surprise cameo in an ITV drama about the Post Office IT scandal, portraying himself questioning the then-CEO in a 2015 parliamentary inquiry. The drama highlights the wrongful prosecution of over 700 sub-postmasters due to a faulty computer system, with some serving prison time and experiencing financial ruin. Zahawi, who was recently sacked as party chairman over a tax dispute, appeared in the drama for charity, with his role being criticized on social media." + }, + { + "article": "Social services raised concerns about a violent offender weeks before he was deemed fit for bail and went on to murder his girlfriend. Christopher McGowan tortured Claire Inglis before killing her at her flat in Stirling on 28 November 2021. Documents seen by the BBC show the case was flagged to social workers in September and they tried to visit the property three days before the killing. The council said reports on McGowan were not requested by the courts. On 28 November, McGowan beat and strangled Claire before burning her with a lighter and pushing a wet wipe down her throat. She had a total of 76 injuries. They had been together for eight weeks. McGowan was sentenced to a minimum of 23 years for the murder, which was described as being \"beyond sadistic\" by the judge. Claire's relationship with McGowan was flagged to Stirling Council's child services in September 2021 - two months before he murdered her. The same records show McGowan had been asked to leave the home of another family on the advice of social work, and there were concerns about him living with Claire who had a young child. But the case was closed because McGowan had been remanded in jail until 23 November. When he was released, a justice social worker - whose job is to supervise offenders in the community - told Stirling Council that McGowan was now on bail and confirmed he was living with Claire. Their email states \"there would be concerns about him living in a household with a child\". On 25 November social workers tried to visit McGowan at Claire's flat - but there was no answer and no one appeared to be home. The murder happened three days later. Stirling Council said courts did not request any reports to assess whether bail was suitable during a court appearance after 30 September. McGowan had 39 previous convictions, mostly for breaches of the peace and breaches of bail, as well as three convictions for assault. One of the breaches of the peace involved a former partner in 2014. In the months before he murdered Claire, he had been granted bail five times and was ordered to her flat. Christopher McGowan was found guilty of murder following a trial at the High Court in Stirling Scotland's top prosecutor, the lord advocate, and top judge, the lord president, both wrote to the first minister about Claire's case, setting out how decisions were made about McGowan's bail. They said that due process was followed. But Claire's parents, Fiona and Ian Inglis, believe he should never been allowed to live with her or their grandson and have been campaigning for answers. They are asking why the information that social services deemed McGowan to be a risk was not shared with the courts. Claire's parents Fiona and Ian Inglis have been searching for answers over why McGowan was living with Claire Ian told the BBC: \"He was known as a danger to a child, all of his convictions at the time. They say no lessons have to be learned on the same piece of paper, but everybody looking at that piece of paper can see there's failings right there. \"If due process was followed then it needs to be changed. There should be a review of all the services involved, and nobody is interested.\" Marsha Scott chief executive of Scottish Women's Aid told the BBC that a lack of communication between public service systems had been a criticism for decades. She said: \"The really telling and shocking conclusion is the system, for the most part, operated according to its own rules. \"What disturbs me is that there doesn't seem to be any accountability for the fact that whether due process was followed, nobody is taking responsibility for the fact that a woman was murdered in a system that had information about how dangerous this man was. \"If you read any of the reviews of child deaths they'll all say this could have been avoided if different elements of our system had communicated with each other.\" Conservative MSP Russell Findlay told the BBC that no family should have to go through what the Inglis family had to find answers. He said: \"The social work were aware of him and were concerned about him. \"All of these questions could be answered, fairly painlessly and quickly if only someone in government gives a green light to an inquiry.\" A Stirling Council spokesperson said decisions on whether to grant bail ahead of trial or sentencing were for the courts to make \"based on the facts and circumstances of the case before them\". They added: \"Our thoughts remain with Claire Inglis' family following this tragedy.\" The Scottish judiciary is responsible for bail decisions. It is supported by the Judicial Office for Scotland. The Judicial Office for Scotland said: \"In considering whether or not to grant bail to an accused person in a particular case, the sheriff must apply the correct legal tests set by parliament, taking into account any relevant previous convictions and what is put to the court by both the Crown and by the defence. \"Each case depends on the unique facts and circumstances prevailing at the time and the decision can, of course, be appealed by the Crown or the defence.\" Watch now on BBC iPlayer: Killed by my boyfriend - The story of Claire Inglis, who was murdered by Christopher McGowan while he was out on bail", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Social services in Stirling had raised concerns about violent offender Christopher McGowan weeks before he was granted bail and subsequently murdered his girlfriend, Claire Inglis, in November 2021. Despite flags about McGowan's history of violence and concerns for the safety of Claire and her child, no reports were requested by the courts, and he was released. McGowan was sentenced to at least 23 years for the \"beyond sadistic\" murder, sparking questions about communication failures between social services and the justice system." + }, + { + "article": "The archive is available to the public via the university's library Hundreds of posters and memorabilia items from a public art project - Poems On The Underground - have been donated to Cambridge University Library. The scheme began in 1986 with posters displayed across London's Tube network, featuring the words of literary greats. Among the archive is a letter from the late poet Philip Larkin, who died before he could see his own words displayed in print on the Tube. The university said the archive was now available to anyone by consultation. Poems On The Underground was initially conceived by writers Judith Chernaik, Gerard Benson and Cicely Herbert. Among the many items is the letter written to Chernaik by Larkin, whose poem The Trees appeared on trains on the Underground in 1986. Poet Philip Larkin never lived to see his words displayed as part of the project Larkin, who died aged 63 in December 1985, dictated the letter in July that year, due to his failing health. He wrote: \"I am glad your project is being favourably regarded. \"It makes me wonder whether I shall ever actually see one of the poems in the proposed location.\" Poet Philip Larkin said he hoped to see his words displayed on the London Underground A letter from Irish poet Seamus Heaney saying the project had \"made a difference\", is also included. \"I admire you for keeping the underground poems a priority: it is worth doing and has made a difference, I am sure, to the life-worth of poetry for many people,\" he wrote in a card in 1999. Heaney's poem The Railway Children was included in the first set of Poems On The Underground posters, in January 1986. John Wells, senior archivist at Cambridge University Library, said: \"This wonderful archive highlights the whole range of activities sponsored by Poems On The Underground - not just the well-known poetry posters in Tube carriages, but also readings, concerts and book publications.\" Ms Chernaik said: \"It is hugely gratifying to know that our archive is now housed and catalogued at one of the greatest libraries of the world, fully available to readers and researchers, to everyone interested in public space for the arts and in poets past and present - the most eloquent and enduring witnesses to their times.\" Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Cambridge University Library has acquired an archive of posters and memorabilia from the Poems On The Underground project, which since 1986 has featured literary works on London's Tube network, including a letter from Philip Larkin who never saw his poetry displayed. The archive, now open to the public, also contains a note from Seamus Heaney praising the project's impact on poetry's presence in public spaces." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A fake robocall claiming to be from US President Joe Biden has urged voters to skip Tuesday's primary election in New Hampshire. An investigation has been opened into the calls, which are suspected to have been artificially generated. It is unclear who created the audio. The Trump campaign has denied involvement. In the message, a voice tells voters to \"save\" their ballot for the general election in November. \"Republicans have been trying to push nonpartisan and Democratic voters to participate in their primary. What a bunch of malarkey,\" says the message. But there is no rule that says people who vote in a primary cannot cast a ballot in the general election, so there is no reason to \"save\" a vote. The New Hampshire attorney general's office said in a statement: \"Although the voice in the robocall sounds like the voice of President Biden, this message appears to be artificially generated based on initial indications.\" It added that the \"messages appear to be an unlawful attempt to disrupt\" the election on Tuesday, and that \"voters should disregard the content of this message entirely\". To recipients, the robocalls falsely appeared to be coming from the personal mobile phone number of a former state Democratic chairwoman, Kathy Sullivan, who helps run a pro-Biden political group in New Hampshire. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: What\u2019s at stake for Trump and Haley in New Hampshire? \"This call links back to my personal cell phone number without my permission,\" she said in a statement, calling it \"outright election interference\". Anti-robocall application Nomorobo estimates the calls were placed between 5,000 and 25,000 times, reports CNN. On Monday, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that the audio was fake. Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez criticised the call as an attempt to \"suppress voting and deliberately undermine free and fair elections\". In the New Hampshire primary, voters from both main parties are picking which candidate should be their standard-bearer in this year's general election. Though Mr Biden's name will not appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot, a campaign led by state and local Democrats has taken shape for voters to write in his name. The decision to remove his name came after Mr Biden approved a new voting calendar that stripped New Hampshire of its status as the first state to hold a primary. Mr Biden is all but certain to win the state and his party's nomination to seek a second term in the White House.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A fake robocall impersonating US President Joe Biden has urged New Hampshire voters to skip the primary election, with the voice in the message appearing to be artificially generated. The Trump campaign has denied involvement, and the state's attorney general's office is investigating the calls as potential election disruption." + }, + { + "article": "A World Central Kitchen barge loaded with food is the first maritime shipment of aid to arrive in Gaza The first maritime humanitarian aid shipment to Gaza has been unloaded on to the shore. The US charity behind the mission World Central Kitchen (WCK) is carrying out the mission in co-operation with the United Arab Emirates. The shipment contained 200 tonnes of food desperately needed for Gaza, which the UN says is on the brink of famine. Aid agencies have accused Israel of impeding aid deliveries, a charge vehemently denied by Israeli officials. They say Israel is allowing aid through two crossings in the south and has blamed aid agencies of logistical failures. Much of the Gaza Strip has been devastated during the Israeli military operations that began after Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages. More than 31,400 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says. Saturday's shipment arrived on board Spanish charity ship Open Arms. Its cargo includes beans, carrots, canned tuna, chickpeas, canned corn, parboiled rice, flour, oil, salt and pallets of dates, which hold spiritual significance during Ramadan. It had been checked by Israeli officials in port in Cyprus. It marks the start of a trial to see if the sea route would be more effective than air and land deliveries. Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that no method of relief is as effective as delivery by land, but they say Israeli restrictions mean a fraction of what is needed is getting in. In a statement, WCK said: \"All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza.\" Teams worked through the night to get the aid on to dry land. Gaza has no functioning port, so a makeshift jetty stemming from the shoreline was built by WCK's team using rubble from destroyed buildings. However, there are few details on how the aid distribution will work, with UN relief agencies having described huge obstacles to getting relief supplies to those in need. Earlier, WCK's founder, celebrity chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that all the food aid from the barge had been loaded into 12 lorries. \"We did it!\" he wrote, adding that this was a test to see if they could bring even more aid in the next shipment - up to \"thousands of tons a week\". In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had been deployed to secure the shoreline. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This delivery has been highly anticipated since the ship set off from the port of Larnaca on Tuesday. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told journalists: \"The first ship has started its return to Cyprus, and we are ready to dispatch the second ship.\" The second cargo vessel is at Larnaca's port awaiting a signal to sail with 240 tons of aid including bulk products. WCK said in addition it would carry two forklifts and a crane to help with future maritime deliveries to Gaza. If this sea mission is deemed a success, other aid ships will likely follow as part of an international effort to get more aid into Gaza. The ships would use a newly opened sea route to travel directly to the region. Separately, the US is planning to build its own floating dock off the coast to boost sea deliveries. The White House says it could see two million meals a day enter Gaza, but while a military ship is en route with equipment on board to build the dock, questions remain about the logistics of the plan. The World Food Programme had to temporarily pause its land deliveries after convoys came under gunfire and looting. And an air drop turned deadly last week when five people were reportedly killed when a parachute failed and they were hit by the aid package. The UN has warned that famine is \"almost inevitable\" in Gaza without urgent action, and the EU's foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell has accused Israel of creating a \"manmade\" disaster and using starvation as a weapon of war. The Israeli army has continued its attacks across the Gaza Strip with reports of at least 36 people killed after a house near the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza was struck. It comes as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved plans for an assault on the southern city of Rafah, which is sheltering more than a million displaced people. Negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza are due to resume on Sunday. On Friday, Israel dismissed Hamas's latest proposal. Hamas said it gave mediators a \"comprehensive vision\" of a truce, but Mr Netanyahu called this \"unrealistic\". Israel's spy chief, David Barnea, is expected to meet Qatar's prime minister and Egyptian officials in Doha on Sunday to iron out \"the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The first maritime shipment of humanitarian aid, organized by World Central Kitchen in cooperation with the UAE, has arrived in Gaza, carrying 200 tonnes of food amidst concerns of a looming famine. The aid, which includes essential items, was unloaded despite previous accusations of Israel impeding aid deliveries; however, the effectiveness of the sea route compared to land deliveries remains to be seen." + }, + { + "article": "Police Chief Thai Troung (R) with Sgt Katherine Dan. Mr Troung apologised for the time it took to lay charges Canadian police have apologised for the length of time it took to press charges against five ice hockey players accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2018. Police in London, Ontario laid charges last week against four National Hockey League (NHL) players and one former player. A review of the case found evidence that was \"not available\" in an initial investigation, police said on Monday. All five have denied wrongdoing and say they will plead not guilty. The five were members of Canada's World Junior hockey team when the alleged assault took place. At a press conference on Monday, police chief Thai Troung said: \"My sincerest apology to the victim and to the family for the amount of time that it has taken to reach this point.\" \"I truly am not happy about this,\" he said. Police closed an initial investigation into the alleged assault in 2019 and no charges were laid, but the file was reopened three years later when the case came under public scrutiny in Canada. Sgt Katherine Dann, who leading the case review, said her department found that there were \"additional steps that could have been taken to advance the investigation\". On Monday, the lawyers for the players made the first appearance on behalf of their clients in a London court. None of the players appeared. Prosecutors also requested a publication ban on the identity of the victim and two witnesses in the case. All five players are facing one count of sexual assault. Player Mike McLeod is also being charged with being party to the offence. The four players in the NHL are Mr McLeod and Cal Foote with the New Jersey Devils, the Philadelphia Flyers' Carter Hart, and the Calgary Flames' Dillon Dub\u00e9. The fifth is ex-NHL player Alex Formenton. Up until his arrest, Mr Formenton played for Swiss hockey club Ambri-Piotta. They have been on leave from their teams pending the outcome of the case. Asked whether charges could be laid against more players, Sgt Dann said: \"We have laid changes for all the parties that we have reasonable grounds for.\" In 2022, the woman at the centre of the case filed a lawsuit against Hockey Canada - which manages programmes and teams in the country from entry-level all the way to world championships and the Olympic Games - alleging that she had been assaulted by eight players in a hotel room in July 2018. That May, sports network TSN revealed Hockey Canada had quietly reached a settlement with the woman. The revelation was met with national outcry in Canada, resulting in the organisation losing federal funding and several high-profile sponsorship deals. When asked why it took nearly six years for police to press charges and whether the force failed in its initial investigation, Mr Troung declined to elaborate, saying it could compromise the investigation. \"Why it took so long will form part of the proceedings,\" he said. The NHL also launched its own investigation, which has since concluded, but Commissioner Gary Bettman has said its conclusions will not be made public as the matter is now before the courts. Speaking to reporters on Friday during the NHL All-Star weekend in Toronto, Mr Bettman added that the NHL players, who are all free agents as of the end of the current season, will no longer be with their teams as the trial commences. \"At this stage the most responsible and prudent thing to do is await the conclusion of the judicial proceedings,\" Mr Bettman said. He also called the allegations \"abhorrent\" and defended the sport in light of the charges. \"This is not representative of what takes place in our game,\" Mr Bettman said. \"We want people to know that our game is inclusive, welcoming and safe.\" The players' next court appearance is scheduled for April 30. Under Canadian law, a sexual assault conviction carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Canadian police have apologized for the delay in charging five former ice hockey players, including four current NHL players, with sexual assault from an incident in 2018, saying evidence initially unavailable led to the case being reopened. All five have pleaded not guilty, and the NHL players have been placed on leave as the trial proceeds, with potential for more players to face charges." + }, + { + "article": "Donald Trump was in court in Florida on Friday, as a judge hinted she could delay his criminal trial for alleged mishandling of classified documents. Originally scheduled to start in May, the trial has been held up by a legal battle over what evidence Mr Trump's legal team will be able to review. Prosecutors are pushing for a 8 July start, while Mr Trump instead wants a date after the election, or in August. But despite being widely expected, a trial date was not set on Friday. Instead Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, haggled with each side during the three-hour session over the pre-trial procedures and hearings that may be needed to get the case to trial. \"The one thing the parties can agree on is this case can be tried this summer,\" said Jay Bratt, the deputy to Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation. Todd Blanche, an attorney representing the former president, argued that the \"easy solution\" was to begin in late November, after the 2024 election, to avoid \"working ourselves into almost a frenzy\". His client, he added, was already slated to go on trial in New York from late March through mid-May and \"cannot effectively prepare for this trial by July\". He was referring to Mr Trump's trial later this month - set for 25 March - related to allegations related to money he paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Mr Blanche is defending Mr Trump in that case too. Judge Cannon said pre-trial deadlines proposed by the government were \"unrealistic\", suggesting she would build space in the timeline to \"allow for flexibility\". Mr Trump, who sat silently with his lawyers, has pleaded not guilty to 40 felony charges in this case. He is accused of retaining sensitive national security files at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after leaving office in January 2021 and then obstructing repeated government efforts to get them back. Indicted alongside him on related charges are his personal aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira. The ex-president is expected to unofficially clinch the Republican nomination for president later this month and has painted the four criminal cases he faces this year as a politically motivated \"witch hunt\" brought by Democrats to hurt his re-election prospects. He has fought, with some success, to delay each case against him. If he returns to office, he will have the power to either end, weaken or further delay each effort to prosecute him. People gathered outside court in Fort Pierce, Florida, as the motorcade of Mr Trump arrived On Thursday, his lawyers in the Florida case said in a court filing: \"As the leading candidate in the 2024 election, President Trump strongly asserts that a fair trial cannot be conducted this year in a manner consistent with the Constitution.\" A trial that takes place before the election would interfere with Mr Trump's \"Sixth Amendment right to be present and to participate in these proceedings\" as well as the \"First Amendment right that he shares with the American people to engage in campaign speech\", they claimed. Prosecutors say Mr Trump illegally held onto classified files at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida estate Some legal experts have accused Judge Cannon of slow-walking the pre-trial process, including by postponing key deadlines. She first hinted at a delay in the original schedule last November, citing a Trump team complaint about the time it would need to review what she called the \"unusually high volume of unclassified and classified discovery\" in the case. That material includes 1.3 million pages of unclassified documents, 5,500 pages of classified documents and 60 terabytes of closed-circuit television footage, she said. But Judge Cannon sided with prosecutors in two key rulings earlier this week regarding what evidence may be presented. On Wednesday, she rejected Mr Trump's request to see more of the classified government filings than it already has access to. And the previous day she ruled that Mr Nauta and Mr de Oliveira did not require access to any of the classified discovery submitted by Special Counsel Jack Smith's team of prosecutors. The judge's eventual decision on the trial start date will be key in shaping the timeline of Mr Trump's other court dates. His trial in New York related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels begins on 25 March and is expected to last six weeks. His federal case in Washington on election interference charges, also brought by the special counsel's office, is on hold as the US Supreme Court rules on Mr Trump's claim that he should be immune from prosecution. A trial in Georgia on similar charges awaits a court date and has been upended by an effort to remove the local district attorney leading the prosecution.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A Florida judge hinted at delaying the criminal trial of Donald Trump for alleged mishandling of classified documents, with the former president seeking a date after the election while prosecutors want it to start in July. Trump's legal team argues that he cannot effectively prepare due to his upcoming trial in New York, and the judge expressed concerns about the government's proposed pre-trial deadlines." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union After three emphatic wins, Ireland arrive at Twickenham on Saturday as overwhelming favourites to beat England. Andy Farrell's side can retain their title with a bonus-point victory and maintain their bid to become the first team in Six Nations history to win back-to-back Grand Slams. England return to their London base striving for greater cohesion in defence and attack after a disappointing defeat by Scotland. Twickenham will expect Steve Borthwick's men to compete at the very least, but how do they beat a side that has won a record-equalling 11 Six Nations games in a row? \u2022 None 'England at Twickenham always a huge test for Ireland' \u2022 None Rugby Union Daily: The teams are out England are yet to light the touch paper in this Six Nations, which began with victories over Italy and Wales before defeat in Edinburgh ended their unbeaten start. They have been criticised for not showing enough cutting edge in attack and have been questioned about the overuse of data in orchestrating their tactics. England have dismissed that claim, and perhaps handing a first start to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso on the wing is an indication of a more fluid plan to attack Ireland. The 21-year-old impressed off the bench against Scotland and opened his international account with an eye-catching try close to the breakdown. Head coach Borthwick is keen for more ingenuity from his exciting young wing. \u2022 None 'Incredible talent' Feyi-Waboso 'more than ready to start' \"After I told him he was starting, he was very grateful and thanked me numerous times,\" said Borthwick. \"Then he asked me 'what do you want from me?' \"I said 'find the ball and get it in your hands'. There are some nuances, but the message was 'I want you to get the ball in your hands as many times as possible'.\" Feyi-Waboso is one of three changes to the side, with Alex Mitchell returning from injury to reclaim the number nine jersey and George Martin's selection in the second row a nod to the physicality England will need. Martin's ball-carrying power will provide England with the opportunity to punch holes in the green wall and cross the gainline to free up space for the likes of Feyi-Waboso. Ireland's narrow World Cup quarter-final defeat by New Zealand ended a 17-game winning run, but it appears to have been quickly erased from memory. Borthwick is not alone in believing that Ireland are a better side on current form than world champions South Africa, who are officially ranked number one. \"Let's be clear on Ireland - right now we can all agree they are the best team in the world,\" said Borthwick. 'Twickenham is ready to revolt', so start well Borthwick said the performance against Scotland was the first time since he took charge of England that he had seen \"the shirt weigh heavy\" on his players. The worry for Borthwick is how that pressure could intensify further. It is rare for England to play at home without being favourites. With the odds seemingly stacked in the visitors' favour, former Ireland wing Shane Horgan says Twickenham could \"revolt\" if the game begins to escape England. \"The expectation is for England to win every game,\" Horgan told BBC Radio 5 Live. \"I don't think it sits well with an England team to put themselves in the position of underdogs because that is when the pressure comes on. \"Twickenham will be ready to revolt this weekend and that is the big danger because we have seen the damage that can do to an England side. \"If things go well, they will be behind them but if things start to go wrong early or at any stage there can be a lot of anger and resentment.\" But England captain Jamie George believes playing at Twickenham will motivate his team. \"We believe that we're going to win,\" he said. \"We don't want anyone, any opposition, to come to Twickenham and have an easy ride. \"We have respect for them. I can't emphasise enough how much respect we have for Andy Farrell and Peter O'Mahony's team. They've got brilliant players across the board. \"But this is England. This is Twickenham. This is home. And we're going to defend our home, like every Englishman would.\" 'England's error count has to be next to zero' England challenged Ireland in their meeting in Dublin last season with their discipline in defence and low error count, before Freddie Steward's controversial red card swung momentum in the hosts' favour as the Grand Slam was duly delivered. Former England scrum-half Matt Dawson says the men in white can draw inspiration from their performance in Dublin. \"I would like to see England come out of the dressing room with an icy, cool death stare of concentration and do something on the pitch that just upsets Ireland,\" Dawson told BBC Radio 5 Live. \"A bit like they did last year at the Aviva where Ireland started to doubt themselves for 10 to 15 minutes. \"Steward then got sent off but by their own admission, Ireland were disjointed and did not produce their best performance because they were slightly rattled. \"England have to get to that stage very quickly. If they are to have any chance, their error count has to be next to zero. \"You can put that to any facet of the game, whether it be in the set-piece, in the ruck or with their discipline - it needs to be next to zero. \"This Ireland side thrive on not just set-piece but also broken-field opportunity and England cannot afford to give them that.\" \u2022 None Is it the end of an era for Royal Mail? Panorama investigates the postal service, hearing from whistleblowers and the service's senior management", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ireland, favorites to beat England at Twickenham on Saturday, can retain their Six Nations title with a bonus-point win, aiming to become the first team to secure consecutive Grand Slams in the tournament's history. England, seeking improved cohesion after a disappointing loss to Scotland, welcome debutant Immanuel Feyi-Waboso in their lineup, hoping for a more dynamic attack to challenge the unbeaten Irish side." + }, + { + "article": "The Post Office is \"not fit\" to run any compensation schemes for victims of the Horizon scandal and should be removed, MPs have warned. The Business and Trade Committee said in a report it is a \"disgrace\" so little has been paid to ex-postmasters. It added that the Post Office's leadership is in \"disarray\", after its chairman was sacked and it emerged its chief executive is being investigated. The firm has agreed to release the HR report at the centre of the row. Labour MP Liam Byrne, chair of the committee, said: \"It's high time for the circus of recent weeks to end and for cheques to start landing on the doormats of innocent victims.\" The report showed that just \u00a31 in \u00a35 of a budget set aside for victims' compensation has been issued following what has been described as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted due to faulty software. Incorrect information provided by a computer system called Horizon, developed by Japanese firm Fujitsu, meant that sub-postmasters and postmistresses were prosecuted for stealing money. Many of those convicted went to prison for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined and some have since died. Alan Bates has campaigned for justice for former sub-postmasters affected by the Post Office-Horizon scandal Hundreds of sub-postmasters are still waiting for redress despite the government announcing those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for a \u00a3600,000 payment. The report cites both victims' lack of confidence in the Post Office - which is owned by the government - which they said \"ruined the lives of innocent sub-postmasters\". It recommends that the Post Office is removed from involvement in the schemes and is replaced by a new independent body. Lee Castleton, a former sub-postmaster who lost a civil case against the Post Office and faced bankruptcy, welcomed the recommendation. \"I think it's important to realise that for the traumatised victims going through the process of redress that's constantly fraught and difficult and combative,\" he told the BBC. Asked about whether changes could result in delays to receiving compensation, Mr Castleton said: \"It's been 20-plus years for victims - if it's an extra month or so it wouldn't really be that difficult to navigate.\" But other former sub-postmasters are concerned. Tim Brentnall told BBC Radio Wales the government should take on the committee's recommendations \"as long as it doesn't increase the timescales\". Lawyers who represent many former sub-postmasters recently said it could take up to two years for the \u00a31bn compensation budget to be fully paid out because of bureaucracy involved and complexity of the cases. Ministers are currently working up plans to speed up compensation, with details expected to be announced in the next few weeks. According to the Post Office, approximately \u00a3170m has been paid to more than 2,700 claimants across three schemes. The report also pointed to chaos in the leadership ranks at the Post Office. Its former chair, Henry Staunton, was sacked by Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch at the beginning of the year. He later gave an interview to the Sunday Times claiming that he had been advised by a senior civil servant to stall compensation payments to sub-postmasters until after a general election. Ms Badenoch denied the allegation. claiming that Mr Staunton was under investigation over bullying claims - something the ex-chairman said was false. It then emerged it was actually Post Office chief executive Nick Read who was the subject of a whistleblower's report. The Post Office said the report raises a number of allegations, \"someone of which relate to Mr Read but a number which do not\". However, a spokesman for the Post Office's former HR chief who filed the so-called \"Speak Up\" document told the Times that the document had been \"misrepresented\", and it was not \"directed at anyone other than Nick Read\". Mr Staunton was not even named, he said. In Thursday's report from the committee, Mr Read has been accused of supplying \"misleading evidence\" to MPs relating to the company's use of non-disclosure agreements and PR firms. Mr Read has also been accused of threatening to resign as chief executive if he did not get a pay rise - claims that are, according to Mr Staunton, contained in the whistleblower's report. Last month, Mr Read denied under oath before MPs on the committee that he had ever threatened to resign. Mr Read maintained this in a subsequent letter to the committee on 5 March reaffirming that he has never issued a resignation letter or resigned verbally. Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake later confirmed that Mr Staunton had twice asked for Mr Read's pay to be doubled in a bid to stop him from quitting. The request was denied. Former sub-postmaster and campaigner Alan Bates said the ongoing row was a \"distraction\" and the government needs to \"get on and pay people\". The cross-party committee of MPs is now demanding an independent body be established to help victims \"through every stage of their compensation claims\". Mr Byrne said: \"Justice delayed is justice denied and bluntly, justice has been denied to our innocent sub-postmasters for far too long.\" The Post Office provides evidence to the Department for Business, which administers the Group Litigation Order scheme for 555 sub-postmasters, led by Mr Bates, who were involved in the landmark court case against the Post Office. Meanwhile, it runs two other schemes for former sub-postmasters. They include the Overturned Conviction Scheme for those with quashed convictions that were originally initiated by the Post Office and the Horizon Shortfall Scheme which is for those who experienced shortfalls because of Horizon but were not convicted or part of the 2021 court action. Mr Byrne said the Post Office \"needs to be taken out of the redress schemes altogether\". The report also calls for legally binding timeframes for when compensation should be delivered to affected sub-postmasters in order to stop \"unacceptable delays\". The Post Office welcomed \"the direction of this report into speeding redress\" for victims. \"Post Office would have no objection to relinquishing our role in administering redress,\" said a spokesperson. \"Whatever is decided, we will continue to work with government, Parliament and the independent advisory board to do everything possible to speed up justice and redress for victims of this terrible scandal.\" A government spokesperson said that it is \"working tirelessly to get compensation into the hands of those postmasters and postmistresses wronged by the injustices of this scandal.\" \"We will consider this report, and its recommendations, carefully and respond in due course,\" they added. Are you a victim affected by the issues raised in this story? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "MPs have called for the Post Office to be removed from running compensation schemes for victims of the Horizon scandal, citing a lack of trust and disarray in its leadership. The Business and Trade Committee report states that only a small fraction of the compensation budget has been paid out to victims, who were wrongly prosecuted due to faulty software, and recommends an independent body takes over the process." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A major fire near Southampton's St Mary's Stadium has resulted in their Championship match against Preston being called off. A smoke plume coming from industrial units on Marine Parade could be seen from miles around. One person has been treated for the effects of breathing in smoke but there are no other reported injuries, the ambulance service said. Saints had been due to host Preston North End at 19:45 GMT. At the height of the blaze, 18 fire engines were at the scene The building has since collapsed A cordon has been put in place in the area by emergency services and people have been advised to avoid the area. In a statement released at 17:40, fire incident commander John Amos said: \"We've got more than 100 personnel onsite working extremely hard to tackle a well-developed fire near to St Mary's Stadium in Southampton.\" He continued: \"We have been working closely with our partner agencies and Southampton Football Club throughout this incident.\" The fire involved four industrial units - one of which has collapsed in flames - and Mr Amos said they expected to have a presence on the scene overnight and into Thursday. Fire crews continue to tackle the blaze through the night This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Some roads surrounding St Mary's have been closed and motorists have been asked not to travel to the area \"to allow movements of emergency vehicles\", the fire service added. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said it was assisting with road closures. Residents and people working in the area have been advised to keep windows and doors closed due to the amount of smoke from the fire, which broke out just after 13:00. A statement from South Central Ambulance Service said one patient had been treated for minor smoke inhalation at the scene. The service said it would \"remain on standby\" and had a hazardous area response team on site, a tactical advisor and ambulance crews working with police and fire. The fire service said four industrial units were impacted by the incident Smoke has been seen \"pouring over the north stand\" of St Mary's Stadium, BBC reporter Curtis Lancaster said The fire broke out just after 13:00 and was visible across the city In a statement to supporters, Southampton said: \"The decision was made after consultation with the local authorities and emergency services after a major fire broke out in a building next to the St Mary's Stadium site earlier today. \"The incident has caused significant disruption in the area with road closures around the stadium still in place as fire crews continue to deal with the situation. \"We are grateful for the cooperation of Preston and the EFL, and while we appreciate the disappointment fans may feel, we hope they will understand the need to put the safety of supporters and staff of both clubs first. \"The game will be postponed to a new date, which will be announced in due course, and all tickets for tonight's match will be valid for the rearranged fixture.\" Preston have also thanked their fans who had already made the journey to the south coast for their understanding. It said an announcement would be made on Thursday regarding any potential compensation for travelling fans BBC reporter Indy Almroth-Wright described the blaze as \"immense\" and said \"pops\" could be heard. She said the roof of the warehouse had completely collapsed and all of the windows were blown out, with flames coming out of the gaps. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Preston fans have reacted to the postponement after their long trip to the south coast This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. People have been posting videos on social media showing thick black smoke rising into the sky Hundreds of pallets are piled around the edges that are not yet affected by the blaze. Fork-lift trucks are being used to move them away from the area, she added. The BBC's Curtis Lancaster said smoke was \"pouring over the north stand\" of St Mary's Stadium. \"Crowds of staff from the stadium have made their way outside and there was a loudspeaker announcement telling people to evacuate the stadium after an emergency situation,\" he added. Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2240. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A major fire near Southampton's St Mary's Stadium led to the cancellation of their Championship match against Preston, with one person treated for smoke inhalation. Over 100 personnel worked to tackle the blaze involving four industrial units, one of which collapsed, and emergency services expect to be on site overnight." + }, + { + "article": "There's a 5th Century girl from Wales to blame for why people are getting unseasonably loved up on 25 January. Saint Dwynwen might be the Welsh patron saint of love, but she did not have much luck in that department. Legend has it, she had an arranged marriage gone wrong, a frozen man to deal with and ended up as an agony aunt. Here's everything you need to know about Saint Dwynwen and what people in Wales do to celebrate. Well, scrap Saint Valentine and his miracle-working skills. This girl - whose face you might have seen on a stained glass window in a church - has had a rough old time of it. Brecon girl Dwynwen, one of 36 daughters of an Irish king, fell in love with Maelon Dyfodrull from north Wales. Thousands of people visit Saint Dwynwen's Llanddwyn church in Wales each year But her dad, Brychan, didn't like the look of this northern boy and wouldn't let the loved-up pair get married. Maelon lost his temper with Dwynwen and threatened to rape her when she wouldn't marry him, according to Si\u00e2n Lewis, author of Dwynwen: Santes Cariadon Cymru. So she prayed to God, and he was turned to ice - to freeze his passion. An angel also gave her three wishes. The Twr Mawr Lighthouse lies on Llanddwyn island in Anglesey First she wished to be free of Maelon, and he vanished. Second, to never marry and finally to help other lovers in pain. Dwynwen settled down after all that drama (worse than Love Island) in a convent in Anglesey, Llanddwyn church. Just to finish Dwynwen's weird fortune in love, according to folklore, a sacred fish swam by the church, predicting the future relationships of couples with its movements. Quite a few people apparently, especially if you search #SaintDwynwensDay on Twitter and Instagram. And many people still visit the scenic Llanddwyn church, as part of the Anglesey Coastal Path. Also it's a good day to give someone a spoon. Love spoons have been exchanged by Welsh lovers since the 17th Century. Love spoons have been exchanged by Welsh lovers since the 17th Century Photographer Mathew Browne, from Carmarthen, said that the church is a \"hotspot\" for photographers because it is so scenic. \"It is rare to have the island to yourself with the age of social media, everyone is trying to get that shot for Instagram,\" he said. Mr Browne, 34, added that he hopes to celebrate St Dwynwen's day with his wife and visit the church again. \"I haven't got a card or anything today, but I will do a cwtchy dinner in with my wife tonight,\" he added.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Saint Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of love, is celebrated on January 25th in Wales, with her story involving an unhappy arranged marriage, a frozen suitor, and a wish for helping other lovers in pain. The day is marked by visiting Llanddwyn church on Anglesey and exchanging love spoons, a Welsh tradition dating back to the 17th century." + }, + { + "article": "Aid agencies say the situation in Gaza is catastrophic and are among those calling for a new ceasefire Hamas says it has given its response to a framework proposal for a new ceasefire in Gaza. The details of the deal - set out by Israel, the US, Qatar and Egypt - have not been released. It was earlier reported to include a six-week truce, when more Israeli hostages would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. Israel and the US have both said they are reviewing Hamas's response. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is currently in the Middle East, said he would discuss Hamas's response with officials in Israel on Wednesday. While Mr Blinken has given no indication of how the US views the response, President Joe Biden described it as \"a little over the top\" - suggesting the Israeli leadership will not easily agree to what the group is asking. A senior Hamas official told the BBC the group had presented a \"positive vision\" in response to the framework but had asked for some amendments relating to the rebuilding of Gaza, the return of its residents to their homes and the provisions for those who had been displaced. The official said Hamas had also asked for changes relating to the treatment of those injured, including their return home and transfer to hospitals abroad. The proposal was sent to Hamas around a week ago but a representative told the Reuters news agency it had taken them until Tuesday to respond because parts of it were \"unclear and ambiguous.\" Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al Thani has described Hamas's response as \"positive\" in general. Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 others taken hostage. More than 27,500 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the health ministry in the Gaza Strip, which has been governed by Hamas and blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007. During a week-long ceasefire in late November, 105 Israeli and foreign hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. The timing of any new deal could be complicated by claims briefed earlier this week by Israeli defence officials that the military is \"making progress\" in its hunt for Hamas's leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under intense domestic pressure to secure the release of the remaining hostages. A growing sense of regional crisis also adds to the urgency Mr Blinken brings to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, as he arrives seeking progress on the deal. The US is increasingly trying to stem a widening regional escalation after last week's drone strike that killed three American soldiers in Jordan. Washington retaliated with air strikes against Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq and is warning more will come. A ceasefire deal in Gaza is seen by the US as the most realistic way to reduce tensions further afield. Hamas, which is also backed by Iran, is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in several countries. On Tuesday, Israel confirmed that 31 of the 136 remaining hostages in Gaza had been killed. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said their families had been informed and that the authorities would continue to push for the return of the remaining captives. \"This is a moral obligation, national obligation and international obligation and this is our compass and this is how we will continue operating,\" said Mr Hagari. Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Hamas has responded to a proposal for a new ceasefire in Gaza, with details of the deal, brokered by Israel, the US, Qatar, and Egypt, not being publicly disclosed. The group has asked for amendments regarding the rebuilding of Gaza, the return of residents, and the treatment of the injured. The US and Israel are reviewing Hamas's response, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussing it with Israeli officials, while President Biden characterized Hamas's demands as \"a little over the top.\" The situation in Gaza is described as catastrophic by aid agencies, and the search for Hamas's leader adds complexity to the negotiations." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: First pictures of plane on fire on Tokyo runway A coastguard aircraft involved in a fatal collision at Tokyo's Haneda airport was not cleared for take-off, Japanese authorities have said. The smaller aeroplane collided with a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger jet on the runway on Tuesday. Newly released transcripts of air traffic control instructions just before the crash confirmed the JAL Airbus A350 was cleared to land. Permission for take-off was not given to the coastguard Bombardier Dash-8. According to officials, the JAL flight was cleared to land on runway 34R at Haneda while the coastguard aircraft was told to \"taxi to holding point C5\" - a place on the airfield's taxiway system where aircraft await permission to enter the active runway for take-off. The transcript shows the coastguard aircraft acknowledged the call from air traffic to taxi to the holding point - its last transmission before the collision. The transcripts appear to contradict the coastguard plane's captain - the only one of the six crew to survive - who told investigators he had been given permission to enter the runway which the JAL airliner was approaching. The BBC has also found information that suggests the series of lights at the relevant holding point may not have been working. But experts point out there are other visual cues like painted markings which would show where aircraft needed to stop short of the runway. All 379 passengers and crew on board the state of the art JAL Airbus were safely evacuated after the collision, police said. Japan Airlines Flight 516 had departed from Sapporo's New Chitose airport at 16:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and landed at Haneda shortly before 18:00. Flames engulfed the airliner shortly after it landed. \"I felt a boom like we had hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed,\" one passenger told Kyodo news agency. \"I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with gas and smoke.\" Passengers escaped via evacuation slides and ran to safety, footage and photos showed. TV footage showed several fire engines at the scene as smoke and flames billowed from the Airbus. Footage from inside the aircraft showed passengers surrounded by thick smoke. One woman posted a picture of a huge crowd watching the scene unfold. \"I was on board. I'm safe. Thank goodness,\" she wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Officials said the flight crew had reported no problems before landing. A statement from JAL said flight JL516 had been \"involved in a collision with a Japan coastguard aircraft during its landing at Haneda Airport, resulting in a fire on the runway\". The coastguard aircraft was heading to help with rescue and relief efforts following Monday's earthquake in Ishikawa. It was one of four aircraft on a mission to the quake site. Within hours of the blaze, Tokyo police confirmed reports that five coastguard crew members had died and the pilot was severely injured. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the authorities were trying to make sure the accident did not impede deliveries of earthquake relief supplies. \"This is a great regret as the crew members performed their duties with a strong sense of mission and responsibility for the victims of the disaster area,\" he said. At least 14 of the passengers and crew who were taken off the JAL flight suffered minor injuries, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, citing fire officials. It is the first major accident involving an Airbus A350, one of a new breed of aircraft built largely of advanced materials such as carbon fibre-reinforced plastic. The aircraft manufacturer is sending a team of specialists to assist in the investigation in Japan. With additional reporting by Kelly Ng and Simon Fraser", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A coastguard aircraft involved in a fatal collision with a Japan Airlines (JAL) jet at Tokyo's Haneda airport was not cleared for take-off, Japanese authorities say. The JAL Airbus A350 was cleared to land, while the coastguard Bombardier Dash-8 was told to taxi to a holding point, but the coastguard captain claimed he had permission to enter the runway, contradicting transcripts. Five coastguard crew members died, and one survived with severe injuries; all 379 JAL passengers and crew evacuated safely." + }, + { + "article": "France has become the first country in the world to explicitly include the right to abortion in its constitution. Parliamentarians voted to revise the country's 1958 constitution to enshrine women's \"guaranteed freedom\" to abort. The overwhelming 780-72 vote saw a standing ovation in the parliament in Versailles when the result was announced. President Emmanuel Macron described the move as \"French pride\" that had sent a \"universal message\". However anti-abortion groups have strongly criticised the change, as has the Vatican. Abortion has been legal in France since 1975, but polls show around 85% of the public supported amending the constitution to protect the right to end a pregnancy. And while several other countries include reproductive rights in their constitutions - France is the first to explicitly state that an abortion will be guaranteed. It becomes the 25th amendment to modern France's founding document, and the first since 2008. Following the vote, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was lit up in celebration, with the message: \"My Body My Choice\". Before the vote, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told parliament that the right to abortion remained \"in danger\" and \"at the mercy of decision makers\". \"We're sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you,\" he added. While resistance from right-wingers in parliament failed to materialise, President Macron has been accused of using the constitution for electoral ends. Critics say the revision is not necessarily wrong in itself, but unnecessary, and accused the president of trying to use the cause to boost his left-wing credentials. Since 1975 the law has been updated nine times - and on each occasion with the aim of extending access. France's constitutional council - the body that decides on the constitutionality of laws - has never raised a query. In a 2001 ruling, the council based its approval of abortion on the notion of liberty enshrined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, which is technically part of the constitution. So many jurists say abortion was already a constitutional right. The Eiffel Tower lit up with the message \"My body My choice\" after the vote The constitutional change was prompted by recent developments in the US, where the right to abortion was removed by the Supreme Court in 2022. Individual states are now able to ban the procedure again, ending the right to an abortion for millions of women. The move to enshrine abortion in the French constitution has been welcomed by many. \"This right (to abortion) has retreated in the United States. And so nothing authorised us to think that France was exempt from this risk,\" said Laura Slimani, from the Fondation des Femmes rights group. \"There's a lot of emotion, as a feminist activist, also as a woman,\" she said. But not all support it, with the Vatican repeating its opposition to abortion. \"There can be no 'right' to take a human life,\" the Vatican institution said in a statement, echoing concerns already raised by French Catholic bishops. It appealed to \"all governments and all religious traditions to do their best so that, in this phase of history, the protection of life becomes an absolute priority\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "France has become the first country to explicitly include the right to abortion in its constitution, with parliamentarians overwhelmingly voting for the amendment, despite criticism from anti-abortion groups and the Vatican. The move, supported by 85% of the public, was prompted by the US Supreme Court's reversal of abortion rights and aims to ensure the guarantee of abortion access in France." + }, + { + "article": "Water levels of the Panama Canal are the second lowest they have been in 110 years The most famous waterway in the Americas is running dry. Unlike the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal is fed by a freshwater lake, Lake Gat\u00fan, and its water level is falling critically low. After a choppy boat ride across Lake Gat\u00fan, Nelson Guerra, the Panama Canal Authority's hydrologist, points toward a rusted ruler beneath a tower on the western end of the water. \"The level, as you see on the rulers, is 81.20ft,\" he says. \"The level should be five feet more than now.\" On the return journey, the boat passes old tree stumps sticking out of the water. They were never fully cut down during the original construction of the lake. Normally, only a few would be visible at this time of year. But half way through the dry season, there's a forest of them. Nelson Guerra keeps a close eye on water levels in Lake Gat\u00fan The Panama Canal is reliant on rainwater, which is in short supply. A lack of rain and the El Nino weather phenomenon have contributed to the second driest year in the canal's 110-year history. Last October was the driest month since records began. The canal region saw 41% less rainfall than normal, and the drought threatens to continue disrupting the $270bn (\u00a3213bn) worth of cargo that flows through the Atlantic-Pacific shortcut annually. They've had to introduce water-saving measures, which has meant fewer ships can pass through the canal each day. This is because water from the lake is required to operate the canal's locks. The number of vessels has been slashed from an average of 36 to 24. Each ship is also carrying less cargo now because of weight restrictions. In normal times about 5% of global maritime trade uses the Atlantic-Pacific shortcut, and 40% of US container traffic. If the route runs dry, shippers will be forced to find alternatives - lengthening journey times and pushing up costs. And the lack of water is not just a problem for global trade. The Panama Canal Authority also supplies drinking water for half of the country's population, including the residents of the capital, Panama City. But those who run the canal are taking steps to ensure it remains viable for another century, and beyond. The Panama Canal Authority's first ever chief sustainability officer, Ilya Espino de Marotta, says they are working on finding solutions to ensure the canal does not run out of water. Ilya Espino de Marotta is leading efforts to ensure the canal has enough water to operate \"We don't want this to be a recurrent issue. We don't want to drop transits or tonnage,\" she says. The authority has been busy developing a plan to invest $8.5bn in sustainability projects over the next five years that it hopes can help the vaunted waterway survive, even as changes rock the planet. Addressing the changing climate, Ilya Espino de Marotta says: \"Panama is a very rainy country\u2026 but we see there's a [reduced rainfall] pattern coming that is impacting everywhere. So we definitely need to prepare for the future.\" The Panama Canal works by transiting boats through a series of above-sea-level locks fed by Lake Gat\u00fan and the smaller Lake Alajuela. Each ship that passes through the locks uses around 50 million gallons of water, and a handful of new locks built in 2016 - the larger Neo-Panamax locks - save 60% of that water. However, the older Panamax locks remain in operation, and overhauling them would be a major project. In the meantime, the canal authority has found ways to reuse water from one lock chamber to another, so called cross-filling, saving the equivalent of six daily crossings. The authority is also considering building reservoirs, its first major project since it completed the new set of locks in 2016. To save more water in rainy months and increase supply in drier times, it wants to dam up the nearby Indio River, and pipe the fresh water into Lake Gat\u00fan, the canal's main reservoir. The plan would increase vessel traffic by 12 to 15 a day. Moving forward won't be easy though. The project doesn't have congressional approval yet, and construction will take several years to complete. Another option is to build desalination plants. The lack of rain has increased the salinity of the lakes and rivers, a challenge that has to be managed given it's the country's biggest source of potable water. But that option is costly and removing salt from seawater requires a huge amount of energy. Even seeding clouds in the hopes of creating more rain isn't off the table. The process of implanting large salt particles into clouds to boost rainfall sounds futuristic, but has been around since the 1940s. A solution needs to be found lest global trade, which has become more unstable this year, gets even more so. Trade volumes through the Panama Canal have fallen 49% compared to its peak. Jos\u00e9 Cervantes, a general manager at the Panama branch of shipping company Agunsa, says their daily operations have been hit. Shipments of two million tons of goods from textiles to food have been delayed because of the disruptions at the Panama Canal. He says the problem is that there are no other good shortcuts. Jos\u00e9 Cervantes' company had to switch cargo to road and rail alternatives Some ships carrying cargo from Asia were rerouted through the Suez Canal, before the current Red Sea crisis. With that option less secure, there's been an increase in demand for rail and road transport across Panama. But Jos\u00e9 Cervantes says all that unloading and reloading of cargo from ships onto trains and trucks is pushing up costs. \"And those costs are usually passed onto the consumer,\" he says. If rains arrive in May as expected, the canal plans to increase the number of ships that can pass through its locks, but that is only a short term solution. Changing rainfall patterns, serve as a reminder of the major impact climate change could have on global trade and on the long term future of the Panama Canal. For more on this topic, listen to Business Daily: Disruption and drought in the Panama Canal on BBC Sounds.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Panama Canal is facing its second-lowest water levels in 110 years, threatening global trade worth $270bn annually, as drought and the El Nino phenomenon affect the freshwater Lake Gat\u00fan that feeds it. The Panama Canal Authority has introduced water-saving measures, reducing the number of ships passing through daily and imposing weight restrictions, and is planning $8.5bn in sustainability projects over the next five years, including potential reservoirs and desalination plants, to ensure the canal's long-term viability." + }, + { + "article": "The release of the first official image of the Princess of Wales since her surgery was meant to mark Mother's Day, and calm the fevered speculation over her health. Instead, the image of her with her three children caused chaos when news agencies withdrew the picture over concerns it had been digitally altered. The princess has since apologised for \"any confusion\" she might have caused. Rather than the photo killing off the media gossip, it's ended with the media killing off the photo. What did Catherine say? The princess posted a brief apology on social media for what had happened to the picture. \"Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,\" she said. Royal sources described her changes as \"minor adjustments\". It's a terrible look. It's often said that the monarchy has to be seen to be believed, which means that they need to be visible to the public. But this photo controversy shows it's even more important that we are able to believe what we see of them. Trust is central to the relationship with the royals. When they manipulate an image, will the public feel manipulated too? And we still don't know what was changed, with no sight of the original picture. We don't know, for instance, if this was a composite image from a series of pictures. And we've got the unusual spectacle of a royal handout picture being so brutally taken down by photo agencies. Control vs transparency. There's an inescapable tension between the right to privacy for the royals and the expectations from the public for openness. And this is played out in their relationship with the media. On a number of recent occasions, Prince William and Catherine have put out content direct to social media. It gives them control of how it looks and what's included, but isn't that really just advertising? With this latest row over the Mother's Day photo, was that a private personal moment or a public statement? If it's the latter, maybe it needed someone else behind the camera? On Monday afternoon, the Princess of Wales was seen in public with William, as the pair left Windsor in a car Do we have unfair expectations? We want the royals to be like us - taking a relaxed family picture for Mother's Day - but at the same time we want them to be completely different and special. Is Catherine caught somewhere in that contradiction? The Princess of Wales must have been on more front pages in recent years than anyone else in the country, including political leaders. When she's recovering from major surgery, is it a grown-up thing to expect her to appear in public and look flawless? Despite her medical problems, she literally has to show her face. And having been the focus of relentless speculation about how she looks, it's Catherine who ends up in the firing line for playing with the image being released. What happens next? It will add even more pressure to when the Princess of Wales does appear in public, which isn't expected until after Easter. But maybe there's a bigger question about re-setting the royal relationship in the non-deferent, modern era. How much information should they share? The stage-managed spontaneity of that photo was all about sending a message of reassurance and authenticity. But what, without any artificial enhancements, does that really look like?", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The release of a photo of the Princess of Wales with her children on Mother's Day sparked controversy as news agencies withdrew it due to concerns it was digitally altered. The princess apologized for any confusion, acknowledging she had made \"minor adjustments\" as an amateur photographer, but the incident has raised questions about trust and transparency in the relationship between the monarchy and the public." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section European Football Arsenal have been drawn against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, while Manchester City will play 14-time winners Real Madrid. The Gunners will host German side Bayern, who have England captain Harry Kane in their squad, at Emirates Stadium in the first leg. Meanwhile, this is the third successive season City, who won last year's title, have met Real in the knockout stages. The first legs take place 9-10 April, with the second legs on 16-17 April. Both City and Arsenal play their first-leg fixtures on 9 April, with the Gunners at home to Bayern and Pep Guardiola's side at the Bernabeu. The return legs take place on 17 April, with the two Premier League sides facing each other in the semi-finals if they win their respective ties. In the other ties, five-time winners Barcelona will play French champions Paris St-Germain, while Atletico Madrid, who are fourth in La Liga, host German opposition Borussia Dortmund. The semi-finals will be held on 30 April and 1 May, with the second legs a week later on 7-8 May. Wembley Stadium will host this year's final on Saturday, 1 June. Arsenal reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 2010 by beating Porto in a tense penalty shootout at the Emirates on Tuesday. Kane moved to the Bundesliga champions from Tottenham last summer and the 30-year-old striker has scored 30 times in 25 league appearances this season. The Gunners lost their last tie with Bayern 10-2 on aggregate, losing both legs of their last-16 meeting in the 2016-17 competition 5-1. They were also beaten 5-1 in the group stage of the previous season's competition, having won the home tie 2-0. Bayern will not be permitted to have their fans at the Emirates after fireworks were set off and thrown onto the pitch during their last-16 match against Lazio earlier this month. City cruised to a seventh successive last eight appearance with a comfortable 6-2 aggregate win over Danish title holders Copenhagen in the round of 16. Pep Guardiola's Treble winners dominated Real in the semi-finals last year, beating Carlo Ancelotti's side 5-1 on aggregate. They were beaten 6-5 over two legs by Real in the previous season's semi-final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Arsenal will face Bayern Munich and Manchester City will take on Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The first legs will be played on April 9-10, with Arsenal hosting Bayern and City visiting Real. The potential semi-final clash between the two Premier League sides is set for May 30-31 and June 7-8, with the final taking place at Wembley Stadium on June 1." + }, + { + "article": "Tax cuts announced in Wednesday's Budget will not make up for the impact of tax increases and rising prices, a leading think tank has said. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said households would be worse off at the election, expected this year, than they were at the start of this parliament. The chancellor has announced a cut to National Insurance worth \u00a310bn. Despite that, this will be a record tax-raising parliament, the IFS said. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt tried to strike an optimistic note as he spelt out the government's strategy on tax and spend for what could be the last time before the country goes to the polls. He pointed to upgrades to short-term forecasts saying the UK would soon be \"turning a corner\" on growth as it has on inflation. The extra leeway afforded by those higher predictions on growth, and a handful of tax-raising measures, allowed him to cut another 2p from National Insurance Contributions (NIC), levied on pay packets throughout the UK, on top of a 2p cut he made in January. He presented it as part of a long-term reform plan to shift the tax burden away from workers designed to encourage people back into work. The cut would benefit millions of workers, the IFS said, with those on just above average earnings gaining a total of \u00a31,000 a year from the two NIC cuts put together. But they only mean the government is giving back \"a portion\" of the money taken away through other tax changes, the IFS said. The government's earlier policy of freezing tax thresholds means that people are seeing a higher proportion of their salary taken in tax. The precise pattern of gains and losses following the tax changes varies depending on income. In the upcoming financial year an average earner would enjoy a tax cut of about \u00a3340, and people earning between \u00a326,000 and \u00a360,000 will be better off, the IFS said. However by 2027 the average earner would be only \u00a3140 better off, and only people earning between \u00a332,000 and \u00a355,000 a year would be better off from the combined tax changes. \"The big picture on tax remains much the same,\" said IFS director Paul Johnson. \"This remains a parliament of record tax rises. \"Overall, for every \u00a31 given back to workers (including the self-employed) by the NICs cuts, \u00a31.30 will have been taken away due to threshold changes between 2021 and 2024, with this rising to \u00a31.90 in 2027.\" Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government's strategy was to \"give with one hand, and take even more with the other\". The state of the economy, and more importantly how people feel about their own personal finances, is under the spotlight as battle lines are drawn up for a general election that must be called before next January. Conservatives will be hoping that the Office for Budget Responsibility's slight upgrade to the growth forecasts for this year - from 0.7% to 0.8% - and for next year - from 1.4% to 1.9% - will help change the narrative after recent economic data showing the UK went into recession last year. But the upgrades are not large and fall away after two years. The IFS said overall the picture on living standards remained \"dismal\". Before the Budget the IFS urged the chancellor not to cut taxes as without a substantial improvement in growth, it would result in a severe squeeze on some areas of public spending in the years ahead, including the criminal justice system and local government. Mr Johnson said the chancellor's strategy still implied \"substantial cuts to funding of many public services which are clearly struggling with their current level of funding\". Mr Hunt defended the squeeze on public spending as realistic if schools, hospitals and the police deployed automation, artificial intelligence and drones. The IFS provides a verdict on the chancellor's Budget every year, analysing what his policy strategy is likely to mean for the economy and people's incomes. The official forecasts on economic growth are provided alongside every Budget by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the government's official independent economic forecasting body. Although forecasts can be derailed by anything from geopolitics to government policies, they provide a rolling basis for assessing the state of the public finances. With the government's newly announced measures taken into account, the OBR now expects borrowing to rise slightly in the next financial year, before remaining broadly in line with previous forecasts. It would fall below 3% of GDP by 2025-26, meeting one of the fiscal rules the government has set itself. Overall the country's debt, measured against the size of the economy, is still set to rise over the next four years, before falling back marginally in the fifth year, thereby meeting another of the government's fiscal rules. However, debt as a proportion of GDP will still be 92.9% in 2028-29, higher than the 89% it is expected to be this year.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says tax cuts in the UK Budget won't compensate for tax hikes and rising prices, meaning households will be worse off by the election. Despite a \u00a310bn National Insurance cut, this parliament will see record tax increases, with the IFS noting that for every \u00a31 given back, \u00a31.30-\u00a31.90 has been taken away through threshold changes." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Israeli President Isaac Herzog's presence at the opening of a Holocaust museum in Amsterdam has sparked protests over Israel's military operations in Gaza. Activists calling for a ceasefire gathered in a square near the National Holocaust Museum, in the city's Jewish quarter. Some people protesting were, themselves, Jewish. Both Palestinian and Israeli flags were seen being held by demonstrators. Some protesters climbed onto police vans, and riot police beat them away as they started to throw fireworks and eggs, Dutch media outlet De Telegraaf reported. Signs were seen reading \"Jews against genocide\", and \"The grandchild of a holocaust survivor says: Stop Gaza Holocaust.\" The museum said it had invited Mr Herzog before the Hamas attack on 7 October, which led to Israel's ground offensive in Gaza. In a statement, it said it recognised Mr Herzog's attendance raised questions, but added that he represented the homeland of Dutch Holocaust survivors who had emigrated to Israel. In a speech, Israel's president said the museum would \"remember the horrors born of hatred, antisemitism and racism\". \"Unfortunately 'never again' is now, right now. Because right now, hatred and antisemitism are flourishing worldwide and we must fight it together,\" he said. Mr Herzog called for the \"immediate and safe return\" of hostages taken by Hamas in the 7 October attacks. Israeli President Isaac Herzog gave a speech during the opening ceremony of the National Holocaust Museum Also present at the opening ceremony were Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and the president of the German Federal Council, Manuela Schwesig. They were met with booing from the crowds as they arrived at the museum. In a speech to Dutch Holocaust survivors gathering at a nearby synagogue, King Willem-Alexander said: \"This museum shows us what devastating consequences antisemitism can have.\" The Holocaust Museum will open to the public on Monday, to mark almost 80 years since World War Two ended. It will display 2,500 objects that have not been seen in public before. Before the Nazi occupation, the Netherlands was home to a huge Jewish community of around 140,000 people. However, it was estimated that 75% of them - about 102,000 people - were murdered during the Holocaust. Correction 18th March: This article includes a video of the protests and the original version of this video quoted the President of Israel as calling for the release of \"Jewish hostages\". In fact Isaac Herzogcalled for the release of hostages in general and the video has been amended to reflect this.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israeli President Isaac Herzog's attendance at the opening of a Holocaust museum in Amsterdam led to protests over Israel's military actions in Gaza, with activists, including some Jewish protesters, calling for a ceasefire. Demonstrators held both Palestinian and Israeli flags, and clashes with police occurred, resulting in the use of fireworks and eggs by protesters and intervention by riot police. The museum defended its invitation to Herzog, emphasizing his role as the representative of Holocaust survivors who migrated to Israel." + }, + { + "article": "Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley previously acted together in The Lost Daughter in 2021 In the spring of 1920, the House of Commons scheduled a debate on one of the most pressing issues facing the country at that time - who was behind the slew of profane letters being sent to well respected members of a community. For months, Littlehampton, a small seaside town in Sussex, had been alight with rumours over who was sending sweary and scandalous letters. A well-respected, pillar-of-the-community Christian, Edith Swan pointed the finger at Irish foul-mouthed neighbour Rose Gooding. The showdown between the two neighbours is the basis for period comedy drama Wicked Little Letters, starring Olivia Colman as Edith and Jessie Buckley as Rose. \"Parliament absolutely debated it and it was covered by all the broadsheets at the time,\" Colman tells the BBC. \"The fact the nation was gripped by this I found to be hilarious.\" Colman's co-star Buckley says the letters \"sent the whole country into a frenzy\" and was \"the sort of sensationalist trolling you would expect in the modern day\". The letters that Edith received were obscene, by both 1920s and modern day standards. With insults which included suggesting the cakes someone had made had been excreted by a sheep (we couldn't possibly repeat the exact phrasing here), the actors said it was \"such an enjoyment\" to swear so freely. Colman won an Oscar in 2019 for her performance in The Favourite \"I swear, and if people's sphincters tighten I just think I'm not killing or hurting anyone, so I don't think that's really a problem,\" says Colman. \"Some people walked out of the cinema watching our film and I just think they need to get over themselves. It's not a sign of a diminished vocabulary, it's fun, it's just an enjoyment and I see it as a seasoning,\" she laughs. \"The ones who swear the least are the ones who need a good swear,\" adds Buckley. Critics have so far given the film mixed reviews. In a three-star review, the Evening Standard's Nick Huwells said the lead actors \"put in less than their usual stellar work\". He added that the swearing was only \"ever so slightly hilarious\" and that \"initial tickle of naughtiness rapidly fades\". A three-star review from Empire said the film was \"overly reliant\" on the sweary letters \"with most raising titters rather than laughs\". In a scathing one-star review, the Guardian's Benjamin Lee said Wicked Little Letters was \"an embarrassingly unfunny misfire\". James Mottram of the Radio Times praised the cast, who he said had \"to work overtime to deal with the script's patchy nature\". His three-star review particularly highlighted Anjana Vasan for her portrayal of police officer Gladys Moss \"who delivers one of the film's better performances, both comic and earnest\". Colman is best known for TV shows Broadchurch and Peep Show, and films including The Father, Empire of Light and The Favourite, which won her an Oscar for best actress. She and Buckley last worked together on Netflix's 2021 movie The Lost Daughter. Buckley's other film credits include Women Talking, Fingernails and Wild Rose. During the case of the Littlehampton libels, one judge in the 1923 court case based his argument on the fact a respectable woman would never swear. Sending offensive letters resulted in prison sentences for the culprit, but 100 years later spreading anonymous hate has become commonplace. Olivia Colman's character is a pious woman who brands herself as a pillar of the Christian community \"Everybody's cruel to everybody else online and that's awful,\" reflects Colman. \"I would love to go back to the days where it's not OK. \"It's a despicable thing to do to someone and we've seen the terrible things that have happened to people who can't cope with the fact that someone they don't know is so unkind about them.\" The 50-year-old said she wants greater measures to be implemented to stop people making anonymous online accounts. She continues: \"I know there's another argument that there are parts of the world where you can't say what you need to say if you are traceable, but if you're just going to be unkind about a fellow human, don't. It shouldn't be allowed.\" The film's writer, comedian Jonny Sweet, adds that he hopes there will be \"greater regulation because anonymous hate really destroys people's lives and can be a real nightmare\". \"That's what this story is about - it shows that you can write something anonymously and say some wretched old stuff and think you'll get away with it,\" he says. Perhaps the culprit would have got away with it if it was not for one woman, police officer Gladys Moss. Sussex's first female officer, Moss served in the force between 1919 and 1941 and was an integral part in solving the Littlehampton libel letter case. \"Gladys is so committed to her work and finding the truth and was not going to compromise and she wins in the face of everyone doubting her,\" says Irish actor Buckley But despite her brilliant efforts, historian Emily Cockayne tells the BBC that Gladys received no recognition for being \"fundamental and instrumental in the case\". Instead, Cockayne explains, she had to \"fight to keep her job as the police were keen on ejecting many of the women in the force who had joined during the war\". The film shows how an unlikely group of women came together to help justice prevail Alongside Sherlock-like sleuth Gladys, a team of unlikely women who are undermined or overlooked by society work together to bring about justice for the community. \"There's a lot more to this story than what meets the eye,\" Buckley explains. \"These are ordinary women with amazing minds, who, if given half a chance, are bloody great.\" Although girl power is a strong force in the film, Cockayne said that in reality \"women wouldn't have had the power to put together a plan in the way they do in the film\". \"Our fascination with women who break social convention is nothing new - from the first witchcraft trials in the 15th Century to a country that was stunned by a woman using foul language in a letter, behaviour that is not in line with society's expectations has always had the power to shock.\" And, watching Colman and Buckley scream hilarious profanities and wickedly scandalous lines at each other will never not be brilliantly shocking.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "\"Wicked Little Letters\" is a period comedy drama starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, based on a real-life 1920\u4e8b\u4ef6 in Littlehampton where obscene letters caused a national uproar. The film, receiving mixed reviews, humorously depicts the conflict between two neighbors over the letters, with Colman playing a respected Christian accusing Buckley's character. The actors enjoyed the freedom of swearing in their roles, but some critics found the humor lacking. The film also touches on the issue of online anonymity and hate, drawing parallels to modern times." + }, + { + "article": "Sex scenes that were previously acceptable in films with a 12 or 12A rating are now more likely to be rated 15 under updated guidelines. People have become more concerned about how much sex and nudity can be seen by viewers aged under 15, the British Board of Film Classification said. The BBFC has carried out its first major audience research for five years. Viewers now want \"a more cautious approach\" to sex scenes that are on the border of a 12/12A and a 15, it said. The BBFC recently surveyed 12,000 people to find out how attitudes have changed towards sex, violence, drug use and use of language on screen. A 12 rating means someone must be over that age to watch the film, and a 12A means children under 12 can only go if accompanied by an adult. For films with those ratings, the current guidelines say sexual activity \"may be briefly and discreetly portrayed\", while nudity in a sexual context \"must be brief and discreet\". In a 15-rated film, sexual activity can be shown \"but usually without strong detail\", while sexual nudity is allowed \"but strong detail is likely to be brief or presented in a comic context\". The research also indicated that audiences were happy for classification to be more lenient towards some sex references at the border of 15 and 18, especially in comic contexts. The last time the BBFC carried out such research was in 2019. Then, as now, sexual violence remains the biggest area of concern for UK audiences. Since 2019, however, the depiction of suicide and self-harm has risen to the second biggest area of concern. Respondents expressed a desire to be warned about this type of content, according to the BBFC, which said it would continue to highlight suicide and self-harm in its advice. The organisation also found that people are now more concerned about depictions of violence on screen. It said that in future, a higher rating may be required for violence across all age ratings. When it comes to drugs, the research suggested that audiences have become more relaxed about depictions of cannabis use and solvent misuse than before. The BBFC said it would therefore take a less restrictive approach to such content. Conversely, the survey suggested parents are concerned about the normalisation of bad language, especially terms with sexual or misogynistic connotations. Such language may now also require a higher age rating. BBFC president Natasha Kaplinsky, said the organisation was committed to ensuring what it does responds to \"the ever-evolving world around us\". \"Since we last asked people across the country what they thought about our standards, society has changed, and opinions have followed - it's fascinating how this vast body of new research reflects this.\" Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has updated its guidelines, making it more likely for films with sexual scenes to be rated 15 instead of 12 or 12A due to increased concern about young viewers seeing such content. The decision comes after a survey of 12,000 people, who also expressed a desire for more warnings about suicide and self-harm, while being more relaxed about depictions of cannabis use and solvent misuse." + }, + { + "article": "Spanish farmers have been blocking roads across the country as they gear up for a large demonstration in Madrid later this month Farmers in Spain have joined their European counterparts in staging protests across the country. Like farmers elsewhere, they demand more flexibility from the European Union, tighter controls on the produce of non-EU countries and more help from their government. In several regions, they blocked roads and caused severe disruption to motorists. A large demonstration in central Madrid is planned for later this month. On Tuesday, farmers took to the streets of agricultural areas in Spain's northern interior, driving tractors in convoys, beeping horns, waving Spanish flags and brandishing placards. They also protested in the north-eastern region of Catalonia, the southern region of Andalusia and Extremadura in the west. Spain's farmers have similar grievances to their counterparts in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and other countries that have been protesting recently. They say that regulations which form part of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), along with high fuel and energy costs, make it difficult for them to make a profit. \"The costs, when it comes to producing wheat and barley, are very high,\" said Esteban, a cereal farmer who preferred not to give his surname who was protesting in Aranda de Duero. \"You've got to pay for fertiliser, pesticides, fuel - it's killing us. We have to pay very high prices and yet we sell at low prices.\" Protesting French farmers accused Spanish producers of undercutting them by not fully observing EU rules. Last week, French former minister S\u00e9gol\u00e8ne Royal triggered controversy by claiming that Spanish organic tomatoes were \"false organic\". Amid an angry backlash from the Spanish food and farming industry, Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez invited Ms Royal to try a Spanish tomato. However, Spain's agricultural sector in turn levels similar criticism at non-EU countries, such as its southern neighbour, Morocco, which it claims is not subject to the same environmental and sanitary regulations as European producers, allowing it to sell cheaper produce. \"We have to undergo a lot of controls, a lot of sanitary regulations which products from [non-EU countries] are not subject to,\" said Estrella P\u00e9rez, who farms livestock and cereal. \"We just want a future for farming and right now, we don't see it.\" Estrella P\u00e9rez said farmers are constrained by too much red tape and can't see a future for their profession The plight of Spanish farmers has been compounded by drought. Many areas of the country have not seen normal levels of rain in recent months which is affecting harvests. Spain is the world's biggest olive oil producer, but prices have been pushed up by low production. Last week, Catalonia declared a state of emergency due to a three-year drought, the longest on record. Elsewhere, Italian farmers have been gathering from north to south for a week, also protesting against EU regulations and red tape. They are planning to converge on Rome at the end of this week. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has backed them, saying that the EU's Green Deal will hit farmers' lives disproportionately. But farmers are also concerned about government plans to end tax subsidies for the agricultural sector. On Tuesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced she wants to withdraw a plan to slash the use of pesticides, describing it as \"a symbol of polarisation\". Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo welcomed the announcement, saying it was \"crucial we keep our farmers on board to a more sustainable future of farming, as part of our determination to get the Green Deal done\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Spanish farmers are protesting across the country, blocking roads and planning a major demonstration in Madrid, demanding more EU flexibility, stricter controls on non-EU produce, and government support. Similar to farmers in other European countries, they cite high costs and EU regulations as challenges, while also criticizing non-EU competitors for allegedly not following the same environmental and sanitary rules." + }, + { + "article": "The Royal Family has had a difficult start to 2024 - uncertain in the face of health problems and surrounded by a backwash of rumour and speculation. So what will they have to do to get back on track? And what are some of the challenges they may need to address? Social media can't cope with an information vacuum. On WhatsApp groups, Facebook and TikTok, the speculation over the Princess of Wales is deafening. She hasn't been seen in public this year, while recovering from planned abdominal surgery. The explanation for her absence until later in the year was reiterated by royal officials this week. \"Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess's recovery. We said we'd only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.\" On the positive side, people are interested because they care. Indifference would be worse. And I predict a big change when pictures eventually appear, which they will, and there's some reassurance. Although it might raise some longer-term questions about what people want from a grown-up relationship with the royals. No-one should be expected to be flawless like a human statue. We're all full of vulnerabilities. But that means openness from the Palace as well. Everyone has a right to privacy, but for public figures, especially those who are publicly funded, there's a fine line between privacy and secrecy. Part of the royals' current problem is the pile-up of unknowns: Catherine's illness. The nature of the King Charles's cancer. And then Prince William's \"personal matter\" that kept him away from his godfather's memorial. It's a thickening fog of uncertainties. And it gives more energy to online rumours. It's the problem of feeding out small pieces of information, enough to prompt more questions and not enough to give answers. There's a bigger question about secrecy for a modern monarchy. It needs some mystery to keep its mystique. But opaqueness can look like concealment. Historians complain about excessive secrecy over archive documents. And should the royals be more willing to answer questions about their work? It seems odd in 2024 that they can go on visits or trips and not face a single question about what they're doing. The absence of a figurehead is a major difficulty for any institution. The King is getting cancer treatment and so is understandably not attending public events. Getting well has to be a priority from him and his family. But there is still pressure to be visible. There's the long-standing royal dictum that \"the monarchy has to be seen to be believed\". It reflects how periods of unpopularity for monarchy have often been linked to being out of sight, such as when Queen Victoria, mourning the loss of Albert, withdrew from public life. Expect more virtual appearances from the King - such as video messages and speeches or social media clips, in the way that he was recently seen enjoying get well cards. There could also be more interventions like the statement rallying support for Ukraine. His team will be trying to keep him in the headlines, even though he is out of sight and missing events. It's also worth noting that in his case opinion polls showed most people thought the right amount of information had been released about his cancer. Only 13% expected more details, according to YouGov polling. Prince Andrew was on the front pages again this week, which usually spells trouble for the royals. He was striding towards the memorial service for King Constantine of Greece, heading up what was the monarchy's reserve team, and accused by the papers of grabbing the limelight too enthusiastically. And it's safe to predict he'll be back in the headlines with next month's Netflix film about his 2019 Newsnight interview, which would be the prime exhibit if there was a museum of car-crash interviews. All those questions about Jeffrey Epstein, Virginia Giuffre and Woking pizzas are coming back again to haunt the royals. He's become the boomerang of bad news. In a very different set of circumstances, Prince Harry is another long-running unresolved tension for the royals. There has never been any proper resolution to his status. The position since he moved to the US has been \"no half in half out royals\". But he remains almost like a rival court, a prince over the water, a restless royal. The Royal Family relies on being a unifying force, which is hard anyway in such a polarised era, but even harder when it seems to be a family at odds with itself. Although, for a more positive take, I've heard people say that being a dysfunctional family is the one thing that makes the royals seem like everybody else. The royals have got a youth problem. Or more to the point, a lack-of-youth problem. That was even more painfully visible this week without William or Catherine when the royals gathered for the memorial service in Windsor. They looked older and frailer. Not to say paler. What makes this more of an issue is their lack of appeal to younger people, which is a consistent message from multiple surveys. There's clearly a big challenge for the monarchy not to look and sound out of touch. How can they find a lighter and more entertaining approach? Even reaching younger people is tricky for a royal operation that still focuses on traditional TV news and newspaper front pages, which are increasingly unlikely to get to younger audiences. It all gets a bit creaky. And if the age of deference is over, how should a modern monarchy speak to the people? After a miserable winter, the royals must be hoping for some Spring sunshine.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Royal Family is facing challenges in 2024 due to health issues, rumors, and a lack of public appearances, particularly the absence of the Princess of Wales and King Charles' cancer treatment. To regain public trust, the monarchy may need to be more open and transparent, addressing uncertainties and engaging with younger generations through modern communication channels, while maintaining a balance between privacy and visibility." + }, + { + "article": "The Qatar Emiri Air Force cargo plane, a hulking grey C17, sat by a runway at the sprawling Al Udeid airbase. Deep inside, Britain's Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, in black loafers and sweater, attempted to push a pallet of humanitarian aid for Gaza into the aircraft. It wouldn't budge. He stepped back while burly Qatari airmen in combat fatigues made some adjustments. But the former British prime minister wasn't giving up, and with a sudden shift, the bundle - part of nearly 30 tonnes of aid including tents and food - began to move into the belly of the plane. Lord Cameron's latest Middle East tour was aimed at helping to broker a permanent ceasefire to the conflict, the release of the more than 132 remaining hostages, and an increase in the aid getting into Gaza on a daily basis. He's putting in a lot of effort, but so far at least, has little to show for it. Standing by the plane's enormous wings, Lord Cameron told me: \"Nobody wants this conflict to go on a moment longer than necessary. But I've always understood that you won't have a proper ceasefire if you've still got Hamas in place, able to launch attacks on Israel. \"Everyone has to understand, that must be dismantled, otherwise no peace, no ceasefire will be sustainable.\" His latest round of in-person diplomacy (the day before he met Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) came in advance of this weekend's talks under way in France, to free the hostages and pause hostilities. But there still appears little prospect the suffering will end soon in Gaza. There's a chasm between the aid Gaza needs, and will need for years to come, and what it is currently receiving. While Israel's bombardment of Gaza continues, the flow of aid is being drip-fed into the strip. Britain says 500 trucks a day are needed to provide basic needs - most days fewer than 200 make it inside. On one day this month, only 30 crossed into Gaza. Lord Cameron with Qatar's Minister of State for International Cooperation at Al Udeid airbase, Doha, Qatar \"It's vital we can actually get it into Gaza and crucially, once it's in Gaza, get it around Gaza,\" Lord Cameron said. \"What I was saying yesterday to the Israelis, they've got to deal with the bottlenecks. They've got to make sure the crossing points are opened more often. They've got to make sure the checking is done more quickly. They've got, crucially, to give the visas to the UN staff and the trucks that the UN staff need to get the aid around Gaza.\" Nine out of 10 people are living on one meal a day in Gaza, according to the World Food Programme. All aid is subject to stringent inspections by Israel which does not want anything to get inside that could benefit Hamas. Qatar and Britain are allies, the Gulf emirate and Israel are not. It hosts the Hamas political leadership, and has been a key mediator in talks to release the hostages still held by the group, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by several countries. Qatar helped secure the previous week-long ceasefire in November that led to the freeing of 105 hostages taken in the attack of 7 October, which killed 1,200 people. But as David Cameron arrived in Doha, a recording of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was leaked in which he described Qatar's role as a mediator in the Gaza war as \"problematic\". The British foreign secretary dismissed the criticism and said that Qatar's role was \"helpful\". Qatar said it was appalled at the Israeli prime minister's remarks, which came just before this weekend's meeting in France, which will bring together William Burns, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, his Israeli counterpart, David Barnea and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani. The Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel will also attend. The talks are aimed at freeing the Israeli captives and establishing a ceasefire, however wide the gap between Israel and Hamas's demands. Hosting Lord Cameron at the airbase was Lolwah Rashid Al-Khater, Qatar's Minister of State for International Cooperation. Some 12 tonnes of aid on the plane are from Qatar, and even this joint consignment is far from enough said the minister. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Qatari minister Lolwah Rashid al-Khater says \"many bottlenecks, man-created obstacles\" are holding up aid for Gaza \"On some days, these past days, even less than 100 [trucks make it into Gaza]. This situation is very difficult. There are many bottlenecks. And as a matter of fact, man-created obstacles, I should say. According to the 4th Geneva Convention article 59, it is the obligation on the occupying power, in this case it would be Israeli occupation, to ensure adequate levels of aid, supplies, and aid schemes,\" she told me. And in some cases, the wrong type of aid is being sent, the Qatari diplomat said. One recent consignment from a foreign donor was full of covid tests, she said. As the cargo plane filled with tents climbed slowly into the clear blue desert sky, Lolwah Al-Khater had one final point to make: \"It's very important to emphasise,\" she said, \"that aid can never and should never be substituting the need for an immediate and a permanent ceasefire. \"Unfortunately, some actors have been trying to promote that we need more aid without doing enough on the other front.\" The situation inside Gaza is dire - at least 1.7m people have been displaced, some multiple times. The 285 family tents from Qatar and Britain will go to Unicef in Gaza and house up to five people in each tent. In recent days torrential rain there has made conditions even worse. The healthcare system is on its knees. From inside Gaza, a British doctor messaged me: \"People don't get operated upon because a) no beds b) no resources,\" he wrote. \"Lots of people are just left to die if the trauma burden is too high, on the floor in the emergency department, most of the time. We received 45 last night from Khan Younis, of which 70% died because of lack of resources. I think from a humanitarian perspective, it is just shocking to see the rapidity of the unfolding situation in front of my eyes.\" Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, now Lord Cameron, visited Qatar to help broker a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza conflict and increase aid delivery. Despite efforts, progress has been slow, with only a fraction of the needed aid reaching Gaza due to Israeli inspections and bottlenecks at crossing points. Talks in France aim to address the crisis, but a significant gap remains between Israel and Hamas's demands." + }, + { + "article": "The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has given strong hints that he wants to cut taxes in the spring Budget. Mr Hunt said that countries with lower taxes have more \"dynamic, faster growing economies\". In the Autumn Statement, the chancellor reduced national insurance for workers by 2% and announced tax relief for businesses. If inflation falls, followed by lower interest rates, Mr Hunt may consider he has scope for further tax cuts. Mr Hunt was speaking during his visit to the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, where he is hoping to lure more investment to Britain. He said the \"direction of travel\" indicates that economies growing faster than the UK, in North America and Asia tend to have lower taxes. \"I believe fundamentally that low-tax economies are more dynamic, more competitive and generate more money for public services like the NHS,\" he added. Mr Hunt did not offer any further detail on the scale of potential future tax cuts, as the government awaits a forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility. However, it is widely expected that the chancellor will focus on income tax in the Budget on 6 March. Currently, the overall tax burden is on course to rise to the highest level for decades as households are pushed into higher income tax brackets as a result of tax thresholds remaining at the same level for more than two years. Usually tax thresholds rise in line with inflation, the rate at which prices increase,but the government has kept them at the same level since 2021 and they will remain frozen until 2028. Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said: \"People have been left poorer by years of economic mismanagement under this government, and none of Jeremy Hunt's vague promises can change that fact. \"We urgently need to boost investment in skills and the NHS to get people back into work and the economy growing again.\" While it is hoped that inflation will fall as the year goes on, it unexpectedly ticked up to 4% in December from 3.9% in November. The chancellor said he was \"confident\" that inflation will continue to fall and that prices were \"heading in the right direction\". He said on Thursday: \"I think it's coming down. I think it will continue to fall.\" Lower inflation could help to pave the way for faster interest rate cuts by the Bank of England, as well as reducing the government's huge debt interest bill. In a bid to curb inflation, the Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25% at its last three meetings, but rates are expected to be cut this later this year. Lower debt interest payments alone could strengthen the chancellor's hand in cutting taxes to the tune of almost \u00a315bn. However, the UK still remains at risk of recession, after official growth figures showed the UK economy shrank between July and September. A recession is usually defined as when the economy contracts for two three-month periods - or quarters - in a row. While Mr Hunt insisted that it was \"too early to know the extent to which we'll be able to cut taxes\", he said the rapid fall in inflation was a sign that Britain's economic prospects are improving.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has indicated that he is considering tax cuts in the spring Budget, stating that lower taxes can lead to more dynamic and faster-growing economies. He hinted at potential income tax reductions, though details will depend on the upcoming Office for Budget Responsibility forecast. The government is hoping for lower inflation and interest rates to create room for tax cuts, with the overall tax burden currently set to reach a historic high due to frozen tax thresholds." + }, + { + "article": "Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and driver Max Verstappen chat during practice at the Saudi Arabia GP Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says it is \"time to draw a line under\" the controversy over accusations about his behaviour towards a female employee. Red Bull has suspended the woman who accused Horner of inappropriate behaviour, which he has denied. \"An awful lot has been made out of this,\" said Horner. \"It is of great interest in different areas of the media for different reasons.\" Speaking at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, he added: \"The time now is to draw a line under it.\" Red Bull said it \"could not comment\" on the reasons for the woman's suspension. BBC Sport has learned the reason given by Red Bull to the employee was that she had been dishonest. Red Bull's engine partner Honda has called for more details about the matter. A spokesperson for the Japanese company said: \"We do not have full details on the matter at this point, therefore Honda are not in a position to make any detailed comment. We look forward to full clarity as soon as possible.\" Horner emphasised that Red Bull's board dismissed the complaint last week. He said: \"The reality is that there was a grievance raised, it was dealt with in the most professional manner by the group, that appointed an independent KC, one of the most reputable in the land. \"He took time to investigate all the facts. He looked at everything and he came to a conclusion where he dismissed the grievance. \"As far as I'm concerned, as far as Red Bull is concerned, we move on.\" Red Bull has refused to name the lawyer involved or give any insight into the report compiled, or explain why the decision to dismiss the complaint was made. Horner, whose wife Geri was in the Spice Girls, added: \"I am fortunate I have a beautiful family and a very supportive wife. It has been very trying, and very challenging. \"My wife has been hugely supportive, as has my family, but the intrusion on my family is now enough, and we need to move forward and focus on what we are here for. \"It is time now to focus on why we are here which is to go Formula 1 racing.\" Horner continued: \"There is a grievance process in any company and that process is confidential between the individuals and the company itself. \"I am not at liberty due to the confidentiality and out of respect to the company and the other party. \"We are all bound by the same restrictions, even if I would like to talk about it, I can't. \"The only reason this has gained so much attention is because of the leakage and attention in the media which has been very trying in many respects.\" Last week, Jos Verstappen, father of Max Verstappen, said the controversy over Horner was \"driving people apart\" and that the team would \"explode' if Horner remained in his position. Horner said: \"I spoke to Jos following the grand prix and it's in everybody's interests collectively that we have agreed to move on and focus on the future. \"We both have a vested interest in his son to get the best out of him.\" The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has called for an end to the controversy over accusations of inappropriate behavior towards a female employee, which he denies. The woman who made the accusations has been suspended by Red Bull, with the team's engine partner Honda calling for more details. An independent lawyer dismissed the grievance, but Red Bull has not disclosed information about the investigation or the lawyer involved. Both Horner and driver Max Verstappen's father, Jos, have emphasized the need to move on and focus on Formula 1 racing." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Premier League The Spain winger was left totally unmarked as he registered his third goal of the campaign for the hosts, flicking Rayan Ait-Nouri's left-wing delivery into the top right corner. The result lifts Gary O'Neil's side up to eighth in the table and boosts their hopes of appearing in Europe next season. It was far from a vintage display from Wolves, with Sarabia's header their only effort on target until a stoppage-time shot from Joao Gomes, in a contest that saw their determined opponents sit deep and attempt to counter with pace on the break. And the manner of the Blades' performance, although not the outcome, will have pleased boss Chris Wilder, who saw his side carve out several good opportunities. James McAtee had two of Sheffield United's best chances. However, the on-loan Manchester City midfielder saw a tame first-half effort easily saved by Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa and he fizzed a second-half shot just wide of the bottom right corner. McAtee's left-wing cross also provided Rhian Brewster with an opportunity to level, but the forward, who had already blazed well wide earlier on from a good position, was unable to turn his effort past Portugal goalkeeper Sa. However, Wilder would not have been pleased at the sight of two of his players - Vinicius Souza and Jack Robinson - squaring up and jostling each other during the first half. It was a moment of embarrassment for the visitors, who remain eight points adrift of safety and appear to be seeing their slim survival prospects fade with each defeat. \u2022 None How did you rate Wolves' performance? Have your say here \u2022 None What did you make of Sheff Utd's display? Send us your views here This will undoubtedly go down as an opportunity missed by the visitors, who will travel back to Yorkshire wondering how they did not manage to gain at least a share of the spoils. On chances created, Sheffield United arguably deserved only their third league win since Wilder's reappointment as manager in early December. Even though they can take a vestige of pride from the way they battled back from their thrashing by Brighton eight days ago, their problems in both boxes are clear to see. No side has scored fewer goals than the Blades this term but they have also conceded 66 goals - the most ever at this stage of a top-flight season since Ipswich Town let in 74 after 26 matches during the 1963-64 campaign. In contrast, Sarabia's clinical header ensured it is the quickest Wolves have reached 40 goals in a top-flight campaign since 1971-72. However, O'Neil will be aware that his side will have to improve if they are to advance when they host Brighton in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Wednesday (19:45 GMT). \u2022 None Attempt missed. Gustavo Hamer (Sheffield United) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Jo\u00e3o Gomes (Wolverhampton Wanderers) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Toti. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Oliver McBurnie (Sheffield United) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ben Osborn with a cross. \u2022 None Substitution, Sheffield United. William Osula replaces Rhian Brewster because of an injury. \u2022 None Delay over. They are ready to continue. \u2022 None Delay in match because of an injury Vinicius Souza (Sheffield United). Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Wolverhampton Wanderers secured a 1-0 victory over Sheffield United in the Premier League, with Pablo Sarabia scoring the only goal of the game from a header. The win lifts Wolves to eighth in the table, boosting their chances of European qualification, while Sheffield United remain in the relegation battle, eight points from safety." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union Legal action is being taken after match officials and players suffered online abuse during the Rugby World Cup. One person in Australia has been charged for online abuse and a court hearing planned for this week. There are also multiple pending prosecutions in Australia, South Africa, France, New Zealand and the UK. World Rugby partnered with an online monitoring agency for the tournament which flagged more than 1,600 abusive accounts to social media. That resulted in 90% of the most serious content being removed. More than 900 social media accounts, including those belonging to all match officials with public-facing social accounts - including their families - and World Rugby's official channels, were monitored by Signify Group during the seven-week tournament held in France last autumn. World Cup final referee Wayne Barnes retired after South Africa's 12-11 victory over New Zealand in November and told the BBC he and his family received \"vile\" social media abuse that \"crossed a line\". His wife, Polly, previously said Barnes received death threats after the match. Referee Tom Foley announced in December he would take a break from international rugby because of the \"torrent of criticism and abuse\" he received after the final where he was the television match official (TMO). Match officials, including TMOs, received 49% of the total abuse during the tournament, while three match officials were in the top 10 most targeted individuals and Barnes was the most targeted individual, receiving one third of all abuse. Match officials and their families received abuse over private direct message, which has led to law enforcement intervention. World Rugby said there was \"evidence of a clear correlation\" between comments made online and offline by players and coaches triggering online and in-ground abuse of match officials. \"Those who abuse or threaten players, match officials or their families must realise there will be consequences for their actions,\" said Barnes. \"It is great to see World Rugby leading the way and seeing the first charges being made against those individuals who send such appalling messages. \"There is simply no place for that behaviour in rugby, in sport or in society.\" World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin added: \"The rise of online hate in society and sport is worrying and totally unacceptable and we will continue to do everything possible to protect and support our international match officials and their families by bringing abusers to justice.\" Europe (58%) topped the geographic origin of verified abusive accounts, with Africa 19%, Oceania 10%, South America 3%. Nineteen teams received targeted abuse on their official accounts and two European nations were in the top three of most abused teams with the England team receiving the largest volume of abuse, followed by South Africa and France. Players were also targeted with a wider variety of abuse types compared to match officials, who received 24% of abuse about match-fixing. World Rugby has confirmed the monitoring will continue in 2024 and cover international match officials operating across the men's and women's Test matches. Gilpin added: \"We have been able to unmask and identify abusers and take action through law enforcement agencies in multiple countries. We hope that prosecutions will send a clear message that such behaviour is not tolerated and even if a person hides behind an alias on a social media network, they will be identified and can be charged. \"It is important to note that this programme is not about suppressing debate, legitimate criticism or free speech, it is about maintaining respect, compassion and decent human and rugby values.\" \u2022 None How do I ask for a pay rise? David Yelland and Simon Lewis give you their tips on how to negotiate your salary \u2022 None World's Busiest Cities looks behind the scenes of this megalopolis", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Legal action is being taken against individuals who targeted match officials and players with online abuse during the Rugby World Cup, with charges already filed in Australia and multiple prosecutions pending in several countries. World Rugby, partnering with an online monitoring agency, identified and removed a significant amount of abusive content, and will continue monitoring for abuse in upcoming international matches." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live & BBC Sounds; live text updates & highlights on BBC Sport website & app; watch on ITV1 Captain Jamie George says England have reviewed footage of last year's record home defeat by France as they prepare to enact revenge in the Six Nations. George described England's 53-10 defeat at Twickenham as one of the \"darkest days\" in his career. England have not beaten France away from home since they last claimed the Grand Slam in 2016 and George says they \"know what is coming\" in Lyon. \"We have looked at last year's game this week,\" George told BBC Sport. \"We would be stupid not too. It was one of the darkest days of my career and that was not what English rugby should be about. \u2022 None 'We walked off like we had lost' - memories of England v France \"We were many percentages off and when you are that poor against a team like France you know you deserve to be beaten.\" France have been far from their best without influential half-back pairing Antoine Dupont and Roman Ntamack, but George says their heavyweight pack remains a strength. Les Bleus made several second-half changes in the forwards to gain the momentum and overcome Wales in their last outing. \"They are up there with the most physical pack in the world at the minute,\" added 33-year-old hooker George. \"Their pack won them the game in the end against Wales. It was pretty tight after 60 mins but the bench that came on dismantled that Welsh pack. \"France have a lot of big men with a lot of weight but we have to stick to our guns and take it to them.\" 'We are not going to change the way we play' England arrive in Lyon after beating defending champions Ireland to keep their faint title ambitions alive. They can still win the tournament if they defeat France with a bonus point and Ireland fail to collect a point against Scotland. Steve Borthwick's side outscored Ireland 3-2 on tries after playing with greater attacking intent than previously in this year's competition. George says the plan will not change in the latest instalment of 'Le Crunch'. He added: \"We are not going to change the way we play because of who we face. \"At the World Cup we had a strong kicking game, our set-piece was very good and defensively we were well connected. \"But now, we want to bring line speed and get back behind the ball as an option to play and take teams on. \"Sometimes in the past in the early games in my England career you may have felt a bit restricted by a plan. We have a freedom to express ourselves and use our incredibly talented players with ball in hand. \"I'm excited to finish our Six Nations on a high .... It brings a smile to my face thinking about what we can achieve on Saturday.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "England rugby captain Jamie George says the team has reviewed last year's record home defeat by France ahead of their Six Nations clash, aiming to avenge the 53-10 loss. England, who haven't beaten France away since 2016, acknowledge the challenge posed by France's physical pack but plan to maintain their attacking intent for an exciting showdown in Lyon." + }, + { + "article": "Two boys seen amid the rubble of a collapsed house in Gaza on Friday US President Joe Biden has said he hopes to see a deal for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza War in time for the start of Ramadan. The Muslim holy month, during which members of the faith fast from dawn to sunset, will begin on 10 or 11 March. Asked whether he expected a deal by then, Mr Biden said: \"I'm hoping so. We're still working real hard on it.\" It comes amid tense ceasefire negotiations and as pressure builds on Mr Biden to help curtail the conflict. A proposed deal would see a 40-day pause in all military operations from the start of Ramadan as well as an increased flow of aid into Gaza, a source close to the talks told Reuters news agency. It would also reportedly include an agreement for the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages at a ratio of 10 to one. The exact start of Ramadan is marked by the first sighting of the crescent Moon, so can vary from place to place. Calls for action to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza intensified on Thursday after more than 100 people were killed as crowds rushed around aid lorries delivering food. Hamas, which governs Gaza, accused Israel of firing at civilians, but Israel said most had died in a stampede after it fired warning shots. Following the incident, President Biden announced plans to airdrop aid into Gaza, saying: \"Innocent people got caught in a terrible war, unable to feed their families. And you saw the response when they tried to get aid. \"But we need to do more, and the United States will do more.\" Around a quarter of the population of Gaza is currently at risk of famine, according to UN figures, but the planned air drops have been criticised by aid groups as costly and insufficient. \"Oxfam does not support US airdrops to Gaza, which would mostly serve to relieve the guilty consciences of senior US officials whose policies are contributing to the ongoing atrocities and risk of famine in Gaza,\" the charity group said on Friday. \"While Palestinians in Gaza have been pushed to the absolute brink, dropping a paltry, symbolic amount of aid into Gaza with no plan for its safe distribution would not help and be deeply degrading to Palestinians,\" Oxfam said, adding that the US should instead work to \"cut the flow of weapons to Israel\". UN agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said the drops were \"a last-resort, extraordinarily expensive way of providing assistance\" and not the answer to problems in Gaza. \"The real answer is: Open the crossings and bring convoys and medical assistance into the Gaza Strip,\" he added. White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said that the US would continue to work toward bringing aid to Gaza by land and sea as well. On Thursday, Jordanian air force pilots dropped 33 tonnes of medical supplies and food into Gaza. According to the Washington Post, Jordanian planes have also dropped aid provided by the US and the UK, while planes from France, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have participated in similar operations. The Israeli military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign to destroy Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and others - after the group's gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on 7 October and took 253 back to Gaza as hostages.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "US President Joe Biden hopes to see a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict by the start of Ramadan, with negotiations ongoing for a 40-day pause in military operations and increased aid to Gaza. Amidst a humanitarian crisis, the US plans to airdrop aid into Gaza, although aid groups criticize this as insufficient and call for opening borders instead." + }, + { + "article": "Hundreds of people wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal are set to have their names cleared under new legislation planned by the government. The law is expected to come into effect by the end of July and will apply to convictions in England and Wales. It will apply to convictions meeting specific criteria and is expected to clear the majority of victims. The government said the possible exoneration of some genuinely guilty of crimes was \"a price worth paying\". Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted due to faulty software. Incorrect information provided by a computer system called Horizon, developed by Japanese firm Fujitsu, meant that sub-postmasters and postmistresses were prosecuted for stealing money. Many of those convicted went to prison for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined. Some sub-postmasters caught up in the scandal have died or taken their own lives in the intervening years. So far, 102 convictions have been overturned. Keith Bell, who is now 75, wants his name cleared Keith Bell had been a sub-postmaster in Stockton-on-Tees since 1985, but like hundreds of others, he started noticing discrepancies in his accounts after Horizon was installed in his branch. He called Post Office helplines, but was given little support. He spent more than \u00a312,000 of his own money to make up the shortfalls, and eventually delayed some transactions to try to balance the books. He was convicted of false accounting in 2002 and had to do 200 hours of community service. He didn't challenge his conviction at the time, as he didn't have the means to take on the Post Office, and he believed he had been at fault. But now the 75-year-old wants his name cleared and expects his conviction to be quashed. \"I'm relieved they are going to quash all the convictions, which is long overdue,\" he said in response to the announcement on Thursday. \"It's a relief to be able to talk to friends. It's a relief to be able to look people in the eye now.\" The issue was thrust back into the spotlight by an ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, earlier this year. Criticism had said that the process for overturning convictions and getting compensation was far too slow. There are three main schemes aimed at groups of victims who had different experiences of the scandal - but the schemes have been accused of being long-winded and complicated. Announcing the plans, Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake said the legislation was likely to \"exonerate a number of people who were, in fact, guilty of a crime\". But he said: \"The government accepts that this is a price worth paying in order to ensure that many innocent people are exonerated.\" Some 700 people were prosecuted by the Post Office. Another 283 cases were brought by other agencies including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Prosecutions by the DWP will not be quashed under the new law. A letter released by the Post Office after Mr Hollinrake's statement showed that its chief executive, Nick Read, had written to Justice Secretary Alex Chalk last month saying that the company \"would be bound to oppose an appeal\" in more than half the cases it had prosecuted. It said that these cases \"involve convictions obtained by reliance on evidence unrelated to the Horizon computer system,\" and numbered 369, with a further 11 still under review. The letter was sent on 9 January, shortly before the government first announced plans to use emergency legislation to exonerate all sub-postmasters. However, the Post Office said the letter was \"in no way seeking to persuade government against mass exoneration\". It said the purpose of the letter was \"primarily to offer the government any support that might assist them as they consider relevant issues in advance of passing legislation, without any value judgement on what the correct course of action might be\". Mr Hollinrake said the new legislation would overturn all convictions that met certain criteria. It will only cover: However, the government said it would work with the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to ensure their schemes to quash convictions were \"compatible with the UK compensation scheme\". Labour MP Kevan Jones said he welcomed news of the legislation but added it was vital that the government set aside enough time for the new law to be passed \"as quickly as possible\". \"There are some initial key questions that need answering, including whether the Post Office's Capture system counts as a 'pilot' of the Horizon system for the purposes of this bill.\" Mr Hollinrake added he recognised the \"constitutional sensitivity\" of the planned legislation, but added it did not set a precedent for the future relationship between the government, Parliament and the judiciary. \"The scale and circumstances of this prosecutorial misconduct demands an exceptional response,\" he said. \"We are keen to ensure that the legislation achieves its goal of bringing prompt justice to all of those who were wrongfully convicted as a result of the scandal, followed by rapid financial redress.\" A spokesperson for DWP confirmed the new law would not apply to prosecutions brought by the department. Between 2001 and 2006 \"a small number\" of Post Office staff were convicted for welfare-related fraud offences, mostly involving cashing in stolen benefit order books, they said. \"These criminal cases were not Horizon-related and followed lengthy, complex investigations, relying on multiple sources of evidence, including filmed surveillance, examination of stolen cashed orders and witness statements. \"While reference may have been made to Horizon in court, DWP did not rely on Horizon evidence to prove these cases, and this has been accepted by the Court of Appeal.\" Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government plans to introduce legislation by the end of July to clear the names of hundreds of people wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal, where faulty software led to false prosecutions of sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015. The law will apply to convictions in England and Wales meeting specific criteria, potentially overturning the majority of victims' convictions, even if some genuinely guilty individuals may also be exonerated." + }, + { + "article": "Cordons have been put in place at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors branches in Hull and Beverley A funeral director is being investigated \"following a report received of concern for care of the deceased\", Humberside Police said. Officers are in attendance at three branches of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull and Beverley. A force spokesperson said it received a report on Wednesday and inquiries were continuing \"to ascertain the exact details, concern and circumstances\". Detectives invited anyone worried about the investigation to contact them. Cordons have been put in place at the firm's premises in Hessle Road and Anlaby Road in Hull, and Beckside in Beverley. \"At this stage, we don't believe these to be connected to any other Legacy Funeral Directors,\" police said. Det Ch Supt Simon Gawthorpe said: \"Whilst we are in the very early stages of our investigation, I completely understand this information will be of concern to a number of families and individuals who have lost loved ones and have utilised the services of this business. \"We have already been in contact with a number of people and are working closely with His Majesty's Coroner, Hull City Council and East Riding Council to establish the facts. \"I would encourage anyone to please call us, as we are very mindful of the distress this [investigation] may cause. \"A direct telephone line has been established for anyone who is worried or wants to speak to us about Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.\" According to its website, Legacy Independent Funeral Directors is a family-run business that was established in 2010 The detective said an investigation was continuing \"to understand the precise nature of what may have occurred and if any criminal offences have taken place\". He also called for people to be \"respectful and refrain from speculation\". \"...At the core of this investigation will potentially be heartbroken and devastated families and loved ones and we want to provide them with the consideration and support they need and are fully entitled to,\" he added. The police force has set up two helpline numbers for anyone worried about the news - one from within the UK and one for people who are abroad. According to its website, Legacy Independent Funeral Directors is a family-run business that was established in 2010. The company has been contacted for comment. Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastyorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Police are investigating Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull and Beverley over concerns about the care of the deceased, with cordons placed at three branches. Detectives are working with local authorities to establish the facts and have set up a helpline for worried individuals, urging people to avoid speculation." + }, + { + "article": "Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave an address outside 10 Downing Street on Friday, where he said the country's democracy was under threat, and condemned Islamist and far-right extremists Prime Ministerial addresses from the lectern outside 10 Downing Street are rare. Sufficiently so that when reporters were tipped off Rishi Sunak would be saying something from there, heart rates quickened a little as our first reaction was 'Is he calling an election?'. No, it was quickly made clear that was not the case. Instead - against the clearly audible backdrop of a protester shouting the odds in Whitehall - the prime minister fleshed out an argument he has been rehearsing throughout this week. It goes like this - the fundamentals of the right to protest and the operational independence of the police are sacrosanct. But what he believes to be a bending of long-standing norms need bending back to normality, and that deserves the lectern to be set up outside No10. He told the audience the other side of the TV cameras and radio microphones that Intimidation, extremism, and the projection of offensive slogans onto parliamentary buildings had gone too far. George Galloway, who has often spoken out in support of the Palestinians during Israel's war in Gaza, was comfortably elected as the new MP for Rochdale this week As, he added, did the election of George Galloway. Little wonder that prompted the opprobrium to fly in return from Mr Galloway. The prime minister, he claimed, was \"diminished and degraded\". Did Mr Sunak's argument have the gravity the location of its delivery implied? His critics, within his own party and beyond, thought not. \"He says stuff but doesn't announce anything,\" said one unconvinced Tory. Others, loyal to him, quickly offered their support on social media. Not for the first time, the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was in broad agreement with Rishi Sunak. \"The Prime Minister is right to advocate unity and to condemn the unacceptable and intimidatory behaviour that we have seen recently,\" he said. \"It is an important task of leadership to defend our values and the common bonds that hold us together.\" The outrages by Hamas in Israel last autumn and Israel's attacks on Gaza since continue to shape the contours of our public conversation for more than 10 consecutive days. Few, if anyone, is immune, whether by accident or design. The prime minister, the Labour leader, the Scottish National Party, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rochdale. And George Galloway will arrive in Westminster on Monday morning.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivered a rare address outside 10 Downing Street, warning that the UK's democracy is under threat from Islamist and far-right extremism, and condemned intimidating protests and the election of George Galloway. Sunak emphasized the need to restore normalcy to long-standing protest and police operational norms, with critics questioning the gravity of his message while others, including Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, expressed support." + }, + { + "article": "McDonald's has missed a key sales target, partly due to customers boycotting the firm for its perceived support of Israel. The fast food chain reported its first quarterly sales miss in nearly four years due to weak growth in its international business division. Its boss previously acknowledged the impact of the conflict, blaming \"misinformation\". Shares in McDonald's fell about 4% after the announcement. McDonalds is one of several Western corporations including Starbucks and Coca Cola that have seen boycotts and protests against them by anti-Israeli campaigners. The firm said that the Israel-Gaza conflict had \"meaningfully impacted\" performance in some overseas markets in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the branch which includes sales in the Middle East, China and India, sales growth stood at 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023 - far below market expectations. Its business in Malaysia, Indonesia and France have been affected, with the biggest impact felt in the Middle East, chief executive Chris Kempczinski said on Monday. \"So long as this war is going on... we're not expecting to see any significant improvement [in these markets],\" the McDonald's boss added. McDonald's relies on a franchise system in which thousands of independent businesses own and operate most of its more than 40,000 stores around the world. About 5% of its outlets are located in the Middle East. The fast food retailer drew criticism after its Israel-based franchise said it had given away thousands of free meals to members of the Israeli military, sparking calls to boycott the brand by those angered by Israel's military response in Gaza. It prompted franchise owners in Muslim-majority countries such as Kuwait, Malaysia and Pakistan to put out statements distancing themselves from the firm. Mr Kempczinski called the backlash \"disheartening and ill-founded,\" and blamed it on \"misinformation\". McDonald's global sales grew by just under 4% in the fourth quarter, down from 8.8% in the previous quarter, and below its annual average. The corporation benefitted from price inflation, recording its strongest sales growth in the United States, while also growing sales in the UK, Germany and Canada. But its US business saw weaker sales growth than hoped, as customers on lower incomes ordered less food and opted for cheaper items on the menu. Last week, Starbucks also cut its annual sales forecast, partly due to fewer customers visiting stores in the Middle East. McDonald's said on Monday that its thoughts were with the families and communities impacted by the conflict in the region. It said it would \"continue to stay focused on supporting our people and the local communities in which we operate\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "McDonald's has missed its quarterly sales target for the first time in almost four years due to a boycott linked to its perceived support of Israel, with the company's international business, particularly in the Middle East, being affected. The fast food giant's global sales growth slowed to under 4%, and shares fell 4%, as it acknowledged the impact of the Israel-Gaza conflict on its performance, especially in markets like Malaysia, Indonesia, and France." + }, + { + "article": "Thousands of farmers descended on Cardiff to protest against the Welsh government's new farm subsidy plans. They were objecting to a major overhaul of farm subsidies in Wales known as the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), which was branded \"unworkable\" by unions. The proposals would require farmers to commit 10% of agricultural land to be used for trees and 10% for wildlife habitat. The Welsh government said it was listening to the sector's concerns. South Wales Police said about 3,000 people turned up at the Senedd. Later on Wednesday, opposition parties in the Senedd voted in favour of scrapping the Welsh government's controversial plan. It was a non-binding vote. In a joint statement on Tuesday, outgoing First Minister Mark Drakeford and Rural Affairs Minister Lesley Griffiths announced a list of actions they would take following talks with farming leaders. They included considering an \"evidence-based review\" of the ways farms can help soak in planet-warming carbon emissions, and carrying out updated economic analysis of the new post-Brexit subsidy scheme. A requirement for all farms to ensure 10% tree coverage in exchange for funding in future has proved hugely controversial. An economic impact assessment published alongside the latest consultation suggested the government's plans could lead to a 10.8% reduction in livestock numbers and an 11% cut in labour needed on Welsh farms. Ministers have since said that analysis was outdated and did not take into account all parts of its new funding scheme. But the figures sparked big protests and go-slow tractor demonstrations across Wales. Farmers sounded their horns as they drove through Newtown, in Powys, to protest the scheme Supporters say the scheme's rules are more flexible than they appear - and are vital to help Wales fight climate change and nature loss. For instance, fields used to graze livestock can count towards the 10% habitat target if they have a diverse range of grasses and wildflowers. And native trees or woodland on farms can count towards both the 10% trees and habitat targets. But the feeling from farmers at the Senedd was there was a disconnect between their livelihoods and the decisions being made in Cardiff Bay. Abi Reader, NFU Cymru deputy president, said people had come from the \"hills and mountains, from the valleys and coastal areas\". \"We are completely united,\" she said, as she branded the subsidy plans \"crazy\". Tom Huntley, a farmer from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said there was a real strength of feeling in the crowd. \"We've all come down today because the ministers are just not listening. It could be very serious for the future,\" he said. Protestors, including farmer Tom Huntley told the BBC they had gone down the Senedd because they want the Welsh government to listen to them Angela Windsor, a farmer from Moylegrove, Pembrokeshire, said: \"We're not happy about this sustainable farming scheme proposed by the Welsh government. It doesn't include farming at all. \"For some people who haven't got any trees or habitat - they're going to lose 20% of their land.\" Another protester, John, said he was proud of farmers coming together, saying: \"All of us will have very different reasons for why we are going to what will be a historical symbol of unity in the name of the Senedd. \"A protest of this magnitude hasn't been seen since 1999. This tells you very clearly of the anxiety and concern that surrounds the industry and the rural way of life.\" The discontent among farmers in Wales has its roots in many issues besides the new subsidy regime - from the handling of bovine TB to the imposition of stricter regulations on the spreading of manure. NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said in his 12 years as a union official he had \"never witnessed such anguish in rural communities\". \"There's a sense that they've not been listened to, not considered, not valued,\" he said. He called on the Welsh government to reset its relationship with the countryside, and suggested the introduction of the new funding scheme may need to be paused. \"Fundamentally we have one opportunity to get this right,\" he added. South Wales Police issued an order that says participants must follow an approved route and park in a designated area Protesters lined up wellies on the steps of the Senedd - Welsh Parliament as a symbol of future job losses, which they believe could happen as a result of these new subsidy plans. The government's own assessment of the scheme estimates that, if introduced, it could lead to an 11% reduction in farm labour. NFU Cymru said this could translate to more than 5,500 jobs being lost. But the assessment added that workers may still be needed for other non-farm related work, such as management of woodland. Protestors put wellies out on the steps of the Senedd to symbolise the loss of jobs from these new scheme The Welsh government said it wanted \"a successful future for Welsh farming.\" \"We have had a seven-year conversation with farmers to design future farming support and we are committed to continuing to working with farmers to develop the Sustainable Farming Scheme,\" a spokeswoman said. \"We have been clear we expect changes to be made following the consultation, and we will continue to listen.\" The Sustainable Farming Scheme consultation is set to close on 7 March.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Farmers in Wales protested against the Welsh government's Sustainable Farming Scheme, which requires 10% of agricultural land to be used for trees and wildlife habitat, calling it \"unworkable.\" The non-binding vote in the Senedd saw opposition parties support scrapping the plan, while the government pledged to review concerns and conduct updated economic analysis." + }, + { + "article": "Virdi is the first turban wearing Sikh man to appear on The Apprentice If there's one situation where the phrase \"say your prayers\" applies, it's staring down Lord Sugar in the Apprentice's boardroom. And it's where Virdi Mazaria found himself at the end of the latest series' first episode. The 24-year-old took up the unenviable role of project manager in the opening task of the BBC One show. And after leading his fellow hopefuls to a loss and the prospect of a first-week firing, Virdi turned to a familiar presence in his life. You might have seen his lips moving, which Virdi reveals was him murmuring \"Waheguru\" - meaning \"God\" in Sikhism. \"I started to pray. You can see the red eyes and me getting very emotional,\" he tells BBC Asian Network. \"I thought 'God, this is in your hands'. And I kept saying Waheguru again and again. \"'If you think I deserve to get fired, then fire me now. And if you feel like I deserve to stay, keep me in'. \"And I stayed in, so I feel like the power of God is what helped me stay in the process,\" he says. Virdi, from Leicester, is the first turban-wearing Sikh contestant in the history of the show, which he says is a big deal for him. \"But it's a lot bigger than just me,\" he says. \"It's for people who look like me to understand you can make it in this industry, no matter how you look.\" He admits people are often reluctant to show their faith openly, but that it helps him both in life and business. \"Prayer is having the belief in something,\" he says. \"I know when things go up or down, I've got the power of religion with me.\" Virdi survived a first week firing after being in the bottom three When he's not wearing a business suit, Virdi can be found behind a mixing desk. Performing as DJ Virdi, he's appeared on BBC Asian Network and produced a track for the late Sidhu Moose Wala, a prominent figure in the Punjabi music scene. \"Music has always been the forefront, it's what I am. But what runs behind that is my business mindset,\" he says. \"I wanted to go on the show to let people know I'm not just a music artist, I'm also a businessman.\" His business plan involves introducing Lord Sugar to a lucrative industry that he's not known for - music. \"I really feel like in the past few years, the representation of Asian culture in business is rising.\" For that he credits the entrepreneurial spirit of Asians - such as his dad - who have come to the UK with very little but managed to start a business. \"I'll be honest, the way my dad worked is a lot harder than the way I'm working right now,\" he says. He also thinks seeing six Asian contestants on The Apprentice this year will send a strong message. \"I feel the show can show people that if you are Asian, you are credible and can be useful in different industries,\" he says. With a background as an auditor and DJ, Virdi is hoping for some hits in the boardroom Like all the hopefuls, Virdi's aim is to win Lord Sugar's mentorship and \u00a3250,000 investment. After his - possibly - miraculous escape from the sack in episode one, Virdi says the first task showed \"a side of me that is not usually who I am\". \"You're under pressure and you start making decisions you probably wouldn't do in the real world,\" he says. \"So it was hard for me coming out of it and watching that episode. I was like: 'Wow, am I really that bossy?'\" But he insists he's \"really not that arrogant, I'm actually a nice guy\". He's not giving away any spoilers, but Virdi says being in the show at all is the most important thing. \"For people who are from an ethnic minority background to be like: 'If Virdi's done it, there's no reason why I can't do it',\" he says. Episode two of The Apprentice airs at 21:00 on Thursday 8 February on BBC One. Listen to Ankur Desai's show on BBC Asian Network live from 15:00-18:00 Monday to Thursday - or listen back here.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Virdi Mazaria, the first turban-wearing Sikh man on The Apprentice, survived a first-week firing by praying to God, saying \"Waheguru,\" and attributing his stay in the competition to divine help. The 24-year-old, who is also a DJ, aims to showcase the entrepreneurial potential of Asian culture in the business world and hopes his presence on the show inspires others from ethnic minority backgrounds." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A cold weather alert has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency, as parts of England also grapple with flooding following a week of heavy rainfall. The cold snap is expected to last several days, with the warning in place from 09:00 on Saturday until Friday. There are more than 180 flood warnings, mainly in central and southern England. The Environment Agency (EA) has said \"significant river flooding\" is expected on Saturday and over the next few days. The UKHSA said that a \"brisk easterly wind\" developing across the south over the weekend will make temperatures feel much colder. It also warned that ice is likely to be an issue, given the very wet ground in many areas. Wet weather is continuing to cause issues, and on Friday night South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said a man had fallen into a river in Sheffield. It did not provide an update of the man's condition. The EA warned river flooding is expected along parts of the River Thames in Oxfordshire, as well as the River Trent near Nottingham and the River Severn, including Gloucester. As well as the flood warnings in place in England, one is in place in Wales; along the River Ritec at Tenby. After the stormy and wet weather we have experienced over the last few weeks, the weather is going to take a dramatic shift to something much quieter. High pressure is building across the UK over the weekend which will act like a big boulder in a stream and 'block' rain-bearing weather systems coming in from the Atlantic. With this weather pattern set to last for at least a week, it will bring much drier conditions and better news for those dealing with high river levels and floods. However, it will also allow colder air to move in from the north-east. Temperatures will fall below average with a return of some winter overnight frosts. With colder air and potential for some parts to stay quite cloudy, temperatures may not rise much above freezing and feel especially cold with a wind-chill. There is also the possibility of some snow showers in southern England early next week which we will be keeping a close eye on. Hundreds of homes have already been devastated by a week of heavy rain, some of which fell as part of Storm Henk, the eighth named storm in three months. On Friday, Nottinghamshire County Council said more than 100 homes were among those hit by flooding, but warned the number could rise. Around 50 people were led to safety by firefighters on Thursday night after a canal burst its banks in Hackney Wick, east London, causing flooding in an area of around 10 acres. A party boat moored at Temple Pier on the River Thames sank on Thursday during heavy rainfall. In Bath, Pulteney Weir on the River Avon was completely submerged, and a local shop owner told the BBC he has \"never seen it so high\". Labour has accused the government of being \"asleep at the wheel\" over flood warnings and said it should convene an urgent \"Cobra-style taskforce\" to protect homes from further damage. The BBC has been told there are no plans to hold a Cobra meeting. A government source said Environment Secretary Steve Barclay was being updated by the Environment Agency. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is also being called on to visit flood-hit areas. Mr Sunak said he had spoken to flooding victims and the Environment Agency was responding \"appropriately and with all due haste\". Visiting an affected area in Nottinghamshire, flooding minister Robbie Moore said he was in \"incredibly close contact\" with Mr Sunak. He told reporters the government was taking concerns about repeat flooding \"extremely seriously\", and was looking into what compensation might be offered to people affected. On Saturday, ministers announced people affected by flooding in parts of England due to Storm Henk can apply for compensation. The scheme includes up for \u00a3500 for flooded households, reduced council and business tax rates, funding to improve homes and businesses' resilience and business recovery grants. Experts say a warming atmosphere increases the chance of intense rainfall and storms. However, many factors contribute to extreme weather and it takes time for scientists to calculate how much impact climate change has had on particular events - if any. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Pub owner Andy Goodall stands in the floodwater while holding a pint Mary Long-Dhonau, a flood adviser and campaigner whose home has been flooded many times said it was \"heart-breaking\" to see scenes of residential flooding in recent days. \"I know what they're going through, I know what they're smelling right now and what's lurking in that water,\" she told BBC Breakfast. She advised people to prepare for flooding and to \"get all your beloved items out of harm's way\". \"Don't keep anything like that before waist level, all these people will be throwing their belonging into a skip in a few days' time and that's horrendous.\" Do you live in a region affected by the adverse weather? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A cold weather alert has been issued in the UK, with temperatures set to drop and over 180 flood warnings in place, mainly in central and southern England, following a week of heavy rainfall causing significant flooding. The UK Health Security Agency warns of icy conditions, and the Environment Agency expects river flooding to continue over the next few days, particularly in areas like the River Thames, River Trent, and River Severn." + }, + { + "article": "Unavoidable hidden charges for online customers, or \"drip pricing\", is set to be banned under new law proposals. Fake reviews will also be banned and firms will have to be clearer with price labels on supermarket shelves. It follows a government consultation on consumer transparency that found some businesses are not as clear as they could be about prices. The new rules will form part of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill. Drip pricing occurs when shoppers are shown an initial price for an item or service on a website, only to find additional fees are revealed later in the checkout process. A report from the Department for Business and Trade suggested the practice was widespread and used by more than half of entertainment providers and businesses in the hospitality industry. Drip pricing is particularly prevalent in the transport and communication sectors, it found, with unavoidable fees costing consumers as much as \u00a32.2bn a year. It will be proposed under the new rules that mandatory fees must be included in headline prices online. For cinema or train tickets, for example, any mandatory booking fees must be clear from the start of the shopping process. Fees for optional add-ons like airline seat reservations or luggage upgrades for flights will not be included in the measures. The new rules are expected to come into force this spring. Minister for enterprise, markets and small business Kevin Hollinrake said: \"From supermarket shelves to digital baskets, modern day shopping provides customers with more choice than ever before. \"But with that comes increased risk of confusion, scams and traps that can easily cost the public more than they had planned.\" He said that the Bill will help customers compare purchases and ensure they \"aren't duped by fake reviews.\" The government department said reviews were found to be used by 90% of consumers when weighing up purchases and contributed to the \u00a3224bn spent in online retail markets in 2022. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has contributed to the new guidance to tackle fake reviews, which would make website hosts accountable for reviews on their pages as well. A spokeswoman for the CMA said that it was \"positive\" to see government \"pushing ahead with changes to tackle behaviour that misleads shoppers or leaves them out of pocket.\" Meanwhile, the Price Marking Order (PMO), which requires traders to display the final selling price, and where appropriate the final unit price like the price per kilogram, will also be reformed. The Department for Business said proposed changes would ensure unit pricing was consistently applied, including to promotions and special offers, to help shoppers compare like-for-like and work out which buys represent the best value.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "New UK law proposals aim to ban \"drip pricing\" tactics used by online retailers to hide additional fees, as well as fake reviews, with mandatory fees required to be included in headline prices. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill also targets supermarket price labeling and fake reviews, with reforms to the Price Marking Order ensuring clearer unit pricing for consumers." + }, + { + "article": "The world's most popular YouTuber, MrBeast, has revealed he made more than $250,000 (\u00a3197,000) from posting a video on X, formerly known as Twitter. He had previously said it was not worth posting on the social media site as creators only got a small amount of advertising revenue. However, after a U-turn last week, he posted an old video - which has generated more than 155 million views. The stunt has been closely watched as X's business struggles. Elon Musk, the owner of X, has tried various strategies to boost engagement on the platform since buying it in October 2022. These include sharing advertising revenue with high profile creators, something that other sites, including YouTube, already do. But the plans have faced doubts, as traffic to the site has declined. X's advertising revenue has also plunged as Mr Musk's feud with advertisers over issues such as hate speech and misinformation rumbles on. MrBeast - real name Jimmy Donaldson - had previously said that even a \"billion views\" would not make it worth his while to post videos on X. But he said he was \"super curious\" to see how much advertising revenue he could make from the video. He said on Monday that the big sum seemed \"a bit of a fa\u00e7ade\". \"Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think) and thus my revenue per view is [probably] higher than what you'd experience,\" he wrote in the post, adding that he planned to choose 10 \"random people\" to give the money he made. Analysts said an equivalent haul would be hard to repeat without MrBeast's massive profile. \"He said he made $250,000, so not bad for one video,\" said Karsten Weide, principal at W Media Research. \"It's good numbers but you have to have a massive amount of traffic.\" The amount so-called influencers can make varies from person to person. The terms of individual deals are kept confidential, although it is thought the biggest names online may be able to negotiate special rates. In November 2022, Forbes estimated that MrBeast made $54m in a year from his YouTube channel. Since then, he has gained millions of subscribers on his main channel, to make a total of 233 million. The size of his audience has prompted courtship from companies looking to boost their platforms. MrBeast, who has claimed his videos cost millions of dollars to make, is reportedly working on a deal for a show with a huge streaming platform. He had previously posted the same video, where he tries out cars of differing valuations, on YouTube in September 2023. It currently has over 215 million views on YouTube, where MrBeast makes most of his money. A MrBeast video can earn more than $1m onYouTube over time, according to estimates from influencer analytics platform WeArisma. But on X, where new content dominates, a similar post may not have the same staying power, said Jenny Tsai, founder and chief executive of the firm. \"It would be interesting to see how the monetisation potential stacks up over time,\" she told the BBC. In the screenshot shared by MrBeast, he reported $263,655 in revenue from nearly 156.7 million \"impressions\" or about $1.68 per 1,000 impressions. Dave Wiskus, chief executive of Nebula, the largest independent premium streaming platform, said it was not clear what counted as an impression on X. But he said the performance of the video suggested that creators might not want to simply write off X as a platform for sharing their work, noting that even for MrBeast, making more than $250,000 was \"not nothing\". \"If you're a creator who can pull in any kind of numbers and if you're already making the video and you can post it over there too, then sure, why not?\" he said. But he said he did not think less famous people would be able to bring in equivalent sums. \"This was a one-off from the biggest YouTuber on earth that got international media attention,\" Mr Wiskus added. \"I don't think another creator who pulls in 1% of those impressions is going to put in 1% of that money.\" Most creators would not attract anywhere near those viewing numbers, or indeed the global media attention that went along with it. As he said himself, the final sum his video earned him is not reflective of the experience for most of X's users. It will undoubtedly please X chief executive Linda Yaccarino, who joined the firm last year following a stellar career in advertising. She is said to have privately struggled with the reputation of X, so it will be encouraging for her to see that ads can still perform well on the platform. The company's owner Elon Musk visited the site of the Auschwitz death camp on Monday, following intense scrutiny of the way in which the social network handles anti-Semitic content on its platform. This is one of the big issues which troubles many of X's users and potential advertisers. It is one which Mr Musk must continue to address both in terms of words and actions. There are also rumours that MrBeast may be negotiating his own show with one of the large video streaming platforms. If this is indeed the case, his experiment on X is a loud signal as to just how much he is worth.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Popular YouTuber MrBeast earned over $250,000 from a single video posted on X (formerly Twitter), a significant amount which he previously thought was not worth posting for due to low advertising revenue. This comes after Elon Musk's efforts to boost engagement on the platform by sharing ad revenue with high-profile creators, with MrBeast's massive success in this instance raising questions about the earning potential for influencers on the site." + }, + { + "article": "Michelle Bates has had surgery nine times to remove endometriosis tissue The wait to be diagnosed with endometriosis has increased to almost ten years, a \"devastating\" milestone say women with the condition. It now takes almost a year more than before 2020 to be diagnosed, according to research published by Endometriosis UK, which is setting up new volunteer-led support groups in Wales. The wait in Wales is also the longest in the UK, the research found. The Welsh government said it knew there was \"room for improvement\". \"Nobody listened to me, and to feel like women are still going through that 20 years after my diagnosis is horrific,\" said Michelle Bates. The 48-year old from Cardiff was diagnosed aged 25 after suffering with \"harrowing\" pain from age 13 onwards - a 12-year wait. \"I went back and forth to the GP with my mum, who was the only one who believed in my pain,\" she said. Ms Bates said she \"knew there was something wrong\" but explained her diagnosis was \"accidental\". \"I remember passing out at work one day. I was in so much pain,\" recalled Ms Bates, who works in finance. An ultrasound for suspected appendicitis revealed three very large cysts, including one hanging from her ovary that was 12cm (4.7 inch) in diameter. She had just got married, and was told by her surgeon she had the worst case of endometriosis they had ever seen. In her early 30s and going through IVF, another doctor told her she was menopausal. \"My chances of having a child were dashed,\" Ms Bates said. The disease causes tissue similar to the lining of the womb to build up on other organs, such as the ovaries or fallopian tubes. Tissue lining the womb builds up every month, and then breaks down and bleeds. But unlike cells in the womb that leave the body as a period, the blood elsewhere in the body can't escape and can result in inflammation and scar tissue. It can cause severe, chronic pain and fatigue and can make it difficult to get pregnant. Some of the main hormone-based treatments for endometriosis include oral contraceptive pills and the intrauterine system (IUS), or coil. The study by Endometriosis UK, which is based on a survey of 4,371 people who received a diagnosis of endometriosis, showed almost half of all respondents (47%) had visited their GP 10 or more times with symptoms prior to receiving a diagnosis, and 70% had visited five times or more. It also found 78% of people who later went on to receive a diagnosis of endometriosis - up from 69% in 2020 - were told by doctors they were making a \"fuss about nothing\", or comments to that effect. \"We are massively gaslighted and invalidated by healthcare professionals,\" said Charl Davies from Blaenavon, Torfaen. Charl Davies says women are being \"gaslighted\" The 31-year-old was told the pain she was experiencing from the age of 10 onwards, when her periods started, was \"just normal period pain\" and \"a normal part of being a woman\". \"I was blacking out and fainting,\" Ms Davies, a tattoo artist, said. \"We're taught to believe agonising period pain is normal pain.\" She said receiving her diagnosis was a \"very bittersweet feeling\", adding she was sick of hearing she had \"a low pain threshold\". Lowri Shepstone, from Brecon, Powys, had to wait 17 years for a diagnosis and said she was also told her symptoms were not abnormal. Lowri Shepstone says she \"nearly burst into tears\" after receiving her diagnosis \"Have a hot water bottle, and we'll put you on the pill,\" was her GP's response when she was a teenager, she said. \"The day I actually got a diagnosis, I nearly burst into tears.\" The realisation something was seriously wrong was almost a relief, the 38-year-old said. \"There's real suffering behind endometriosis,\" Ms Bates said. \"You kind of look OK but it robs you of enjoyment.\" She said colleagues showed little understanding and she was left feeling isolated and low. \"When you are having intercourse, you find yourself crying afterwards and thinking: 'this is not normal',\" she said. Ms Shepstone also pointed out women suffering from endometriosis suffer from \"endo belly\", caused by bloating. \"You can look eight months pregnant but not be pregnant and potentially not be able to have children,\" she said. Ms Davies is due to undergo a third laparoscopy next month to remove tissue - a procedure she says she has waited 70 weeks for. She said daily pain made every day a struggle, even leaving her feeling suicidal. \"I've got a body clock that is ticking. I can't start a family until I've had the surgery and then there is a small window of opportunity,\" she said. \"As a woman, it makes you feel completely inadequate.\" Three new Endometriosis UK volunteer groups will offer help for people with the condition in the Swansea area, in west Wales and in and around Wrexham. Female health charity Fair Treatment for the Women of Wales said patients who had access to an endometriosis nurse had \"nothing but praise and gratitude for the care they offer\". \"However, one endometriosis nurse per health board is woefully inadequate,\" said Debbie Shaffer, policy and research director at the charity. \"Some of the endometriosis nurses have told us that they have a patient list of over 1,000 at any one time.\" The Welsh government said it had funded dedicated endometriosis nurses within each health board across NHS Wales. \"Patient feedback suggests they feel supported, listened to, and have a better understanding of their condition,\" the spokesman said. \"But we know there is room for improvement, and we are working with the endometriosis nurses to identify areas for improvement.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The average wait for a diagnosis of endometriosis in Wales has increased to almost ten years, the longest in the UK, according to Endometriosis UK. The charity reports that nearly half of those diagnosed visited their GP 10 or more times before getting a diagnosis, with many experiencing dismissive comments from healthcare professionals." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann arrives in court for a trial for unrelated sex offences A trial in Germany involving the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been abruptly adjourned after his legal team objected to a judge. Christian Br\u00fcckner went on trial on Friday facing three charges of rape and two of sexual abuse. The allegations date back to between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal. They are unrelated to Madeleine McCann's disappearance, for which Br\u00fcckner denies involvement. He has never been charged. The trial is expected to resume in a week's time after one of Br\u00fcckner's lawyers, Philipp Marquort, told the BBC their client had instructed them to \"kick out\" the lay judge. The defence team alleged that the judge in question had previously expressed \"radical\" views on social media, making her unsuitable for the role. She is alleged to have incited violence against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in 2019. After a short break at court, it was agreed that proceedings would be put on hold while the claims were examined. Friday was Br\u00fcckner's first public appearance in court since he was named as the main suspect in the McCann case four years ago. Madeleine McCann's disappearance is still unsolved, 17 years later Three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve region, in 2007. It remains one of the highest-profile missing persons cases in the world. Warning: You may find some of the details of the German case distressing Christian Br\u00fcckner, 47, was identified as a suspect by German investigators in June 2020, in what they have classed as a murder inquiry. He was subsequently made an arguido, or formal suspect, by Portuguese authorities. However no formal charges have ever been brought against Br\u00fcckner in the McCann case, and the full details of the German investigation have never been released. The charges he faces in the court in Braunschweig in Lower Saxony are for five unrelated and separate offences in Portugal: The trial, which will be heard by judges not a jury, is taking place in the north-western state of Lower Saxony because that was where Br\u00fcckner was last officially registered. According to the German criminal code he could be given between five and 15 years in prison, if found guilty. Br\u00fcckner's lawyer, Friedrich F\u00fclscher, has previously said that the charges are based on \"very, very shaky foundations\" and recently told the BBC he expected his client to stay largely silent during the trial. But \"no negative conclusions\" could be drawn from this, the lawyer emphasised. Christian Br\u00fcckner was born in Bavaria, Germany in December 1976 and reportedly spent time in care during his youth. Over his lifetime, he's been convicted for a string of theft, drug and child sex offences. Br\u00fcckner is said, by prosecutors, to have lived \"more or less permanently\" in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007, working in odd jobs. In the immediate wake of Madeleine McCann's disappearance, he was not closely investigated. However, Portuguese police went on to name the three year old's parents as suspects. Kate and Gerry McCann's arguido status was lifted in 2008 and the couple later received an apology for how the case was handled. Br\u00fcckner would go on to move back and forth between Germany and Portugal. He is currently serving a seven-year jail sentence for raping a 72-year-old American tourist in 2005 in Praia da Luz. This trial may determine whether he remains behind bars after that sentence, which is due to end in December 2026.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The trial in Germany of Christian Br\u00fcckner, the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, has been adjourned after his legal team objected to a judge over alleged biased social media posts. Br\u00fcckner faces unrelated rape and sexual abuse charges dating back to 2000 and 2017 in Portugal, and the trial is expected to resume in a week for examination of the claims against the judge." + }, + { + "article": "Sir Lindsay Hoyle has been criticised for how he handled a vote on calls for a ceasefire in Gaza Plaid Cymru has backed a motion of no confidence in Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, over his handling of last week's vote on Gaza. The group's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said the events \"brought to light a profound disregard for smaller parties in Westminster\". The party's three MPs join the SNP and some Conservatives in calling for the Speaker to quit. It means 86 MPs have now signed the motion of no confidence. Losing the support of another party at Westminster piles further pressure on Sir Lindsay. The Speaker prompted anger from the SNP and Conservative MPs when he broke with convention last week to allow a vote on a Labour amendment to the SNP's motion calling for an immediate ceasefire. It meant the SNP's motion, which was originally meant to be the focus of the debate, was not voted on. As a result, some MPs walked out in protest and the debate descended into chaos. In a letter to the Speaker, Ms Saville Roberts said the debate - which was designated an Opposition Day for the SNP to discuss topics of their choice - had been an opportunity for the party to present a motion \"unimpeded\". \"But their right - and indeed the whole House's right - to vote on the original motion was quashed with little warning,\" she said. Ms Saville Roberts said she had written to Sir Lindsay at the end of last week urging him \"to outline how arrangements can be put in place to respect the role of smaller parties in the House, and to ensure that our voices can never again be disregarded as they were on Wednesday night\". However, she said after meeting with him on Monday, \"it was clear that no changes would be considered to protect the role of smaller parties or to safeguard a diversity of voices in Parliament\". Ms Saville Roberts also criticised Sir Lindsay for rejecting the SNP's request for an emergency debate on Gaza this week, saying he had \"reneged\" on a previous promise. Earlier, the SNP accused the Speaker of \"effectively lying\" over the possibility of an emergency debate. Sir Lindsay explained his decision by saying a ministerial statement on Gaza on Tuesday meant MPs already had an opportunity to discuss the issue. However, the SNP pointed out that last week he had offered the party an emergency debate, after apologising for his handling of the original vote. Sir Lindsay had argued that allowing a vote on Labour's amendment meant MPs could express their views on the \"widest range of propositions\", helping to protect them from threats to their safety amid heightened scrutiny over their stance on the conflict. However, the decision meant Labour avoided a potentially damaging rebellion over whether it supported the SNP's ceasefire call, which went further by calling for an end to the \"collective punishment of the Palestinian people\". This led to accusations, which have been denied by the party and Sir Lindsay, that Labour had put pressure on the Speaker over the decision. The no confidence motion in Sir Lindsay is known as an \"early day motion\". Very few of these are debated and they are not binding but they allow MPs to show their support for an issue.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Plaid Cymru has joined the SNP and some Conservatives in calling for Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to resign over his handling of a vote on a ceasefire in Gaza, with 86 MPs now supporting a motion of no confidence. The party accuses Sir Lindsay of disregarding smaller parties in Westminster, after he allowed a vote on a Labour amendment, preventing a direct vote on the SNP's original motion." + }, + { + "article": "Emma Raducanu was ranked as high as 10th in the world after her famous US Open win in 2021 Britain's Emma Raducanu was beaten in straight sets by Belarusian world number two Aryna Sabalenka in the third round at Indian Wells. Raducanu, who reached the fourth round in California last year, lost 6-3 7-5 to two-time major winner Sabalenka as she continues her comeback. The 21-year-old, ranked 250 in the world, was a wildcard at the tournament following an injury-disrupted 2023. \"It was a good success, I would say,\" Raducanu said of her week. \"I think I have handled myself a lot better on the match court. I was a lot more positive and hungry to play, and that showed I think in the tennis that I did play.\" Raducanu's second-round victory over Dayana Yastremska, who retired with illness, was the first time the English player had recorded back-to-back wins since successfully coming through three in a row at Indian Wells 12 months ago. The shock 2021 US Open champion made her return to the tour in January following an eight-month absence, during which she had operations on both of her wrists and surgery on her ankle. She said she was \"not too concerned\" about recent results - having won just three matches in the four tournaments she had played before Indian Wells - as the priority this year is to develop her game. Testing herself against Sabalenka, who successfully defended her Australian Open title in January, Raducanu will be pleased with the progress she showed. A single break of serve in the sixth game was enough for Sabalenka to take the first set, but only after Raducanu dismissed two set points on serve before putting her opponent under pressure with three break points as she served for the set. Sabalenka moved a step closer to victory by claiming the first break five games into set two. Raducanu produced an immediate response to stay in contention and continued to trouble the second seed by creating a break point after holding serve to lead 4-3. Sabalenka struck what proved to be the decisive blow when she broke for a 6-5 lead, eventually serving out the contest with her fourth match point after Raducanu again missed three break points as she fought hard until the end. The Belarusian will next play American Emma Navarro, who beat Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-1 4-6 6-3. American third seed Coco Gauff defeated Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-2 7-6 (7-5) and the US Open champion will play Elise Mertens in the last 16. Maria Sakkari, of Greece, beat France's Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-4, while Russian Daria Kasatkina beat American Sloane Stephens 2-6 6-4 6-4 and China's Yue Yuan was a 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2) winner against American Caroline Dolehide.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, was knocked out of the Indian Wells tournament in the third round by world number two Aryna Sabalenka, losing 6-3 7-5. Despite the loss, Raducanu expressed positivity about her performance and progress in her comeback from injuries." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union Owen Farrell says the \"time feels right\" to leave Saracens but is aiming to finish on a high with the club. The 32-year-old England fly-half will join French Top 14 side Racing 92 on a two-year deal in July. The club captain joined Sarries aged 14 and is on course to make his 250th appearance against Harlequins on 23 March. \"Going in to the back end of the year we are looking to make it the best we can,\" he told the club website. He made his first-team debut for the north London club in 2008, aged 17, and became English professional rugby's then youngest ever player. Farrell also stayed with the team through the 2020-21 season when they were relegated to the Championship because of salary cap breaches and was made captain of the side in 2021. He won six Premiership titles, to go with the Champions Cups he lifted in 2016, 2017 and 2019. Last season he kicked 13 points as Saracens beat Sale in the Premiership final at Twickenham. \"It has never been taken for granted playing for this club,\" England's record points scorer added. \"Going in to the back end of the year we are looking to make it the best we can, and I can't wait to enjoy that over the coming months. \"It is tough to be leaving a place that has been my home since I was 14. \"It has been a difficult decision but it is an exciting one for our family. For the first time ever we thought it would be good to go and experience something different, and the time feels right.\" In November he announced he was taking a break from international rugby to \"prioritise his mental wellbeing\" and stepped down as England captain. He will be ineligible for England selection following his move to France under current Rugby Football Union rules for overseas based players. \"Everyone at the club knows we have been privileged to work with a once-in-a-generation player,\" said Sarries director of rugby Mark McCall. \"Owen has been the heartbeat of Saracens since his debut and central to all the club has achieved. He will always be part of the Saracens family.\" The club is planning a series of tributes to Farrell before the end of the season, including in the derby against Quins, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in March. 'It is the right thing for him to do' Farrell's Saracens and England teammate Elliot Daly says it is a \"sad day\" for club and country to lose one of the \"best English players of all time\". \"When any player leaves, they will be missed,\" Daly told BBC Sport. \"We have to fill in that hole but I think we have adapted really well. \"He's probably on of the best English players of all time, so it is a sad day but we have a really good senior leadership team [at England] with Jamie George.\" \"Hopefully I can visit him in France.\" Speaking to BBC Sport, England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth added: \"Owen is the greatest Saracens player ever. \"He has earned everything he has done in the game.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Owen Farrell, England's record points scorer, has announced he will leave Saracens to join French club Racing 92 on a two-year deal in July, marking the end of his 18-year association with the English side. Farrell, who has won six Premiership titles and three Champions Cups with Saracens, says it's the right time for a new experience, and the club plans to honor him with tributes before the end of the season." + }, + { + "article": "One of the iconic Dark Hedges trees in north Antrim fell as Storm Isha raged Thousands of homes in Northern Ireland remain without power after Storm Isha caused severe disruption. NIE Networks said about 13,000 customers were without electricity at 21:00 GMT on Monday, with 53,000 customers affected since Sunday. Director Randal Gilbert said restoring power could take a number of days. He warned that Storm Jocelyn, which is due to hit NI on Tuesday, \"could hamper restoration efforts and potentially cause more damage\". On Sunday night, a motorist died after a tree hit their car in Limavady, County Londonderry. A number of primary schools were closed on Monday, including Nettlefield in Belfast, St Mary's in County Tyrone, and Killinchy and Meadow Bridge in County Down. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a number of roads across Northern Ireland remain impassable on Monday due to the storm. Earlier, the PSNI said it had dealt with about 600 storm-related calls. In the Republic of Ireland, about 68,000 homes and businesses are without power, as of 21:00 local time. A further spell of very windy weather could bring further disruption this week as Storm Jocelyn approaches from the Atlantic. The storm has been named after Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a leading astrophysicist from Northern Ireland, by Irish weather service Met \u00c9ireann. There will be a yellow warning for Northern Ireland from 16:00 on Tuesday. The wind alert will stay in place until 13:00 on Wednesday after which the winds should begin to ease. Although not expected to be as severe as Storm Isha, the Met Office is warning of wind gusts up to 65mph (105km/h), possibly stronger in more exposed locations. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Police say a number of roads across Northern Ireland remain impassable on Monday. On Monday, PSNI Ch Supt Davy Beck said there is \"a continued risk of significant debris on the road network\" and he urged \"extreme caution\" for road users. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said it received 236 emergency calls on Sunday in relation to the storm and mobilised to 96 incidents. Colin Sykes, from the Department for Infrastructure, said it had been a \"very difficult\" with more than 1,000 incidents reported, including 930 reports of fallen trees and branches. He added ongoing industrial action had \"disrupted our ability to provide services\", but contingency plans, including diverting other staff and using private contractors, are in place. This means the response will be slower but, he added: \"We will start to work through all of the priority routes and start to unblock as much as we can.\" Three of the iconic Dark Hedges trees in County Antrim have also been damaged as a result of the storm. One of the trees, which had been deemed unsafe in a recent report, was marked to come down, but the other two were deemed to be \"in a good state of health\", Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust chief Graham Thompson said. He added one of the healthier trees also blew across the lane, damaging another and will also need to come down. This was the scene at Irish Street in the Waterside area of Londonderry on Monday morning The managing director of Belfast International Airport, Graham Keddie, said Sunday was \"tough\" for its teams, but most aircraft had landed and they had returned to \"virtually normal operations\" on Monday. Translink said a tree had fallen on the Lisburn train line, causing delays and disruption to the Portadown to Bangor rail line. It added that due to exceptional weather all train lines are disrupted on Monday morning. Travel updates are available here. A fallen tree knocked over a street light on Church Road in the Castlereagh Hills The PSNI said a multi-agency response continues to deal with the aftermath and recovery from Storm Isha and thanked the public for their \"continued patience and understanding\". The Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs said Peatlands Park and Crawfordsburn Country Park are closed due to fallen trees. It added that car parking facilities and paths have been \"impacted at Roe Valley Country Park, Ness Country Park and Banagher National Nature Reserve\". A yellow weather warning for high winds ended at noon after an earlier amber warning. A status yellow warning was in place for six counties in the Republic of Ireland and there is a warning in place until 23:00 for coastal areas. Claire Scullion, from NIE Networks, told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme: \"The force of the gusts and the sustained nature over several hours caused significant damage and the flying debris. \"The fallen trees and the weather conditions made repairs very difficult over the night. We would say to the public, please do not approach any broken poles, overhead lines or any damaged electrical equipment.\" Power outages or any incidents of damage to the electricity network can be reported to the NIE Networks Customer Helpline on 03457 643 643. The disruption has affected thousands of air passengers across the UK and Ireland. Among the flights diverted from Belfast International Airport on Sunday was a plane from Bulgaria carrying a group including 19 pupils and three teachers from Mill Strand Integrated Primary School in Portrush. Principal Philip Reid said they experienced \"extreme turbulence\" as the plane made two attempts to land before being diverted to Manchester. David Cox, who was on holiday in Gran Canaria, had his flight to Belfast diverted to Paris. Describing himself as a nervous passenger, he said it was a \"nightmare\" scenario, and the landing in France was also \"very blustery\" and \"very shaky\". Severe weather warnings were also in place for much of Great Britain. Storm Isha marked the ninth named storm of the season, which started on 1 September, and is the first storm beginning with the letter 'I' since February 2016. It follows in the wake of Storm Henk, which wreaked havoc and caused severe damage in parts of the UK in early January.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Storm Isha has caused severe disruption in Northern Ireland, leaving thousands of homes without power, and resulting in the death of a motorist after a tree fell on their car. Restoration efforts could take days, with upcoming Storm Jocelyn potentially causing further damage and hindering recovery." + }, + { + "article": "Shinji Aoba started a fire in 2019 which killed 36 people in the Kyoto Animation Studio A Japanese man has been sentenced to death for an arson attack at a Kyoto animation studio in 2019 which killed 36 people and injured dozens more. The incident, one of Japan's deadliest in recent decades, killed mostly young artists and shocked the anime world. Shinji Aoba, 45, pleaded guilty to the attack but his lawyers had sought a lighter sentence on grounds of \"mental incompetence\". Judges rejected this however, ruling that Aoba knew what he was doing. \"I have determined that the defendant was not mentally insane or weak at the time of the crime,\" Chief Judge Masuda said on Thursday at Kyoto District Court. \"The death of 36 people is extremely serious and tragic. The fear and pain of the deceased victims was indescribable,\" Japanese broadcaster NHK reported him saying. Many of the animation staff - young artists - were killed after being trapped on the upper floors of the studio as the fire spread. The attack was one of the deadliest cases in recent decades and sparked national mourning in Japan. The country's public and media have followed the case closely. Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Aoba, saying he was motivated to attack the studio after believing his work had been stolen. He said Kyoto Animation - known as KyoAni- had plagiarised a novel he entered into their contest. In July 2019, he burst into the studio during a work day, splashing petrol on the ground floor and setting it alight while repeatedly shouting \"Drop dead\". He later said during his guilty plea in September 2023 that he did not think so many people would die. \"I felt I had no other option but to do what I did,\" he said at the time. \"I feel tremendously sorry and the feeling includes a sense of guilt.\" Aoba himself suffered burns to over 90% of his body in the fire, and was only arrested after he had recovered from operations. Aoba told the court last year he didn't think so many people would be killed \"The delusion that KyoAni Studio had plagiarised his work influenced his motivation,\" prosecutors had told the court. But they said he was not controlled by such delusions and had full capacity and understanding of his actions. On Thursday, the judge read out a lengthy reasoning with victim testimonies before announcing the verdict. More than half of the animation studio's 70-strong workforce was killed in the event, and another 32 injured. \"Some of them saw their colleagues engulfed in flames, and some of them are suffering from psychological effects, and they are tormented by feelings of guilt and remorse,\" said Judge Masuda. Families of the victims were seen in the court room, with many visibly emotional as the judge read out the details of Aoba's crime, NHK reported. The outlet reported that Aoba kept his head bowed as the judge read out the death penalty sentence. Japan retains capital punishment for its most serious crimes, like multiple murders. Those convicted typically remain on death row for years, or even decades. The death penalty is conducted by hanging. The KyoAni studio in Kyoto is a beloved institution, known for producing films and graphic novels that are well-regarded by fans as well as critics - including K-On! and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: The blaze ripped through the animation studio headquarters in July 2019", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Shinji Aoba has been sentenced to death for the 2019 arson attack on Kyoto Animation Studio that killed 36 people and injured many others. The court rejected the defense's argument of mental incompetence, stating Aoba was aware of his actions at the time of the crime." + }, + { + "article": "Yellow rain and snow warnings are in force across many parts of the UK, with a blast of cold weather set to continue on Friday. \"We've had the worst of it but it's still not completely clear,\" said the Met Office's Dan Stroud. On Friday, warnings for snow are in place in northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, with a rain warning in southern England. A warning for snow and ice is in place across central and northern Scotland. It comes after dozens of schools closed and major travel disruption was reported on Thursday. About 10cm (3.9in) of snow was measured by the Met Office in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland, on Thursday. The coldest temperature recorded was -13.8C (7.1F) in Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. There was also heavy rainfall, with 43.2mm measured in Harbertonford, South Devon, almost half of the average the area usually sees in February. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In Flintshire, north Wales, every school was shut before any snow had fallen, which prompted a backlash from frustrated parents. Flintshire council has apologised for disruption caused. School closures have also been reported in Wales, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cumbria. There were road delays and disruption to rail travel. There was disruption reported by Great Western Railway on the line between Bath and Swindon due to flooding. There were significant delays at London's Euston station, though London Northwestern Railway said this was partly caused by a swan on the line. The Met Office has warned that untreated pavements and cycle paths are likely to be impassable, with injuries from slips and falls likely on icy surfaces. The weather situation has been complex across the UK, with big differences in conditions depending on how high you might be above sea level. Away from high ground in north Wales and northern England, there is still likely to be a spell of snow falling that could bring other travel disruption, especially around the morning commute. The amount of snow here though can depend on a number of different factors and may vary across relatively short distances. For many, even though there could temporarily be snow falling, it is more likely that sleet or rain will be mixed in. This will be more the case through Thursday afternoon as the area of rain, sleet and snow moves north into southern Scotland and Northern Ireland allowing milder air to spread north. There are also a number of yellow warnings spanning in the following areas: Into Thursday night and Friday morning, snow will fall more into Scotland, accompanied by strong winds. Heavy spells could also be possible as temperatures rise in England and Wales. The UK's cold weather comes as the EU's climate service says global warming for the first time has exceeded the 1.5C warning limit across an entire year. World leaders promised in 2015 to try to limit the long-term temperature rise to 1.5C, a target seen as crucial to help avoid the most damaging impacts. Urgent action to cut carbon emissions can still slow warming, scientists say. How are you preparing for the snow and ice? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK is experiencing cold weather with yellow rain and snow warnings in place, causing school closures, travel disruptions, and icy conditions. The Met Office reports snow and ice warnings for northern regions, while southern England faces rain warnings, with the coldest temperature recorded at -13.8C in the Scottish Highlands. The UK's cold spell comes as global warming exceeded the 1.5C limit for the first time last year, according to the EU's climate service." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir Lindsay Hoyle's decision to depart from convention during a debate on the Gaza conflict was \"very concerning\", Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said. The Commons Speaker is facing pressure to quit, after chaotic scenes in Parliament and acrimonious debate. Sir Lindsay has apologised for giving MPs a vote on a Labour amendment during an SNP debate on Gaza on Wednesday, but said it was to ensure MPs' safety. The SNP are calling for a vote on Sir Lindsay's future. Mr Sunak called Sir Lindsay's decision \"very concerning because the usual ways in which Parliament works were changed\". \"We should never let extremists intimidate us in to changing the way in which parliament works,\" Mr Sunak said. \"That is a very slippery slope and not the right way to go.\" But the prime minister fell short of backing calls to replace Sir Lindsay as Speaker. There is no formal way for MPs to oust the Speaker, but the withdrawal of support from the SNP, the third largest party at Westminster, makes his position significantly more precarious. BBC chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman said a Commons Speaker \"lives or dies by their reputation as a fair referee\", and with one in 10 MPs - almost all Conservative and SNP - signing the motion of no confidence, \"that's a very bad position for a Commons Speaker to find himself in\". It comes after Sir Lindsay gave MPs a vote on a Labour amendment calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, during a debate allocated to the SNP on Wednesday. The move meant Labour MPs could call for a ceasefire without backing a differently-worded motion from the SNP, side-stepping a potential Labour rebellion but provoking fury among the SNP's MPs. After the Conservatives then said they would not take part, the Labour motion was passed, meaning standalone votes on the SNP motion, as well as a government amendment, were dropped. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, shown here at a different debate, has been Commons Speaker since 2019 Sir Lindsay said he had allowed the vote to give MPs the chance to vote on a wider range of positions, and to protect them from threats to their safety. It has plunged his tenure as Speaker into crisis, with accusations he played \"party politics\" with the vote. Several Conservative MPs have also questioned his decision to allow Labour's motion on safety grounds, arguing he had allowed Parliament to be intimidated by threats of violence. He is expected to meet senior party figures later, as he battles to shore up support for his position. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir Lindsay apologised to the SNP for making a \"mistake\" - and offered the party another chance at a Gaza vote through a future emergency debate. In an emotional statement in the Commons, he added: \"I have a duty of care, and I say that, and if my mistake is looking after [MPs] I am guilty.\" He added that details of threats to MPs shared with him were \"absolutely frightening\". Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer rejected suggestions he had threatened to withdraw support from Sir Lindsay after the next election if he didn't allow a vote on Labour's motion. Speaking to reporters, he said he did not \"threaten the Speaker in any way,\" but did not directly answer a question on whether any of his MPs might have done so. He accused the SNP of only being interested in \"dividing the Labour Party\", and the government of walking out on the debate because it did not have support from Tory MPs for its own amendment. But the Scottish nationalist Alba Party have asked the Commons Privileges Committee to investigate the allegations Sir Keir put \"unwarranted and unacceptable pressure\" on Sir Lindsay to select the Labour amendment. The acrimony continued in Parliament on Thursday, with Commons leader Penny Mordaunt accusing Labour of playing politics with the vote. \"I would never have done to [Sir Lindsay] what the Labour Party have done to him,\" she added, to jeers from Labour MPs. Unlike some of her colleagues, it was noticeable she did not direct her criticism towards Sir Lindsay. One of the Tory MPs calling for Sir Lindsay to go, Danny Kruger, accused him of allowing \"Labour to use the Islamist threat to change the way our democracy works\". Another Tory MP, Sir Charles Walker, said Sir Lindsay had made a \"genuine mistake\" for the \"best of reasons,\" adding the Speaker was \"obsessed with the safety of MPs and their staff\". \"The idea that we remove a Speaker for trying to do the right thing is just too ghastly to contemplate,\" he added. SNP MP David Linden said he believed that Sir Lindsay he will be out of his position by \"the weekend\". Speaking on Radio 4's PM programme, Mr Linden said: \"The reality is, the Speaker of the House of Commons was bounced into this by the Labour leadership.\" Mr Linden added that the Speaker should now \"do the right thing and resign to allow us to get back to the issues that matter\". Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the Speaker still has the \"full support\" of his party. Speaking to GB News, Mr Davey said Sir Lindsay \"was in a very difficult position, to make sure all views were heard he approached that with a degree of gravity\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has criticized Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle's decision to allow a vote on a Labour amendment during an SNP debate on Gaza, calling it \"very concerning\" and suggesting it changed the usual parliamentary procedures. Sir Lindsay has apologized but faces pressure to resign, with the SNP calling for a vote on his future, while some Conservative MPs accuse him of playing party politics and allowing Parliament to be intimidated." + }, + { + "article": "A US soldier walks towards a burning oil well in southern Iraq President Joe Biden has promised a strong response to Sunday's deadly attack on a US military base in Jordan. But the challenge for the US is to find the right balance between deterrence and escalation. Fail to act decisively and it risks sending a message of weakness that will only encourage more attacks. Act too forcefully and it could trigger an escalatory response from Iran and its allies. So what are the options? And how does this work? The US will already have a number of \"on-the-shelf\" military options to choose from. These have been drawn up by the US Department of Defense with intelligence input from the CIA and the National Security Agency. They are then presented to the US National Security Council and policymakers, with the president making the final decision and signing off on the chosen course. This is the most obvious choice and one that has been used in the past. There are a large number of bases, weapons stores and training depots across Iraq and Syria belonging to the myriad of Iran-backed militias. These militias are trained, equipped and funded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, but not necessarily directed by them. The US knows who they are and where they are. It could easily carry out more precision-guided missile strikes on these bases - but this has so far failed to deter the militias, who have launched more than 170 attacks on US bases in the region since 7 October. One arm of the IRGC trains militias in the region Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by a group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. This is an umbrella term for a number of Iran-backed militias, some of which, ironically, have previously fought on the same side as the US against their common enemy in the region: Islamic State. They share common aims with Iran, namely to drive the US military from Iraq and Syria and to punish the US for its military support of Israel. This would be a massive escalation and not something the US would consider lightly. It is highly unlikely, although not inconceivable, that the US retaliation would include hitting targets on Iranian sovereign territory. Neither Washington nor Tehran want to get into a full-scale war and both have said so. Iran's response could well include attempting to close the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil and gas flow. This would have a devastating effect on world economies, driving up prices and almost certainly damaging President Biden's chances of re-election in November. One alternative is to go after senior IRGC commanders in Iraq or Syria. There is a precedent for this, the most notable being four years ago when then-President Donald Trump ordered a drone strike that killed the IRGC Quds Force commander Qassim Suleimani in Baghdad in 2020. But this too would be seen as an escalation, and could well trigger a dangerous response from Tehran. There are those in the US establishment who argue that, given the current tensions in the Middle East, it would be irresponsible for Washington to hit Iranian interests now, especially in an election year. CENTCOM, the part of the US Department of Defense that covers the Middle East, already has its hands full combatting the Houthis' attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It will also be listening to pleas from US allies around the region not to trigger a wider Middle East conflict. But this view is likely to be outweighed by those who say that the US policy of deterrence to date has failed, and that Washington's reluctance to hit back hard at those who attack its bases has only encouraged them to step up their attacks. There is a time factor in all of this - some would argue that a radical uptick in US military responses may not be necessary or worthwhile in the long term. First, attacks by Iran-backed militias pre-date the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza - but they have dramatically increased since 7 October. Once Israel's assault on Gaza concludes then tensions in the region may well subside, although Israel warns this could still be months away. Secondly, there are loud calls by some in Washington for the US to decrease its military footprint in the Middle East. President Trump, when he was in office, had to be persuaded by his military and intelligence chiefs not to pull out all US forces from Syria, where they were helping Kurdish forces stop ISIS from returning. There is a strong possibility that should Trump return to the White House in a year's time, then Iran will get its way anyhow, if he decides to draw down the US presence in Iraq and Syria.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "President Joe Biden faces the challenge of responding to a deadly attack on a US military base in Jordan without escalating tensions with Iran and its allies. The US has various military options, including precision strikes on militia bases or targeting IRGC commanders, but a full-scale conflict with Iran is unlikely. The decision will need to balance deterrence and avoiding escalation, considering the potential responses from Iran and the broader implications for the region." + }, + { + "article": "Artwork: Jaxa has become the fifth national space agency to land on the Moon A Japanese robot has successfully touched down on the Moon but problems with its solar power system mean the mission may live for just a few hours. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) put itself gently on the lunar surface near an equatorial crater. The feat made the Asian nation only the fifth country to soft-land on Earth's natural satellite, after the US, the Soviet Union, China and India. Engineers are now battling to save the mission, however. For reasons not yet fully understood, the craft's solar cells will not generate electricity. This leaves Slim totally reliant on its batteries and these will eventually discharge. When they do, the craft will go silent. It won't receive commands and it won't be able to talk to Earth. They've turned off heaters and are pulling down pictures from the craft. They're also retrieving data that will tell them how well the landing software worked. Japanese space agency (Jaxa) officials will not immediately give up on Slim if it does fall silent. It's always possible the solar cells have somehow become oriented in a way that prevents them from seeing the Sun. As light angles change on the Moon, it was possible Slim could come back to life, the officials said. Asked at a news conference whether Japan could justifiably claim a soft landing, Jaxa vice president, Hitoshi Kuninaka, said it could. \"If powered descent wasn't successful, then there would have been a collision with the surface at a very high speed and spacecraft function would have been completely lost,\" he told reporters. \"But it is still sending data properly to us, which means our original objective of a soft landing was successful.\" Slim was carrying two small rovers and telemetry indicates it managed to eject these as planned just before touchdown. The craft, which carries an infrared camera, was to spend the next fortnight studying the local geology. How much of this investigation can be achieved in the time available is uncertain. Artwork of the two deployed rovers: A hopper (L) and a rolling, shape-shifting ball (R) Statistically, it's proven very hard to land on the Moon. Only about a half of all attempts have succeeded. Jaxa put its faith in new precision-navigation technologies. The lander's onboard computer used rapid image processing and crater mapping to avoid hazards to reach its touchdown point. Engineers had wanted to get within 100m (330ft) of their targeted location and will now be studying data to see how well Slim performed. But the early indications are that the technologies worked as designed. \"Looking at the trace data, I believe that Slim most certainly achieved a pinpoint landing with 100m accuracy. Of course, as we informed you in advance, it would take about a month to analyse the information accurately,\" Mr Kuninaka said. Slim began its descent manoeuvres from an altitude of 15km (9 miles) at midnight into Saturday, Japan Standard Time (15:00 GMT, Friday). Touchdown occurred just after 15:20 GMT. The landing location, near Shioli Crater, is currently bathed in sunlight but the darkness of lunar night will return there at the end of the month. When that happens, temperatures will plummet to levels that are very capable of breaking electronic circuit boards. The targeted landing site was on the slopes approaching Shioli Crater, which is just south of the Moon's equator Jaxa has twice landed robots on asteroids, so this Moon touchdown is another feather in its cap. It will be playing significant roles in the US space agency's (Nasa) Artemis programme, which seeks to put humans back on the lunar surface after a gap of more than half a century. Last year, a private Japanese company, iSpace, had a go at landing. Its Hakuto-R craft crashed when the onboard computer became confused about its altitude above the Moon. On Thursday, the private American company Astrobotic disposed of its Peregrine landing craft in Earth's atmosphere. A propulsion fault prevented it from even trying to make a touchdown attempt. Dr Simeon Barber from the UK's Open University had instrumentation on Peregrine. \"For me, this was all about precision landing. That's a huge Success. I'd be really happy if I was them,\" he told BBC News. \"We're in an era of a lot of lunar missions happening with lots of different players. If we collate all this knowledge, that all these players are gaining through these attempts - whether successful or not - then we learn as a community how to put missions together more successfully in the future.\" Likewise, Dr Emma Gatti, from the digital magazine SpaceWatch Global, said Japan had much to celebrate: \"It's historic for them; it is a matter of prestige. It is important for Japan as a country; it's important for all the investment they have made - proof that it can be done by a country not as big as China or US.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Japan's space agency Jaxa has successfully landed its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) on the lunar surface, making it the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. However, the mission is in jeopardy as the lander's solar cells are not generating electricity, leaving it reliant on batteries that will eventually run out, potentially ending the mission prematurely. Despite the issue, Jaxa officials consider the landing a success as the craft is still transmitting data, and they remain hopeful that the solar cells might become functional again with changes in sunlight." + }, + { + "article": "The Israeli Prime Minister vowed to press on with the offensive in Gaza 'until complete victory' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has told the United States that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state once the conflict in Gaza comes to an end. In a news conference, a defiant Mr Netanyahu vowed to press on with the offensive in Gaza \"until complete victory\": the destruction of Hamas and return of the remaining Israeli hostages, adding that it could take \"many more months\". With almost 25,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and 85% of the Strip's population displaced, Israel is under intense pressure to rein in its offensive and engage in meaningful talks over a sustainable end to the war. Israel's allies, including the US - and many of its foes - have urged a revival of the long-dormant \"two-state solution\", in which a future Palestinian state would sit side-by-side with an Israeli one. The hope in many circles is that the current crisis could force the warring parties back to diplomacy, as the only viable alternative to endless cycles of violence. But from Mr Netanyahu's comments, his intention appears quite the opposite. Speaking to reporters following Mr Netanyahu's latest comments, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby recognised that the US and Israel \"obviously\" see things differently. Earlier on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu said Israel must have security control over all land west of the River Jordan, which would include the territory of any future Palestinian state. \"This is a necessary condition, and it conflicts with the idea of (Palestinian) sovereignty. What to do? I tell this truth to our American friends, and I also stopped the attempt to impose a reality on us that would harm Israel's security,\" he said. Mr Netanyahu has spent much of his political career opposing Palestinian statehood, boasting just last month that he was proud to have prevented its establishment, so his latest remarks come as no surprise. But the very public rebuttal of Washington's diplomatic push, and determination to stay the current military course, show the chasm widening with Israel's western allies. Since the 7 October attacks - the worst in Israel's history, when Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 Israelis and took some 240 hostage - the US has supported its right to defend itself. But as the death toll in Gaza has grown, and the scenes of horror there have abounded, Western governments have called for Israeli restraint. The White House has repeatedly tried to influence Israel's military policy: urging more precision-guided weapons rather than the blanket air strikes; discouraging a ground offensive; and calling for a two-state solution, with a role for the Palestinian Authority in post-conflict Gaza. Protesters in Tel Aviv have been calling for the safe release of Israeli hostages Mr Kirby said the US has been \"exceedingly clear\" about what it wants Gaza to look like after the war. \"We want governance in Gaza that's representative of the aspirations of the Palestinian people, that they have a vote and a voice in what that looks like and that there's no reoccupation of Gaza,\" he said. Washington's advice has frequently fallen on deaf ears or been met by outright rejection - often publicly so, during visits by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. That, in turn, has hardened frustration in some American circles over the Biden administration's apparent blanket support for Israel, with strident calls to put conditions on US aid to its Middle East ally. Israel's prime minister's comments will please his dwindling support base and the far-right ministers who prop up his government. But they will dismay those at home and abroad who are increasingly horrified by the human cost of this war. Recent polls show most Israelis want him to prioritise bringing the remaining hostages home over the potentially impossible aim of destroying Hamas. Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state after the conflict in Gaza, stating he aims for \"complete victory\" over Hamas and the return of Israeli hostages, potentially taking many more months. This stance contradicts international calls, including from the US, for a two-state solution and has widened the gap with Israel's western allies, who have urged restraint and a return to diplomacy." + }, + { + "article": "Scientists think blue whales may breed in the waters around the Seychelles Blue whales - the largest animals on Earth - are making their home in a part of the Indian Ocean where they were wiped out by whaling decades ago. Researchers and filmmakers in the Seychelles captured footage of the whales in 2020 and 2021. It features in the Imax film Blue Whales 3D. But a year of underwater audio recording revealed the animals spend months in the region. This means they could be breeding there, scientists say. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Drone footage captured by the Oceanic Films documentary team shows a blue whale in the Seychelles The researchers, including scientists from the University of Seychelles, described the discovery as a \"conservation win\" after the Soviet whaling fleet decimated the population in the 1960s. One of the lead investigators, Dr Kate Stafford, told BBC News: \"It turns out if you stop killing animals on mass scales and you give them a chance to rebound, they can recover.\" Commercial whaling has had a lasting impact. Blue whale numbers are still a tiny proportion of what they were and the species is listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. More than 300,000 were killed in the southern hemisphere alone - chased down by modern, fast whaling ships. In a single year during the 1930s, whalers killed about 30,000 blue whales, according to figures from the International Whaling Commission \"This is the largest animal to ever exist on the planet,\" Dr Stafford said, adding: \"We want to know where they are coming back and knowing there's a population around the Seychelles is incredibly exciting.\" The discovery, published in the Journal of Endangered Species Research, was the result of fixing a \"sound trap\" to the seabed close to the tiny island nation. Fitted with underwater microphones, batteries and recording devices, the trap was left in place for a year, recording 15 minutes of every hour, every day. During the team's month-long expedition, Dr Stafford also spent a few hours each day dangling a hydrophone [underwater microphone] into the water. Blue whales are the largest animals on Earth and can reach around 98ft (30m) in length Chris Watson, the wildlife sound recordist on the trip, told BBC News: \"We heard remarkable things - the tapping of sperm whales thousands of feet down and dolphins echolocating and communicating but sadly no blue whales.\" However, after scientists retrieved their sound trap, painstaking analysis of the recording revealed blue whales were there and communicating when the researchers were not. The mammals' signature, very low frequency song could be heard primarily during March and April. Divers fixed the sound trap to the seabed at a depth of about 79ft (24m) \"This means the Seychelles could be really important for blue whales,\" said Dr Stafford, explaining: \"They sing during the breeding season and we think it's probably the males who are singing, based on what we know about other whales. \"So there's also potential that the Seychelles is a breeding area or a nursery area.\" The scientists were even able to pick out which acoustic population the blue whales in the area belong to. Dr Stafford said: \"You can tell them apart by the sounds they make. In the Seychelles we heard one acoustic population - the one generally associated with the northern Indian Ocean.\" Kate Stafford (left) and her colleagues spent hours each day listening for the calls of blue whales The song or fundamental frequency of the blue whale is so deep and such a low frequency that it is beyond the range of human hearing. But Mr Watson, who has managed to record blue whales in the Sea of Cortez, said we can hear what are called its harmonics - higher frequency sounds that \"ring out\" when a blue whale sings, explaining: \"It's this really low, deep, consistent pulse. \"When I recorded blue whales in Mexico, that was what was resonating in my headphones.\" Dr Stafford added: \"It's the loudest sustained sound in the animal kingdom. [Their call lasts] 15 to 20 seconds at about 188 decibels, which is the equivalent of a jet engine in air.\" Sound travels much faster and further in water, enabling blue whales to communicate over distances of hundreds and even thousands of miles. Conservation scientists are keen to understand exactly how important the Seychelles is for blue whales. The Seychelles government has made a commitment to protect 30% of its national waters An area around the islands has been formally protected in a unique \"debt for nature\" swap, where the country had almost \u00a316.8m ($22m) of its national debt written off in exchange for doing more to protect its oceans. About 400,000 square kilometres (154,000 square miles) of its seas are now protected. Dr Jeremy Kiszka from Florida International University, a lead scientist on the study, told BBC News that the diversity and abundance of marine mammals in the region was \"exceptional\". \"We recorded 23 species during our surveys,\" he said. \"Some of these are among the least known species of whales and dolphins around the world. We now need to understand why and make sure human activities do not affect blue whales and other species present.\" One major concern is protecting important areas for blue whales from noise pollution, which travels equally efficiently through the water. \"There's not a tremendous amount of ship traffic in the Seychelles so perhaps we could think of it as a nice, quiet, safe place for blue whales,\" said Dr Stafford.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Blue whales, the world's largest animals, are potentially breeding in the waters around the Seychelles, decades after being wiped out by whaling. Researchers and filmmakers have captured footage of the whales in the region, with underwater audio revealing their presence for months, suggesting it could be a breeding ground. The discovery is a conservation success following the decimation of the population by Soviet whaling in the 1960s." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The prince praised their \"outstanding efforts\" during their motor neurone disease charity fundraising The Prince of Wales has surprised rugby league legends Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield by awarding them with their CBEs during a meeting in Leeds. Prince William met the pair at Headingley Stadium - the home of Leeds Rhinos and where both men used to play. Burrow and Sinfield were awarded CBEs in the New Year Honours list for their motor neurone disease fundraising. The pair have raised more than \u00a315m for charities since Burrow was diagnosed with the disease in 2019. \"I brought your CBEs up here to give to you today if that's okay,\" the prince told them. \"While you're in your home, in Leeds, surrounded by your family and friends - I thought today was a good day.\" Presenting Burrow, 41, with the honour, he said: \"The most amount of thank yous and congratulations for all the inspirational work you've done Rob, you've been amazing and everyone's so proud of you.\" Prince William met Rob Burrow and family alongside Kevin Sinfield during the royal visit to Headingley Stadium in Leeds The prince spent time chatting to the pair about their rugby league playing days together Sinfield, 43, has completed a series of epic endurance challenges, including his latest fundraiser which saw him complete seven ultra marathons over seven days. His target was to raise \u00a377,777, but thousands of donations helped him to reach \u00a32.7m. \"A huge, huge congratulations, it's been amazing what you've done,\" he told the former player. \"The groundswell you've created in terms of fundraising and looking after each other and for MND is huge.\" The prince added: \"Make sure you look after your knees, your hips, and everything else, but it's been incredible.\" Welcoming Prince William to the stadium, Burrow told him: \"My children have been practising their curtesy and talking about meeting you all week.\" Burrow joked about a nickname ex-rugby union star Mike Tindall had coined for the Prince of Wales - One Pint Willy. Tindall made the admission while he appeared with his wife Zara, the prince's cousin, on Burrow's podcast. The prince replied: \"You got the nicknames out of him, he apologised to me about that.\" Burrow, a former scrum-half who spent his entire professional career with the Rhinos, was diagnosed with MND two years after retiring from the sport. Since then, he has campaigned alongside friends and family to fundraise and generate awareness of the disease. The prince paid tribute to the pair's \"phenomenal\" fundraising efforts in recent years Playing alongside each other from 2001 to 2015, Burrow and Sinfield won seven Grand Finals, two Challenge Cup Finals at Wembley and three World Club titles together. Talking to the pair about their playing careers, the prince called them \"quite a successful combination\" and referred to Burrow as a player with \"quick hands and quick feet\". \"No one could catch you,\" he added. After being described by the prince as an inspiration to the MND community, Burrow replied: \"I can honestly say that I never set out to be an inspiration, I just wanted to try and help other people in a similar situation to me. \"I'm just trying to live my best life with the cards that I've been dealt.\" Burrow was joined at Headingley Stadium by his wife Lindsey and their three children. He added: \"I wouldn't be here without the love and support of my wife Lindsey. She is stronger than any rugby player I ever played against.\" Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Prince William surprised rugby league legends Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield by personally awarding them their CBEs at Headingley Stadium in Leeds for their \u00a315m motor neurone disease fundraising. The pair, who have been recognized for their inspirational work, were diagnosed with the disease in 2019, and Sinfield has completed several endurance challenges to raise funds." + }, + { + "article": "UN agencies have said northern Gaza could face famine by May without a pause in the fighting and a surge in aid Gaza's two million people are experiencing \"severe levels of acute food insecurity\", US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. This was first time an entire population had been so classified, he said when questioned by the BBC about conditions in the territory. Mr Blinken called on Israel to prioritise providing for those in need. UN agencies have said north Gaza could face famine by May without a pause in the fighting and a surge in aid. Mr Blinken's warning came during a trip to the Philippines as US officials announced that he would travel to the Middle East, his sixth trip to the region since October, as efforts to secure a ceasefire continue. Israeli negotiators are due to begin talks in Qatar on Tuesday in a fresh attempt to agree a deal with Hamas to halt the fighting, get humanitarian aid in, and Israeli hostages out. The US is Israel's closest ally and biggest provider of military aid. Mr Blinken's comments were among his strongest yet in setting out the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Asked by the BBC whether the current conditions were a harbinger of the territory's future without an agreed governance or security plan, he said: \"According to the most respected measure of these things, 100% of the population in Gaza is at severe levels of acute food insecurity. That's the first time an entire population has been so classified.\" Acute food insecurity is when a person's inability to consume adequate food puts their life or livelihood in immediate danger. If unaddressed, it leads to starvation. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Aid worker in Gaza: People are 'desperate, eating anything they can find' Mr Blinken added: \"We also see again, according to in this case the United Nations, 100% - the totality of the population - is in need of humanitarian assistance,\" he added. \"Compare that to Sudan, about 80% of the population there is in need of humanitarian assistance; Afghanistan, about 70%. So, again, this only underscores both the urgency, the imperative, of making this the priority.\" He once again called on Hamas to lay down arms but said it was incumbent on Israel to make it a priority to provide for those who desperately needed humanitarian assistance. Asked about the numbers of journalists killed in Gaza and lack of access to the territory for international reporters, Mr Blinken said that \"as a matter of principle\" journalists should have access wherever there is conflict so \"the world can have knowledge\". He said the issue was something \"we bring up in every instance\". Later, the UN human rights chief stressed that the catastrophic hunger in Gaza was \"human-made and... entirely preventable\". Volker T\u00fcrk put the blame firmly on what he called Israel's \"extensive restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, displacement of most of the population, as well as the destruction of crucial civilian infrastructure\". The restrictions, he warned, \"may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime\". Israel's diplomatic mission to the UN in Geneva said Mr T\u00fcrk was seeking to blame it for the situation in Gaza and \"completely absolve the responsibility of the UN and Hamas\". \"Israel is doing everything it can to flood Gaza with aid, including by land air and sea,\" it insisted. Aid workers reject this, saying that much of the problem in the northern Gaza is due to a collapse in security around aid convoys, after Israel targeted police who were escorting them. Israel has said police have been hit because its military is dismantling Hamas. But the US has questioned this, saying such targeting makes aid distribution impossible and is counterproductive. Meanwhile, the US State Department has called on Israel to permit Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, entry into Gaza after he was denied on Monday. Israel previously accused UNRWA of supporting Hamas, which the agency denied. But in January it sacked nine of 12 employees accused in an Israeli document of playing a part in the 7 October attacks. The US has warned Israel that its plan to push on with an offensive in Rafah would be a \"mistake\" US officials also announced on Tuesday that Mr Blinken would make his latest trip to the region since Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October and the start of the war in Gaza. It comes without a breakthrough so far on a ceasefire for hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas. He will speak with Saudi leaders in Jeddah and then continue onto Cairo to meet the Egyptian leadership. A significant part of the talks will focus on Arab support for a post-war plan to secure and govern Gaza. The Americans want rule by the Palestinian Authority, the post-Oslo peace accords entity that lost control in Gaza to Hamas after elections and fighting 17 years ago. But the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the idea of PA rule there, one of many critical points of dispute over any so-called \"day after plan\" for Gaza. Mr Blinken did not address a question about whether an agreed post-war plan for Gaza could only move forward with a different Israeli leader. On Monday night, US President Joe Biden told Mr Netanyahu this his plan to push on with an offensive in Rafah would be a \"mistake\", with more than a million Gazan civilians sheltering in the southern border town. In their first conversation in over a month, they also discussed a plan to send an Israeli delegation to Washington next week to discuss both the Rafah plan and a new alternative approach to targeting Hamas there without a major ground invasion.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "UN agencies warn that northern Gaza could face famine by May unless fighting stops and aid increases, with the entire population experiencing severe food insecurity. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls on Israel to prioritize humanitarian assistance, highlighting the unprecedented crisis in Gaza, where 100% of the population is in need of aid." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Coverage: Follow live text coverage on the BBC Sport website & app from 20:00 GMT and live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live from 21:00 GMT. Ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou clashed with Tyson Fury and says he is \"just getting started\" in boxing before his heavyweight fight with Anthony Joshua. Ngannou faces Joshua in Saudi Arabia on Friday but opted to do his best verbal sparring with former opponent Fury at Wednesday's news conference. Joshua took a back seat as Fury reacted to Ngannou's suggestion he had \"struggled\" in their October bout. \"I had one win over [Fury] and I want one more,\" Ngannou said with a grin. Fury shouted back that he would face Ngannou in the \"octagon\" - the UFC's trademark cage - to which the French Cameroonian replied: \"Your only chance is in a boxing ring, with boxing rules.\" Ngannou was the UFC's reigning heavyweight champion when he left the promotion last year. The 37-year-old made his boxing debut against Fury four months ago and suffered a contentious split-decision loss - but sent shockwaves through the sport by dropping the WBC champion in the third round. Ngannou and Fury clashed at Saudi powerbroker Turki Alalshikh's house on Tuesday and the MMA star was in a bullish mood on Wednesday with the Briton in the audience. \"I'm just getting started. I don't think that [beating Joshua] will make any statement of my career because the road is still long,\" he said. Anthony Joshua faced off with Francis Ngannou before their bout on Friday The remarkable possibility remains that Ngannou could fight for a world title in his third boxing bout, should he beat Joshua in what is only his second fight. \"I really think I haven't shocked the world yet,\" he said, adding he is \"still learning\" the art of boxing. Joshua, 34, appeared relaxed at Monday's grand arrivals and a little tetchy at the open workouts the following day. He was more jovial at the news conference but in what is becoming a theme in AJ fight weeks, the Watford-born man was reluctant to give any soundbites or engage in verbal jabs the closer the bout comes. Asked for his response on Ngannou saying he will look for a knockout, Joshua succinctly replied: \"Let's go. The best man will always win. It's not rocket science.\" There was a respectful and light-hearted exchange between the headliners when Ngannou handed his opponent a set of wireless headphones. Joshua often attends news conferences with music playing in just one ear. Promoter Hearn predicted his fighter will become undisputed champion, with Friday's winner a potential next opponent for either Oleksandr Usyk or Fury - most likely in 2025. Usyk, who holds the WBA, WBO and IBF titles, faces WBC belt-holder Fury in May for the undisputed heavyweight title, with a rematch already agreed. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. All fight week events are being held in Boulevard World, a huge 1.2km long entertainment attraction with areas dedicated to different parts of the globe. The news conference took place in the 'Greece' zone as the fighters took centre stage in the replica amphitheatre. But the event almost descended into chaos before it had even begun. Unforeseen road closures prevented shuttle buses from reaching the media hotel. Panic-stricken reporters jostled for last-minute taxis. Not a drop of rain had fallen all week but 45 minutes before the start the heavens opened. Fortunately for all those involved - the rain subsided and media made it in time as curious locals and a handful of tourists - en route to 'Egypt' - peered down from cable cars gliding above the Santorini-inspired setting. Joshua was short and snappy. He may not hate these obligatory fight week events, but he does not appear to overly enjoy them either. Instead it was Ngannou who stole the show. His performance against Fury has shown he is a legitimate heavyweight contender - but will he produce another Herculean effort and overcome Olympic and former world champion Joshua?", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou, who had a contentious loss to Tyson Fury in his boxing debut, is set to face Anthony Joshua for a heavyweight fight in Saudi Arabia. Ngannou expressed his intention to continue in boxing and aims for a rematch with Fury, while Joshua remained calm and focused, stating that the best man will always win. The winner of this bout could potentially face Oleksandr Usyk or Fury for the undisputed heavyweight title." + }, + { + "article": "Michael Gove has named five groups he said would be assessed against a new government definition of extremism. The communities secretary told MPs he had concerns about the \"Islamist orientation\" of three of the organisations. He also named two groups he said promoted a \"Neo-Nazi ideology\". The new extremism definition applies to, but does not criminalise, groups promoting an ideology based on \"violence, hatred or intolerance\". Groups judged to meet the new definition - expected to be named in the coming weeks - will be blocked from receiving government funding and meeting officials. The definition has been met with a backlash from civil liberty and community groups, with two of the groups mentioned by Mr Gove already threatening legal action if they end up on the list. The unveiling of the new definition comes amid the backdrop of heightened community tensions over the Israel-Hamas war, and political rows over the policing of pro-Palestinian marches in London. The community secretary has said a list of organisations meeting the new definition will be drawn up following \"careful\" reviews of evidence and consultation with civil servants. But speaking in the Commons, he said the British National Socialist Movement and Patriotic Alternative would see their activities assessed against the new definition. He said the groups \"promote Neo-Nazi ideology\" and were \"precisely the type of groups about which we should be concerned\". He also named the Muslim Association of Britain, Cage and Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) as organisations that \"give rise to concern for their Islamist orientation and views\". \"We will be holding these, and other organisations, to account to assess if they meet our definition of extremism and will take action as appropriate,\" he added. He defined Islamism as a \"totalitarian ideology\" that calls for \"an Islamic state governed by sharia law,\" and should not be conflated with Islam itself. The new definition will define extremism as \"the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1. negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or 2. undermine, overturn or replace the UK's system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or 3. intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2).\" The chief executive of MEND, Azhar Qayum, said his group was \"not at all\" extremist and would take the government to court if it ends up listed as such. Speaking to the BBC, he accused Mr Gove of taking \"names out of a hat\" under the legal protection afforded to MPs speaking in Parliament. Cage said it would \"explore all avenues, including legal\" to challenge the \"government's deep dive into authoritarianism,\" whilst the Muslim Association of Britain described Mr Gove's move as \"blatant effort to stifle dissenting voices\". Patriotic Alternative said Mr Gove had made \"several misleading claims\" about it, and his extremism definition was a \"dangerous step toward a totalitarian state\". In the Commons, former Home Office minister Robert Jenrick said Mr Gove's definition \"though well-intentioned, lands in no man's land\". He said he feared it would not do enough to \"tackle the real extremists,\" or do enough to protect people who are \"simply expressing contrarian views\". Fellow Conservative MP Mariam Cates said it could see \"gender critical feminists\" labelled as extremists, and end up \"chilling speech of people who have perfectly legitimate, harmless views\". Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said her party would \"challenge and probe\" the government's new definition, but pressed Mr Gove for more detail on how it will \"work in practice\". She also questioned the timing of the announcement, noting the Conservatives have been in government for 13 years. In response, Mr Gove said the previous extremism definition, in place since 2011, was \"insufficiently precise\" and had been \"insufficiently policed\". Groups and individuals labelled extremist will have the right to seek reassessment and submit new evidence to a review. If they still disagree, they can challenge the government's decision through a judicial review of the decision. Organisations or individuals added to the list will not be criminalised, unlike terrorist groups. Alongside the redefinition, a new unit - the Counter-Extremism Centre of Excellence - has been set up, to gather intelligence and identify extremist groups. Anti-extremism campaign group Hope Not Hate describes Patriotic Alternative as the UK's largest fascist group. Some of its followers were involved in the group National Action, which was subsequently banned under terrorism laws. Patriotic Alternative says its is promoting a patriotic view of the UK - but its critics say followers regularly espouse Nazi thinking. British National Socialist Movement has been described in Parliament as a white supremacist group that originated in 1968. The MAB was described by Michael Gove as the UK affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, an international and complex network of Islamist organisations. Islamism is a political ideology that believes that predominantly Muslim countries should be run according to a form of government drawn from Islam's holy book, the Quran. Islamism has many branches. Some Islamist groups are so extreme they are also terrorist - but that is not true for every such organisation. The MAB denies it is an affiliate group and says it has long worked within the law and alongside agencies including the police. In 2015, then PM David Cameron commissioned a report into the Muslim Brotherhood including any activities in the UK. Cage emerged as a campaign group against the \"War on Terror\" that was launched by President George W Bush in the wake of the 2001 attacks on the US. It explicitly campaigned against what it said were abuses perpetrated against Muslims in Afghanistan and elsewhere - but its critics say it was often acting for terrorism suspects. It has never been accused of involvement in terrorism and one of its founders has repeatedly won legal cases where he has been accused of involvement in suspect groups. Mend, Muslim Engagement and Development, is a Muslim campaign group that tries to encourage people to get more involved in politics and is active in opposing policies that critics say perpetuate a them-and-us victim mentality. The organisation says it legitimately campaigns to protect the rights of British Muslims and has said it will take the government to court if it is named as extremist. UPDATE 15 March: This piece has been updated to reflect that Michael Gove described the Muslim Association of Britainas an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood and that they deny any such link.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Michael Gove has announced a new government definition of extremism, which will be used to assess five groups, including two promoting Neo-Nazi ideology and three with an \"Islamist orientation.\" Organizations meeting the definition will be barred from government funding and official meetings, sparking backlash from civil liberty groups, with some threatening legal action. The definition targets groups promoting violence, hatred, or intolerance and aims to counteract ideologies seeking to undermine democracy or violate fundamental rights." + }, + { + "article": "Laviai (right) and Lina Nielsen (left) won gold and silver respectively in the women's 400m at the UK Athletics Indoor Championships Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer and online; Listen to commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra & BBC Sounds; Live text and video highlights on the BBC Sport website and app. \"People talk about having to travel a rocky road with lots of highs and lows but I feel like we've climbed mountains to be where we are.\" Lina Nielsen and twin sister Laviai have dreamt of representing their country together on the same relay team almost since they ran laps around the primary school playground. It should have been so simple. Selected to make their senior British debuts together as part of Britain's 4x400m team for the 2017 European Indoor Championships, their hopes were dashed when Lina was forced to withdraw with a stress fracture in her foot. It took another five years for them to be picked together again in the relay at the 2022 World Championships, only for Lina to suffer a severe relapse of the multiple sclerosis that afflicts both sisters but which they had kept secret to that point. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. It's a 'really difficult condition to understand' - Lina Nielsen opens up about MS - first published in October 2022 The Nielsens hope this weekend will prove third time lucky. Barring further misfortune of illness or injury, the sisters will be the leading lights in Britain's 4x400m team at Glasgow's World Indoor Championships. A medal for the British quartet is a firm possibility. Finally, a twin ambition 27 years in the making could reach its culmination. \"There have been so many setbacks along the way,\" says Lina, who belatedly made her senior international debut in 2022 after switching to the 400m hurdles as her primary individual event. \"It's the nature of sport - it is cut-throat. Sometimes you need luck on your side. Hopefully we're all good this time round. It can't get better than finally racing together in front of a home crowd.\" It has already been an unexpectedly joyous winter for the twins. The pair moved to Aarhus, Denmark, in October to train under former British Athletics coach Tony Lester, who is now employed by the Danish athletics federation. Under a new training regime, they planned to treat the indoor season as a brief opportunity to test out their fitness before an Olympic summer. But, with the World Indoor Championships not originally on their agenda, results prompted a hasty change of heart. Both sisters have taken close to a second off their indoor 400m personal bests, with Laviai's mark of 51.11 seconds placing her fifth in the rankings for the Glasgow event. Lina and Laviai both hope to represent Team GB at the Paris Olympics in July Instructed by Lester that \"third is not an option\", their most recent outing saw them deliver a historic 400m one-two at the British Championships, where Laviai triumphed. \"It's crazy how this indoor season has panned out,\" says Laviai, sitting next to her sister on a video call from their Aarhus apartment. \"We were training pretty hard until the end of January and had no idea what shape we were in. \"I didn't plan to go all the way through the indoor season, because the 400m in the UK is so competitive, my main focus is on Olympic trials outdoors this summer. \"After I ran 51.1, I was sitting on a plane back to Denmark thinking 'I don't know if I'm making the right decision'. Every fibre of my being was telling me to go to the World Indoors. \"We still think I can go a lot faster so I don't want to shy away from the possibility of a medal.\" Their achievement is all the more notable given they live with neurological auto-immune disease multiple sclerosis. Diagnosed aged 13, Lina had kept the condition under control before a sudden flare-up on the eve of her World Championship debut in 2022 that prompted her to reveal her story publicly. Laviai also has the disease but is yet to suffer major symptoms. \"We're still deciding not to take medicine because we're not sure of the side effects,\" explains Laviai. \"We've always been pretty good with our diet and nutrition, but after Lina's flare-up we've taken it even more seriously. So far it's all gone well.\" This weekend's World Indoor Championships remain part of their bigger picture. Laviai hopes to make the 400m final that would stand her in good stead for an Olympic tilt this summer in Paris, where Lina aims to compete over 400m hurdles and join her sister in the 4x400m. If they do stand on the relay podium together for the first time in Glasgow, Laviai says it will be a moment they have waited for their entire lives. \"We would definitely celebrate it greatly,\" she says. \"It would be huge.\" The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Twin sisters Laviai and Lina Nielsen secured gold and silver in the women's 400m at the UK Athletics Indoor Championships, with both hoping to finally compete together on the same relay team at the Glasgow World Indoor Championships, overcoming setbacks including multiple sclerosis and injuries. The pair have seen significant improvement under a new training regime in Denmark, and a medal for the British 4x400m team is a strong possibility." + }, + { + "article": "Thousands poured onto the streets of Beirut for the funeral of Saleh al-Arouri Thousands of people have attended the funeral in Beirut of Saleh al-Arouri, the top Hamas leader assassinated in a suspected Israeli attack in the Lebanese capital two days ago. Crowds carried banners with his picture and waved Palestinian and Hamas flags through the streets amid the sound of music, prayers and heavy gunfire, while Hamas officials vowed to retaliate. The assassination of Arouri was a blow for Hamas - he was a deputy Hamas leader and a key figure in the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the group's armed wing - and renewed fears of a wider war in the region. It also hit its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed movement, as it struck Dahiyeh, a suburb of the city that is a stronghold for the group. In Lebanon, again, the focus is on what Hassan Nasrallah, the influential Hezbollah leader, will decide to do. Less than 24 hours after the attack, he addressed his followers, in a speech that had been scheduled to commemorate the Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, killed in a US drone strike four years ago. He could not ignore what had just happened in his own backyard. As usual, Nasrallah spoke from an undisclosed location, and described Arouri's assassination as a \"flagrant Israeli aggression\" that would not go unpunished. \"If the enemy considers waging a war against Lebanon, our battle will be without boundaries or rules,\" he said. But, crucially, there was no open threat to attack Israel, which has neither confirmed or denied involvement in the killing, nor any indication of how Hezbollah might act. One of Hezbollah's aims is the destruction of Israel, which sees the group as a more formidable enemy than Hamas. Hezbollah has a vast arsenal of weapons including precision-guided missiles that can strike deep into Israeli territory, as well as tens of thousands of well-trained, battle-hardened fighters. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, Hezbollah has been attacking positions in northern Israel almost every day, describing the actions as its support for the Palestinian group. The Israeli military has retaliated, but so far, the violence has been largely contained to areas along the Lebanon-Israel border. Al-Arouri's assassination was a blow for Hamas, but it also hit its ally Hezbollah Hezbollah has calculated its actions to prevent a full-scale war with Israel, and there is no indication this strategy is likely to change. Many here still remember the destruction caused by the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, and with Lebanon suffering a massive economic crisis, there is virtually no public support for any military confrontation. Israeli authorities have warned Hezbollah against escalating the conflict. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has in the past said Israel's military could do to Beirut what it had done to Gaza. On Thursday, as he met US envoy Amos Hochstein in Tel Aviv, Mr Gallant reaffirmed his country's determination to change the security situation in northern Israel, to allow the return of residents evacuated due to constant attacks. But, he said, there was a \"short window of time for diplomatic understandings, which we prefer\". Some senior Israeli officials, however, have supported further action against Hezbollah to eliminate the threat posed by the group. Nasrallah is expected to address his supporters again on Friday. His latest speech may be an indication that for whatever reason, he wants to avoid triggering a bigger conflict with Israel. However, he needs to be seen to be giving a response to the attack in Beirut. But any reaction is likely to be calibrated to avoid strong retaliation from Israel, and the possibility of another catastrophic conflict for Lebanon.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The funeral of top Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri, assassinated in a suspected Israeli attack in Beirut, was held with thousands of mourners, including Hamas officials who vowed retaliation. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, condemned the killing as an \"aggression\" but did not issue an explicit threat to attack Israel, indicating a cautious approach to prevent a wider war amidst Lebanon's economic crisis." + }, + { + "article": "The challenge set up by Eitan Okrent saw teams walk across the capital A group of teenagers has visited nearly every London Underground station in one day, raising more than \u00a35,000 for a knife crime prevention charity. The \"Tubeathon\" saw 27 groups of young people visiting 271 Tube stations, covering a distance of about 250 miles (402km) across the capital. It is thought to be the first attempt by a group of people to walk the length of the Tube map in a single day. Organiser Eitan Okrent, 17, said it was important to help other young people. Starting early on Sunday, each team was allocated its Tube stations to visit and a route. Put together, the 27 routes covered the entire Tube map from Ealing to Epping and from Amersham to Wimbledon. The group visited 271 Tube stations, only missing out on Heathrow Airport's terminal two and three stop - because it is not accessible on foot. Eitan, from Barnet, who recruited 120 people for the challenge, told the BBC earlier: \"Londoners in general know the Tube map, that is their geography of the capital. \"This allows people to see what's above ground what would usually be underground. \"Some of them have long walks, so they're struggling a bit. But they'll get through it, it's a challenge.\" The money raised will go to the charity Lives Not Knives The more than \u00a35,600 raised by the participants will go to Lives Not Knives, a charity that works to prevent youth violence in London by providing mentoring and advice for young people. Speaking about why he chose to fundraise for the charity, the year 13 student said: \"We really thought it would be important for young people to go out on a challenge in London to help other young people in the capital, which I think is really special. \"They [Lives Not Knives] do extremely good work helping people get out of school exclusion, mentoring - really helping to stop young people going into knife crime \"We know its a big issue in London, so it's a really important issue to solve.\" Eitan has previous experience with London Underground challenges, last year missing out on beating the world record for the quickest time to visit every London Underground station. Even so, he managed to complete the challenge in 19 hours and raised \u00a31,400 for a homelessness charity. \"I guess I've always had a weird obsession with the London Underground,\" he said. \"Also, I've always been quite an activist so this kind of challenge appeals to me.\" Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A group of teenagers completed a \"Tubeathon\" challenge, visiting nearly every London Underground station in a day, raising over \u00a35,000 for a knife crime prevention charity, Lives Not Knives. Organized by 17-year-old Eitan Okrent, the event saw 27 teams cover about 250 miles across the capital, with the funds raised supporting youth violence prevention efforts in London." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Wales Coverage: Live on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Sounds, BBC Sport website and app, plus live text Highlights: Match of the Day Wales, BBC One Wales from 22:40 GMT and later on demand \"That's the player you should be excited about.\" Ethan Ampadu had just walked behind Ashley Williams in a stadium corridor in Chisinau as the then Wales captain gave his firm declaration of a future star. With a nod of the head in the direction of the dreadlocked 16-year-old strolling past, the man who skippered Wales to the 2016 European Championship semi-finals the previous summer was unequivocal. \"That's the guy who's going to replace me,\" Williams said, without a hint of worry time may prove him wrong. While Liverpool youngster Ben Woodburn grabbed headlines for a goal and assist in World Cup qualifying, Williams was anointing an unused sub as his natural heir as Wales centre-back and leader. For good reason. Ampadu's position may still be under debate, defender for club, midfielder for country, but his status in Wales' new generation is not. He has already reached two major championships and is almost certain to start Thursday's Euro 2024 play-off semi-final against Finland in Cardiff - the winners play Poland or Estonia five days later for a place in Germany this summer. In doing so - at 23 years, six months and eight days - he will become the youngest Welshman to reach 50 caps, with manager Rob Page as adamant as Williams that Ampadu is a Wales captain in waiting. As Leeds and Wales team-mate Joe Rodon put it: \"He's going to be one for the future - which sounds mad to say because it feels like he's been around forever.\" To be precise, it was eight years ago when Ampadu, still a schoolboy in Exeter, was invited by Chris Coleman to train with the Wales squad preparing for Euro 2016. \"I was a very nervous young boy,\" Ampadu said as he recalled being driven by his father, former Swansea and Exeter midfielder Kwame, to the team's Vale of Glamorgan base. \"He might not remember it but the first person I met was Ben Davies. Just that initial 'How are you?' was quite settling for me.\" Nowadays it is Ampadu on arrivals duty to help welcome the youngsters but back then, he had not even sat his GCSEs. He went from training with Gareth Bale to the banter of classmates when Wales were beaten by England in their Euro 2016 group match. \"I left early that day because they were all celebrating, but in the tournament I had the last laugh, which was quite nice,\" he said with a sneaking grin. Ampadu had been courted by England - even playing twice at under-15 level - but says his choice to choose the country of his Swansea-born mother was never in question. What was questioned, though, was whether he could live up to the excitable predictions. Signed by Chelsea after making his Exeter debut at a club record 15 years old, his time at Stamford Bridge was more notable for several loan periods than appearances for the Premier League side. But just as Exeter manager Paul Tisdale had compared Ampadu's breakthrough to a 35-year-old strolling through a game, Wales watchers recognised an old head on young shoulders. During discussions over Ampadu's international position, one senior coach simply replied: \"Wherever he wants it to be.\" \u2022 None Allen would never say no to Wales call First capped in the final games of Coleman's reign, his first start against Ireland in 2018 saw Ampadu direct proceedings, marshalling far more experienced team-mates as if born for the international stage. \"I don't like the word 'ordering',\" he said, although did accept he's always found it a natural part of his game to talk and coach his way through a game. \"You just try and help your team. \"Growing up as a Chelsea fan, I would look up to John Terry as captain but also Didier Drogba. He wasn't a captain but he would lead the team with his performance rather than wearing the armband.\" Those are qualities that have seen him made captain at Leeds. Ever-present under Daniel Farke, he has grown with every passing week in leading led his team to the top of the Championship. \"When you feel settled and comfortable, that's when you can play your best football,\" agrees Ampadu. \"You don't have any other distractions going on. That's been shown.\" \u2022 None Ethan Ampadu - 23 years, six months and eight days (v Finland, 2024)* *If they play against Finland on Thursday, 21 March Ampadu will reach 50 caps more than two years quicker than Wales' record cap-holder Bale, if he faces Finland. But predictably, he considers talking too much about himself a distraction. The milestone is an achievement to cherish, he says, but not before reaching Euro 2024. \"If you focus on how quick you can do it then you take away how special the milestone is,\" he declares. With the likes of Bale and Williams gone, Ampadu is among a clutch of twenty-somethings who have found themselves with a greater ownership of this Wales team, as Williams predicted. \"I'm still young, but I've experienced a lot, which I'm very grateful for,\" said Ampadu. \"I'm hoping that even if people say I've been around forever that I've still got a long way to go in the game.\" Wales - and a certain former captain - will hope that includes a trip to Germany this summer. \u2022 None The tragic story of June, her sister and their life in Broadmoor", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ethan Ampadu, a 23-year-old Welsh footballer, is set to become the youngest player to reach 50 caps for Wales in a Euro 2024 play-off semi-final against Finland. Ampadu, who has played as a defender for club and midfielder for country, has been praised for his leadership skills and is considered a future captain by manager Rob Page." + }, + { + "article": "The UK economy picked up in January, raising hopes it could be on its way out of recession. The economy grew by 0.2%, official figures show, boosted by sales in shops and online and more construction activity. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the services sector led the improvement. This is an early estimate, but signals how the UK, which entered recession at the end of 2023, is faring. The new figures on Wednesday were in line with what economists were expecting. Some experts said it could suggest the economy may be turning a corner after dipping into recession at the end of last year. The services sector, which also includes things like hairdressing and hospitality, grew by 0.2% in January. It was the biggest contributor to the monthly rise overall, helped along by a strong performance on the High Street and spending in supermarkets. It marks an improvement on the 0.1% decline in output seen in December as retailers failed to draw in shoppers who had opted to spend their money in earlier sales in the run-up to Christmas. Department stores, household good and sports equipment shops had already reported a boost due to January sales promotions. Noureddine Mouatassime is the owner of Artisan Stories, a home and interior store in Brixton, south London. He makes handmade leather bags in a studio in Morocco, but says a change in his customers' habits hit trade. He once employed 11 people to make the bags but he has had to lay off all but one. \"Before Covid, people would buy without even thinking twice,\" he told the BBC. \"Now they need to think a lot to buy something. They buy only what they need.\" A big January sale helped bring in custom, but he said it had eaten into his small business's profits. Liz McKeown, director of economics statistics at the ONS, said: \"The economy picked up in January with strong growth in retail and wholesaling.\" \"Construction also performed well with housebuilders having a good month, having been subdued for much of the last year.\" But these areas of growth were offset by falls in TV and film production, legal services and the pharmaceutical industry which can be quite volatile. In the three months to the end of January, the production sector, which also includes manufacturing, fell by 0.2% and services were flat. Further industrial action across the NHS and the rail industry may have dampened growth too, the ONS said, alongside the long-running impact of the Screen Actors Guild strikes in America, which wrapped up in December. Ms McKeown said: \"Over the last three months as a whole, the economy contracted slightly.\" People spending less, doctors' strikes and a fall in school attendance dragged the UK into a recession at the end of 2023. The economy shrank by 0.3% between October and December, after it had already contracted between July and September. The UK is in recession if it fails to grow for two successive quarters. Growing the economy was one of five key pledges that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made last year as consumers and businesses were squeezed by higher prices and interest rates. Most economists, politicians and businesses like to see gross domestic product (GDP) rising steadily because it usually means people are spending more, extra jobs are created, more tax is paid and workers get better pay rises. Responding to the latest figures, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: \"While the last few years have been tough, today's numbers show we are making progress in growing the economy - part of which makes it possible to bring down national insurance contributions by \u00a3900 this coming year. \"But if we want the rate of growth to pick up more we need to make work pay which means ending the unfairness of taxing work twice.\" Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, however, said that Britain remains \"worse off\" and that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's claims that his plan for the economy is working are \"already in tatters\". Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, cautioned that a more muted performance could follow in February, with wet weather potentially keeping shoppers indoors. He added that the squeeze from higher interest rates and persistent labour shortages could mean that the economic recovery \"is more downbeat\" than the government's financial watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is predicting. Coinciding with what could be the chancellor's last Budget before a General Election, the OBR said that it expects the UK economy will grow by 0.8% this year, with inflation forecast to fall below the Bank of England's target of 2% by the end of June. However, the ongoing of impact of higher interest rates which are aimed at slowing spending and bringing prices down, paired with weak investment by firms and in the public sector, could hold the economy back in the longer-term, Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK said. Other countries' economies have also struggled with energy price shocks and supply chain delays in the wake of the pandemic driving up costs, but the UK has seen growth stagnating for some time. Speaking to the BBC's Today programme on Wednesday, Liz McKeown from the ONS said that its survey of 40,000 firms showed that more than one in five companies did expect turnover to go up in March though. While she said that businesses were telling them of a \"mixed picture\" ahead, \"there are some signs of optimism\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK economy showed signs of recovery in January with a 0.2% growth, driven by increased retail and construction activity, suggesting a potential end to the recession that began in late 2023. The services sector, including retail and hairdressing, led the improvement, but falls in TV and film production, legal services, and pharmaceuticals offset some of the growth." + }, + { + "article": "Hassan Khan was returning from a holiday with his friends in Jordan when cabin crew called for a doctor A doctor flying home from holiday has described the \"miraculous\" moment he helped a woman give birth mid-flight. Hassan Khan said the flight from Amman, Jordan, to London Luton Airport, was two hours in on Saturday morning when the crew called for a doctor. The 28-year-old, who works at Basildon Hospital in Essex, said the woman was lying on the floor outside the cockpit and her waters had broken. She gave birth to a healthy girl, Dr Khan said. The flight attendants told him the baby was only the 75th infant to be born on a commercial flight, he added. Dr Khan said the baby was born healthily at about 04:00 GMT on Saturday He said the Wizz Air plane was diverted to Brindisi Airport, in southern Italy, so the 38-year-old woman and her child could be taken to hospital. \"I was actually late to my shift because of this diversion, but thankfully they were very impressed and wanted the full update,\" said Dr Khan, who has been a doctor for four years. \"My consultant congratulated me and said it was a really good job. \"People were saying it was miraculous. I only realised how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all.\" Dr Khan said the Jordanian woman did not speak English and another person on the flight had to translate during her delivery. He explained how his experience in neonatal resuscitation helped him bring the baby to full health after she came out \"a little bit blue\". \"I told the flight attendants what equipment I needed - which would include a neonatal-sized oxygen mask, a clamp for the umbilical cord and a stethoscope - none of which they had on a plane, of course,\" said Dr Khan, who used nothing but towels during the delivery. \"She was quite stressed about the whole situation but, through the translator, I managed to reassure her that I do have a bit of experience with newborns.\" The Basildon Hospital doctor had been holidaying in the Jordanian capital Amman The doctor said the family updated him from the hospital to say both the mum and baby were in a good condition. \"It was a big sigh of relief, some positive closure to the whole situation,\" he added. Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A doctor, Hassan Khan, helped a woman give birth to a healthy girl mid-flight on a Wizz Air plane from Amman, Jordan, to London Luton Airport, resulting in the aircraft being diverted to Brindisi, Italy, for medical assistance. The doctor, who works at Basildon Hospital, used towels for the delivery as no specialized equipment was available on board." + }, + { + "article": "The government has announced new measures to speed up compensation to victims of the Post Office scandal. An interim payment of \u00a3450,000 will be available to sub-postmasters who had convictions overturned, up from the current level of \u00a3163,000. Legislation to clear wrongly convicted sub-postmasters is also expected to be brought forward next month. Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake said the steps were \"unprecedented, but the right thing to do\". Announcing the measures to MPs, Mr Hollinrake confirmed hundreds of people wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal would have interim compensation payments increase, once they had submitted a full claim. The payments would be available to members of the Overturned Convictions Scheme and made while victims' final settlements are processed. Mr Hollinrake confirmed those connected to another compensation scheme, the Group Litigation Order (GLO) Scheme, would now be able to get 80% of their offer paid out if they decided to fight on for a better deal. He also told MPs that legislation aimed at exonerating wrongly convicted sub-postmasters is expected to be brought forward \"as soon as possible next month\". Reacting to the announcement, Chris Hodges, chair of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, said he anticipated the package would \"lead to much swifter payments and less hassle in many cases\". Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted due to faulty software. Incorrect information provided by a computer system called Horizon, developed by Japanese firm Fujitsu, meant that sub-postmasters and postmistresses were prosecuted for stealing money. Many of those convicted went to prison for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined. Some sub-postmasters caught up in the scandal have died in the intervening years. So far, 101 convictions have been overturned. There is no single compensation scheme for sub-postmasters to apply to, and individual eligibility will depend on the particular circumstances of an individual's case. The three main schemes are aimed at groups of victims who had different experiences of the scandal and include: Victims whose convictions are overturned can choose to take a fast-tracked \u00a3600,000 settlement, or can enter into negotiations if they feel they are entitled to more. All eligible people are entitled to the \"interim\" payment, which the Post Office minister announced would increase. As of 1 February 2024, approximately \u00a3160m has been paid to over 2,700 claimants across the three schemes. When the government's promised law to overturn all convictions linked to the scandal becomes a reality, hundreds more people will be eligible. Addressing the Commons, Mr Hollinrake said the government had committed to provide offers on a fully completed claim within 40 working days in 90% of cases. He added that serious consideration will be given to look at a third scheme - the Horizon Shortfall Scheme. As well as requirements relating to people eligible for exoneration under the legislation, Mr Hollinrake said those affected would have to sign a statement to the effect that they did not commit the crime for which they were convicted before they could receive financial redress. If they were subsequently found to have signed the statement falsely, Mr Hollinrake said they \"may be guilty of fraud\". How have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Tell us about your experience by emailing: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government has announced increased interim compensation of \u00a3450,000 for victims of the Post Office scandal, who had their convictions overturned, up from \u00a3163,000, with legislation to clear their names expected next month. This move comes as part of efforts to speed up compensation for those wrongly prosecuted due to faulty software, with hundreds of sub-postmasters affected by the issue." + }, + { + "article": "Protesters outside the Senate in February with placards reading \"my body my choice\" (L) and \"abortion in the constitution\" France is preparing to become the first country in the world to put the right to abortion in its constitution. On Monday, parliamentarians from the upper and lower chambers will meet in special session in the Palace of Versailles, summoned by President Emmanuel Macron. If, as expected, they vote for the government's motion by a three-fifths majority, then the country's 1958 constitution will be revised to enshrine women's \"guaranteed freedom\" to abort. It will be the 25th amendment to the Fifth Republic's founding document, and the first since 2008. Spurred by the end of federal protection of abortion rights in the US two years ago, supporters are exuberant over the revision - which they see as insurance against any similar backpedalling in France. Polls show around 85% of the French public support the reform. Resistance from right-wingers in parliament has failed to materialize. On 1 February French protestors voiced their support for abortion rights from a balcony during a debate on a draft law on the constitutionalisation of the right to abortion at the Senate in Paris Opposition, instead, has largely focused on the politics of the move: President Macron is accused of debasing the constitution for electoral ends. Critics say the revision is not necessarily wrong in itself, but unnecessary - and they see a weakened president trying to use the cause to boost his left-wing credentials and to flush out opposition to abortion. President Macron lacks a majority in the National Assembly and faces an uphill task getting any reforms into law. His January reshuffle of his government meanwhile slanted it to the right. Following controversial laws last year on pension reform and immigration, this has given the jitters to left-leaning components of his Renaissance party - for whom the abortion revision is now a welcome re-balancing. \"It is a big relief to be able to proclaim our unity again on an issue over which the whole of the party can agree. There have been a lot of tensions inside Renaissance, but now we can remind ourselves of the values we share,\" said one left-wing member of the party who asked not to be identified. The proposal, approved earlier by the lower house, the National Assembly, was backed by 267 votes to 50 on Wednesday But, in taking up what had originally been a left-wing parliamentary initiative, Mr Macron was doing more than just shoring up his left-wing support. He was also setting a trap. With European elections approaching in June, the president hoped the constitutional revision on abortion might open a clear fault line between his party and its main opponents, Marine Le Pen's far-right. If enough parliamentarians from the right and far-right objected to the reform, then they could easily be cast as reactionaries. Unfortunately for him, neither the Le Pen's National Rally (RN) nor the conservative Republicans (KLR) took the bait. Given a free vote in Assembly and Senate debates which preceded Monday's special congress, most right-wing parliamentarians voted for the bill. Which is not to say many of them did not have misgivings about the constitutional reform. They just decided it was not worth fighting. In fact the main argument against the revision has nothing to do with the matter of abortion. The argument is over whether abortion is a matter for the constitution. In France, the right to abortion has been enshrined in law - not, as it was in the US, by a single supreme court ruling - since 1975. Since then the law has been updated nine times - and on each occasion with the aim of extending access. France's constitutional council - the body that decides on the constitutionality of laws - has never raised a query. On 28 February, people held a banner which read \"Abortion is a fundamental right\" during a demonstration organised by the collective \"Abortion Europe, women decide\" In a 2001 ruling, the council based its approval of abortion on the notion of liberty enshrined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, which is technically part of the constitution. So, according to many jurists, abortion is already a constitutional right. \"Beyond being a symbol,\" says Anne Levade, a law professor at Paris-Sorbonne University, \"the revision will change absolutely nothing.\" She and other experts worry the purpose of the constitution - to set out a sparse set of immutable rules inside which law and politics can function - risks being undermined if it becomes a repository for a succession of \"rights\". What if in the future elected representatives become convinced having a child is also a right? Will surrogate motherhood be put in the constitution? Or what about gay marriage? Or the attainment of carbon reduction targets? \"There is a French particularity which leads politicians - in an almost Pavlovian way - to look for a constitutional change each time they want to signal the importance they attach to an issue,\" Levade laments. French professor of public law Anne Levade is in favour of abortion Supporters of the reform however say it must happen to guard against a new wave of \"reactionary\" social change in Europe that could bring to power those who are minded to restrict the right to abortion. They point to countries like Malta, Hungary and Poland where limits are already in place or the subject of much debate. \"In women's rights, symbols count,\" feminist lawyer Rachel-Flore Pardo said of the constitutional change. \"Tomorrow they become our battlements. To wait until abortion was actually under threat would be to wait too long.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "France is set to become the first country to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution, with parliamentarians from both chambers meeting to vote on the amendment. The move, supported by 85% of the French public, aims to safeguard abortion rights and is seen by some as a response to the US rollback of federal protection. Despite some criticism of the constitutional revision as unnecessary, it has broad support and is not expected to face significant opposition." + }, + { + "article": "The price of stamps will rise again on 2 April - the fourth increase in two years for the cost of sending a letter first class. Royal Mail said the price of a first-class stamp would rise by 10p to \u00a31.35 and second-class stamps would increase by 10p to 85p. It comes after warning by the loss-making firm over the impact of higher costs and lower demand for letters. On Monday, the BBC revealed the impact of problems with deliveries. The cost of sending a letter second class from the second of April - 85p - will be the same as it cost to send one first class at the start of 2022. Nick Landon, chief commercial officer at Royal Mail, said: \"We always consider price changes very carefully, but we face a situation where letter volumes have reduced dramatically over recent years while costs have increased. \"It is no longer sustainable to maintain a network built for 20 billion letters when we are now only delivering seven billion. \"As a result of letter volume decline, our posties now have to walk more than three times as far to deliver the same number of letters as before, increasing the delivery costs per letter.\" The company said that adults typically spent less than \u00a37 a year on stamped letters and people now received two letters a week on average. It said the cost of stamps remained below European averages. Royal Mail, which made a loss of \u00a3419m last year, has long-argued prices had to rise due to the lack of reform of the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service Obligation (USO). This requires the company to deliver letters to all 32 million UK addresses six days a week, Monday to Saturday. But parcel deliveries have become more popular - and more profitable - for Royal Mail, which has been a private business for about a decade since it was split from the Post Office. Change to the service now seems inevitable, with regulator Ofcom saying the postal service was \"getting out of date\" and action needed to be taken. Under possible reforms, Royal Mail could reduce the number of days it delivers letters from six per week to five or even three, Ofcom said. It estimated the company could save between \u00a3100m and \u00a3200m a year if delivery days were cut to five per week, and between \u00a3400m and \u00a3650m if there were just three postal days. Another option would be to extend the number of days it takes for most letters to be delivered. But ministers have said while they are happy for a debate reforms, the government is committed to keeping a six-day service. \"Royal Mail is choosing to hike prices at a time when millions are left waiting for letters - vital medical appointments, legal documents and benefit decisions - all thanks to post delays. Nobody should be paying more for an unreliable service,\" said Morgan Wild of Citizens Advice. \"Ofcom should be holding Royal Mail to account, but it's letting the company get away with rocketing prices and nearly half a decade of missed delivery targets. Enough is enough, it's time for the regulator to act.\" For more on the story of missed or late deliveries, watch Panorama on BBC iPlayer. Reporter Zoe Conway speaks to Royal Mail insiders about problems facing the company and hears from its management about how proposed changes may help stave off multi-million-pound losses.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The price of first-class stamps in the UK will increase by 10p to \u00a31.35 and second-class stamps by 10p to 85p from 2 April, marking the fourth rise in two years. Royal Mail, which is losing money, attributes the hike to declining letter volumes and rising costs, stating that its network is no longer sustainable for the current volume of mail." + }, + { + "article": "Actor Adan Canto, who was known for US TV shows like Designated Survivor and films including X-Men: Days of Future Past, has died at the age of 42. The Mexican star had suffered from appendiceal cancer, his publicist said. Canto was the national security adviser in Designated Survivor alongside Kiefer Sutherland, who paid tribute to the actor as \"such a wonderful spirit\". In the 2014 X-Men film, Canto played mutant Sunspot, and co-star Halle Berry later cast him in her movie Bruised. The actress and director wrote on Instagram: \"I don't have the words just yet\u2026 but my dear sweet friend Adan just gained his wings. Forever, forever in my heart.\" Canto's wife Stephanie Ann posted a photo of the couple, a Bible passage and the words: \"Forever my treasure Adan, see you soon.\" In a statement, his publicist Jennifer Allen said: \"Adan had a depth of spirit that few truly knew. Those who glimpsed it were changed forever. He will be greatly missed by so many.\" In his message, Sutherland added: \"As an actor his desire to do well, to be great, and then do better, was truly impressive and he will be greatly missed. I am also heartbroken for his wife, Steph and his two young children. Adan, may you rest in peace.\" Canto played Aaron Shore in Designated Survivor, which aired on the ABC network in 2016 and 17 before being picked up by Netflix for a third and final season. Co-star Maggie Q wrote: \"Beautiful friend\u2026 You are the level of person that Hollywood didn't even deserve. Kindness and warmth and generosity of spirit - total dedication to your family, and ALWAYS doing the right thing. No one had your moral compass nor did they even come close. \"I don't understand this. Anyone who knew you was a lucky one. That's all I do know.\" The actor was Sunspot, who can absorb and manipulate solar energy, in X-Men: Days of Future Past Italia Ricci, another Designated Survivor castmate, wrote that she was \"completely lost for words\". \"He was the strongest person I know in every sense of the word and I am so angry that this happened. No-one deserved this less than this sweet, brilliant, kind, and gentle man... \"I'm so sorry for everyone hurting at this devastating loss and am beyond heartbroken for his family. You'll be in my heart always.\" Canto went on to star as gangster Arman Morales in Fox's crime drama The Cleaning Lady in 2022. \"He'll always be our Arman,\" Fox posted on X. \"Adan Canto, your memory will be cherished forever.\" In a joint statement, Fox and Warner Bros Television described him as \"a wonderful actor and dear friend\". \"Most recently, he lit up the screen in The Cleaning Lady with a powerful performance that showcased his artistry, range, depth and vulnerability,\" the broadcasters said. \"This is an unfathomable loss, and we grieve alongside his wife Stephanie, their children and loved ones. We will miss Adan dearly.\" Canto made his breakthrough in the US in Fox thriller The Following with Kevin Bacon in 2013, and appeared in ABC sitcom Mixology and drama Blood & Oil. He also appeared as Colombian politician Rodrigo Lara Bonilla in Netflix's Narcos, and his film credits included spy thriller Agent Game in 2022.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Actor Adan Canto, known for his roles in Designated Survivor and X-Men: Days of Future Past, has passed away at age 42 due to appendiceal cancer. Tributes from co-stars and friends highlighted his kindness, spirit, and talent, with Kiefer Sutherland and Halle Berry among those expressing their grief." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Nottm Forest Nottingham Forest referee analyst Mark Clattenburg criticised the officiating in the build-up to Liverpool's dramatic winner at the City Ground on Saturday. Clattenburg added he was not allowed into the referees' dressing room to speak to Paul Tierney after the game. Forest players surrounded Tierney after full-time, fuming at the decision to give Liverpool the ball following a head injury to Ibrahima Konate. The home side had possession when play was stopped. However, Tierney restarted the game with the ball at the feet of Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. Darwin Nunez then scored the winning goal one minute and 50 seconds later. \"[Forest] should have had the ball back,\" Clattenburg, who took up his new role at the City Ground last month, told BBC Radio 5 Live. \"If the referee stops the game, he has to give the ball back to the team in possession. That was Forest.\" Forest coach Steven Reid was shown a red card for remonstrating with Tierney after the full-time whistle. Clattenburg currently stars on BBC TV show Gladiators and in his role at Forest was spotted with Howard Webb - head of referees' body the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) - during Forest's FA Cup defeat by Manchester United on Wednesday. He officiated in the Premier League for 13 years between 2004 and 2017. BBC Radio 5 live football reporter Rob Schofield described \"furious scenes\" at full-time with Reid and Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis pursuing the officials all the way to the referee's office. \"[Marinakis] was yelling 'respect the players, this happens every week',\" Schofield reported, before the Forest owner was ushered away. As per International Football Association Board (Ifab) rules, the former official was right in that the game should have restarted with a Forest ball. The decision did not lead directly to the goal, however, with Forest regaining possession before Nunez eventually scored the winner. \"When [the ball was] given to the keeper, with Liverpool scoring afterwards, you can see why [Forest] are aggrieved,\" Clattenburg continued. \"I haven't spoken to the referee - I'll leave that to the club. I went to go into the referee's dressing room [after the game] but he wouldn't allow it.\" The result leaves Forest in 17th place, four points above the relegation zone, having played a game more. They have been charged by the Premier League for an alleged breach of profit and sustainability rules (PSR) in their 2022-23 accounts, which could lead to a points deduction before the end of the campaign. Speaking on Match of the Day, former Premier League striker Alan Shearer said the referee had dropped a \"big clanger\". \"He's got it totally wrong,\" he said. \"Hudson-Odoi has the ball and then he blows. He then gives the ball back, unchallenged to the [Liverpool] goalkeeper, which is totally wrong. \"It should be a Forest ball on the wing where it was touched. I get the time point - one minute and 50 seconds - to a certain degree. But if you drop it to where Forest should have had it, everything changes.\" Fellow MOTD pundit Jermaine Jenas added: \"I think it is a shocking decision. Forest have got Liverpool under pressure, Hudson-Odoi might get anther corner, there might be another shot on goal. And to release that pressure in that moment, at that point of that game, is massive. It's a big one for Forest to have to take and move on from.\" In August, Forest lodged a complaint with referees' body the PGMOL over the performance of the officials in their 3-2 defeat at Manchester United. Clattenburg said it was too early to decide if they would be making an official complaint to PGMOL. Manager Nuno Espirito Santo was also furious with the decision to allow two of Brentford's goals in the Bees' triumph over Forest in January, while he also felt his team should have been awarded a \"clear penalty\" for a foul on Taiwo Awoniyi in last month's defeat by Newcastle. \"Forest have felt a lot of decisions have gone against them,\" Clattenburg said. \"Everyone is upset and sad that they've lost this way. \"We need to hope the club's luck changes in the future.\" Former Premier League referee Mike Dean told Sky Sports on Sunday that Tierney had made a \"monumental error\". He criticised Forest owner Marinakis for being on the pitch at full-time, saying \"we don't want scenes like that at the end of the game\". Dean said: \"Unfortunately for Paul [Tierney], it is a mistake and it is a bad one. It leads to a goal, eventually. \"There has been a big fallout and rightly so - it's a big error. \"Paul will be devastated because a goal came from it. He will sit down and assess - with his team - what they could have done differently. \"I was surprised the chairman came down I've never seen that before in the Premier League.\" On his former colleague Clattenburg speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live about the refereeing performance, Dean added: \"Mark's got a job to do for Nottingham Forest, he's allowed to do that, but not to go and see the ref. And the ref has the power to say: 'I don't want to see anyone.'\" \u2022 None Our coverage of Nottingham Forest is bigger and better than ever before - here's everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment \u2022 None Everything Forest - go straight to all the best content", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Nottingham Forest's referee analyst, Mark Clattenburg, criticized the officiating in Liverpool's match-winning goal at the City Ground, stating Forest should have had the ball back after a stoppage due to Ibrahima Konate's head injury. Forest coach Steven Reid was sent off for protesting the decision, and owner Evangelos Marinakis confronted the officials. Former Premier League referee Mike Dean called it a \"monumental error\" by referee Paul Tierney, while Forest faces potential points deduction for alleged breach of profit and sustainability rules." + }, + { + "article": "Some prisoners could be released up to two months early to relieve overcrowding in jails in England and Wales, the justice secretary has said. Alex Chalk said the policy would only apply to \"certain low-level offenders\". Last autumn, he announced \"less serious offenders\" could be released up to 18 days early. This has now been extended to between 35 and 60 days. Labour said the government had failed to build enough prisons and that the announcement had been \"snuck out\". The prison population has ballooned in recent decades as a result of tougher sentences and court backlogs. Mr Chalk said the changes - which were published on the UK Parliament website - would be for a \"limited period\". No timeframe was given. He added that \"where necessary, electronic monitoring will be applied\" to \"enhance public protection\". According to figures from the Ministry of Justice, the prison population stood at 88,220 as of 8 March. Operational capacity is just over 89,000. Projections released by the government suggest that the prison population could reach 94,400 by March 2025 and between 93,100 and 106,300 by March 2027. The Howard League, a prisons charity, states that the prison estate should not hold more than 79,597 people. Mr Chalk is the justice secretary for England and Wales. The prison services in Scotland and Northern Ireland are devolved, meaning they are under the control of the respective nations. As well as the early release of some prisoners, Mr Chalk outlined a number of other points to \"ensure\" the government has \"sufficient prison capacity in order to lock up the most serious and dangerous offenders\". Shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said the situation was \"a crisis of the Tories' own making\" and that it \"puts the public at risk\". \"Successive Conservative governments have failed to build enough prison places,\" she said. \"This has led to them granting early release to violent criminals, domestic abusers, and burglars.\" She accused the government of \"releasing prisoners in secret\" and said the public would be \"rightly alarmed\" that it had \"activated a supposedly temporary scheme indefinitely\". \"The justice secretary has a duty to be candid with the public,\" she said. \"After 14 years of the Tories, prison violence is still rocketing, staff are leaving in droves, and high reoffending rates mean prison leavers often end up back in custody. \"A Labour government would get\u2026 new prisons built to ease the capacity crisis. And we'll make prisons work as part of our mission [to] make Britain's streets safe.\" A report published last summer by the recently sacked independent borders inspector, David Neal, was critical of the Home Office's handling of FNO cases. It found that two schemes - the Early Removal Scheme and the Facilitated Return Scheme (both designed to deport FNOs) - were not being administered effectively. The report found that \"the quality of data provided was so poor that case sampling exercises could not be carried out with any reliability\". \u2022 None Early release for some offenders in jail reforms", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The justice secretary in England and Wales has announced that certain low-level prisoners may be released up to two months early to address overcrowding in jails, with the possibility of electronic monitoring for public protection. This extension from 18 days to 35-60 days comes as the prison population is projected to increase, and Labour accuses the government of failing to build enough prisons, releasing offenders secretly, and jeopardizing public safety." + }, + { + "article": "Trepova said she thought the statuette which killed Tatarsky contained a listening device, not a bomb Russian woman Darya Trepova has been sentenced to 27 years in jail for the killing of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky last April. Tatarsky was killed by a bomb in a statuette Trepova gave him, as he was about to give a talk in St Petersburg. Dozens were injured in the blast. Trepova, 26, denied the charges, saying she thought the statuette contained a listening device. She said she had acted on the orders of a Ukrainian contact, and was set up. The sentence is one of the harshest imposed on a woman in Russia's history. The attack on Tatarsky, 40, (real name Maxim Fomin) happened on 2 April, 2023. Trepova was charged with \"a terrorist act carried out by an organised group causing intentional death\" and the \"illegal possession of explosive devices by an organised group\". Russian investigators have accused Ukraine of being behind the attack, and Ukrainian officials have neither confirmed nor denied this. But Trepova gave evidence in court that she was following orders from a man in Ukraine known as Gestalt (German for \"shape\"). His identity is not known. She said she made contact with him via Ukraine-based journalist Roman Popkov. She is opposed to Russia's war in Ukraine and had been seeking to go there to work as a journalist. Trepova said that under Gestalt's instruction she gained Tatarsky's trust, introducing herself to him as an art student named Anastasia Kriulina and attending his talks. In March Gestalt sent her the statuette, she said, assuring her that it contained a wiretap and a tracker. She said she expressed concern that it might contain a bomb. \"I feel great pain and shame that my gullibility and my naivety led to such catastrophic consequences. I didn't want to hurt anyone,\" Trepova told the court this week, quoted by Reuters. \"I feel especial pain and shame that a terrorist act was carried out by my own hands.\" Vladlen Tatarsky criticised the military over its conduct of the war in Ukraine Tatarsky was a well-known blogger with more than half a million followers, and had a criminal past. Born in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, he said he joined Russian-backed separatists when they released him from jail, where he was serving time for armed robbery. He was part of a pro-Kremlin military blogger community that has taken on a relatively high-profile role since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Tatarsky was among those who have gone so far as to criticise the Russian authorities, slamming the military and even President Vladimir Putin for setbacks on the battlefield. But he was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage by Mr Putin. Trepova's sentencing comes just after another controversial pro-war figure, the former commander of Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine Igor Girkin, was sentenced to four years in jail for \"calls to carry out extremist activities\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: The moments leading up to St Petersburg cafe explosion", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Russian woman Darya Trepova has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for the murder of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed by a bomb in a statuette she gave him during an event in St Petersburg. Trepova claimed she believed the object contained a listening device and was acting on orders from a Ukrainian contact, but her defense was not accepted by the court." + }, + { + "article": "A senior Tory MP has called for his party to replace Rishi Sunak as prime minister or be \"massacred\" in the general election. Writing in the Telegraph, former cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke said the Conservatives had lost \"key voters\" by failing to be bold on immigration. But his article was criticised by several other ex-ministers. Former Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel accused Sir Simon of \"engaging in facile and divisive self indulgence\". And Sir David Davis, a former Brexit secretary, said: \"The party and the country are sick and tired of MPs putting their own leadership ambitions ahead of the UK's best interests.\" Lee Anderson, who joined Sir Simon in rebelling over the Rwanda Bill last week, said there was \"no chance\" of Mr Sunak being removed before the next election. He urged his colleagues to get behind the PM, telling the Telegraph \"our only chance to win the next election is by keeping Rishi in No 10\". Home Secretary James Cleverly said he \"could not disagree with [Sir Simon] more on this particular issue\". He argued Mr Sunak was succeeding in his attempts to cut inflation and reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats. \"If we were to do something as foolish as have an internal argument at this stage, all it would do is open the door for Keir Starmer,\" he said. Sir Simon denied he was \"positioning myself or on behalf of another\". \"I am speaking out because the stakes for our country and my party are too high to stay silent,\" the MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland added. A general election is expected in the second half of this year, with 28 January 2025 the latest date one could legally be held. Sir Simon is now the second former minister publicly calling for Mr Sunak to resign. Former education minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns submitted a letter of no confidence in the prime minister in November. After serving as chief secretary to the Treasury while Mr Sunak was chancellor, Sir Simon became an enthusiastic supporter of Liz Truss's leadership bid and joined her cabinet. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Rishi Sunak is asked by the Labour leader why his own MPs consider him an \"obstacle to recovery\". A source close to Ms Truss said she \"had no idea what Simon Clarke is/was up to and is in no way supportive of what he is saying\". Conservative MPs can only trigger a leadership election if 53 MPs write to the chair of the 1922 Committee requesting one. In his Telegraph op-ed, Sir Simon said \"the Conservative Party under Rishi Sunak once again stands on the opposite, crumbling bank of this widening precipice\". The former levelling up secretary said Tory MPs might be \"afraid\" of electing a fourth leader in two years but asked: \"Which is worse: a week of chaotic headlines in Westminster, or a decade of decline under Keir?\" Sir Simon's comments come after a week of open rebellion against Mr Sunak over his flagship Rwanda Bill, which aims to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats. Last week 61 Conservative MPs voted to change the bill as it went through Parliament - the biggest rebellion of Mr Sunak's premiership. In the end their attempts failed and only 11, including Sir Simon, voted against the bill as a whole. But debate over the legislation exposed ongoing divisions within the party, with two deputy chairmen, Mr Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith, quitting their roles in order to vote for changes. It is not anticipated that two of the most prominent rebels - former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick - are about to join calls for the PM to go. However, Mr Sunak's critics say discontent with his leadership extends beyond the Rwanda rebels. During Prime Minister's Questions, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Sunak of \"endlessly fighting with his own MPs\". \"We have seen this story time and time again with this lot, party first, country second,\" he said. \"The country forced to endure their division and chaos, the longest episode of Eastenders ever put to film.\" Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said it was \"utterly ludicrous that the Conservative Party is even discussing installing a fourth prime minister without giving voters a say\". Mr Sunak is the third Conservative prime minister since the 2019 election, after MPs deposed both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in 2022. There has been a sense of gloom among Conservatives over the past few weeks as Mr Sunak's repeated attempts to gain the upper hand politically have failed to make a dent in their standing, with the party trailing Labour by 18 points in polls. A general election poll of 14,000 people by YouGov projected Labour was on course for a 120-seat majority as things stand. If accurate, the poll would mean \"more Tory seats being lost than in 1997, the Red Wall being wiped out completely and shocking defeats in historic Tory constituencies like Chichester, Horsham and Banbury,\" Sir Simon said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A senior Tory MP, Sir Simon Clarke, has called for Rishi Sunak to be replaced as prime minister, warning the Conservative Party will suffer in the general election if it doesn't take bold action on immigration. However, his call was criticized by other ex-ministers, with some accusing him of self-indulgence and putting personal ambitions ahead of the country's interests. Despite this, Home Secretary James Cleverly expressed support for Sunak, stating that internal party disputes would only benefit the opposition." + }, + { + "article": "Owners of Nissan Leaf electric cars have accused the firm of \"dumping its pioneers\" after it announced its app would stop working for older vehicles. The firm says the app - which allows remote control of functions such as heating - is stopping because the UK's 2G network is being switched off. But customers have reacted with anger, telling the BBC they did not expect it to be withdrawn. Experts expect the issue to affect more electric vehicles as the market grows. Around 3,000 Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 cars made before 2016 are affected by the app being withdrawn. These older vehicles are fitted with 2G control units which communicate with the app. Nissan told the BBC: \"The NissanConnect EV app currently linked to Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 vehicles produced up until 2016 will shut down from 1 April 2024 in preparation of the 2G technology sunset.\" It added: \"Owners will, however, still be able to use key features such as Climate Control Timer and Charging Timer directly from their car's Navigation System.\" Affected drivers have told the BBC of their disappointment - in part because mobile network operators will not be phasing out 2G until the end of the decade. \"I was very surprised,\" said Max Siegieda, a 2013 Nissan Leaf owner in Manchester. \"I would have expected at least six months, 12 months, something like that to arrange alternatives. This is a key feature of the car that's going away.\" He said the app's remote access for features such as heating the car or charging remotely at cheaper times was \"a major selling point\" when he bought the car second-hand in 2022. He was already considering upgrading but now says he would be \"reluctant\" to buy another Nissan \"because of the lack of notice\" they gave about the app shutdown. Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission. David Morris, who has a 2014 Nissan Leaf, received an email on Wednesday which said his app will stop working next month. \"When you buy a car you expect to have support for it for at least 10 years,\" he told BBC News. \"Would I buy another one again, from this manufacturer, if they're not going to support it for a long term? Not sure,\" Mr Morris said. Though this issue affects a relatively small number of drivers, experts predict many more vehicle owners will encounter similar problems in the future. Dr Benjamin Gorman, a senior lecturer at Bournemouth University, said Nissan \"really should have built in some kind of backward compatibility\" so that the car could still connect by plugging in a phone or through Bluetooth, adding that \"it is bad design.\" But he said, in the future, other electric vehicle owners could also see their software eventually lose functionality as technology moved on, and companies stopped issuing updates. He also pointed to broader trends within the industry, such as some car manufacturers starting to charge a monthly subscription fee for access to extra features such as apps. \"I think it's going to be a much wider issue, because essentially, manufacturers are increasingly moving to selling hardware as a service,\" said Dr Gorman. However, Sam Sheehan, motoring editor at car firm Cinch, said it was important to keep the problem in perspective, with this case having a lot to do with the Leaf being a trailblazer. \"It was initially the only mass-market EV [electric vehicle] on sale, which means the connected software it uses is very old,\" he told the BBC. Mr Sheehan predicts that while newer cars will eventually lose some functionality as technology moves on it's likely they will \"stay working for much, much longer than the first Leaf's ancient tech.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Nissan is facing criticism from owners of older Leaf electric cars after announcing its app will stop working for these vehicles due to the UK's 2G network being switched off. Around 3,000 pre-2016 Leafs and e-NV200s are affected, with owners expressing disappointment over the loss of remote control features, especially since 2G networks are not due to be fully phased out until the end of the decade. Nissan says affected owners can still use key features through their car's navigation system." + }, + { + "article": "The Palestine Red Crescent Society said there had been heavy fighting around al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis The Israeli military says its ground forces have encircled Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip's largest city. Troops have also reportedly advanced deeper into remaining parts of the city, where they believe Hamas leaders are hiding in tunnels with hostages. Residents said tanks had shut the last road out of the city to the Mediterranean coast, effectively stopping them from fleeing southwards. There was also intense fighting around the city's two main hospitals. It came as funerals took place for some of the 24 Israeli soldiers killed on Monday on the deadliest day for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since the start of its ground offensive in Gaza 12 weeks ago. At least 195 Palestinians were also killed in Gaza over the previous 24 hours, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry says more than 25,400 people have been killed - mostly children and women - during the war between Hamas and Israel. It was triggered by an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed - most of them civilians - and about 250 others taken hostage. Israeli ground forces expanded their operation into southern Gaza in early December, after largely taking control of Hamas strongholds in the north. Within days they were said to have reached the \"heart\" of Khan Younis, where hundreds of thousands of people who had fled northern areas were sheltering. But the troops have since faced fierce resistance from Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade. It is considered to be one of the two strongest in the group, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and other countries. The Israeli operation has expanded and intensified in recent days, with dozens of people reported killed in air and artillery strikes on Monday alone as tanks pushed into the west and centre of the city. On Tuesday, the IDF put out a statement saying that over the past day its troops had \"carried out an extensive operation during which they encircled Khan Yunis and deepened the operation in the area\". The troops had \"engaged in close-quarters combat, directed [air] strikes, and used intelligence to co-ordinate fire, resulting in the elimination of dozens of terrorists\", it added. Israeli forces have pushed into the remaining parts of Khan Younis, seen as a stronghold of Hamas The IDF also ordered residents of western Khan Younis to move immediately to the al-Mawasi area, on the Mediterranean coast, for their own safety. However, some witnesses said tanks had blocked the road leading there, preventing them from joining the estimated million people currently sheltering to the south in Rafah, on the border with Egypt. \"I am trying to leave for Rafah but the tanks are now very near to the coast and are firing toward the west,\" Shaban, an electrical engineer with four children, told Reuters news agency. The World Health Organization meanwhile said it was deeply concerned by reports of attacks on hospitals in Khan Younis. On Tuesday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said a civilian had been killed by an Israeli drone at the entrance of Al-Amal Hospital, which it runs, and that others had been injured when shells struck its nearby headquarters. \"The situation remains extremely dangerous. Early this morning, there was direct artillery shelling of the Palestine Red Crescent's headquarters on the fourth floor. Israeli drones did not stop firing at people at al-Amal Hospital,\" spokeswoman Nebal Farsakh told the BBC from Ramallah. \"[There is] panic and fear among thousands of displaced people who are taking shelter inside our facilities.\" There was no immediate comment from the IDF, but it has previously accused Hamas fighters of embedding themselves among the civilian population and operating in and around medical facilities. Ms Farsakh also said ambulances were \"facing significant challenges to reach wounded people and transport them to hospitals\", adding that they were now being told to take critical cases to Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. And she warned that Al-Amal and the nearby Nasser Medical Complex - the largest of the 14 hospitals still partly working in Gaza - were \"overwhelmed and overcrowded\". Dr Haytham Ahmad, who works in Nasser's emergency department, told the BBC that multiple amputations were being performed, and that in some cases, patients were not being given anaesthetic because of a shortage of supplies. \"These cases have severe crush injuries and there is just some skin and muscle still connected. We try to use limited anaesthetic in this situation,\" he said. A World Health Organization spokesman said Nasser was \"now basically besieged\" and that there was \"no way in and out\" for its 400 patients, as well as the medical staff treating them and displaced civilians. Gaza's health ministry alleged that Israeli forces had fired \"heavily on the upper floors of the specialised surgery building and the emergency building\" of the hospital. One video filmed by a Palestinian journalist appeared to show gunfire hitting the hospital's western corner, while in another clip smoke is seen rising from an area to the south. The IDF told AFP news agency that it was \"not aware of the event\". Some residents of Khan Younis were able to flee along the coastal road to Rafah Later, UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was \"appalling\" and that the entire population was \"enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history\". He also once again appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said it was \"engaging in serious discussions with both sides\" on a potential deal, and a Palestinian official told the BBC that a Hamas delegation had arrived in Cairo on Tuesday morning to \"discuss new proposals\" with Egypt's intelligence minister. Israel has not denied that it has proposed a two-month truce, involving the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. But there are reports that has already been rejected by Hamas, which demands a permanent ceasefire. Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Heavy fighting has erupted around al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, as Israeli ground forces encircle the city, with reports of troops advancing and intense clashes near medical facilities. At least 195 Palestinians and 24 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the recent escalation, with the Israeli military targeting Hamas leaders believed to be hiding in tunnels. The World Health Organization expresses concern over attacks on hospitals, while residents face difficulties fleeing the area." + }, + { + "article": "A protester outside the Supreme Court in September last year Israel's Supreme Court has struck down a controversial judicial reform that triggered nationwide protests last year against the Netanyahu government. The change would have limited the power of the Supreme Court in overturning laws it deemed unconstitutional. Critics say it would have severely undermined the country's democracy by weakening the judicial system. There is strong opposition to the current Netanyahu government, seen as the most right-wing in Israeli history. The Supreme Court's decision to overturn the law passed by the government in 2023 follows months of internal turmoil. In July, the government passed into law what is now known as the \"reasonableness\" bill. This removed the power of the Supreme Court and lower courts in Israel to cancel government decisions it deemed to be \"extremely unreasonable\". The law caused widespread anger and division, prompting hundreds of thousands of protesters to take the streets calling for the reforms to be scrapped - and for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Organisers said the weekly protests were the biggest street demonstrations in Israel's history. At the time, hundreds of military reservists - including air force pilots - threatened to refuse to report for service, which led to warnings that this could impair Israel's military capabilities. A statement from the Supreme Court said that 8 out of 15 judges ruled against the law, adding it would have caused \"severe and unprecedented damage to the basic characteristics of the State of Israel as a democratic state\". Israel's justice minister and architect of the law Yariv Levin criticised the judges for \"taking into their hands all the powers\" and called their decision to strike it down undemocratic. But opposition leader Yair Lapid welcomed the verdict, saying on X (formerly Twitter) that the country's top court had \"faithfully fulfilled its role in protecting the citizens of Israel\". One of the organisers involved in last year's large-scale protests against the law also welcomed the court's ruling. Shikma Bressler said in a video statement that the Supreme Court had for the moment removed \"the sword of dictatorship from around our necks\". The \"reasonableness\" law was part of a wider series of judicial reforms introduced by the Netanyahu government. These would have weakened the power of the Supreme Court to review or throw out laws, enabling a simple majority of one in the Knesset (parliament) to overrule such decisions. The government has also attempted to gain greater power over appointing judges, and to scrap the requirement for ministers to obey the advice of their legal advisers. Mr Netanyahu has argued that the changes are required to redress the balance between the judges and the politicians. The Supreme Court's ruling threatens to further undermine confidence in his government. Mr Netanyahu's Likud party said the decision opposed \"the will of the people for unity, especially during wartime\". Israel's leadership has been under pressure domestically for its perceived failure for preventing Hamas's attack on 7 October, and for so far proving unable to rescue all the Israeli hostages who were taken into Gaza. \u2022 None What is the crisis in Israel about?", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israel's Supreme Court has overturned a judicial reform law that would have limited its power to strike down unconstitutional laws, a move that sparked nationwide protests last year. The law, part of a broader package of reforms by the Netanyahu government, was criticized for potentially undermining the country's democracy by weakening the judiciary. The court's decision, with 8 out of 15 judges against the law, was hailed by opposition leaders but condemned by the justice minister, Yariv Levin." + }, + { + "article": "Amy Schumer: \"It has been a crazy couple weeks for me and my family\" Actress and director Amy Schumer has revealed she has Cushing's Syndrome, caused by having steroid injections in high doses. She revealed the condition after being swarmed by comments about her face, with fans saying it looked \"puffier\" during recent TV interviews. In her initial response, Schumer attributed the change in her appearance to endometriosis. The subsequent Cushing's diagnosis left her feeling \"reborn\", she said. \"There are a few types of Cushing. Some that can be fatal, require brain surgery or removal of adrenal glands,\" the actress told the News Not Noise newsletter. \"I have the kind of Cushing that will just work itself out and I'm healthy [which] was the greatest news imaginable,\" she added. Cushing's syndrome occurs when a person has elevated levels of cortisol, the body's primary stress hormone, inside the body for a long time. It mostly affects people on steroids. Jessica Yellin, who founded News Not Noise, said she had reached out to Schumer after reading about the online discourse about her appearance. Schumer replied that she had sought medical advice after reading the comments. \"I was also in MRI machines four hours at a time, having my veins shut down from the amount of blood drawn and thinking I may not be around to see my son grow up,\" she told Yellin. \"Aside from fears about my health, I also had to be on camera having the internet chime in. \"But thank God for that. Because that's how I realised something was wrong.\" Amy Schumer said she felt \"strong and beautiful and so proud of this TV show I created\" Schumer had appeared on US TV earlier this month to talk about season two of the sitcom Life And Beth, which she writes, directs and stars in. During the promotional tour, the actress, who has also starred in the sketch show Inside Amy Schumer, the 2015 film Trainwreck and 2018's I Feel Pretty, visited The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and The View. Afterwards she faced a barrage of jokes mocking her face, as well as medical speculation and supportive comments. \"I've enjoyed feedback and deliberation about my appearance,\" she said. Adopting a semi-serious tone, the actress added on Instagram that she had endured such speculation \"for almost 20 years [...] as all women do\". The NHS website says the syndrome can be serious if not treated, and is uncommon. It is often a result of people taking steroid medicine, especially tablets, for a long time, which contain a synthetic version of cortisol. Very rarely, the syndrome can be caused by the body producing too much cortisol, caused by a tumour in the pituitary gland in the brain or in one of the adrenal glands above the kidneys. Cortisol is known as your \"fight or flight\" hormone. When it sends out alarm signals to the brain in response to stress, it can influence almost every system in the body, from the immune system to digestion and sleep. The syndrome is usually benign [non-cancerous] and most common in young women. Symptoms tend to get slowly worse if not treated, and the website said one of the main signs is weight gain and more body fat. Symptoms can include: Other symptoms include skin that bruises easily, large purple stretch marks, weakness in your upper arms and thighs, reduced libido and fertility problems, depression and mood swings. The Pituitary Foundation, which provides support about Cushing's Syndrome in the UK, told the BBC they were sorry to hear about Schumer's diagnosis, saying it was \"encouraging to see her raising awareness of her condition\". They wished Schumer \"all the best in her recovery\" and encouraged anyone who thinks they may have it to contact their GP. \"Cushing's syndrome is rare, affecting only a few people in every million, per year,\" a spokeswoman said. \"Some people live with symptoms for many years, so raising awareness is key to ensuring that people can get a diagnosis.\" The spokeswoman added that other symptoms could include \"excessive hair growth, irregular periods and feeling more irritable and anxious\". Praising News Not Noise as her \"favourite credible news source\", Schumer said she wanted to \"advocate for women's health\". \"I want so much for women to love themselves and be relentless when fighting for their own health in a system that usually doesn't believe them,\" she said. \"I want women to value feeling strong, healthy and comfortable in their own skin.\" She has previously spoken about body positivity, and said it was important to \"advocate for self love and acceptance of the skin you're in\". \"The only other thing I'd like to add is that this is a good example of the fact that we never know what is going on with someone,\" she said. \"Everyone is struggling with something. Maybe we can all be a little kinder to each other and ourselves.\" Schumer added that comments about her son's name in 2020 had prompted a similar period of self-reflection. The actress had initially planned to call him Gene Attell, with his middle name a nod to her friend, the comic Dave Attell. People online were quick to point out that the name \"sounds like genital\". As a result, she changed it to Gene David. \"I realised I had named my son something that didn't sound so good,\" she said. \"The internet is undefeated, as they say\". The actress, who co-hosted the 2022 Oscars, also announced she had Lyme disease in 2020.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Actress and comedian Amy Schumer has revealed she has Cushing's Syndrome, a condition caused by high doses of steroid injections, which led to her face appearing puffier, sparking online commentary. Schumer, after seeking medical advice, shared her diagnosis and expressed gratitude for the awareness it raised, emphasizing the importance of women's health and self-love." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of \"laughing\" at an Iceland supermarket worker who is struggling to pay his mortgage. The Labour leader said Phil, from Warrington, \"told me that his mortgage is going up by a staggering \u00a31,000 a month\", at Prime Minister's Questions. He said the PM \"just doesn't get how hard it is for millions of people across the country like Phil\". Mr Sunak said help was available for people coming off fixed rate mortgages. And he said inflation had halved thanks to actions taken by the government and workers across the country were benefitting from National Insurance cuts. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle started this week's PMQs by urging both sides to exercise \"self-restraint\". But he was still forced to step in several times to calm MPs down. At one point Sir Keir - who was being heckled by Conservative MPs - told the Commons: \"Laughing at an employee at Iceland who is struggling with his mortgage - shame.\" He later accused Mr Sunak himself of laughing at Phil - as he continued his recent campaign to portray the PM as being out of touch with the lives of ordinary voters. He said higher mortgage payments were a direct result of the Conservatives \"crashing\" the economy - and he mocked the PM over Tory MP George Freeman saying he had quit as a minister because he was struggling to pay his mortgage. \"He [Mr Sunak] says everything is fine, people are better off, but when people see their mortgages going up, their council tax going up, food prices still going up, who does he expect them to believe, his boasts or their bank accounts?\" said the Labour leader. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Labour 'shameful' for not backing end of bank bonus cap - SNP's Stephen Flynn In a swipe at Mr Sunak's personal wealth, he said a mortgage rise \"might not sound much\" to the prime minister, but that \"most people don't have that sort of money\". Mr Sunak hit back by accusing the Labour leader of resorting to \"the politics of envy\". He then turned his fire on Labour's pledge to borrow to invest \u00a328bn a year on green policies, arguing that it would have to be funded by higher taxes. There are disagreements within Labour about whether to scale back or impose new conditions on the plan. While they decide what to do, Mr Sunak took pleasure in highlighting the issue repeatedly. The PM also said he was \"genuinely surprised\" to see shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves say Labour would not reinstate a cap on bonuses for bankers. He told Sir Keir: \"I don't know if he mentioned that to Phil when he was having a chat with him. \"I can tell him that trust and economic credibility come from sticking to a plan, but it's becoming clear that you cannot trust a word that he says.\" The SNP's leader at Westminster. Stephen Flynn, called Labour's position on bankers' bonuses \"shameful\" and accused Sir Keir's party of joining the government in being \"completely out of touch with public opinion\". But the session was dominated by claim and counter-claim about higher mortgage rates when fixed-rate deals expire, with the PM talking up government support he said was available. \"As a result of the ability to extend their mortgage term or switch to a six-month interest-only mortgage they will be able to save hundreds of pounds,\" said the PM. If you put the example the prime minister gave into a mortgage calculator it is clear that extending the term can reduce the monthly payments by hundreds of pounds, but it also significantly increases the total amount paid over the lifetime of the mortgage, so it is not an overall saving. And Mr Sunak claimed \"Phil and millions of workers - not just at Iceland but across the country - are benefitting this month in their pay packets from a tax cut worth hundreds of pounds for someone on an average salary\". Sir Keir disputed this, saying: \"For every \u00a32 he says he's giving people back, he's taking \u00a310 out of their back pocket in higher tax.\" This claim is based on forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), but as BBC Verify has pointed out they are for 2028-29, so it is misleading to apply them to the present day. Challenged on the PM's claims that people coming off fixed rate mortgages could essentially be paying the same amount, when this is only true for a small number, Downing Street said: \"Rates will vary depending on circumstances. \"What's important is through halving inflation you're starting to see signs that mortgage rates are coming down. We have introduced a raft of support.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Labour's Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of laughing at the financial struggles of an Iceland worker facing a \u00a31,000 monthly mortgage increase, while Sunak highlighted help available for those with rising mortgage costs and claimed inflation halving was benefiting workers. Sunak criticized Labour's economic plans, and the session saw disputes over mortgage rates and Labour's stance on bankers' bonuses." + }, + { + "article": "Insp Owen Hurley received a reduction in rank after being caught selling his trousers online for \u00a34 An inspector who sold his police trousers for \u00a34 online has had his rank reduced after being found guilty of gross misconduct at a hearing. Owen Hurley of Hertfordshire Police admitted he sold the item on Vinted, a second-hand selling app. He told the misconduct hearing the trousers had been in his wardrobe at home for \"a long time\" and he wanted to \"make space\" after redecorating. Mr Hurley was reduced to the rank of sergeant, effective immediately. The trousers were spotted and reported to the force by a member of the public in summer 2023. At the hearing on Tuesday Mr Hurley described the sale as \"a mistake.\" He confirmed the trousers did not bear a police logo or insignia, but admitted the listing on Vinted indicated they were police issue. Chief Constable Charlie Hall found the former inspector had ordered two new pairs of police trousers in January 2023, which were the same size as the items listed on the app. Mr Hurley, who had served for 15 years, had said the old trousers were a poor fit. Counsel on behalf of the officer said \"not every mistake is unethical\" and argued that in selling the item in his own name, Sgt Hurley had never tried to conceal his behaviour in a way which suggested deliberate wrongdoing. They said the former inspector is \"highly thought of\" by his colleagues. Facing questions from the chief constable, Sgt Hurley said members of the public and his colleagues would likely view the incident as a \"stupid mistake, doing something without thinking\". He denied the incident amounted to gross misconduct and confirmed he engaged \"proactively\" in the investigation into his behaviour. He said it wasn't about the money and added: \"It was only when PSD (professional standards department) made me aware that I actually thought how gross a mistake it was.\" The chief constable said letting the issue lie could have created a \"slippery slope - one that [he] cannot allow to get a foothold\" and demoted the officer. He said: \"A member of the public was sufficiently angry to report this. \"You have described it as a mistake... I would describe it as stupid.\" He said dismissal \"is not proportionate\" but a reduction in rank to sergeant recognises that the former inspector's line management role is an aggravating factor in the case. Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A police inspector, Owen Hurley, was demoted to sergeant for selling his police trousers on a second-hand app for \u00a34, admitting it was a mistake at a misconduct hearing. The trousers, though not bearing a police logo, were identified as police issue by a member of the public, leading to the investigation and punishment, with the chief constable stating it was a \"stupid mistake\" but not gross misconduct warranting dismissal." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: How the Supreme Court hearing on Colorado's ballot ban on Trump unfolded The US Supreme Court appeared sceptical of Colorado's move to bar Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary, during tough questioning on Thursday. The ex-president was removed from the ballot by Colorado's top court in December under the 14th Amendment. At the hearing, justices grilled the attorney defending the move about its constitutionality, its real-world consequences and defining \"insurrection\". It is unclear when the court will rule. Mr Trump, who did not attend the hearing, remains the overwhelming favourite to clinch the Republican nomination for president and set-up a rematch with President Joe Biden in November. The legal challenge hinges on a Civil War-era constitutional amendment that bans anyone who has \"engaged in insurrection or rebellion\" from holding federal office. In its judgement in December, the Colorado Supreme Court said Mr Trump's actions during the 2021 Capitol riot amounted to insurrection, and the state's attorney repeated that claim on Thursday. Most of the tough questioning went to lawyer Jonathan Murray, representing the five Coloradoans who originally sued to kick Mr Trump from the ballot. One of the three court members nominated by Mr Trump, conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, challenged him about the potential \"disenfranchising effect\" of kicking Mr Trump from the ballot, by not allowing citizens to cast their votes as they wanted. Mr Murray said \"the reason we're here is that President Trump tried to disenfranchise 80 million Americans who voted against him\" during the violence on 6 January 2021, where rioters tried to stop congress from certifying that Mr Biden won the 2020 election. Mr Trump's team fought back against that allegation, telling justices that the event was \"a riot, not an insurrection\". \"The events were shameful, criminal, violent, all of those things but did not qualify as an insurrection as that term is used in Section 3,\" Mr Trump's attorney Jason Mitchell told the court. Justices on both wings of the court appeared reluctant to uphold the Colorado ban, subjecting Mr Murray to a barrage of complex legal queries as the morning went on. Chief Justice John Roberts observed that if the court upheld the Colorado ruling it could unleash chaos on the US political system by granting states the unilateral power to strike candidates from the ballot. \"It will come down to just a handful of states that are going to decide the presidential election. That's a pretty daunting consequence,\" he said. And Justice Elena Kagan appeared to agree, noting: \"I think that the question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the United States.\" Enforcing the 14th amendment would have \"to be federal, national means,\" she suggested. But Trump's team were also subjected to a grilling by the justices, who challenged attorney Jonathan Mitchell on his claims that the 14th Amendment didn't apply to the presidency. Mr Trump's team have long insisted that the term \"officer of the United States\" outlined in the provision can only apply to an appointed official, not the elected president. Justice Amy Comey Barrett, a conservative also appointed to the court by Mr Trump, expressed a heavy scepticism when examining the Trump team's claims that the 14th Amendment did not apply to the presidency. Nonetheless, it appears unlikely that the court will uphold the initial Colorado ruling. Robert Tsai, a Boston University constitutional law professor, told the BBC that the state's ruling \"is toast\". The argument that Prof Tsai said most justices seemed to be attracted to was the idea that the power to remove presidential candidate from a ballot under Section 3 belonged to congress, not the states. The court has not said when it will issue its decision, but it is expected soon. The court expedited the case and is under pressure to rule before 5 March, when Colorado holds its primary.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The US Supreme Court expressed skepticism over Colorado's ban on Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary, with justices questioning the constitutionality of the move based on the 14th Amendment. The court's decision, which could impact the 2024 election, is expected soon, with some justices indicating that the power to remove candidates may rest with Congress rather than individual states." + }, + { + "article": "President Zelensky said he made the updated death toll public to counter Russia's inflated estimates Volodymyr Zelensky says 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed during Russia's full-scale invasion. The Ukrainian president said he would not give the number of wounded as that would help Russian military planning. Typically, Ukrainian officials do not make casualty figures public, and other estimates are much higher. It comes after the defence minister said half of all Western aid for Ukraine has been delayed, costing lives and territory. Mr Zelensky said on Sunday that he was providing an updated death toll in response to the inflated figures that Russia has quoted. \"31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, or whatever Putin and his lying circle are saying. But each of these losses is a great loss for us.\" Speaking about the wider losses in the war, Mr Zelensky said tens of thousands of civilians had died in the areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia but the true number was unknown. \"I don't know how many of them died, how many were killed, how many were murdered, tortured, how many were deported.\" It is rare for Ukraine to provide a military death toll, and other estimates suggest a much higher number. US officials in August put the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at 70,000 and as many as 120,000 injured. In terms of Russian losses, Mr Zelensky said 180,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and tens of thousands more injured. BBC Russian, in a joint project with the Mediazona website, has established the names of more than 45,000 Russian servicepeople who had died. But it estimates the total number to be greater than that. In February, the UK's defence ministry estimated that 350,000 Russian troops had been killed or injured. President Zelensky's address came after his defence minister, Rustam Umerov, called out the country's Western allies for delays in military aid. \"At the moment, commitment does not constitute delivery,\" he said. Ukraine is currently experiencing a variety of setbacks in its mission to drive Russia from its territory. Mr Umerov said that the lack of supplies put Ukraine at a further disadvantage \"in the mathematics of war\". \"We do everything possible and impossible but without timely supply it harms us,\" he said. Germany warned in November that a European Union (EU) plan to deliver a million artillery shells by March would not be met. In January, the EU said just over half of these would reach Ukraine by the deadline and that the promised amount would not be there until the end of 2024. President Zelensky said one of the reasons Ukraine's highly anticipated counter-offensive last year did not start earlier was the lack of weapons. That counter-offensive largely failed - one of a number of setbacks Kyiv has faced after some early successes in repelling Russia after it invaded in February 2022. Mr Zelensky also suggested on Sunday that plans for the counter-offensive were leaked to Russia ahead of time. Last week, it was announced that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the key eastern town of Avdiivka - Moscow's biggest win in months. Mr Zelensky also blamed this partly on faltering Western weapon supplies. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has said the hold-up in Congress of a $60bn aid package for Ukraine contributed to the fall of the town. Western leaders travelled to Kyiv on Saturday in a show of solidarity with Ukraine as the country marked two years since Russia's full-scale invasion. There, it was announced that Italy and Canada had signed security deals with Ukraine - bolstering support until the country could join Nato. Canada's deal included more than three billion Canadian dollars (\u00a31.7bn) in financial and defence aid. It is not only Ukraine that is having trouble resourcing its military activities. Russia is also struggling to provide ammunition and weapons, according to Western officials. \"Russia's domestic ammunition production capabilities are currently insufficient for meeting the needs of the Ukraine conflict,\" a Western official claimed. They added that Moscow has been able to increase its supply only by seeking out alternative sources of ammunition and weapons, which do not offer a long-term solution.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, countering Moscow's higher estimates, and criticized the delay in Western aid, which he says has cost lives and territory. The Ukrainian military death toll is rarely disclosed, and other estimates are higher, with US officials in August suggesting 70,000 deaths. Zelensky also accused Russia of leaking information about Ukraine's counter-offensive plans." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Premier League Axel Disasi scored a late header to rescue a point for Chelsea at Brentford in the Premier League. Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken gave away a cheap corner and his side were punished as Disasi rose to head in Cole Palmer's cross with seven minutes remaining. Yoane Wissa scored a sensational acrobatic volley to put Brentford 2-1 in front, but they could not hold on for the three points. Sergio Reguilon's cross into the box was headed away before Frank Onyeka flicked the ball up and Wissa contorted his body to finish superbly. Nicolas Jackson had earlier opened the scoring for the away side in the first half before Mads Roerslev equalised soon after the break. \u2022 None Re-live Brentford v Chelsea and the rest of Saturday's Premier League action \u2022 None How did you rate Brentford's performance? Have your say here \u2022 None What did you make of Chelsea's display? Send us your comments here The Senegalese forward was denied a tap-in thanks to Roerslev's interception of Enzo Fernandez's pass. Jackson then went round Flekken after latching on to Fernandez's through ball, but his weak shot was cleared with ease by Mathias Jorgensen. He eventually found the net five minutes later, rising highest to bury a header from Malo Gusto's pinpoint cross for his first league goal since mid December. On his 52nd birthday, Mauricio Pochettino was left disappointed by his inefficient Chelsea side. The Blues came from behind to beat Leeds in the FA Cup and reach the quarter-finals in midweek. Following that morale-boosting win, they made it three unbeaten matches on the road in the Premier League with this result but could have come away with three points. Speaking to BBC Match of the Day, manager Pochettino said: \"It was tough for us, we had the chances to score and lead the game and then when we conceded the second, I think we showed character. \"Three games in six days was tough and not too many changes. The team deserved more but unluckily we did not get the three points. \"Disappointed that we didn't get the three points but in some points pleased because after the sixth day and the third game, I think the effort was massive. Overall we deserved the three points.\" Chelsea had 73.3% of possession over the opening 15 minutes as they controlled proceeding but failed to make it count, with shots off target from Fernandez and Disasi. Eleven of their 17 shots in the match failed to find the target, with Cole Palmer guilty of missing a promising opportunity when he sent a first-time finish wide of the goal. A Chelsea fan was seen holding up a damning sign at full-time which read: \"I don't want your shirt!! I want you to fight for ours.\" The Blues remain in the bottom half of the table, two points behind 10th-placed Wolves. This was another frustrating afternoon for Thomas Frank's home side who came from behind to lead but conceded late to miss out on what would have been a valuable win. The Bees have conceded 50 goals in their 27 league games so far this season, already four more than they shipped in 38 matches during the 2022-23 campaign. Brentford have lost 28 points from winning positions in the league this season, more than any other team. Frank will be dismayed by the way Brentford failed to close this out. They were in control after Wissa's superb finish, but the needless concession of a corner from Flekken gifted Chelsea a route back into the game. \"We would have loved three points and I think we performed to get three points. If we don't concede on that corner then I'm convinced we would have won the game,\" Frank told BBC Match of the Day. \"This was a Brentford performance, an identity I'm very proud of and I'm very proud when we play like this. With initiative, intensity, aggressive, we pressed high, we go after it; I was very, very pleased.\" After a sub-par first 45 minutes, the Bees were much improved in the second half with Roerslev darting in front of Disasi to finish from close range after Reguilon's shot was blocked. Wissa struck in the 69th minute but Brentford were then punished for a lapse in concentration, meaning they have now failed to win in their last four league games. The Bees sit 15th in the table, just six points above the relegation zone, and face a daunting trip to free-scoring Arsenal next Saturday (17:30 KO). \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Cole Palmer (Chelsea) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Conor Gallagher. \u2022 None Zanka (Brentford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Cole Palmer (Chelsea) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Raheem Sterling. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Cole Palmer (Chelsea) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Ben Chilwell (Chelsea) left footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Conor Gallagher. \u2022 None Goal! Brentford 2, Chelsea 2. Axel Disasi (Chelsea) header from very close range to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Cole Palmer with a cross following a corner. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Cole Palmer (Chelsea) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Malo Gusto. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Axel Disasi's late header salvaged a point for Chelsea in a 2-2 draw against Brentford in the Premier League. Yoane Wissa's acrobatic volley put Brentford ahead, but Disasi's goal from a corner cancelled it out, leaving both teams with a share of the spoils." + }, + { + "article": "There is an increased police presence after the two attacks. Residents have said they have been left \"terrified\" and \"spooked\" after two people were shot with crossbow bolts. The Met Police said the attacks in Shoreditch, east London, on 4 and 14 March were separate but \"linked\". A handwritten poster appealing for information has been put up near where a 44-year-old woman was hit. There was an increased police presence in the area and anyone with information was urged to contact officers. The woman was hit in the head as she crossed Club Row at 19:44 GMT on 4 March. The handwritten appeal said the woman was coming home from work in Arnold Circus when she was hit with what she thought was a stone. \"She felt a crossbow lodge in her head. Luckily she lived. But it could have been you or your kids,\" the poster went on. \"Please help to get this person to face justice.\" The handwritten poster was taped up near where the 44-year-old woman was hit In the second attack, at 19:27 GMT on Thursday, a 20-year-old man was struck in the neck on Arnold Circus, about 200ft (60m) away from the scene of the first attack. The Met Police said both victims were treated for their injuries in hospital. Susanna Kow said parents in the area have been left \"really, really spooked\" Susanna Kow, who chairs the Boundary Tenants and Residents Association, said: \"We really wish the police put more emphasis when the first incident happened. \"And now with the second incident, all the parents here are really, really spooked. \"Imagine, both incidents happen between 19:45 and 20:00, it's not even late at night. \"I don't know how we're going to live our lives, this is the crossroads that joins all the blocks together.\" Jake Lowry said the closeness of the area to a primary school made the attacks even more concerning Jake Lowry, a local resident, said he believed the woman may have been with her children which was \"doubly terrifying\". \"We have a primary school just on Arnold Circus, a huge community of young families on the estate. It really needs to be dealt with very quickly,\" he said. In a statement on Friday, the force said investigators were urgently working to identify a suspect and \"due to the nature and location of both incidents, they have been linked\". Officers were also working with Tower Hamlets Council to \"use as many resources as possible to help the investigation\", the Met said. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk \u2022 None Two injured in head and neck in crossbow attacks The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "In Shoreditch, east London, two separate but linked crossbow attacks have left residents terrified, with a 44-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man injured. The police have increased their presence in the area and are appealing for information, as locals express concern, especially due to the proximity to a primary school." + }, + { + "article": "It's 27 years since Labour last came to power after a long period of Conservative government. As a general election looms, shadow ministers have been told to submit ideas for the party's manifesto before the end of this week. Behind the scenes, party chiefs are working out what the early priorities of a Labour government would be. They have two big challenges, even if they win. First, how to put ideas into action with only a smattering of shadow ministers having held actual ministerial office. And second, demonstrating to voters how a Labour government - constrained by the state of the economy and self-denying ordinances on tax - could make a difference. Behind the scenes, since just after the party's conference in October, a committee of senior politicians and advisers has been wrestling with these practical and political problems. The shadow leader of the House, Lucy Powell, who is also a former chief of staff to Ed Miliband, brought together the team that would oversee the process of turning policies into legislation. Among the members are Sir Keir Starmer's current chief of staff - and former senior civil servant - Sue Gray; the shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry; Labour's leader in the Lords Angela Smith and the party's chief whips in the Lords and the Commons. Shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth has also attended some meetings. His role includes anticipating - and finding ways to neutralise - Tory attacks. This would appear to be crucial, given the experience of the political beating which the party's planned \u00a328bn annual funding for a green prosperity plan has sustained. With a May election possible, the prime focus is on a Labour government's first King's Speech. But the committee is also looking at which other measures to place in the policy pipeline if Labour wins and completes a full first term. None of this will be set in stone until the manifesto is agreed. That is done at what's called a clause 5 meeting of senior MPs, National Executive members, and unions once the election has been called. But there are obvious legislative priorities. Insiders say there are \"a tableau of options\" for the 20 or so bills which would be announced in the event of a Labour victory. But economic and financial measures would certainly be enacted early on. These would include Rachel Reeves's \"fiscal lock\", which would ensure that chancellors cannot ignore or bypass the independent Office for Budget Responsibility. That's designed to reassure the markets but a more voter-friendly offer - the Office for Value for Money - is likely to be an early creation. This is designed to convince voters who had been persuaded to return to Labour - or back it for the first time - that their government really does intend to spend their money wisely. As a Budget is expected soon after the election if Labour wins, then a finance bill will be needed swiftly too. That would mean enacting limited tax rises such as imposing VAT on private school fees and ensuring wealthy foreign residents are subject to full UK taxation. But also important is the extensive employment rights legislation which will appeal to not just the party's union funders but to traditional supporters who fear the Starmer leadership has moved too far to the right. Turning the party's mission on clean energy into legislation would be another early challenge. And there is currently a discussion on whether to have a catch-all bill encompassing planning changes - which could help deliver everything from more housing, to new onshore wind capacity. In some cases, legislation could be determined by preparation rather than priorities. When Labour was in opposition in the 1990s, a promised right to roam bill had not been considered pressing. But it made it into the 1997 government's first Queen' Speech simply because it was ready to go. Sue Gray has been instrumental in preparing Labour's policies for government This time round, transport policy is far advanced - on bus regulation, and the gradual return of rail to public ownership - so could be fast-tracked. Broadly speaking, though, the committee is looking at how to get bills passed and not just what to prioritise. Some priorities, such as many NHS reforms, would not need legislation. But where it is required, I am told the default will be primary legislation with proper scrutiny and debate. With a long career in Whitehall, Sue Gray has been instrumental in insisting on clarity in policy and the need to give officials clear guidance. Now that Labour is engaging with the civil service, she believes the party needs to present the mandarins with ideas that can be implemented, and not amorphous ambitions that could take years to emerge as coherent laws. Both Angela Smith and the Labour Lords' chief whip Roy Kennedy are on the committee not just because some legislation starts off in the Upper House, but because it is also the place that poses dangers to more controversial measures. The calculation is that the Conservatives have an advantage of 100 or so active peers, so the Labour Lords are advising on the likely scale of opposition to certain measures and where concessions may have to be made. They are also thinking about how crossbench peers rather than just Labour Lords could be mobilised to support certain measures. So, on that basis, wide-ranging legislation on root-and-branch reform of the Lords would be non-starter as a priority - as it would get bogged down quickly and deprive other measures of parliamentary time. But if Labour wants to be seen to making a difference, incremental measures to change the Upper Chamber - which enjoy more consensus - could happen in a first term - for example, a retirement age, a reduction in the number of members and the gradual phasing out of hereditary peers. Partly, the 8 February manifesto deadline is to focus the minds of shadow ministers in ensuring that policies are ready - especially in the event of a May poll. It is also to identify any gaps where more work needs to be done. Policies ranging from social case to student finance need further development. If there is a May election, I am told some sections of the manifesto could consist of rather bland \"holding statements\", but these could be expanded before an autumn poll. That said, most of the committee's initial work was dealing with a glut of proposals, not gaps. They had to sift through the 116 page document of policies from the party's National Policy Forum to assess which ideas were practical, and which might need a longer timescale, Mr Ashworth's role has been rather different - casting a critical gaze over the policy ideas, and thinking about how they might be delivered rather than simply turned into law. One insider described his role as \"pummelling the policy\" then \"serving it up\" to the committee for them to transform it into something that is palatable to parliament. But there is a strong desire to see a clear connection between the manifesto, the main themes of the election campaign and some of the first things Labour would do if it formed a government. Labour has been out of government for 14 years. They have to convince the voters, and maybe even themselves, that they are prepared for power. Behind the scenes the work has begun.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "As a potential general election approaches, Labour shadow ministers have been asked to submit ideas for the party's manifesto by the end of the week. The party is focusing on determining its early priorities, with key challenges being the implementation of policies with limited ministerial experience and demonstrating how a Labour government can make a difference within economic constraints and self-imposed limits on taxation. A committee of senior politicians and advisers is working on turning policies into legislation, considering economic and financial measures, employment rights, and environmental legislation, among other issues, with a focus on being prepared for immediate action if Labour wins the election." + }, + { + "article": "Two modern-day Pearly Queens who continue the Cockney tradition of leading fundraising activities across London An academic report has suggested the idea of \"Cockney culture\" could be used as a tool to fight prejudice. Sociolinguist Dr Chris Strelluf from the University of Warwick said people who speak non-standard English were subject to unjust stereotypes. He said: \"Evaluating a language as good or bad, correct or incorrect, smart or stupid is a social judgement, not grounded in linguistic science.\" An upcoming month-long event will celebrate all \"non-posh Londoners\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Pearly King and Queen of Woolwich, Clive Bennett and his wife Kim, explained the cockney tradition The Modern Cockney Festival, organised by community group Cockney Cultures, is described as \"a call to action, urging society to protect and nurture linguistic diversity\". Dr Strelluf, author of Villains and Tea Leaves: Redefining Cockney and Defying Stereotypes, said: \"Although the focus of the report is Cockney, it is relevant to all Englishes that invoke social prejudice and discrimination.\" The study debunks myths about Cockney rhyming slang being born out of criminal activity, and highlights how it has historically thrived on multicultural influences, adapting with each wave of newcomers. The Origin of Cockney, by Isaac Cruikshank, shows a provincial family noticing a \"cock neighing\" Defining an identity by an imprecise audio boundary automatically creates ambiguity. The famous Bow-bell-birth definition of a Cockney is attributed to a 1571 sermon: \"We are thorough out all the Realme called cockneys that are borne in London, or in the sounde of Bow bell.\" At the time, St Mary-le-Bow church would have been a common reference point at the centre of London (and not used to distinguish Cockneys from other Londoners). Cockney Cultures said social identities in modern-day Britain were nowadays \"more complex and multi-layered where people are more likely to define themselves by a fusion of labels, such as Cockney Bengali, Cockney Black, Essex or Kent Cockney\". To keep things simple, Cockney Cultures adopts the definition coined by comedian Arthur Smith of being \"non-posh Londoners\". Clive Bennett, Pearly King of Woolwich, said: \"Heritage is close to my heart, but it's also important for future generations to both know and grow our shared culture for their children's children. \"Respecting your Cockney heritage sets you up for life to be more resilient, resourceful, and to look on the bright side when the going gets tough.\" Can't get much more Cockney than the late Barbara Windsor eating whelks The Modern Cockney Festival, which runs throughout March, includes a pie and mash week, the launch of a virtual museum and talks with Cockney-related themes. On 3 March, the festival will celebrate Speak Cockney Day - the date chosen because it is the \"'fird of the 'fird\". Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An academic report from the University of Warwick suggests using Cockney culture as a means to combat prejudice against those who speak non-standard English. The Modern Cockney Festival, organized by Cockney Cultures, aims to celebrate linguistic diversity and challenge stereotypes, with events throughout March including a pie and mash week and Speak Cockney Day." + }, + { + "article": "Fred Scappaticci left Northern Ireland when identified by the media as Stakeknife in 2003 A report into the activities of the Army agent known as Stakeknife will call for government and IRA apologies, it is understood. It is further believed that Freddie Scappaticci will not be named. The report from the Operation Kenova inquiry will also call for a review into the policy of neither confirming, nor denying sensitive information. The UK government has a policy of neither confirming nor denying claims relating to intelligence issues. Operation Kenova ran for seven years and cost \u00a340m, will deliver its interim findings on Friday. Stakeknife's activities, and the role of his Army handlers, were part of the inquiry headed by Jon Boutcher, now chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The agent is widely believed to have been west Belfast man Fred Scappaticci, an IRA member, who, recruited by the Army, became one of the UK's top spies during the Troubles. He operated within the IRA's internal security unit throughout the 1980s, which was responsible for killing people it accused of being informers. As first revealed by Brian Rowan, BBC News NI's former security editor, the report is likely to call for an apology from the UK government on what could have been prevented and from republicans, an apology for IRA murders and how families were intimidated and ostracised. \"The final text is tomorrow, but I've heard these words: 'The UK government should acknowledge and apologise to bereaved families and surviving victims, affected by cases where an individual was harmed or murdered because they were accused or suspected of being an agent and where this was preventable, or where the perpetrators could and should have been subjected to criminal justice and were not',\" he told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback. \"Clearly in this investigation, the investigation team has found cases where they think a proper use of intelligence information could have saved someone's life,\" he added. \"What is being asked of the republican leadership is this: 'The republican leadership should issue a full apology for PIRA [Provisional IRA] abduction, torture and murder of those it accused or suspected of being agents during the Troubles and acknowledge the loss and unacceptable intimidation that bereaved families and surviving victims have suffered.'\" Thirty-two people were considered for prosecution in connection with the agent Stakeknife case, the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has said. The PPS previously decided no-one would be charged in connection with multiple murders due to \"insufficient\" evidence. It has now provided a break-down of the total number of people reported to it by Operation Kenova. The PPS said in all, 32 people were considered for prosecution across a range of charges, from murder and abduction to misconduct in public office and perjury. It categorised 16 of them as 'civilians' - these would be individuals believed to have been IRA members. A further 12 people are retired military personnel, including the agent's handlers. The other four individuals were a former police officer, a former PPS prosecutor and two people with links to MI5. Fred Scappaticci has previously been linked to 18 murders. He died in 2023 before the PPS made a decision on whether he should face charges for his most serious crimes. Mr Boutcher's team has already started briefing victims' families on their findings. At the start of his investigation in 2016, Mr Boutcher had said he was aiming to bring people to justice. Last week, Operation Kenova, now headed by Sir Iain Livingstone, expressed \"frustration\" that no-one would be prosecuted. At a public meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Thursday, Mr Boutcher was asked if he agreed. \"I can tell you now I agree with Iain Livingstone and I will be dealing with all of this tomorrow.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A report into the activities of Army agent Stakeknife, alleged to be Fred Scappaticci, will call for apologies from the UK government and the IRA, but Scappaticci will not be named. The report, expected to be released on Friday, also suggests a review of the policy of neither confirming nor denying sensitive information, and may recommend apologies for preventable deaths and intimidation during the Troubles." + }, + { + "article": "Big events can shake everything. Small moments come to matter too. I remember day one of the EU referendum campaign - Vote Leave had just unveiled their infamous \u00a3350m slogan. At the campaign's first big rally in Manchester I asked Boris Johnson about that misleading headline claim. The audience booed. It wasn't a big deal, it wasn't upsetting, but that small moment was a total surprise. One of the campaign team even called me afterwards to apologise, vowing it would never happen again. They hoped the referendum campaign wouldn't be ugly. They were wrong. I remember a huge, dreadful day eight weeks later. We'd been interviewing Jeremy Corbyn in Sheffield in the final frantic moments of that same campaign. It was not long after his supporters had also started to boo and jeer at reporters for asking questions. Any hopes of a civil campaign were long gone. Eight weeks later there was a huge and massive shock. We were in the middle of the usual rush to edit and send our report for the news that night. My editor called saying that the MP Jo Cox had been attacked, and it looked very bad. I stopped what we'd been doing, rushed to the station, and began making calls to try to find out what was going on. When I got to the platform, my phone rang again. Jo had died. Her killer, Thomas Mair, had a long history of interest in Nazism and far-right extremism. His violent obsessions certainly didn't begin with the referendum campaign. But Jo's courageous husband, Brendan, told me a few days later he believed she was murdered for her political views. He said she had been worried about how politics was \"coarsening\", becoming too \"tribal and unthinking\". Her death was a hideous shock. Politicians vowed to follow her example of kindness. You don't need me to tell you whether they stuck to that. It was a private conversation with another Labour MP a few years later that hammered home how common the threats were becoming. It was September 2018, and after a couple of years of Brexit frustrations in Parliament - and hideous infighting in the Labour Party - the MP was in agony over the dangers they faced just for doing their job. They'd been appealing to their local police force after weeks of threats in their constituency, but felt they were being brushed off. They told me about the security grilles, cameras, alarms, and other equipment they'd installed to try to keep them and their staff safe. But the MP didn't want to go public, fearing it would make matters worse. It was no secret that lots of them had received abuse by that stage - in real life, not just on social media. It was a familiar topic of conversation around Westminster's ancient corridors. As reporters, we were by then used to being hassled and heckled around the fringes of the demonstrations that had become part of Westminster's daily backdrop. I'd developed a habit of walking as quickly as I could with my head down past the crowds. But from that moment, I understood a shocking new norm - some MPs were carrying genuine fears for their lives every day. \"These threats are real,\" they said. Their tears and distress made it plain. Sign up for the Off Air with Laura K newsletter to get Laura Kuenssberg's expert insight and insider stories every week, emailed directly to you. A couple of months later, I remember those regular demonstrations taking a different turn. A couple of small groups would walk alongside MPs as they tried to move around the tiny SW1 postcode, hurling abuse and accusations at close quarters and recording them on their phones. You could see these groups huddling and waiting for a famous face, ready to pounce. If the politician responded in any way, these groups had footage that might go viral. Ignore it, the politician could be accused of being rude and shunning the public's voice. The first few times I saw it, it felt shocking. It seemed to be deliberate provocation for the purposes of creating content for social media. During that whole period, just as now, there were many people with strong and deeply held views using their legitimate right to protest. Goodness knows, the public's frustration with politicians is often entirely understandable. Protest is important. Many MPs themselves are veterans of noisy demonstrations. Politicians love a good argument - a vigorous debate. And of course there have been risks to politicians and Parliament before, whether from the IRA for many years, or terror threats in recent times. But surrounding politicians and screaming abuse, or trying to block their path as they try to walk down the street, are different. Now, almost any MP will tell you, what can look like an ambush can happen at any time. These moments I remember, big and small, track what has been a journey to a different kind of politics. Many of the people we choose to represent us really believe their personal safety, and that of their families, is routinely at stake. And this week marks another major moment. The Speaker of the House of Commons says he made a decision to break the unwritten rules of Parliament because of those risks. He says he made a mistake in allowing a vote on Labour's motion, because he was trying to protect his colleagues from public anger and danger. It's only in time I suspect that we'll be able to unravel all of what went on during those hours of chaos. As we talked about in my newsletter on Thursday, the mayhem was not completely unfamiliar, but a reminder of those months of grisly pantomime during the Brexit years. But it appears that events in the Commons, not just the screaming and shouting outside, were influenced not by information, but intimidation. Many politicians, and perhaps many of you, may feel that is a profoundly uneasy precedent if it is allowed to stand. For his part, the Speaker has apologised. It could be a turning point in either direction. Will the police be given more powers to protect MPs as some recommend? Will politicians start to be more vocal about the nature of protests? Will some of those who have been on the streets, or outside politicians' homes, rethink their tactics - or go even further? What happened in those hours of chaos on Wednesday night is a moment we will remember. But we can't yet know the effect it will have, how it will be marked in our memories in the months to come. What questions would you like to ask our guests this Sunday? In some cases your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy. Use this form to ask your question: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The article reflects on the author's experiences during the EU referendum campaign and the subsequent rise in political tensions, abuse, and threats against politicians in the UK. It highlights moments like the death of MP Jo Cox and the evolving nature of protests, with some turning into intimidatory tactics, and discusses the Speaker of the House of Commons' recent decision, influenced by safety concerns, which has raised questions about the balance between protest and intimidation." + }, + { + "article": "An image of the certificate shows the right-hand side apparently torn with the word 'Israel' crossed out Staff at a private company working with the Home Office have been suspended after a birth certificate was returned with the word \"Israel\" scribbled out. The baby's birth certificate was sent off as part of a passport application. The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) posted an image of the certificate, which was also torn, and said the family were \"very concerned\". Home Secretary James Cleverley confirmed the suspensions on X but the number of staff is not clear. The Home Office launched an urgent review of the claims on Tuesday. The CAA said the certificate was sent off two weeks ago and was returned on Monday with the father's place of birth crossed out. The mother's place of birth, which is also Israel, is untouched. Mr Cleverly said on X: \"We apologise to the family for the offence caused and I have ordered an urgent review of a birth certificate being defaced. \"While we establish the facts, our commercial partner has suspended some staff. \"This matter is totally unacceptable. We will not tolerate antisemitism.\" The father, who is also called Israel, told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme the family had considered leaving the UK and moving to Israel because of a rise in antisemitism since the Hamas attacks on 7 October. Israel, who has asked the BBC not to use his last name for security reasons, said he and his family took precautions when in public. \"When we are walking in the city centre, when we take the kids on outings, we don't wear any Jewish outward sign, no pendants with a David star, I put hats over my kids' kippah, we're careful not to speak Hebrew,\" he said. He had not previously hidden his faith, he said, adding: \"I would say I feel a bit unwelcome in places.\" He said the family had sent the birth certificate in a hard-backed envelope. It was returned in a \"regular office brown envelope\" with the word Israel \"scribbled over in black pen\". \"My first thought was that it may have been damaged in transit but the Home Office envelope is in a good condition so we understand someone had done it deliberately,\" he said. He said his wife had been very scared by the incident, particularly because \"someone has all our details and this is someone from a place that should be the most secure place.\" He added that he trusted the Home Office to investigate and take action. The CAA said the \"completely unacceptable\" incident had left the child's parents \"very concerned\". A spokesperson for the charity added: \"When sending off a passport application to the Home Office, the last thing one should ever expect is to have their child's birth certificate returned torn, with the parent's place of birth scribbled out, just because it is the Jewish state. \"We are assisting the parents, who are understandably very concerned about this incident.\" Home Secretary James Cleverly replied to the post on X (formerly Twitter), saying he had asked officials to \"investigate this urgently\" and to see that \"appropriate action is taken\". Reports of antisemitic incidents in the UK reached a record high last year, according to figures from a Jewish security charity. The Community Security Trust (CST) recorded 4,103 anti-Jewish hate incidents in 2023, up from 1,662 in 2022. Two thirds of incidents happened on or after the Hamas attacks on 7 October. The latest figures from some of the UK's largest police forces also showed a significant rise in antisemitic offences in the month following the attacks. Greater Manchester Police recorded 74 such incidents compared with 15 during the same period the previous year, while the British Transport Police noted 87 offences - up from eight over the same period in 2022. The Metropolitan Police separately recorded 218 antisemitic incidents between 1 and 18 October - up from 15 across the same period the previous year. Some forces, including the Met, also recorded a rise in Islamophobic offences. \u2022 None Probe after 'Israel' crossed out on birth certificate", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Staff at a private company working with the UK Home Office have been suspended after a baby's birth certificate, part of a passport application, was returned with the word \"Israel\" crossed out and the certificate torn. The Home Secretary, James Cleverley, apologized and launched an urgent review, stating that the incident is unacceptable and that the company has suspended some staff while the facts are established." + }, + { + "article": "Cat Janice continued to perform shows after her sarcoma diagnosis US singer Cat Janice, who found fame on TikTok, has died of cancer aged 31. Janice, who released the song Dance You Outta My Head from hospice care, had been diagnosed with sarcoma, a rare cancer of the bones or soft tissue, in March 2022. She revealed during treatment she had transferred the rights to her music to her seven-year-old son, Loren. Her family said they were \"eternally thankful for the outpouring of love\" they had received. \"Cat saw her music go places she never expected and rests in the peace of knowing that she will continue to provide for her son through music,\" they said. \"This would not have been possible without all of you.\" Since she released Dance Outta My Head, in the first week of this year, it has topped the TikTok Billboard Top 50 and reached the top 10 of Billboard's dance and electronic chart. Cat Janice with her seven-year-old son, Loren, in January Her music video has also had 57 million views online. Janice, whose real name is Catherine Ipsan, started writing and producing music as a teenager, which she released in her 20s. She kept her social-media followers up to date with her treatment after being diagnosed. Four months later, after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, Janice was told she was cancer free - but the disease returned to her lungs in June 2023. In a message to her followers, she posted: \"I've got the rough news that cancer has won. \"I've fought hard but sarcomas are too tough. \"I reset all my music to go to my son. And I wanted to put out one more song for my birthday. \"I want my last song to bring joy and fun. \"It's all I've ever wanted through my battle with cancer.\" In another video update, she told her followers her \"tumours tripled basically overnight\". Sorry, we're having trouble displaying this content. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. She said she was leaving her songs \"behind for my son\" and encouraged her followers to download her music to help secure his financial future. Janice, who was from Washington DC, spent her final weeks at home baking and making music when she felt strong enough, according to the New York Times. Her husband, Kyle Higginbotham, said he hoped her music career would be remembered as more than a \"sob story.\" \"It's not just, some girl made a song because she's dying of cancer,\" he said. \"Cat's a real-deal artist and poured every minute of her life into it, right up until the end.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "American singer Cat Janice, who gained popularity on TikTok, passed away at 31 due to sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Despite her diagnosis, she continued to create music, with her song \"Dance You Outta My Head\" becoming a success on TikTok and Billboard charts, with the rights transferred to her young son Loren." + }, + { + "article": "Navarro has 18 wins this season, more than any other player on the WTA Tour World number two Aryna Sabalenka fell to a surprise defeat by Emma Navarro in the fourth round of Indian Wells. Belarusian Sabalenka, who successfully defended her Australian Open title in January, lost 6-3 3-6 6-2 to the 23rd seed. Navarro was cheered on by the California crowd as she reached her first WTA 1000 quarter-final. Fellow American and third seed Coco Gauff claimed a 6-0 6-2 win over Belgium's Elise Mertens. Playing on her 20th birthday, 2023 US Open champion Gauff wrapped up the first set in 25 minutes. Mertens finally got on the board with a break and held serve to level the second set at 2-2, but Gauff regained control and won four games in a row to reach the last eight for a second straight year. \"I feel really good. That's my best match of the tournament so far and I'm obviously happy to get the win on my birthday,\" Gauff told Sky Sports. Gauff and Navarro are bidding to become the first American women to win at Indian Wells since Serena Williams in 2001. Gauff will play China's Yuan Yue, who beat Russian 11th seed Daria Kasatkina 4-6 6-4 6-3, in the semi-finals. Claiming the first break of the match in the eighth game, Navarro saved a break point before serving out the opening set, but Sabalenka fought back to win the second. After exchanging breaks early in the decider, Navarro struck again for a 3-1 lead as Sabalenka's serve faltered and, after saving the first match point, the two-time major winner missed the second to hand Navarro the biggest win of her career. The victory continues a strong season for the 22-year-old, who claimed her first WTA Tour title in January at the Hobart International. \"I'm feeling really good. It's never easy coming out and playing an opponent like that - so experienced and just so talented,\" Navarro said. \"She made it really tough on me today, but I was glad I was able to play some good tennis in the big moments.\" Russian fourth seed Daniil Medvedev claimed a 6-4 6-4 victory over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov to reach the men's quarter-finals. Medvedev will face Danish seventh seed Holger Rune, who saved a match point on his way to a 2-6 7-6 6-3 win over American 12th seed Taylor Fritz. Indian Wells is the only one of the six hard-court ATP Masters 1,000 tournament that Medvedev has not won. Norway's ninth seed Casper Ruud overcame Frenchman Gael Monfils 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to reach the last eight. Ruud will face American Tommy Paul, a 6-4 6-3 winner over Italy's Luca Nardi, who knocked out world number one Novak Djokovic in the previous round.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Emma Navarro upset world number two Aryna Sabalenka to reach her first WTA 1000 quarter-final at Indian Wells, while Coco Gauff advanced to the last eight on her 20th birthday with a win over Elise Mertens. In the men's draw, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune secured quarter-final spots, with Medvedev aiming to win the only ATP Masters 1000 title he's yet to claim." + }, + { + "article": "Sean Combs is facing a number of allegations of sexual assault Sean Combs has been sued by a music producer who has accused him of sexual assault and being forced to have sex with sex workers. Rodney \"Lil Rod\" Jones alleges he was a victim of unsolicited groping and sexual touching while he was working for the rapper on his latest album. This is the fifth law suit with sexual assault allegations against Mr Combs. Responding to the lawsuit filed in a New York court, a lawyer for the artist said it was \"pure fiction\". Mr Combs' attorney, Shawn Holley, added: \"We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. \"We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.\" According to court documents, the music producer lived and travelled with Mr Combs between September 2022 and November 2023. His lawyers say he was drugged and \"recalls waking up naked, dizzy, and confused. He was in bed with two sex workers and Mr Combs\". Jones also alleges in his suit that the rapper was \"grooming him to pass him off to his friends\" and \"engaging in serious illegal activity\". A number of photos of parties at Combs' house were included in the suit. The court documents claim that the photos include underage girls and sex workers who it is alleged were supplied with drugs. Other defendants named in the suit include Mr Combs' son, Justin, his chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, Universal Music Group chief executive Sir Lucian Grainge and former Motown Records CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam. The suit alleges that Grainge, Habtemariam, Motown Records, Love Records and Universal Music Group \"failed to adequately monitor, warn, or supervise\" the actions of Mr Combs, his son and his chief of staff. A representative for Justin Combs told website TMZ that \"they are all lies\" and that this was a \"clear example of a desperate person taking desperate measures in hopes of a pay day\". Mr Combs was also sued for assault by his ex-girlfriend, Cassie, last November. They settled their case out of court. The legal case is the fifth such action against Mr Combs. The 54-year-old's ex-girlfriend, Cassandra \"Cassie\" Ventura, sued him in November, alleging the record label executive raped her in 2018 and subjected her to years of sexual and physical abuse. The musicians settled the lawsuit two days later. \"I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control,\" said Ventura in a statement. Four more accusers have now filed lawsuits against him. One alleged Mr Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her and then showed video of the assault to others, while another woman alleged Mr Combs and another man took turns raping her and her friend in the early 1990s. Combs has denied all the allegations against him and in December said: \"Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Sean Combs, also known as Diddy, is facing multiple sexual assault allegations, including a lawsuit from music producer Rodney \"Lil Rod\" Jones who claims he was sexually assaulted and forced to have sex with sex workers while working on Combs' album. Combs' lawyer has called the allegations \"pure fiction\" and stated they have evidence to refute the claims. This is the fifth lawsuit with sexual assault allegations against the rapper, who denies all accusations." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Football Former England forward Eni Aluko says she has \"genuinely been scared\" after receiving online abuse. Ex-Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton this month compared Aluko and co-commentator Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West. ITV criticised the \"vindictive remarks\", while sports minister Stuart Andrew said the \"dangerous comments open the floodgates for abuse\". \"I felt under threat this week,\" Aluko said on Instagram. The 36-year-old posted two emotional videos on the social media platform on Tuesday evening. \"I'm human, and I'm more than happy to admit I've been scared this week,\" she said. \"I've genuinely been scared. I didn't leave my house until Friday, and I'm now abroad, because it's really important to say that online abuse has a direct impact on your safety and how you feel, and how safe you feel in real life. \"I felt like something was going to happen to me. And I don't say that for anyone to feel sorry for me, I say that for people to understand the reality and the impact that hate speech has; the impact that racism has; the impact that sexism and misogyny has on all of us females in the game.\" Aluko said her experience was \"not an isolated incident\" and that such abuse is \"showing up as a culture in the game, from certain fanbases and certain people\". \"They're creating a culture where people don't want to go to work, people don't want to leave their house, people feel under threat. Obviously there's a big impact on mental health as well,\" she said. Barton responded on Wednesday, suggesting he had little sympathy for Aluko and reiterating his stance on female pundits in the men's game. Since last month Barton, who was sacked as Bristol Rovers manager in October, has repeatedly used social media to criticise women working in men's football. While his comments have been widely condemned, they have fuelled further abuse. In response to a now-deleted video clip of Aluko's pre-match punditry posted by ITV Football on X, he compared her and Ward to \"the Fred and Rose West of football commentary\". ITV said: \"For Joey Barton, an ex-professional player with a significant social media presence, to target two of our pundits, Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, with such vindictive remarks based on gender and to invoke the names of serial killers in doing so is clearly contemptible and shameful on his part.\" Former Chelsea and Juventus forward Aluko scored 33 goals in 102 games for England before retiring in 2020. She won four Women's FA Cups and three Women's Super League titles. \"Over the past week I have taken advice from lawyers and a course of action has now been decided on,\" she said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ex-England footballer Eni Aluko says she has been \"scared\" after receiving online abuse, with former Manchester City player Joey Barton comparing her and commentator Lucy Ward to serial killers. Aluko, who felt the abuse impacted her safety, posted emotional videos on Instagram, highlighting the impact of hate speech, racism, and sexism in football." + }, + { + "article": "Katy Perry has been a judge on the show since 2018 Katy Perry has revealed she is leaving American Idol after seven seasons as a judge on the talent show. Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday night, the 39-year-old singer said: \"I think this probably will be my last show, my last season for Idol.\" Explaining her decision, she said she wanted to \"go see the world\" and hinted at releasing new music. Perry has been a judge on the ABC show since 2018. The Roar singer made the announcement after being asked by Jimmy Kimmel how long she would stay on American Idol. Explaining her decision, she said: \"It's connected me with the heart of America, but I feel like I need to go out and feel that pulse to my own beat.\" But she did not not completely rule out a future return to the show. \"Maybe I'll come back if they have me one day.\" Perry will appear for a final season of American Idol alongside co-judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan Perry appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live ahead of the premiere of American Idol's twenty-second season on Sunday, where she sits on the judging panel alongside soul and R&B legend Lionel Richie and country singer Luke Bryan. Asked about how her co-judges reacted to the news, she said: \"They know I have some things planned for this year... I'm creating space for my new wingspan. \"They figured, I've been in the studio for a while. So they figured something is up.\" The California Girls singer also reflected on her performance for King Charles III at his televised Coronation Concert in May last year. Recounting running through Windsor Castle to get to filming in time for an American Idol segment with King Charles and Queen Camilla, she said: \"I ran straight into them, and I was like 'Oh, went the wrong way'. \"But they were cool... and then they did the bit with us which was fantastic. \"And you know whose work that was, that was Lionel Richie. He can convince anyone to anything.\" Perry also discussed the viral moment of her trying to find her seat at the Coronation Service in Westminster Abbey. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Katy Perry searches for her seat at Coronation \"I was looking for my seat. There's no assigned seating, which was kind of interesting,\" she explained. She agreed that people sitting behind her may have had their view obscured by her lilac Vivienne Westwood fascinator, adding \"she could barely see\" herself. Perry shot to fame in 2008 with the song I Kissed A Girl, going onto dominate the charts in the early 2010s. Her last album Smile was released in 2020. She joined American Idol in its sixteenth season as part of its reboot on ABC in 2018, following in the footsteps of previous judges like Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj. Her time on the show attracted some controversial headlines. Last year a contestant accused her of \"mom shaming\" after Perry made a joke about her \"laying on the table too much\". She also faced backlash when another contestant in 2018 said he was left uncomfortable when Perry kissed him on the lips because it was his first kiss. Last year Perry sold the rights to her five studio albums for a reported $225m (\u00a3177.5m), shortly before ending her nearly two-year Las Vegas residency in November. She is married to actor Orlando Bloom and they have a daughter named Daisy Dove, aged three.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Katy Perry has announced that she will be leaving American Idol after seven seasons as a judge, stating that the upcoming season will be her last. The singer expressed her desire to \"go see the world\" and hinted at focusing on new music. She will continue as a judge for the show's twenty-second season alongside Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan before bidding farewell." + }, + { + "article": "Kevin Holding is survived by his parents, his partner and four children, and three grandchildren The family of a man killed in a freak accident more than a year ago say they are still looking for answers. Kevin Holding, 60, was crushed when a pop-up urinal he was working on in Soho dropped suddenly, on 27 January 2023. His daughter Karlie, 36, described him as \"the life and soul of the family and the glue that held us together\". The Met Police admitted it \"has not provided the family with the support they would expect during the past year\". In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Ms Holding criticised a lack of communication from the authorities, saying: \"I wouldn't want any family to go through how we've been dealt with.\" Mr Holding was employed by a contractor to carry out work on London's pop-up urinals, for which Westminster Council is responsible The maintenance engineer, from Beckenham in south-east London, was left trapped underneath the telescopic urinal, which dropped on him while he was working on the device, last February's inquest was told. Pop-up public loos were introduced in central London in 2002 to discourage street urination. During the day, they are stored beneath the pavement and at night they rise hydraulically. The inquest heard the emergency services reached the scene, at the junction between Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road, at about 13:05 GMT but a crane to help lift the urinal took more than two hours to arrive. The 60-year-old was identified by his Oyster card. Fire crews tried to save Mr Holding, whose death was found by a post-mortem examination to have been caused by asphyxiation His daughter paid tribute to \"a big, friendly giant\". She said: \"I don't want him to be remembered as the man that was killed by the toilet. \"He was such a big character and he did everything for everyone, even for all our friends, as well as family. \"If they phoned him and said, 'Kevin, can you come and help me?' he'd be there in a shot. He wouldn't see anyone without help. \"We were very lucky to have him in our life.\" Mr Holding, pictured with Karlie and his grandson Ethan, a month before his death Ms Holding, who lives in Kent, criticised a lack of communication from the Metropolitan Police and Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which are investigating the circumstances of her father's death. \"It's been absolutely disgusting how we've been treated for such a public incident that was completely out of my dad's control,\" the personal assistant told the BBC. \"There's a million questions that we would like answering. They have just left the family with no answers, no support, no financial support. \"None of the parties are taking liability and all we want is answers.\" Karlie Holding worries the wait for answers could go on for years Det Ch Insp Dean Purvis, from the Metropolitan Police, said: \"I have recently reviewed our investigation into this tragic death, and it is clear that we have not provided the family with the support they would expect during the past year. \"This is a matter of regret to me and I will contact them to discuss their concerns and answer any questions they have regarding the status of the investigation, especially why it appears to be taking a long time to establish what happened.\" The family also wants Mr Holding's phone to be returned but the Met said \"it is vital\" to keep the device until the investigation concludes. The death of Mr Holding, pictured here next to Karlie on her wedding day, has left a huge hole in his family's lives Westminster City Council, which has responsibility for the pop-up toilets in the area, said its \"deepest sympathies are with Mr Holding's family and friends following his tragic death\". An HSE spokesperson said: \"We understand the family's concerns and while we are still investigating the incident, primacy remains with the Metropolitan Police. Inquiries at our specialist site in Buxton are ongoing. \"We are committed to maintaining regular contact with Mr Holding's family in line with this police-led investigation. Our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.\" The father of three is much missed by his family For Ms Holding, who passes the site of her dad's death each day on her way to work, what happened to him is \"like an elephant in the room\" when the family gets together. She said: \"It's like this emptiness, a big hole that we can't fill. They always say, 'Give it a year and a day and things will get better' but they don't. \"It's just really hard as a family. We've got each other and we're pulling through but we're all going through it at different times and we all want different answers. \"It's just sometimes just too much for us.\" Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Kevin Holding, a 60-year-old maintenance engineer, was killed in a freak accident in Soho when a pop-up urinal he was working on crushed him. His family is seeking answers and has criticized the lack of support and communication from the Metropolitan Police and Health and Safety Executive during the ongoing investigation." + }, + { + "article": "The father of a teenage boy who murdered Brianna Ghey has been jailed for 15 months after pleading guilty to sex offences. Kyle Ratcliffe, 36, admitted two offences of exposure and one count of taking an indecent photo of a child. His son Eddie Ratcliffe was convicted alongside Scarlett Jenkinson of murdering 16-year-old Brianna in a park in Culcheth, Cheshire in February 2023. He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years in February. Kyle Ratcliffe, of Leigh, admitted two offences of exposure involving two 16-year-old girls at a bus stop, which were committed on successive days in November last year, shortly before his son went on trial. The father-of-three, who had run a kick-boxing gym in Leigh, had been driving his Maserati car along a road at about 07:45 GMT. As he passed the two girls, who were waiting to go to college, he turned his head towards them and as they looked back at him they could see his hand moving and his trousers pulled down to his knees. Michelle Brown, prosecuting, said one girl was \"shocked and in disbelief\" at what she had seen. The next day, he again passed them on the road at the same bus stop and was seen carrying out a sex act on himself again in his car. On this occasion, one of the girls, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, took a photo of his car with her mobile phone. Ratcliffe also pleaded guilty to taking an indecent photo of a pre-pubescent girl by covertly recording her in a changing room at a water park in Cheshire in August 2023. He initially told a \"pack of lies\" to police, claiming the video had been sent to him and the exposure offences were caused by a medical problem he had. Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe murdered Brianna by stabbing her 28 times in a park in Cheshire But Ratcliffe, who appeared from custody at HMP Forest Bank, Salford, has previous convictions for similar offences. In 2008, he was given a suspended prison sentence for exposure in front of a girl aged 16. In 2012, he was given a three-year community order for exposure after being seen carrying out a sex act on himself behind the wheel of his vehicle while stopped at a red light. Mark Friend, mitigating, said, \"One knows not the motivation to behave in the way he did. \"The reality is, it is perhaps either difficult or unrealistic to divide this defendant from that which has befallen his family. \"So far as their life as it is now, it is but a shadow that they enjoyed prior to February 2023. \"The defendant accepts that he has played his own part in this misery and left his wife and other two children dealing with that burden alone.\" Judge John Potter said the prosecution and conviction of his son for murder was not \"in any way\" mitigation for the offending. \"This is not the first time in your life you have harmed others in this way,\" he said. \"The offences on this indictment coupled with your previous convictions make it quite clear that you have a sexual attraction towards female children and teenagers whom you objectivise for the purpose of your own sexual gratification. \"This, Mr Ratcliffe, has potential to cause very serious harm and portrays you, in my judgment, as currently presenting a significant risk to such individuals.\" A reporting restriction preventing publication of Ratcliffe's prosecution was lifted earlier by Judge Potter. The cold-blooded killing of Brianna, who was transgender, shocked people across the world. Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, who had a fascination with violence, torture and murder, had planned the murder for weeks and had drawn up a \"kill list\" of five children, before settling on Brianna as their target. Brianna was attacked with a hunting knife in broad daylight after being lured to Culcheth Linear Park, suffering stab wounds to her head, neck, chest. Both teenagers then went home and carried on as if nothing had happened before being arrested the following the day. During the 18-day trial, they blamed each other for the killing but they were both convicted of her murder and jailed. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk \u2022 None The Murder of Brianna Ghey - A File On 4 special The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The father of a teenager convicted of murder has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for sex offenses, including exposure and taking an indecent photo of a child. Kyle Ratcliffe, who had previous convictions for similar acts, committed the offenses shortly before his son, Eddie Ratcliffe, was convicted of murdering 16-year-old Brianna Ghey." + }, + { + "article": "Jenny Smith discovered the messages during a beach clean-up in Monifieth Messages in a bottle written by three Fife schoolchildren 40 years ago have washed up on a beach in Angus. Jenny Smith was taking part in a beach clean-up in Monifieth when she found three notes and a map from the Wormit Primary School pupils from 1984. She managed to track down the three girls, who are now in their late 40s, on a local Facebook group. The messages will be returned to the school four decades after they set sail on their six-mile journey. The girls joke in the messages that they have been kidnapped by their teacher The women, who live in Arbroath, Ireland and Fife, are all still in touch with each other. Jenny said: \"I picked up three bin bags of rubbish and found this bottle, and I thought there was something like a felt-tip pen inside it. \"I got it out and it was rolled up with an elastic band around it. \"The girl who drew the map had cleverly used wax crayon as the outside wrapping so it had protected it from some of the water that had managed to seep in.\" Kelly (left) and Linda (right) met Jenny at the beach where the messages were discovered Jenny dried the messages at home and found they were all still legible. She said: \"I could see it said 'help' on it, and I thought, 'oh my goodness', and then realised it was from children. \"It said they'd been taken captive on this HMS WPS, and it explained that this stood for Wormit Primary School.\" Jenny said she was surprised at the age of the messages, which outdate various vintage crisp packets from the 1990s that she has found on beach cleans. She left a message on the Wormit Community Facebook group and within hours had a reply from Linda Bell, who still lives in the village. Linda said: \"When I first read Jenny's Facebook post and saw that the date on the letters from Wormit Primary was June 1984, I thought that I must know who the letters were written by. \"When I read further, I realised that one of the pupils that wrote one of the letters was me and the other two letters were written by my primary school friends, Anna and Kelly.\" The messages were still in good condition after four decades After telling her friends of the discovery, Linda and Kelly met Jenny to see their letters, which were part of a school project. Linda said: \"We think it was part of a pirate topic while we were in P4. \"It was great to see the letters in such good condition after such a long time.\" The messages were discovered rolled up in a plastic cola bottle \u2022 None The men behind the 135-year-old message in a bottle", + "qwen_reference_summary": "During a beach clean-up in Monifieth, Jenny Smith found messages in a bottle written by three Wormit Primary School pupils from 1984, which have now been tracked down to the now-adult women. The messages, protected by wax crayon wrapping, will be returned to the school 40 years after they were set adrift on a six-mile journey." + }, + { + "article": "The chancellor is exploring the option of scrapping the tax status enjoyed by people who live in the UK, but whose home for tax purposes is overseas. Non-domiciled people, often referred to as non-doms, only pay UK tax on money earned in the UK. They do not have to pay any tax to the UK on money made elsewhere. Perhaps the UK's most famous non-dom is Rishi Sunak's' wife, Akshata Murty - but two years ago, she committed to paying UK tax on her overseas income. Conservatives, including the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, have long defended the non-dom arrangements, saying they helped ensure the UK was an attractive place for highly sought after, well-off people to choose to live and work. Mr Hunt remains committed to ensuring his policies do not undermine this. But, ahead of the Budget next week, Treasury officials are exploring a range of options to either generate more money in tax or reduce spending - in order to be able to afford tax cuts for millions of people. Scrapping the non-dom regime could generate \u00a33.6bn for the government, according to research by Warwick University and the London School of Economics. The most up-to-date statistics from HM Revenue and Customs show there were 68,800 non-doms in the UK for the tax year ending 2022. Recent figures produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) have revised down the scope for mass market tax cuts, unless extra money is found. For months both the chancellor and the prime minister have been strongly hinting they want to deliver tax cuts. So, among the options to address this conundrum are: The chancellor is still due to be presented with more data by the OBR in the next few days and he has not yet committed to anything on non-doms. But neither has he ruled it out. Politically it is fascinating: it shows what a bind he is in, considering an idea he has long rejected. Labour has said it would spend the money generated from scrapping non-dom status on schools and the NHS. But if the government used it to fund tax cuts this would pose a dilemma for the party if it wins power in this year's general election. If Labour backs any tax cuts the chancellor announced, which they are expected to do, this would leave questions over how some of their spending pledges would be funded. Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has claimed whichever party wins the next election will inherit \"the worst set of economic circumstances since the Second World War\". She said that after former Chancellor George Osborne's promise to \"fix the roof\" while the sun was shining, \"the Conservatives have broken the windows, kicked the door in and now they're burning the house down\". This is a reference to the expectation that in next week's Budget the chancellor will use up almost all the room for manoeuvre within his self-imposed borrowing rules. Labour has said it will stick to the key rule that the national debt should in five year's time fall as a share of the national economy. The government might choose to use up most of what is known as \"fiscal headroom\", and then suggest Labour would have to raise taxes. Conservative plans for tax cuts are predicated on a pencilled-in total for public spending after the election, rather than detailed spending plans. Ms Reeves is expected to wait until after the Budget, and the new set of economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility, before new detail about Labour's economic approach is revealed. Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the chancellor was \"trying to distract people\" with Budget \"speculation\", rather than focusing on measures to grow the economy. The Liberal Democrats called on the prime minister to step back from any discussions within government on the potential scrapping of non-dom tax status. The party's Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said Mr Sunak \"clearly has a potential conflict of interest given his household previously benefited from this scheme\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is considering scrapping the tax status for non-domiciled individuals in the UK, which could generate \u00a33.6bn for the government, as he explores options to fund tax cuts ahead of the Budget. The move could impact around 68,800 non-doms, including Rishi Sunak's wife, who previously committed to paying UK tax on her overseas income. Labour has vowed to use the funds from scrapping non-dom status for schools and the NHS, posing a dilemma for the party if it supports tax cuts." + }, + { + "article": "An Illinois judge has ruled that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and has barred him from the state's primary ballot - though she put the ruling on hold pending an appeal. Two other states - Colorado and Maine - have removed Mr Trump from their primary ballots for violating a 14th Amendment \"insurrection\" clause. The final outcome will likely be decided by the US Supreme Court. Early voting in the primary has already begun. Mr Trump - the front-runner Republican presidential candidate - filed an appeal of the decision on Thursday. He is also asking for the ruling to be put on pause until the issue is fully resolved either by a state court or a federal one. Cook County circuit judge Tracie Porter agreed with voters who argued Mr Trump had violated the US constitution's 14th Amendment because of his role in the 6 January Capitol riot. It comes after Colorado's Supreme Court barred Mr Trump from appearing on the Republican primary ballot in December, arguing Mr Trump's actions during the 2021 Capitol riot amounted to insurrection. In her ruling, Judge Porter called Colorado's rationale \"compelling\". She argued the state's Board of Elections was wrong to reject a previous bid to kick Mr Trump off the ballot. \"The Illinois State Board of Election shall remove Donald J Trump from the ballot for the General Primary Election on March 19, 2024, or cause any votes cast for him to be suppressed,\" she said. A Trump spokesperson has called the ruling \"unconstitutional\" and vowed to appeal against it. \"The Soros-funded Democrat front-groups continue to attempt to interfere in the election and deny President Trump his rightful place on the ballot,\" the spokesperson said. Mr Trump has already appealed against the Colorado case to the Supreme Court. The top court heard arguments in the case earlier this month, appearing sceptical of Colorado's decision to ban Mr Trump from the ballot. The legal challenge hinges on a Civil War-era constitutional amendment that bans anyone who has \"engaged in insurrection or rebellion\" from holding federal office. But Supreme Court justices have asked tough questions of those representing Colorado voters in favour of banning Mr Trump. Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked if there could be a \"disenfranchising effect\" if voters were not allowed to decide for themselves whether they wanted Mr Trump as president. The Illinois judge's ruling comes after the Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to hear yet another case involving Mr Trump. The 6-3 conservative majority court will decide whether the former president has immunity shielding him from a lawsuit over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An Illinois judge has ruled that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and ordered him removed from the state's primary ballot, a decision put on hold pending appeal, while Colorado and Maine have already removed him for violating the 14th Amendment. The US Supreme Court is expected to have the final say on the matter, with Trump appealing and arguing the ruling is unconstitutional." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Israeli forces disguised as medics were shown on hospital CCTV Israeli forces have killed three members of Palestinian armed groups in a hospital in the occupied West Bank. CCTV footage showed members of an undercover unit disguised as medics and other civilians making their way through a corridor with rifles raised. The Israeli military said the men were hiding in the Jenin hospital, and that one was about to carry out an attack. The Palestinian Authority's ministry of health accused Israel of carrying out a \"new massacre inside hospitals\". Hamas, an armed Palestinian Islamist group which is fighting a war with Israel in Gaza triggered by its unprecedented attacks on Israel on 7 October, said the Israeli forces had \"executed three fighters\", including one of its members. Another armed group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said two of those killed were its members and were brothers. It added that one of them had been receiving treatment at the hospital. The security camera video from Ibn Sina hospital shows several members of the Israeli undercover unit - men and women - hurrying through a corridor, training their weapons left and right. One can be seen taking a piece of clothing off an unidentified person who is kneeling down with his hands behind his head, then covering his head with it. The footage shows two members of the unit carrying a folded wheelchair and a baby-carrier, apparently as props. Images from the room where the men are said to have been shot show blood-spattered floors and walls with a bloodied, blue pillow with a bullet hole in it on a bed. \"They executed the three men as they slept in the room,\" the hospital's director, Dr Naji Nazzal, told Reuters. \"They executed them in cold blood by firing bullets directly into their heads in the room where they were being treated.\" The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the guardian of the Geneva Conventions which codify international humanitarian law, has expressed concern over the raid. \"Under international humanitarian law, hospitals and medical patients should be respected and protected at all times\", the ICRC said, adding that it would raise the issue \"as part of its confidential dialogue with the concerned authorities\". Tensions have soared in the West Bank since the 7 October attacks, with near daily Israeli arrest raids and clashes with Palestinians. Jenin, a militant stronghold, has been a focus of such raids for months. Since 7 October, Israeli forces have killed at least 357 Palestinians - militants, civilians and attackers - in the West Bank, while Israeli settlers have killed at least eight, according to the United Nations. Palestinians from the West Bank have killed at least 10 Israelis in attacks in the West Bank and Israel in the same period. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the Hamas suspect who was killed had \"planned a raid attack inspired by the October 7th massacre\". On that date, waves of Hamas gunmen invaded Israel from Gaza, killed about 1,200 people - mainly civilians - and took about 250 others back to Gaza as hostages. The attack triggered Israel's military campaign in Gaza, with the declared aim of destroying Hamas. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 26,600 Palestinians - mostly women and children - have been killed in the Israeli offensive. The official Palestinian news agency in the West Bank, Wafa, said the three Palestinians in the hospital had been \"assassinated\". According to its sources in the hospital, about 10 members of Israeli special forces dressed in civilian clothes went to the third floor, where they killed the men using weapons fitted with silencers. Dr Naji Nazzal said one of the men, who PIJ identified as its member, had been receiving treatment at the hospital since 25 October for a spinal injury which had left him paralysed. Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "\u4ee5\u8272\u5217\u519b\u961f\u5728\u7ea6\u65e6\u6cb3\u897f\u5cb8\u7684\u4e00\u5bb6\u533b\u9662\u6740\u6b7b\u4e86\u4e09\u540d\u5df4\u52d2\u65af\u5766\u6b66\u88c5\u7ec4\u7ec7\u6210\u5458\uff0c\u5176\u4e2d\u4e24\u4eba\u636e\u79f0\u5c5e\u4e8e\u4f0a\u65af\u5170\u5723\u6218\u7ec4\u7ec7\u3002\u533b\u9662\u7684\u76d1\u63a7\u89c6\u9891\u663e\u793a\uff0c\u4fbf\u8863\u90e8\u961f\u6210\u5458\u88c5\u626e\u6210\u533b\u62a4\u4eba\u5458\u8fdb\u5165\u533b\u9662\u8d70\u5eca\u5e76\u4e3e\u67aa\u3002\u4ee5\u8272\u5217\u519b\u65b9\u79f0\u8fd9\u4e9b\u4eba\u5728\u533b\u9662\u5185\u85cf\u533f\uff0c\u5176\u4e2d\u4e00\u4eba\u51c6\u5907\u53d1\u52a8\u88ad\u51fb\uff0c\u800c\u5df4\u52d2\u65af\u5766\u536b\u751f\u90e8\u5219\u8c34\u8d23\u8fd9\u662f\u5bf9\u533b\u9662\u7684\u201c\u5927\u5c60\u6740\u201d\u3002" + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. People who earn up to \u00a360,000 a year will be able to receive child benefit in full from April. The benefit will not be taken away entirely until an individual earns \u00a380,000, under changes in Wednesday's Budget. The government says the changes will help more than half a million families. But the system has been criticised for being unfair to households with one high-earning parent. Under child benefit, parents receive \u00a324 a week for one child and \u00a315.90 for each additional child. Those amounts are due to rise to \u00a325.60 and \u00a316.95 a week in April. Under the current system, if one partner earns more than \u00a350,000, child benefit starts being gradually withdrawn, such that if they earn \u00a360,000, they do not receive any child benefit at all. This means two parents earning \u00a350,000 a year each would receive child benefit in full - but a household with one working parent or a single-income household earning more than \u00a350,000 would see the benefit cut. This threshold figure had not changed since 2013, despite childcare costs and the cost of living soaring over the last few years. However, the chancellor has now raised the lower threshold, and said that the top of the taper at which the benefit is withdrawn completely will go up to \u00a380,000. The government estimates that, in total, almost half a million families with children will save an average of \u00a31,260 next year because of the higher taper and threshold. The chancellor also said that 170,000 families would be taken out of paying the tax entirely. In his speech on Wednesday, the chancellor described the benefit as a \"lifeline\" that helped parents with many additional costs. But he acknowledged that the existing system could be \"confusing and unfair\" because of how single parents are affected. So he announced that by April 2026, the plan is to move it to a system of household income, not that of individuals, following a consultation. However, Mr Hunt cautioned that this would not be a \"quick fix\". Dad-of-two David Stuart, from Whitburn, West Lothian, welcomed the changes announced to child benefit. David Stuart welcomed the changes announced to child benefit \"I'm glad they not just raised the threshold, which would have just kicked the can down the road, but it's absolutely the right thing to move towards it being household-assessed,\" he said. \"Obviously it will take time but I understand that.\" David earns \u00a370,000 and his wife earns \u00a310,000. He said the changes announced in the Budget mean \"we could claim again and then potentially keep up to 50% of the benefit for the next couple of years, which seems positive\", referring to the fact households like his will need to opt in again to receive the payments. \"But the main thing is it's fairer,\" he said. For those considering opting in to child benefit payments again like David, you can fill in an online form or contact the Child Benefit Office. If you are not sure whether or not you are liable to pay the tax charge, you can use the government's child benefit tax calculator to see how much you might have to pay. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the government's independent finances watchdog, the changes announced will result in an increase in average hours worked among those already in jobs equivalent to about 10,000 more people entering the workforce full time. Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, director at the Women's Budget Group, said that she appreciated the increased threshold as a \"first step\". \"The change will be a relief to many parents, especially lone mothers, who are currently losing out on what should be a universal benefit for children,\" she said. But she pointed out that the organisation was \"very concerned\" about a potential move to a household-based test for child benefit. \"Independent taxation and benefits are a key principle of women's economic independence,\" she said. Responding to the chancellor's Budget speech, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the cost of childcare was still a \"huge challenge\" for millions.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government has announced changes to child benefit, raising the income threshold for full payment from \u00a350,000 to \u00a360,000 and not withdrawing it entirely until an individual earns \u00a380,000, benefiting half a million families; the system will eventually move to a household income basis, addressing fairness concerns for single-parent households, with a consultation to take place." + }, + { + "article": "Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar died at the scene of the attacks A review of the decision by prosecutors to accept manslaughter pleas in the Nottingham attacks case has been ordered by the attorney general. Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, were fatally stabbed on 13 June along with Ian Coates, 65. Their killer, Valdo Calocane, was given a hospital order after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The review will also look into how the victims' families were consulted. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Attorney General Victoria Prentis said she ordered the urgent review of the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) handling of the case. She has asked His Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate to carry out the review, adding: \"The senseless deaths of Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates have horrified the country. \"While nothing will bring their loved ones back, the families understandably want to understand what happened in this case. \"That's why I have asked the inspectorate to carry out a prompt and thorough review of CPS actions.\" Responding to the attorney general's decision, the families said they were \"united as families in this national tragedy\". \"We reiterate our deep and grave concerns in this case, and our disappointment that we have had to resort to this additional level of trauma and stress to feel listened to and for further actions to be taken,\" a joint statement read. \"The families welcome a full, open and transparent investigation and also ask that they are given the opportunity to discuss, in person, the concerns and evidence of concerns that they have with the IOPC and the attorney general.\" It also said the families were invited to meet Janine McKinney, chief crown prosecutor, and Nottinghamshire Police's Chief Constable Kate Meynell. \"Whilst these invitations are welcome, the families would comment that these concerns were raised repeatedly over the past few months and the opportunity to meet has only been forthcoming at this late stage, when perhaps the horse has already bolted,\" the statement said. \"The united families of Grace, Barnaby and Ian are grateful to the public for their continued support and extraordinary compassion shown to them during the past seven tragic months.\" The families have thanked the public for their support The families have called for a public inquiry into the case and met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday to discuss their concerns. In an interview with ITV's This Morning on Tuesday, Mr Sunak said he promised that \"we will get the answers\". \"What they've expressed to me are a bunch of questions about what's happened that they have,\" he said. \"How did the NHS operate? Was mental health properly checked? How was the police investigation conducted? How was the Crown Prosecution Service operating and interacting with them? I think those are all perfectly reasonable questions.\" A decision about whether a public inquiry \"is the next logical step\" will be made after all the agencies involved in the case have been independently investigated, he added. \"Once we hear back from that, then we can sit down with them and decide if there are more questions that need answering,\" Mr Sunak said. \"Is the inquiry then the next logical step?\" The CPS said it would \"fully engage\" with the review. Calocane had originally been charged with three counts of murder and three of attempted murder, having driven a stolen van at three pedestrians in Milton Street and Upper Parliament Street, in the city centre. However, while in custody, it emerged he had been transferred to a \"secure hospital setting\" and assessed by three forensic psychiatrists. Last week, the CPS set out why it decided to accept a diminished responsibility plea. It said medical experts provided \"overwhelming\" evidence the killer was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, which resulted in him hearing voices in his head telling him his family would be harmed unless he did what they told him to do. Three psychiatrists were asked to analyse Calocane's condition and all agreed it \"impaired his ability to exercise self-control\". The CPS \"took the unusual step\" of asking a fourth expert to review those reports, and after they agreed with the findings, prosecutors concluded there was \"no realistic prospect of conviction for murder\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Emma and David Webber say Barnaby, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates have been failed But Mr Webber's mother Emma said the CPS had not consulted them, and said they had been \"rushed, hastened and railroaded\", while Mr Coates's son James said Calocane had \"got away with murder\". In response, a CPS spokesperson said it had met the families of Mr Webber and Ms O'Malley-Kumar online, and then again in person in December, with further offers to meet made \"throughout\". They added: \"Engagement with those who have been left bereaved is one of our highest priorities and in all cases, we continue to liaise with victims' families throughout the legal process.\" The attorney general's announcement comes after a special review was ordered by the health secretary, which will see the Care Quality Commission (CQC) look into the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which treated Calocane. A separate NHS England Independent Mental Health Homicide Review will be carried out in the coming months, while the attorney general is also considering whether Calocane's sentence was too lenient. Three people died and three more were injured in the attacks The police watchdog is also investigating after a referral by Leicestershire Police, which investigated alleged assaults by Calocane a few weeks before the attacks. Nottinghamshire Police has also said it \"should have done more\" to arrest the 32-year-old. The force's involvement will also be investigated by the College of Policing, in a review commissioned by Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry. College of Policing CEO, Chief Constable Andy Marsh, said work \"will start immediately\". \"The killings of Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates were horrific and our thoughts remain with their families and friends at what continues to be an incredibly difficult time,\" he added. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The attorney general has ordered a review of the Crown Prosecution Service's decision to accept manslaughter pleas in the case of the Nottingham attacks, where Valdo Calocane killed three people. The review will examine the CPS's handling of the case and how the victims' families were consulted, following concerns raised by the families about the process." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Bolts in need of \"additional tightening\" have been found during inspections of Boeing 737 Max 9s, United Airlines has said. United Airlines said \"installation issues\" relating to door plugs would be \"remedied\" before the aircraft type would return to service. Inspections began after a section of the fuselage fell from an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 on Friday. Alaska Airlines says it has since found \"some loose hardware\" on some Max 9s. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates air travel in the US, has grounded 171 planes of the same type. United said: \"Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug - for example, bolts that needed additional tightening.\" The door plug is a piece of fuselage, with a window, that fills the space where an emergency exit would be in certain configurations. It was this part of the Alaska Airlines plane which dramatically fell off mid-flight over the US state of Oregon, eventually landing in a teacher's back garden. The aircraft made an emergency landing but none of the passengers or crew were seriously injured. The plane's door plug was recovered from a teacher's backyard in Oregon and was found without the four bolts, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Monday night. Its chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters that it's possible the bolts were missing from the start but they may have come off in the descent. The vast majority of Boeing 737 Max 9s used in the US are operated by United Airlines and Alaska, while Turkish Airlines, Panama's Copa Airlines and Aeromexico have also grounded jets of the same model for inspections. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. United said it had cancelled 200 flights as of Monday and expected significant cancellations on Tuesday. \"We have been able to operate some planned flights by switching to other aircraft types, avoiding about 30 cancellations each on Monday and Tuesday,\" United added. Alaska Airlines said that initial reports from technicians preparing its 737 Max 9 fleet for inspection indicated \"some loose hardware was visible on some aircraft\". \"When we are able to proceed with the formal inspection process, all aircraft will be thoroughly inspected in accordance with detailed instructions provided by the FAA in consultation with Boeing,\" it said. \"Any findings will be fully addressed in a matter that satisfies our safety standards and FAA compliance. The formal inspections will also require documenting all findings and those will be reported to the FAA. No aircraft will be returned to service until all of these steps are complete.\" Earlier, the FAA said it had provided a checklist for operators to adhere to during inspections. The FAA said all 737 Max 9 aircraft would remain grounded until operators \"complete enhanced inspections which include both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners\". \"Operators must also complete corrective action requirements based on findings from the inspections prior to bringing any aircraft back into service,\" the statement added. Flight 1282 reached 16,000ft (4.8km) when it began its emergency descent on Friday evening, according to flight tracking data. Images shared online - and later by investigators - showed a wide hole in the side of the craft, with oxygen masks dangling from the ceiling. Passengers were quoted by The Oregonian newspaper as saying that a young boy seated near the affected area had his shirt ripped off by the force of the decompression. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading an investigation into the incident, said pilots had reported pressurisation warning lights on three previous flights made by the specific Alaska Airlines Max 9 involved in the incident. The jet had been prevented from making long-haul flights over water so that the plane \"could return very quickly to an airport\" in the event the warnings happened again, NTSB chief Jennifer Homendy said. It is not clear if there is a link between the issues that led to those warnings, and the issue that caused the blowout on 5 January. Alaska Airlines said in its most recent statement: \"While we await the airworthiness directive (AD) inspection criteria from the FAA and Boeing, our maintenance teams are prepared and ready to perform the required inspections of the mid exit door plugs on our 737-9 Max fleet. \"The 737-9 Max grounding has significantly impacted our operation. We have cancelled 170 Sunday flights and 60 cancellations for Monday, with more expected.\" Boeing said in a statement: \"Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers.\" The company's 737 Max has been described as \"the most scrutinised transport aircraft in history\" after a series of safety issues. In late 2018 and early 2019, two of its aircraft were lost in near identical incidents, off the coast of Indonesia and outside the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. A total of 346 people were killed. Both crashes were caused by flawed flight control software, which ultimately forced the planes into catastrophic dives, despite the best efforts of the pilots. \u2022 None US plane had warnings days before mid-air blowout", + "qwen_reference_summary": "United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have found bolts needing additional tightening and door plug installation issues during inspections of Boeing 737 Max 9s, leading to the grounding of 171 planes by the Federal Aviation Administration. The issue came to light after a section of the fuselage fell from an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9, with some loose hardware discovered on other planes; no aircraft will return to service until inspections and necessary corrections are completed." + }, + { + "article": "Scientists found evidence of 6,000 mounds thought to be the basis for ancient homes A huge ancient city has been found in the Amazon, hidden for thousands of years by lush vegetation. The discovery changes what we know about the history of people living in the Amazon. The houses and plazas in the Upano area in eastern Ecuador were connected by an astounding network of roads and canals. The area lies in the shadow of a volcano that created rich local soils but also may have led to the destruction of the society. While we knew about cities in the highlands of South America, like Machu Picchu in Peru, it was believed that people only lived nomadically or in tiny settlements in the Amazon. \"This is older than any other site we know in the Amazon. We have a Eurocentric view of civilisation, but this shows we have to change our idea about what is culture and civilisation,\" says Prof Stephen Rostain, director of investigation at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, who led the research. \"It changes the way we see Amazonian cultures. Most people picture small groups, probably naked, living in huts and clearing land - this shows ancient people lived in complicated urban societies,\" says co-author Antoine Dorison. The city was built around 2,500 years ago, and people lived there for up to 1,000 years, according to archaeologists. It is difficult to accurately estimate how many people lived there at any one time, but scientists say it is certainly in the 10,000s if not 100,000s. The archaeologists combined ground excavations with a survey of a 300 sq km (116 sq mile) area using laser sensors flown on a plane that could identify remains of the city beneath the dense plants and trees. This LiDAR technology found 6,000 rectangular platforms measuring about 20m (66 ft) by 10m (33 ft) and 2-3m high. They were arranged in groups of three to six units around a plaza with a central platform. The scientists believe many were homes, but some were for ceremonial purposes. One complex, at Kilamope, included a 140m (459 ft) by 40m (131 ft) platform. They were built by cutting into hills and creating a platform of earth on top. Roads, paths and canals were found connecting the platforms suggesting a large area was occupied A network of straight roads and paths connected many of the platforms, including one that extended 25km (16 miles). Dr Dorison said these roads were the most striking part of the research. \"The road network is very sophisticated. It extends over a vast distance, everything is connected. And there are right angles, which is very impressive,\" he says, explaining that it is much harder to build a straight road than one that fits in with the landscape. He believes some had a \"very powerful meaning\", perhaps linked to a ceremony or belief. The scientists also identified causeways with ditches on either side which they believe were canals that helped manage the abundant water in the region. There were signs of threats to the cities - some ditches blocked entrances to the settlements, and may be evidence of threats from nearby people. Researchers first found evidence of a city in the 1970s, but this is the first time a comprehensive survey has been completed, after 25 years of research. It reveals a large, complex society that appears to be even bigger than the well-known Mayan societies in Mexico and Central America. \"Imagine that you discovered another civilisation like the Maya, but with completely different architecture, land use, ceramics,\" says Jos\u00e9 Iriarte, a professor of archaeology at University of Exeter, who was not involved in this research. Some of the findings are \"unique\" for South America, he explains, pointing to the octagonal and rectangular platforms arranged together. The societies were clearly well-organised and interconnected, he says, highlighting the long sunken roads between settlements. Not a huge amount is known about the people who lived there and what their societies were like. Pits and hearths were found in the platforms, as well as jars, stones to grind plants and burnt seeds. The Kilamope and Upano people living there probably mostly focussed on agriculture. People ate maize and sweet potato, and probably drank \"chicha\", a type of sweet beer. Prof Rostain says he was warned against this research at the start of his career because scientists believed no ancient groups had lived in the Amazon. \"But I'm very stubborn, so I did it anyway. Now I must admit I am quite happy to have made such a big discovery,\" he says. The next step for the researchers is understanding what lies in an adjoining 300 sq km (116 sq mile) area not yet surveyed.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Archaeologists have discovered a vast ancient city in the Amazon rainforest in eastern Ecuador, revealing complex urban societies that challenge previous beliefs about the region's history. The city, built around 2,500 years ago, had thousands of mounds, roads, and canals, suggesting a large, organized population living there for up to 1,000 years, potentially numbering in the tens of thousands. The use of LiDAR technology helped uncover this previously hidden civilization, which is older than any other known Amazonian site, indicating a more sophisticated past than previously thought." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michael Gove said some Scottish government ministers were more constructive than others Michael Gove has rejected suggestions the UK government was \"playing politics\" during the pandemic. He also denied attempting to promote the union in the course of his evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry. It came as the levelling up secretary and former Cabinet Office minister accused Nicola Sturgeon of seeking to diverge from the UK government to advance her \"political agenda\". The ex-first minister is due to give evidence to the inquiry on Wednesday. Mr Gove said he did not accept the relationship between Westminster and Holyrood was \"dysfunctional\", but he suggested that some Scottish government ministers were more \"constructive\" than Ms Sturgeon. And he said there was \"irritation\" at Downing Street at her decision to ban large gatherings in Scotland in March 2020. The Covid inquiry session in Edinburgh also heard evidence about former prime minister Boris Johnson's trip to Orkney in July 2020. Mr Gove, who served as Conservative Cabinet Office minister from January 2020 until September 2021, said Ms Sturgeon had not wanted to meet with Mr Johnson during the visit. In written evidence, he said the pair were \"not soulmates\". He told the inquiry that description was an understatement but they were able to \"secure pretty effective coordination of substantive policy\". The inquiry was shown a tweet by Ms Sturgeon in which she said the prime minister's presence \"highlights\" one of the key arguments for independence. During that visit, Mr Johnson talked about the \"sheer might and merit\" of the union. Asked by counsel Jamie Dawson KC whether this indicated that the UK and Scottish government's were \"playing politics\", Mr Gove replied: \"I do not believe that's true of the UK government.\" Michael Gove served as Cabinet Office minister during the pandemic The inquiry was shown a Cabinet Office briefing paper written by Mr Gove ahead of Mr Johnson's trip entitled \"State of the Union\". It reported polling that found 27% of Scots thought the UK government was putting the right Covid measures in place, whereas 70% felt the same way about the Scottish government. The risk to the future of the union was described in the paper as the \"greatest challenge\" facing the UK government other than the pandemic. It added: \"Unfortunately it is in no way lessened by the parallel demands of the epidemic and our economic recovery.\" It said that in the lead up to the Scottish elections the following May, \"protecting and strengthening the union must be a cornerstone of all that we do\". However, Mr Gove denied that the purpose of the prime minister's trip had been to promote the union. The relationship between Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon has come under the microscope of the UK Covid Inquiry Asked by Mr Dawson if his \"constantly referring\" to the UK vaccine rollout during the evidence session was an attempt to promote the union, Mr Gove said: \"No.\" He said the UK government's response was \"significant and helpful\", pointing to loan schemes, furlough and PPE procurement. Mr Gove said it was his responsibility as a minister to \"uphold the United Kingdom\". He said being \"passive\" in the face of an attempt to break up the UK would be \"to quit the field when there is a direct danger to the wellbeing of every citizen of the United Kingdom\". Earlier in the session, Mr Gove brought up evidence provided last week by Nicola Sturgeon's former chief of staff, Liz Lloyd. In WhatsApp messages from November 2020, she told Ms Sturgeon that she wanted a \"good old-fashioned rammy\" with the UK government over Holyrood's call for furlough to be extended. Mr Gove told the inquiry the comments suggested a \"search for political conflict\" rather than a divergence in policy. He also said the language suggested the Scottish government was pursuing \"differentiation for the sake of advancing a political agenda\". Mr Gove praised Ms Sturgeon's \"energy and hard work\" during the pandemic, but said \"the SNP is a political movement with a clear goal.\" He added: \"Its members and leadership have seldom missed an opportunity in other times to seek differentiation to advance their cause.\" He said Ms Sturgeon was \"undoubtedly a focused and disciplined minister\" but said there was sometimes a \"political complexion to some of the points she chose to make\". Mr Gove said UK government ministers, had a responsibility to believe in the integrity of the UK as \"a matter of duty\". However, he denied there was a \"completely dysfunctional relationship\" with the Scottish government. He said: \"I don't believe that they are politically motivated in everything that they do. Mr Gove picked out former Scottish finance secretary and SNP leadership contender Kate Forbes as someone who would avoid \"political point making\" during the pandemic. \"There were people in the Scottish government who were sometimes much more constructive than one or two others,\" he told the inquiry. He also said former health secretary Jeane Freeman and her successor Humza Yousaf - who went on to become first minister - were \"very straightforward\", and praised ex-deputy first minister John Swinney as \"very professional\". Ms Freeman, who later gave evidence to the inquiry, said she felt there was not \"sufficient urgency from the UK government\" at a Cobra meeting in March 2020. Much of her evidence session focused on the transfer of hospital patients to care homes, where the inquiry heard about half of deaths occurred during the first wave of the pandemic. Ms Freeman said: \"I regret very much and will do, for the rest of my life, any deaths that occurred there because of action that the Scottish government didn't take, or did take but could have done better.\" She cited a Public Health Scotland report that found the size of care homes, availability of PPE and testing also had an impact on deaths. The Scottish government first issued advice that people being admitted to care homes should be tested on 21 April 2020. The former health secretary said the \"primary issue\" before then had been testing capacity. The inquiry was also shown an email from a Scottish Care member sent on 25 March that said no care home had \"appropriate equipment\". Ms Freeman added: \"You cannot magic out of thin air appropriate buildings, appropriate kit and skilled individuals. \"A lot of effort was put into increasing our capacity for testing.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Michael Gove denied that the UK government used the pandemic for political gain and rejected claims of a \"dysfunctional\" relationship with the Scottish government, although he acknowledged that some Scottish ministers were more constructive than others. He criticized Nicola Sturgeon for using Covid measures to further her independence agenda and mentioned tensions over her ban on large gatherings in March 2020. The Covid inquiry also heard evidence about Boris Johnson's 2020 visit to Orkney and the UK government's concern about the union's future." + }, + { + "article": "Jenny Jamieson alerted Action Fraud after a scammer impersonated her company to target job seekers with bogus jobs Scammers are impersonating genuine recruitment companies and advertising fake jobs to try to steal personal information, businesses are warning. Fraudsters are posting vacancies online and sending WhatsApp messages to entice people into handing over their details. 2i Recruit in Surrey said it had received calls from 25 victims of scammers who had been asked to hand over their personal details. The number of recruitment scams reported to Action Fraud is rising. Recruitment scams typically involve criminals luring victims with the promise of extra work or income, before conning them out of sensitive personal information. Scammers have been exploiting a number of reputable jobs websites to target their victims. Jenny Jamieson, recruitment director and founder of 2i Recruit in Godalming, said scammers posed as being from her company in October. She said: \"We were taking calls from candidates saying a man had contacted them about a job we were advertising, but I was telling them that it wasn't a job on my books. \"They were very, very upset and basically implying that people from my business were trying to get their personal information.\" Ms Jamieson said: \"We discovered scammers were putting out a job advert in our company name, on employment website Indeed.com. It was very well written, a good salary, so it was very enticing. \"I was just hopeful that they weren't sending all their details through to them, but a lot of candidates did, and then they realised when they spoke to us. \"They sent their passport and their bank details.\" Libby was contacted by a scammer after seeing the advertisement online. She said: \"They asked me for my passport in order to verify me for an interview. They were really convincing in the way they mimicked a real recruitment company and I didn't suspect anything. \"I realised it was a scam when after a few days of not hearing anything there was a hard credit check on my report, so I phoned the real recruitment company and told them my concerns and they confirmed it was a fake job advert.\" A spokesperson for Indeed.com said: \"We remove tens of millions of job listings each month that do not meet our quality guidelines. We encourage job seekers to report any suspicious job advertisements to us, or if they feel it necessary, to make a report to the police.\" A BBC journalist received a message from a scammer claiming to be from Nolan Recruitment BBC South East first became aware of this type of scam when a journalist from the team received a WhatsApp message claiming to be from Nolan Recruitment, offering job opportunities. But when we contacted the engineering recruitment agency in Knutsford, Cheshire, they informed us that scammers had been using their company name for nearly 18 months and they had been inundated with calls from worried jobseekers. Agency owner Sean Neary said the scams started in September 2022. He said: \"The scammers have even been using the names of people who work for my business.\" Sean Neary's company name was first impersonated by scammers in 2022 Mr Neary said: \"People have been leaving really negative reviews, which is damaging our reputation. \"I feel for the people it's been happening to. There's nothing we can do apart from raise awareness. \"The scammers use a network of different telephone numbers. It's so hard to trace them.\" Jennifer Gaster, managing director of HR Heads in Southampton, said her firm had been targeted for about six months in 2022, with scammers using the name of a former employee to contact candidates. \"You have to verify someone to work in the UK and the typical way of doing that is through national insurance and passport information and that is what the scammers were doing,\" she said. Bella Betterton had nearly \u00a33,000 stolen after being targeted by criminals using a recruitment scam Bella Betterton fell victim to another recruitment scam and had \u00a33,000 stolen leaving her feeling \"attacked\" and \"distraught\". The 18-year-old told Radio 4's Money Box she had been contacted by scammers first via WhatsApp messages and then phone calls. She thought she had taken part in a real job interview and the fraudsters tricked her into giving out her card details before stealing the money. It is not just recruitment agencies that fraudsters are impersonating. In some cases they are posing as the employer. Last year the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend, Kent, issued a warning about fraudsters impersonating them in social media posts which made false promises of visas and jobs. Mike Andrews, national coordinator for the National Trading Standards eCrime team, said job scams used different techniques to exploit the victims. \"We've had incidences where they've believed they've had a job lined up,\" he said. \"They've maybe paid an advance fee for a criminal records check or a spurious online course. \"They hand their notice in and leave their job, and they turn up at their new place of work, only to be turned away because no such business exists. \"Where we identify issues on social media platforms or fraudulent or misleading websites, we will take the appropriate action to try and get those websites taken down or the websites disrupted.\" The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), which represents the recruitment industry, said its members would never ask job seekers for payment to find them work. Lorraine Laryea, chief standards officer at REC, said: \"This is illegal. We are aware of scammers taking advantage of some jobseekers' keenness to find work by sending uninvited messages purporting to act as recruiters, over the past 12 months. \"Be wary of calls, WhatsApp messages, texts and the like that appear to have come out of the blue.\" A Home Office spokesperson said there had been an estimated 3.2 million fraud offences in the year ending September 2023 - down 13% from the previous year. They said: \"We have launched a national fraud squad, rolled-out enhanced support available to victims across England and Wales and begun the national Stop! Think Fraud public awareness campaign to help the public stay alert to the signs of fraud.\" Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Scammers are impersonating legitimate recruitment companies to post fake job vacancies online and via WhatsApp, tricking job seekers into sharing personal information. Recruitment agency 2i Recruit in Surrey has reported calls from 25 victims, and instances of such scams are on the rise, with criminals using reputable job websites to target victims and steal sensitive data." + }, + { + "article": "Police body-worn camera footage was shown to the jury on Wednesday A jury has seen footage of the moment before two police officers discovered the body of the newborn baby of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten. Officers found baby Victoria under some rubbish in a Lidl bag for life in a shed in Brighton on 1 March 2023. Ms Marten told police she had kept her body because she wanted an \"autopsy\" and \"proper burial\", the court heard. The couple are accused of her manslaughter by gross negligence. They both deny the charge. Recorded on a body-worn camera on one of the officers, they can be seen standing on decking outside a new-looking shed on an allotment. Wearing blue forensic gloves, the officers can be seen gingerly taking out the contents of the bag which included two empty drink cans, several pages from the Sun newspaper and a blanket. One of the officers reaches down to the bottom of the bag and quickly removes his hand before the other does the same thing. The footage then stops. PC Allen Ralph told the Old Bailey on Wednesday that the shed was closed but not locked and had a broken window pane. When he looked inside, the first thing he noticed was a blue tent in its bag. Having told senior officers about his find, he told the court he returned and decided to look at the bag for life he had noticed earlier, noting that it resembled one he had seen in pictures of Ms Marten and Mr Gordon. The court also saw footage of Ms Marten's police interview when officers revealed to her they had found the body of baby Victoria. One officer says \"Constance, I can tell you the baby's not alive\", to which Ms Marten responds \"I know\". \"Is it your baby?\" an officer asks. \"Yes it is,\" Ms Marten responds. \"She passed away, I can't remember exactly, it was probably three days after the car exploded,\" she added, referring to an incident which saw the couple's car catch fire on the M61 near Manchester on 5 January. The parents travelled across England in taxis following the discovery of a placenta in the burnt-out vehicle. She told police she had \"panicked\" after the fire and knew police would \"potentially take Victoria away\", the court heard. Describing how Victoria had died, Ms Marten told police: \"I had her in my jacket... I fell asleep holding her sitting up and when I woke up she wasn't alive. \"I kept the body because I wanted to have an autopsy done. I didn't bury her because [I] wanted her to have a proper burial but I couldn't get a proper burial until I had an autopsy.\" A court sketch of Mark Gordon (left) and Constance Marten (right) at the Old Bailey last week The court also heard Ms Marten telling police she had been \"debating whether to hand myself in\" but the \"whole media presence... is terrifying\". Up until that point, the had couple repeatedly declined to answer questions about the whereabouts of their baby. The court heard extracts from their police interviews on 28 February and 1 March, when officers were still searching in and around the allotments. At this time Ms Marten, who was being held at Brighton Police Station, did not answer any questions, including \"Can you tell me what's happened to your child?\" and \"Has the child got a name?\" In his interviews at Worthing Police Station, Mark Gordon also did not answer any questions, but told the detectives repeatedly that he was in pain. He got out of the wheelchair and sat on the floor in the interviewing room saying: \"My legs are hurting\u2026I'm in pain.\" The interview resumed after he went to the bathroom, and he told officers: \"I am experiencing pain and you are asking questions. \"I'm getting sub-par treatment. I don't think I should be talked to like I am a nobody. I'm in custody, but that doesn't mean I am a dog.\" At one point a detective asked him: \"What was the baby's name?\" But Mr Gordon did not answer. As well as manslaughter, the couple are also accused of four other offences: cruelty to their baby; concealment of the baby's birth; causing or allowing her death; and perverting the course of justice by concealing the body.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A jury has viewed police bodycam footage of the discovery of the newborn baby of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten, found in a Lidl bag in a Brighton shed. The couple is accused of manslaughter by gross negligence, which they deny. In a police interview, Marten said she kept the baby's body for an autopsy and proper burial." + }, + { + "article": "George Freeman said he quit as science minister because he did not earn enough to pay his mortgage A Tory MP said he quit his ministerial role because he could not afford to pay his mortgage on a salary of \u00a3118,300. In a blog post, he said he stood down: \"Because my mortgage rises this month from \u00a3800pcm to \u00a32,000, which I simply couldn't afford to pay on a ministerial salary.\" Downing Street said it had \"no plans to change our approach to ministerial pay\". Mr Freeman, who resigned amid Rishi Sunak's cabinet reshuffle, added: \"We're in danger of making politics something only hedge fund donors, young spin doctors and failed trade unionists can afford to do.\" A Norfolk MP since 2010, he held ministerial posts in successive Conservative governments and pocketed severance payments after departing. He received \u00a37,920 when he quit Boris Johnson's government in July 2022, before returning to his role as science minister under Mr Sunak, some 16 weeks later, according to Labour analysis. Ministers under the age of 65 are entitled to a loss-of-office payment amounting to a quarter of their ministerial salary if they leave their role and are not appointed to a new one within three weeks. Mr Freeman, who spent more than a decade in the life sciences and technology sectors before entering Parliament, will be able to make more money outside of government. On top of his MP's salary of \u00a386,584, he is free to take on second jobs, subject to approval by anti-corruption watchdog the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. Many homeowners are facing steep increases in monthly mortgage payments as they come off fixed-rate deals. It comes after mortgage rates soared and the value of the pound tumbled in the wake of Liz Truss's mini-Budget in September 2022. They had already been on the rise after a string of rate hikes by the Bank of England to curb inflation. Mr Freeman (left) met King Charles during a visit to the Whittle Laboratory in Cambridge in 2023 Mr Freeman also highlighted the toll his ministerial role had taken on him and his family. \"I was so exhausted, bust and depressed that I was starting to lose the irrepressible spirit of optimism, endeavour, teamwork and progress which are the fundamentals of human achievement,\" he said. He added that his children \"have paid a very high price\" for his career choice. \"Government is a cruel mistress. Modern politics is a savage playground,\" he said. Mr Freeman also told The New Statesman on Monday his finances \"are not what they were - at all\", having gone through \"a very painful divorce\" and with parents \"who are both getting elderly\". \"It's time to... (prioritise) the things that I feel, rather painfully personally, that I've had to neglect,\" he told the magazine. \"As my (second) wife said the other day, I'm not 26, 36, or 46. I'm now 56. Nearly 57. Three stone overweight, 30 years poorer.\" He said he would stand for re-election at the general election this year, but said: \"It looks very like that we're going to have a Labour government.\" The Conservative Party had \"been through a volcanic period of turmoil\" and \"has not looked like a party of unified commitment to purposive renewable,\" Mr Freeman said. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: \"It's right that we ensure that ministerial pay reflects the wider fiscal situation.\" Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Tory MP George Freeman resigned as science minister due to unaffordable mortgage payments on his \u00a3118,300 salary, highlighting the financial strain on politicians. Despite receiving severance payments, Freeman, who has been an MP since 2010, said he couldn't manage the mortgage increase from \u00a3800 to \u00a32,000 per month and criticized the system for making politics exclusive to certain groups." + }, + { + "article": "Scarborough has seen a sharp increase in the number of holiday lets in recent years New controls on holiday lets in England will be introduced from the summer to stop local people being unable to afford to live in their own community, the government has announced. The changes mean people may need to seek permission from the council to turn their home into a short-term let. A mandatory national registration scheme will also be introduced. The rules will not apply to people renting out their main home for less than 90 nights a year. Hotels, hostels and B&Bs are also unaffected by the changes. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said councils would have the power to require planning permission for properties to be turned into short-term lets, if they deemed this necessary. Only new short-term lets would require planning permission, with existing ones automatically reclassified. The government said the changes would make it easier to find somewhere affordable to buy or rent in places where there are a high number of short-term lets, preventing a \"hollowing out\" of communities. It said the new national register would also give local councils information about short-term lets in their area to help understand the effect on communities and ensure compliance with health and safety regulations. The changes were welcomed by Airbnb, a website which allows people to advertise short-term lets. Amanda Cupples, the company's general manager for Northern Europe, said: \"Families who host on Airbnb will benefit from clear rules that support their activity, and local authorities will get access to the information they need to assess and manage housing impacts and keep communities healthy, where necessary.\" Campaign group Generation Rent said it was pleased a registration scheme would finally be introduced but there was \"significant doubt\" over whether changes to the planning system would be enforceable. Chief executive Ben Twomey said: \"Proposals to allow existing short term lets to automatically gain permission to continue risks shutting the stable door once the horse has bolted.\" The number of holiday lets in England rose by 40% between 2018 and 2021, with tourist hotspots such as Scarborough and North Devon seeing sharp increases, according to council figures analysed by the BBC. MPs representing popular holiday destinations like Cornwall, the Lake District and Norfolk have previously called for stronger regulation, arguing a rise in the number of short-term lets has made it hard for local people to find somewhere affordable to live. However, others criticised the proposals when they were first announced last year, with former Conservative Housing Secretary Simon Clarke calling them \"anti-business\". The Tourism Alliance, a trade association representing the sector, said it supported the idea of a mandatory registration scheme, but changes to planning rules were \"more concerning\". The association's executive director, Richard Toomer, said: \"While we understand the government's desire to tackle the lack of housing in some areas, it is vital that we don't harm the visitor economy in destinations which are reliant on a good supply of tourism accommodation. \"We continue to believe that the registration scheme must be implemented first, because it's only by using the data that this scheme will supply that local authorities can know if and where there are problems, and have solid information on which to base their planning decisions.\" Housing Secretary Michael Gove said: \"Short-term lets can play an important role in the UK's flourishing tourism economy, providing great, easily-accessible accommodation in some of the most beautiful parts of our country. \"But in some areas, too many local families and young people feel they are being shut out of the housing market and denied the opportunity to rent or buy in their own community.\" He said the changes \"strike the right balance between protecting the visitor economy and ensuring local people get the homes they need\". How have you been affected by the issues in this story? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government will introduce new controls on holiday lets from summer to prevent locals being priced out of their communities, requiring permission from councils to convert homes into short-term rentals and implementing a national registration scheme. This move aims to address the impact of holiday lets on affordable housing, particularly in tourist hotspots, while existing short-term lets will be reclassified and exempt from planning permission." + }, + { + "article": "A brief retro-style video shared to the brand's Instagram account shows Meghan stirring a pot in what appears to be her kitchen To the jazzy sounds of Nancy Wilson's 1960s tune I Wish You Love, the Duchess of Sussex emerges from the kitchen of her Californian mansion in a teaser unveiling her new lifestyle brand. Although little was revealed in the 16-second long video, an Instagram account for Meghan's new brand has already amassed hundreds of thousands of online followers. The branding for American Riviera Orchard features a gold-coloured crest, with the word \"Montecito\" - the name of the upscale town where Meghan, Prince Harry and their children live near Santa Barbara, which is referred to as the \"American Riviera\". A post on the American Riviera Orchard Instagram account features a brief, retro-style grainy video showing hands arranging flowers, Meghan stirring a pot in a kitchen, and a woman in a ballgown standing at the end of a long colonnade. It remains unclear what exactly she is selling - but internet sleuths scouring pending US trademark applications have found that American Riviera Orchards plans to sell cookbooks and home goods such as decanters and kitchen linens, as well as foods including marmalade and jellies. Some have been speculating on whether the placement of certain items in the teaser video will also form part of her new line in the months to come. In the kitchen behind Meghan we can see elegant bowls and a glass decanter. The sense of mystery in the video is very deliberate, says Lindsey Imler, a digital marketing specialist for Intero Digital, based in Columbia, Missouri. It is \"very discreet\", she says, and \"very alluring\" - playing into Americans' fairy tale perceptions of the curious foreign royals. It has led to a flood of Google searches from people wondering what she's up to now. Prof Pauline Maclaran, a marketing and consumer research professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, says the duchess appears to be tapping back into her former brand The Tig, which she shuttered following her engagement to Prince Harry. When it ended, Meghan - who is better known as a former Hollywood actress than a lifestyle influencer - had over 3 million Instagram followers. \"I would see this as a much more domestic goddess kind of market,\" Prof Maclaran tells BBC News, \"with these new regal connections now, and, you know, promoting elegance.\" The video is \"evoking heritage\" which \"is linking to the royal aspect\", she adds. She says that the \"domestic goddess in the kitchen\" image, similar to that of Martha Stewart and Nigella Lawson, appears to be directly pitching to US buyers. Kerrie Kelly, who has worked as an interior designer in California for 30 years, agrees that the promo appears to be \"rooted in history, or more European as far as the aesthetic\", but still has a healthy dose of \"easy breezy\" California chic added to the mix. Meghan appears to be marketing a \"feeling of domestic bliss\", leaning into her role as a wife and mother. Mrs Kelly says she wouldn't be surprised to see Meghan's company include, for instance, a children's clothing line or a nursery collection. Her husband might also later appear in marketing materials, something consumers would probably expect of a lifestyle brand. The shortness of the launch video has not stopped critics from ridiculing the brand. Some have joked that the 10-syllable American Riviera Orchard sounds like the names of children born to Hollywood celebrities. Commentators have also already begun to draw comparisons to Gwyneth Paltrow's company Goop, and the products sold by celebrities like Kim Kardashian or Reese Witherspoon. American journalist Elizabeth Holmes, who wrote a best-selling book about royal fashion in 2020, says royal watchers have been assuming that Meghan's \"next chapter\" would likely include bringing back the Tig website \"in some form\". Since returning to the US, Meghan \"has had this sort of like laid back, California, sophisticated ease about her\", Mrs Holmes says. The launch came just a few days after her sister-in-law Catherine, the Princess of Wales, had to address a photoshopping mishap in the UK - which stoked the public's curiosity about the private lives of the royals. Lindsey Imler, the digital marketing specialist, finds the \"juxtaposition\" in media attention between the two royal women interesting. Both have been guarded recently about sharing information from their daily lives. \"For so long Meghan was, you know, the negative, and Kate was the positive and now it feels like there's been a noticeable shift\" in the last few days, she says. The launch has prompted some public speculation that the lifestyle brand could be in breach of an agreement with the Royal Family to not use their royal titles, His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness, for profit. So far, the business has not used the titles. When they left their role as working royals, they were instructed to uphold the values of the Royal Family, and the limited information available about the new brand seems so far to follow that guidance. Buckingham Palace could theoretically complain if Meghan's products are seen to be in competition with those they sell through their own Royal Collection website, but it is far too early to say whether any clash may occur.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has teased a new lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard, featuring a retro-style video on Instagram, which has garnered significant attention despite revealing few details about the products. The brand may include cookbooks, home goods, and food items, evoking a domestic goddess image and tapping into Meghan's previous lifestyle platform, The Tig. The video has sparked comparisons to brands by Gwyneth Paltrow and other celebrities, with some speculating on potential collaborations with her husband, Prince Harry." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Scottish Cup Steven Naismith says Craig Gordon is \"back to where he was before\" as the fit-again goalkeeper kept Greenock Morton at bay before Kenneth Vargas' late strike secured a place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals. Counterpart Dougie Imrie thought his side deserved to be at Hampden instead after they gave the Premiership visitors a fright before being caught on the counter with four minutes remaining. Lawrence Shankland was through on goal before laying it off to Vargas to slot the ball into the far corner. Hearts will face Rangers in the last four following the draw made live on BBC Scotland after the final whistle. \u2022 None Shankland loves Hearts but has much to consider But Hearts also needed Gordon to keep his first clean sheet since recovering from a double leg break as the 41-year-old vies with team-mate Zander Clark for a starting place - and a spot in the Scotland squad to be announced on Tuesday. \"I've said it all along, he's back to where he was before,\" head coach Naismith said. \"He's worked really hard, got a drive and his experience in coming for balls and taking the pressure off is invaluable. But it is brilliant to have two great goalies.\" Imrie said before the game his side wanted to make things \"difficult\" for the visitors and they certainly did that at Cappielow. It was a bright start for the home side and veteran goalkeeper Craig Gordon was called into action inside five minutes to get low and save an Alan Power free-kick. Hearts took a while to find their feet but began to pile on the pressure towards the end of the first half and fashion a few chances, but the Morton defence held firm to the test. It was Morton who came out the brighter of the two sides after the break and fashioned the best opportunity of the game so far. Robbie Muirhead had the chance to play the ball into the path of Robbie Crawford, but the pair just were not on the same page and Hearts managed to get it clear. Beni Baningime also had a massive chance to grab the opener at the front post, but his header inched over the Morton crossbar. It was now end-to-end action with both side coming up with their fair share of chances, but neither were able to make it count. Hearts had to weather a bit of a storm before Cammy Devlin managed to force home goalkeeper Ryan Mullen into a great save. Vargas should have broken the deadlock with 10 minutes left on the clock. Shankland did all the hard work before laying it off to his strike partner, who tried to lift the ball over Mullen, but it bounced off the top of the crossbar and over. Hearts began to pile on the pressure as Morton tired and Mullen did well to get down and stop substitute Aidan Denholm's close-range effort. However, after 85 minutes, Hearts finally got the breakthrough when Vargas did find the back of the net from Shankland's lay-off to secure their spot in the semi-final. It was a valiant effort from Morton, who had already seen off Premiership side Motherwell in the previous round. They managed to keep Hearts at bay for most of the match and even created chances of their own and looked to threaten the visitors, with Gordon called into action on numerous occasions. Ultimately, the lack of depth in Imrie's squad took it's toll and the quality of Hearts' attackers shone through. The Hearts side that turned up at Cappielow was a far cry from the one that put two goals past Celtic last weekend. Steven Naismith's side looked off the pace for the majority of the game and it wasn't until the game started to wear on Morton that Hearts managed to get on the front foot. However, in the end, all that mattered for the visitors is a place in a Hampden semi-final. What they said Hearts head coach Steven Naismith: \"We should've and could've scored earlier, but we knew it was about patience. \"If we kept working them, our opportunities would come and that is how it played out.\" Morton manager Dougie Imrie: \"I thought we deserved to go through on the night. \"Unfortunately, we've lost to a top team, but that is cup football. They've got their opportunity and they've taken it.\" Hearts travel to Dingwall to take on Premiership strugglers Ross County (15:00 GMT) at the same time Greenock Morton face Partick Thistle in the Championship. \u2022 None Goal! Greenock Morton 0, Heart of Midlothian 1. Kenneth Vargas (Heart of Midlothian) right footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Lawrence Shankland. \u2022 None Delay over. They are ready to continue. \u2022 None Delay in match because of an injury Ryan Mullen (Greenock Morton). \u2022 None Attempt saved. Aidan Denholm (Heart of Midlothian) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. \u2022 None Kenneth Vargas (Heart of Midlothian) hits the bar with a right footed shot from the centre of the box. \u2022 None Toby Sibbick (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half. \u2022 None Kenneth Vargas (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the attacking half. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Cameron Devlin (Heart of Midlothian) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top left corner. \u2022 None Cameron Devlin (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick on the right wing. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Hearts secured a place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals with a late goal from Kenneth Vargas, defeating Greenock Morton 1-0; Craig Gordon made a strong return to the pitch, keeping a clean sheet, as Hearts will now face Rangers in the last four." + }, + { + "article": "The warnings from Sweden's defence leaders are being seen as a wake-up call A warning to Swedes from two top defence officials to prepare for war has prompted concern and accusations of alarmism. Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin told a defence conference \"there could be war in Sweden\". His message was then backed up by military commander-in-chief Gen Micael Byden, who said all Swedes should prepare mentally for the possibility. However, opposition politicians have objected to the tone of the warnings. Ex-prime minister Magdalena Andersson told Swedish TV that while the security situation was serious, \"it is not as if war is just outside the door.\" Children's rights organisation Bris said that its national helpline did not usually receive calls about the possibility of war. But this week, it had seen an increase in worried calls from youngsters who had seen news reports or posts on TikTok talking about it. \"This was well prepared, it wasn't something blurted out,\" Bris spokeswoman Maja Dahl told the BBC. \"They should have provided information meant for kids when they come out with this kind of information for grown-ups.\" Despite the starkness of the messaging, the remarks from the civil defence minister and military chief are being seen as a wake-up call. Gen Micael Byden said Swedes on an individual level had to prepare themselves mentally After more than two centuries of peace, Sweden is a few steps from joining the Nato defensive alliance, waiting for a green light from Turkey's parliament and then from Hungary. The commander-in-chief said his remarks were nothing new. He visited Ukraine's eastern front a month ago and Sweden is one of a group of countries training Ukrainian pilots. Stockholm is also said to be considering sending advanced Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine. \"My ambition with this is not to worry people; my ambition is to get more people to think about their own situation and their own responsibilities,\" Gen Byden later told Aftonbladet newspaper. Finland has already joined Nato, and Russian officials have suggested it will be \"the first to suffer\" if tensions with Nato escalate. Sweden's civil defence minister said his aim was not for people to lose sleep, but to gain awareness of what was really going on. He appealed to local authorities, emergency planners and individuals to respond. \"If there is one thing that keeps me awake at night, it is the feeling that things are moving too slowly,\" Mr Bohlin told the Society and Defence conference on Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Sweden during the conference to work with his country and others to manufacture weapons and \"get stronger together\". Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson added that in 2024, Sweden would meet Nato's target of spending 2% of economic output (GDP) on military defence, doubling its spending since 2020. Defence specialist Oscar Jonsson said the tone of the warnings from defence chiefs was something of a storm in a teacup and that 90% of what had been said arose from frustration that too little was being done to build civil and military defence. \"Time is limited and it was aimed at being a wake-up call for agencies, individuals and departments,\" he told the BBC. \"The Swedish armed forces are incredibly competent, but the scale is nowhere near. The latest defence bill says we should set up 3.5 brigades, whereas Ukraine had 28 when the war started.\" Gen Byden's warning to prepare mentally for war comes hard on the heels of a warning a month ago from the head of Poland's National Security Bureau (BBN), Jacek Siewiera, who said that \"to avoid war with Russia, countries on Nato's eastern flank should adopt a three-year time horizon to prepare for confrontation\". He said a German Council on Foreign Relations report suggesting Germany and Nato should prepare their armed forces to be able to fend off a Russian attack in six years was \"too optimistic\". Oscar Jonsson, a specialist from the Swedish Defence University, said that while war was a possibility, it would require several factors to fall into place: Russia's war in Ukraine coming to an end, its military having the time to rebuild and rearm its fighting force and for Europe to lose US military support. All of which were within the realms of possibility, he added.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Top Swedish defence officials have warned citizens to prepare for the possibility of war, sparking concern and debate. Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin and military commander-in-chief Gen Micael Byden emphasized the need for mental preparation, while opposition politicians and children's rights groups criticized the alarmist tone. The warnings come as Sweden awaits approval for its NATO membership and increases military spending." + }, + { + "article": "Sir Ed Davey called on the Liberal Democrats to \"bring the blue wall tumbling down\" Sir Ed Davey has urged Liberal Democrats to \"make this a once-in-a-generation election\" in his speech at the party's spring conference. He argued his is the only party to offer transformational change at the general election, calling on members to \"bring the blue wall tumbling down\". The party leader focused on the NHS in his speech in York on Sunday setting out reforms so people can see a GP, dentist or pharmacist. No date has been set for the election. It has to be held by January next year with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week ruling out holding an election on 2 May, having previously indicated it would be in the second half of the year. Sir Ed urged Mr Sunak to \"go to the palace\" immediately and call for a general election. He accused Labour and the Conservatives of \"trying to cloak themselves in the costume of change, but they're both really saying keep things the same\". The Liberal Democrats, he claimed, \"will deliver a fair deal\" and want to change the whole system. The party won 11 seats at the last general election in 2019, and has since gained four formerly Conservative constituencies in southern England after by-elections. These are Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire, Frome in Somerset, Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, and North Shropshire. Emphasising his focus on the NHS, Sir Ed calledfor a health service where community and primary healthcare services are the priority. He said there needed to be investment in community services, \"to save lives and save money in the long run\". \"Instead of throwing cash at crisis after crisis, with nothing to show for it,\" he added. \"Better for the NHS. Better for taxpayers. Better for patients.\" The Lib Dems are using the conference to prepare to push into areas traditionally held by Conservatives, including more seats in the south and south-west of England. \"In so many parts of the country, only we can beat the Conservatives,\" Sir Ed said. \"And we must.\" He called on members to \"knock on five million doors\" and \"send more Liberal Democrats to Parliament\". While polls suggest Labour is on course to win the election, Sir Ed has refused to be drawn on discussions of a power-sharing pact, if there was a hung Parliament. \"I don't believe in pacts or deals before an election,\" he said earlier this week. The spring conference comes to an end on Sunday. Correction 18th March: The original version of this article wrongly described the political party Reform UK as far-right when referring to polling. This sentence was based on news agency copy and was subsequently removed from the article as it fell short of our usual editorial standards. We have also published a statement and apology on the BBC's Corrections and Clarifications page.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, has called on his party to \"bring the blue wall tumbling down\" in a speech at the party's spring conference, emphasizing the need for transformational change and focusing on NHS reforms. He urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to call a general election, with the Liberal Democrats positioning themselves as the only party offering a fair deal and a change from the status quo." + }, + { + "article": "Artemis I in 2022 demonstrated the rocket and capsule to get astronauts to the vicinity of the Moon US space agency astronauts won't get to walk on the Moon again until September 2026 at the earliest. It represents a slip of a year in the previously targeted date for the return of humans to the lunar surface that was last achieved in 1972. Nasa says the delay to what's known as its Artemis III mission will enable further technology development. Fundamentally, the agency still doesn't have a craft to put astronauts on the Moon or spacesuits they can wear. Announcing the delay, agency administrator Bill Nelson said safety drove all timing considerations. \"We won't fly until we're ready,\" he told reporters. Nasa is also pushing back to September 2025 the precursor mission known as Artemis II. This will see four astronauts fly around the Moon without actually landing. Until today, this flight was in the calendar for the end of this year. A crew comprising Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman are already in training. Artemis I occurred in November 2022. This was an uncrewed demonstration of the SLS rocket and Orion capsule that Nasa will use to get astronauts to lunar orbit. But the capsule now requires the installation of a life-support system before the Artemis II quartet can climb aboard and the space agency says there are concerns about the electronics in this system that will now have to be revised. Engineers also want more time to understand the behaviour and performance of the heatshield that protects the Orion capsule during the fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere at the end of a mission. This shield experienced some unexpected losses of material during the Artemis I return. But Nasa's biggest issue going forwards is probably the landing craft for Artemis III. Artwork: Nasa has asked SpaceX to develop a human landing system based on Starship This will be supplied by entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company and it will be a version of the huge new Starship vehicle currently being tested in Texas. The idea is for astronauts to transfer to Starship in lunar orbit and then go down in it to the Moon's surface. SpaceX needs not only to get the new vehicle working properly but also to stage an uncrewed demonstration at the Moon. And just getting Starship to the vicinity of the Moon will require the company to refuel its craft in Earth orbit first - a practice that's completely novel. Indeed, it could take 10 launches, or more, of other Starships just to get enough fuel into one vehicle above the Earth so it can make the journey to the Moon and then perform a landing. New spacesuits are also needed for the next generation of moonwalkers Nasa associate administrator Jim Free was asked if it was realistic to think all this technology could be perfected by September 2026. \"We're setting a date for [Artemis III] that we have set with our contractors, based on the technical plans that they've laid out,\" he responded. \"What I can tell you is we put margin in there to account for some of the risks that we anticipate seeing. We've tried to address the unknown unknowns and set a realistic plan in place.\" Dates not slipping currently are those for the Artemis IV and V missions, which are set to take place in 2028 and 2029 respectively. IV will see the first astronaut flight to the new Gateway lunar space station that will be constructed this decade. V will see the introduction of a second landing system called Blue Moon. This is being developed by the space company owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "NASA's Artemis III mission, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon, has been delayed until September 2026 due to the need for further technology development, including a landing craft and updated spacesuits. The precursor Artemis II mission, originally planned for the end of 2022, is now scheduled for September 2025. SpaceX's Starship vehicle is set to be the human landing system for Artemis III, requiring extensive testing and demonstrations before it can be used for a lunar landing." + }, + { + "article": "Farmers are using concrete blocks and security fencing to keep fly-tippers off fields Fly-tipping in England had to be cleaned up 1.08 million times by local councils in 2022-23, the latest government figures reveal. Clearing the largest illegal tips cost \u00a313.2m, but the number of court fines dropped by 17%, raising just \u00a3785,000. The figures, released on Wednesday, do not put a value on all fly-tipping costs and only cover public land. But private landowners say the scale of countryside fly-tipping is forcing them to turn farms into \"medieval forts\". The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said fly-tipping on private land and fields is \"going unrecorded on a mass scale\", and that concrete blocks and security fencing were being used to keep out waste criminals. One farmer, Colin Rayner, who has 2,000 acres of arable land across east Berkshire and south Buckinghamshire, said he has waste dumped on his land almost every weekend. Colin Rayner says the annual clean-up costs are \"unimaginable\" and affecting business \"We have even had an incident where we were combining in a field, and a lorry drove into the field, opened its tailgate and tipped a load of rubbish out and drove off again. They are that brazen,\" he said. Mr Rayner added that the total annual clean-up costs were \"unimaginable - it affects the viability of the business\". He is now using five-tonne concrete blocks and security fencing to close entrances to fields and stop the larger tipper truck lorries dumping waste on his land. But, he said, loads were still being dropped in the entrance ways and thrown over the fences. Landowners like Mr Rayner face prosecution if they do not clear away the waste Security guards were even employed when there was a fly-tipping peak during the pandemic. \"It shouldn't be this way, but any farm in this area is doing the same. At one time their fields wouldn't be gated - they are now starting to gate their fields,\" he added. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said a recent survey estimated that two-thirds of farmers and landowners were affected by the fly-tipping of tonnes of household and commercial waste. Often hazardous chemicals and asbestos are dumped - endangering farm workers, walkers, wildlife, livestock and the environment. Victoria Vyvyan, president of the CLA, said: \"These fly-tipping figures barely scratch the surface of a crime that's blighting rural communities, with incidents on private land going unrecorded on a mass scale.\" Send us your pictures and video of fly-tipping. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, private landowners have to remove fly-tipped rubbish or face prosecution. The CLA says farmers are paying on average \u00a31,000 each time, but with costs rising to \u00a3100,000 in extreme cases Ms Vyvyan added that without a change in the system, \"farmers, not the criminals, will continue to pay the price\". The CLA is now calling for local councils to help clear fly-tipping on private land as well as public land, and for the government to better resource enforcement agencies, such as the Environment Agency. The NFU, which represents British farmers, has also called for council enforcement officers to be given enhanced police-style powers to tackle fly-tipping. David Exwood, the NFU's vice-president, said fly-tipping was \"affecting farmers' efforts to produce food and care for the environment, but is also taking a huge toll emotionally and financially\". Wednesday's figures reveal fly-tipping incidents have dropped by 1% since the previous year, with 60% involving household waste. There were 42,000 larger illegal tips - so big that waste criminals would have needed a tipper truck or larger. The number of fixed penalty notices issued went down from 91,000 to 73,000, while the total number of court fines decreased by 17% to 1,491. Darren Rodwell, environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said sentencing guidelines for fly-tipping needed to be reviewed by the government so that offenders could be given bigger fines for more serious offences. A government official said it was helping councils tackle fly-tipping, with extra funding and higher \u00a31,000 on-the-spot fines. And the National Rural Crime Unit was looking at how \"the police's role in tacking fly-tipping can be optimised, with a focus on rural areas\". Rural Affairs Minister Robbie Moore said: \"We always encourage local authorities to investigate fly-tipping incidents on private land - prosecuting the fly-tippers and recovering clearance costs where possible.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Farmers are using concrete blocks and security fencing to deter fly-tippers, as the latest government data shows that local councils in England dealt with over 1 million fly-tipping incidents in 2022-23, costing \u00a313.2 million to clean up. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) asserts that private landowners are heavily impacted, with many unrecorded incidents, and calls for better support and resources to combat the issue." + }, + { + "article": "A second batch of court papers linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shows how dozens of girls were recruited at his beachfront mansion. A Florida detective says in testimony that 30 women had spoken to him about \"performing massage and work\" there. Some were paid to bring their friends. The court filings have been made public under order by a judge. They are part of a lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's imprisoned former girlfriend. She was jailed in 2022 for trafficking girls for Epstein and much of the material in this batch and the 900 pages unsealed on Wednesday had already come to light during her trial. In a 2016 deposition, Joseph Recarey, a police detective in Palm Beach, Florida, said that approximately 30 women had spoken to him about \"performing massage and work at Epstein's home\" in the beachfront community. He said Maxwell was involved in recruiting the girls. Mr Recarey testified that only two of the girls had any massage experience and the majority of them were under the age of 18. When asked how Epstein was able to gain access to so many underage girls the detective said: \"Each of the victims that went to the home were asked to bring their friends to the home.\" Some were paid to recruit, he said, adding: \"When they went to perform a massage, it was for [Epstein's] sexual gratification.\" Judge Loretta Preska ruled last month there was no longer any legal justification to withhold the names of more than 150 people mentioned in the defamation case filed by Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein accuser, against Maxwell. People are mentioned in passing as part of various legal proceedings and their inclusion does not necessarily suggest wrongdoing related to Epstein. The court records unsealed on Wednesday and Thursday both contain references to the UK's Prince Andrew and former US President Bill Clinton. Among the previously detailed claims against Prince Andrew is that he sexually abused a minor in London, New York and on Epstein's island in the Virgin Islands, after the teenager was told to do it by Maxwell. The Duke of York has already denied these allegations. The new documents also include a suggestion from a lawyer for Ms Giuffre that former President Clinton \"may have information\" on Maxwell and Epstein's activities because he had travelled with them. Mr Clinton has acknowledged being a former associate of Epstein and taking flights on the financier's private jet on humanitarian trips but has denied wrongdoing or knowledge of his crimes. There is no suggestion of illegality by Mr Clinton in any of the documents. The latest batch contains a claim by Ms Giuffre that the former US president stormed into Vanity Fair magazine and told them not to write sex-trafficking articles about \"his good friend\" Epstein. The BBC approached Clinton's office for comment, and a spokesperson cited media reports of a statement from former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, saying the alleged incident \"categorically did not happen\". The BBC has contacted Conde Nast, Vanity Fair's parent company, for comment. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In a 2019 BBC interview, Prince Andrew said he could not recall any incident involving Virginia Giuffre In another email thread, between former Mail on Sunday journalist Sharon Churcher and Ms Giuffre, they discuss an approach from Vanity Fair magazine to buy a photo from Ms Giuffre. The journalist advises Ms Giuffre to say she has no more to disclose at that time about how she was allegedly sex-trafficked to \"two of the world's most respected politicians\". The alleged politicians aren't named in the email threads. In another court filing released on Wednesday an accuser identified as Jane Doe #3 alleges she was trafficked by Epstein \"for sexual purposes to many other powerful men, including numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known Prime Minister, and other world leaders\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Speaking in 2019, Virginia Giuffre: \"I implore the people in the UK... to not accept this as being OK\" Jane Doe #3 has previously been named in media reports as Virginia Giuffre. An aerial view of Jeffrey Epstein's island Little St James The new trove includes filings from Maxwell's lawyers in which they argue that the journalist, Ms Churcher, had helped \"concoct\" allegations against Prince Andrew as well as prominent US attorney Alan Dershowitz. The BBC has contacted Ms Churcher and the Mail on Sunday for comment. Mr Dershowitz filed a motion seeking the release of the documents earlier on Thursday, following a request by the Miami Herald newspaper. He has denied any wrongdoing. The former Harvard Law professor told Fox News Digital Thursday: \"There are smoking guns that are not being released. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: The secret lives of Maxwell and Epstein \"They relate to credibility - and lack thereof - of some accusers and some accused. I have seen these suppressed documents. Nothing should be suppressed.\" Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008 and took his own life in 2019 while awaiting trial over sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell, the daughter of publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role as a recruiter for Epstein. Her lawyers are appealing against the sentence.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A second batch of court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking case has been released, revealing how dozens of girls were recruited at his Florida mansion, with some paid to bring their friends. The papers, part of a lawsuit against Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted and is currently in prison, include testimony from a detective stating that around 30 women spoke about providing \"massage and work\" at Epstein's home, with many being underage. The documents also mention Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, with allegations against them, which both have previously denied." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Former President Donald Trump must pay nearly $355m (\u00a3281m) to New York state for lying about the values of his properties, a judge has ruled. Judge Arthur Engoron also banned him from serving as a company director or taking out loans from banks in the state for three years. The New York real estate mogul escaped having some of his companies dissolved, which could have meant bankruptcy. Speaking from his Florida estate, Mr Trump said he would appeal the ruling. \"A crooked New York state judge just ruled I have to pay a fine for $355m for having built a perfect company,\" the former president said from Mar-a-Lago on Friday, calling the ruling a political witch hunt. \"It's a very sad day for - in my opinion - the country.\" In the ruling on Friday, Judge Engoron referred to previous allegations of wrongdoing in justifying the large amounts he ordered the defendants to pay, writing that they \"are likely to continue their fraudulent ways\" unless he imposed a \"significant\" penalty. He made specific reference to the Trump Organization's conviction in a criminal tax fraud case in 2022, where a jury found it had enriched its top executives with off-the books benefits for more than a decade. \"Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,\" Judge Engoron wrote in an at times scathing 92-page decision. Later he said: \"The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.\" Still, Mr Trump's empire was spared from one of the worst potential outcomes - the cancellation of its business licences, known as the corporate death penalty. Instead, the judge ordered two tiers of oversight - an independent monitor to report to the court for up to three years and a separate independent director of compliance to be installed. The judge is also requiring Mr Trump pay interest on the profits he made by committing the fraud (known as \"prejudgment interest\"), which could bring the final amount penalty total to around $450m. Along with what Mr Trump has been ordered to pay, his two adult sons and co-defendants, Donald Jr and Eric, must each pay $4m. They are barred for two years from doing business in New York, while another co-defendant, Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, has been ordered to pay $1m. Additionally, Mr Trump, his company, and its affiliates cannot apply for loans in New York for three years. Both of Mr Trump's sons denounced the ruling on social media, with Donald Jr claiming the judgment was politically motivated and Eric calling the judge \"a cruel man\". In her civil case, New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, had accused all four defendants and the wider Trump Organization of massively inflating property values and lying on financial statements so they could borrow large sums of money at favourable interest rates. She had asked for a fine of $370m. Speaking on Friday, she said: \"There cannot be different rules for different people in this country, and former presidents are no exception.\" \"Donald Trump may have authored the art of the deal, but he perfected the art of the steal,\" she told a news conference. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Letitia James says 'no one above law' after Trump ruling In September, Judge Engoron ruled Mr Trump was liable for business fraud, finding he had misrepresented his wealth by hundreds of millions of dollars. In one instance, the judge found Mr Trump's financial statements had wrongly claimed that his Trump Tower penthouse was almost three times its actual size. The subsequent 43-day trial that took place late last year and included testimony from 40 witnesses, focused mostly on determining penalties against Mr Trump. Judge Engoron's ruling lays out in detail his reasoning, often diving deep into finance and accounting practices and directly addressing testimony from experts and witnesses. \"In order to borrow more and at lower rates, defendants submitted blatantly false financial data to the accountants, resulting in fraudulent financial statements,\" he wrote. \"When confronted at trial with the statements, defendants' fact and expert witnesses simply denied reality, and defendants failed to accept responsibility.\" Judge Engoron may have made a thorough record expecting that Mr Trump would appeal, legal experts told the BBC. Mr Trump vehemently denied wrongdoing throughout the trial. In a six-minute speech during closing arguments in January, Mr Trump declared himself an \"innocent man\" and called the case a \"fraud on me\". And the former president said repeatedly that he paid his lenders, which meant there was no crime. While in his ruling Judge Engoron acknowledged that no banks were hurt, he added that \"the next group of lenders to receive bogus statements might not be so lucky\". The latest penalty comes on top of the $83.3m Mr Trump owes writer E Jean Carroll in a separate defamation case. But while the amount is high, it is not expected to bankrupt a man whose total net worth has been estimated at $2.6bn.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A New York judge has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay nearly $355m for lying about the values of his properties, banning him from serving as a company director or taking out loans from banks in the state for three years. Trump has vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it a \"political witch hunt." + }, + { + "article": "Paul Scully served as Minister for London from 2020 to 2023 London Conservative MP and former minister Paul Scully has announced he will stand down at the next general election. He apologised last week for claiming that parts of Tower Hamlets and Birmingham were \"no-go\" areas. Mr Scully, who has represented Sutton and Cheam since 2015, said his party had \"lost its way\". He becomes the sixth Tory MP in London to announce they will not contest the election. Announcing his decision on X, Mr Scully said: \"I have told my local association that I won't be contesting the next general election. \"Over the last nine years it's been a privilege to represent in parliament, the area which I called home for 35 years.\" He added that he never intended to \"retire as a politician\". Mr Scully told BBC Radio London that the controversy over his no-go comments was not the reason he decided he would stand down but \"confirmed I've made the right decision\". \"It wasn't actually part of the decision making process, there has been a longer drift,\" he said. Mr Scully said he found the \"no-go-gate frenzy\", as he called it on X, to be \"incredibly frustrating\", saying it was \"poor choice of words\" and \"shows you can't do community relations in a few minutes\". The MP said he still believed he would have made the best Tory candidate to be mayor of London after failing to make party's shortlist last year. He said the decision to select Susan Hall over him was \"effectively the government leaving the pitch in London\". \"I think it's slightly disrespectful to Londoners that we're not selling ourselves as viable an option that we might do,\" he said. He said Ms Hall had a \"massive gap\" to make up, between making criticisms of mayor Sadiq Khan and actually being able to carry out the role. Paul Scully lost out to Susan Hall to become the Conservative mayoral candidate Mr Scully listed his achievements as a constituency MP but added there was \"plenty left unfinished\" from his three years as minister for London - a role he held from February 2020 to November 2023. The former minister said the Conservatives needed to \"get out of crisis management\" and \"show vision\". \"I'm still supportive and want the party to do well but they've got to grab that opportunity because those opportunities are disappearing thick and fast,\" he added. Ms Hall's campaign team pointed out that Mr Scully had previously \"unequivocally\" endorsed her for mayor in a column for the Telegraph that was headlined \"Susan Hall is the best candidate for London mayor\". A Conservative Party spokesperson said that it had \"taken tough decisions\" and progress was being made in London and across the UK. In the run up to the general election, six Tory MPs in London have called it a day in the House of Commons. Clearly in some cases that has been in expectation of a Tory defeat - and just not being able to find the energy to hang on against that tide. But with the latest to head for the hills, Paul Scully, there are specific additional factors. He was not just hurt but uncomprehending that - despite being minister for London - he failed to make his party's three-person shortlist for mayor. That was, he says, because local London members felt that as a minister he might not be seen as sufficiently independent of a Conservative government. He says the party has missed an epic opportunity to unseat Labour's Sadiq Khan, and he sees in this more evidence of a party which is out of tune with the capital's ways and needs to reach parts so much beyond its current core. Losing his ministerial position in the business department also stung - a reminder of the brutal realities of politics. A figure who just a few months ago felt right at the heart of it all, up too for the political fight ahead, now starkly concludes that he will not be part of the solution. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Paul Scully, former Minister for London and Conservative MP for Sutton and Cheam, has announced he will not stand in the next general election, becoming the sixth Tory MP in London to do so. Scully apologized for controversial comments about \"no-go\" areas in Tower Hamlets and Birmingham, stating that the Conservative Party has \"lost its way\" and needs to show more vision." + }, + { + "article": "Constance Marten has told a jury at the Old Bailey that her \"influential\" family supported social services when they took her children into care. She said her family were embarrassed the children didn't come from an \"upper class privileged background\". The court previously heard she and co-defendant Mark Gordon had four other children together. All were taken into care. The couple deny causing the death of a fifth child, a baby named Victoria. Ms Marten, 36, continued to give evidence on Thursday. She and Mr Gordon, 49, are accused of manslaughter by gross negligence, which they deny. Under prosecution cross-examination, Ms Marten said: \"Problem I had was I was going up against not just social services but family members.\" She said her family have \"huge connections in this country, including in Parliament\", adding: \"If they said to social services 'jump', social services would say 'how high?'.\" Ms Marten continued: \"They had the full backing of my family who didn't agree with me having these children.\" She was also pressed as to whether she would lie for her child during her fifth day of giving evidence. Ms Marten told the court: \"I would be prepared to lie to save my child\u2026 I would throw myself in front of a bus for my child.\" Prosecution counsel Joel Smith quoted from the \"golden rules\" espoused by Ian Josephs, who runs a website called Forced Adoption. One of the rules on the site is to never contact social services or child protection for help or advice. She was then asked about advice on the same website to consider very carefully before reporting a partner who \"batters you\" or even a stranger who sexually assaults your child. In response to a child being sexually harmed, Ms Marten said, \"you should go to the police\". A nationwide search for the couple began on 5 January last year after police found a placenta in their car which had caught on fire on the M61 near Bolton in Greater Manchester. The couple went on the run with Victoria and ended up camping on the South Downs in East Sussex, where their newborn died. Victoria's body was later found in a supermarket bag which also contained rubbish, the court has previously heard. When the prosecutor put it to Ms Marten that she \"stripped\" her baby of \"dignity in death\" by storing the body in a bag, she replied: \"I definitely could have given her a burial\u2026\" Ms Marten told the jury that she hoped to bury her daughter one day, adding: \"She will have her dignity\u2026 that is not Victoria\". She also described her body as being like a \"spacesuit\" and said \"her spirit is what's important\". The prosecution allege it was the couple's \"grossly negligent and obviously dangerous conduct\" that caused the death of their baby daughter. The trial has previously heard how a post-mortem examination jointly carried out by two pathologists could not determine a cause of death. Prosecutors continued to press Ms Marten on Thursday over whether she and Mr Gordon had sufficient provisions with them to keep the baby safe while they were living outdoors. But Ms Marten insisted that Victoria died in her arms after she fell asleep on her. She told the Old Bailey: \"She did not die of hypothermia... I was there to protect my child\u2026 if I thought for one minute it wasn't sustainable I wouldn't have stayed in that tent.\" Ms Marten later said: \"People have lived outside for millennia\u2026 I don't have a problem living outside with my children as long as they are kept warm and fed.\" She and Mr Gordon, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Constance Marten, on trial at the Old Bailey, claims her influential family supported social services when her children were taken into care due to embarrassment over their non-upper class background. Marten and co-defendant Mark Gordon deny causing the death of their fifth child, Victoria, through gross negligence, and are also charged with other offenses including manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, and child cruelty. Marten testified she would lie to protect her child and criticized a website's advice on dealing with social services and child protection. The couple went on the run with Victoria and were found camping after their car caught fire; Victoria's body was discovered in a supermarket bag." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: \"I don't sell that. I don't want to be famous,\" says Leonid Zakutenko when confronted by BBC A Ukrainian man selling a poison thought to be linked to at least 130 UK deaths has been identified by the BBC. Leonid Zakutenko advertised his services on a website promoting suicide and he told an undercover reporter he sent five parcels a week to the UK. He has been supplying the same substance as Canadian Kenneth Law, who was arrested last year and is now facing 14 murder charges. Mr Zakutenko denied the claims when challenged by the BBC. He was tracked down to his home in Kyiv and denied that he sold the deadly chemical, which the BBC is choosing not to name. However, our investigation found that he has been supplying the substance for years. The chemical can legally be sold in the UK, but only to companies using it for a legitimate purpose. Suppliers must not sell to customers unless they have carried out basic checks on what the substance is to be used for. It can prove fatal if ingested in even small doses. Zakutenko was described as a \"contemptible and evil human being\" by the family of twin sisters Linda and Sarah, who died in London last year after the Ukranian supplied them with poison. Linda was given \"easy access to a 'death kit' for a few pounds\" after finding out about the seller on a well-known suicide forum, according to sister Helen Kite. She described her sisters, 54, as \"intelligent, caring and articulate\". If you've been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line Ms Kite said that the lack of action by the authorities to prevent her sisters and many others getting access to the chemical was \"a national disgrace\". The chemical Zakutenko sells is openly discussed on the forum used by Linda, with members advising one another on how to buy and then use it. The chemical may be linked to more than 130 UK deaths since 2019, according to scientist Prof Amrita Ahluwalia, an expert in vascular pharmacology at Queen Mary University of London. She analysed blood and other samples from people who had died, which were sent to her from pathologists and police around the UK. Prof Ahluwalia's analysis indicates more than 130 deaths could have been caused by the chemical Of 187 tests she found 71% showed high traces of the chemical, indicating that at least 133 people may have died as a result of ingesting it. \"Something needs to be done,\" Prof Ahluwalia said. \"With what it's being used for, there has to be a full investigation of the issues. It has to be regulated so that its use is for its intended purposes.\" Chef Kenneth Law was arrested in Canada in May 2023 and has now been charged with 14 counts of murder and of aiding suicide.. He is thought to have sold the chemical more than 1,200 times to buyers in 40 countries around the world and is linked to at least 93 deaths in the UK. Our investigation found that Zakutenko has been selling the same chemical since at least November 2020. He also offers three different prescription medicines, referred to in online suicide guides. He even briefly promoted his service on the same suicide forum as Mr Law. Since then, users have passed on his contact details through direct messages. Zakutenko was confronted in Kyiv by the BBC We traced Zakutenko to a small flat in a Soviet-era tower block in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. We challenged him outside his local post office where he had been posting more parcels. We asked him why he was sending a poisonous chemical to people who wanted to end their lives. \"That is a lie,\" he told us, before putting his hand over our camera and trying to walk away. We know that at least one of the parcels contained the chemical because we placed an order that day and received a tracking number shortly after Zakuetenko left the post office. When asked what he had to say to the families of the dead, he replied: \"I don't understand what you are talking about\". David Parfett's son Tom, 22, bought the same chemical from Kenneth Law, and used it to end his life in October 2021. Mr Parfett now campaigns to shut down the suicide forum and stop sellers like Zakutenko. The British authorities have known about the chemical and the online trade since at least September 2020, when they were alerted by a coroner who examined the death of 23 year-old Joe Nihill. The coroner wrote to police, the chief coroner and a chemical supplier warning them about the lethal trade in the substance. Since then, coroners across England have written to different government departments on at least five occasions recommending action be taken about the chemical and the suicide forum. Mr Parfett bought a consignment from Zakutenko in December 2023 because he wanted to test the system to see if the authorities would intercept the parcel. He had a \"welfare check\" from police a few days after placing the order, but he still received the chemical within weeks and did not receive another police visit. \"I still can't believe that was happening today, with everything we know now about the number of deaths,\" said Mr Parfett. Similar welfare checks on UK buyers were carried out after Kenneth Law was arrested in Canada. The National Crime Agency has confirmed that there are cases of people - who bought the substance from Law - dying after police had carried out welfare checks. \"Such cases are addressed by police forces in line with their policies and national guidelines,\" a spokesperson said. Kenneth Law traded on the same forum as Zakutenko and is linked to at least 93 deaths in the UK Mr Parfett and Ms Kite are both calling for firmer action to be taken against the forum where their loved ones Tom and Linda found out about the chemical. Ms Kite described the site as \"an abomination, preying, unimpeded by the authorities, on the most vulnerable and causing untold misery and suffering for those left behind\". The government says the new Online Safety Act, which became law last year should help restrict access to this kind of forum.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The BBC has identified a Ukrainian man, Leonid Zakutenko, who has been selling a poison linked to over 130 UK deaths through a website promoting suicide. Despite denying the claims, Zakutenko admitted to sending five parcels a week to the UK, similar to Canadian supplier Kenneth Law, who is facing 14 murder charges. The chemical, which can be legally sold in the UK with proper checks, has been connected to numerous fatalities, prompting calls for stricter regulation and action against online suicide forums." + }, + { + "article": "Dwelaniyah Robinson was fatally injured at his home near Durham in 2022 A woman accused of murdering her three-year-old son said the motive suggested by prosecutors \"makes no sense\". Dwelaniyah Robinson suffered more than 60 injuries including scalding burns and wounds from a caning before his death near Durham in November 2022. Christina Robinson, 30, denies murder, manslaughter and four counts of child cruelty. In her closing speech at Newcastle Crown court, she said the prosecution case was full of contradictions. Prosecutors said Dwelaniyah died after a campaign of \"sadistic cruelty\" and punishment by his mother and she had had enough of him after the injuries she caused him made him an \"inconvenience\". Representing herself after sacking her legal team, Ms Robinson told the jurors that \"makes no sense\". Ms Robinson, who grew up in Tamworth, Staffordshire before moving to Ushaw Moor near Durham, said: \"I did not murder my child, I did not kill my child.\" In her speech lasting just over an hour, Ms Robinson also denied forcibly immersing her son in scalding water in the weeks before he died. She said he was burned \"accidentally\" when she was rinsing him and she was too \"ashamed\" to seek medical help so treated the injuries herself. Ms Robinson also said she lied to the police about various issues, including how her son was injured, because she was \"afraid\" she would not be believed. \"Look at where I am,\" she told jurors, adding: \"I was right.\" Christina Robinson denies murder, manslaughter and four counts of child cruelty She said the prosecution case was based on \"uncertain\" expert \"opinions\" and \"theories\" and there were \"so many inconsistencies, so many contradictions which simply do not add up\". She asked why, if she had forcefully shaken her son as the prosecution claimed, there were not more external bruises. Ms Robinson said other experts had \"praised\" her for how she had treated his burns, adding her son was not in \"excruciating pain\" as the some of the injures had been deep enough to numb nerve fibres. The court has heard Dwelaniyah collapsed and stopped breathing at his home on Bracken Court shortly before 16:00 GMT on 5 November 2022, but it was at least 20 minutes before Ms Robinson called an ambulance. In her speech, she told jurors she had been \"focused\" on \"fighting to save\" her son's life by performing CPR, adding:\" So do not use my delay of calling 999 against me as a sign of guilt, it simply was not.\" She also said the prosecution claimed \"every injury was caused by me\" but her son was a \"very clumsy child\". She admitted using a cane to strike him but said the only time she did that was about an hour before he collapsed. Ms Robinson said that was \"down to my beliefs which I believed were right at the time\", adding she was following the Bible-based teachings of her religion, the Black Hebrew Israelites, which talked about using a rod for correction. \"It was in the Bible,\" she said, adding: \"It was mentioned in a lesson I was listening to. I believed this was the right way.\" She said she now accepts she was \"misguided\". Ms Robinson also said if she had been injuring her son, wouldn't he have been \"scared\" of her, but there was no evidence of that. She said she wanted a large family and Dwelaniayh was her \"first-born\". Ms Robinson also said she had suffered four miscarriages which \"nearly broke\" her, asking jurors why then she would kill her son. \"If anybody has ever experienced a child die before you, you would not do this,\" she said. Ms Robinson said: \"There is no true motive for me to have done this to my child, to my first born and still want more children. \"It makes no sense. So please do not find me guilty for something that I have not done. \"If you find me guilty based on opinions based on assumptions, based on things that simply do not add up, where is the justice?\" Follow BBC North East on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A woman on trial for the murder of her three-year-old son, Dwelaniyah Robinson, who suffered over 60 injuries including burns and caning wounds, has denied the charges, claiming the prosecution's motive \"makes no sense.\" Christina Robinson, 30, representing herself, said she did not kill her child and accused the prosecution of relying on contradictory evidence and theories. She admitted to lying to the police but attributed it to fear and claimed some of her son's injuries were accidental." + }, + { + "article": "Ibrahima Bah, sketched at a previous hearing, had continued the crossing even after signs the boat had been deflating, jurors heard A migrant who was navigating an inflatable boat when it started sinking in the Channel has been found responsible for the death of four people. The unprecedented case raised complex questions about whether the asylum seeker who piloted the boat could be blamed for the drownings, in 2022. Ibrahima Bah was convicted after two trials at Canterbury Crown Court - the first time a migrant who navigated an inflatable has been found responsible for harm caused to other occupants. Canterbury Crown Court heard 39 people, including Bah, had been rescued about 200m (650ft) inside British waters on 14 December 2022. Thirty-one were brought on board a British fishing trawler, towards which Bah had steered the dinghy. Others were saved by two lifeboats assisted by a Royal Navy patrol. Kent Police have been able to confirm the identity of only one of the men who died, Ahmadi Herjatullah. The body of a fifth believed to have drowned has never been found. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Dominic Casciani breaks down the video from the rescue in the English Channel Over the course of two trials in the past year, prosecutors told jurors Bah could be held responsible for the deaths of the four recovered bodies because he had been part of a criminal agreement to pilot the unseaworthy vessel or had failed in his duty of care to keep everyone safe. Bah said he was not the skipper but just one of some 40 desperate people trying to claim asylum in the UK. The jury in the first trial, last July, failed to reach verdicts, triggering a retrial. Bah left Senegal in 2019 and spent two years in Libya. It's not clear how old he is due to uncertainty about his date of birth - but there is no dispute that he was an adult by the time of his trial. After he and others had been rescued in the English Channel, he told detectives he had reached Italy after steering a boat over the Mediterranean and hoped ultimately to find a job in sheet-metal work. A trawler crew pulled the migrants from the sea He then left Italy for France, spending five months in Bordeaux before moving on to the migrant camps between Calais and Dunkirk. Three months later, a Kurdish smuggling gang finally offered Bah and a friend free passage to the UK, if he would agree to steer the boat. The friend, thought to be among the five who drowned, has not been formally identified. Bah told the jury he had joined men from Afghanistan and Sudan and the smugglers had used sticks to coerce the group into preparing the inflatable and quickly carrying it on to the beach. When he had seen the condition of the boat - which was entirely different to those he had piloted in Senegal - Bah had tried to pull out but had been immediately threatened with extreme violence. \"Someone came from behind and hit me and I fell,\" he said. \"Some of them were kicking me. Nobody dared to challenge them. The others heard me screaming - but nobody came to help me. \"What could I do? If I did not go [to the beach] they could kill me. I could only do what they wanted me to do, to save my life.\" This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The remains of an English Channel inflatable recovered by the UK Border Force. But Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, said Bah had shown no injuries to British medics after his rescue - and he could have later turned the dinghy around, after it had begun to take on water and lose air. \"For an hour and a half you had been driving your boat forward, with people screaming and water at knee level,\" Mr Atkinson said. \"You controlled the speed and direction.\" Two Afghan men at the front of the boat used their phones to give Bah directions. When the group saw the lights of a fishing trawler, they headed towards it. Some stood up, the centre of the dinghy collapsed and it began to sink. When UK Border Force experts later examined the remains of the inflatable, they concluded it had not been remotely seaworthy but designed to pack in as many people as possible to maximise profits. The inflatable was not seaworthy Jurors could convict Bah of manslaughter only after considering a number of critical legal questions as to whether he could be blamed for the deaths. If the jury thought Bah might have felt forced into steering the dinghy, then he could not be found guilty of the manslaughters or facilitating illegal immigration - a lesser charge he also faced. If jurors believed Bah had freely gone to sea, they could convict him of manslaughter only if sure that reasonable people would have realised that the journey risked death and, crucially, his steering had contributed to the tragedy. The jurors could also consider whether Bah was guilty of causing the deaths through gross negligence - a form of homicide that applies to cases where someone has a clear duty of care to others who were fatally harmed. One survivor told BBC News many on the boat did not know each other or speak each other's languages. \"People stood up inside the boat and then the boat collapsed,\" he said. \"I didn't know whether [the driver] was a smuggler, refugee or asylum seeker - but he helped us and saved us. \"He was speeding the boat to get closer to the fishing boat and also turned and swerved the boat in a way that helped us.\" Richard Thomas KC told the jury Bah could not be blamed - and had feared for his own life. Nor could he be considered to be in charge of the vessel - he was just one of a group of people who wanted to seek asylum. \"It's only on the beach that the smugglers show their true colours,\" Mr Thomas said. \"The defendant had not been on the beach before - this was his first attempt [to cross]. \"Is it possible that when he agreed to drive the boat, he did not realise that they would threaten to kill him, beat and punch him? \"You have to ask yourself a different question - that running away was not possible.\" Since 2022, it has been a criminal offence to arrive in the UK without permission. Mr Thomas said the only way for Bah to exercise his separate legal right to seek asylum had been to present himself to UK Border Force officers in Dover. Immigration rules say asylum seekers, unless accepted on to one of a few limited UN-related scheme, must apply in person in the UK. But at the same time, the trial heard, the government did not give permission in advance to travel to claim asylum. That complex clash between two separate laws - one aiming to punish illegal immigration, the other to protect genuine asylum seekers - has been argued over in the Court of Appeal in London. And in March, three senior judges ruled anyone taking a small boat to Dover without prior permission was breaking the law - even if intending to seek asylum.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A migrant, Ibrahima Bah, has been found guilty of the manslaughter of four people after the inflatable boat he was navigating sank in the Channel in 2022. Bah, who claimed he was forced to steer the unseaworthy vessel, is the first to be held responsible for harm caused to others in such a case." + }, + { + "article": "Denise Patrick wants a day in court over apartments deemed defective at Victoria Square in Belfast A woman with terminal cancer, who had to leave her apartment at Belfast's Victoria Square when it was deemed defective, has called for Stormont to change the law quickly so she can have her day in court. Owners of the apartments were told to evacuate the building in 2019. Their bid for compensation was struck out by a High Court judge last week. Denise Patrick, 68, fears she will not live to see a new case for compensation go to trial. That would require legislative change. In England and Wales, owners of properties that are found to be defective have 30 years to make a claim. Such claims must be made within six years of a building being completed in Northern Ireland. Ruling on Wednesday, Mr Justice Huddleston said he appreciated there was \"a lot of human pain involved in this action\", but that he had to apply the law as he found it. The builders of the apartments, which opened in 2008, Farrans and Gilbert and Ash, along with architects involved in the building, have denied any liability. Denise Patrick said she is \"begging\" politicians to enable her to have her day in court - but if she is not alive to see that day, she asked that her interview given to BBC's Good Morning Ulster on Monday be played to the court. \"I don't know how much longer I have and death takes a lot of things from us but it will not steal my story,\" she said. Ms Patrick asked to \"use this so that I can be in court and let them face me and tell me why - because we didn't build these, we didn't do this\". \"This is not our fault,\" she said. Owners of the Victoria Square apartments deemed defective in Belfast had their bid for compensation struck out on Wednesday Residents were told to vacate the building in April 2019 \"immediately for safety reasons\" due to \"a serious structural issue\". Cracks had started appearing in the walls. Despite being unable to return to their properties, they have continued having to pay rates, buildings insurance, a service charge, and in some cases, mortgage payments. Denise, who spoke from the home she is now having to rent, said being forced to move out and the long legal battle since has caused her cancer to worsen. \"I think the right thing to do is to have this in court,\" she said. \"I want those, everybody who was involved - who designed [the Victoria Square apartments deemed defective], who built it, who signed it off - to be in court so that we can question them and we can get those answers. \"I want truth honesty, justice, the integrity and that's why my story is there now. \"I'm not going to tug on their heart strings because I don't think there is a heart. \"I just want you to know that this has impacted me. You didn't cause the cancer but you exacerbated my cancer.' Ms Patrick, was a headteacher in London before coming to live in Belfast after her retirement, said some of the ways the issue had been handled were shameful - including residents having to continue to pay rates for apartments they could not live in. When the owners of the Victoria Square apartments called for politicians to act, there was some confusion over which Stormont department held responsibility for this issue. But Communities Minister Gordon Lyons confirmed his department would take on responsibility. After the High Court ruling last week, he said: \"I have spoken with [Daera] Minister Muir in relation to the Defective Premises Order and agreed the transfer of functions to my department, subject to executive and assembly approval. \"We have agreed to meet again next week to further consider the process of policy development and consultation to update the legislation.\" The Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald said she had met with Land and Property Services on Thursday to discuss rates on the apartments deemed defective.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Denise Patrick, a terminally ill woman who had to leave her defective apartment at Victoria Square in Belfast, is calling for a change in Northern Ireland's law to allow her to have her day in court for compensation, as the current six-year limit has expired. Owners of the apartments, evacuated in 2019 due to structural issues, had their compensation claim struck out last week, prompting calls for legislative change similar to the 30-year limit in England and Wales." + }, + { + "article": "Prince William is at a crossroads. He hasn't spoken publicly yet about the King's cancer diagnosis, but he must have been thinking long and hard about it since his father gave him the news. For anyone, this is shocking news, something difficult to digest. It's a situation in which both parent and child want to protect the other. But it must feel to Prince William that the responsibilities lying ahead of him are closer than ever. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak went beyond what Buckingham Palace had revealed with the reassurance that the King's cancer had been caught at an early stage. So there will be every expectation of a good recovery, with the King \"wholly positive\" and getting on with his meetings and paperwork that are part of his role as head of state. Nonetheless, it must be a reminder to Prince William how his own role will change, not least in the short term, as he takes on more engagements while the King recuperates. It won't be a brotherly double-act, with sources suggesting that when Prince Harry is in the UK there are no plans for him to meet his brother. If Prince William has to step up and take on more royal duties, it will be a chance to see how differently he might do things in future. Prince William's visits are intended to have a longer-term social impact He already has his own style at public events. It's a generational difference. Prince William seems to promise a modern, relaxed version of royalty. He's as comfortable with a tie-less monarchy as with ceremonial outfits. Perhaps more so. On visits he can look like a dad at a private-school charity event - wealthy but progressive, driven by a social conscience, with good jeans as well as good genes. You can see his security guards, mirroring the prince, looking like an armed detachment of casualwear models. And the older guests, slightly overdressed for the occasion, can be seen smuggling their ties back into their pockets. While the King remains a flag bearer for old-fashioned royal visits, embracing the crowds on walkabouts, Prince William seems at home in smaller, more focused, groups of people associated with a particular issue. His causes, such as tackling homelessness and supporting mental health, are intended to make a long-term impact, rather than a loop-tape of handshakes and ribbon-cutting. But the health news about his family is a reminder of how quickly life can change. Prince William faces coping with the health problems of his wife and his father Prince William, who was only young when he lost his mother, must be worrying about his father. That's as well as helping his wife Catherine during her long-term recovery after abdominal surgery. She is recuperating at home with their children in Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroomed house on the Windsor estate. Their choice of home might seem like an attempt to be a normal family in a life that otherwise will always be strange. While Prince William's concern will be for his wife to get better, the palaces will also be missing her media presence. An appearance by Catherine, such a regular fixture on the front page of newspapers, has been an escape route from bad news. It's likely that Catherine will not be able to carry out any official duties until after Easter and with the King recovering as well, it will mean the spotlight will fall more fully on Prince William. It's a royal version of that transition from being the young mum or dad to that difficult stage of helping your own parents. When the King returns to work, in some uncertain number of weeks, it will leave Prince William looking more clearly than ever as next in line.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Prince William is grappling with the news of his father, King Charles III's, early-stage cancer diagnosis, which brings his future responsibilities as heir to the throne into sharper focus. As the King recovers, Prince William may take on more royal engagements, offering a glimpse of his modern approach to royalty, while also supporting his wife, Catherine, in her recovery from abdominal surgery." + }, + { + "article": "Two ministers are calling on the government to meet its goal of 2.5% more quickly Two ministers have publicly urged the government to increase defence spending to above 2.5% of national income. Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Tom Tugendhat said the UK needed to \"lead the way\" and invest at a \"much greater pace\". Their article, posted on LinkedIn, follows criticism of this week's Budget for failing to boost defence spending. Delivering the Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said spending was above 2%, Nato's target, and would rise to 2.5% \"as soon as economic conditions allow\". But Ms Trevelyan, a Foreign Office minister, and Mr Tugendhat, the Security Minister, said the global risk posed by countries like Russia and China meant there was no time for delay. \"The sad truth is that the world is no longer benign,\" they said in the article published on Saturday. \"Protecting ourselves requires investment. And effective investment means that our industrial complex must grow and strengthen at much greater pace than at present. \"We cannot turn on the complex platforms and weapons which ensure military advantage overnight. We must start that growth now, invest at pace to support our allies and stay ahead of our adversaries.\" The two ministers also praised former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson for making inroads in boosting defence spending. Ministers often lobby the chancellor before budgets, sometimes publicly, but it is unusual for them to speak out afterwards. It is understood that both ministers remain fully supportive of Mr Hunt and government policy to reach 2.5% of gross domestic product \"as soon as possible\", but they wanted to stress the importance of hitting the target quickly. The House of Commons' spending watchdog warned on Friday that the gap between the MoD's budget and the cost of the UK's desired military capabilities had risen to \u00a316.9bn - the largest deficit ever - despite an injection of \u00a346.3bn over the next 10 years. The Public Accounts Committee has also warned the real deficit could be closer to \u00a329bn as some parts of the armed forces only included capabilities that were affordable, rather than all those the government had requested. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps wrote to Mr Hunt in January calling for a commitment to 2.5% in the Budget. However, a source close to him said he did not play any part in the LinkedIn article. The piece was not cleared by Downing Street, either, but a No 10 source said that this was normal for social media posts. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told MPs in January that the government would set out a path towards 2.5%, adding that the in the previous spending review there had been a \u00a324bn cash increase - the \"largest sustained increase since the end of the Cold War\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Two UK ministers, Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Tom Tugendhat, have called for the government to increase defense spending to 2.5% of national income more quickly, stating that the global threat from countries like Russia and China necessitates immediate investment. They argue that reaching the 2.5% target should not be delayed, despite Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's commitment to reach it \"as soon as economic conditions allow." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Premier League Erling Haaland scored a vital winner 19 minutes from time as Manchester City eventually broke Brentford's stubborn resistance to close within a point of the Premier League summit. What looked set to be a night of frustration at Etihad Stadium for Pep Guardiola's men turned on a moment of huge fortune. Brentford defender Kristoffer Ajer appeared to have the situation under control when Julian Alvarez played a pass into the visitors' half as City countered. But as Haaland began the chase, Ajer slipped and could not regain his feet as the Norwegian sped past. The 23-year-old kept his cool to beat Mark Flekken with a precise shot. It was Haaland's 22nd goal of the season and means he has now scored against every Premier League opponent he has faced. More importantly, it secured a victory that took City above Arsenal into second spot and kept a record fourth consecutive title in their own hands given they still have to visit leaders Liverpool on 10 March. While the result was not exactly harsh on Brentford given City's dominance, the manner of it was unfortunate. Thomas Frank's side were much more organised than they were in the heavy defeat against Liverpool at the weekend. However, with six points from their past 11 games, they are only five points off the relegation zone and still searching for the sustained improvement that will get them away from trouble. \u2022 None How did you rate Manchester City's performance? Have your say here \u2022 None What did you make of Brentford's display? Send us your views here After failing to convert a succession of chances he would normally snaffle without a thought in the draw against Chelsea at the weekend, Haaland seemed like a man on a mission from the first whistle. In the opening minutes he dropped deep to collect possession, overhit a pass to Alvarez, chased after it himself, then, as Brentford tried to play out, bullied Sergio Reguilon off the ball by the touchline before charging towards the edge of the box and driving in a shot that Flekken saved. Not long afterwards, the league's top scorer sent an acrobatic effort over the bar. While there may have been disappointment at not scoring on either occasion and understandable frustration at the limited number of sights at goal that followed as Brentford attempted to keep him quiet, there was always the sense that if anyone was going to break the deadlock it would be Haaland. Phil Foden, hat-trick hero when these sides met in west London a fortnight ago, had a chance but ballooned his shot over the bar after being set up by Bernardo Silva. So it was down to Haaland. Ajer - and Brentford - were unlucky in how the Norwegian got through. But once it was striker versus goalkeeper, the outcome was inevitable. Haaland thought he had put City 2-0 up late on, but his close-range header was ruled out for offside against full-back Kyle Walker. He is now two clear of Mo Salah in the Golden Boot standings. Whoever wins that personal battle will go a long way to deciding where the title ends up. About half an hour into the game, after Brentford had again threatened the City goal, an audible grumble of anxiety rolled round the stadium. Guardiola responded with half a dozen exaggerated 'calm down' hand signals waved in the general direction of the supporters directly above him. By half-time, he was the one needing to cool off as he spun on his heels and marched down the tunnel. The City boss had become increasingly irritated at what he felt were Brentford's time-wasting tactics, which, surprisingly in the era of double-digit injury-time, only brought a couple of additional minutes to the opening period. In addition to retrieving the ball for a Brentford throw, Guardiola's response to Flekken's delayed goal-kicks and Yoane Wissa going down to earn John Stones a booking was to have a couple of long stares at opposite number Frank, someone the City boss said in his programme notes he 'really respects', chunter at the fourth official and offer a frustrated wave at referee Darren England. It could have been worse. Ivan Toney was inches away from finding the target after Reguilon nudged a free-kick into his path while Frank Onyeka brought a full-length save out of Ederson. After winning the corresponding fixture last season, Brentford's attempt to follow Manchester United as the only side to beat City in successive away games during Guardiola's time as manager was not fanciful. For a brief moment at the start of the second half, as Onyeka led a break downfield, it seemed as though they would go in front, but he held on too long then ballooned his cross out for a throw on the other side of the pitch. Brentford didn't properly threaten again until the fifth minute of injury time when they won a corner, which Haaland cleared. It really was his night. \u2022 None Mark Flekken (Brentford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Erling Haaland (Manchester City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Phil Foden with a cross. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Phil Foden (Manchester City) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Rodri. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Phil Foden (Manchester City) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Erling Haaland (Manchester City) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez. \u2022 None Kyle Walker (Manchester City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Erling Haaland scored a crucial winner in the 71st minute as Manchester City defeated Brentford 1-0, closing the gap to the top of the Premier League to just one point. Haaland's 22nd goal of the season came after a slip from Brentford's Kristoffer Ajer, and it ensures City moves above Arsenal into second place, keeping their title hopes alive." + }, + { + "article": "The Palestine Red Crescent Society said there had been heavy fighting around al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis The Israeli military says its ground forces have encircled Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip's largest city. Troops have also reportedly advanced deeper into remaining parts of the city, where they believe Hamas leaders are hiding in tunnels with hostages. Residents said tanks had shut the last road out of the city to the Mediterranean coast, effectively stopping them from fleeing southwards. There was also intense fighting around the city's two main hospitals. It came as funerals took place for some of the 24 Israeli soldiers killed on Monday on the deadliest day for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since the start of its ground offensive in Gaza 12 weeks ago. At least 195 Palestinians were also killed in Gaza over the previous 24 hours, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry says more than 25,400 people have been killed - mostly children and women - during the war between Hamas and Israel. It was triggered by an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed - most of them civilians - and about 250 others taken hostage. Israeli ground forces expanded their operation into southern Gaza in early December, after largely taking control of Hamas strongholds in the north. Within days they were said to have reached the \"heart\" of Khan Younis, where hundreds of thousands of people who had fled northern areas were sheltering. But the troops have since faced fierce resistance from Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade. It is considered to be one of the two strongest in the group, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and other countries. The Israeli operation has expanded and intensified in recent days, with dozens of people reported killed in air and artillery strikes on Monday alone as tanks pushed into the west and centre of the city. On Tuesday, the IDF put out a statement saying that over the past day its troops had \"carried out an extensive operation during which they encircled Khan Yunis and deepened the operation in the area\". The troops had \"engaged in close-quarters combat, directed [air] strikes, and used intelligence to co-ordinate fire, resulting in the elimination of dozens of terrorists\", it added. Israeli forces have pushed into the remaining parts of Khan Younis, seen as a stronghold of Hamas The IDF also ordered residents of western Khan Younis to move immediately to the al-Mawasi area, on the Mediterranean coast, for their own safety. However, some witnesses said tanks had blocked the road leading there, preventing them from joining the estimated million people currently sheltering to the south in Rafah, on the border with Egypt. \"I am trying to leave for Rafah but the tanks are now very near to the coast and are firing toward the west,\" Shaban, an electrical engineer with four children, told Reuters news agency. The World Health Organization meanwhile said it was deeply concerned by reports of attacks on hospitals in Khan Younis. On Tuesday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said a civilian had been killed by an Israeli drone at the entrance of Al-Amal Hospital, which it runs, and that others had been injured when shells struck its nearby headquarters. \"The situation remains extremely dangerous. Early this morning, there was direct artillery shelling of the Palestine Red Crescent's headquarters on the fourth floor. Israeli drones did not stop firing at people at al-Amal Hospital,\" spokeswoman Nebal Farsakh told the BBC from Ramallah. \"[There is] panic and fear among thousands of displaced people who are taking shelter inside our facilities.\" There was no immediate comment from the IDF, but it has previously accused Hamas fighters of embedding themselves among the civilian population and operating in and around medical facilities. Ms Farsakh also said ambulances were \"facing significant challenges to reach wounded people and transport them to hospitals\", adding that they were now being told to take critical cases to Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. And she warned that Al-Amal and the nearby Nasser Medical Complex - the largest of the 14 hospitals still partly working in Gaza - were \"overwhelmed and overcrowded\". Dr Haytham Ahmad, who works in Nasser's emergency department, told the BBC that multiple amputations were being performed, and that in some cases, patients were not being given anaesthetic because of a shortage of supplies. \"These cases have severe crush injuries and there is just some skin and muscle still connected. We try to use limited anaesthetic in this situation,\" he said. A World Health Organization spokesman said Nasser was \"now basically besieged\" and that there was \"no way in and out\" for its 400 patients, as well as the medical staff treating them and displaced civilians. Gaza's health ministry alleged that Israeli forces had fired \"heavily on the upper floors of the specialised surgery building and the emergency building\" of the hospital. One video filmed by a Palestinian journalist appeared to show gunfire hitting the hospital's western corner, while in another clip smoke is seen rising from an area to the south. The IDF told AFP news agency that it was \"not aware of the event\". Some residents of Khan Younis were able to flee along the coastal road to Rafah Later, UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was \"appalling\" and that the entire population was \"enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history\". He also once again appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said it was \"engaging in serious discussions with both sides\" on a potential deal, and a Palestinian official told the BBC that a Hamas delegation had arrived in Cairo on Tuesday morning to \"discuss new proposals\" with Egypt's intelligence minister. Israel has not denied that it has proposed a two-month truce, involving the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. But there are reports that has already been rejected by Hamas, which demands a permanent ceasefire. Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Heavy fighting has erupted around al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, as Israeli ground forces encircle the city, with reports of troops advancing and intense clashes near medical facilities. At least 195 Palestinians and 24 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the recent escalation, with the Israeli military targeting Hamas leaders believed to be hiding in tunnels. The World Health Organization expresses concern over attacks on hospitals, while residents face difficulties fleeing the area." + }, + { + "article": "US authorities claim that Takeshi Ebisawa is a senior figure in a sprawling Japanese organised crime group. US prosecutors have charged an alleged member of the Japanese mafia with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials. Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, tried to sell uranium and plutonium that he believed would be transferred to Iran to build a nuclear bomb, it is alleged. Mr Ebisawa and a Thai co-defendant were previously hit with weapons and drug charges in April 2022. He faces life imprisonment if convicted of the latest charges. US authorities say Mr Ebisawa - who is being held in a Brooklyn jail - is a senior figure in the Japanese organised crime syndicate, known as the Yakuza, with operations in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and the US. The US Department of Justice said Mr Ebisawa and his \"confederates showed samples of nuclear materials in Thailand\" to an undercover agent from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The agent was posing as a drugs and weapons trafficker with links to an Iranian general. The nuclear samples - which came from Myanmar - were seized by Thai authorities and transferred to US investigators. A US laboratory confirmed the material contained uranium and weapons-grade plutonium. Prosecutors also allege that Mr Ebisawa sought to acquire large quantities of military-grade weapons on behalf of an unspecified rebel group in Myanmar. The weapons included surface-to-air missiles, assault and sniper rifles, machine guns, rockets of various calibres and a variety of tactical gear. \"It is chilling to imagine the consequences had these efforts succeeded, and the justice department will hold accountable those who traffic in these materials and threaten US national security and international stability,\" assistant attorney general Matthew G Olden said in a statement on Wednesday. In February 2020, Mr Ebisawa allegedly contacted the DEA agent about selling nuclear materials. According to US prosecutors, he explained via encrypted communications that uranium is \"not good for your health\". In September that year, Mr Ebisawa allegedly emailed the undercover DEA agent a letter bearing the name of a mining company. He offered to sell 50 tonnes of uranium and thorium for $6.85m (\u00a35.4m). Prosecutors also say he sent photographs showing \"a dark rocky material\" with a Geiger counter, which is used to measure levels of radiation. Mr Ebisawa faces charges including conspiracy to commit international trafficking of nuclear materials, narcotics importation conspiracy, conspiracy to acquire, transfer and possess anti-aircraft missiles and money laundering. His co-conspirator in the case, 61-year-old Thai national Somphop Singhasiri, is facing drugs and weapons charges. The pair will be arraigned in a New York federal courtroom on Thursday.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "US authorities have charged Takeshi Ebisawa, alleged to be a senior member of the Japanese Yakuza crime syndicate, with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials, attempting to sell uranium and plutonium to what he believed were Iranian agents for a nuclear bomb. Ebisawa and a Thai co-defendant, Somphop Singhasiri, face life imprisonment if convicted, with Ebisawa also accused of seeking to acquire military-grade weapons for a Myanmar rebel group. The nuclear materials, sourced from Myanmar, were seized in Thailand and confirmed to contain uranium and weapons-grade plutonium by a US laboratory." + }, + { + "article": "The success of the film Oppenheimer has shone a spotlight on the work done by scientists in New Mexico as they developed the first nuclear bomb. But 80 years later, some local people say their story remains untold. \"Both my great grandfathers had cancer, my two grandmothers had cancer, my father had three different cancers, my sister has cancer,\" Tina Cordova says mournfully as she flicks through an old family photo album in her living room. \"I've lost count of the aunts and uncles and cousins who've had cancer. And my family is not unique.\" Ms Cordova lives in Albuquerque, about a two-hour drive from where the atomic bomb was developed. She's one of the \"Downwinders,\" a term used to describe the communities who claim to have been affected by radiation from the Trinity Test, which was the world's first detonation of a nuclear weapon in the New Mexican desert. The test is the centrepiece of Christopher Nolan's box office hit, Oppenheimer, which follows the physicist of the same name and his team of scientists and engineers who rushed to develop this bomb. The movie, which is expected to win more awards at the Oscars this Sunday, examines the moral struggles of the men and women who changed the world with the work they did in the desert under a cloak of secrecy. But Ms Cordova says the film reveals nothing of the legacy of the atomic bomb she says her family have been living with for generations. The detonation is a memorable moment in the film, as scientists are handed dark glasses and gather on a breezy night to watch their theories and calculations become reality. Cillian Murphy as J Robert Oppenheimer seeing the test explosion But carried on the wind, according to Ms Cordova, were unforeseen consequences. \"We firmly believe we have been over exposed to radiation during the Trinity bomb, and then also during the bombs that were detonated at Nevada,\" says Ms Cordova, who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the age of 39. Her 23-year-old niece has the same diagnosis. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. While a link between radiation exposure from the Trinity Test and cancer has not been proven conclusively, Ms Cordova has documented hundreds of families with high rates of illness across multiple generations. One of them is Paul Pino who says the penny dropped when he attended Ms Cordova's presentation about the radiation several years ago. \"It was a brutal realisation that came down on us like an avalanche,\" he recalls. His family lived 35 miles from the Trinity Test location, and like Ms Cordova, several relatives have been wiped out from cancer. His brother died of stomach cancer and his mother of bone cancer. His sister has thyroid cancer, his daughter had skin cancer and two of his aunts had brain tumours. The US government has established compensation funds for people in areas where tests happened in later years but New Mexico has not yet been included. That could now change. Inspection team at Ground Zero, Trinity Test in 1945 An extension to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Expansion that would include the Downwinders of New Mexico is set to expire in June. This week the Senate passed the bill in a bipartisan vote. It now goes to the House of Representatives, and the Biden administration has previously indicated support for the passage of the bill. When the atomic bomb was used on Japan, it effectively ended World War II. The death toll weighs heavily on Oppenheimer's conscience in the movie but the potential risks to people closer to home is a storyline that was not explored. \"They [the filmmakers] never gave any acknowledgement to the sacrifice or suffering of the people of New Mexico,\" says Ms Cordova regretfully. Elsewhere in the state, the film is viewed less negatively, particularly in Los Alamos, the secret city where Oppenheimer's team of scientists carried out their work. \u200b\u200bFor residents there, it's not the history the film lays bare that's being talked about but its impact on the economy. \"Our little town has been turned upside down,\" says Todd Nickols whose parents were scientists. \"We are inundated with a lot more visitors:\" The location of Los Alamos is dramatic, beautiful and remote. The red rock plateaus meet big blue skies for as far as the eye can see. It's a place for the country's best brains to free their imaginations and make scientific breakthroughs, away from prying eyes and distractions. \"My father was a nuclear physicist, and my mother was a geneticist,\" says Mr Nickols. \"And this was just a great wonderful place to grow up. We are proud of the science, proud of the technology.\" The name of Oppenheimer is inescapable in the town. There's Oppenheimer Drive, Oppenheimer's statue and several Oppenheimer murals. Many of the local residents of Los Alamos were also extras in the movie. \"We are certainly not glorifying the bomb deaths by any means because it was a horrible, horrible situation,\" says Mr Nickols. \"But World War Two was also horrible.\" Today, scientists at Los Alamos still play a key role in making the components for nuclear warheads. As the US government updates its weapons, the lab has been ramping up production. If you were to stop a random person in the street and address them as \"Dr\" you probably wouldn't be far wrong. Los Alamos residents have the highest number of PhDs per capita in the country. \"My grandfather worked at the lab, my mother worked at the lab, in fact I'm the first person in my family in three generations to not work at the lab,\" says Gerald Burns, who is pulling pints in a bar which serves a beer called Hoppenheimer. The film has clearly been good for business - the bar sells T-shirts with images of Oppenheimer on them with the tag-line \"no science, no beer\". But what about the moral aspect behind what all this symbolises? \"We have a very nuanced and balanced view of that,\" he says. \"We do have to have respect and regard for when things go wrong, or when things are used as a weapon.\" Others take a different view. Back in Albuquerque a small group of anti-war campaigners have gathered to hold a weekend protest about the continuing work in Los Alamos. \"Say no to nukes!\" say the placards. \"Ban the bomb.\" Their leaflets decry the US using the lab there to renew a nuclear arms race. As the Oscars ceremony looms, Ms Cordova hopes the buzz around the film will shine a light on the health risks she says are clear and real. Without the people of New Mexico, there would have been no research project and no Oppenheimer movie, she says. \"I say shame on them. They had an opportunity to actually do something really amazing.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The film Oppenheimer has brought attention to the work of scientists in New Mexico on the first nuclear bomb, but local \"Downwinders\" claim their story of suffering from radiation exposure remains untold. The community believes they have been affected by the Trinity Test and subsequent nuclear detonations, with high rates of cancer in families, though a direct link has not been conclusively proven. A bill to extend compensation to New Mexico Downwinders is currently in the US House of Representatives." + }, + { + "article": "It was a political grenade in the form of a 345-page report. The pyrotechnics were delivered on Thursday afternoon in the findings of special counsel Robert Hur's investigation into Joe Biden's handling of classified documents after he left the vice-presidency in 2017. The top-line conclusion was that the president would not face criminal charges for his actions, despite evidence that he had \"wilfully retained and disclosed classified materials... when he was a private citizen\". The bottom line was much more damaging. Among the reasons Mr Hur listed for why he had decided not to prosecute the 81-year-old president was because he would likely be a sympathetic figure to a jury who would view him as a \"well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory\". Issues about Joe Biden's age and competency to serve another four years in office have been simmering for practically as long as Mr Biden has been in the White House, so this latest finding will provide fuel for Republican attacks and stoking concerns among some Democrats that the president is not up to the task. It is a narrative that the Biden campaign has been desperately trying to confront, said Chris Borick, the director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. \"The polling, over and over, we see data points that suggest it is his largest liability into this election that voters think he's simply too old to run,\" he says. It's no surprise, then, that the Hur report prompted the White House to launch a furious counter-offensive that included the president holding an impromptu press conference, where he asserted that his memory was \"just fine\". \"I know what the hell I'm doing,\" he said. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Biden responds to special counsel - \"I'm elderly and know what the hell I'm doing\" What's more, the special counsel presented specific evidence to back up this assertion. He wrote that during two days of interviews, Mr Biden had frequently been unable to recall details relevant to the investigation. More than that, Mr Hur recounted, he had struggled to recall which years he had been vice-president and when his oldest son, Beau Biden, had died of cancer. It was this last claim that prompted an angry response from the president during his press conference at the White House on Thursday evening. \"How in the hell he dare raise that?\" the president said. The press conference itself could lend more fuel to the attacks on Mr Biden, however, as the president answered a question about the Gaza War by referring to Egyptian President Mohamed al-Sisi as the president of Mexico. That stumble, not unlike other verbal miscues by Mr Biden in recent days, exposes the scope of the challenge facing his re-election effort. The best way for the president to address concerns about his age is to run a vigorous campaign and increase his public exposure. But every attempt comes with the risk of actions or evidence that feed existing concerns. The White House has made other efforts to defuse the potency of the Hur report. Mr Biden's personal lawyer, Richard Sauber, tried to convince the special counsel to drop references to Mr Biden's mental acuity and mental lapses, writing in a letter that such language was not \"accurate or appropriate\". Mr Biden also noted that he had given his two days of testimony to the special counsel shortly after the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel - while he was \"in the middle of handling an international crisis\", he said. Other Biden allies have pushed back on Mr Hur's impartiality, pointing out that he was appointed to a US attorney office by Donald Trump in 2017. It was Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland who selected Mr Hur as special counsel, however. The Biden team has also been quick to pounce on the verbal missteps of his likely November opponent, 77-year-old Donald Trump. The former president recently confused his primary opponent Nikki Haley with former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and referred to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as the leader of Turkey. The best case for the White House may be that this particular grenade exploded in February, a full nine months from election day. Larry Sabato, the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, says concerns about Mr Biden's age are already essentially baked into the race, making the report damaging but not fatal. The public \"will look at it, and will raise one eyebrow, not both\", he says. \"Because in a way, people already knew this. Even if you casually watch five minutes of a speech he's giving, you already know this,\" he says. When American voters finally head to the polls, the assertions contained in a special counsel report that ultimately declined to find Mr Biden criminally culpable will be of less concern than issues like the economy and abortion. The worst-case scenario, on the other hand, is that this is just the start of a cavalcade of evidence undermining the president on one of his weakest attributes. And the arrow of time only points one way. The president isn't getting any younger. If you're in the UK, sign up here. And if you're anywhere else, sign up here.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Special counsel Robert Hur's investigation into Joe Biden's handling of classified documents found no grounds for criminal charges, but raised concerns about the president's memory, potentially fueling questions about his fitness for office. Biden, responding to the report, asserted his competency, but the issue is likely to be used by Republicans in the election, with age being a consistent liability for the 81-year-old president." + }, + { + "article": "The EU and the West have pledged to support Ukraine, whatever the cost. But are they living up to that vow? When the widow of the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny addressed the European Parliament recently, she said something striking. \"If you really want to defeat Putin, you have to become an innovator,\" Yulia Navalnaya told MEPs. \"And you have to stop being boring.\" Being innovative and interesting may be traits not always associated with some European politicians. But they are having to think differently, not just about how better to support Ukraine but also to increase pressure on Russia. The shadow of a potential Donald Trump presidency hangs over the continent, raising doubts about America's long-term backing for Ukraine. A $60bn (\u00a347bn) package of US military support for Ukraine is held up in the House of Representatives. And on the battlefield, Russian forces are beginning to make gains against their less well armed opponents. Two years on from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European capitals have largely maintained their political backing for Kyiv. In January, the European Union agreed a \u20ac50bn package ($55bn; \u00a343bn) of grants and loans to fund Ukraine's government and public services. But the EU failed to meet its target of sending one million shells to Ukraine by the beginning of this month. EU diplomats are still haggling over plans for a new \u20ac5bn top-up to the European Peace Facility to buy more weapons for Kyiv. And Nato says that this year about 12 European members may still not meet the alliance's target of spending 2% of national output on defence. As politicians debate support, Ukraine is losing ground - and paying in blood With the diplomatic and military balance shifting, Europe is having to think creatively about how to support Ukraine and deter future Russian aggression. There are existing stocks of ammunition and weapons Europe could give to Ukraine. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron told the House of Lords this week that instead of decommissioning weapons systems at great expense once they technically pass their expiry dates, allies should give them to Ukraine. He also said countries in Eastern Europe with \"legacy Soviet ammunition\" suitable for Ukrainian weapons should release those stocks immediately. But, as throughout this war, European leaders are still agonising over what weapons to give Kyiv. The latest row is over Germany's Taurus missiles. These have a range of about 300 miles (500km), more than the UK-supplied Storm Shadows being used by Ukraine. Many allies believe Taurus would give Ukraine the chance to strike deep behind Russian lines. But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fears they could also be used against Russian cities and is resisting, fearing escalation. Olaf Scholz is under pressure at home and abroad to give the Taurus missile to Ukraine, amid recent demonstrations in Berlin There are also plans to get Ukraine desperately needed artillery shells. The Czech government agreed a $1.5bn (\u00a31.2bn) deal this week for a consortium of 18 Nato and EU countries to buy 800,000 rounds - both 155mm and 122mm calibre - from outside the EU. This is a significant shift for more protectionist-minded EU members, especially France. But it will not meet Ukraine's demand for the 2.5m shells it says it needs this year. Policymakers are also mulling new ways to increase spending on defence, including a proposal for the European Investment Bank to end its ban on funding defence projects. There are proposals for European countries to co-operate more on defence procurement, buying arms jointly from manufacturers to drive down costs. Governments are also looking to give defence firms longer-term contracts to boost production in a highly risk averse industry. But little will happen overnight. One British minister told me: \"One forgets that Dunkirk to D-Day was four years. It takes a long time to generate the mass to go from defence to offence.\" Estonia wants all Nato countries to commit - as it has - to give Ukraine at least 0.25% of their output in military support. This would raise about 120bn euros per year. Although some allies are sympathetic, this idea has yet to win widespread backing. Some Europe policymakers are also drawing up plans for a form of updated \"lend-lease\" arrangement to loan weapons to Ukraine, just as the allies did for the USSR during WWII. But these ideas are at an early stage. Much thought is going into how best to exploit the roughly 300bn euros of frozen Russian assets held in Western financial institutions. Giving the money outright to Ukraine might be illegal and put European assets at risk in other jurisdictions. But the EU is looking at a plan to use the profits to fund military support for Ukraine. And the UK is looking at a separate proposal to use the assets as collateral for fast-track reparations for Ukraine. The aim is not just to raise cash for Ukraine but also level a strategic blow against Russia, hitting its economy hard. Russia's economy under Vladimir Putin has managed to sidestep Western sanctions So some European policymakers are thinking laterally. But tensions remain. Many Eastern European countries are committing more military resource than their Western counterparts. Loose-lipped German officers are upsetting allies by revealing military secrets. And President Emmanuel Macron of France has ruffled feathers by suggesting the West should consider putting military boots on the ground in Ukraine, thought by many analysts to be an unnecessary row over an implausible option. Perhaps the biggest disagreement within European capitals is about the long-term challenge from Russia. A recent poll from the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank suggested while most Europeans support Ukraine, only 1 in 10 think it can win an outright victory. Some analysts say this is because European governments have not understood the broader challenge from Russia. \"There is no evidence that the highest political level has understood the scale of the threat or tried to explain it to the public,\" says Keir Giles, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, a British think tank. \"If action comes too late to avoid disaster, it will have been because of criminal complacency.\" So will Europe rise to the challenge? Maybe there was one small hint of change this week. France has long been criticised for not giving Ukraine enough military support. But President Macron - who once said Russia should not be humiliated - was in bullish form. \"We are surely approaching a moment for Europe in which it will be necessary not to be cowards,\" he said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The EU and the West have pledged significant support to Ukraine, but questions remain about whether they are delivering on their promises. While political backing remains, military aid and aid delivery have been slower than needed, with concerns over potential escalation and disagreements among allies over the type and scale of support. European leaders are exploring innovative ways to aid Ukraine, such as reusing expired weapons systems and joint defense procurement, but these efforts may not be enough to turn the tide on the battlefield as Ukraine continues to lose ground." + }, + { + "article": "Supporters of Imran Khan's PTI party protest outside an election commission office in Karachi Pakistan's powerful army chief has urged the country to leave \"anarchy and polarisation\" behind as two ex-prime ministers declared victory in an election that has defied expectations. With most results in, independent candidates linked to jailed former PM Imran Khan have won most seats. But Nawaz Sharif, another ex-PM widely seen as having the army's backing, has urged others to join him in coalition. Officials have also rejected Western criticism of how the election was run. With no clear outcome, General Asim Munir called on all parties to show maturity and unity, saying the politics of polarisation did \"not suit a progressive country of 250 million people\". \"Elections are not a zero-sum competition of winning and losing but an exercise to determine the mandate of the people,\" Gen Munir said. Fourteen National Assembly seats are yet to be determined - all in the vast and sparsely-populated Balochistan province - but both Mr Khan and Mr Sharif say they have won. Mr Khan released an AI-generated video message rejecting his rival's claim and calling on supporters to celebrate. He has been jailed on charges of leaking state secrets, corruption and an unlawful marriage and his PTI party was banned from taking part in the polls. About 100 of the winning candidates are independents and all but eight of them are backed by the PTI, the non-profit Free and Fair Election Network said. On Saturday PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan said the party would try to form a government and would start protesting on Sunday if complete election results had not been released by then. Mr Sharif's PML-N party won 73 seats and he acknowledged that he did not have the numbers to form a government alone, but insisted he could remove the country from difficult times at the head of a coalition. The PPP of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated PM Benazir Bhutto, got 54 seats and the rest - the largest number of seats - were won by smaller parties and independents. But it could be a while before anyone is able to claim outright victory, although Mr Sharif's party has begun talks with other parties. As a result, Pakistan is facing a \"prolonged period of political instability,\" said Dr Farzana Shaikh from the Chatham House think tank. She told the BBC the Khan-linked independents were unlikely to be allowed to form a government. Meanwhile many people feared a \"weak and unstable coalition\" would result from any tie-up between Mr Sharif and the PPP. But Dr Shaikh also said the election also showed growing distaste for the military's central role in political life. \"Millions of people voted to defy what many believed was the preferred outcome by Pakistan's unaccountable military establishment,\" she said. The army has been described by analysts as \"a state within a state\" in Pakistan, and it has influenced national politics and power transitions since Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947. The generals have staged three coups and no prime minister in Pakistan has so far served a full five-year term. On Friday the US, UK and EU each expressed concerns about the fairness of the election. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said there were \"serious concerns\" raising questions \"about the fairness and lack of inclusivity of the elections\". But Pakistan's foreign ministry rejected this as \"not even factual\". It said the statements neither took into account \"the complexity of the electoral process\" nor acknowledged Pakistanis' \"free and enthusiastic exercise of the right to vote by tens of millions of Pakistanis\". There were sporadic reports of violence during the election. A former National Assembly member and head of National Defense Movement Party, Mohsin Dawar was shot and injured in Miranshah, North Waziristan in an incident that killed a fellow party member, his party said. There were also reports of a protest in the south-western port city of Gwadar in Balochistan province, where some voters alleged irregularities in vote counting.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "In Pakistan's election, independent candidates linked to jailed former PM Imran Khan's PTI party have won most seats, but ex-PM Nawaz Sharif, backed by the army, is urging a coalition, resulting in a political deadlock. The army chief has called for unity amid Western criticism of the election process, while both Khan and Sharif claim victory with no clear outcome." + }, + { + "article": "Molly Russell was 14 when she died in 2017 Social media companies are still pushing \"harmful content to literally millions of young people\", Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell, has said. He said he is horrified by the scale of the issue and that \"little has changed\" since Molly took her life aged 14. He fears more young lives could be lost. New research from the Molly Rose Foundation shows young users can still access suicide and self-harm content. Social media platforms say they are working hard to keep teenagers safe. The sites subject to the research by the foundation set up in Molly's name - TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest - said they had created new tools to limit access to harmful material. Molly, who took her own life after being exposed to a stream of dark, depressing content on Pinterest and Instagram, would have turned 21 this week. An inquest last year concluded she ended her life while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content. A researcher from the foundation evaluated more than 1,000 individual posts and videos, identified from searching 15 hashtags associated with harmful material and that Molly was known to engage with. Data experts Bright Initiative helped analyse the posts and videos, which were published from 2018 to October this year. On Instagram, the research found almost 50% of what they viewed contained content that \"displayed hopelessness, feelings of misery and highly depressive themes\". On TikTok, it found that half of the posts examined containing \"harmful content\" had been viewed more than a million times. And, on Pinterest, the researcher was actively recommended multiple pictures of \"people standing on cliff tops, drowning, stylised images of people in freefall through the air\". Ian Russell claims there has been a \"systemic failure\" Online safety campaigner Mr Russell said \"six years after Molly died, this must now be seen as a fundamental systemic failure that will continue to cost young lives\". Meta, which owns Instagram, said it had been working hard with experts and had \"built more than 30 tools to support teens and families, including our sensitive content control, which limits the type of content teens are recommended\". A Pinterest spokesperson said it was \"committed to creating a safe platform for everyone\" and constantly updated its policies and enforcement practices around self-harm content, \"including blocking sensitive search terms and evolving our machine learning models so that this content is detected and removed as quickly as possible\". A TikTok spokesperson said \"content that promotes self-harm or suicide is prohibited\" on the site, adding: \"As the report highlights, we strictly enforce these rules by removing 98% of suicide content before it is reported to us.\" It said it provides \"access to the Samaritans right from our app for anyone who may need support\" and invests in \"ways to diversify recommendations\" and \"block harmful search terms\". The research conceded that the platforms had made limited efforts to improve safety. After Molly's death, Instagram announced a series of changes which the report says \"had some welcome targeted impact\". TikTok, it said, \"appears to enforce its community standards more effectively than some other platforms\". And \"some improvements had been made\" by Pinterest. But overall the report identifies problems on all three platforms: Prof Louis Appleby, a government adviser on suicide prevention and professor of psychiatry at the University of Manchester, said of the research: \"We've moved on in how we view the online world. \"We are in a new era of social responsibility and tech companies need to do more about their images and algorithms.\" Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said the Online Safety Act, which became law last month, should address these kinds of problems, with measures to \"protect both adults and children\" from problematic content. She said: \"It is despicable and indefensible that social media companies are still turning a blind eye to the scale of horrendous suicide and self-harm content on their platforms.\" Regulator Ofcom is currently drawing up codes of practice which it expects tech companies to abide by and which will be enforceable by law. Ms Donelan said she plans to meet the companies soon to tell them they \"must not wait and instead should act now\" to make sure \"we don't see more tragic stories such as Molly's\". Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The father of Molly Russell, who took her life in 2017 after viewing harmful content online, says social media companies are still promoting such content to young people, with little change since his daughter's death. New research from the Molly Rose Foundation reveals that young users can still access suicide and self-harm content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest, despite the companies' claims of efforts to improve safety." + }, + { + "article": "Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban met in Budapest on Friday Sweden has cleared its final obstacle to joining Nato after Hungary's parliament voted to ratify the bid. The Nordic nation applied to join the defence alliance after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Every member must approve a new joiner, and Hungary had delayed, accusing Sweden of being hostile to it. But last week Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the two countries were now \"prepared to die for each other\". All Nato members are expected to help an ally which comes under attack. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said it was a \"historic day\" and a \"big step\" for Sweden to abandon 200 years of neutrality. \"Sweden is an outstanding country, but we are joining Nato to even better defend everything we are and everything we believe in,\" he said. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Hungarian decision made the alliance \"stronger and safer\". The parliament's approval must now be signed by the president - after which a formal invitation is sent to Sweden to join the 31-member group. The process usually lasts a few days. Mr Orban is a nationalist politician with close ties to Russia's President Vladimir Putin. He has often blocked EU efforts to send military aid to Ukraine. Sweden is one of the EU countries which have accused Hungary of backsliding on the EU's democratic principles. In turn, Mr Orban's spokesman Zoltan Kovacs accused officials in Sweden of sitting on a \"crumbling throne of moral superiority\". Last week, however, Mr Orban hosted his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson and announced his support for Sweden's membership. Monday's vote of Hungarian MPs was almost unanimous - 188 to 6. In his speech, Mr Orban sharply criticised unnamed Nato allies for exerting pressure on his government to end the 21-month delay. \"Hungary is a sovereign country and does not tolerate being dictated to by others, on the content or timing of decisions,\" he said. Turkey had been the other Nato country to withhold approval of Sweden's application in a row over what it called Sweden's support to Kurdish separatists. It eventually lifted its veto in January. Sweden and its eastern neighbour Finland, both long considered militarily neutral, announced their intention to join Nato in May 2022. Finland formally joined in April last year, doubling the length of the alliance's border with Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his army into Ukraine in 2022 in the expectation it would check Nato's expansion and weaken Western collectivism. In fact, with the addition of Sweden and Finland, the opposite has happened.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Sweden's path to joining NATO has been cleared after Hungary's parliament ratified the bid, ending Budapest's delay over concerns about Sweden's stance towards Hungary. The move, which comes amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, will make NATO stronger and safer, according to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, with Sweden set to abandon its 200 years of neutrality." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Celine Dion, Taylor Swift and Jay Z highlights of the Grammy Awards Taylor Swift stole the show at this year's Grammy Awards, becoming the first performer to win the prize for album of the year four times. The superstar had previously been tied on three best album wins with Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Frank Sinatra. She received the prize from Celine Dion, who made an unexpected appearance amid health fears. Swift also used the event to reveal a surprise new album. Miley Cyrus and Billie Eilish took the other top awards at Sunday's ceremony. The Los Angeles show was dominated by women, with R&B stars SZA and Victoria Mon\u00e9t and all-female indie supergroup Boygenius picking up multiple awards, and music icons Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell giving rare and poignant performances. Killer Mike was the top male winner, taking three rap trophies. But his success was overshadowed by an apparent altercation backstage, which led to him being booked on a misdemeanour charge. Song of the year is different to record of the year - the former recognises songwriters and achievement in composition while the latter is concerned with the technical recording process - taking into account production, engineering and performance. Dion got a rapturous reception when she emerged to present the best album trophy, almost a year after she was forced to cancel all of her live shows after being diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder. \"When I say that I'm happy to be here, I really mean it from my heart,\" she told the audience. There was an equally enthusiastic response when Dion announced Swift's name as the winner of best album. The historic achievement is one of many the star has notched up in recent years. She said she \"would love to tell you that this is the best moment in my life\", but that simply finishing a song, rehearsing or preparing to play a show makes her equally happy. Celine Dion's appearance will dispel some fears about the state of her health \"For me, the award is the work,\" she said. \"All I want to do is keep being able to do this. I love it so much. It makes me so happy. It makes me unbelievably blown away that it makes some people happy who voted for this award too.\" Swift previously won album of the year in 2010 for Fearless, in 2016 for 1989, and in 2021 for Folklore. Billie Eilish won song of the year and best song written for visual media On Sunday, Midnights also won best pop vocal album - but Swift has curiously still never received the prizes for song or record of the year. Eilish's contribution to the Barbie film soundtrack, What Was I Made For?, beat Swift's Anti-Hero to the song of the year title this time. Tracks by SZA, Cyrus and Olivia Rodrigo were also in contention. Accepting the award with her brother and co-writer Finneas, Eilish told the crowd: \"Everybody in this category - that was a crazy list of incredible people, incredible artists, incredible music. I feel crazy right now.\" The tune also won best song written for visual media, while the Barbie album - which was put together by producer Mark Ronson - picked up the award for best compilation soundtrack for visual media. Mariah Carey presented Miley Cyrus with her first ever Grammy Award Elsewhere, the record of the year award went to Flowers by Cyrus, which also picked up best pop vocal performance. They were the star's first ever Grammys, a fact she noted in her performance when she changed one of the song's lyrics to: \"I just won my first Grammy!\" And in her first acceptance speech, she told the story of a boy whose futile attempts to catch a butterfly ended when he stopped swinging around a net and stayed still. \"And right when he did is when the butterfly came and landed right on the tip of his nose. And this song, Flowers, is my butterfly,\" Cyrus said. SZA (centre) had a hit with a song named after Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film Kill Bill SZA led the nominations with nine, and ended up with three prizes. She also performed at the ceremony, staging a recreation of the Crazy 88 fight scene from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill to accompany her hit of the same name, which was named best R&B song. She was joined by a phalanx of sword-wielding female dancers who swiftly dispatched hordes of men in suits - a reference to her tune's comical tale of killing her ex. Dua Lipa was up for song of the year for her Barbie song, Dance the Night Billed as \"music's biggest night\", the Grammys are the industry's most prestigious awards. Dua Lipa opened the ceremony with an athletic medley of tunes including her contribution to the Barbie album, Dance the Night, which was also up for song of the year. Rodrigo, Eilish, Burna Boy and Travis Scott were among the other performers, with stars like Beyonc\u00e9, Doja Cat and Meryl Streep in the audience. But appearances by two music legends eclipsed the younger stars. Tracy Chapman's hit Fast Car was rejuvenated last year when country star Luke Combs covered it Chapman has only performed in public a handful of times since going into semi-retirement in 2009, but she joined country singer Luke Combs, who had a smash hit with a cover of her song Fast Car last year. Then Mitchell gave a spine-tingling seated rendition of her classic Both Sides Now - her first Grammy performance at the age of 80. The Canadian singer-songwriter had earlier picked up best folk album for a live album that captured her return to the stage in 2022 after a brain aneurysm. That was one of many awards to be handed out during a four-hour \"premiere ceremony\" on Sunday afternoon. Joni Mitchell was joined on stage by Brandi Carlile That pre-ceremony also saw multiple wins for Boygenius, whose debut album The Record combines 1970s California rock harmonies with lyrics about love and friendship. Kylie Minogue won her second ever Grammy - best pop dance recording for the viral smash Padam Padam - two decades after her first. Olivia Rodrigo had six nominations but went home empty-handed And South African singer Tyla made history by picking up the first ever award for best African performance. The 22-year-old, who came fourth in the BBC's Sound of 2024, won for her viral smash Water, which inspired a TikTok dance craze last summer. Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Taylor Swift made history at the Grammy Awards, becoming the first artist to win the album of the year prize four times, with her album \"Midnights.\" Billie Eilish won song of the year and best song written for visual media, while Miley Cyrus took home her first-ever Grammys for \"Flowers,\" winning record of the year and best pop vocal performance. The event featured performances by various artists, including a surprise appearance by Celine Dion and memorable performances by Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell." + }, + { + "article": "More than one billion items of PPE have been issued by Scotland's health service since the start of the pandemic, new figures show. The protective equipment has been used by the NHS and social care sector in the fight against Covid. The increased use of masks, gloves, gowns and hand sanitiser has cost the taxpayer more than \u00a3320m. A further \u00a37m in new contracts to deal with the extra waste generated has also been awarded by the NHS. The latest NHS Scotland figures show that between 1 March, 2020 and 5 May this year, more than 1.07 billion items of PPE had been issued to the NHS and care homes. This includes nearly 200 million masks and more than 320 million pairs of gloves. Some of the PPE items issued An analysis done for Audit Scotland shows that, as of early February 2020, the NHS in Scotland was distributing 96,911 items of PPE every week. Equivalent to five million a week. By the first week of April this haul of protective equipment had reached 24.4m - 200 times the usual amount. Unprecedented worldwide demand for PPE saw prices soar and, as of December 2020, the additional cost of the equipment was put at \u00a3320m by health boards and the social care sector. As well as the PPE, waste collection costs have gone up as a result of the pandemic. The NHS has awarded extra contracts worth more than \u00a37m to collect used PPE and waste generated by the vaccination and testing programme. This is in addition to the Scotland-wide \u00a3100m NHS waste contract run by Spanish-owned Tradebe Healthcare. NHS figures show that in April this year the health service dealt with 1,633 tonnes of waste, up more than 200 tonnes on the same month in 2020. A spokeswoman for NHS National Services Scotland said: \"The NHS Scotland response to Covid-19 witnessed a sudden increase in both the overall volume of healthcare waste and the type of healthcare waste produced right across the UK. \"All NHS healthcare waste producers were impacted, as well as healthcare waste service providers. \"During 2020, Covid-19 planning anticipated further waves. Appropriate accelerated resilience measures were therefore put in place via these direct awards, in order to provide support to the existing healthcare waste infrastructure and mitigate any risks to critical front line services.\" The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Scotland's health service has distributed over 1 billion items of PPE since the start of the pandemic, with masks and gloves accounting for a significant portion, costing taxpayers over \u00a3320 million. Additionally, \u00a37 million in new contracts have been awarded to manage the increased waste generated by the PPE usage." + }, + { + "article": "Arsenal captain Kim Little says her side's hopes of winning the Women's Super League title this season have \"slipped away slightly\" after Friday's 3-1 loss at leaders Chelsea. Victory at Stamford Bridge moved the Blues three points clear of Manchester City and six ahead of the Gunners. \"It slipped away slightly, Chelsea are obviously in the driving seat,\" Little told Sky Sports. Chelsea have finished top in each of the past four seasons. With only six league games remaining, Little added: \"We will give it everything we've got to give it a small chance.\" After a 30-minute delay because of an embarrassing kit mix-up that saw Arsenal bring the wrong socks to the match and have to buy replacement ones from the Chelsea megastore, the Gunners conceded three times in the opening 32 minutes. But Little did not use the incident as an excuse. \"We're all professionals, we have to cope with adapting to things,\" she added. \"We all know we need to turn up as soon as that whistle blows and we didn't do it in the way we wanted to. \"There were a few tactical elements early on that we didn't fix quick enough and against a team of Chelsea's quality you can't allow that.\" 'This was Arsenal's chance, they just didn't show up' Arsenal last won the WSL title in the 2018-19 season, but are third and will also fall six points behind second-placed Manchester City if Gareth Taylor's side win their game in hand at Brighton on Sunday. Ex-England midfielder Karen Carney, who played for both Arsenal and Chelsea, felt Jonas Eidevall's side had blown their opportunity. Speaking on Sky Sports, she said: \"I was disappointed with Arsenal. This was their chance, they just didn't show up. They had the better team, the better squad and sometimes these things happen. \"For me they are not in the title race, now they are out and they will have to reflect on that and so will the manager. \"Chelsea were the better team. You have to want it. I'm not saying Arsenal didn't want it, but Chelsea wanted it that bit more and that's why Chelsea are in the title race and Arsenal aren't.\" Gunners boss Eidevall refused to be drawn on his side's chances of becoming champions, but was unhappy with how they played. He said: \"I'm looking at this game here, I'm not happy with our performance. That's all I'm focused on. \"We should be unsatisfied with the way we performed as a team because that's not our levels. I need to take accountability for that, we need to learn from that and we need to go next week.\" Arsenal still have a chance of winning silverware The Gunners beat Chelsea 4-1 at Emirates Stadium in December and the two teams will meet again in the final of the League Cup on 31 March at Wolves' Molineux stadium. \"Arsenal will keep going until it's mathematically impossible, but they know that is a really tough one to take and their focus will probably now turn to the Conti Cup final,\" said former Arsenal, Chelsea and Wales striker Helen Ward on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra. \"There's too much for Arsenal to do now in the WSL, especially if Manchester City do win [on Sunday]. \"Trying to overhaul a six-point deficit of one team is difficult enough, but if there are two teams six points ahead of you, you're relying on all sorts of results going your way. \"At this stage of the season I can't see that happening to both Chelsea and Manchester City.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Arsenal's chances of winning the Women's Super League title have diminished after a 3-1 loss to Chelsea, leaving them six points behind the leaders with only six games remaining. Arsenal captain Kim Little acknowledged the title is slipping away, while manager Jonas Eidevall expressed dissatisfaction with his team's performance." + }, + { + "article": "Morgan said he wanted to be free of a TV schedule and time slot Piers Morgan is taking his daily Uncensored show off TalkTV to focus on its YouTube channel. The broadcaster said television schedules had become an \"unnecessary straitjacket\" and that moving online would allow him to conduct longer, more in-depth interviews. He also said it would enable him to attract a more global audience. The show's YouTube channel currently has 2.35 million subscribers, many times its estimated daily TV audience. The announcement comes less than two years after Morgan was recruited to be the star presenter for the launch of TalkTV by News UK, a subsidiary of the Murdoch family's News Corp. The channel was one of a number set up to offer alternatives to the news coverage of the more established broadcasters. But Morgan's move will raise questions about its future, and the role of traditional TV in general. Morgan's interviews regularly attract hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, sometimes reaching the millions. In contrast, ratings for his TalkTV show, which airs at 20:00, are in the tens of thousands per episode. Speaking to the Times, the presenter said \"you can't defy audiences or tell them how they should be consuming\". \"It's clear there's a huge global demand for the content we're making, but the commitment to a daily show at a fixed schedule, with all the editing and time sensitivities that involves, has been an increasingly unnecessary straitjacket,\" he said. He gave the example of an interview published on YouTube on Monday afternoon with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which made headlines after Mr Sunak agreed to a \u00a31,000 bet over his Rwanda policy. \"Had we waited until 8pm to air it first on TalkTV, it would have been overtaken by the huge breaking news of King Charles's cancer diagnosis,\" he said. In the end, most of Morgan's show on Monday was taken up by the breaking news of the King's health. The full interview with Mr Sunak did not go out on TV until 23:00, when it registered an audience figure of 2,000. Meanwhile, the interview has now registered 350,000 views on YouTube. YouTube and TV audiences are calculated differently. UK TV ratings body Barb calculates an average of how many people watch a whole show, while YouTube reportedly registers a view for a video if someone watches 30 seconds. Morgan will continue to work with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp on his YouTube show Morgan also told US outlet Semafor that he often wished he could let an interview run for hours because \"that's what the YouTube crowd love\". Thursday's TalkTV show was his last, and Piers Morgan Uncensored will resume on YouTube on 19 February. He said he co-owns Uncensored with News Corp and that \"I don't see any reason why I couldn't expand the Uncensored brand globally.\" Scott Taunton, executive vice-president of broadcasting for News UK, told the Times that transforming Morgan into a \"digital-first\" broadcaster would help to lift his global audience. \"More and more, audiences are consuming video news and opinion online,\" he said. \"This evolution is set to continue.\" The Times, also owned by News UK, said some of Morgan's interviews would still be shown on TalkTV. Piers Morgan Uncensored also currently airs on Sky News Australia and Fox Nation in the US. But some of the most watched news and interview shows in the world are now on YouTube, with many of them built around an individual host or group of presenters. A channel hosted by conservative US political pundit Ben Shapiro has 6.7 million subscribers, while the left-leaning Young Turks news channel has 5.8 million. YouTube is also free from the regulation of media watchdogs, with Ofcom imposing rules on TV news channels in the UK in areas including political impartiality and offence. In 2021, Morgan's controversial comments about the Duchess of Sussex on ITV's Good Morning Britain sparked a record 58,000 complaints to Ofcom. The regulator ultimately cleared him, but the furore led him to leave the breakfast show and he went on to join TalkTV.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Piers Morgan is leaving his daily TalkTV show \"Uncensored\" to focus on its YouTube channel, stating that television schedules are restrictive and that moving online will allow for longer interviews and a global audience. The show's YouTube channel has 2.35 million subscribers, significantly more than its estimated TV audience, and Morgan aims to expand the \"Uncensored\" brand globally with the support of News Corp." + }, + { + "article": "Sweden and Canada have said they will resume aid payments to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. They were among 16 countries that paused funds after Israel accused at least 12 UNRWA staff of involvement in the 7 October attack by Hamas. The UN is investigating, and France's foreign minister is leading a review. Sweden said on Saturday it would send 200 million kronor (\u00a315m; $19m) initially, after UNRWA agreed to more checks on its spending and staff. \"The government has allocated 400 million kronor to UNRWA for the year 2024. Today's decision concerns a first payment of 200 million kronor,\" it said in a statement. It comes after Canada said on Friday that it would re-start funding for UNRWA while investigations into the agency's staff continue. On 7 October, Hamas gunmen stormed across Gaza's border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage. In response, Israel launched a campaign of air strikes and a ground invasion of the territory. More than 30,900 people have since been killed in Gaza, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says, and the amount of aid reaching civilians has plummeted. The UN has warned that a quarter of the Strip's population is on the brink of famine and children are starving to death. UNRWA is the biggest UN agency operating in Gaza. It provides healthcare, education and other humanitarian aid, and employs about 13,000 people there. Its chief Philippe Lazzarini said he was \"cautiously optimistic\" donors would start funding it again within weeks. He said the agency was \"at risk of death\" after major donor countries suspended funding following allegations in late January that a number of staff members were involved in the 7 October attack. Within days, Mr Lazzarini said an investigation was being carried out, and \"to protect the agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance\" these staff members had been sacked. \"What is at stake is the fate of the Palestinians today in Gaza in the short term who are going through an absolutely unprecedented humanitarian crisis,\" Mr Lazzarini said. The European Commission said earlier this month that it would release \u20ac50m in UNRWA funding. Sweden is the fourth largest contributor to the agency's budget, and Canada the 11th largest, 2022 data shows. Canada's decision was announced in a statement on Friday by the country's Minister of International Development, Ahmed Hussen. He said it was made so that \"more can be done to respond to the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians\", and \"in recognition of the robust investigative process under way\". The Canadian Armed Forces will also donate about 300 cargo parachutes to Jordan, so they can be used to airdrop supplies into Gaza. On Friday the EU, UK, US and others said they planned to open a sea route to Gaza to deliver aid that could begin operating this weekend. Meanwhile an internal draft document compiled by UNRWA and seen by the BBC has detailed widespread abuse of Palestinians, including UNRWA employees who were released into Gaza from Israeli detention. In the document, former detainees describe an extensive range of ill-treatment. It says: \"Agency staff members have been subject to threats and coercion by the Israeli authorities while in detention, and pressured to make false statements against the Agency, including that the Agency has affiliations with Hamas and that UNRWA staff members took part in the 7 October 2023 atrocities.\" In a statement provided to the BBC, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) rejected specific allegations and said: \"The mistreatment of detainees during their time in detention or whilst under interrogation violates IDF values and contravenes IDF and is therefore absolutely prohibited.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Sweden and Canada have resumed aid payments to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, after the agency agreed to additional checks on its spending and staff. This decision comes following\u6682\u505c\u8d44\u91d1 by 16 countries, including Sweden and Canada, due to allegations of UNRWA staff involvement in a Hamas attack on Israel. The UN is investigating the claims, and France is leading a review." + }, + { + "article": "The General Frank S Besson is carrying the first load of equipment to build a floating harbour A US military ship is sailing towards the Middle East, carrying equipment to build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, the army says. The support ship, General Frank S Besson, set sail from a military base in the state of Virginia on Saturday. It comes after President Joe Biden said the US would build the floating harbour to help get aid into Gaza by sea. The UN has warned that famine in the Gaza Strip is \"almost inevitable\" and children are starving to death. The US and Jordan carried out an airdrop on Sunday, parachuting in more than 11,500 meals that included rice, flour, pasta, and canned food, the US military said. Aid deliveries by land and air have proved difficult and dangerous. The World Food Programme had to pause land deliveries after its convoys came under gunfire and looting. And on Friday, there were reports that five people had been killed by a falling aid package, when its parachute failed to open properly. The US ship departed \"less than 36 hours\" after Mr Biden made his announcement, US Central Command wrote on X. It is \"carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies\" to Gaza, the statement continued. The Pentagon has said it could take up to 60 days to build the pier with the help of 1,000 troops - none of whom would go ashore. Charities have said those suffering in Gaza cannot wait that long. Meanwhile, an aid ship laden with some 200 tonnes of food had been expected to set sail from a port in Larnaca, Cyprus on Sunday afternoon, Cypriot media reported. However as Sunday night ticked into Monday morning, it was still docked in Cyprus. The charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), which has provided the food aid, told the BBC: \"This maritime operation remains a quickly evolving and fluid situation... we plan to embark as soon as possible.\" It follows an EU announcement that a new sea route would be opened over the weekend to allow aid to sail directly from Cyprus - the closest EU country to Gaza. The Open Arms aid ship has been ready to depart for weeks, the charity's founder has said The ship, Open Arms, belongs to the Spanish charity of the same name. Exactly where it plans to dock when it reaches Gaza has not been publicly revealed. Gaza has no functioning port and its surrounding waters are too shallow for large vessels, but WCK said its team had been building a jetty off the coast to receive the aid. The charity added that its plans are \"not related\" to the floating pier the US is aiming to build. Israel has welcomed the ocean initiative, and said aid would be delivered after security checks were carried out in Cyprus \"in accordance with Israeli standards\". Israel's military launched an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip after Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage. More than 30,900 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says. The conflict has created a growing humanitarian crisis, and the UN has warned that at least 576,000 people across the Gaza Strip - one quarter of the population - are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity. Western countries have pressed Israel to expand land deliveries by facilitating more routes and opening additional crossings. Lorries have been entering the south of Gaza through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing. But the north, which was the focus of the first phase of the Israeli ground offensive, has been largely cut off from assistance in recent months. An estimated 300,000 Palestinians are living there with little food or clean water. Israel has been accused of hampering aid efforts, and an independent UN expert last week accused it of mounting \"a starvation campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza\". Yeela Cytrin, a legal adviser at the Israeli mission to the UN, responded that \"Israel utterly rejects allegations that it is using starvation as a tool of war\", before walking out in protest.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A US military ship, the General Frank S Besson, is en route to the Middle East to build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza for delivering humanitarian aid, following President Biden's announcement. The UN has warned of an impending famine in the region, with aid deliveries by land and air facing challenges." + }, + { + "article": "An injured man lies on a bed in the Gaza European hospital in late December Doctors across Gaza have described operating on patients without anaesthetic, turning people with chronic conditions away, and treating rotting wounds with limited medical supplies. \"Because of the shortage of painkillers we leave patients to scream for hours and hours,\" one told the BBC. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the state of healthcare in Gaza as being \"beyond words\". It said 23 hospitals in Gaza were not functioning at all as of Sunday - 12 were partially functioning and one minimally. The health agency said air strikes and a lack of supplies have \"depleted an already under-resourced system\". The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says Hamas \"systematically uses hospitals and medical centres for its terror activities\". In a statement to the BBC, it said the IDF \"did not 'attack' hospitals, but rather entered specific areas\u2026 [to] neutralise Hamas' infrastructure and equipment, and apprehend Hamas terrorists, while acting with great caution\". It said it was allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, including medical supplies. Aid organisations, including the WHO, say there have been \"repeated access restrictions and denials\". Warning: This article contains details some readers may find upsetting Many of Gaza's hospitals are overcrowded and have limited equipment, healthcare workers say. There are reports that some hospitals in southern Gaza are operating at over 300% of their bed capacity. Four field hospitals have been set up in Gaza, with 305 beds combined, according to the WHO. On Sunday, it said the Nasser hospital in southern Gaza was the latest facility to become non-operational, following a raid by Israeli forces. The IDF said on Sunday night it had found weapons at the hospital, as well as medicines with the names and photos of hostages on them, and had apprehended \"hundreds of terrorists\" hiding there. \"Hamas continues to put Gaza's most vulnerable citizens in serious danger by cynically using hospitals for terror,\" it earlier told the BBC. Staff at nearby hospitals say the operation at Nasser has put extra strain on them. Yousef al-Akkad, director of the Gaza European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, described the current situation there as the \"worst we've faced since the beginning of the war\". \"This situation was severe before, so what do you think it's like after receiving thousands more who've been displaced and are now staying in the hallways and the public areas?\" He said the hospital did not have enough beds for the patients needing treatment, so staff were laying sheets over metal frames and wood, and putting \"a lot of patients on the floor with nothing at all\". Other doctors from across the Gaza Strip described similar situations. \"Even if there is somebody with cardiac arrest or cardiac problems, we put them on the floor and start to work on them,\" said Dr Marwan al-Hams, director of Rafah's Martyr Mohammed Yusuf al-Najjar Hospital. A Hamas political committee appoints directors of public hospitals in Gaza. In some cases, these directors were in place before Hamas took control of the Strip. Dr Marwan al-Hams says patients are being treated on the floor Doctors say they are struggling to work with limited medical supplies. \"We cannot find a drop of oxygen,\" one told the BBC. \"We're missing anaesthetics, supplies for the ICU, antibiotics and lastly painkillers,\" said Dr al-Akkad. \"There are a lot of people who were severely burnt\u2026 we don't have any suitable painkillers for them.\" One doctor confirmed that operations were going ahead without anaesthetic. A WHO team said they recently met a seven-year-old girl at the European Gaza hospital who was suffering from 75% burns, but unable to receive pain relief because of short supplies. Dr Mohamed Salha, acting director of northern Gaza's Al-Awda hospital, said people had been transported for treatment there on donkeys and horses. \"The catastrophe is when the patients' wounds are rotting, as the wounds have been open for more than two or three weeks,\" he said. He said doctors there had performed surgeries by the light of headtorches because of electricity shortages. The WHO says there are around 20,000 healthcare workers in Gaza, but that most are not working \"as they are struggling to survive and care for their families\". Dr al-Akkad said the numbers of staff and volunteers at his hospital had grown, partly because of people displaced from other areas coming to help. But he said it was not enough to cope with the volume of patients and types of injuries they were receiving. Following bombings, he said injured people come to the hospital \"looking like kofta\" - a dish with ground meat. \"The same person comes with brain injuries, broken ribs, broken limbs, and sometimes losing an eye\u2026 every injury you can imagine, you can see it in our hospital.\" He said one patient could need five or more specialist doctors to deal with the range of injuries. A wounded man is rushed to a hospital in Rafah Some of the doctors who have continued working are separated from their families. \"My family has been away from me for more than three months and I long to embrace them,\" said Dr Salha in northern Gaza, whose family have sought safety in the south. \"My consolation is that I am here serving children, women and the elderly in receiving health care and saving their lives.\" Doctors told the BBC that people in Gaza with chronic conditions had \"paid a big price\". \"Frankly we don't have any beds for them or any potential to follow up with them,\" said Dr al-Akkad. \"For anybody who does dialysis four times a week, now he does it once a week. If this guy was doing 16 hours a week, it will be one hour now.\" Some women are giving birth in tents with no medical support, while hospitals that provide midwifery services say they have limited capacity. \"In one department a person dies and in the other department a new life is born. Children are born and there is no milk for them. The hospital provides one box of milk for every child,\" Dr Salha said. People are coming to hospitals with diseases that have spread in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. \"There are sicknesses and we can not find any cure,\" said 54-year-old Abu Khalil, who has been displaced to Rafah in southern Gaza. \"We need to go out from dawn and get in a queue and maybe you will find 100 people in front of you. You go back empty handed.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Gaza's healthcare system is in a dire state, with hospitals functioning at minimal capacity due to air strikes, lack of supplies, and overcrowding. Medical staff report performing operations without anaesthetic, treating severe injuries with limited resources, and struggling to care for patients with chronic conditions due to shortages of medicines and painkillers. The World Health Organization describes the situation as \"beyond words,\" with access restrictions hindering aid efforts." + }, + { + "article": "Sir Keir Starmer paid just under \u00a3100,000 in tax last year, the Labour Party has confirmed. A summary released by the party showed Sir Keir paid \u00a344,308 - nearly half of his bill - in income tax. He also paid \u00a352,688 in capital gains tax after the December 2022 sale of a field partly owned by his father's estate. Sir Keir's tax bill was five times lower than Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's for the same 2022/23 tax year. The \u00a399,431 bill for last year brings the total tax Sir Keir has paid since 2020 to \u00a3218,011. Last year, the former lawyer published a summary revealing he had paid \u00a3118,580 in UK tax on total earnings of \u00a3359,720 in the previous two financial years. This included more than \u00a321,000 for legal services in 2020 up until April that year, when he became Labour leader and stopped taking on legal work, plus \u00a385,000 in capital gains in 2022 from the sale of a home he had bought with his sister. It was previously reported that the Labour leader had sold a plot of land he had bought in the 1990s for his parents, who used it to care for neglected donkeys. Reports at the time put the sale at \u00a3400,000. According to the latest tax summary, Sir Keir gained \u00a3275,739 from the land sale. Sir Keir's latest \"summary\" of his UK taxable income, capital gains and tax paid over the last tax year as reported to HM Revenue & Customs, was prepared by his chartered accountants. The one-page document showed that he earned \u00a379,098 as an MP, with an added salary of \u00a349,193 for his role as leader of the opposition, bringing his income to more than \u00a3128,000. Rishi Sunak paid nearly five times more in tax last year than his Labour counterpart Mr Sunak has also published details of his earnings since entering No 10 in October 2022, following a commitment he made during his unsuccessful Tory leadership campaign in the summer of 2022. The first publication, in March last year, covered the previous three financial years, including before he became prime minister. The records show Mr Sunak has paid more than \u00a31.5 million in tax since 2019: David Cameron became the first UK prime minister to publish a summary of his tax returns in 2016, after revelations about his late father's offshore fund. Theresa May released her tax return during her campaign to be Tory leader in 2016, but did not do so when she was prime minister. The two prime ministers who preceded Mr Sunak - Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, who held the post for less than two months - did not publish their tax returns.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer paid almost \u00a3100,000 in tax in the 2022/23 tax year, with \u00a344,308 in income tax and \u00a352,688 in capital gains tax following the sale of a field. This is in contrast to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who paid nearly five times more in tax for the same period." + }, + { + "article": "Luke Davies and Jesse Baird are suspected to have been murdered Australian police have been searching a remote property for the bodies of a TV presenter and his boyfriend, after their suspected murders last week. Detectives allege Jesse Baird and Luke Davies were killed by a serving police officer in a Sydney house last Monday. Senior constable Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, who once dated Mr Baird, has been charged with two counts of murder. He has not commented on the charges. Police divers are combing waterholes about 185km (115 miles) from Sydney. They say Mr Lamarre-Condon, 28, may have left the pair's bodies on the remote Bungonia property, after moving them in a white hire van from the alleged murder scene in Mr Baird's home. On Monday, New South Wales Police said the suspected killer had taken \"an acquaintance\" to the Bungonia property last Wednesday. After severing a lock on a gate, Mr Lamarre-Condon then left the female acquaintance there before driving the van on to the property and returning 30 minutes later, police said. She \"wasn't aware the bodies were in the vehicle\" and has been co-operating with detectives, Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said. He added that police were investigating whether Mr Lamarre-Condon had later returned and moved the bodies again. The suspect had bought an angle grinder and weights from separate stores last Wednesday, the deputy commissioner said. Mr Hudson also said that in the hours after the alleged killings, Mr Lamarre-Condon had sent messages from Mr Baird's phone telling his friends he was moving to Western Australia. New South Wales Police have previously said a bullet matching Mr Lamarre-Condon's work-issued gun was found inside Mr Baird's house, along with a \"significant\" amount of blood. The suspect was charged after taking himself to a Sydney police station on Friday. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The case is believed to be the first suspected murder carried out by a New South Wales police officer in decades, and it has prompted an independent review into police officers' out-of-hours access to firearms. Mr Baird had been a presenter and red carpet reporter on Network 10's morning show Studio 10 until the programme was axed in December, while Mr Davies was a flight attendant for Qantas. Mr Lamarre-Condon joined the police force in 2019 and was previously a celebrity blogger who had met stars including Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Australian police are searching for the bodies of TV presenter Luke Davies and his boyfriend Jesse Baird, who are suspected to have been murdered by a serving police officer, Senior constable Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, who has been charged with two counts of murder. The officer may have disposed of the bodies on a remote property, and police are investigating the purchase of an angle grinder and weights in connection with the case." + }, + { + "article": "Hundreds of people in Russia have gathered for the funeral service of Alexei Navalny, the vocal Putin critic who died in jail last month. Despite a large police presence and barricades set up in the area, mourners burst into applause as his body was taken into a church outside Moscow on Friday morning. \"You weren't afraid, and neither are we!\", they shouted. Those in attendance risk arrest for showing support for Navalny. His wife has blamed President Vladimir Putin for his death, but Moscow says he died of natural causes. The opposition leader died on 16 February in a Russian prison in the Arctic Circle. He had been jailed for three years on trumped-up charges. The memorial service began just after 14:00 Moscow time (11:00 GMT) at the Church of the Icon of Our Lady Quench My Sorrows, in Maryino. Among those pictured near the church ahead of the funeral service were foreign dignitaries, including the US, German and French ambassadors. Crowds cheered as Navalny's coffin arrived at the church The burial will take place at the nearby Borisovskoye Cemetery at 16:00. Scenes from the area around the church are being streamed online on Navalny's YouTube channel. His team have complained of disruption to mobile phone signals - and no filming was allowed inside the church itself. Scores of mourners were arrested as they gathered to pay tribute to the Russian opposition figure in the immediate aftermath of his death. And as many ignored those fears on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that \"any unauthorised gatherings will be in violation of the law, and those who participate in them will be held accountable\". Undeterred, one mourner told Reuters news agency: \"I came because this is the only opportunity for me to say goodbye to Alexei. I admire his courage, I admire his resilience.\" \"Why he is feared even dead, I don't understand. That's why I'm here,\" they added. \"What are they afraid of? Why so many cars?\" said another, Anna Stepanova, in reference to the barriers and the anti-riot police trucks. \"They are so afraid themselves,\" she told AFP news agency. \"The people who came here, they are not scared. Alexei wasn't either.\" Hours before the ceremony, Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said they were having difficulties with arrangements. Navalny died on 16 February in his cell in the prison colony in Siberia where he was being held on a 19-year sentence over charges that were widely seen as politically motivated The team were even finding it difficult to find a hearse, she said. The opposition leader's team - who are overseas and have encouraged people to attend - had shared a map of the route between the two locations. They also shared a list of places abroad - from Seoul to Rome, Montreal and Stockholm - where people can join memorial services. In March 2015, thousands lined the streets to pay homage to slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, but it was always unlikely any similar public outpouring of grief for an opponent of President Putin would be allowed now. In recent years, Russian authorities have cracked down on any action that could be interpreted as criticism of the government. Attempts at commemorating Navalny's death were met by a heavy-handed response, with makeshift monuments cleared and hundreds arrested. Telegram channel RusNews also said that surveillance cameras had been installed \"on every streetlight\" surrounding the cemetery. First Department - a group of lawyers and human rights defenders - has shared advice on social media for those planning to go to Navalny's funeral. It warned about \"pro-government activists\" acting as provocateurs and urged people to remain vigilant: \"Detentions cannot be ruled out after the ceremony... Stay under the radar of security forces - do not use public transport or apply for paperwork in the days after the funeral.\" The advice also includes not carrying any objects bearing the photograph of Navalny or the symbol of his Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was declared an extremist organisation by Russian authorities. Navalny's mother and father were seen going into the church. Navalny's children Daria, 23, and Zakhar, 15, live abroad. His widow, Yulia, has also been overseas recently and might be at risk of being arrested if she returns.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Hundreds of mourners, including foreign dignitaries, gathered for the funeral of Alexei Navalny, a prominent Russian opposition leader who died in jail, with many defying police presence and risking arrest. Navalny's wife blames President Putin for his death, while Moscow claims it was due to natural causes." + }, + { + "article": "Justin Fields is one of the most elusive quarterbacks in the NFL The Pittsburgh Steelers have traded for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields - just a day after signing former Super Bowl winner Russell Wilson. After leaving Denver, Wilson, 35, was set to be Pittsburgh's new starter after they traded the incumbent Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles. But now the Steelers have also brought in Fields, the Bears' starter since being a first-round draft pick in 2021. \"Ready for this next chapter,\" the 25-year-old said on X., external \"Can't say thank you enough to the city of Chicago for taking me in and embracing me.\" A mobile quarterback, Fields showed flashes of his athleticism during his first two years with Chicago, although some questioned whether he relied too much on his legs to escape pressure. After just three wins in 2022, Chicago had the first pick of last year's draft but kept faith in Fields by trading that pick to the Carolina Panthers for receiver DJ Moore and several draft picks. Those included Carolina's first-round pick this year, which turned out to be the first overall as the Panthers finished last season with the NFL's worst record. The Bears did improve to a 7-10 record and Fields leaned more on his passing game in 2023, throwing for 2,562 yards and 16 touchdowns, while his rushing yards almost halved from 1,143 to 657. But this time Chicago decided to move on from Fields - and that they could not pass up on that first overall pick a second time - especially with several quarterbacks being among the most highly-rated prospects in this year's draft class. \"Thank you to the entire Bears organisation and ownership for allowing me the opportunity to be part of such a historic franchise,\" Fields added. \"But most of all thank you to all my brothers that I played with. You all were the reason I attacked each day the way I did. I wish each one of you nothing but success.\" Pittsburgh, who have not had a losing season in 17 years under coach Mike Tomlin and were knocked out of the first round of last season's play-offs, have now overhauled their quarterback roster during free agency. As well as bringing in two of last season's starting quarterbacks, they have let go of Pickett and his back-ups Mitchell Trubisky (Buffalo Bills) and Mason Rudolph (Tennessee Titans), who both started games after Pickett suffered an ankle injury in December. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Pittsburgh Steelers have traded for Chicago Bears' quarterback Justin Fields, adding him to their roster just after signing Russell Wilson. Fields, known for his athleticism, was the Bears' starter since 2021, but Chicago, with the first pick in this year's draft, decided to move on from him, potentially signaling a focus on selecting a new quarterback." + }, + { + "article": "The tea rooms have recreated every aspect of Mackintosh's 1903 original A famous Glasgow tea rooms, originally designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, is to be taken over by the National Trust for Scotland. The Mackintosh at the Willow on Sauchiehall Street was reopened five years ago after a \u00a310m restoration. Its future operations had been threatened by \"difficult trading conditions\". But The Willow Tea Rooms Trust said it had now found a \"safe haven\" with the National Trust for Scotland. The conservation charity will add the tea rooms to its portfolio of properties which include Mackintosh's Hill House in Helensburgh. It said it was using \u00a31.75m of its reserves and acquisition funds to address the immediate financial challenges and keep the business trading. The NTS said the business model was \"fundamentally sound and successful\" and it was hopeful it would eventually get a return on its investment. Last year the tea rooms attracted more than 230,000 visitors. But the effects of the Covid pandemic and the fire which destroyed Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art have affected its income in recent years. The exterior was brought back to how it would have looked in 1903 The original 1903 Willow Tea Rooms were designed in their entirety by Mackintosh and he had total control inside and out. It is the last remaining original of the several tea rooms designed by the celebrated architect, working with his wife Margaret Macdonald, for entrepreneur Miss Kate Cranston. He remodelled the exterior of the 1860s tenement block and oversaw the interior decorative elements, right down to the design of the cutlery and the uniform of the waitresses. The front salon in the recreated Willow tea rooms The front salon of the original Willow Tea Rooms In later years, as fashions changed, Mackintosh's Sauchiehall Street tea rooms underwent various transformations, including being hidden behind the bridal wear of a department store. There were various attempts to revive the rooms and restore them to their former glory but by 2014 the building was up for sale and its future looked bleak. But Glasgow businesswoman Celia Sinclair Thornqvist made it her mission to bring the tea rooms back to life. She bought the building and set up a charitable trust to own and restore it before embarking on an effort to raise \u00a310m, including \u00a33.5m from heritage lottery funds. The idea of the restoration was that every element had to be exactly as Mackintosh had intended. Covid, the cost of living and two fires in the neighbourhood - including Mackintosh's School of Art - took their toll on what had once been a thriving business. A new partner was needed and the National Trust for Scotland offered security, profile and a membership known for their passion for heritage. And of course Celia Sinclair Thornqvist sealed the deal over a cup of tea in the elegant salon de luxe. The NTS now face the same challenges as the Willow Tea Rooms Trust. They too are still recovering from the pandemic, dealing with rising costs and decreased footfall. But they also have a bigger budget, more support and experience in tourism and marketing. They are confident the \u00a31.7m they have invested in Mackintosh at the Willows will not just be returned but will contribute to the maintenance of the other 130 properties in their portfolio. And exactly ten years after she first began work on the restoration of Mackintosh at the Willow, Celia is happy to let someone else take on the task of keeping the legend alive. \"I think they'll find it hard to get rid of me,\" she says \"I'll be having my tea and scone but I'm happy to leave the responsibility to someone else.\" Phil Long, the National Trust for Scotland's chief executive, said: \"We've made the financial investment we have because we believe in the outstanding heritage significance of Mackintosh. He's known around the world. \"The business model for this place is fundamentally sound and successful but the external difficulties that it faced made the last years very challenging. \"We're in the fortunate position to deal with these financial challenges and set off on a new footing.\" Ms Sinclair Thornqvist said the Willow Tea Room trustees had turned to the NTS as a \"safe haven\" to protect the integrity of the building, its decoration, the services provided and its dedicated staff. Mackintosh at the Willow will formally become one of the National Trust for Scotland's properties with effect from 19 January. Charles Rennie Mackintosh liked to have total artistic control of a project Mackintosh is to Glasgow as Gaudi is to Barcelona and Frank Lloyd Wright to Chicago. He is the designer who best sums up its style and its outlook. Kate Cranston's Willow Tea Rooms was where Mackintosh showed his flair to the public. He was born in Glasgow's Townhead in 1868, the fourth son of a policeman, and became an apprentice architect at 15. He later worked for Glasgow firm Honeyman and Keppie while also studying at Glasgow School of Art. Mackintosh was chosen to build the new art school in 1896 and, despite being unloved at the time, it was later considered his masterpiece until it was destroyed in a fire in 2018. Other Mackintosh buildings include Scotland Street School, the Queen's Cross Church and Hill House in Helensburgh, which is also owned by the National Trust for Scotland. He was largely unappreciated in Britain during his lifetime but in Europe he was admired as a leading figure in avant-garde art and design. However, one wealthy patron returned to Mackintosh time and again - Miss Catherine Cranston, the empress of Glasgow's tea rooms. In 1896, she asked him to design a set of murals for her Buchanan Street premises. Two years later, for her Argyle Street tea rooms, Mackintosh produced a piece of furniture that would evolve into a design icon - his high-backed chair. In 1903, Miss Cranston asked him to design her fourth Glasgow tea room, the famous Willow Tea Rooms, once the city's ultimate house of splendour.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The National Trust for Scotland has taken over the famous Glasgow tea rooms designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Mackintosh at the Willow, after a \u00a310m restoration, to ensure its future amid financial challenges caused by difficult trading conditions and the impact of Covid-19. The conservation charity will invest \u00a31.75m to maintain the business, adding it to its portfolio which includes Mackintosh's Hill House." + }, + { + "article": "Ms Donelan has admitted she was wrong Cabinet minister Michelle Donelan has been told to pay an undisclosed sum and apologised to a professor after falsely suggesting she supported Hamas. The science secretary made the claim about Prof Kate Sang, an academic at Heriot Watt University, in a letter posted on social media in October. The sum paid was covered by taxpayers to prevent prolonged legal costs, the BBC has been told. Prof Sang said Ms Donelan had attacked her to make a \"cheap political point\". The letter followed the appointment of Prof Sang, as well as Dr Kamna Patel of University College London, to an advisory group on equality, diversity and inclusion at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a public body which manages the government's research funding. Ms Donelan accused both women of sharing extremist content online and claimed they had breached the Nolan principles, which set out how public officials should behave. She also suggested Professor Sang had expressed sympathy and support for Hamas. Prof Sang had earlier shared a Guardian article about government plans to clamp down on pro-Palestine marches and called the plans \"disturbing\", while Dr Patel had retweeted a post describing Israel's actions in Gaza as \"genocide and apartheid\". Ms Donelan - who has been secretary of state for science, innovation and technology since February - spoke of her \"disgust and outrage\" at the appointments and called on UKRI to remove both women from the group. A months-long investigation by UKRI found no evidence that either Prof Sang or Dr Patel had breached their roles' terms of reference or the Nolan principles. In a statement posted to X on Tuesday, Ms Donelan admitted she was wrong and had \"misunderstood\" the social media posts. She said she had deleted her original post and fully accepted that Prof Sang was \"not an extremist, a supporter of Hamas or other proscribed organisation\". Hamas, or in some cases its armed wing alone, is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the US, the EU, and the UK, among others. Prof Sang said: \"I am delighted that this matter has now concluded, but very disturbed by the way in which Michelle Donelan and UKRI behaved. \"Had they asked me at the start, I would have explained the true position. Instead, Michelle Donelan made a cheap political point at my expense and caused serious damage to my reputation. \"I propose to donate part of the damages she has paid to a charity.\" Dr Patel described the experience as \"distressing\", saying she was \"glad\" the process had concluded. She said: \"There was never any need for UKRI to investigate as it should have been obvious from the start that we had not breached the Nolan principles or expressed extremist views.\" A Downing Street source said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had \"full confidence\" in \"excellent minister\" Ms Donelan. Shadow science secretary Peter Kyle said accusing a researcher of sharing extremist material and sympathising with a proscribed group was a \"new low in government standards\". The payment to Prof Sang came from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The payment was made to reduce the overall costs to the taxpayer that could result from protracted legal action, the BBC understands. Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the public would be \"shocked\" by the use of taxpayer funds for the payment and called for a Cabinet Office inquiry to establish \"exactly what happened, whether any rules were broken and how much public money was spent\". Correction 6th March 2024: The headline was changed to clarify that Michelle Donelan did not pay the damages herself.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Science Secretary Michelle Donelan has apologized and paid an undisclosed sum, covered by taxpayers, to Professor Kate Sang after falsely accusing her of supporting Hamas. Donelan's claim, made in a letter on social media, was found to be wrong following an investigation by UK Research and Innovation, which cleared Prof. Sang of any breach of conduct." + }, + { + "article": "Campaigners gathered outside the Infected Blood inquiry when the prime minister gave evidence in July ITV is to follow its hit drama about the Post Office scandal with a new series about what it calls the \"biggest health scandal\" in British history. Writer Peter Moffat will tell the story behind the contaminated blood scandal. It is thought that about 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. Bafta winner Moffat said victims had been \"let down\" by the state and his show would let \"their voices be heard\". The announcement comes after Mr Bates Vs the Post Office drew in more than 10 million viewers and dominated the headlines last month. Following an outcry, the government has announced plans for new legislation to quash the convictions of hundreds of people who were wrongly convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud. The four-part series on the Post Office scandal ran nightly on ITV in January Moffat was working on the contaminated blood scandal series before Mr Bates Vs the Post Office was broadcast, but it has now been \"fast-tracked\" following that show's \"monumental success\", Deadline reported. More than 3,000 people are thought to have died in what has been described by MPs as the worst treatment disaster in NHS history. The untitled series will focus on the \"courage and dignity of victims and their families who have campaigned for truth, justice and accountability against impossible odds\", according to ITV. Moffat, who is behind dramas including Silk, Criminal Justice, North Square and Your Honour, said: \"It's been a great privilege to meet those infected and affected and to learn about what they have been through. \"I'm ashamed to say that when I started researching this story I knew next to nothing about it. I'm even more ashamed that this ignorance is shared by nearly everyone I mention it to. \"The victims of this scandal have been let down again and again by the state - I hope in some small way this drama can help their voices be heard.\" ITV's head of drama Polly Hill said: \"Peter's scripts are brilliant and do justice to this important story, while bringing it to screen with real clarity and compassion.\" Des Collins, senior partner of Collins Solicitors, which represents 1,500 victims and their families, welcomed the news. The series will \"expose much of what our clients have endured, not only emotionally and health-wise, but also in terms of shoddy treatment by government, in their decades-long battle for justice during which too many lives have unnecessarily been lost\", he said. A public inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal heard its final evidence last year. Its chairman Sir Brian Langstaff published his final recommendations for a full compensation scheme for those directly affected by the scandal and their relatives. The government has said it accepts the \"moral case\" for compensation, and interim payouts of \u00a3100,000 each have already been made to about 4,000 victims and some bereaved partners. However, in December it said it was still not in a position to make a final decision on compensation until it has seen the inquiry's findings in full. The publication of the final report has been delayed until May.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "ITV is set to produce a drama series about the contaminated blood scandal, considered the \"biggest health scandal\" in British history, where around 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1970s and 1980s. Writer Peter Moffat, known for his work on various dramas, aims to give voice to the victims through the show, highlighting their fight for truth, justice, and accountability." + }, + { + "article": "Rishi Sunak is facing a significant rebellion from Tory MPs over legislation to revive his plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda. Over 30 backbenchers on the right of the party are backing plans to change the bill next week to make it harder for people to appeal deportation. The amendments underline the scale of Tory division over the policy, which the PM has made a priority. Ministers insist the bill allows only a \"vanishingly small\" number of appeals. Those backing the amendments include former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and a clutch of former cabinet ministers, including former home secretary Suella Braverman. Ex-migration minister Robert Jenrick, who resigned over the draft law last month and is a leading rebel, said the current bill would fail to prevent a \"merry-go-round\" of individual appeals. The Rwanda policy dominated Prime Minister's Questions, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer arguing the prime minister had been \"taken hostage by his own party\". He added that reports over the weekend that he had doubts about the policy when he was chancellor showed Mr Sunak had been \"caught red handed\". \"He knows the Rwanda gimmick won't work - but he can't be honest about it because he's too scared of his own MPs,\" he added. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Starmer says Sunak originally was against Rwanda plan In reply, the prime minister said the government would deliver on its promise to halt migrants crossing the Channel in small boats. Mr Sunak said Labour had not put forward a \"single practical idea\" to reduce illegal migration, and \"can never be trusted to stop the boats\". The government introduced the bill last month, after its plan to send asylum seekers to the east African country was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court. The legislation seeks to declare in UK law that Rwanda is a safe country to send refugees to - thereby stopping flights being grounded on legal grounds. Ministers could ignore emergency orders from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to suspend a flight to Rwanda while an individual legal case was being heard. But rebels insist it will still allow the policy to be derailed by a wave of individual appeals, and want to tighten the circumstances in which they would be allowed. They also want to make it the default position that ministers would ignore injunctions from the ECHR blocking flights. The amendments are destined to fail at the vote next Tuesday as they will struggle to attract the required support from Labour MPs to overturn the government's majority. However, the rebels could put the government's bill in jeopardy if they vote it down at a later stage if it remains unamended. A group of 29 MPs would be big enough to overturn Mr Sunak's 56-seat majority, if they were to vote with Labour, which opposes the Rwanda policy. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Jenrick did not rule out voting the whole bill down if their proposed changes were not successful. However, he added he was \"not looking ahead to that\" and the rebels were hoping to \"win the argument\". He said the current version of the bill was \"guaranteed to fail\" because it would not provide a \"sustainable deterrent\" to people crossing the Channel to claim asylum. He added that appeals to deportations should only be allowed in a limited number of cases, such as for women who are pregnant and those unfit to fly. Tory rebels had threatened to vote against the bill before Christmas - but in the end they only abstained, meaning passed its initial parliamentary stage fairly comfortably. Ministers could make concessions to the rebels in order to win them round, but it is thought this is unlikely to happen until the bill reaches its final stages in Parliament. And the government is also facing pressure from Tory MPs on the more liberal One Nation wing of the party, who insist the bill cannot be tightened further without breaching international law. The Rwandan government has also threatened to pull out of the scheme if it does not comply with international obligations. Downing Street said Mr Sunak would consider amendments put forward by Tory MPs, and \"engagements\" were taking place with backbenchers. However, his spokesperson told reporters the government would not accept any changes that could \"jeopardise\" the UK's deal with Rwanda. \"We need a bill with a respectable legal argument and one which does not collapse the scheme,\" they added.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Over 30 Conservative MPs are set to rebel against Rishi Sunak's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, proposing amendments to make it harder for people to appeal deportation. The rebellion highlights divisions within the party, with former leaders and ministers among those supporting changes to the legislation, which aims to declare Rwanda a safe country for refugees. Despite potential challenges, the government remains committed to the policy, though concessions to rebels may be considered to ensure the bill's passage." + }, + { + "article": "Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell have argued that she should be set free under the terms of a previous deal with federal prosecutors. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022. Her lawyer, Diane Fabi Samson, told a court in New York on Tuesday that the British socialite was covered by a previous deal with prosecutors. But US government attorneys say that deal, which saw her boyfriend Epstein serve a light sentence for sex crimes, should not allow Maxwell to walk free. Maxwell's appeal does not relate to the facts laid out at her trial but instead on the legal issues surrounding the agreement struck nearly 20 years ago. The crimes of Epstein, who mixed with some of the world's most famous people, were first reported in the media in 2005. In 2008, he made a deal with federal prosecutors that allowed him to plead guilty to state charges in Florida of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution and served 13 months in prison. As part of his plea agreement, which was later criticised by a Justice Department internal report, prosecutors agreed not to pursue his alleged co-conspirators. Following numerous lawsuits, Epstein was arrested again in 2019 in a federal case in New York. He was found dead in his jail cell before he could be tried on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide. During Tuesday's hearing, Ms Fabi Samson called the Florida plea deal \"weird\" and \"unusual\" but argued that it should have halted any further action against Maxwell. Prosecutors, however, have called the defence arguments \"cursory and undeveloped\" and say that the deal has no bearing on Maxwell's case. During the hearing they argued that the agreement was limited to the Florida district where Epstein pleaded guilty. Maxwell was convicted in New York, where Tuesday's appeal hearing was held. Throughout the course of Maxwell's 2022 trial, four women testified that they had been abused as minors at Epstein's homes in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands. They recounted how Maxwell had talked them into giving Epstein massages which turned sexual, luring them with gifts and promises about how Epstein could use his money and connections to help them. During her trial, a judge rejected attempts to throw out the case, including an argument by Maxwell's lawyers that a juror had failed to inform the court that he had been abused as a child. The judge also rejected arguments that Maxwell had not been allowed to prepare adequately for her trial, and that prosecutors had waited too long to bring their case against her. The appeals court judgement will be handed down at a later date. Outside the court, Maxwell's lawyers told the reporters that they were \"cautiously optimistic\" about their prospects of winning the appeal. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Victims: 'We still want answers from Maxwell' \u2022 None 'We still want answers from Ghislaine Maxwell'", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers are arguing that she should be released due to a previous deal with prosecutors, but the US government contends that the agreement does not apply to her case, stating it was limited to Epstein's plea in Florida. Maxwell, sentenced to 20 years for her involvement in Epstein's sex trafficking ring, sees her appeal focusing on the legal aspects of the old deal, not the trial facts, with the court's decision yet to be announced." + }, + { + "article": "The polio survivor known as \"the man in the iron lung\" has died at the age of 78. Paul Alexander contracted polio in 1952 when he was six, leaving him paralysed from the neck down. The disease left him unable to breathe independently, leading doctors to place him in the metal cylinder, where he would spend the rest of his life. He would go on to earn a law degree - and practise law - as well as publish a memoir. \"Paul Alexander, 'The Man in the Iron Lung', passed away yesterday,\" a post on a fundraising website said. \"In this time Paul went to college, became a lawyer, and a published author. His brother, Philip Alexander, remembered him as a \"welcoming, warm person\", with a \"big smile\" that instantly put people at ease. \"He was just a normal brother to me. We fought, we played, we loved, we partied, we went to concerts together - he was just a normal brother, I never thought about it,\" he told the BBC. Philip said he admired how self-sufficient his brother was, even as he dealt with an illness that stopped him performing daily tasks such as feeding himself. \"He was the master of his domain, helping people to help him,\" Philip added. Paul's health deteriorated in recent weeks and the brothers spent his final days together, sharing pints of ice cream. \"It was an honour to be with him in his last moments,\" said Philip. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Philip Alexander remembers his brother, 'the man in the iron lung' In 1952, when he became ill, doctors in his hometown of Dallas operated on him, saving his life. But polio meant his body was no longer able to breathe on his own. The answer was to place him in a so-called iron lung - a metal cylinder enclosing his body up to his neck. The lung, which he called his \"old iron horse\", allowed him to breathe. Bellows sucked air out of the cylinder, forcing his lungs to expand and take in air. When the air was let back in, the same process in reverse made his lungs deflate. After years, Alexander eventually learned to breathe by himself so that he was able to leave the lung for short periods of time. Like most polio survivors placed in iron lungs, he was not expected to survive long. But he lived for decades, long after the invention of the polio vaccine in the 1950s all but eradicated the disease in the Western world. He graduated from high school, then attended the Southern Methodist University. In 1984, he gained a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Admitted to the bar two years later, he practiced as a lawyer for decades. \"I knew if I was going to do anything with my life, it was going to have to be a mental thing,\" he told the Guardian in 2020. That year, he published a memoir which reportedly took him eight years to write using a plastic stick to type on a keyboard and dictating to a friend. Paul's brother Philip said it was following its publication that he realised how much of an inspiration his brother was to people across the world. Advances in medicine made iron lungs obsolete by the 1960s, replaced by ventilators. But Alexander kept living in the cylinder because, he said, he was used to it. He was recognised by Guinness World Records as the person who lived the longest in an iron lung.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Paul Alexander, known as \"the man in the iron lung\" after contracting polio in 1952, has passed away at 78. Despite being paralyzed from the neck down, he earned a law degree, practiced law, and wrote a memoir, inspiring many with his resilience." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Fluffy gets checked out by a vet after it is rescued An invasive alligator snapping turtle has been pulled from a Cumbrian lake. A dog walker found the exotic creature, which is native to swamps and rivers in southern parts of the US, in Urswick Tarn, near Ulverston, on Monday. Parish councillor Denise Chamberlain fished it out of the water with a shopping basket and took it to a vet. Dr Dominic Moule said the turtle, which was named Fluffy, gives a \"nasty bite\" and would likely have eaten through everything if it had not been rescued. Ms Chamberlain, who has lived in Florida, saw a social media post about the turtle and \"immediately recognised\" the species. \"I suspect somebody has bought it and not realised what it is, it has got too big for them to look after or they cannot afford to feed it,\" she said. While it is not illegal to own an alligator snapping turtle, vets do not recommend keeping them as pets due their complicated needs. Ms Chamberlain went to retrieve the turtle with the help of residents. \"I was anxious on two levels,\" she said. \"One was actually catching it without losing a finger, but also, what was I going to do with it?\" She wore three pairs of builder's gloves and used a shopping basket to scoop the turtle out, where she transported it to a large container with water from the tarn. \"Everybody rallied round to help\", she explained. The turtle, named Fluffy, is an invasive species and would have posed danger to the environment, Dr Moule said Dr Moule, a veterinary surgeon from Wild Side Vets in Barrow-in-Furness, described the discovery as \"extremely surprising\". \"At this size, it could give you a nasty bite but when they get bigger, they can grow up to 80kg (12st) and they can cause some damage,\" he said. He added that the reptile would be \"more dangerous for the environment because they will pretty much eat anything\". \"I'm sure if it was left there it would be invasive and eat everything in the water,\" Dr Moule continued. The turtle is being cared for by the veterinary centre before it is rehomed in a zoo or sent to a private keeper. Follow BBC Cumbria on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An invasive alligator snapping turtle, named Fluffy, was rescued from Urswick Tarn in Cumbria after being found by a dog walker. The native US species, which can be dangerous, was caught by a parish councillor and is now being cared for by a vet before being rehomed in a zoo or with a private keeper." + }, + { + "article": "The family of Sean Brown have called for a full public inquiry into the murder Revelations that 25 people, including state agents, were linked to the murder of a GAA official in 1997 were \"harrowing\" to learn, his daughter has said. Sean Brown was shot near Randalstown, County Antrim, after he was abducted by the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). A counsel for the coroner examining his death gave an update on Tuesday. The former Police Ombudsman Baroness O'Loan has backed the family's call for a public inquiry. Speaking on BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster on Wednesday, Mr Brown's daughter Siobhan said the family always had \"an inkling\" that state collusion played a role in her father's death. \"To hear yesterday in detail, outlined in court, that there were in excess of 25 individuals linked to daddy's murder was quite harrowing to say the least, quite distressing for myself and other members of the family,\" she said. Mr Brown, 61, was abducted in Bellaghy, County Londonderry, and shot near Randalstown. He was locking the gates of GAA club Bellaghy Wolfe Tones when he was taken by the LVF. Sean Brown was abducted and murdered in 1997 The inquest into his death opened in March 2023 and it is scheduled to resume next month. Before this happens, sensitive material relating to the murder must be security-vetted and distributed to the legal parties involved. The public interest immunity process in the case has been taking place in closed hearings in recent weeks. Ms Brown said the family have \"waited 27 years to get to this position\", adding that it has been \"a long process\". She continued: \"My daddy didn't deserve to lose his life. He treated everyone the same. The reason he lost his life he was a Catholic, he was the chairman of our GAA club. \"He was locking up the gates of the club on the night he lost his life. He was going about a normal thing that happens everywhere but individuals decided my father shouldn't do that anymore and they took his life from him.\" Ms Brown said the family are calling for a public inquiry into the murder due to the \"volume\" of material that has been redacted. \"The coroner is going to find himself in a very difficult position to conclude an inquest when there's loads of material there that he can't divulge in court,\" she said. Asked if she backed the call for a public inquiry, former Police Ombudsman Baroness O'Loan told Good Morning Ulster: \"The government are resistant to the introduction of public inquiries. Should they do it? Yes, of course they should.\" Siobhan Brown at a rally for her father in Londonderry in February Baroness O'Loan, who investigated the death in 2004, said she found it \"incredible that 27 years on police have finally found information\". \"I haven't seen the documents that were disclosed yesterday but I do know there were 19 pieces of intelligence made available to me and that six of them related to and provided helpful information around the murder and its investigation,\" she said. \"That material should have been available to the coroner without any difficulty so that means there are 25 new people linked to this murder. \"This must have been known at the time and I think it's terrible, and most terrible I think for the Brown family. I don't know how some of these families keep going - 27 years to wait to find out this information.\" Baroness Nuala O'Loan said she is shocked by the revelations into Sean Brown's killing Baroness O'Loan said that had she had access to the new information, her conclusions \"would have been a different report\". \"I could only report on the evidence which I received,\" she said. \"You can have suspicions but you can't report them as fact unless you can substantiate them by evidence and we didn't have that intelligence.\" The Police Ombudsman examination of the case found an RUC investigation into Mr Brown's murder was \"incomplete and inadequate\". Sean Brown's body was found in a burnt-out car near Randalstown In his update on Tuesday, counsel for the coroner Joseph Aiken KC said documentation shown to the inquest \"indicates that in excess of 25 individuals were linked through intelligence to the murder of Sean Brown\". He added: \"The intelligence material indicates that those individuals are said to have been involved at the material time with loyalist paramilitaries. \"The intelligence material indicates that at the time of the death of Sean Brown, a number of the individuals linked through intelligence to the murder were agents of the state.\" Mr Aiken said the individuals come from different areas of Northern Ireland and are not necessarily linked to one another. A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Office said the UK government \"acknowledges the suffering caused by the murder of Sean Brown\", adding that the Northern Ireland secretary \"will carefully consider the coroner's ruling when it is delivered\". A PSNI spokesperson said the organisation is aware that Tuesday will \"have been another upsetting and difficult day for the Brown family and we understand the suffering they continue to go through\". They added: \"As this is the subject of ongoing inquest proceedings, it would be inappropriate for the Police Service to comment further at this time.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The family of Sean Brown, a GAA official murdered in 1997, has called for a full public inquiry after learning that 25 people, including state agents, were linked to his killing. His daughter, Siobhan, expressed distress upon hearing the details, and former Police Ombudsman Baroness O'Loan supports the call for an inquiry, criticizing the government's resistance to such investigations." + }, + { + "article": "Roy Reynolds, 54, was found dead in a reservoir near Carrickfergus in March 2022 More than 100 injuries were inflicted on a man whose body was found partially submerged in a reservoir, a court has heard. Roy Reynolds, who was 54, was beaten and stabbed in a flat in Rathcoole in March 2022. His remains were then placed in the boot of a car and taken North Woodburn Reservoir near Carrickfergus. Details surrounding the \"ferocious\" fatal attack on Mr Reynolds emerged for the first time during a plea hearing at Belfast Crown Court. A previous hearing heard his murder was \"barbaric and horrific\". Michael Campbell, 34, whose address was given as HMP Maghaberry, previously admitted murdering Mr Reynolds on a date between 26 March and 29 March 2022. He has also admitted a charge of attempting to prevent the burial of a body on 28 March. Co-accused Robert Fulton, 70, of Brickhill Park, Newtownabbey previously pleaded guilty to a charge of assisting in the disposal of a body. Roy Reynolds' body was found in North Woodburn Reservoir near Carrickfergus The court heard Fulton was called by Campbell in the aftermath of the murder and drove his co-accused to the reservoir with Mr Reynolds' body in the boot of Fulton's Toyota car. Prior to this, the judge was addressed by a Crown barrister, who branded the incident as a \"ferocious, brutal killing\". Mr Reynolds, who lived in Newtownabbey, was last seen on CCTV walking on his own on the evening of 27 March on Derrycoole Way in Rathcoole. The court heard the evidence suggested he was murdered in Campbell's flat in Derrycoole Way some time between that evening and the early hours of the following morning. On Sunday evening, Campbell sent a video message from his flat where Mr Reynolds was present. At about 04:30 on Monday morning, police received a call about a naked body being dragged from a flat and placed into the boot of a car. The witness provided police with the car's registration, which was traced to Fulton. Details were circulated and the vehicle was stopped just before 07:00 in Rathcoole. Officers observed bloodstains on Campbell, who claimed he had been fighting with his brother. When the vehicle was searched, pools of blood were visible in the boot and other areas of the Toyota. This was pointed out to Fulton and when officers suggested someone was badly hurt, he said \"aye, I know.\" When asked if there had been a body in his boot, Fulton replied: \"Sure you know rightly.\" Campbell was arrested on suspicion on murder and he replied: \"Murdered who?\" Flowers were left at the reservoir after the body was found Mr Reynolds' body was discovered at 08:30 in shallow water at the reservoir in Carrickfergus. A breezeblock had been attached to the body in an attempt to weigh it down. Further searches were conducted at Campbell's flat, where there were signs of a serious assault. Clothing, a knife and screwdriver were seized - all which had Mr Reynolds' blood on them. A post-mortem examination revealed he died from multiple injuries to his neck, head, chest and abdomen. The prosecution barrister said the injuries to Mr Reynolds were inflicted by a \"variety of mechanisms\" including stamps, kicks and punches as well as the use of weapons and strangulation. Over the course of 11 interviews, Campbell provided an account of what happened. He claimed he invited Mr Reynolds to his flat for a drink, that he was provoked and that he acted in self defence. During an altercation, Mr Reynolds fell backwards and hit his head on a tiled floor, Campbell claimed. Flowers being laid at the North Woodburn Reservoir near Carrickfergus in memory of Mr Reynolds He then claimed to panic and called Fulton, as he needed to get Mr Reynolds out of his flat and into his car, police were told. Campbell denied using any weapons in the attack and said he did not intend to cause Mr Reynolds serious harm. Branding Campbell's account as a \"series of multiple lies\", the prosecution said it was \"not supported by the evidence in any way\" including the multiple injuries sustained and the presence of the breezeblock. During his interviews, Fulton told police the only role he played was as a driver for Campbell, which was accepted. Campbell's defence barrister said his \"vulnerable\" client had mental health issues. He said Campbell stood by his claim that he was provoked, and added his guilty plea indicated remorse. Fulton's barrister expressed her apologies to Mr Reynolds' family on Fulton's behalf, who she said was \"horrified about what he became involved in.\" She also spoke of Fulton's health issues and time already spent on remand. After listening to submissions from both the Crown and defence, Mr Justice O'Hara said he needed time to reflect on what he had heard and said he would sentence both men on 13 March.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A man named Roy Reynolds was found dead with over 100 injuries in a reservoir near Carrickfergus after being beaten and stabbed in a flat in Rathcoole. Michael Campbell, 34, has admitted to murdering Reynolds, while Robert Fulton, 70, pleaded guilty to assisting in the disposal of the body. The court described the attack as \"ferocious\" and \"brutal.\" Both men will be sentenced on March 13." + }, + { + "article": "Alabama's Katie Britt, the youngest woman representing the Republicans in the US Senate, has given her party's response to President Joe Biden's third State of the Union address. Sitting at her kitchen table, she accused the president of being out of touch and painted a dark picture of the US under his watch. \"Right now, the American Dream has turned into a nightmare for so many families,\" she said. The rebuttal - first delivered in 1966 - is often given by rising stars in the opposition party. Ms Britt, 42, echoed popular Republican attack lines in her 17-minute speech, hitting Mr Biden hard on the border crisis and inflation. Reactions to her performance were mixed. Conservative media outlet Fox News reviewed the speech as a successful effort which \"pulled-no-punches\" when \"shredding\" the president's national address. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Alabama Senator Katie Britt started the Republican response with a jab at the president's age But some criticism focussed on her performative delivery. Others took issue with the unconventional setting - her kitchen table in Montgomery - for a speech meant to counter presidential remarks delivered from the Capitol. Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House communications adviser, posted on X: \"I do not understand the decision to put her in a KITCHEN for one of the most important speeches she's ever given.\" Ahead of the speech, some political commentators had suggested Ms Britt was an astute choice to deliver the Republican response. She has avoided isolationist tendencies in her party and emerged as a hawkish figure on national security. And her speech largely avoided the kind of combative politics championed by some in the party. Now in her second year in the Senate, Ms Britt first arrived in Washington in 2004 as a congressional staffer. Having earned a law degree at the University of Alabama, she served variously as press secretary, communications director and chief of staff to Alabama Senator Richard Shelby. In 2018, she was elected as the first woman to lead her state's business council, where she became associated with the Keep Alabama Open campaign during the Covid-19 pandemic. The role elevated her profile within the state, and her resignation in 2021 prompted speculation - proven correct - about her intention to seek the Senate seat of her outgoing mentor, Sen Shelly. She was elected in 2022 after easily seeing off her main opponent for the Republican nomination, Mo Brooks - a state representative at the time and a long-time adversary of Mr Trump's - before sweeping away her Democratic rival in the general election. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Jokes and jabs at his rival - how Biden went on the attack Since her arrival in Washington DC, Ms Britt has taken a position on the powerful Senate appropriations committee and worked as a key fundraiser for more senior colleagues. Among Democrats, she has won some approval by working on a bipartisan bill prohibiting children under 13 from using social media and visiting John Fetterman when the Pennsylvania senator checked into hospital to seek treatment for depression. Thursday's speech has elevated her profile to the national stage and it won the approval of Donald Trump. \"She was compassionate and caring, especially concerning Women and Women's Issues. Her conversation on Migrant Crime was powerful and insightful. Great job Katie!\" he wrote on Truth Social, his own social media platform. Some saw her speech as an audition for a spot on Mr Trump's list of candidates for the vice-presidency. But she and the former president are not natural allies. She was the last member of Alabama's congressional delegation to endorse the 77-year-old in December, and observers note that her political views have been more temperate than Mr Trump's. In an interview with Politico last year, Ms Britt criticised - obliquely - Mr Trump's penchant for personalised attacks on his political opponents. Unlike some fellow Repulican senators, like JD Vance (L), Ms Britt has avoided a close association with Donald Trump \"I really believe we have to get back to a place in this nation where you don't have to agree with someone 100% to show them respect and to be able to have a conversation and dialogue that you can learn from,\" she said. Indeed, the Alabama native has been more closely aligned with outgoing Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, joining his leadership group as an informal adviser last year. Mr McConnell - a veteran dealmaker in the chamber - has long been at odds with Mr Trump and his brand of politics, although he endorsed the former president this week. Ms Britt has also become known for her hawkish views on national security, at times running up against colleagues in a party increasingly defined by American isolationism. Nonetheless, she has remained in favour with senior members of the Senate leadership and those within Mr Trump's orbit, a difficult feat.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Alabama Senator Katie Britt, a Republican, delivered the GOP response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address, criticizing the president for his handling of the border crisis and inflation, and claiming his policies have turned the American Dream into a nightmare. The 42-year-old's speech, given at her kitchen table, received mixed reviews, with some conservative outlets praising it while others questioned the setting and her performance." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Emma and David Webber say Barnaby, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates have been failed The family of one of three people killed in attacks in Nottingham have called for a public inquiry into the case. Valdo Calocane was given a hospital order on Thursday for killing Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, as well as Ian Coates, 65, in June. A special review has been ordered into the NHS trust that treated him. But Mr Webber's parents said they were \"horrified\" and \"disgusted\" there were no immediate plans for an inquiry. Mr Webber's mother Emma told BBC Breakfast the review would just be \"a toe in the water\" and \"not enough\". She said: \"It needs to be much more than reviewing the mental health failings and services in Nottingham. \"Also, the failings of the police to investigate and act accordingly up to the attacks and also the investigation of the case we've got real concerns about, and the way we've been managed by the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] and of course, we're really unhappy with the outcome from last week.\" Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused to commit to ordering an inquiry last week, with calls backed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and one of Calocane's victims Wayne Birkett, who was hit by a van during the attacks. \"If they don't feel that warrants a public inquiry, what does? It's disgusting,\" Mr Webber's father David added. Asked why the government had not set up a public inquiry, the prime minister's official spokesman said: \"We haven't ruled out further action at this stage. \"The health secretary has ordered a review into the mental health services at the NHS trust where Calocane was treated, the attorney general is also looking at the sentence and will meet with the director of public prosecutions, I believe, to discuss that later today. \"The policing minister is meeting senior leaders at Nottinghamshire Police to discuss the circumstances.\" This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by BBC Breakfast This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter\u2019s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The care of Calocane, 32, at Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust will be reviewed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC said the rapid review would be completed before the end of March. Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said: \"The CQC is going to report back to me by the end of March on this to see if there are practical measures that should be taken to tighten up these services and to ensure the safety of families and residents across Nottinghamshire.\" Mr and Mrs Webber said they were due to meet Mr Starmer later, as they pledged to fight to get \"appropriate justice and appropriate answers\". Mrs Webber added: \"We don't want to be the next Post Office families or Hillsborough families, but I say this to anybody in charge and decision-makers: you have got the full weight of the Webber family, the O'Malley-Kumar family and the Coates family all united behind this.\" Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar died at the scene of the attacks It comes as the attorney general is considering whether judges should review Calocane's sentence. And NHS England has said it is planning to order a separate Independent Mental Health Homicide Review into Calocane's contact with mental health services, which is expected to take many months to complete. Chris Dzikiti, director of mental health at the CQC, said: \"We will conduct a rapid review into mental health services in Nottingham to understand whether there are any practical actions which can be taken to improve the quality of services and ensure people receive safe and effective care. \"We will begin this work immediately, aiming to report to the secretary of state before the end of March.\" Ifti Majid, chief executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: \"We welcome external inspections as they are important to helping us learn and continually improve our services, giving us independent insight to highlight areas for development so that the experience for those who use our services is improved. \"We look forward to working with the Care Quality Commission and NHS England, and we undertake to swiftly implement any recommendations. \"Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, and those who are affected by the tragic events in Nottingham in June 2023.\" Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The family of one of the victims of a triple killing in Nottingham has called for a public inquiry, criticizing the planned NHS trust review as insufficient. Valdo Calocane, who was given a hospital order for the murders, had been under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust, which will now be reviewed by the Care Quality Commission; however, the victims' family wants an inquiry to also examine police and CPS handling of the case." + }, + { + "article": "England overturned another half-time deficit in the Six Nations to edge past a youthful and spirited Wales side at Twickenham. As in Rome a week ago, England trailed at the break as Wales claimed a penalty try and an Alex Mann score to threaten a first win at Twickenham since 2015. Fraser Dingwall scored in the corner to drag England to within a point before George Ford's penalty sealed victory. Ford made amends for his failure to convert Ben Earl's first-half try. The England fly-half was denied the chance to equalise when he was adjudged to have begun his conversion attempt despite not striding towards the ball as Wales rushed up to foil him. Victory moves England to the top of the Six Nations table after they maintained their winning start to the tournament, while Wales claimed a losing bonus point and remain fifth despite two opening defeats. \u2022 None Just a 'first step' but England win 'vitally important' England were back at their Twickenham home and intent on putting on a show for the first time since their World Cup warm-up defeat by Fiji last summer. Jamie George, in his first home game as captain, had promised greater endeavour in attack, and his side were true to their word in the opening stages as they started brightly. Freddie Steward broke the line with a surging run in the opening minute and Ford's kick wide handed them territory as Rio Dyer carried the ball into touch. But while the ambition was clear to see, the final pass seemed to evade them. By contrast, Wales had limited possession but scored from their first visit into the England 22 when they were awarded a penalty try for continual English infringements, resulting in Ethan Roots being sent to the sin-bin. Ben Earl powered over from the base of the scrum before controversy ensued with Ford's conversion attempt. The England number 10 was not still in his set-up and it led to Wales closing him down and keeping their noses in front. Tommy Reffell was a bright spark for the visitors and his incisive line opened up an England defence still trying to adjust to their new blitz defence as Mann dotted down their second try for a first half-time lead at Twickenham since 1980. England were much improved after the interval but continued to struggle with their cutting edge in attack. The breakthrough came after a knock-on by the usually assured Josh Adams deep inside Welsh territory. The hosts and their partisan crowd could smell blood and after the forwards pounded the red wall, the ball was moved wide for Dingwall to cross for his first Test try in the corner. Ford's late penalty completed the comeback as England prevailed despite another stuttering attacking display. Wales show sign of progress but wait for Twickenham win goes on Head coach Warren Gatland tried to diminish the Twickenham fear factor for Wales before their short trip east, saying he \"loved\" visiting the home of English rugby. Wales had not won on their previous seven away games against their fiercest rivals, so perhaps his words were to ease the pressure on his young side, led by 21-year-old captain Dafydd Jenkins. It seemed to be working early on as, against the predicted English onslaught, Wales stood firm and defended with more resolve than they did during last week's first-half capitulation against Scotland. Very little could be done to keep the rampaging Earl out from close range, but they largely kept England at bay in the opening 40 minutes. It was much of the same after the break as Wales offered little in an attack steered by novice fly-half Ioan Lloyd on his fourth cap, while in defence they managed to contain the blunt England attack. When Steve Borthwick's men decided to revert to type and go aerial with the game getting away, however, Adams' knock-on under the spiral ball proved fatal. It handed Twickenham and their team a second wind. With Wales one point ahead but under siege, Mason Grady's deliberate knock-on to deny an England run-in handed Ford the chance to kick the penalty from in front of the posts and the veteran fly-half duly punished the visitors. England head coach Steve Borthwick told BBC Sport: \"I am proud of the way the players stayed in the fight and found a way to win. It is a young team with a blend of experience. \"In the first half, there was a lot of good stuff from us but the penalty count was 6-0 against us and there were two sin-binnings - we made it very difficult. \"Then Wales scored a very good try but what I sensed at half-time was a calmness and composure and a belief we would find a way in the second half.\"It was a hard-fought game, and the theatre and drama of it all was so significant. There were a few people who had raised heart rates in the stands, I know I did!\" 'We are going to be a good team' - Gatland Wales head coach Warren Gatland speaking to ITV: \"In fairness to England they came into the second half with a kicking strategy and game and they got some reward out of it. We probably didn't manage it as well as we could have. \"We are going to be a good team, it's just going to take us a little bit of time. Some players are learning about game management, and they learn it from experiences. \"We did some good things and things that we will tidy up going forward. It's disappointing but it's a young side that is going to continue to improve. \"I thought we showed some great character, and it was a game there for us to win and I am proud of the effort.\" Replacements: Care for Mitchell (68), Genge for Marler (51), Dan for George (71), Cole for Stuart (51), Coles for Roots (72), Cunningham-South for Underhill (63). Not Used: F. Smith, Feyi-Waboso. Replacements: Grady for Adams (61), Evans for Lloyd (80), Hardy for T. Williams (72), Domachowski for Thomas (58), Elias for Dee (54), Griffin for Assiratti (54), Rowlands for Beard (68), Basham for Mann (68).", + "qwen_reference_summary": "England secured a narrow victory over Wales in the Six Nations, with a second-half comeback at Twickenham. Trailing at halftime, England fought back with tries from Fraser Dingwall and Ben Earl, along with a decisive penalty from George Ford, to top the tournament table, while Wales claimed a losing bonus point, remaining in fifth place after two defeats." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. PM: 'There are forces here at home trying to tear us apart' The UK must face down extremists trying to \"deliberately\" undermine the country's \"multi-faith democracy\", Rishi Sunak has warned. The PM said Islamists and the far-right were \"two sides of the same extremist coin\" who loathed Britain. He also expressed concern about the regular protests taking place in response to the Israel-Gaza conflict. Mr Sunak spoke at a lectern outside No 10, a set up usually reserved for big announcements such as elections. However, he did not set out details of any new policies. The prime minister had already given his response to the Rochdale by-election, saying earlier in the day that the campaign had been one of the most divisive in recent times and praising the Tory candidate's positive message. But only a few hours later he decided, outside Downing Street, to take aim at George Galloway, saying it was \"beyond alarming\" that voters in Rochdale had returned a candidate who he said had \"dismissed what happened on 7 October\" in Israel. There was tough rhetoric on extremism, warnings of \"forces here at home trying to tear us apart\" - but no repeat of the phrase \"mob rule\" that he'd used in a statement following a meeting with police on Wednesday in Downing Street. Instead there was a reference to \"small groups\" hijacking protests. He was careful to reference both Islamist and far-right extremism, as well as condemning antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred. There was little mention of law changes beyond a message to police that he would back them taking action at protests. Speaking to BBC News after the prime minister's speech, Mr Galloway said: \"My views are my views and they were endorsed by the electorate. \"I won and people are going to have to get use to it.\" This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Galloway: I won, people are going to have to get used to it Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the prime minister was right to \"advocate unity and to condemn the unacceptable and intimidatory behaviour that we have seen recently\". He added: \"This is something agreed across the parties and which we should all defend.\" Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: \"The British people will take no lessons from a prime minister and Conservative party who have sowed the seeds of division for years. SNP MP Alison Thewliss said Mr Sunak had \"repeatedly, and very deliberately, sought to stoke up divisions, pander to the far-right and pit communities against each other for electoral gain\". In his Friday evening speech, Mr Sunak warned democracy had become \"a target\" and that MPs no longer felt safe. He expressed his fears about protests that had taken place in the aftermath of Hamas' attack against Israel, saying they had \"descended into intimidation, threats and planned acts of violence\". The police had a \"tough job\" in managing the protests he said but insisted \"we must draw a line\". He said people on marches should not be allowed to call for violent Jihad or for the eradication of any state. Mr Sunak promised to back the police and said his government would be introducing \"a new robust framework for how it deals with this issue\". He also said his government would re-double support for the anti-terrorism Prevent programme, demand universities tackle \"extremist activity\" and stop people coming to the UK \"whose aim is to undermine its values\". Divisions over the Israel-Gaza conflict have led to heightened political tensions in UK politics in recent months. Last week Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said fears over threats to politicians was partly behind his controversial handling of a debate on Gaza. Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood's home was targeted by pro-Palestinian protestors and Justice minister Mike Freer said he would be standing down due to safety fears. Responding to concerns the Home Office announced \u00a331m of funding aimed at protecting democratic processes including expanding security for politicians.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned of extremist threats from both Islamists and the far-right, describing them as \"two sides of the same coin\" seeking to undermine the country's multi-faith democracy. Speaking outside Downing Street, Sunak expressed concern about protests related to the Israel-Gaza conflict and vowed to support the police and strengthen measures against extremism, but did not announce any new policies." + }, + { + "article": "The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) risks its relationship with the LGBT community \"slipping backwards\", a Stormont minister has said. Andrew Muir, who is gay, was speaking as part of a BBC Spotlight programme into the murder of a police officer. He said not allowing officers to take part in the 2023 Belfast Pride parade in uniform was \"concerning\". The PSNI said the decision was taken to comply with its obligations on impartiality. \"There had been a lot of goodwill built up as a result of the decision previously to take part, and that has had a real significant impact,\" the minister for agriculture, environment and rural affairs said. \"There's a journey that needs to be undertaken to redress that issue in terms of policing. \"We can't just let that go as if it was right.\" In the interview - given ahead of his appointment as a new Executive minister in February - Mr Muir said the police had more work to do with the community. PSNI officers first paraded in uniform at the Belfast Pride event in 2017. It had faced criticism as some saw the attendance of officers in uniform as an official endorsement of LGBT campaign issues. In a statement to Spotlight, the PSNI said it understood the decision would come as a disappointment to many, adding \"we're under no illusions around its impact on the community\". \"We want to reassure everyone that this decision in no way lessens the commitment of the Police Service to support our LGBTQIA+ colleagues and serve the community.\" The PSNI said it would continue to attend and support Pride events, but officers were not permitted to take part in the parade in uniform. It said officers could still attend in a private capacity, whilst off duty, but they could not make reference to their role as a police officer, or purport to represent the service. Members of the PSNI first took part in Belfast Pride in uniform in 2017 Mr Muir, who came out in 1996, claimed there was \"institutional homophobia\" from within the police dating back to when it was known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) before a wide-reaching reform of policing in the early 2000s. The PSNI said policing had \"not always got things right and the relationship with our LGBTQIA+ community has in the past been particularly challenging\". \"There have been instances where the police could and should have done better, and in hindsight we have on occasions failed that community,\" it said in a statement. Listen to the BBC's podcast on the murder of Darren Bradshaw, 'Blood on the Dance Floor' here. BBC Spotlight investigated the murder of RUC officer Darren Bradshaw, who was shot and killed by republican paramilitary group the Irish National Liberation Army in 1997. Mr Bradshaw had been socialising in Belfast's first openly gay venue, the Parliament. The documentary looks into the origins of the historic LGBT space in the city, where Mr Bradshaw regularly went. Darren Bradshaw was shot in the back He was suspended from the RUC at the time of the attack, after allegations were made that he had attended a party with other gay men where drugs had been used. Vincent Creelan, who was with Mr Bradshaw for the start of the internal disciplinary process, said he denied any wrongdoing. He believed Mr Bradshaw's sexuality may have influenced the decision to suspend him. \"The impression was given was that this was an embarrassment for the RUC,\" said Mr Creelan, who worked at the Garnerville police training centre in Belfast. Vincent Creelan set up the first Gay Police Association in Northern Ireland He said he also tried to persuade Mr Bradshaw not to attend the Parliament bar because his life was at risk. \"Special Branch were aware that a terrorist organisation was showing interest in Darren, in a police officer, who attended the bar and that he was the subject of a threat,\" Mr Creelan told Spotlight. \"He was suspended, so he's vulnerable, he's easy. \"You're dealing with one individual who doesn't have a gun anymore, doesn't have protection. \"He was being told that paramilitaries were after him.\" Former Parliament performers and regulars told Spotlight that Mr Bradshaw's killing had a \"devastating effect\" on the gay scene at the time. Robert McCready is known as his drag persona the Baroness Titti Von Tramp Robert McCready, who is known for his drag persona the Baroness Titti Von Tramp, said the murder \"fragmented the gay scene\". \"It did take a long time for that to come back because it just wasn't there, and people just didn't feel safe going out,\" he said. \"I can remember somebody said to me: 'He should have got more of you.' \"You're sitting going: 'That's horrible', because it was hard enough as it was, and you are sitting having to deal with that. \"You're in limbo, you've lost friends, you've lost a connection with people. That's hard to find.\" Blood on the Dance Floor will be shown on BBC One Northern Ireland at 22:40 on Tuesday 19 March and on BBC iPlayer.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Northern Ireland's Police Service risks damaging its relationship with the LGBT community after deciding not to allow officers to march in uniform at the 2023 Belfast Pride parade, a Stormont minister has said. The PSNI cited impartiality obligations for the decision, but Minister Andrew Muir, who is gay, expressed concern, stating that progress made in the past could be undone and that there is still work to address institutional homophobia within the police force." + }, + { + "article": "Eddie Ratcliffe, 16, was given a 20-year minimum sentence for killing Brianna Ghey One of Brianna Ghey's murderers has made a bid to appeal against his sentence. Eddie Ratcliffe was detained for life with a minimum term of 20 years for killing 16-year-old Brianna, who was transgender, in a park in Cheshire. He and Scarlett Jenkinson had lured the teenager to Culcheth where she was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife. Ratcliffe, 16, has \"applied for permission to appeal\", the Judicial Office said. There was \"no record of an appeal\" from Jenkinson, it added. Brianna Ghey was found dead at Culcheth Linear Park after being stabbed 28 times Ratcliffe and Jenkinson, who were 15 at the time of the killing, were last month given life sentences for the \"brutal, planned and sadistic\" murder in February 2023. They had drawn up a \"kill list\" of five children, before settling on Brianna as their target. Mrs Justice Yip said Jenkinson, who was given a minimum term of 22 years, was motivated by a \"deep desire to kill\" while Ratcliffe's motivation was in part hostility to Brianna's transgender identity. A crumpled, handwritten note, a \"murder plan\" to kill Brianna, was found on Jenkinson's bedroom floor following her arrest. Notes were also made on serial killers, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez and Harold Shipman. The trial heard that Ratcliffe had brought the hunting knife to Culcheth Linear Park. Detectives found the blade with Brianna's blood on it in Ratcliffe's bedroom, and discovered his DNA on the handle. Ratcliffe's defence had denied he was motivated by transphobia, describing offensive messages about Brianna that he shared with Jenkinson as \"juvenile and immature\". Scarlett Jenkinson was given a minimum sentence of 22 years The judge said Jenkinson had been the driving force behind the murder, but added that it would be \"wholly wrong\" to suggest Ratcliffe had been under her control. Mrs Justice Yip added that the pair, who had blamed each other throughout the trial, would only be released if the parole board decided they no longer posed a danger to society. Brianna's stepfather Wesley Powel told the court Brianna was \"vulnerable\", and both murders had deliberately targeted her, \"acting as two predators stalking their prey\". In a victim impact statement read out in court before the sentences were handed down, Brianna's mother, Esther Ghey, said Jenkinson and Ratcliffe would always \"pose a danger\". \"I would never want them to have the opportunity to carry out their sadistic fantasies on another child,\" she said. A senior judge will make the decision on whether to allow Ratcliffe's appeal to go ahead. How Brianna Ghey's teenage killers tried to get away with murder File on 4 also tells the story behind the brutal killing on BBC Sounds Why not follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Eddie Ratcliffe, one of the teenagers convicted for the murder of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey in Cheshire, has applied for permission to appeal his 20-year minimum sentence. Scarlett Jenkinson, the other convicted murderer, has no record of appealing her 22-year minimum term. The pair were sentenced for the \"brutal, planned, and sadistic\" murder, which involved luring Brianna to a park and stabbing her 28 times." + }, + { + "article": "The items were found near St Peter's Immaculata Youth Centre in west Belfast A senior youth worker in west Belfast has warned children are being put at risk after needles, tablets and other substances were found near its centre. St Peter's Immaculata Youth Centre is situated beside St Peter's Cathedral in the lower Falls Road area. Stephen Hughes said they are having \"major problems\" with drug users using the grounds of the cathedral. He added that children have picked up items including diazepam and pregabalin tablets. \"We have seen a significant increase in the last 10 days where we are collecting more and more drug paraphernalia,\" he added. \"Our biggest concern is probably used needles, but in the last few days we have lifted cocaine, there is cocaine on the ground here beside me, we have blood spills, we have lifted drugs, handed over to the police. \"One was a strip of Pregabalin, and these are being left in what is the children's play area, so it is putting the children from the community here at risk. \"It is strangers, they aren't from the community, they are people who are coming in to use the grounds,\" Mr Hughes said. \"The protection of our children is what concerns us most.\" Mr Hughes said the centre will continue to facilitate sessions with children and young people on the dangers of lifting used needles and drug paraphernalia. \"A lot of the children are actually messaging the social media page, or they are coming into the youth centre directly and telling us there's needles here, or there's blood spilled, or they have found drugs,\" he said. \"There's cocaine lying on the ground, any child lifts that up, picks any of these things up and puts them in their mouths or whatever, we could be talking about a fatality. \"It's seriously concerning. \"Police have increased their patrols around the cathedral and the youth centre and it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference.\" The parish says youth centre staff chased three drug users away from the Cathedral's steps on Tuesday Posting on Facebook, St Peter's Cathedral Parish Belfast said at least 20 needles had been found in the Cathedral's grounds over the last few days. \"The staff lifted needles, tablets and other substances that were left behind,\" it added. Stephen Hughes said there were \"major problems\" It urged parents to warn their children not to touch any needles or bags found in the area and to report them to the parochial house or staff at the youth centre. It said they will get authorities to come and remove the items. People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll said there is \"no quick and easy solution\" to the current problems with drug use. \"It's very concerning. Generally, working class communities are dealing with mental health issues and a drug and addiction crisis,\" he told the Evening Extra programme. \"This is a holistic issue - there's no quick and easy solution to some of the problems. We need to look at an approach that deals with this as a health issue rather than a criminal one.\" Police said they are taking the matter \"very seriously\". \"Our officers have been engaging with partner agencies and local representatives on an ongoing basis as we seek collaborative and proactive solutions to issues around the abuse of drugs,\" said Neighbourhood Policing Sgt Irwin. \"I want to remind those who use intravenous drugs that they should not consume them in publicly accessible areas, and of the risks they are posing to others when they do not dispose of their items safely.\" Sgt Irwin said the discarding of needles can be \"extremely dangerous, especially if found by younger children\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A senior youth worker in west Belfast has raised concerns about children's safety after needles, tablets, and other substances were discovered near St Peter's Immaculata Youth Centre, with drug users reportedly using the cathedral grounds. The parish and youth center staff have found numerous drug paraphernalia items, including used needles, in the children's play area, prompting fears of potential fatalities if kids come into contact with them. Police have increased patrols, and the center is educating children on the dangers of such items." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Scottish Premiership Philippe Clement praised the \"solidarity and unity\" of his Rangers side as they extended their lead at the Scottish Premiership summit by ending Hearts' 12-game unbeaten run with a devastating five-goal display. Given the form of the visitors, Clement said a victory would be \"a really big statement\" - and his players delivered a performance the Ibrox manager labelled as \"one of the best\" of his tenure. Mohamed Diomande lashed in from 20 yards for the second time in as many games to calm any nerves in the home crowd within just two minutes. Fellow January signing Oscar Cortes then curled in his first Rangers goal with a delightful finish from similar range before Cyriel Dessers' cushioned side-foot volley rounded off a blistering first-half showing. Hearts were totally overwhelmed for the majority of the opening 45 minutes, failing to register a shot on target, and found themselves four down just after the restart when Dessers smashed in from yards out. The away side felt the Nigerian had handled the ball before scoring, but the officials had no issue with the Rangers striker's 16th goal of the season. Off the bench, Fabio Silva completed the rout by drilling in a fantastic reverse pass from John Lundstram, who was superb throughout in midfield. \"The atmosphere was amazing from the first second to the last,\" said Clement, whose side are now five points clear at the top. \"I'm really happy with the team, with the performances, the attitude. This is not something falling out of the sky, this is what we have been doing for weeks and months on the training pitch.\" Steven Naismith's men, who ought to have scored at least once through Lawrence Shankland or Kenneth Vargas, created a lot of their own problems but were forced into many more by rampant Rangers. The result turns up the heat on Celtic, who are away to Motherwell on Sunday, while Hearts remain third with an 11-point cushion. \u2022 None Keep up to date with Rangers A \"major game\" was how Clement described this one before kick-off. A major performance from his team followed, as did a major message to their title rivals. But for some top saves from Hearts goalkeeper Zander Clark, who denied fine efforts from James Tavernier and Silva, the scoreline could have been greater in a 10th straight win for the league leaders. While Celtic fans continue to vent about their side's January business, the Rangers support will be hugely encouraged by theirs after goals from each of the Ibrox club's three winter recruits. Make no mistake, Hearts could have defended, and used the ball, so much better. But even at their best they would have most likely still found themselves on the wrong end of the result given Rangers' standard. Shankland, who hit the inside of the far post with a second-half header, was nullified for the most part as the away side spent the majority of the game chasing blue shirts about the Ibrox pitch. What they said Rangers manager Philippe Clement: \"Whoever is starting or coming in is doing a job for the team. We need to continue what we've been doing until the end of the season. \"My dressing room is humble, they know what to do. I will keep a close eye to make sure it stays that way.\" Hearts head coach Steven Naismith: \"Going into the game we understood what it was going to be like. You could tell Rangers were really aggressive from the start. \"It was defined in the small details with us giving away cheap opportunities. When you're playing against a team top of the league who have got quality, they are going to punish you.\" Both sides are in midweek action on Wednesday (19:45 GMT) as Hearts host Edinburgh rivals Hibernian while Rangers travel to Kilmarnock. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Nicolas Raskin (Rangers) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Scott Wright. \u2022 None Attempt saved. James Tavernier (Rangers) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. \u2022 None Macaulay Tait (Heart of Midlothian) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. \u2022 None Attempt saved. F\u00e1bio Silva (Rangers) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by John Lundstram. \u2022 None Nathaniel Atkinson (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half. \u2022 None Cameron Devlin (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Kyosuke Tagawa (Heart of Midlothian) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Alan Forrest. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Scott Fraser (Heart of Midlothian) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Jorge Grant. \u2022 None Jorge Grant (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Rangers extended their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership by defeating Hearts 5-0, ending the visitors' 12-game unbeaten run. Manager Philippe Clement praised the team's performance, with goals from Mohamed Diomande, Oscar Cortes, Cyriel Dessers, and Fabio Silva, solidifying their position five points clear of Celtic." + }, + { + "article": "Working with Zayn Malik on a single in Urdu was \"a dream come true,\" the Pakistani band Aur have told the BBC. \"Previously we only had a Pakistani audience, now we have people from the UK, Brazil, China... so it feels very good,\" said bandmate Raffey Anwar. A remake of Aur's breakout hit Tu Hai Kahan features the ex-One Direction singer with vocals in Urdu. The original song has more than 100m views, but the remake is fast catching up, with more than eight million views. The collaboration came about following discussions between Malik's and Aur's management, the band said. The three bandmates, from Karachi, said none of their friends or family could believe it, when they found out they were collaborating with him. Many fans were psyched that Malik, who was born in Bradford, is fluent in Urdu. Zayn Malik's music career began in 2010 as part of One Direction Malik said at the time he was \"incredibly humbled\" when Aur reached out to him. \"I love the song and have brought some of myself to it. I hope people love what we've done,\" he said. Aur's music blends R&B and hip hop elements. Band members Usama Ali, 21, Ahad Khan, 20, and Anwar, 18, were already popular in South Asia. But to work with Malik and get global audiences is \"all about dreams coming true\", Ali said. Closer to home, the three bandmates are also getting a lot of attention. Khan said their friends and family went \"crazy\" when they heard about the partnership. \"No one was believing it,\" added Anwar. \"When we go out somewhere, people instantly recognise us,\" said Ali. \"The reaction has been very good, not just friends, the whole of Pakistan has given us a great reaction.\" Malik, 31, was born in the UK and his father is a Pakistani immigrant. His music career began in 2010 as part of One Direction, the boy band formed on TV music competition, The X Factor. The other band members are Harry Styles. Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne. Malik released his debut album, Mind of Mine, in 2016. A song in his 2021 album, Nobody is Listening, also included Urdu lyrics. The Tu Hai Kahan remake was quick to gain fans online among many Urdu-speaking fans, with one calling it a \"gift for his fellow Pakistanis\". Aur were full of praise for Malik, saying: \"He is so down to earth, so humble. He sang in Urdu, what can be bigger than that?\" As for who they want to partner with next, the three bandmates are not holding back. \"21 Savage, and Drake, and The Weeknd,\" Khan said. \"We will do it with anyone,\" laughed Ali.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Pakistani band Aur, collaborating with Zayn Malik on a Urdu single, has seen their audience expand globally, with the remake of their hit \"Tu Hai Kahan\" featuring Malik gaining millions of views. The collaboration came about through discussions between the artists' management, and band members express their excitement and gratitude, describing Malik as humble and highlighting the significance of his singing in Urdu." + }, + { + "article": "Peter Welburn said he was left staring at the urn containing his wife's ashes \"and wondering if she's in there\" A bereaved man said he was left staring at the urn containing his wife's ashes and \"wondering if she's in there\". Peter Welburn used Legacy Independent Funeral Directors to cremate his wife, of 50 years, when she died in December. He is among dozens of people wanting \"quick answers\" after 35 bodies and a quantity of ashes were removed from the firm's branch on Hessle Road in Hull. Two people arrested on a number of offences were released on bail while inquiries continued, police said. Mr Welburn said: \"I just can't sleep at all and the family's devastated. \"I've got her ashes at home but is that her? \"I'm just sat there staring at her [urn] and wondering if she's in there or if she's somewhere else.\" He said he was left feeling \"down all the time\" and he \"just wanted to know\" from the police whether his wife's remains were among those taken to another mortuary in the city. Bodies and ashes have been removed from one of Legacy Independent Funeral Directors' three branches Craig Smith is also another bereaved partner who is awaiting a response from the police. He said he was having \"sleepless nights waiting for answers\" following the cremation of his partner Darren, who died following a heart attack on 14 October 2022. Mr Smith said he collected his partner's ashes within three weeks of the funeral, which took place on 11 November. \"But now all this coming out I, like many, are wondering if we have actually got our loved ones or some other person's loved one. I don't even know if we've got the right ashes. Mr Smith said he provided information to help officers with the identification process and was waiting to hear back. \"But I know we have to let the police do their job,\" he added. Humberside Police said it received a report of concerns \"in relation to the storage and management and processes of the deceased people within\" Legacy Independent Funeral Directors Louisa Millington used Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in December for the cremation of her 42-year-old husband Carl following his death in November. She said she had received his ashes. \"It's made me wonder...was it not him at all?\" Mrs Millington said she paid \u00a3500 for a ring to be made with \"some of the ashes\" but was left worried that the remains were not that of her husband. \"I'm already struggling with my husband's loss so I'm still deep in grief. And now this. \"This is all so unexpected.\" Police said officers were searching at \"business premises linked to the suspects\" Jackie Groizard said she felt \"very bitter\" after using Legacy Independent Funeral Directors for the cremation of her mother-in-law in June 2022. She said her ashes had since been scattered and was not hopeful the family would \"get that answer\" of whether her mother-in-law's remains were in the mortuary. \"[It's] so upsetting,\" she said. A 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position have been released on bail while police inquiries continue. They were arrested after police received a report on 6 March regarding concerns about the \"storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased\". Humberside Police said the force's dedicated helpline numbers remained open, having received more than a thousand phone calls since Friday. Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastyorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull is under investigation after 35 bodies and a quantity of ashes were removed from its branch, causing distress to bereaved families who are unsure if their loved ones' remains are affected. Two people have been arrested on suspicion of offenses related to the storage and management of the deceased, with police continuing their inquiries and a dedicated helpline receiving over a thousand calls." + }, + { + "article": "Australian three-time Olympic medallist Shane Rose has been stood down from competition for wearing a mankini during a show jumping event. Equestrian Australia said \"concerns were raised\" about the 50-year-old's \"attire\" during the event at Wallaby Hill near Sydney last weekend. The governing body said it \"has an obligation to address these concerns and is currently reviewing the matter\". Riders were encouraged to wear fancy dress at the event. Paris 2024 hopeful Rose wore three costumes - a fluorescent orange mankini, a gorilla costume and a Duffman outfit from the Simpsons. He wrote on Facebook: \"If my costume offended anyone, I am truly sorry as this was never my intention.\" Rose also said he hoped the incident would not affect his Olympic preparation. He later deleted the post to de-escalate the issue. Rose, who won team eventing silver at the 2008 and 2020 Olympics and bronze at 2016, told the Sydney Morning Herald, external he wanted the situation resolved quickly. \"With a bit of luck this will all be a bit of a laugh in a few days and we can all move on,\" he said. \"I wore a costume which you could see at a theme park or a beach. Potentially no-one has done it on [a] horse, but there you go. \"I think I am a good person and I do a lot for the sport, and for people in different situations. I don't feel like I have done anything particularly bad. \"In hindsight, I should have re-thought what I did, but at the time I thought it was just a bit of fun.\" Equestrian Australia chief executive Darren Gocher said the complaint was made about how Rose was dressed and that there were children at the event. \"Whether it is one [complaint] or 1,000, we have an obligation to review it,\" he said. In a statement Equestrian Australia said Rose was bound by the High Performance and Equestrian Australia Codes of Conduct and Athlete Agreement and it expects a resolution this week. \"To be clear, Shane has not been suspended or sanctioned,\" it said. \"As is usual in these circumstances for all high performance athletes, he has been stood down from competition for several days while the review is carried out. \"This does not affect his ability to train or otherwise participate in the sport. Equestrian Australia has also encouraged Shane to provide an account of the events if he wishes to do so.\" Several Olympic equestrian competitors have accused Equestrian Australia of over-reacting.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Australian Olympic equestrian Shane Rose has been temporarily stood down from competition for wearing a mankini during a fancy dress show jumping event, with Equestrian Australia reviewing the matter due to concerns raised about his attire, potentially affecting his Olympic preparation. Rose apologized if his costume offended anyone and hopes the issue will be resolved quickly, stating it was meant to be a bit of fun." + }, + { + "article": "Brianna Ghey died after being repeatedly stabbed in Culcheth Linear Park Two teenagers who murdered 16-year-old Brianna Ghey after devising a \"kill list\" of children to target have been named for the first time. Brianna, who was transgender, was stabbed 28 times in a \"frenzied\" attack in a Cheshire park on 11 February 2023. A ban on identifying Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe had been in place since they first appeared in court. Following their conviction in December, the judge agreed to lift anonymity when the two 16-year-olds were sentenced. Jenkinson was given a 22-year minimum term, while Ratcliffe will be detained for at least 20 years. Before their sentencing at Manchester Crown Court, a charity warned that naming child killers could be unhelpful. A ban on identifying Jenkinson and Ratcliffe had been in place since they first appeared in court Children appearing in youth or crown courts in England and Wales - whether as a victim, witness or defendant - generally cannot be identified. This was the case during the trial of Jenkinson and Ratcliffe, who were accused of attacking Brianna in Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington. Journalists covering the proceedings were banned from publishing their names and other identifying details, including photographs and the school they attended. This restriction was imposed because of their ages - they were both 16 during the trial but 15 at the time of the attack. As a result, the media could only refer to them as Girl X and Boy Y. After they were convicted of her murder, the teenagers' legal teams opposed an application by the media to name them, citing possible welfare concerns. They also warned about the consequences for their families, including death threats received by Girl X's family. Brianna was lured to Culcheth Linear Park before being murdered However Mrs Justice Yip said there was \"a strong public interest in the full and unrestricted reporting of what is plainly an exceptional case\". \"The public will naturally wish to know the identities of the young people responsible as they seek to understand how children could do something so dreadful,\" she added. \"Continuing restrictions inhibits full and informed debate and restricts the full reporting of the case.\" Andrea Coomber KC, the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform charity that campaigns for \"less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison\", said she was generally against the idea of the identities of convicted young people being published. \"The naming of them and the shaming of them is a barrier to rehabilitation,\" she said. \"It creates troubles for their safety in prison and upon release because these are children at the end of the day. \"They need to be given the space to grow and to move beyond their crime.\" James Bulger was abducted at a shopping centre in Bootle and beaten to death Sir Richard Henriques led the prosecution of the killers of Merseyside toddler James Bulger. As 10-year-olds in 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson took James from a Bootle shopping centre before torturing and killing him. Sir Richard said the correct decision had been made by Mrs Justice Yip in Brianna's case because it was so shocking and exceptional. \"The public interest here requires or allows parents, grandparents, godparents, aunts and uncles to say to themselves, could this happen in our family?\" he said. \"Are our children acquiring the correct values, the right values, our values? Could they view such things on the internet? How are they spending their spare time? \"Could our children lure somebody by lies into a park and then knife them to death? Are they members of the right organisations - should they join the cadets, the youth club and so on? \"That is the question that hundreds of thousands of families in this country will be asking of themselves when these facts are published with total inhibition.\" He said there was \"much good to follow\" if cases such as Brianna's murder were examined fully. Ann Maguire had taught Spanish at Corpus Christi Catholic College for more than 40 years Ann Maguire was murdered by one of her pupils in 2014 while teaching a Spanish class in her Leeds secondary school. Will Cornick, who was 15 at the time, stabbed the 61-year-old to death in front of her students. His identity was withheld until reporting restrictions were lifted after he pleaded guilty to the charge. Mrs Maguire's sister, Denise Courtney, said: \"It's important these people are named because they've committed such an evil, premeditated, heinous crime against a defenceless human being - they've taken a life. \"When it happened to us, we needed to know all the facts and know who this person was and what he looked like to give us some form of closure. \"If by naming someone and putting their details out there in the media, if that prevents one other person from committing a similar crime then it's worth the fact they are named.\" Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk \u2022 None The Murder of Brianna Ghey - A File On 4 special The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Two teenagers, Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, who murdered 16-year-old transgender girl Brianna Ghey in a Cheshire park after creating a \"kill list\" have been named for the first time. Jenkinson was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years, while Ratcliffe will serve at least 20 years. The judge lifted the anonymity usually granted to child defendants due to the exceptional nature of the case, allowing for public identification and debate." + }, + { + "article": "Footage verified by the BBC shows chaotic scenes at the hospital The Israeli military says its special forces are still inside the Nasser hospital in Gaza as fears grow for patients at the site. Israel launched what it described as a \"precise and limited mission\" there on Thursday. The military says it has caught \"dozens of terror suspects\". Hamas dismissed that claim as \"lies\". The Hamas-run health ministry said five people died after generators failed. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the facility urgently needed fuel. It said the fuel was vital to \"ensure the continuation of the provision of life-saving services\". Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesperson, said there were now reports that the orthopaedic unit at the hospital, in the city of Khan Younis, had been damaged. \"That obviously reduces the ability to provide the urgent medical care,\" he said, adding there were still \"critically injured and sick patients\" at the hospital. \"More degradation to the hospital means more lives being lost.\" Nasser is the main hospital in southern Gaza, and is one of the few still functioning. It has been the scene of intense fighting between the IDF and Hamas for days. An injured man who had to leave the hospital said the conditions there were dire. \"Since they besieged it, there is no water or food,\" Raed Abed told the Associated Press. \"Garbage is widespread, and sewage has flooded the emergency department.\" The hospital's director, Nahed Abu-Teima, told BBC Arabic the situation inside was \"catastrophic and very dangerous\". The Hamas-run health ministry reported on Friday that the five people who died at the hospital did so after the electricity generators went down and oxygen could not be provided. The deaths have not been independently verified. On Wednesday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ordered thousands of displaced people who had been sheltering there to leave. Images, verified by the BBC, showed medical staff rushing patients on stretchers through a corridor filled with smoke or dust. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Patients rushed through smoke, bodies moved - what we can see in video from Nasser hospital raid The IDF believes Hamas has been using hospitals and other civilian bases as shields for military activities. \"We can't give them [Hamas] a free pass, we have to make sure that they are pursued and hunted down,\" IDF spokesperson Lt Col Peter Lerner told the BBC. He said the military had been making \"a huge effort to evacuate people from the hospital in order to get them out of harm's way\", denying claims that civilians had been targeted. The IDF said that among those it had captured at the hospital were 20 Hamas members who were part of the 7 October attacks on Israel. It also said it had found weapons, including grenades, at the facility. The military is also searching for the bodies of Israeli hostages which it said intelligence suggests might be hidden in the hospital. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said Israeli tanks were targeting the nearby Al-Amal hospital, \"resulting in very severe damage in two nursing rooms\". They wrote on social media that nobody had been hurt. Intense hostilities have been reported around the hospital recently. The PRCS said it was raided last week after some 8,000 displaced people and patients complied with an order to evacuate. On Friday, they said that two doctors who were arrested during the raid had been released, while 12 other staff remained in custody. Your device may not support this visualisation Israel launched its military offensive after waves of Hamas fighters burst through Israel's border on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people - mainly civilians - and taking 253 others back to Gaza as hostages. The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 28,700 people, mainly women and children - have been killed in Israel's campaign. Israel is facing increasing international pressure to show restraint but efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting have not yet yielded any results. A senior Palestinian official familiar with the ceasefire talks told the BBC that the gap between the negotiating parties was still wide and there were disagreements over many of the proposed provisions. Senior officials from the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar have been meeting in Cairo this week to try and hammer out a deal. The official said that the main issue remains the disagreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what happens the day after the war is over. The US want to rely on a strengthened Palestinian Authority, while Israel is against having a single administration in charge of the West Bank and Gaza. Another disagreement is over Israel's aim of completely destroying Hamas, which the US thinks will be difficult to achieve anytime soon. The US is said to be trying to pressure the two sides to reach a long period of calm to make it difficult for the two sides to return to fighting again.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "BBC-verified footage shows chaotic scenes at Gaza's Nasser hospital, where Israeli special forces are still operating, amid reports of generator failures leading to patient deaths. The World Health Organization warns that the hospital, crucial for life-saving services, is urgently in need of fuel, with the orthopaedic unit reportedly damaged." + }, + { + "article": "Kelsey Brown's death in a Marbella hospital is being investigated in Spain The family of a pregnant Liverpool mum who died during labour at a Spanish hospital say they are still waiting for answers two-and-a-half years later. Kelsey Brown, 34, was in \"horrendous pain\" and bleeding for more than five hours before she became unresponsive, an inquest heard. An investigation is now underway into what happened at Ceram hospital in Marbella. Miss Brown's family said they were \"hopeful\" of some answers. Gerard Majella Courthouse in Liverpool heard a delivery of blood did not arrive until minutes before Miss Brown died, on 20 July, 2021 - more than five and a half hours after she began bleeding. Miss Brown's mum, Maria Brown, told the BBC her daughter was a \"loving mum\" to her surviving child, aged five at the time of her death. Andre Rebello, senior coroner for Liverpool and Wirral, said his ability to investigate the circumstances of her death was limited because crucial medical documents had not been provided by the authorities in Spain. The court heard hairdresser Miss Brown, who moved to Spain with her partner in December 2019, had been expecting her second child and all her antenatal appointments had been normal. She went into labour on 20 July, and was admitted to Ceram hospital. The court heard that shortly after her arrival at the hospital, a scan revealed that her baby had died. Mr Rebello said: \"Kelsey was advised she could not have a caesarean and she could not have an epidural, and would have to give birth naturally.\" At about 13:30 CEST (11:30 GMT) Miss Brown began losing blood, and medical staff arranged to deliver her baby using forceps. Mr Rebello said Miss Brown's partner and sister were also in attendance at the hospital, and described her as in \"horrendous pain\" and \"bleeding profusely\". The baby, named Tom, was delivered at 16:30, and it became clear his cord had been wrapped around his torso and arm preventing him from feeding. A coroner at Liverpool's Gerard Majella Courthouse said he had not had access to crucial medical documents The inquest heard Miss Brown was still bleeding but the hospital had no supplies of blood on-site. A consignment arrived at 18:45, but Miss Brown was declared dead by a doctor at 19:15. Mr Rebello said a post-mortem examination had taken place in Spain, but the results were \"withheld\". The court heard Miss Brown's body had been repatriated and a further post-mortem was carried out in Liverpool, but that medical notes about the care received at Ceram hospital were unavailable and the medical cause of death could not be ascertained without that \"context\". The Foreign and Commonwealth Office had advised there could be lengthy delays before the Spanish authorities provided the results of an investigation. Mr Rebello said he could only reach an open conclusion due to the lack of evidence. He told Mr and Mrs Brown: \"Hopefully the Spanish authorities will make efforts to bring justice to what occurred, they will be looking to see if there were opportunities to do something meaningful for a different outcome.\" Mrs Brown replied: \"Hopefully they will give us some answers.\" Speaking outside the courthouse, Mrs Brown told the BBC: \"Kelsey was a loving mum, she has left her five-year-old son behind. She was very healthy, she didn't drink or smoke, Kelsey really looked after herself. \"She was a great daughter, a great sister and a great mum.\" Mr and Mrs Brown said they did not wish to comment on the circumstances of her death until the Spanish authorities had completed their investigation. Why not follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The death of Kelsey Brown, a pregnant Liverpool woman, during labor at a Marbella hospital in 2021 is being investigated in Spain, with her family still seeking answers two years later. An inquest revealed that blood transfusion did not arrive until minutes before her death, and crucial medical documents have not been provided, limiting the investigation." + }, + { + "article": "Mark Drakeford said he had spent his time as first minister making \"difficult and challenging\" decisions First Minister Mark Drakeford has defended Wales' 20mph speed limit days before he steps down. Mr Drakeford said he was surprised by the level of opposition and anger the new limit provoked. However, he said he has chosen to tackle \"difficult and challenging\" issues, not spend his time \"sitting back and doing the easy things\". On Saturday, either Jeremy Miles or Vaughan Gething will be announced as Mr Drakeford's successor. He was speaking to Radio Wales Breakfast, as part of a series of interviews reflecting on his five years leading the Welsh government. \"I'm very proud of the 20 mile an hour policy, it will save people's lives... particularly save the lives of children,\" he said. On Saturday, either Economy Minister Vaughan Gething or Education Minister Jeremy Miles will be announced as Mr Drakeford's successor Mr Drakeford said while the opposition to the 20mph law did surprise him, that all attempts to reform the way that people drive in the UK \"have always been hugely controversial\". He said the choice you have to make when you first become first minister is a \"simple\" one. \"You can either just spend your time sitting back and doing the easy things, and hanging on to the political capital that you've accumulated, or you can do the difficult things, the challenging things,\" he said. Mr Drakeford added that he had focused on some areas that \"inevitably make people feel uncomfortable, because you're asking them to change the way that they live their lives\". Doing some of \"those things that are challenging\", he argued, \"will pay dividends in the lives of people who come after us\". Mr Drakeford said the decisions Wales made during Covid were all \"reasonable\" The first minister, who was questioned at the Covid inquiry on Wednesday, said he believed that whether he got things right or wrong while handling that crisis was not the \"exam question here\". \"I think it's impossible to answer,\" he said. \"What I was trying to do was not to justify, but to explain why we made the decisions that we did... and I think the test is - were they reasonable, not were they right,\" he said \"I'm absolutely open to the fact that other reasonable people could have come to different decisions, but what I was trying to explain was the state of knowledge at the time. \"The decisions that we made in Wales were reasonable decisions and I think that's the real test.\" This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mark Drakeford became emotional at the Covid Inquiry as he described not seeing his 90-year-old mother during lockdown On how he might spend his days as an ex-first minister, Mr Drakeford said he looked forward to having more time available to think and take part in debates on matters he is passionate about. \"Time is something you don't have as first minister... if there's anything I think a first minister needs it's more time to do thinking, rather than constantly acting,\" he said. \"I'll have more time to think about and to make a contribution to some of those debates that are the most important to me - and where I still do hope to have a contribution.\" He added that he never looks at what people say about him \"in the dark world of social media\" because he \"probably wouldn't get out of bed\" if he did. \"You rely on the fact that the real world is actually a lot kinder,\" he said. He said that, when leaving his house to go to the Covid inquiry on Wednesday, there was \"a man with a pushchair taking his daughter to nursery and, as he passes by, he says to me 'good luck in the inquiry today'. \"As I'm coming out of the inquiry... one of the families that we talked about earlier, the bereaved families, this lady says to me 'thank you for everything you've done for Wales'. Becoming emotional, Mr Drakeford added: \"As I get out of the car, at the end of the day, to go back into my house, there's a young person, in his teens I think, coming past me, and he says to me, 'I think you did really well today'. \"There are many other people out there who don't take that view at all. But there are very kind people in Wales so, if you do my job, you meet an awful lot of them and that really does help to keep you going.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, has defended the country's 20mph speed limit, stating that difficult decisions were necessary for public safety, despite opposition and anger. He expressed pride in the policy, believing it will save lives, particularly children's, and mentioned that his successor, either Jeremy Miles or Vaughan Gething, will be announced on Saturday. Drakeford also reflected on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that the decisions made were reasonable given the knowledge at the time." + }, + { + "article": "Daters are looking for \"an instant spark\", relationship coach Fahima Mahomed says A first date. Time to kick back, enjoy getting to know someone, maybe have a couple of glasses of wine... Or not. If you're like 24-year-old Zoe, you'll be cutting things off early if you don't feel there's a spark. In the past she would've stayed for at least two drinks \"out of politeness\". But now, she doesn't want to waste time and money on dates if she's unsure. She's one of many single people who have become \"more ruthless\" about their love lives, says research firm Opinium. Opinium says financial worries are a big reason for that. With money tight, it's understandable if daters don't want to spend their hard-earned cash on someone they might never see again. But daters also \"don't have the patience they used to,\" says TV host and relationship coach Fahima Mahomed. \"Single people nowadays want an instant spark, instant gratification, in the same way they're used to getting their needs met instantly through websites like Amazon. \"If they don't get that immediately, they cut things off,\" she told the BBC. Zoe now ends dates early if they're not going well Dating is an investment of time as well as money. Zoe, who lives between Somerset and London, says she has less of both these days. She recently went on a first date with a man she's met on a dating app. But she left early as she felt there was no chemistry, and she didn't want to waste her time. When she goes on dates these days, she chooses activities such as drinks, rather than dinner - where you could be \"stuck with them\" for long periods of time. \"I'd never do dinner on a first date any more,\" she says. \"You end up spending an extortionate amount of time and money on someone you might never see again.\" Opinium, which surveyed almost 4,000 UK adults on how their dating habits have changed since before the rising cost of living, found that these are common concerns. Almost half (47%) of people surveyed in the poll said they were more likely to end things with someone early because they don't want to waste money on dates if they're unsure. Love is in the air, but dating can be costly Young people were even more likely to say that, with the percentage rising to 56% of Gen-Z respondents - those born between 1996 and 2010. \"As costs rise, singles across the country are becoming more ruthless when it comes to their love lives, with many taking precautionary measures to ensure they don't overspend,\" said Kate Jalie, director and partner at Opinium. Mahomed says another reason why single people might be more cut-throat could be due to the lingering effects of the pandemic. \"There's that fear of having wasted one or two of your prime years, sitting at home during the lockdowns, unable to meet anyone,\" she said. \"So single people are now in more of a hurry, more quick to jump from one person to another, as they try to find a match.\" Dating apps have also observed the trend. Bumble's sex and relationships expert, Dr Caroline West, told BBC News: \"With economic pressures and rising costs, it's no surprise that many are rethinking their dating habits - often with a pragmatic approach.\" \"While some may call it ruthless, it's really about prioritising time and resources to make meaningful connections.\" For those who are in committed relationships, things aren't necessarily easier. The Times recently reported on the \"couplepause\" - a new name for the slump in sex experienced by some middle-aged couples, which is often blamed on financial stress. Dating culture has shifted a lot in recent years, says Married at First Sight (MAFS) dating coach Mel Schilling. \"The first was the pandemic, where we were all locked down and people couldn't meet. Now, this is the second wave,\" she said, with single people making different decisions about how they date. Schilling, who is a psychologist, has been a part of the MAFS cast since 2016, first in her home country Australia and later on the UK version of the show, which airs on E4. She is one of three relationship experts on the UK show alongside Paul Brunson and Charlene Douglas. Mel Schilling is one of three dating experts who match people together on Married at First Sight But Schilling says the fact daters are making different choices - such as short coffee meet-ups, versus spending hours together having a meal. \"I think it's a positive, especially for first dates,\" she said. Schilling said the new trends were \"stripping dating back to basics\" - two people meeting up to see if they have a spark and, if not, calling it a day. \"You're gathering data on the other person,\" she said. \"My advice would be 'don't invest too heavily'.\" Opinium surveyed 3,998 UK adults for the BBC between December 12 and 15, 2023.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Due to financial worries and a desire for instant gratification, single people are becoming more ruthless in their dating lives, ending dates early if there's no immediate spark, according to research firm Opinium. With the rising cost of living, almost half of UK adults surveyed said they're more likely to end things early to avoid wasting money on uncertain dates, a trend more prominent among younger generations." + }, + { + "article": "Snow covers the ground in Woolton, Liverpool in January. The mild start to February is coming to an end, with falling temperatures in store and the risk of snow for some. Above average temperatures will give way to a more seasonal winter chill over the next few days as colder air moves south across the UK. The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for snow in much of north Wales and northern and central England on Thursday. But there is some uncertainty over how much may fall and where. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Why is it hard to forecast snow in the UK? The yellow warning, from 03:00 GMT Thursday to 03:00 Friday, covers a large area from north Wales, through parts of the Midlands and into northern England. There is a small chance of power cuts, travel delays, some stranded vehicles and delayed or cancelled rail and air travel, and a slight chance that some rural communities could be cut off, the Met Office says. Disruption is possible, with 2cm of snow forecast at low levels but as much as 10-20cm on higher ground such as Eryri, also known as Snowdonia, and the Pennines. The snow is likely to turn back to sleet or rain through the day for lower levels at least as milder air spreads in from the south. There are some uncertainties in the forecast which mean the warning area, location and amount of snow may change in the coming days - so it's worth keeping across the latest forecast from BBC Weather. Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Chris Almond said: \"While there are still lots of details to work out, the initial snow risk looks highest in northern England and Wales from Thursday.\" Over the last few days, mild conditions have been felt across the UK, with temperatures way above average for early February. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. BBC forecaster Darren Bett looks at where the snow may fall this week On Sunday afternoon, the highest temperature was 14.9C in Pershore, Worcestershire, compared to the average of 8C. Despite some signs of spring, with daffodils, crocuses and other plants starting to sprout, we are still in winter and cold air is never too far away. On Tuesday and Wednesday, colder air will spread south to all parts of the United Kingdom. Temperatures will be back to around average with the chance of some wintry showers moving into Scotland and north-west England. A yellow warning for ice will be in place from 00:00 until 09:00 overnight on Tuesday for parts of northern Scotland. A separate yellow warning for rain is in place until 21:00 on Monday for north western parts of Scotland. In a reverse to this, on Wednesday night, milder air containing rain will start to move back north into the UK. Daffodils in bloom, with milder than average temperatures for the start of February Milder, wetter air pushing into colder air is a classic winter battle that can result in snow falling. It is not straightforward though and comes with forecasting headaches, especially when it's predicted a few days in advance. Snow will fall but the detail of exactly where, when and how much snow is tricky. It is likely further warnings will be issued throughout the week, the Met Office said. Are you in an area where the Met Office has issued a yellow warning for snow? How are you preparing? You can get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK is set to experience a shift from mild temperatures to a winter chill, with the Met Office issuing a yellow warning for snow in parts of north Wales and northern and central England on Thursday. The warning forecasts potential power cuts, travel disruptions, and up to 20cm of snow in higher areas, while milder air from the south may turn snow into sleet or rain later in the day." + }, + { + "article": "Wave action is cutting caves and arches in the walls of A23a Erosion is sculpting dramatic features in the world's biggest iceberg in what's likely to be the final months of its existence. A ship run by the Eyos expeditions company arrived at the frozen behemoth, A23a, on Sunday to find huge caves and arches cut into its frozen walls. The berg is being ground down by the warmer air and surface waters it's encountering as it drifts slowly away from the White Continent. Ultimately, it will melt and disappear. \"We saw waves, a good 3m or 4m high, smashing into the berg,\" said expedition leader Ian Strachan. \"These were creating cascades of ice - a constant state of erosion,\" he told BBC News. Pictured from space: A23a is about 200km west of the South Orkney Islands, partially covered here by cloud A23a broke away from the Antarctic coastline way back in 1986, but it's only recently begun a big migration. For more than 30 years, it was stuck rigidly in the bottom-muds of the Weddell Sea like a static \"ice island\", measuring some 4,000 sq km (1,500 sq miles) in area. That's more than twice the size of Greater London. The colossus is presently drifting in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the great sweep of water that circles the continent in a clockwise direction. This current, together with the prevailing westerlies, is pushing A23a in the general direction of the South Orkney Islands, which are about 600km (370 miles) northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The berg has entered what scientists refer to as \"iceberg alley\", a track that passes South Georgia It is firmly in the track of what scientists refer to as \"iceberg alley\" - the major route for the export of ice from the continent. The interplay of winds, ocean fronts and eddies will determine its precise course over the coming weeks, but many of these giant flat-topped, or tabular, bergs end up passing by the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia. Their destiny is to fragment and wither to nothing. Their legacy is the ocean life they seed by dropping entrained mineral nutrients. From plankton up to great whales - all benefit from the melting bergs' fertilisation effect. A submerged terrace develops as the walls crumble. Buoyancy will force this terrace upwards On Sunday, the Eyos team got close enough to A23a to put up a drone. The berg's 30m-high cliffs were topped by a dense mist. Icebergs on this scale create their own weather. \"It was dramatic and beautiful to photograph,\" said Eyos videographer Richard Sidey. \"It's mind-bogglingly big. I actually don't think we can fathom just how big it is; we can only know how big it is from science. It's certainly too big to photograph. It stretches as far as you can see in both directions.\" Satellite observations can monitor its area coverage and gauge its thickness, which is over 300m (980ft) in places. In terms of mass, it's not far off a trillion tonnes, although this will be decreasing day by day. A dense mist hangs over A23a: It's so big it makes its own weather The big question is: how long can A23a survive as it moves away from the colder climes of the Antarctic? Milder air temperatures will create surface melt ponds that drain through the berg, helping to open up fractures. And those spectacular surface catacombs and buttresses will collapse to leave extensive areas of submerged ice that will then rise up under their own buoyancy to gnaw away at the berg's edges. But another large block of ice ahead of A23a on the highway may be instructive in understanding its potential longevity. D28 is about 1,000 sq km (385 sq miles) in size and moving north of South Georgia Iceberg D28, also known by its popular name, \"Molar Berg\", is now moving up into the South Atlantic, some 200km (125 miles) north of South Georgia. Even though it's lost about a third of its area since calving from Antarctica's Amery Ice Shelf in 2019, D28 has managed to maintain its basic, compact shape. Could A23a, with its own square-like dimensions, be similarly long-lived?", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A23a, the world's largest iceberg, is experiencing significant erosion from wave action as it drifts away from Antarctica, with large caves and arches forming in its walls. The iceberg, which is around 4,000 sq km in size, is expected to eventually melt and disappear, but its journey through \"iceberg alley\" could have a fertilizing effect on ocean life as it releases mineral nutrients." + }, + { + "article": "Dani Alves was first arrested in January 2023 and has been in pre-trial detention ever since A court in Spain has found former Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub. He has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The 40-year-old, who is one of the most decorated footballers in history, had denied sexually assaulting the woman in the early hours of 31 December 2022. His lawyer had asked for his acquittal and said she would appeal against the verdict. A lawyer for the victim welcomed the verdict, saying that it \"recognises what we have always known: the truth [as told] by the victim and the suffering there has been\". As well as handing Alves a four-and-a-half year sentence, the court said he should face a further five years' probation. The prosecution had asked for a nine-year prison sentence. In Spain, a claim of rape is investigated under the general accusation of sexual assault, and convictions can lead to prison sentences of four to 15 years. According to Spanish media, the court took into account Alves's decision to pay the victim \u20ac150,000 (\u00a3128,500) in damages regardless of the outcome of the trial when it decided on the length of his prison term. The court did not, however, accept the argument put forward by his lawyers that he should be given a more lenient sentence because he was drunk. His wife Joana Sanz, 31, said he had appeared very drunk when he got back to their Barcelona home the night of the rape and had bumped into furniture before collapsing on the bed. But the court argued that his alcohol consumption had not affected his behaviour. Prosecutors said Alves and his friend had bought champagne for three young women before Alves lured one of them to a VIP area of the nightclub with a toilet which she had no knowledge of. They argued that it was at this point he turned violent, forcing the woman to have sex despite her repeated requests to leave. Alves had maintained she could have left \"if she wanted to\". However, the court found that she did not consent. Spanish law was changed recently to enshrine the importance of consent under the so-called \"Only Yes is Yes\" principle. In a statement, the court said there was evidence other than the victim's testimony that proved that she had been raped. It said Alves had \"abruptly grabbed the complainant\" and thrown her to the ground. He had then raped her while preventing her from moving as \"the complainant said no and wanted to leave\", it added. The woman said the rape had caused her \"anguish and terror\", and one of her friends who was with her on the night described how the 23-year-old had cried \"uncontrollably\" after leaving the bathroom. Alves has been held in pre-trial detention since January 2023 and has changed his testimony on a number of occasions. He first denied knowing his accuser only to claim later that he had met her in the toilet but that nothing had happened between them. He then changed his version of events again, saying that they had had consensual sex. \"We were both enjoying ourselves,\" he alleged. Alves played more than 400 times for Barcelona, winning six league titles and three Champions Leagues across two spells with the club. He was also part of Brazil's 2022 World Cup squad. He has won trophies playing for Sevilla, Juventus and PSG and is among Brazil's most capped internationals, with 126 appearances.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Former Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves has been found guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Alves, who denied the assault, will also face five years' probation, with the court rejecting his claim that he was too drunk to control his actions." + }, + { + "article": "Sir Alex Ferguson, with Monmiral, had a day to remember Coverage: Commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, with feature races on BBC Radio 5 Live. Racecards, live text, results & reports on the BBC Sport website and app. Former football bosses Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp both saw their horses win at the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday. Monmiral, trained by Paul Nicholls, gave the part-owner a first win at the meeting and it was followed by Ryanair Chase victor Protektorat. Then Shakem Up'Arry, owned by a delighted Redknapp, triumphed for trainer Ben Pauling. Protektorat beat 2023 winner Envoi Allen to seal a Thursday double for trainer Dan Skelton and his jockey brother Harry, who earlier took the Turner Novices' Chase with Grey Dawning. \"I've waited 20 years and now had two winners in 40 minutes,\" said Ferguson. Favourite Teahupoo, ridden by Jack Kennedy, won the Stayers' Hurdle to give trainer Gordon Elliott his first win of the week. The seven-year-old held off the 2021 and 2022 winner Flooring Porter, with Home By The Lee in third. Ferguson has been a long-standing racing fan and owner and finally realised his ambition of a Festival winner - not once, but twice. \"It's unbelievable, isn't it? It's a special place. This is like the Derby or the FA Cup final,\" said the 82-year-old after 17-2 shot Protektorat followed 25-1 chance Monmiral's victory in the Pertemps Hurdle. \"Of course it's not the same as winning at football, that was my life, I was immersed in that, this is what I do for pleasure so it's a different feeling. I don't have to worry about it, I leave that to the trainer.\" He is one of four owners of both horses, alongside Ged Mason and John and Lisa Hales. Ferguson celebrated the first victory with another former football boss, Sam Allardyce, and ex-United captain Bryan Robson was among those to offer congratulations. \"He used to ban me from going to Haydock races after training but he has done a U-turn and is worse than me now,\" Robson told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra. \"They have had a lot of runners over the years and had some close calls but today the horses have done him justice.\" Ferguson jumped for joy but tempered his celebrations having broken a rib, external when saluting his win with Spirit Dancer in Bahrain last year. Protektorat was providing the Skeltons with their fourth victory of the week following a Wednesday double with Langer Dan and Unexpected Party. It was among five British-trained winners to stem the tide of Irish triumphs led by dominant trainer Willie Mullins. \"It's remarkable how things are going, I'm very proud of the whole team,\" said Skelton. Redknapp joked: \"My wife Sandra thinks I only have one horse, she doesn't know about the other 25\" Former Tottenham and West Ham manager Redknapp was the next to taste victory when Shakem Up'Arry won the Trustatrader Plate. The horse was named after a spectator who offered advice when he was in charge at the Hammers. \"I used to have a guy stand behind me at West Ham when I was manager,\" said Redknapp. \"For 90 minutes, he'd shout right behind my dugout: 'Shake 'em up, 'Arry, shake 'em up, 'Arry.'\" Redknapp was shook up and overjoyed after his horse won at odds of 8-1 under Ben Jones. \"Oh my God, get in there! How good was that? He jumped for fun. What a performance,\" he said. \"My nan got me into racing, she was a bookie's runner back in the day. She'd get locked up in Poplar Police Station in the East End of London, because it was illegal in those days. \"I love the horses, I love the Festival, I love the people. It means so much.\" There was much talk of Irish domination going into the third day, as they led the home team by 10 victories to three, largely thanks to six triumphs for Willie Mullins. But the score was pegged back to 12-8, with Inothewayurthinkin a second Irish winner in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase after Elliott's Stayers' Hurdle success. Derek O'Connor guided the 13-8 favourite to an eight-length victory for Gavin Cromwell and owner JP McManus. The fifth British victory of the day came courtesy of Golden Ace under Lorcan Williams to give Somerset trainer Jeremy Scott his first Festival success. Golden Ace, a relatively cheap purchase at \u00a312,000, beat Irish hotpots Brighterdaysahead and Jade De Grugy in the Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle. And Cheltenham said a fond farewell to Paisley Park, the 2019 Stayers' Hurdle winner who was retired after finishing 10th in his sixth appearance in the race. Paisley Park, named after the late singer Prince's home and recording studio, won 11 of his 31 races for trainer Emma Lavelle and owner Andrew Gemell, who has been blind since birth. \"I don't know what is next for him, Andrew would like to keep him in his garden,\" said Lavelle. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Legendary football manager Sir Alex Ferguson celebrated his first Cheltenham Festival wins as part-owner of horses Monmiral and Protektorat, while Harry Redknapp's Shakem Up'Arry also triumphed. British trainers had a successful day, with Dan Skelton securing a double victory and reducing the Irish lead in the win tally to 12-8." + }, + { + "article": "In 2003, shortly before fleeing Belfast, Freddie Scappaticci told a BBC camera crew to \"get yourselves off\" or he would \"do\" them Freddie Scappaticci, a one-time IRA executioner and top-secret British Army agent, lived for many years under state protection in English suburbia. The town of Guildford in Surrey is not where one might expect to find an IRA serial killer linked to multiple murders, but it's where Scappaticci settled after fleeing Belfast in 2003 following press reports about his double life. In England, Scappaticci went under a new identity - his neighbours only knew him as Frank, and he was living under the protection of the state. He was far from home but not from the IRA's violent legacy: In 1974, two IRA pub bombs in Guildford killed five young people. Decades later and with Northern Ireland's peace process in place, Scappaticci's neighbours had no cause to fear the person they knew as Frank, who lived alone and was exceptionally private. However, Scappaticci was a man of many faces. In 2003, a BBC news crew captured his menacing side outside his home in west Belfast. \"Get yourselves off\" he bellowed before explicitly warning that if they didn't leave, he would \"do\" them. Scappaticci didn't follow through on that threat but he had form in brutal acts of violence alongside a fearsome IRA reputation. \"I had known Freddie Scappaticci from a young age,\" said Anthony McIntyre, a former IRA prisoner. Anthony McIntyre was jailed for murder in 1977, but has since become a writer and academic According to the IRA's own rules, the punishment for giving away its secrets was execution. In 1978, Scappaticci was put on a new IRA security unit specifically tasked with flushing out spies within its ranks. \"They were responsible for basically catching informers\" said Kieran Conway, a former director of intelligence for the IRA. He said: \"In retrospect it's very obvious that the British would have been rubbing their hands in glee when the unit was formed, we've just got to get into these guys and find out their weaknesses, find out everything about them and turn a couple of them.\" Exactly how Scappaticci was 'turned' remains a mystery but what is known, is that by 1978, he was already working for the British Army under the code name, Stakeknife. \"Stakeknife would only talk to the Army,\" said Lord Ramsbotham, speaking several years before his death in 2022. Lord Ramsbotham was an Army brigadier in Belfast from 1978 to 1980. Lord Ramsbotham told the BBC that information coming from Stakeknife was not widely shared in the Army He continued: \"The battalions never knew about Stakeknife because it wasn't their business to do so. \"I mean we didn't want to risk any compromise because what he was producing was so high grade, not necessarily useful to people on the ground, but more to the politicians and the people in headquarters Northern Ireland.\" Scappaticci was not the only well-placed British Army agent within the IRA but his position gave him unrivalled IRA access. \"Scappaticci would've debriefed people after operations when they went wrong, trying to find out - supposedly trying to find out - who may have compromised the operation\" explained Anthony McIntyre. \"He was then able to know who was involved in all the operations so the IRA was effectively compromised because this was sort of the Clapham Junction of the IRA.\" The fate of those accused of giving away the IRA's secrets became a brutal form of public spectacle. In a two-year period beginning May 1980, more IRA members were killed by the IRA's own internal security than by the police and Army. Bodies of suspected informers were dumped in ditches, open ground or street alleyways. As the 1980s ended, Scappaticci was moving in the IRA's senior circles while also being handled by a secretive unit within the British Army - the Force Research Unit, known as FRU. But the net was closing in. By the early 1990s the former London police chief, Sir John Stevens, was investigating how the British Army ran agents. \"FRU was an undercover team which actually worked under the direction of the GOC in Northern Ireland\" said Lord Stevens. \"They ran the informants on an intelligence basis. They were also handling an individual called Scappaticci on the IRA side.\" In life, Scappaticci was hiding in plain sight. After he was exposed, he lied during a now-infamous press conference when he denied that he was the agent Stakeknife. \"My statement basically is that I am Freddie Scappaticci. I am sitting here today with my solicitor. I am telling you I am not guilty of any of these allegations,\" he said. In England, living under his new identity, he was distant from his victims' families, accusers and collaborators. His death, announced in April 2023, meant that agent Stakeknife was a spy who got away with murder. Those who know the secrets he took to his grave may yet choose to share them. Jennifer O'Leary's The Big Cases 'The Executioner Next Door' is available on iPlayer.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Freddie Scappaticci, a former IRA member and British Army agent known as Stakeknife, lived under a new identity in a Surrey suburb after fleeing Belfast in 2003. Scappaticci, linked to multiple murders, was protected by the state and had a menacing side, as shown in a 2003 BBC footage where he threatened a camera crew. He died in 2023, taking secrets about his role as a double agent and involvement in IRA killings to his grave." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Humza Yousaf said he is open to working with Labour should they win the general election - subject to certain conditions. Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has offered to hold talks with Sir Keir Starmer about working together if Labour win the next general election. The SNP leader said he was \"absolutely sure\" that his party would win the most seats in Scotland and it was inevitable that Sir Keir would be prime minister. He said he was \"very willing\" to work with a Labour government and had invited Sir Keir to Edinburgh. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar described his election plan as bizarre. Mr Yousaf told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show: \"I think there's plenty we can work on. \"There'll be disagreements, the constitution perhaps being the obvious one, but I do think there's plenty of areas we could work on.\" When asked about what policy areas they could co-operate on, the SNP leader said Labour should and commit to scrapping the two-child benefit limit. \"In doing so, he would lift 250,000 children out of poverty across the UK, 15,000 children here in Scotland,\" said Mr Yousaf. \"Let's scrap the bedroom tax, which is keeping too many people in poverty.\" The first minister said Sir Keir was \"20 to 25% ahead in the polls\" and that he \"does not need Scotland to win\". He insisted that the only way to \"wipe the Tories off the map\" in Scotland was for voters to back the SNP. And he insisted that \"support for independence is absolutely rock solid\". Ten years on from the Scottish independence referendum, Laura Kuenssberg asked Mr Yousaf if he accepted another vote was not going to happen any time soon. The first minister denied that and said: \"I want the SNP to win the general election to help to send a really strong message to Westminster that Scotland will not be ignored.\" Mr Yousaf, who succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scotland's first minister in March 2023, also defended Scotland's \"progressive\" tax system, despite Conservative claims that many Scots are now paying more than people in the rest of the UK He said the SNP was asking the top 5% of earners \"to pay a little more\" so that policies such as free university education and childcare services could be provided. Mr Yousaf said he believed people \"will recognise that we've prioritised public services over tax cuts for the wealthy\". Sir Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar celebrated winning the Rutherglen by-election with new MP Michael Shanks in 2023 The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, hit back at what he called the SNP's \"completely chaotic messaging\" on voting in the upcoming election. Speaking on BBC Scotland's Sunday Show, he said: \"They seem to have gone in a matter of weeks from saying you don't need to vote Labour because they can't win in England to now saying you don't need to vote for Labour because they can't lose in England. \"Polls are going to narrow, polls are going to tighten. We could be months away from an election. That's what happens in an election campaign, is that the argument gets more face to face. \"We should always believe we can still lose and we should also always believe that we don't own any voters. \"How bizarre that you have the SNP saying that Scottish votes don't matter. Every Scottish vote matters.\" Scottish Conservative party chairman Craig Hoy said: \"This was another interview where Humza Yousaf confirmed independence will be page one, line one of the SNP manifesto. \"Instead of pursuing their obsession with breaking up the UK, the SNP should focus on the people's real priorities: growing the economy to help Scotland's ailing public services. \"The first minister once again refused to accept that his high-tax regime is preventing that - despite business groups warning repeatedly that the widening tax gap with the rest of the UK is deeply damaging our competitiveness and risks driving away key workers.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has offered to hold talks with Labour's Sir Keir Starmer about cooperation if Labour wins the next general election, stating he is open to working together on various policies, including scrapping the two-child benefit limit and the bedroom tax. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar criticized the SNP's messaging, describing it as \"completely chaotic\" and emphasizing the importance of every Scottish vote in the upcoming election." + }, + { + "article": "Fighting has been raging in Ukraine for two years since Russia's invasion, with Moscow's forces making an apparent breakthrough this week after months of virtual stalemate. Here are the latest developments: Ukraine has withdrawn its troops from Avdiivka - a key eastern town besieged by Russian forces for months - and the nearby coke factory which allowed Kyiv to resupply its forces there. Since last October, Moscow has launched wave after wave of attacks towards the town - which would have been a possible gateway for Ukraine to reach the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk. Avdiivka has been a battlefield town since 2014, when Russian-backed fighters seized large swathes of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Almost all of Avdiivka's pre-war population of more than 30,000 people have left and the town itself is almost completely destroyed. Its fall marks the biggest change on the more than 1,000km-long (620-mile) front line since Russian troops seized the nearby town of Bakhmut in May 2023. Bakhmut remains a key flash point along the front line along with the areas around Robotyne and Krynky further south. Russia's President Vladimir Putin has hailed it as an \"important victory\" - although the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was \"likely that Russian forces lack the combat effectiveness to immediately exploit the capture of Avdiivka\". Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the decision to withdraw was taken to save soldiers' lives and blamed faltering Western weapons supplies. Ukraine is critically dependent on weapons supplies from the US and other Western allies to keep fighting Russia - a much bigger military force with an abundance of artillery ammunition. Bakhmut has endured some of the heaviest fighting of the war and, although Ukraine gained some ground in the surrounding areas over the summer, recent assessments by US-based analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggest Russian forces have made advances around the city. Russia has also made slow progress further south near the villages of Robotyne and Verbove in Zaporizhzhia - an area where Ukraine had seen some success during its counter-offensive in 2023. When Ukraine retook Robotyne in August it was hoped that its forces would be able to cut the land corridor to Crimea, making Moscow's supply lines more complicated. Earlier this week Ukrainian commanders said Russian forces had launched multiple attacks on their positions in the area but insisted they had been repelled. However, the ISW said geolocated footage indicated Russian forces had recently advanced to the western and southern outskirts of the village while Russian military bloggers were claiming even further progress. Russia also appears to have retaken some territory on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river in the area around the village of Krynky, about 30km (19 miles) from the city of Kherson. Ukraine first announced it had made a breakthrough in Krynky in mid-November - the river had separated Ukrainian and Russian forces since Moscow's troops withdrew from Kherson a year ago. It was hoped Ukraine might be able to use it as a base to begin transferring armoured vehicles and air defence systems across the river, putting it a step closer to breaking through to Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed on Tuesday that Russian forces had retaken Krynky but the ISW said open-source visual evidence and Ukrainian and Russian reporting suggested that Ukrainian forces still had a limited foothold in the area. Meanwhile, Ukraine has maintained its attacks on Russia's Black Sea Fleet, including the apparent sinking of the amphibious ship, the Caesar Kunikov, off the coast of Crimea. Ukraine's intelligence directorate released video of what it said were Magura V5 sea drones striking the ship near the town of Alupka. There was no confirmation from Russia's navy that the Caesar Kunikov had been sunk in the Black Sea, merely that six Ukrainian drones had been destroyed. The Kremlin has also refused to comment on the incident. However, the UK MoD notes it would be third such vessel, which is used to provide logistical support to the fleet and the wider war effort in Ukraine, to be destroyed in Ukrainian strikes. \"Ukraine's ingenuity has highly likely deterred Russia from operating freely in the western Black Sea and enabled Ukraine to seize the maritime momentum from Russia,\" it adds. Two days later pro-Russian military bloggers reported that the commander of the Black Sea Fleet Admiral Viktor Sokolov had been replaced by Vice-Admiral Sergei Pinchuka. They speculated that this may have been as a result of Ukraine's successes, although it is possible that Sokolov was killed in a strike on the Black Sea Fleet's headquarters in Sevastopol in September. Ukraine has also succeeded in shooting down several Russian planes in recent weeks - including an Su-34 and an Su-35S in eastern Ukraine on Monday. Russia's invasion began with dozens of missile strikes on cities all over Ukraine before dawn on 24 February 2022. Russian ground troops moved in quickly and within a few weeks were in control of large areas of Ukraine and had advanced to the suburbs of Kyiv. Russian forces were bombarding Kharkiv, and they had taken territory in the east and south as far as Kherson, and surrounded the port city of Mariupol. But they hit very strong Ukrainian resistance almost everywhere and faced serious logistical problems with poorly motivated Russian troops suffering shortages of food, water and ammunition. Ukrainian forces were also quick to deploy Western supplied arms such as the Nlaw anti-tank system, which proved highly effective against the Russian advance. By October 2022, the picture had changed dramatically and having failed to take Kyiv, Russia withdrew completely from the north. Since then, little has changed on the ground. To indicate which parts of Ukraine are under control by Russian troops we are using daily assessments published by the Institute for the Study of War with the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project. To show key areas where advances are taking place we are also using updates from the UK Ministry of Defence and BBC research. The situation in Ukraine is often fast moving and it is likely there will be times when there have been changes not reflected in the maps.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Fighting in Ukraine has seen a significant shift with Ukraine withdrawing troops from the key eastern town of Avdiivka after a prolonged Russian siege, marking the biggest change in the frontline since Russia captured Bakhmut in May 2023. Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin hailing it as a victory, the UK Ministry of Defence suggests Russian forces may not have the strength to immediately exploit the capture, while Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attributes the withdrawal to saving soldiers' lives and lack of Western weapons supplies." + }, + { + "article": "Hibernian are reducing the ticket allocation for away supporters at its Easter Road stadium in response to what it described as \"abhorrent behaviour and chanting made by some supporters\". The Scottish Premiership club wants action to be taken on issues such as sectarian singing, the use of pyrotechnics and objects being thrown on the pitch. Hibs say enough is enough, but when does the unacceptable conduct of some fans at Scottish football really become enough for the rest of the clubs and for those running the game? The strength of the statement from the Easter Road club earlier this week was telling. There was an undertone of exasperation that wasn't lost on those tasked with keeping football a safe and welcoming place for everyone. Those within the SPFL and SFA are well used to unwanted attention for what is an unwanted problem, but rarely from such a high-profile member club. Make no mistake, Hibs have rocked the boat and in doing so, they have also raised the spectre of strict liability. Sectarian chanting was heard as Hibs striker Martin Boyle received treatment during Sunday's match against Rangers Their statement calling on everyone to act was borne of home fans' frustration at some of the sectarian chants heard during their Scottish Cup match with Rangers. In calling that and other issues out, Hibs were also quick to admit they have problems of their own. Anyone who saw the chilling image of the freshly thrown bottle opener, lying in the grass beside Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland during the recent Edinburgh derby, would agree. In state of the art stadiums packed with CCTV, the coins and pies of the past have been joined by lighters, vapes and bottle openers. There are some arrests but the problem persists. Warnings have been issued, sniffer dogs deployed but the flares and smoke bombs persist. As for the issue once described as Scotland's shame - few would argue that sectarianism isn't alive and kicking inside Scottish football grounds in 2024. Songs that many thought were confined to the 1970s and '80s are back and being chanted, seemingly unchallenged. Lawrence Shankland holds a lighter that he was struck with during a match between Hearts and Hibs at Tynecastle last month Various explanations have been offered up in mitigation for an apparent rise in unacceptable conduct at Scottish football. The rise of the ultras culture, the current social and political climate and even pent-up, post-Covid frustrations. Whatever the cause, the age-old problems for the game remain the same with a few new ones thrown in. The attempts to fix them haven't changed much either. Summits and working groups have been the football governance moves. Warnings of getting tough has been the police line and the Scottish government tried and failed with the much maligned Offensive Behaviour at Football Act. Hibernian now say they'll reduce the number of away tickets issued for certain fixtures - they, like others in recent years are playing the numbers game. Fewer fans should mean less chance of bother and a better chance of catching those who cause it anyway. Broken seats in the away end during a cinch Premiership match between Motherwell and Celtic at Fir Park in February But Hibs' frustration has now led them to consider what Scottish football has always pushed back on - strict liability. It's a system where clubs could be punished for the poor behaviour of their fans. Fines, point deductions and even stadium closures are among the powers available to European governing body, UEFA who uses the system in its competitions. The SFA has asked Hibs to state their case at an annual review of the association's rules but they'll do so knowing the governing body and the SPFL aren't keen. They know that most clubs will be happy to take the hit and provide proof they tried their best to prevent. What both governing bodies want is more action from the police - the police want more action from them. The Scottish government watch on bruised from their previous involvement, and mostly ambivalent, hoping that football can sort itself. So, for now, it's left to Hibs to try where others have failed. If enough is really to be enough, they'll need others to help their push.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Hibernian FC is reducing the allocation of away tickets at Easter Road stadium due to abusive behavior and chanting from some supporters, including sectarian singing and use of pyrotechnics. The club's strong statement has raised the discussion on strict liability, a system where clubs could be punished for fans' misconduct, with Hibs set to present their case at the SFA's annual rule review, despite the governing body's reluctance." + }, + { + "article": "Israel has insisted the assassination of a Hamas leader in Beirut was not an attack on Lebanon, as its enemies warned of \"punishment\" for his death. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it killed Saleh al-Arouri, but a spokesman called it a \"surgical strike against the Hamas leadership\". Hamas denounced it as a \"terrorist act\", while its ally Hezbollah said it was an assault on Lebanese sovereignty. Lebanon's PM accused Israel of trying to \"drag\" it into a regional war. Lebanese media report that Arouri, a deputy political leader of Hamas, was killed in a drone strike in southern Beirut on Tuesday along with six others - two Hamas military commanders and four other members. He was a key figure in the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, and a close ally of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader. He had been in Lebanon acting as a connection between his group and Hezbollah. There have been near daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but so far the violence has been limited to the area along the Israel-Lebanon border. Hezbollah - which, like Hamas, is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and others - is the largest political and military force in Lebanon and has ministers in the country's government. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) refused to comment on the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, but said its troops were \"highly prepared for any scenario\". \"The IDF is in a very high state of readiness in all arenas, in defence and offence,\" spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari told a briefing. \"The most important thing to say tonight is that we are focused and remain focused on fighting Hamas,\" he added. Israeli government adviser Mark Regev also stopped short of confirming Israel had carried out the attack, but he told MSNBC: \"Whoever did it, it must be clear that this was not an attack on the Lebanese state. \"It was not an attack even on Hezbollah, the terrorist organisation. \"Whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership. Whoever did this has a gripe with Hamas. That is very clear.\" Lebanese emergency responders at the site of the air strike Arouri, 57, is the most senior Hamas figure to be killed since Israel went to war with the group after its 7 October attack. On that day, waves of Hamas gunmen invaded Israel and attacked communities around the border, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a military offensive in response, with the declared aim of destroying Hamas. Since then, more than 22,000 Palestinians - mostly women and children - have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. Lebanon's state news agency said Arouri had been killed by an Israeli drone attack on a Hamas office in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. A witness from Reuters news agency saw firefighters and paramedics gathered around a high-rise building where there was a large hole in what appeared to be the third floor. Video footage on social media showed a car in flames and extensive damage to buildings in what is a busy residential area. Dahiyeh is known as a stronghold of Hezbollah. Mr Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas's political bureau, called the attack a \"cowardly... terrorist act, a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, and an expansion of its circle of aggression\". Hezbollah said that it considered Arouri's death \"to be a serious assault on Lebanon, its people, its security, sovereignty, and resistance, and the highly symbolic and significant political and security messages it contains\". It said the attack was \"a dangerous development in the course of the war... and we in Hezbollah affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment\". \"Its hand is on the trigger, and its resistors are in the highest levels of readiness and preparedness,\" it added. Iran, a major supporter of both groups, said Arouri's killing would \"undoubtedly ignite another surge in the veins of resistance\". An Israeli security cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening to discuss the post-war plan for Gaza was cancelled. The Lebanese Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, told BBC Radio 4 his government was talking to Hezbollah to \"impress on them that they should not respond themselves\" but that: \"We don't tell them, we dialogue with them in this regard.\" Over the next 24 hours it will become clear \"whether they respond or not\", he said, adding: \"We are very concerned, [the] Lebanese don't want to be dragged, even Hezbollah does not want to be dragged into a regional war.\" And he called on the West to \"pressure Israel to stop also all its violence and all of its actions, not only on Lebanon, not only on Beirut, but also in Gaza\". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously vowed to eliminate Hamas's leaders, wherever they are. Arouri was also considered the de facto leader of Hamas's military wing in the West Bank, overseeing attacks there, according to Israeli media reports. He is believed to have been involved in the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank in 2014, reports say, and had served time in Israeli jails for other attacks. The Times of Israel says he was also one of the Hamas officials most closely connected to Iran and Hezbollah. \u2022 None Why are Israel and Hamas fighting in Gaza?", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israel has not confirmed or denied responsibility for the assassination of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, but a spokesperson referred to it as a \"surgical strike against the Hamas leadership.\" Hamas and its ally Hezbollah condemned the killing as a terrorist act and an assault on Lebanese sovereignty, with Hezbollah vowing retaliation. The incident threatens to escalate tensions between Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah, amid ongoing violence along the Israel-Lebanon border." + }, + { + "article": "House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Turner provided no details about the 'serious' national security threat A top Republican has issued a cryptic warning of a \"serious national security threat\" facing the US. Officials in the US have told the BBC's partner there, CBS News, that Russia is developing a nuclear-capable weapon that could take down satellites, thereby knocking out communications. They said there is no evidence a weapon has actually been deployed. The White House has said the threat is not imminent, but that congressional leaders would be briefed this week. Lawmakers have until Friday to review intelligence about it. Russia has not commented on the reports. In a statement issued by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee - the body which oversees the US intelligence community - Mike Turner said only that the committee has \"made available to all members of Congress information concerning a serious national security threat\". \"I am requesting that President Biden declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the administration and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat,\" the statement added. Like many governments around the world, the US classifies sensitive information which it believes could damage national security. The intelligence is available for lawmakers to view in a secure facility within the US Capitol complex until Friday, 16 February. Declassifying the information surrounding the threat would mean that US politicians would be able to openly discuss it and the steps they believe they should take. The top Democrat on the committee, Connecticut's Jim Himes, said in a statement that while the classified threat is \"significant\", it \"is not a cause for panic\". \"As to whether more can be declassified about the issues, that is a worthwhile discussion but it is not a discussion to be had in public,\" he added. Similarly, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that there is \"no need for public alarm\". Senate Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner and Vice-Chairman Marco Rubio said in a statement that their committee had been \"rigorously tracking this issue from the start\" and \"are discussing an appropriate response with the administration\". \"We must be cautious about potentially disclosing sources and methods that may be key to preserving a range of options for US action,\" the statement added. Asked about the threat at the White House, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that he had offered to personally brief the so-called \"Gang of Eight\" comprised of House and Senate leaders from both parties and the top lawmakers on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. A briefing for the House members of the wider group - which includes Mr Turner, Mr Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries - had been scheduled for Thursday. \"I'm a bit surprised that Congressman Turner came out publicly today in advance of a meeting on the books for me to go sit with him alongside our intelligence and defence professionals tomorrow,\" Mr Sullivan said. \"I'm not in a position to say anything further today.\" Mr Sullivan later added that the Biden administration was \"protecting the national security of the United States and the American people\". \"Americans understand that there are a range of threats and challenges in the world that we're dealing with every single day, and those threats and challenges range from terrorism to state actors,\" he said. \"And we have to contend with them.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Top US Republican Mike Turner has warned of a \"serious national security threat\" facing the country, with reports suggesting Russia is developing a nuclear-capable weapon that could target satellites. The White House says the threat is not imminent, but congressional leaders are set to be briefed on the issue this week, and Turner has called for the information to be declassified for public discussion." + }, + { + "article": "How you make the perfect cuppa can be an intensely individual experience The British claim to know a thing or two when it comes to making a good cup of tea. The beverage is a cultural institution in the UK, where an estimated 100 million cups are drunk every day. But now a scientist based more than 3,000 miles (5,000km) away in the US claims to have found the secret to a perfect cuppa that many Brits would initially find absolutely absurd - adding salt. Prof Michelle Francl's research has caused quite the stir in the UK, and has even drawn a diplomatic intervention from the US embassy. \"We want to ensure the good people of the UK that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States policy. And never will be,\" the embassy said on X, formerly known as Twitter. It is not the first time the drink has caused controversy on both sides of the Atlantic. Back in 1773, demonstrators in Boston, colonial Massachusetts, threw 300 chests full of tea into the harbour in protest at British taxes - a key moment which sparked the American Revolution. \"I certainly did not mean to cause a diplomatic incident,\" Prof Francl, a professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, tells the BBC. \"My emails have been going crazy today. I did not anticipate waking up this morning to see loads of people talking about salt in their tea.\" It turns out that it is not a new idea - the ingredient is even mentioned in Eighth Century Chinese manuscripts, which Prof Francl analysed to perfect her recipe. \"What is new is our understanding of it as chemists,\" Prof Francl said. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. She explains that salt acts as a blocker to the receptor which makes tea taste bitter, especially when it has been stewed. By adding a pinch of table salt - an undetectable amount - you will counteract the bitterness of the drink. \"It is not like adding sugar. I think people are afraid they will be able to taste the salt.\" She urges tea-loving Brits to have an open mind before prejudging her research, which she has documented in her new book Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. \"It is OK to experiment,\" she says. \"I did experiments in my kitchen for this - channel your inner scientist.\" Prof Francl has loved tea ever since her mother made her first brew when she was 10 years old. Everyone has their own opinion on what makes the perfect cuppa, but Prof Francl recommends using loose leaves instead of tea bags and giving the drink a constant stir so the tea gets a good exposure to the water and milk. Adding a small squeeze of lemon juice can also remove the \"scum\" that sometimes appears on the surface of the drink, she adds. Other suggestions she makes include using short, stout mugs to keep the tea hotter, and warming up the mug and milk, with the latter added in only after pouring the tea. But chief among her advice is to never, ever heat up the water in a microwave: \"It's less healthy and it does not taste as good,\" Prof Francl says. \"You end up getting tea scum forming on the surface, and that scum contains some of the antioxidants and taste compounds.\" While the concept of microwaving tea might sound a bit alien in the UK, it is \"totally common\" in the US. \"Americans have some truly awful tea-making habits,\" Prof Francl says. \"I have had better cups of tea at service stations in Ireland than I have had at fancy restaurants in the US. \"I think it is just that people do not know [how to make a good cuppa]. If you do not drink tea, you do not know you are making a horrible cup of tea for someone and giving them a miserable experience.\" She says she loves coming to the UK, where she knows she will be able to locate a decent brew. \"I know when I land I can get a great cup of tea. It is good to have that common ground,\" she says. So, what next for British-American tea relations? The US embassy is not heeding Prof Francl's advice and says it will stick to what it calls the \"proper way\" of making tea - by microwaving it - while the UK Cabinet Office is adamant it can only be made using a kettle.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A US chemist has suggested adding salt to tea to reduce bitterness, causing a stir in the UK where 100 million cups are consumed daily. The idea, criticized by the US embassy and British Cabinet Office, is based on ancient Chinese manuscripts, with the scientist explaining that salt blocks bitterness receptors. However, traditional tea-making methods in the UK advise against this." + }, + { + "article": "A vegetarian restaurant in Manchester, run by TV chef Simon Rimmer, has closed after 33 years. Co-owner Mr Rimmer announced online that Greens would be closing \"with immediate effect\". He blamed a rise in rent and running costs for making the restaurant \"unviable\" and said it was a \"heart-breaking day\". The restaurant in Lapwing Lane, Didsbury, opened in 1990. The landlords have been contacted for comment. \"After 33 years of running Greens in Didsbury, we've unfortunately had to close the door,\" Mr Rimmer said in a video on X. \"Our landlords have increased our rent by in the region of 35%. The cost of raw materials, the cost of heat, light and power, employing people and general food costs have meant that the business unfortunately has become unviable, so with immediate effect we've unfortunately shut the door.\" TV chef Simon Rimmer started the restaurant in 1990 with Simon Connolly Mr Rimmer co-owns the restaurant with Simon Connolly and co-hosts Sunday Brunch on Channel 4 with Tim Lovejoy. He said: \"I'd like to thank every single member of staff who's worked for us over the years, every single customer who's come through the door, our amazing suppliers, our neighbours, our friends and anybody who has ever set foot inside the door.\" Mr Rimmer owns 14 restaurants in the north-west of England and one in Dubai and continues to cook in the restaurants every week, a profile on his agent's website says. A post on Instagram by both owners said that Greens' \"sister restaurant\" in Sale is still open. \"We'd love to see you all there to help the Greens story continue,\" it said. Elsewhere on social media, fans of the restaurant had been sharing their reaction to the news. Comedian Iain Stirling, who is the voice of Love Island, said: \"Mate one of my favourite places back in my Manchester days. Sending lots of love x\" to which Mr Rimmer replied it was a \"tough day\". Comedian Russell Kane said: \"Nooooooo!!! Tell me the one is Sale is safe!!!.\" This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by simonrimmer This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter\u2019s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. A number of chefs also expressed their sympathy. Chef Dave Critchley said on X: \"Sorry to hear this Simon\" and former Master Chef finalist Tony Rodd said that he too had closed the doors to his restaurant today. He said: \"I'm so sorry Chef. We've done the same today. It's a horrific situation we all find ourselves in, through no fault of our own. Stay strong to you and the team.\" Many Greens regulars also took to social media to express their disappointment. \"This is so sad, we've had 15+ years of making memories and having wonderful times here,\" X user Dr Vikas Shah said. X user Jenny Hepburn said: \"Oh no! I'm devastated about this! My favourite place\u2026 so sorry you've had to close.\" Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Simon Rimmer's vegetarian restaurant, Greens in Manchester, has closed after 33 years due to a rise in rent and operating costs, making the business unviable. The TV chef expressed his heartbreak over the closure on social media, thanking staff, customers, and suppliers." + }, + { + "article": "The cost of regulated rail fares in England will rise by up to 4.9% from Sunday. The jump is likely to be unwelcome for rail passengers, adding to the rising cost of living seen in recent years. It also comes at a time when passengers have faced disruption to services due to strikes by rail workers over the past 18 months. Traditionally, fares are hiked based on July's retail prices index measure of inflation, which in 2023 was 9%, plus an additional 1%. However, the increase in fares has been capped below this rate, and is lower than last year. Regulated fares cover about 45% of fares, including season tickets on most commuter journeys, some off-peak return tickets on long-distance journeys and anytime tickets around major cities. For example, if the 4.9% increase is applied, an annual season ticket from Brighton to London would jump \u00a3275 to \u00a35,891, while one from York to Leeds would go up \u00a3135 to \u00a32,899. While some people may have tried to buy their season tickets just before the price rise, here are five tips for getting the cheapest deals at any time of the year. Advance train tickets are usually released up to 12 weeks before your departure date, although some go on sale as far as 24 weeks in advance. These types of tickets are often the cheapest way to travel on the railways if you're happy to go during a fixed time. Sometimes they can be available to buy up to an hour before your journey. Personal finance website Money Saving Expert says that London North Eastern Railway (LNER) often releases advance tickets up to six months ahead for routes from stations north of York to London. Some ticket purchasing apps can send alerts to your phone as soon as tickets for a specified journey go on sale. Split ticketing means you can take the same number of trains you normally would for your journey, but can save money by splitting your journey into multiple tickets between the stations the service stops at on the way. Some websites like Split My Fare and Split Train Tickets do it for you without you having to work it out. Split My Fare says on average, customers save 26% by doing this - although it's not always possible on some journeys. Also, checking to see whether it is cheaper to buy two single tickets rather than a return might save you money. Rail cards can offer discounts when booking, though they cost money to purchase in the first place, so benefit those who travel often. There are several types of rail card available: national, regional, those for students and those for pensioners. For example, the 16-25 Railcard costs \u00a330, is valid for one year and gives you one third off each ticket you buy. More information on the different types of railcard are here. You can get up to a third off the ticket price when travelling in groups of three to nine adults off-peak. The group must be travelling together, and individual rail cards cannot be used when booking a group ticket. Groups of over 10 people can also get discounts - contact the train company directly for those. Group off-peak day travelcards for London are also available, but the origin station on the ticket needs to be in fare zones one to nine. National flexible rail tickets could save passengers hundreds of pounds, says watchdog Transport Focus. The flexible season tickets will allow travel on any eight days in a 28-day period, with no need to select the days of travel in advance. Train companies have also introduced a range of flexible tickets aimed at commuters and workers who have seen their travel patterns change post-pandemic. The Flexi Season ticket will offer a minimum of 20% discount on an equivalent monthly season ticket, according to National Rail. For those making the same journey multiple times in a week regularly, monthly or season tickets can be cheaper. Check with your employer to see if they offer a season ticket loan to help you spread the cost, interest free. Are your rail fares affordable? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Rail fares in England are set to increase by up to 4.9% from Sunday, adding to the cost of living pressures for passengers who have also faced service disruptions due to strikes. The rise, lower than last year, affects regulated fares including season tickets, with some annual passes becoming significantly more expensive, but tips for cheaper deals include advance booking, split ticketing, and using rail cards." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section European Football Bayer Leverkusen edged closer to the Bundesliga title after victory at Freiburg. Florian Wirtz put Leverkusen in front after just two minutes but Ritsu Doan levelled for the hosts. Adam Hlozek and Patrik Schick scored either side of half-time to give the league leaders a two-goal cushion, with Yannik Keitel claiming a consolation. The victory kept Xabi Alonso's side 10 points clear at the top of the table, with Freiburg in ninth. Bayern Munich had closed the gap to seven points after beating rock-bottom Darmstadt 5-2 on Saturday, but Leverkusen showed no signs of pressure as they restored their healthy advantage. Coming into this game, Freiburg and Leverkusen experienced contrasting emotions on Thursday in the last 16 of the Europa League. West Ham ran out 5-0 winners against Freiburg to send them out of the competition, but Leverkusen reached the quarter-finals as two injury-time goals from Schick sealed a dramatic 5-4 aggregate victory against Qarabag. Leverkusen started this game in the same fashion they ended that European encounter as Wirtz beautifully curled the ball into the far corner with just 85 seconds on the clock. Doan threatened to spoil their day when he picked his spot perfectly after a neat one-two inside the box, but Freiburg created little else throughout the game. Indecision at the back, which saw goalkeeper Noah Atubolu lose the ball, handed Hlozek the chance to roll into an open net to give Leverkusen a half-time lead. Schick then met Jeremie Frimpong's cross with a deft touch to give Leverkusen breathing space in the 53rd minute, before substitute Keitel pulled one back for Freiburg 26 minutes later. Leverkusen are yet to lose a game across all competitions in 2023-24 and have just eight games left to play in the Bundesliga as they look to claim their first-ever league title. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Manuel Gulde (SC Freiburg) header from the left side of the six yard box is too high. Assisted by Florent Muslija with a cross following a corner. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. \u00c1lex Grimaldo (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Nathan Tella. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Exequiel Palacios (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the left following a corner. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Granit Xhaka (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Florian Wirtz. \u2022 None Florian Wirtz (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) hits the left post with a right footed shot from very close range. Assisted by \u00c1lex Grimaldo with a cross following a corner. \u2022 None Goal! SC Freiburg 2, Bayer 04 Leverkusen 3. Yannik Keitel (SC Freiburg) right footed shot from the left side of the six yard box to the bottom left corner. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Yannik Keitel (SC Freiburg) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Florent Muslija with a through ball. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Bayer Leverkusen moved closer to their first-ever Bundesliga title with a 3-2 victory over Freiburg, extending their lead at the top of the table to 10 points. Goals from Florian Wirtz, Adam Hlozek, and Patrik Schick secured the win, despite a late consolation from Yannik Keitel." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: 'We'll never leave Gaza' - Palestinians who fled to Rafah fear Israeli assault Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to prepare to evacuate civilians from the southern Gazan city of Rafah ahead of an expanded offensive against Hamas. Some 1.5 million Palestinians are in Rafah to seek refuge from Israeli combat operations in the rest of Gaza. The US has warned Israel an invasion of Rafah would be a \"disaster\", while the EU and the UN both expressed concern. Aid groups say it is not possible to evacuate everyone from the city. Mr Netanyahu told military and security officials to \"submit to the cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions\" of Hamas, his office said on Friday. \"It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war without eliminating Hamas, and by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah. On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat,\" the statement added. Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu said he had ordered troops to \"prepare to operate\" in Rafah and that \"total victory\" by Israel over Hamas was just months away. He made the comments while rejecting Hamas's latest proposed ceasefire terms. The BBC has been told that negotiators for Hamas are leaving the Egyptian capital Cairo, with talks between the two sides now on hold. Your device may not support this visualisation Most of the people in Rafah have been displaced by fighting in other parts of Gaza and are living in tents. Rafah is the only crossing point between Gaza and Egypt. On Friday, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell wrote in a post on social media: \"Reports of an Israeli military offensive on Rafah are alarming. It would have catastrophic consequences worsening the already dire humanitarian situation & the unbearable civilian toll.\" Earlier in the week, UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned of a \"humanitarian nightmare\" in the city. His spokesman St\u00e9phane Dujarric later added: \"We are extremely worried about the fate of civilians in Rafah... I think what is clear is that people need to be protected, but we also do not want to see any forced displacement, forced mass displacement of people\". Meanwhile, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said there was \"a sense of growing anxiety and growing panic in Rafah\". \"People have absolutely no idea where to go after Rafah,\" Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Jerusalem. \"Any large-scale military operation among this population can only lead to an additional layer of endless tragedy that's unfolding.\" Reported Israeli air strikes on Gaza on Friday killed at least 15 people including eight in Rafah, officials from the Hamas-run health ministry said. Israel did not immediately comment. Garda al-Kourd, a mother-of-two who said she had been displaced six times during the war, said she was expecting an Israeli assault but hoped there would be a ceasefire agreement before it happened. \"If they come to Rafah, it will be the end for us, like we are waiting for death. We have no other place to go,\" she told the BBC from a relative's house in the city where she was living with 20 other people. Speaking on Thursday, without directly referring to Rafah, US President Joe Biden said Israel's actions in Gaza had been \"over the top\". He used the same \"over the top\" phrase earlier in the week to refer the Hamas response to a plan for a truce in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Israeli military had a \"special obligation as they conduct operations there or anywhere else to make sure that they're factoring in protection for innocent civilian life\". \"Military operations right now would be a disaster for those people and it's not something that we would support,\" he said. More than 1,200 people were killed during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, according to Israeli officials. More than 27,900 Palestinians have been killed and at least 67,000 injured by the war launched by Israel in response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to prepare for the evacuation of civilians from Rafah in Gaza ahead of an expanded offensive against Hamas, amidst warnings from the US, EU, and UN about the potential humanitarian disaster. Aid groups say it's impossible to evacuate everyone, and Hamas negotiators have left Cairo, with talks on hold, as reports of an Israeli military offensive on Rafah raise concerns about catastrophic consequences for the already dire humanitarian situation in the city." + }, + { + "article": "The scheme would link Pembroke power station with a LNG terminal across the Milford Haven estuary in Pembrokeshire Plans to lay new undersea pipes to carry carbon emissions from one of Europe's largest gas power stations have been unveiled. The scheme would link Pembroke power station with a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal across the Milford Haven estuary in Pembrokeshire. Supporters said it would secure jobs and launch a new industry shipping CO2 from Wales to be buried at sea. But it involves major building work across a protected marine habitat. Environmental group Friends of the Earth called for the money to be spent on renewable energy rather than keeping a gas plant going. Pembroke power station has the capacity to generate enough electricity from burning gas to power four million homes. Despite being one of Wales' biggest emitters of CO2 it has an \"essential role\" in the country's transition to a greener future, according to its operator RWE. \"This power station currently runs 80% of the time, in and around when there's insufficient renewable power [such as wind or solar],\" said Richard Little, who is leading the site's transformation as director of the Pembroke Net Zero Centre. \"We need to build something that allows it to still operate at times when it's needed without impacting the climate,\" he said. RWE's answer, alongside new hydrogen production facilities which could eventually replace gas, is carbon capture and storage. The firm's ambition is to capture up to 2 mega tonnes (Mt) of emissions by 2030, rising to 5Mt by 2035 - the equivalent of taking a million petrol cars off the road. But this relies on establishing a way for that CO2 to be transported all the way to old, empty oil and gas fields in the North Sea where it can be buried. That is where the new pipelines come in. Just over half a mile away - across the Milford Haven waterway - is Dragon LNG - one of three terminals in the UK where natural gas in cold, liquid form arrives on giant tankers from overseas. It is then warmed up, turned back into gas and sent on to homes and businesses. Mirroring that process, the plan is for Pembroke power station's carbon emissions to be pumped across the estuary to be liquified and put onto ships at the LNG terminal. Dubbed the Must project - which stands for Multi-Utility Service Transit - the pipelines would also carry waste heat from the power plant to help cut emissions involved in the LNG terminal's operations. Hydrogen could also be transported in future - connecting businesses north of the haven with a supply of the cleaner fuel. The aim is for the scheme to have been built before the end of the decade, with engineering studies under way, part funded by the UK government. Getting approval from regulators to dig a trench and lay pipes across a busy shipping route and marine special area of conservation will be no mean feat. \"We're working closely with regulatory and environmental bodies to try and do this the right way - to go in once and do it well,\" Simon Ames, Dragon LNG's managing director said. \"We want to fully protect the [local] environment but dealing with climate change means we have to connect these businesses together.\" RWE said it expected to be employing about 2,000 new workers by the end of the decade on construction work related to decarbonising Pembroke power station. \"As well as an environmental responsibility there's a socio-economic responsibility to grow these green jobs and skills in the south Wales area,\" said Eleri Morgan, a process engineer working on the power station's green hydrogen plans. Sarah Phillips has worked at Dragon LNG for almost 20 years At Dragon LNG, Sarah Phillips was officially \"employee number one\" at the site when it started back in 2005 and has since risen to become a senior manager. \"Helping to secure that future for the local community, trying to increase the number of jobs and protect those we already have is something I really look forward to,\" she said. Should the scheme prove successful, the hope is to replicate it at other industrial hotspots across south Wales - such as Port Talbot, Cardiff and Newport - establishing a CO2 shipping route, which the companies say will save tens of thousands of jobs by allowing established industries to decarbonise. The project is part of the wider South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC) plan. This involves major industries - responsible for about 40% of Wales' total greenhouse gas emissions - working together to map out how they cut carbon en masse. \"Rather than decarbonise through loss of industry, you invest hard,\" Mr Little said. \"That way you more than preserve the jobs and add more value to the economy.\" But Friends of the Earth said there were reasons to be \"incredibly sceptical\" over the proposals. Using carbon-capture technology on a gas power station would \"tie us into fossil fuels for many decades to come\", said Mike Childs, the group's head of science, policy and research. Not all CO2 would be captured, while gas extraction itself leads to leakages of methane - another powerful greenhouse gas, he added. \"Rather than using gas to create electricity we need to move away from that entirely and focus on renewable energy and types of energy storage,\" he said. Natural Resources Wales said it would support the project's feasibility study. \"Our priority will be finding solutions that enable decarbonisation ambitions while ensuring the sensitivity of the Pembrokeshire Marine special area of conservation and Milford Haven Waterway site of special scientific interest is fully understood and safeguarded as the proposals take shape,\" said its executive director Sarah Jennings.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "RWE plans to lay undersea pipes to transport carbon emissions from Pembroke power station to an LNG terminal across the Milford Haven estuary for storage in the North Sea, aiming to capture up to 5 million tonnes of CO2 by 2035. The project, called Must, would also involve waste heat utilization and hydrogen transport, potentially creating 2,000 new jobs, but faces challenges due to environmental concerns and the need for regulatory approval." + }, + { + "article": "Colton Adamski is hoping to launch one of the first alternative app marketplaces on iPhones This week Apple made the long-awaited landmark move to allow other companies to launch app stores on iPhones. The tech giant was forced to act by EU politicians concerned about it having a market monopoly. The decision is being watched closely around the world and was initially celebrated as an industry victory for businesses and consumers in the EU. But Apple's strict new rules and fees are being heavily criticised, with Spotify calling them \"extortion\". It is one of many companies, including Fortnite maker Epic Games, that has been pushing Apple to allow alternative app stores on iPhones. The EU lawmakers hoped their rule change would encourage smaller challengers to enter the lucrative iPhone market. \"Apple says it's opening up, but it still has a tight fist around iPhones\", says Colton Adamski, a former hacker and businessman who lives near Chicago and is trying to launch one of the first alternative app shops in the EU. The 22-year-old has been running an unofficial iPhone app store for more than six years. It is, in his words, a \"grey business\" operating on the fringes of what is legal. For everywhere other than the EU, starting an app store is against Apple's terms, and installing apps outside the official App Store is prohibited. The process, known as side-loading, is common practice on Android phones, but Apple has forbidden it since launching the iPhone, arguing it is a security risk. Apps need to be verified through the official App Store, the tech giant has long said. Apple's App Store has been the only accepted way to get apps on to iPhones until now Apple charges an average 30% commission to apps using its store, which it says is for the protection of consumers. Although the fee is controversial, it is true that generally Apple is more successful at keeping malicious apps out than other marketplaces like Google's Play Store. Colton's app shop has attracted hundreds of thousands of downloads of unofficial apps and games. The BBC tried his service and was able to download apps to an iPhone through a simple workaround that changes the phone settings to override security warnings. He has made a decent living operating his under-the-radar app shop, but has long wished to make one legitimately. So when the EU's new laws were announced in January, he jumped at the chance. \"It was so exciting we finally had the opportunity to go from a 'grey' store operating in the margins of what's allowed to finally launching a legit store,\" he says. Apple is now the biggest smartphone seller globally and has the most affluent user base, so getting his store on to iPhones would be a major win. Colton's excitement diminished though when he and his team started reading Apple's terms and conditions. He compares Apple's rules to a gangster from The Godfather or Sopranos. Yes, you can open your shop on their turf, but you have to do exactly as they say or they will shut you down. Apple insists that new app shops have \u20ac1m (\u00a3851,000) in the bank, but if their reserves dip below that figure, they can be closed down. Apple did not respond to our questions about why this is needed, but has previously said it is about weeding out dodgy, or scam, stores. In the last few weeks, since Colton secured his line of credit, Apple has said that app developers of \"good standing\" for at least two years can also build an app shop without the \u20ac1m. Colton's next hurdle to overcome is how to make a profit. Apple automatically bills new app stores half a euro for every download after one million. Apple says this Core Technology Fee is about keeping iPhones safe through security updates. But Colton feels this is like a so-called protection fee paid to a mob under the guise of making sure a shop owner's business is safe. So if someone downloads his app shop app but never uses it, he still has to pay Apple 50 cents. Colton is determined to launch a challenger app marketplace in spite of the hurdles Apple is also applying the 50 cent fee to individual apps that receive more than a million downloads, which is worrying some popular app makers. The company has created a website where app developers can estimate how much money they would owe Apple if they choose to list their apps on other stores. It could total thousands if the million download figure is passed, but if they sold exclusively through Apple's App Store it would cost nothing. Another charge being criticised is the 17% fee Apple will charge on any sales of an app sold on its App Store and elsewhere. Apple argues that 99% of apps it currently hosts are small enough that they can reduce or maintain their current fees. \"Ultimately, we want developers to have the flexibility to choose the business terms that make the most sense for them,\" a spokeswoman said. But, according to Colton, just like The Godfather, Apple is making companies an offer they cannot refuse to keep them listing only on the App Store. \"Many app developers I know are angry and upset. How on earth can they explain this Core Technology Fee? We don't see Android pulling that nonsense,\" Colton says. Android phones, running Google software, have historically been more open, allowing other app shops to exist like Samsung Galaxy Store and Huawei AppGallery. Apple and Google account for more than 95% app store market share outside China according to information platform BusinessOfApps But Google's own app shop - Google Play - is by far the most dominant player and, like Apple's App Store, charges apps on average 30% of their profits or subscriptions as commission. EU lawmakers who created the Digital Markets Act have not yet given an opinion on Apple's alternative app store rules, and say they will assess them once they are seen in practice. For now, Colton says he is determined to make his app store work. \"It's proving to be really tough but me and my team are working hard because this is literally the future of iPhones,\" he said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Apple has allowed other companies to create app stores on iPhones following pressure from EU politicians over market monopoly concerns. However, strict new rules and fees, such as a \u20ac1 million reserve requirement and a 50 cent fee per download, are facing criticism from developers and businesses, with some likening them to \"extortion.\" Alternative app marketplace entrepreneur Colton Adamski is among those attempting to navigate these hurdles to launch a legitimate app store in the EU." + }, + { + "article": "Rishi Sunak has warned of the dangers of polarisation and hatred in politics, after a fractious week in Westminster. He was speaking after Tory MP Lee Anderson was suspended from his party for refusing to apologise for saying \"Islamists\" have \"got control\" of the Mayor of London. The prime minister did not directly address the remarks, but talked about protests and the safety of MPs. Labour's Sir Keir Starmer called for Mr Sunak to \"get a grip\" of his party. Ashfield MP Mr Anderson was criticised by both Labour and Tory MPs after he told GB News on Friday evening: \"I don't actually believe that these Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they've got control of Khan and they've got control of London... He's actually given our capital city away to his mates.\" Mr Khan called Mr Anderson's comments \"Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist\" and criticised the prime minister and his Cabinet for what he called a \"deafening silence\" on the issue. An hour later, a spokesman for the Tory party's chief whip Simon Hart confirmed that the whip had been removed from Mr Anderson \"following his refusal to apologise\" for his comments. Removal of the whip means that Mr Anderson, who is also a GB News presenter, has been suspended from his party in Parliament and can no longer sit as a Conservative MP. Following his suspension Mr Anderson said he \"understood the difficult position\" he had put the prime minister in and said he would \"continue to support the government's efforts to call out extremism in all its forms - be that antisemitism or Islamophobia\". But Mr Khan described the Conservative Party's decision as \"belated\" and sought to maintain pressure on the prime minister by saying his silence on the matter was \"tacit endorsement\". Until January Mr Anderson served as one of the deputy chairmen of the Conservative Party, but he resigned so he could rebel against the government over the Rwanda vote. On Saturday evening, Labour leader Sir Keir questioned the prime minister's judgement in appointing him to the role. He said Mr Sunak needed to \"take on the extremists in his party\" and had a responsibility to \"stop this slide into ever more toxic rhetoric\". Lee Anderson told GB News Islamists had \"got control\" of Mr Khan and he had \"given our capital city away to his mates\" In a statement, also on Saturday evening, Mr Sunak did not address Mr Anderson's words but warned of an \"explosion in prejudice and antisemitism\" since the attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October. \"The events of recent weeks are but the latest in an emerging pattern which should not be tolerated,\" the prime minister added. He said legitimate protests had been \"hijacked by extremists\" and said elected representatives had been \"verbally threatened and physically, violently targeted\". \"And in Parliament this week a very dangerous signal was sent that this sort of intimidation works,\" he said. Mr Sunak was speaking following a week which has seen a heightened tension in Westminster, with a row over a vote by MPs on a ceasefire in Gaza, and concerns for MPs' safety. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said his controversial handling of a debate on Gaza was to ensure MPs' safety, while crossbench peer Lord Walney, the government's Independent Adviser on Political Violence and Disruption, has said MPs needed protecting from \"intimidation\". The Sunday Times has reported that three female MPs have been given bodyguards and chauffeur-driven cars due to concerns about their safety.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Rishi Sunak has cautioned against political polarization and hatred after a contentious week in Westminster, which saw Tory MP Lee Anderson suspended for refusing to apologize for comments about \"Islamists\" controlling London's Mayor. Labour's Keir Starmer has called on Sunak to take control of his party, while Anderson's suspension followed criticism from both sides of the aisle for his remarks, which were labeled Islamophobic and racist by Mayor Sadiq Khan." + }, + { + "article": "The world's most popular YouTuber, MrBeast, has revealed he made more than $250,000 (\u00a3197,000) from posting a video on X, formerly known as Twitter. He had previously said it was not worth posting on the social media site as creators only got a small amount of advertising revenue. However, after a U-turn last week, he posted an old video - which has generated more than 155 million views. The stunt has been closely watched as X's business struggles. Elon Musk, the owner of X, has tried various strategies to boost engagement on the platform since buying it in October 2022. These include sharing advertising revenue with high profile creators, something that other sites, including YouTube, already do. But the plans have faced doubts, as traffic to the site has declined. X's advertising revenue has also plunged as Mr Musk's feud with advertisers over issues such as hate speech and misinformation rumbles on. MrBeast - real name Jimmy Donaldson - had previously said that even a \"billion views\" would not make it worth his while to post videos on X. But he said he was \"super curious\" to see how much advertising revenue he could make from the video. He said on Monday that the big sum seemed \"a bit of a fa\u00e7ade\". \"Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think) and thus my revenue per view is [probably] higher than what you'd experience,\" he wrote in the post, adding that he planned to choose 10 \"random people\" to give the money he made. Analysts said an equivalent haul would be hard to repeat without MrBeast's massive profile. \"He said he made $250,000, so not bad for one video,\" said Karsten Weide, principal at W Media Research. \"It's good numbers but you have to have a massive amount of traffic.\" The amount so-called influencers can make varies from person to person. The terms of individual deals are kept confidential, although it is thought the biggest names online may be able to negotiate special rates. In November 2022, Forbes estimated that MrBeast made $54m in a year from his YouTube channel. Since then, he has gained millions of subscribers on his main channel, to make a total of 233 million. The size of his audience has prompted courtship from companies looking to boost their platforms. MrBeast, who has claimed his videos cost millions of dollars to make, is reportedly working on a deal for a show with a huge streaming platform. He had previously posted the same video, where he tries out cars of differing valuations, on YouTube in September 2023. It currently has over 215 million views on YouTube, where MrBeast makes most of his money. A MrBeast video can earn more than $1m onYouTube over time, according to estimates from influencer analytics platform WeArisma. But on X, where new content dominates, a similar post may not have the same staying power, said Jenny Tsai, founder and chief executive of the firm. \"It would be interesting to see how the monetisation potential stacks up over time,\" she told the BBC. In the screenshot shared by MrBeast, he reported $263,655 in revenue from nearly 156.7 million \"impressions\" or about $1.68 per 1,000 impressions. Dave Wiskus, chief executive of Nebula, the largest independent premium streaming platform, said it was not clear what counted as an impression on X. But he said the performance of the video suggested that creators might not want to simply write off X as a platform for sharing their work, noting that even for MrBeast, making more than $250,000 was \"not nothing\". \"If you're a creator who can pull in any kind of numbers and if you're already making the video and you can post it over there too, then sure, why not?\" he said. But he said he did not think less famous people would be able to bring in equivalent sums. \"This was a one-off from the biggest YouTuber on earth that got international media attention,\" Mr Wiskus added. \"I don't think another creator who pulls in 1% of those impressions is going to put in 1% of that money.\" Most creators would not attract anywhere near those viewing numbers, or indeed the global media attention that went along with it. As he said himself, the final sum his video earned him is not reflective of the experience for most of X's users. It will undoubtedly please X chief executive Linda Yaccarino, who joined the firm last year following a stellar career in advertising. She is said to have privately struggled with the reputation of X, so it will be encouraging for her to see that ads can still perform well on the platform. The company's owner Elon Musk visited the site of the Auschwitz death camp on Monday, following intense scrutiny of the way in which the social network handles anti-Semitic content on its platform. This is one of the big issues which troubles many of X's users and potential advertisers. It is one which Mr Musk must continue to address both in terms of words and actions. There are also rumours that MrBeast may be negotiating his own show with one of the large video streaming platforms. If this is indeed the case, his experiment on X is a loud signal as to just how much he is worth.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Popular YouTuber MrBeast earned over $250,000 from a single video posted on X (formerly Twitter), a significant amount which he previously thought was not worth posting for due to low advertising revenue. This comes after Elon Musk's efforts to boost engagement on the platform by sharing ad revenue with high-profile creators, with MrBeast's massive success in this instance raising questions about the earning potential for influencers on the site." + }, + { + "article": "Four people, over the last four weeks or so, who tell us something about money, power, individuals and institutions. And also tell us something about language and labels. It is a month to the day since the Labour Party disowned its then-candidate Azhar Ali in the Rochdale by election, over alleged antisemitism he apologised for. Turmoil about what to do; a party grappling with what should be the appropriate response. Senior figures sent out to do interviews with a line to take that crumbled not long later. The party accused of condemnation in words, but not in actions. Until that is, they chose to act. Then there was the row about Lee Anderson. The now-Reform UK MP and former Conservative deputy chairman and a debate with language and labels at its core. Mr Anderson's remarks about the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim, were branded \"unacceptable\" by the prime minister. Others, including Mr Khan, said they were racist and Islamophobic. Hamas's horrific attacks in Israel in October, and Israel's subsequent war in Gaza has undoubtedly sharpened some of these debates. But they can't all be traced back to recent events in the Middle East. Here we have a hugely successful businessman from humble beginnings. A man of Irish heritage who has talked of the abuse he suffered as a child because of where he was from. A man with a diverse workforce who has become one of the Conservative Party's biggest donors under the country's first British Asian Prime Minister. A man now condemned by that prime minister for uttering racist remarks. And it is to Mr Sunak in particular that Mr Hester has been drawn, as opposed to the Conservative Party in general. For years, he said, he voted for the Green Party. The government's line - having spent a day not calling the alleged remarks racist - is, actually, they were. But Mr Sunak believes his \"remorse should be accepted,\" as he put it at Prime Minister's Questions. In other words, an instinct for tolerance should extend to those who have articulated apparent intolerance. And there is a distinction, they argue, between a racist remark and being a racist person. It taps into another keenly contested contemporary concept - the idea of being \"cancelled\". The argument, from some, that those who preach tolerance seek to ban or remove some people from the public stage altogether. It is into this territory that the ongoing discussion about Mr Hester's donations - and whether they should be returned - plays out, with the Conservatives determined to hold onto the money. And then there is Diane Abbott. A pioneer MP, the first black woman elected to the Commons, who endures a vast amount of vile abuse which has been turbo-charged in the era of social media. It is nearly a year since she was slung out of the Parliamentary Labour Party over remarks Sir Keir Starmer called antisemitic - and for which she apologised. The Labour Party has spent 11 months investigating a letter to a newspaper she wrote that ran to a handful of sentences. An alleged victim of racism, accused of racism herself. What all of this amounts to is a case study in how society in the 2020s is wrestling with these giant concepts: belonging, identity, lived experience, heritage, language, labels, offence. And how are we collectively wrestling with all of this?", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The news highlights recent controversies involving language and labels in UK politics, including a Labour Party disowning a candidate over antisemitism, a row about a Reform UK MP's remarks towards London's Muslim mayor, and a debate on tolerance and \"cancellation\" after a major Conservative donor made racist comments. The incidents showcase society's ongoing struggle with issues of belonging, identity, and offense in the 2020s." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Drone footage shows the devastating aftermath of the industrial estate fire A man has been arrested following a fire that caused a building to collapse within minutes, police say. The blaze, at a warehouse belonging to Owens Group on Bridgend Industrial Estate broke out Friday evening, the fire service said. Doug Jeffrey, of trucking company Owens Group, said it was kitchen and toilet rolls that caught fire. The fire service said there were no casualties. The 25-year-old local man was arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, South Wales Police said. He was taken to Queen's Road police station on Saturday for questioning, before being released on police bail pending further investigation on Sunday. \"We'd like to thank local businesses and the public for their understanding and patience while this incident continues to be dealt with,\" a statement from the force said. South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze was declared over at about 08:20 GMT on Saturday. A unit on Bridgend Industrial Estate has been destroyed by a large fire Owens Group said: \"A significant fire took hold and all emergency services were in attendance within minutes. \"All our staff exited the warehouse safely and have been accounted for. Thankfully none have suffered any injuries. \"Owens Group would also like to extend our sincere apologies for all of our fellow businesses in the immediate area who have been impacted by this unfortunate incident.\" The fire service said its crews were still at the scene on Saturday and that Kingsway, Queens Road and South Road would be closed for the \"foreseeable\" future. It added that there was \"extensive fire damage\" to the building, which measures 245m x 110m (800ft x 360ft), and the roof had partially collapsed. South Wales Police said its crews remained at the scene on Saturday and advised motorists to avoid the area. The fire service sent 10 engines, four water carriers and two aerial ladder platforms to tackle the blaze overnight. Liarne Bell, who works at nearby Phil's News & Cafe, told BBC Wales on Saturday: \"It's all everybody's talking about, we're all a bit shocked by it. \"It was total worry, a total shock last night. I mean they shut the entire estate so we didn't even know if we'd be able to get in this morning. \"We probably had people working [in the burned down building] coming in here every day... thank God no-one was hurt, that's the one consolation.\" Welsh Centre Wales' Lloyd Parish was having dinner in Cardiff when a video of the blaze was sent to his phone. His business, he believed, was one of the more fortunate. \"There's a couple of ones around the corner that have lost everything, so we are the lucky ones,\" he said. \"There were a couple of big businesses that lost a lot.\" He thanked the fire service saying: \"If not for them it would have been a very different story.\" Whocult, a donut and coffee shop in the industrial estate close to the fire, announced it would be closed on Saturday. In a statement on social media it said a power outage has been caused by the blaze and access to the shop and bakery was still restricted. The fire broke out at a unit on the Kingsway in Bridgend Industrial Estate \"Thankfully, our building remains unharmed, thanks to the efforts of the South Wales Fire and Rescue team who worked tirelessly overnight to contain the blaze,\" it said. Eyewitness Abby Bolter told the BBC she heard a \"large bang\" before the blaze. \"I heard people shouting and assumed it was fireworks, then I saw the fire... smoke must be 200ft in the air,\" she said. Neil Davies, of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: \"All emergency responders on scene worked extremely hard in difficult conditions to bring the fire under control.\" Fire crews were supported at the scene by Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, South Wales Police, the Welsh Ambulance Service, Natural Resources Wales, National Grid and Bridgend council. Mr Davies added that the blaze was prevented from spreading to neighbouring businesses and multiple \"high value items\" were salvaged. \"SWFRS will work closely with SWP to establish the origin, cause and development of the fire, but this is unlikely to take place until next week,\" he said. \"All emergency responders would like to thank the local community for their support and apologise for any disruption caused whilst they bring the incident to a safe and successful conclusion.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A man has been arrested on suspicion of arson after a fire caused a warehouse to collapse on Bridgend Industrial Estate, with no casualties reported. The blaze, which destroyed a unit belonging to Owens Group, was brought under control, and nearby businesses were impacted, but extensive damage was contained." + }, + { + "article": "Belfast man Fred Scappaticci denied being Stakeknife, an Army agent within the IRA The Provisional IRA is estimated to have killed more than 70 people it accused of acting as informers. 'Touting' was seen as the ultimate betrayal - as Martin McGuinness once stated: \"Irish republican people believe it is quite acceptable for the IRA to take the life of anyone in the pay of the British crown.\" And yet Freddie Scappaticci was spared after suspicion fell on him. Stood down, but neither questioned nor executed. When he was publicly unmasked in newspapers as Stakeknife about 13 years later, the IRA and Sinn F\u00e9in went along with his denial. \"He was too big an embarrassment to kill,\" said Brian Rowan, a former BBC security editor. The journalist reported on the brief press conference in 2003 at which Mr Scappaticci rejected reports that he was Stakeknife. \"Killing him was to accept that the IRA's Internal Security Unit (ISU) had been completely compromised by the British. \"My suspicion also is had the IRA shot him, it would have been the end of major political negotiations which Sinn F\u00e9in were in the middle of to put Stormont back together.\" For most of his time in the IRA, 'Scap' was a senior member of the ISU. Its principal role was to root out agents working for the police and Army. In 1990, following a police raid on a house during the interrogation of a suspected informer, he and its other members were replaced because the IRA believed the unit had been infiltrated. Within the following few years, he was on the outer fringes of the IRA and of little or no further use to his handlers. When 'outed' in 2003, he remained in west Belfast and brazened things out. He did not leave Northern Ireland and go into hiding in England until a year later, when a recording surfaced from 1993 of him speaking secretly to journalists about senior republicans. The pretence could not be kept up any longer. Former IRA prisoner Anthony McIntyre has previously accused the organisation of a cover-up. Interviewed for Richard O'Rawe's recent book 'Stakeknife's Dirty War', he remarked: \"There was a self-interest in the IRA in not exposing him, in not shooting him, because it would have visited an awful lot of questions on the IRA and the leadership that had him in place for so long.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Belfast man Fred Scappaticci, alleged to be the Army agent Stakeknife within the IRA, has denied the claims. Despite suspicion and the IRA's history of executing informers, Scappaticci was not punished, possibly due to the potential impact on political negotiations involving Sinn F\u00e9in. When he was publicly identified in 2003, he denied being Stakeknife and remained in Belfast until a year later when a recording of him discussing senior republicans with journalists emerged, prompting him to go into hiding in England." + }, + { + "article": "A small garden supply business called L V Bespoke recently won its fight to keep its name against the French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton. Experts say such cases have increased \"hugely\" in the past 18 months as major brands seek to protect their intellectual property. But what actually happens when a multi-national firm comes knocking at your door? Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Victoria Osborne ran a holiday letting business and her husband Lawrence worked in construction. \"When the pandemic arrived, both of our incomes were wiped out literally overnight,\" says Mrs Osborne. Amid what she describes as a \"mad panic\" the couple, who were renovating their home in Reepham, near Norwich, focused on their garden and began growing their own food while former boat builder Mr Osborne tried his hand at making metal plant supports. The supports turned out well. So well, in fact, the couple wondered if others would be willing to pay for them. They were. The business grew from selling the supports on Gumtree and at car boot sales to being featured by the Royal Horticultural Society. The couple had named the business using their own first initials, and L V Bespoke was born. Three months after the Osbornes sought to register their trademark they were contacted by lawyers for Louis Vuitton The trademark was sent off to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), which receives more than 150,000 registration requests each year, in December 2021. An examiner carried out initial checks and no issues were raised. But when the application to register the L V Bespoke trademark was made public, Louis Vuitton Malletier objected in March 2022 via lawyers in London claiming the trademark impinged on its intellectual property. \"We were very shocked and surprised,\" says Mrs Osborne. \"We thought it was a practical joke by one of our friends. \"It was just ludicrous to think they had the rights to the letters \"L\" and \"V\" and there was no comparison to be made between our goods and theirs.\" They sought legal advice almost immediately and decided to stick to their guns. IPO Tribunal Judge Matthew Williams found in the couple's favour, deciding Louis Vuitton's opposition had failed \"on all grounds\". A metal crown that L V Bespoke made for the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk Although Louis Vuitton has not responded to the BBC's requests for comment on the case, Jamie Muir Wood, who represented the firm during the tribunal told the hearing that Louis Vuitton's trademark contained the letters \"L\" and \"V\" and that it was understood those letters \"stand for Louis Vuitton\". He said the Osborne's logo \"contains the same two letters, in the same order, followed by the word 'bespoke'\". It also contains some slight figurative decoration. \"Conceptually, we say that there is essentially identity or very high similarity because both signs refer to a brand LV,\" he told the hearing. \"So we say this points to the average consumer seeing these conceptually as a brand on sub-brand, the shared concept being a brand called LV.\" Mrs Osborne says the 22 months from the time Louis Vuitton objected to their trademark to winning their case has been both costly and stressful. \"This has been a massive thing hanging over our heads,\" she says. \"I am sleeping easier now than I was but I have also been battling significant health issues during this. \"I would like to believe that the higher-ups in the Louis Vuitton food chain were not aware of this. My ultimate goal is to get an apology from them.\" Expert Melanie Harvey says in the past 18 months there has been a \"huge\" rise big firms seeking to protect their trademarks Melanie Harvey, a legal director at Birketts LLP and a chartered trade mark attorney, says the Osbornes' case is far from unique. She says in the past 18 months there has been a \"huge\" rise big firms seeking to protect their trademarks. She says clothing businesses, champagne makers and high end brands were particularly busy protecting their identities at the moment. IPO figures show the number of defended tribunal cases rose 44% from 2,254 in 2021-22 to 3,247 in 2022-23. \"They want to make sure all of their brand identifiers are safeguarded,\" says Ms Harvey, who represented the Osbornes during their case. She says she strongly supports the rights of businesses to protect their brands when there are clear breaches. Many companies employ a \"watch service\" to scour public registers and the internet for any potential trademark infringements. She says people such as the Osbornes will often be approached by representatives from trade mark holders and asked to withdraw their application in order to avoid further issues. \"It is a shock when you get this type of approach,\" says Ms Harvey. Others will stand their ground initially but eventually give in because of the costs and stress involved in defending a disputed trademark application. \"It is a highly stressful situation to be in,\" she says. \"And it is quite common for people to back out because of the toll it takes.\" She says she quite often sees cases in which new businesses have, sometimes unwittingly, sailed too close to the trademark wind and infringed on the intellectual property of a large company. As for the Osbornes, Louis Vuitton has been told to pay \u00a34,000 towards their \u00a315,000 legal bill. Asked whether they might now dabble in a line of luxury gold or silver plant stands, Mrs Osborne says: \"I think that might be a step too far. \"We're just happy to have this landmark victory.\" Kate McKenzie created a tool called Word Windows. After a dispute with Microsoft it was renamed Word Window Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A small garden supply business, L V Bespoke, successfully defended its name against luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton in a trademark dispute, with a tribunal ruling in the couple's favor. The number of such cases has increased significantly as major brands strive to protect their intellectual property, leading to more legal battles, especially in the clothing and high-end markets." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Birmingham Birmingham City have sacked manager Wayne Rooney after just 83 days in charge of the Championship club. The 38-year-old was appointed on 11 October following the controversial decision to dismiss John Eustace, with Blues sixth in the table. Since then they have slipped to 20th, Monday's 3-0 loss at Leeds having been the ninth defeat of his 15-game tenure. \"Football is a results business and I recognise they've not been at the level I wanted them to be,\" Rooney said. Professional development coach Steve Spooner will take interim charge for Birmingham, who have also parted company with one of Rooney's backroom team, former Wolves and Wales midfielder Carl Robinson. 'It will take time to get over this setback' Rooney said he now plans to take a break from the game. \"I would like to thank (co-owners) Tom Wagner and Tom Brady and (chief executive) Garry Cook for the opportunity to manage Birmingham City and the support they all gave me during my short period with the club,\" he said. \"However, time is the most precious commodity a manager requires and I do not believe 13 weeks was sufficient to oversee the changes that were needed. \"Personally, it will take me some time to get over this setback. \"I have been involved in professional football, as either a player or manager, since I was 16. Now, I plan to take some time with my family as I prepare for the next opportunity in my journey as a manager.\" \u2022 None 'No limit' for Birmingham City, says Tom Wagner \u2022 None Rooney gets first win as Blues boss at sixth attempt \u2022 None Rooney will turn Blues around, says ex-academy boss The appointment of former England captain Rooney, who previously had spells in charge of Derby County and MLS side DC United, bore comparisons with the club's ill-fated decision to sack Gary Rowett in December 2016 and replace him with a globally-known name in Gianfranco Zola. But Zola won just twice in 22 games before being sacked in April 2017, to be succeeded by Harry Redknapp. Since Blues' new American owners Shelby Companies Limited appointed Rooney, again in the search for global impact, he has also won just two matches - and the board's hope for successful, more exciting football has not been met. Rowett, who left Millwall in October, is already being touted as one of the names under consideration to become caretaker boss - a list that also includes former Swansea City and sacked Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper. Blues are six points clear of the relegation places and travel to Hull City in the FA Cup third round on Saturday. They face three crucial league games before the close of the January transfer window - all against teams just above them in the table, Swansea and Middlesbrough at home, either side of Stoke away. It was always assumed that Rooney, appointed after the last transfer window closed, would be given the January transfer window to put things right. But the club have opted to act now, giving a new manager time to work on any potential new signings. Rooney is now the shortest-serving Blues manager, in terms of time period, in their 132-year history. But he lasted two games longer than Redknapp, who, after keeping Blues up, left six weeks into the 2017-18 season after just 13 games. Few observers at St Andrew's can be accused of 20-20 hindsight when suggesting that Rooney's short-lived tenure was inevitable. The parallels with Zola's ill-fated half-season in 2016-17 were hard to ignore, the main difference being that the new owners have chosen to pull the plug far sooner. That Birmingham CEO Garry Cook should choose to promise \"no-fear football\" at Rooney's unveiling was to hang an albatross round the former England striker's neck. Some of the players would understandably fear a radical change of style. They frankly had not been recruited to implement it in the first place. Eustace had everyone singing off the same sheet, challenging for a play-off spot. Like Rowett seven years earlier, he may not have achieved a top-six finish in the end, but both would surely have avoided the chaos that followed. If there was one sliding door moment for Rooney, it came at Plymouth. Following a fully controlled win at Cardiff and a decent showing in defeat at home by Leicester, Blues were ahead at Home Park when Krystian Bielik was harshly sent off. They failed to defend a 3-1 lead with 10 men, leaving Devon with only a draw. Flat, listless performances against Stoke, Bristol City and then Leeds clearly concentrated minds as the Championship's trap door drew closer. Given the apparent stability and undoubted ambition of the new ownership group and the positive work they are clearly doing off the field, this will serve as a sharp lesson about the realities of football. Timing is everything, and profile alone does not garner league points. 'Change in best interests of club' In a statement, Birmingham chief executive Cook said they felt the time was right to move in a different direction. \"Despite their best efforts, results have not met the expectations that were made clear at the outset. Therefore, the board feels that a change in management is in the best interests of the club,\" Cook said. \"The club's board and management are fully aligned and will continue to drive transformation and take bold steps to rebuild Birmingham City into the organisation its fans and community deserve. \"We are committed to doing what is necessary to bring success to St Andrew's. \"Unfortunately, Wayne's time with us did not go as planned and we have decided to move in a different direction. \"The search for a successor begins with immediate effect and we will update supporters when we have further news. \"The remaining coaching staff will be required to continue with their duties to assist Steve Spooner.\" \u2022 None How Conan Doyle came to resent his iconic creation:", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Birmingham City has sacked manager Wayne Rooney after only 83 days in charge, with the team slipping from sixth to 20th in the Championship under his tenure. Rooney expressed disappointment but acknowledged football is a results-driven business, and he didn't have enough time to implement the changes needed. Steve Spooner will serve as interim manager as the club begins the search for a new boss." + }, + { + "article": "The cliffs where the forest was discovered Scientists have found what they believe to be the world's earliest known fossilised forest in cliffs on the coast of South West England. It was discovered in high sandstone cliffs near Minehead, Somerset, close to a Butlin's holiday camp. Researchers from Cambridge and Cardiff Universities say they are the oldest fossilised trees ever found in Britain and the oldest known forest on Earth. The trees, known as calamophyton, resemble palm trees. Described as a kind of 'prototype' of today's trees, the largest were between two and four metres tall. The researchers identified the fossils of plants and their debris as well as fossilised tree logs and traces of roots. They show how early trees helped shape landscapes and stabilised riverbanks and coastlines hundreds of millions of years ago. \"When I first saw pictures of the tree trunks I immediately knew what they were, based on 30 years of studying this type of tree worldwide,\" said co-author Dr Christopher Berry from Cardiff's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. \"It was amazing to see them so near to home. But the most revealing insight comes from seeing, for the first time, these trees in the positions where they grew.\" Dr Paul Kenrick, an expert on plant fossils at the Natural History Museum, who was not involved in the study, said that these clues as to how plants grew together at the time were deeply significant. The researchers say the fossil forest is about four million years older than the previous record holder in New York State. It was found in the Hangman Sandstone Formation along the Devon and Somerset coasts and dates back to the Devonian Period, between 419 and 358 million years ago, the time of life's big expansion onto land. The period is named after Devon because of marine rocks emblematic of the period, which geologists found off the coast. The researchers say that the area of the find was at the time a semi-arid plain, attached not to England, but to parts of Germany and Belgium, where fossils of such trees have also been found. The cliffs where the forest was discoverd \"This was a pretty weird forest - not like any forest you would see today,\" said Prof Neil Davies from Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences, the study's first author. \"There wasn't any undergrowth to speak of and grass hadn't yet appeared, but there were lots of twigs dropped by these densely-packed trees, which had a big effect on the landscape.\" Dr Kenrick, from the Natural History Museum said that the trees were very different from any we know today. The most similar modern counterpart might be Dicksonia antarctica, a type of tree fern native to Australasia, but popular in Britain as an ornamental plant. Dicksonia antarctica - perhaps the nearest modern-day equivalent to the ancient forest's trees", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Scientists have discovered what they believe to be the world's earliest known fossilized forest in cliffs near Minehead, Somerset, England, dating back 390 million years. The forest, consisting of trees called calamophyton, predates the previous record holder in New York State by about four million years and provides insights into how early trees shaped landscapes." + }, + { + "article": "Donald Trump is appealing against a New York judge's ruling that he must pay $454m (\u00a3360m) in penalties and interest in a civil fraud case. This month's judgement was $355m, but the amount has soared with interest, which will keep accruing by at least $112,000 per day. New York Attorney General Letitia James has said if Mr Trump does not pay, she will seek to seize some of his assets. He was found to have inflated property values to obtain better loan terms. Judge Arthur Engoron also banned the former US president from doing business in the state for three years. Monday's appeal from the Republican presidential frontrunner means yet another legal case of his will drag further into election season as he prepares for a likely rematch against Democratic President Joe Biden in November. Mr Trump had said all along he planned on appealing against the ruling, calling it a political witch hunt. His lawyer, Alina Habba, said on Monday they hope the appeal court \"will overturn this egregious fine and take the necessary steps to restore the public faith in New York's legal system\". In their court filing, the attorneys said they were asking the appellate division to decide whether Judge Engoron's court \"committed errors of law and/or fact\" and whether it \"abused its discretion\" or \"acted in excess of its jurisdiction\". The former president's lawyers have also argued that he was wrongly sued under a consumer-protection statute typically used to rein in businesses that rip off customers. Mr Trump's legal team has previously challenged rulings by Judge Engoron at least 10 times, including a gag order. The appeals process could last a year or longer. Mr Trump could be granted a pause on collection of the judgement if he offers up money, assets or an appeal bond covering the amount owed. It is unclear what route he will take. Mr Trump's two adult sons and co-defendants, Donald Jr and Eric, were ordered to pay $4m each and are barred for two years from doing business in New York. They have maintained there was no wrongdoing and joined their father's appeal on Monday. Adding to the drain on his cash reserves, the ex-president was last month ordered to pay $83m after losing a defamation case to E Jean Carroll, a woman he was found to have sexually abused. In May 2023, he lost a lawsuit against the New York Times and was ordered to pay for the legal expenses of the reporters he had sued. On Monday, one of the reporters involved in the case, Susanne Craig, tweeted that Mr Trump had completed the mandated $392,600 payment. According to a Forbes estimate, Mr Trump is worth about $2.6bn. Though it is unclear how much cash he has on hand, he testified last year he has $400m in liquid assets. The civil trial that began in October focused mostly on determining penalties against Mr Trump since Judge Engoron had already ruled the ex-president liable for business fraud. He faces another case in his hometown of New York City next month. In those criminal proceedings, it is alleged that Mr Trump falsified business records to conceal hush money paid to an adult film star before the 2016 election. On Monday, the Manhattan prosecutor who is bringing that case asked a judge for a gag order on Mr Trump. The district attorney's office said such a measure was needed to protect jurors, witnesses and court staff from Mr Trump's \"long history of making public and inflammatory remarks\". Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, called the request an \"unconstitutional infringement\" Mr Trump's rights. He reiterated the former president's claims that the indictments against him are partisan attempts to prevent his re-election.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Donald Trump is appealing a New York judge's ruling that he must pay $454m in penalties and interest in a civil fraud case, with the amount increasing by $112,000 per day. If he doesn't pay, the state attorney general plans to seize his assets; Trump claims the case is a political witch hunt." + }, + { + "article": "A medicine for severe hair loss, or alopecia, is being recommended on the NHS for the first time. The daily pill, called ritlecitinib or Litfulo, could help up to 14,000 people in England, says the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Scotland is currently considering whether to start offering it on the NHS too. The drug, which is licensed to give to people aged 12 and over, helps fight inflammation to improve hair growth. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease, where the body's immune system attacks the follicles of the hair, causing it to fall out. In severe cases, hair is lost from across the body. Lack of hair on parts of the body other than the scalp, including eyelashes and eyebrows, nasal hair, and hair on the skin leaves people more vulnerable to infections and reduces their ability to regulate their body temperature. Living with alopecia can be profoundly challenging and cause anxiety and stress. People may experience difficulty at school and in the workplace, and it can lead to social isolation and affect intimate relationships, experts say. Dawn, who is now in her 30s, has had alopecia since childhood. She told the BBC: \"Dealing with alopecia is very much a rollercoaster of emotions, it's such an unpredictable condition that gives hope as quickly as it can take it away again. \"Living with it since I was a child, I always hid my patches, in fear of the judgement of somebody seeing a bald spot. Then, when I lost all my hair on approach to my thirties and could no longer hide it, I very much had to go through a cycle of grief. I was very withdrawn, wanting to avoid doing anything, which led to it having a huge impact on my mental health.\" She says she's now \"in a much better place\" thanks to the support of friends and family and the charity Alopecia UK. She is considering trying the drug. \"Despite being in a good place with my hair loss, it gives me an option I didn't have before, for the first time, I can have a little control over such an unpredictable condition that made me feel like I lost who I was.\" NICE initially rejected the drug last year but has now reversed its decision following a public consultation, as well as receiving more information about it, including a reduced price from the manufacturer Pfizer. Without a discount, a packet of 30 capsules would normally cost almost \u00a31,000. Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE, said: \"Our committee heard how severe alopecia areata can have a significant impact on people's health and quality of life. \"I'm delighted that we are now able to recommend this innovative treatment.\" Sue Schilling, chief executive of Alopecia UK, said: \"For far too long, patients with alopecia areata have gone without a licensed treatment option available via NHS pathways. \"If new treatments are only available privately, it becomes a case of the 'haves and the have nots', this latest NICE recommendation will go some way to address this.\" She said patients still faced substantial barriers, including difficulties in getting a dermatology referral from their GP, unacceptable dermatology waiting times, and even some NHS trusts making the decision not to allow dermatology appointments for alopecia patients. \"There is no longer the excuse of there being no licensed treatment available. I urge key decision-makers within the NHS to keep referral pathways open for patients with alopecia areata,\" she said. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A medicine called ritlecitinib, or Litfulo, has been recommended by the NHS in England for severe hair loss, alopecia, potentially helping up to 14,000 people. The daily pill fights inflammation to promote hair growth and is licensed for those aged 12 and over. Scotland is currently considering its availability on the NHS as well." + }, + { + "article": "A ceasefire in Gaza could help get food supplies in for Palestinian civilians and bring Israeli hostages out A Hamas delegation has left talks in Cairo without a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza, but the armed group says indirect negotiations with Israel are not over. It had been hoped that a 40-day truce could be in place for the start of the Islamic month of Ramadan next week. With more signs of a famine looming, international pressure has only grown. But Egyptian and Qatari mediators have struggled to seal a deal that would see Hamas free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Israel did not send a delegation to Cairo, saying it first wanted a list of the surviving hostages who could be released under the agreement. Hamas said Israel did not accept its demands for displaced Palestinians to be able to return to their homes nor a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gazan cities. The war in Gaza began when Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 30,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says. A Hamas statement said its delegation left Cairo on Thursday morning \"for consultation with the leadership of the movement, with negotiations and efforts continuing\". Later, a Palestinian official familiar with the talks told the BBC: \"The movement informed the brothers in Egypt and Qatar that it is open to negotiation to stop the aggression against our people.\" The delegation had \"presented the minimum required by the Palestinians to stop the war, which is the return of the displaced, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and allowing humanitarian aid and reconstruction\", they added. Egyptian state-affiliated TV channel al-Qahera cited a senior source as saying that the negotiations would resume next week. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told reporters that he could not comment on the status of the talks. But he said: \"Needless to say, Israel will do whatever it takes to release our hostages. We've made very, very clear - and this has been reiterated by the US - that, unfortunately, it is Hamas who is the stumbling block right now by not telling us who is alive and who they have in their custody.\" The US ambassador to Israel meanwhile stressed that it was a mistake to think that the negotiations were over. \"There are still conversations going on. There's still back and forth. The differences are being narrowed,\" Jack Lew said at a conference in Tel Aviv. \"Everyone's looking towards Ramadan, which is coming close. I can't tell you that it will be successful, but it is not yet the case that it is broken down.\" Hostages' families and other Israelis have been putting pressure on Israel's government to agree a deal with Hamas On Wednesday, the US state department said it believed the obstacles raised were \"not insurmountable and a deal can be reached\". The proposed agreement would reportedly see 40 Israeli hostages released in exchange for about 10 times as many Palestinian prisoners being freed from Israeli jails. More than 130 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas. Israeli officials have said that at least 30 of them are dead. Over the course of a proposed 40-day truce, there would be a surge in desperately needed aid entering into Gaza. During a week-long ceasefire in late November, 105 hostages - most of them women and children - were freed in return for some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Without a new deal, there is a higher threat of a further spread of tensions during Ramadan, which this year is due to begin on Sunday or Monday, depending on the lunar calendar. In another statement on Thursday, Hamas again called on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to go to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem - Islam's third holiest site - during Ramadan to increase pressure on Israel to end the war. The site - which is also the holiest place in Judaism, known as the Temple Mount - has often been a flashpoint for violence in the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on Thursday that Israelis \"must close ranks\" and resist pressure to end the military's campaign in Gaza to eliminate Hamas. He also reiterated that troops would eventually launch an assault on the southern city of Rafah, where an estimated 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. \"Whoever tells us not to act in Rafah is telling us to lose the war and that will not happen,\" Mr Netanyahu said, describing the city as \"Hamas's last stronghold\". Meanwhile, amid reports of further deaths in Gaza from starvation, the UK and the US are pressing Israel to increase the flow of aid. President Joe Biden is set to announce that the US military will construct a port in Gaza to get more humanitarian aid into the territory by sea, senior US officials say - but this is likely to take \"a number of weeks\" and the 7th Transportation Brigade's military ships have not yet left the US. On Thursday the US and Jordanian militaries carried out another joint airdrop of 38,000 meals over northern Gaza, where the UN estimates that 300,000 people are facing catastrophic levels of hunger and children are dying of malnutrition and dehydration. However, the World Food Programme warned that airdrops were \"not an option for averting famine\" among so many people and urged Israel to allow it to use the Israeli port of Ashdod to deliver aid to the north. Israel blamed the UN for aid distribution problems. It said 11 private sector aid lorries entered the north overnight and insisted there was \"no limit to the amount and movement of aid to northern Gaza\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Hamas has left Cairo without a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza, but indirect negotiations with Israel are ongoing, despite Israel not sending a delegation. The hope for a 40-day truce ahead of Ramadan has been dashed, with both sides struggling to agree on terms, including the release of Israeli hostages and the lifting of the blockade on Gaza. International pressure is mounting to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, with the US planning to construct a port in Gaza for aid delivery, but this is a long-term solution." + }, + { + "article": "Kylie Minogue: \"It feels totally surreal and amazing to win the global icon award - I feel more in love with music than ever\" The Brit Awards are known for outlandish outfits and splashes of colour - and while many stars chose to showcase bright outfits, a sizable number opted for a more sombre black. Oh, and there was also a giraffe. Singer-songwriter Raye reflected on her record-breaking nominations, saying: \"I've got tears in my eyes already, I've got waterproof eyeliner on.\" She said all she had ever wanted was to be \"an albums artist\". Six-time Brits winner and triple nominee Dua Lipa smouldered in a fitted, black leather sculpted dress by Donatella Versace. She said she loves to \"add a little bit of danger to my performances\", and that \"it's all just about having fun and creating a spectacle\". She opened the show with her new song Training Season. Becky Hill, who was up for best dance act, opted for a black outfit which skimmed her upper half while swathing her legs in flowing material. She said she hoped Raye would have the \"record-breaking, history making evening she deserves\". Abigail Morris from The Last Dinner Party, winners of the Brits Rising Star award and the BBC's Sound of 2024 competition, let her dress do the talking. She told the BBC it's a line from one of their songs, explaining: \"I thought it was appropriate for tonight.\" Years and Years singer Olly Alexander, who is this year's UK Eurovision entrant with his song Dizzy, looked dashing in a long silk jacket. It wouldn't be the Brits without at least one unusual outfit, and comic Rob Beckett obliged by climbing inside an inflatable giraffe. Let's hope he sits at the back so he doesn't block anyone's view. Charli XCX was as colourful as the Brits logo board behind her, in a dress made from a patchwork of colours and materials with a resin bodice. Musician Jacob Collier, who is known for wearing colourful outfits, opted for oversized neon silk, with flowing purple trousers. Tr\u00e9 Cool and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day also went for black as their key outfit colour. Ella Henderson stood out from the crowd in a huge, black hat - she's nominated for React, along with Switch Disco. One of the show's presenters, Maya Jama, channelled her inner mermaid in a sweeping black, corseted dress. Another host, Clara Amfo, wore emerald green with fishnet tights and platform shoes. Singer Jess Glynne looked regal in pink and crimson, with strong eye makeup to match. Singer Rebecca Ferguson, who performed in Liverpool at one of last year's Eurovision semi-finals, said she was excited to see multi-nominated artist Raye perform at the Brits. She also spoke about raising awareness for a new independent body aimed at helping prevent and tackle bullying and harassment in the music industry - the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, Traitors runner-up Mollie Pearce wore a fitted gown on the red carpet, telling the BBC she's got over losing out on the show's \u00a395k prize to Harry Clarke. \"I'm so over it - I'm at the Brits!\" she said. Spice Girl Mel C, a Brit Awards veteran, wore all black, with her bright red fingernails adding a pop of colour. TV and radio host and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Fleur East wore a figure-hugging outfit which showed off her baby bump. RnB singer Young Athena spread her wings in readiness for the ceremony.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Kylie Minogue expressed her excitement and gratitude for winning the Global Icon award at the Brit Awards, stating her enduring love for music. The event saw a mix of vibrant and black outfits on the red carpet, with notable mentions including Raye's emotional response to her nominations, Dua Lipa's leather dress, and unique outfits from Olly Alexander and Rob Beckett, who arrived in an inflatable giraffe costume." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. See inside the Airbnb after it had been trashed by a puppy seller An Airbnb owner was left horrified after discovering her Highlands property had been trashed by a puppy seller over the course of three days. \"Superhost\" Tracey Parsons, 55, had rented out the cottage, near Inverness, to a woman for 10 days last weekend. But on Tuesday, 14 puppies and a dog were discovered at the property which was covered in dog faeces and rubbish. \"I was absolutely stunned,\" Ms Parsons said. \"I couldn't believe it.\" She said she and her partner David Bradley, 55, had been alerted by a neighbour who had seen what she believed to be an abandoned car containing puppies. On knocking at the cottage, she had been hit by a foul smell and dogs yapping. Tracey Parsons and her partner David Bradley were horrified to see the mess in the cottage Mr Bradley attended the property where he found a couple outside waiting to buy a puppy. They told him they were paying \u00a31,500 for it. They left after seeing photographs from inside. \"The woman who had rented the cottage wasn't going to let my partner in,\" Ms Parsons told BBC Scotland News. \"He was absolutely gobsmacked at what he saw.\" Ms Parsons also went to the property where she said she found the inside of the cottage covered in dog faeces. Ms Parsons said there was dog faeces everywhere \"It was right up the walls and bins were full of it,\" she said. \"It was also on the floor wrapped in kitchen roll and had blocked the toilet. \"The puppies were caked in it and they stank. \"The woman just let them poo and wee everywhere. She even managed to break the washing machine.\" Ms Parsons said: \"It's just shocking. This is the Highlands. It's quiet. People don't do that here. \"We have rented out the cottage for a few years and it's always been left in an immaculate condition. We've never had any problems before.\" She also said some of the puppies were in a cage which also contained metal lids from dog food cans. It is understood by BBC Scotland News that the puppy seller, who booked the cottage under the name Rachel Tidey but has sent emails to the BBC from Camille Harland, has now been suspended from Airbnb. She claimed some of the mess had been caused by the police allowing puppies to \"run loose for a few hours\". \"It was not all pre-existing damage,\" she said. \"I did offer to clean and pay for cleaning fees but the owners told me to leave. \"The puppies are all registered to me and were found to be healthy by the SSPCA and the police said there was no evidence of a crime being committed.\" She added that the information about the couple waiting at the property to buy a puppy was not accurate as she did not usually charge that price for a puppy. Ms Parsons said there were two litters of puppies and that the Scottish SPCA estimated one of them to be five or six weeks weeks old and the other a few weeks older. \"When I rang Airbnb to tell them what had happened the man said 'but you're dog friendly',\" she said. \"I couldn't believe it.\" The couple have spent two days having the cottage deep cleaned before being repainted. \"It will be a couple of weeks before we can have guests in again,\" Ms Parsons said. \"On the day, I felt like giving up. I just thought it's not worth the stress. \"It does put you off a bit and makes you more wary but we've now bought a security camera for the outside of the house. \"You just have to get on with it.\" Some of the puppies were found inside a car The couple called in the police and Scottish SPCA. The puppies were originally seized by the charity but were returned to the owner. Scottish SPCA inspector Andy Brown said the charity was called out to the cottage on Tuesday after receiving reports of puppies being left in a vehicle for days. \"When we attended there were no dogs in the vehicle,\" he said. \"A number of puppies were being kept in the property, along with their mum, and we had these animals checked over by a vet. \"The vet had no concerns over their health. We are continuing to work with the owner of these animals to ensure they are being appropriately cared for.\" A Police Scotland spokesperson said: \"Officers attended along with a partner agency and carried out inquiries. No criminality was established, and no further police action was taken.\" A spokesperson for Airbnb said: \"We were deeply saddened to hear about this and our specialist team is in touch with the host to provide support. \"We stand ready to assist both the police and Scottish SPCA with any investigation. Our dedicated law enforcement portal allows police forces to contact us with a suspected issue, while residents can use our Neighbourhood Support Line to report urgent concerns.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An Airbnb owner in the Scottish Highlands found her property severely damaged and covered in dog feces after a puppy seller rented it and left 14 puppies and a dog inside. The seller, who has been suspended from Airbnb, claimed some of the mess was caused by the police, but the Scottish SPCA found no evidence of animal cruelty, and the puppies were returned to her." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Kemi Badenoch says MPs linked to leadership speculation should \"stop it\" Conservative MPs speculating about ousting Rishi Sunak as prime minister should \"stop it\", Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has said. Reports have been swirling in recent days that some Conservative MPs want Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt to replace him. But Ms Badenoch told BBC Breakfast this was only \"a small minority of MPs\". It comes after a difficult week for the PM, with former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson defecting to Reform UK. Mr Sunak also faced criticism over the way he handled allegations of racist comments made by a major Tory donor. Asked about reports that support was gathering around Ms Mordaunt as a potential replacement for the PM, Ms Badenoch said: \"I'm sure if Penny was here she would be distancing herself from those comments. \"I've been saying for a long time that the small minority of MPs who think that this is something to be talking about should stop it.\" She added: \"I don't think there is very much to these rumours... We need to make sure one or two MPs cannot dominate the news narrative, when 350 plus MPs have different views.\" Currently only two Tory MPs have publicly called for Mr Sunak to resign - Sir Simon Clarke and Dame Andrea Jenkyns. Asked about calls from some Tories for him to quit, the prime minister insisted his party was \"united in wanting to deliver a brighter future for our country\". \"I'm not interested in Westminster politics, it doesn't matter. What matters is the future of our country,\" he added. Those close to Ms Mordaunt believe responding to rumours of a leadership plot publicly would give them more credence than they deserve. Popular with the party's grassroots, she previously stood to be party leader in both contests in 2022. As leader of the House of Commons, her public profile was raised when she played a key role in the King's Coronation, holding a ceremonial sword for more than an hour. Former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said it was \"too late\" to replace Mr Sunak as PM. \"There comes a moment in time in the electoral cycle where you effectively put on your best suit, you stand up and you march towards the sound of the guns and you get on with it,\" the Tory MP told Times Radio. In an attempt to shift the focus to the economy, Downing Street issued a statement from Mr Sunak on Sunday night vowing that 2024 \"will be the year Britain bounces back\". The PM said he hoped to see \"more progress\" on inflation when the latest official figures are released on Wednesday. \"There is now a real sense that the economy is turning a corner with all the economic indicators pointing in the right direction,\" he added. However, some Tories are concerned the cut to National Insurance in the Budget failed to boost the party's poll ratings. Penny Mordaunt had a key role at the King's Coronation last year On Monday Mr Sunak also set out a series of reforms to create up to 20,000 more apprenticeships and cut red tape for small businesses at a conference in Warwickshire. From 1 April, the government will pay the full cost of apprenticeships for people aged 21 or under at small firms, backed by \u00a360m of new investment for next year. Last week the prime minister came under pressure over his response to comments allegedly made by Tory donor Frank Hester about Diane Abbott. Mr Hester, who has donated at least \u00a310m to the party, reportedly said the MP made him want to \"hate all black women\". The businessman apologised for making \"rude\" comments but said his words \"had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin\". Downing Street initially declined to describe the remarks as racist but later did. It came after Ms Badenoch, who also serves as equalities minister, had already said the comments, as reported, were racist and \"appalling\". The PM has rejected calls from opposition parties to return the money Mr Hester has donated to the Tories, arguing he had apologised and his \"remorse should be accepted\". Asked if she was comfortable with her party keeping the donations, Ms Badenoch said: \"Yes\u2026 I thought that the comments were racist but he has apologised. I think when people apologise, we need to accept that and move on.\" She added that the row was \"a distraction\" and \"nowhere near the priorities of any of my constituents\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch has urged colleagues speculating about replacing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to \"stop it,\" stating that it's a small minority of MPs causing unrest. Despite recent challenges, including a defection and criticism over handling racist comments, Sunak maintains support and is focusing on economic recovery and apprenticeship reforms." + }, + { + "article": "Bereaved relatives hold a minute's silence in Londonderry's Peace Flame Garden to recall loved ones who died in the pandemic Families who lost loved ones during the Covid pandemic have been taking part in events across Northern Ireland to remember those who died. They have been organised by the Memory Stones of Love group, which was set up by families wanting to remember their loved ones together. Events are taking place across the UK on Sunday to remember lives lost as part of a national day of reflection. In Londonderry bereaved families took part in a walk across the Peace Bridge. A minute's silence was then held in the city's Peace Flame Garden. Ciaran Ward's parents Bredge and Owen Ward, from Strabane, County Tyrone, died within 12 hours of each other in November 2020. Ciaran Ward, whose parents died on the same day during the Covid pandemic \"Today is a special day for all of the bereaved families to come together to grieve together to remember their loved ones,\" Mr Ward told BBC News NI. \"For myself, during the pandemic to lose Mum and Dad, it feels surreal, it still doesn't feel real.\" Mr Ward recalled being unable to visit his parents in hospital due to the strict measures put in place at the time to reduce transmission of the Covid-19 virus. \"Not being able to see them - everyone in life wants to be with their family as they pass away,\" he said. \"And they also want to be at home. And for us, for Mum and Dad - they were denied that.\" He added: \"It's important that as a collective society that we all come together and we remember the horror that has happened and the trauma that has happened for so many people.\" Catriona Myles whose schoolteacher dad Gerry McLarnon died during the pandemic Catriona Myles's father Gerry McLarnon was 67 when he died during the pandemic. She recalled how her dad, who suffered from cancer, died without family members present when he was admitted to hospital in December 2020 after contracting Covid. The annual day of reflection is \"so important for the families\", she said. She said she was at Sunday's event \"to bring comfort, compassion and solidarity to other families that have faced the same losses as ourselves\". \"Everyone wants to move on and I understand that as a society we need to move on but, for the families, there are so many questions unanswered,\" she added. \"And it's a very lonely place that we're in a lot of the time.\" Families also attended events in Belfast and Enniskillen to remember those who died. Brenda Doherty, whose mother Ruth died during the pandemic, at a craft event in Belfast on Sunday organised by Memory Stones of Love In Belfast Memory Stones of Love organised a the craft event, from which bereaved family members planned to walk together to Belfast City Hall, which will be lit up yellow in memory of those who died. Last year the group laid more than 300 memory stones in the shape of a heart outside City Hall. The stones were individually painted and bore the name of a loved one who died in the pandemic. Other public buildings across Northern Ireland, including the Guildhall in Derry, will also be illuminated yellow on Sunday evening as a mark of respect.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Families in Northern Ireland, who lost loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic, participated in events organized by the Memory Stones of Love group to remember their deceased family members. A national day of reflection was observed across the UK, with a minute's silence held in Londonderry's Peace Flame Garden, and similar events in Belfast and Enniskillen." + }, + { + "article": "Galopin Des Champs is already being lined up for a shot at a third Gold Cup by his trainer Willie Mullins Galopin Des Champs defended the Cheltenham Gold Cup to crown a historic week for trainer Willie Mullins. The 10-11 favourite, ridden by Paul Townend, won in style from Gerri Colombe with Corach Rambler third. It was a fourth Gold Cup victory in six years for Mullins, who reached 100 Cheltenham Festival wins on Wednesday. In the race's centenary year, he is the first trainer to win twice with two different horses after also scoring with Al Boum Photo in 2019 and 2020. Galopin Des Champs had to contend with the attentions of loose horse Fastorslow, who had earlier unseated JJ Slevin, but Townend kept his cool to become only the second jockey after Pat Taaffe to win the Gold Cup four times The winner had always been prominent and secured victory by three and a half lengths from Gerri Colombe (13-2) with Grand National winner Corach Rambler a further nine and a half lengths behind. \"I think he just put himself into the superstar category, to do what he did and the way he did it with the loose horse,\" said Mullins. \"We will come back and try to win it for a third time. He has the ability to do it.\" Townend said of his mount: \"What makes him a champion? His heart probably. We had to go through reserves which only special horses have. \"I don't even remember my thought process in dealing with the loose horse to be honest. All you are doing is reacting in a split second, so it's kind of instinct and luck.\" Willie Mullins has now won four Gold Cups It was a return to normal business for Mullins at Cheltenham after a blank day on Thursday as he took Friday's opening two races. Majborough claimed the Triumph Hurdle for the trainer's seventh victory of the week. The 6-1 winner, ridden by Mark Walsh for owner JP McManus, led home a Mullins 1-2 with Kargese in second. Absurde, a 12-1 chance who won last year's Ebor Handicap on the Flat before finishing seventh in the Melbourne Cup, claimed the County Hurdle under Townend. That sealed the leading trainer title at the Festival for the 11th time in the last 14 years. Gordon Elliott, the last man other than Mullins to top the standings in 2018, took the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle with 33-1 chance Stellar Story as jockey Sam Ewing secured his first Festival win. It denied former football manager Harry Redknapp another winner with his horse The Jukebox Man, trained by Ben Pauling, just edged out. Redknapp savoured success 24 hours earlier with stablemate Shakem Up'Arry. Sine Nomine, ridden by John Dawson, took the Hunters' Chase for trainer Fiona Needham. Needham, clerk of the course at Catterick, had also won the race in the same colours as a jockey 22 years ago on Last Option, owned, trained and bred by her father Robin Tate. Mullins was denied in the Paddy Power Mares' Chase as Dinoblue was edged out by Limerick Lace (3-1), who won for jockey Keith Donoghue and trainer Gavin Cromwell in a 1-2 for owner JP McManus. The concluding Martin Pipe Hurdle went to Elliott and rider Danny Gilligan with Better Days Ahead. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Trainer Willie Mullins' horse Galopin Des Champs won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, securing a fourth victory in six years for Mullins and making him the first to win twice with two different horses in the race's centenary year. Jockey Paul Townend, who also won his fourth Gold Cup, kept his cool amidst a loose horse distraction, leading Galopin Des Champs to a three and a half length victory over Gerri Colombe, with plans to aim for a third win in the future." + }, + { + "article": "Ms Donelan has admitted she was wrong Cabinet minister Michelle Donelan has been told to pay an undisclosed sum and apologised to a professor after falsely suggesting she supported Hamas. The science secretary made the claim about Prof Kate Sang, an academic at Heriot Watt University, in a letter posted on social media in October. The sum paid was covered by taxpayers to prevent prolonged legal costs, the BBC has been told. Prof Sang said Ms Donelan had attacked her to make a \"cheap political point\". The letter followed the appointment of Prof Sang, as well as Dr Kamna Patel of University College London, to an advisory group on equality, diversity and inclusion at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a public body which manages the government's research funding. Ms Donelan accused both women of sharing extremist content online and claimed they had breached the Nolan principles, which set out how public officials should behave. She also suggested Professor Sang had expressed sympathy and support for Hamas. Prof Sang had earlier shared a Guardian article about government plans to clamp down on pro-Palestine marches and called the plans \"disturbing\", while Dr Patel had retweeted a post describing Israel's actions in Gaza as \"genocide and apartheid\". Ms Donelan - who has been secretary of state for science, innovation and technology since February - spoke of her \"disgust and outrage\" at the appointments and called on UKRI to remove both women from the group. A months-long investigation by UKRI found no evidence that either Prof Sang or Dr Patel had breached their roles' terms of reference or the Nolan principles. In a statement posted to X on Tuesday, Ms Donelan admitted she was wrong and had \"misunderstood\" the social media posts. She said she had deleted her original post and fully accepted that Prof Sang was \"not an extremist, a supporter of Hamas or other proscribed organisation\". Hamas, or in some cases its armed wing alone, is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the US, the EU, and the UK, among others. Prof Sang said: \"I am delighted that this matter has now concluded, but very disturbed by the way in which Michelle Donelan and UKRI behaved. \"Had they asked me at the start, I would have explained the true position. Instead, Michelle Donelan made a cheap political point at my expense and caused serious damage to my reputation. \"I propose to donate part of the damages she has paid to a charity.\" Dr Patel described the experience as \"distressing\", saying she was \"glad\" the process had concluded. She said: \"There was never any need for UKRI to investigate as it should have been obvious from the start that we had not breached the Nolan principles or expressed extremist views.\" A Downing Street source said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had \"full confidence\" in \"excellent minister\" Ms Donelan. Shadow science secretary Peter Kyle said accusing a researcher of sharing extremist material and sympathising with a proscribed group was a \"new low in government standards\". The payment to Prof Sang came from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The payment was made to reduce the overall costs to the taxpayer that could result from protracted legal action, the BBC understands. Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the public would be \"shocked\" by the use of taxpayer funds for the payment and called for a Cabinet Office inquiry to establish \"exactly what happened, whether any rules were broken and how much public money was spent\". Correction 6th March 2024: The headline was changed to clarify that Michelle Donelan did not pay the damages herself.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Science Secretary Michelle Donelan has apologized and paid an undisclosed sum, covered by taxpayers, to Professor Kate Sang after falsely accusing her of supporting Hamas. Donelan's claim, made in a letter on social media, was found to be wrong following an investigation by UK Research and Innovation, which cleared Prof. Sang of any breach of conduct." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Hunt: We will only cut taxes in a responsible way Jeremy Hunt has hinted that he will introduce tax cuts when he delivers the Budget on Wednesday. The chancellor has been under growing pressure from Tory MPs to lower taxes, which are currently at a historic high. Speaking to the BBC, he said he wanted to \"show a path\" towards a lower-tax economy, though stressed that he would only do so in a \"responsible\" way. Labour said people would be worse off whatever he does \"thanks to 14 years of Tory failure\". Among the measures Mr Hunt is believed to be considering is a further cut to national insurance, already reduced from 12% to 10% in last year's Autumn Statement. In an interview with the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Hunt said the Budget, when the government sets out its plans for tax and spending, would be about \"long-term growth\". \"When we look around the world, the economies that are growing fastest, whether it's North America or Asia, tend to be the ones with lower taxes,\" he said. Mr Hunt suggested the government has always said it would only cut taxes in a way that was \"responsible and prudent\". He continued: \"The most unconservative thing I could do would be to cut taxes by increasing borrowing. \"But I do want, where it's possible to do so responsibly, to move towards a lower-tax economy, and I hope to show a path in that direction.\" Despite last year's national insurance cuts, and with a general election due by the end of January, the overall amount of tax people pay is on course to reach record levels. At the start of this year, the government's independent economic forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), estimated the chancellor would have around \u00a330bn of \"headroom\" for the Budget. That estimate came after a sharp fall in borrowing costs, and would have provided more scope for tax cuts. But since then, borrowing costs have begun to rise again and by the middle of last month, the BBC understands the figure was back to its November level of roughly \u00a313bn. With the government's spending rules and the OBR breathing down his neck on one side, and the Tory backbenches who want the historically high taxes cut, it is not a comfortable position. However, there is wide expectation at Westminster that he will reduce some taxes, even if the moves are not significant. Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said: \"The chancellor says he wants to cut taxes, but it is the Tories who have raised taxes to their highest level in 70 years. \"No matter what the chancellor does in the Budget this week, working people will be worse off thanks to 14 years of Tory failure.\" Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank, told the BBC that any tax cut in the Budget was \"likely to be undone after the next election, whoever wins\". The IFS has also warned that further reducing taxes is likely to mean spending cuts in the future. Asked if the government should be spending more on public services, rather than tax cuts, Mr Hunt said: \"I think what most people want is better public services and a lower tax burden. \"The only way that we have a chance of delivering something like that is by spending the money that we spend on public services much more efficiently.\" The government has already announced an \u00a3800m package of reforms aimed at freeing up NHS and police time, for example using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to cut NHS scan times and drones to assess incidents such as traffic collisions. Former chief economist at the Bank of England Andy Haldane told the programme he thought the government's self-imposed spending limits - known as \"fiscal rules\" - were \"stunting\" economic growth and constraining the chancellor's decisions. These include getting debt as a proportion of the size of the economy falling in five years. Mr Hunt said he did not agree the government should change its fiscal rules because \"people would interpret that as Britain losing control of its finances\". Recent memories of the meltdown in the financial markets following Liz Truss's mini-Budget in 2022 - which included \u00a345bn of unfunded tax cuts - are a reminder of why such rules exist. But there does seem to be growing disquiet that the system that is meant to guarantee stability can have a negative impact too. Meanwhile, the chancellor is also considering other measures to raise revenue, including a new tax on vapes and scrapping non-dom tax status. People with non-domiciled status are UK residents whose home for tax purposes is abroad. Under the current system, they do not have to pay UK tax on money they make overseas. Mr Hunt has previously defended the tax status, arguing it helps make the UK an attractive place for well-off people to live and work. Labour has pledged to abolish non-dom status and spend the money generated on schools and the NHS. If the party backs any tax cuts the chancellor announces, which they are expected to do, this would leave questions over how some of their spending pledges would be funded. Mr Hunt refused to comment on any potential changes to specific taxes. However, he told the BBC: \"The country sees through gimmicks and we are not going to do gimmicks on Wednesday.\" What are you hoping to see in Wednesday's Budget? You can get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hints at tax cuts in the upcoming Budget, emphasizing the need for responsibility and a path towards a lower-tax economy, while Labour accuses the Tories of making people worse off due to high taxes. Hunt is considering measures like further reducing national insurance, but faces the challenge of balancing pressure from Tory MPs and the need for fiscal prudence." + }, + { + "article": "A judge in the US state of Delaware has annulled a $55.8bn (\u00a344bn) pay deal awarded to Elon Musk in 2018 by the electric car company Tesla. The lawsuit was filed by a shareholder who argued that it was an overpayment. Judge Kathaleen McCormick found Tesla directors, who negotiated the pay package, were \"perhaps starry eyed\" due to Mr Musk's \"superstar appeal\" and did not fully inform shareholders. She said the deal was \"unfathomable\" and ruled it should be cancelled. The pay deal was the biggest ever in US corporate history, helping to make Mr Musk the richest person in the world. Bloomberg and Forbes estimated his net worth to be between $198bn (\u00a3162bn) and $220bn (\u00a3180bn), in November 2023. Tesla's package tied Mr Musk's compensation to performance targets, such as Tesla's share price and profitability, but he does not receive a salary. Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta felt the tycoon was being overpaid. Despite owning just nine Tesla shares he launched legal action calling for the award to be rescinded. He said shareholders were not given enough information about how easily Mr Musk's performance goals would be achieved. Following years of legal argument, a week-long trial commenced in November 2022 where Tesla directors argued the huge pay award was designed to ensure that Mr Musk, one of the world's most dynamic entrepreneurs, would continue to dedicate his attention to the company. As well as being the chief executive and a major shareholder of Tesla, Mr Musk owns several other companies, including the social media platform X, the rocket company SpaceX, and the brain chip firm Neuralink, dividing his time between them. But in her 201-page ruling released on Tuesday, Judge McCormick said that incentivising Mr Musk was not the main reason for the oversized pay package. Rather, the Tesla directors had been \"swept up by the rhetoric\" surrounding the often controversial chief executive, she said. Moreover, Mr Musk had \"extensive ties\" with members of Tesla's compensation committee, she said, citing his 15-year business and personal relationship with committee chair, Ira Ehrenpreis. Mr Musk was also \"close friends\" with another committee member, Antonio Gracias, with business dealing stretching back two decades, she said. Board members James Murdoch and Linda Johnson Rice were not on the compensation committee but were found to have been involved in the process. The judge said Mr Murdoch had became a friend of Mr Musk's after he purchased a Tesla Roadster in 2006 or 2007. The pair took family holidays together to Israel, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Judge McCormick noted Mr Musk along with his brother Kimbal, who also sits on Telsa's board, recused themselves from \"most of the meetings and all of the votes on the 2018\" pay package. But she said five of the six directors who voted on the pay package \"were beholden to Musk or had compromising conflicts\". She also said many of the documents the Tesla directors cited as proof of a fair process were \"drafted, pushed out, or endorsed\" by Todd Maron, Mr Musk's divorce-attorney-turned-general-counsel. His \"admiration for Musk moved Maron to tears during his deposition,\" she noted. \"The Compensation Committee and Musk were not on different sides. They did not acknowledge the existence of a conflict. It was a cooperative and collaborative process,\" she wrote. Following the release of the ruling, Greg Varallo, an attorney for the Tesla shareholder Mr Tornetta, said it was a \"good day for the good guys,\" in an email reported by the Reuters news agency. Mr Musk responded to the judgement with a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. It said: \"Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware\". \"I recommend incorporating in Nevada or Texas if you prefer shareholders to decide matters,\" he added. He then posted a poll asking his followers whether or not Tesla should \"change its state of incorporation to Texas, home of its physical headquarters\". Many big companies, including the likes of Tesla and Amazon, are registered in the state of Delaware, which is known for having light taxation. Shares in Tesla were down by around 2.5% in extended New York trade. They have lost more than 20% of their value so far this year. When Tesla put forward Mr Musk's original 10-year pay package in 2018, it attracted widespread public attention. Several shareholder advisory groups recommended voting against the plan, saying it was overly generous. Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School, told the BBC it was \"hard to justify a transaction like this\", given Mr Musk's influence over the board. \"He treats Tesla like his own, but even if he calls himself the 'Techno-king of Tesla', he is not the majority owner,\" Prof Quinn added. After selling a large chunk of his stake in Tesla to buy X, Mr Musk currently owns about 13% of the electric carmaker but has recently said he wants a bigger stake in the firm.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A Delaware judge has annulled Elon Musk's $55.8bn pay deal with Tesla, ruling that the board was influenced by the CEO's \"superstar appeal\" and did not properly inform shareholders. The lawsuit, filed by a shareholder, argued that the 2018 package was an overpayment; the judge found that five of the six directors who approved it had conflicts of interest or were beholden to Musk." + }, + { + "article": "The judge overseeing an election interference case against Donald Trump in Georgia has thrown out some criminal charges, but left most in place. Judge Scott McAfee found six counts in the 41-count indictment against Mr Trump and some of his co-defendants, including Rudy Giuliani, lacked detail. But he said the charges can be refiled at a later date. Mr Trump was among 19 people charged with a conspiracy to overturn the state's 2020 election results. \"The lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned's opinion, fatal,\" Judge McAfee wrote in his order on Wednesday. He said the charges do not provide the accused with enough information to prepare their legal defences \"intelligently\", adding that \"this does not mean the entire indictment is dismissed\". Mr McAfee was randomly assigned the Trump case in 2023, just six months after being appointed as a judge by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican. He previously worked as a prosecutor, including for the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat who led the investigation into the former president. Mr McAfee's ruling affects three of the 13 charges against Mr Trump. They relate to a call Mr Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he told him: \"All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.\" One of the charges accused the former president of soliciting public officials to break the law by violating their oath of office. But Mr McAfee said the indictment was not specific enough about exactly what Mr Trump wanted the officials to do. The other dismissed charges apply to some of his most prominent co-defendants: Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Mark Meadows. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Donald Trump: \"I just want to find 11,780 votes\" In his order, Judge McAfee said the charges \"contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited\". It comes as a win for Mr Trump and his co-defendants, who had filed to dismiss the charge. Prosecutors could now choose to refile the charges with more information in their allegation, or let the ruling stand and focus on the other charges. The group had initially faced 41 total charges. The former president is facing up to 20 years in prison in Georgia if convicted of the most severe charge of racketeering. In a statement, Mr Trump's lawyer in the Georgia case, Steve Sadow, called the ruling \"a correct application of the law, as the prosecution failed to make specific allegations of any alleged wrongdoing on those counts\". \"The entire prosecution of President Trump is political, constitutes election interference, and should be dismissed.\" Mr Trump, who is running for president against Joe Biden in November, has slammed the case as politically motivated. The Georgia ruling does not address the defence's effort to dismiss Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over ethics claims that she had an improper relationship with a lawyer she hired to work on the case. Mr McAfee is expected to rule on the the ethics complaint soon. If he finds that his former boss should be removed from the case, a trial could be delayed for months. Mr Trump is the defendant in four criminal cases as well as several civil lawsuits. On Tuesday, the judge in his defamation lawsuit brought by writer E Jean Carroll accepted a $92m (\u00a372m) bond from Mr Trump while the former president appeals against the verdict. A jury in January found Mr Trump owed the former columnist millions of dollars for defamation when he denied he sexually assaulted her. If he loses his appeal, the bond ensures Ms Carroll will be paid. He has also been ordered to pay over $450m to the state of New York after he was found to have committed fraud by lying to banks about the value of his properties.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A Georgia judge has dismissed some criminal charges against Donald Trump and his co-defendants, including Rudy Giuliani, in an election interference case, but allowed most to remain. Judge Scott McAfee ruled that six counts lacked detail, but can be refiled, while the remaining charges, related to a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results, still stand. Trump faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the most severe charge of racketeering." + }, + { + "article": "One Ukrainian soldier was seen kissing the country's national flag after the reported exchange Russia and Ukraine say they have exchanged captured soldiers - the first swap since the crash of a Russian plane that Moscow claimed had 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war (PoWs) on board. Russia's military says each side got 195 soldiers back on Wednesday. Kyiv questions Moscow's claims that Ukrainian PoWs were on the plane that came down last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Wednesday that the Il-76 military transport plane had been downed by Ukraine in the western Belgorod region using an American Patriot system. He provided no proof. The Russian military had previously said that dozens of Ukrainian soldiers were on the plane, which was heading to the area for a prisoner exchange. It said six Russian crew members and three escorting officials were also on board, adding that there were no survivors. Russia has as yet produced no firm evidence of its claims and officials there have a long and proven history of lies and disinformation. Kyiv has not directly denied the Russian statements but says that nothing has been confirmed. Last week, a spokesman for military intelligence in Kyiv told the BBC that he \"does not exclude\" the possibility that PoWs were on the Il-76 plane. Other official statements talk about Ukraine's right to defend itself from Russian missiles, particularly fired from Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border. But many in Ukraine wonder why Russia has not shown images of dozens of dead bodies after the plane crash to back up its assertions. None of the details have been independently verified and both sides have called for an international investigation. Wednesday's exchange is the 50th PoW swap since President Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In a brief statement, the Russian defence ministry said the exchange was completed after negotiations. \"The released military personnel will be transported by military transport aircraft... to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation,\" it said. \"All those released are provided with the necessary medical and psychological assistance,\" the statement said. Footage released by the ministry purportedly shows those exchanged Russian soldiers boarding a bus before their flight to Moscow. Meanwhile, President Zelensky wrote in a post on social media: \"Our people are back. 207 of them. We return them home no matter what. \"We remember every Ukrainian in captivity. Both warriors and civilians. We must bring all of them back,\" he said, thanking Ukraine's top security officials for making the latest exchange possible. Videos filmed by the Ukrainian authorities show the released PoWs spilling off buses, with big grins and shouts of \"Glory to Ukraine!\" One soldier drops to the ground, rolling in the snow, so overjoyed to be back. The men are wearing Russian prison uniforms, their heads are close-shaven and many look gaunt after their time in captivity. Some are in tears, talking to relatives by phone. At the end of the video they all stand, wrapped in Ukraine's national blue-and-yellow flags, and singing the country's anthem. The exchange was kept secret until it happened, for security. Ukraine confirms that the United Arab Emirates was involved as a mediator, as it was earlier this month, but we do not know any details about the negotiations. Ukraine's co-ordination centre for PoWs said among those released were National Guard members, border guards as well as one police officer. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The BBC has verified this video showing the moment a Russian aircraft crashed in the Belgorod region Ukraine has said that none of the 65 men who were due for release last week, and who Russia claims were killed, are among the latest to be swapped. However, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence told the BBC some of the other soldiers who did return on Wednesday, had been due to be swapped in the last exchange. The BBC has spoken to friends and relatives of the 65 still unaccounted for. They do not want to comment publicly, but stress that there is no evidence of anything at this point - and they remain hopeful. \"Of course, we're worried,\" a friend of one prisoner said. \"But there is no information, no proof.\" There are still thousands of Ukrainian PoWs being held in Russia. Their families usually have no contact with them at all, and can know nothing about the men's fate until they are suddenly freed in a prisoner swap. One woman, Tetyana, whose son was captured in Ukraine's south-eastern city of Mariupol in 2022, told the BBC she had heard nothing from her son directly ever since. The last confirmation he was even alive was more than a year ago, when a prisoner who was released confirmed that they had shared a cell. Tetyana described the agony of living with such uncertainty and having to convince herself each day that her son was still alive.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Russia and Ukraine have conducted their first prisoner exchange since the crash of a Russian plane carrying alleged Ukrainian prisoners of war, with each side releasing 195 soldiers. Kyiv remains skeptical of Moscow's claims that the plane was downed by Ukraine using a US Patriot system, and questions the fate of the 65 prisoners Russia says were on board." + }, + { + "article": "Constance Marten and Mark Gordon deny all the charges. The jury in the Constance Marten and Mark Gordon trial has heard there is no legal obligation for a woman to register her pregnancy with the NHS. GP Dr Ehsan Rafiq said there had been a growing tendency for mothers to have a \"free birth\" - without any midwifery or other medical intervention. Ms Marten and Mr Gordon are on trial for the manslaughter of their newborn baby Victoria, whose body was found in an allotment shed in March 2023. They both deny all the charges. It is alleged they had been living with their baby in a tent in a bid to keep the child, after Ms Marten's four other children were taken into care. On the first day of defence evidence being heard Neena Crinnion, the barrister for Mark Gordon, asked Dr Rafiq: \"Is a pregnant woman legally obliged to register the pregnancy with the NHS?\" \"No she is not legally obliged to do that unless there is concerns about their mental capacity,\" he replied. Ms Crinnion asked if a mother was obliged to receive antenatal care or post-natal care. \"No she is not,\" Dr Rafiq said Questioned by Constance Marten's barrister, Francis FitzGibbon KC, he was asked if he would advise a woman who had had four previous children with no complications against a free birth. \"Should there be no concerns in the medical history and she wants a free birth I wouldn't necessarily advise against it,\" Dr Rafiq said. Joel Smith, for the prosecution, asked what he would say if a mother planned to live in a tent with a new-born child in the middle of January. \"I would advise against it,\" Dr Rafiq replied. \"Your strong advice to this hypothetical mother would be 'do not live in a tent with this child in winter?',\" he was asked. Ms Crinnion asked him if the hypothetical woman said she had a number of items to mitigate the risks of sleeping in a tent what would he then say. \"That would be reassuring,\" Dr Rafiq said. Earlier the jury heard from Dr Srinivas Rao Annavarapu, a consultant in paediatric and perinatal pathology at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. He was asked about the placenta found in the couple's burnt-out car on 5 January 2023. \"The placenta pathology is in keeping with a baby that is possibly two to three weeks old, and is term-born,\" Dr Annavarapu said. \"It is not 1-2 days. It is older.\" The defence case is that baby Victoria was born on Christmas Eve 2022. The prosecution has suggested she may have been born later than that. The couple deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Constance Marten and Mark Gordon deny manslaughter charges in the death of their newborn, Victoria, whose body was found in a shed. The trial heard that there is no legal obligation for a woman to register a pregnancy with the NHS, and while Dr. Ehsan Rafiq acknowledged the growing trend of \"free birth,\" he advised against living in a tent with a newborn in winter. Expert testimony suggested the placenta found in the couple's car indicated the baby was likely two to three weeks old, challenging the defense's claim of a Christmas Eve birth." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: BBC Verify looks at Russian ship hit by sea drones A big Russian amphibious ship, the Caesar Kunikov, has been sunk off the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea, according to Ukraine's armed forces. Powerful explosions were heard early on Wednesday, according to local social media, which suggested the landing ship was hit south of the town of Yalta. Ukraine's intelligence directorate released video of what it said were Magura V5 sea drones striking the ship. Satellite images last year showed much of the fleet had left the peninsula for the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Ahead of a Nato ministerial meeting in Brussels, the secretary general of the Western defensive alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said Ukrainian forces had won a \"great victory\" in recent months, inflicting \"heavy losses\" on the Black Sea fleet that had opened a corridor for Ukrainian grain exports. Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine is due to enter its third year next week and Ukraine's armed forces chief has admitted the situation is \"extremely complex and tense\". Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who was appointed commander-in-chief last week, visited the front line on Wednesday and promised that units trying to prevent Russian troops from capturing the flashpoint town of Avdiivka would be reinforced. Avdiivka is almost empty and all but surrounded by Russian forces and one of the soldiers defending it said earlier that the situation there was critical. \"We are doing everything possible to prevent the enemy from advancing deep into our territory,\" he wrote on social media. Overnight, a Russian missile attack claimed three lives including a child in the mining town of Selydove, 40km (25 miles) west of Avdiivka. Officials said four missiles had hit the local hospital and maternity ward, as well as nine blocks of flats. Emergency services said the hospital maternity ward in Selydove had taken the main impact of Tuesday night's attack Several other residents were wounded, including a baby. There was no confirmation from Russia's navy that the Caesar Kunikov had been sunk in the Black Sea, merely that six Ukrainian drones had been destroyed. The Kremlin has also refused to comment on the incident. Video appearing to show the aftermath of the Ukrainian attack was uploaded only recently, BBC Verify confirmed. \"The Caesar Kunikov suffered critical holes in its port side and began to sink,\" Ukraine's main intelligence directorate said on the Telegram messaging site, adding that it had been destroyed off the Crimean coastal town of Alupka in Ukrainian territorial waters by a unit called Group 13. It said an operation to rescue up to 87 crew members had been \"unsuccessful\" and \"according to available information, most were killed\". The Magura V5 unmanned drones the directorate said were used in the attack are made in Ukraine and travel just above the sea surface at a speed up to 42 nautical miles an hour, their manufacturer says. Amphibious ships are used to move assault troops to land quickly, especially in enemy territory, but the chances of them being used for this purpose in Ukraine are almost zero. Instead they are being used to ferry military supplies, in effect as heavily armed transport ships. But several recent incidents have shown that Russian naval vessels can be vulnerable to attacks by numerous low-flying missiles, which can go undetected by radar. They also lack the small-calibre artillery, machine guns and electronic warfare systems needed to take out these drones. Russian military bloggers did not deny the Caesar Kunikov had been hit, saying only that the crew had survived. Russia's military rarely reports major losses and Russians rely on a handful of popular bloggers for information. Also, a former sailor who served on board the Caesar Kunikov told BBC Russian that all the crew, of which there were 89 members, had succeeded in leaving the sinking ship in time. One blogger noted that the ship had met its fate on the same day of the year (14th February) as the man it was named after - a Soviet commando officer and World War Two hero who died of his wounds after a mine explosion in 1943. The Caesar Kunikov dates back to the end of the Soviet era. If its sinking is confirmed, it would be the second successful strike in the Black Sea this month. A small warship, the Ivanovets, was sunk by drones in a special operation almost two weeks ago. Another Russian landing ship, the Novocherkassk, was hit while in port in Feodosiya in December. Russia seized and annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine almost 10 years ago and its forces based there played a big role in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Caesar Kunikov has already been targeted since the war began. It was damaged along with the Novocherkassk in a Ukrainian strike on the occupied port of Berdyansk in March 2022, when a third landing ship, the Saratov, was sunk.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ukraine's armed forces claim to have sunk a Russian amphibious ship, the Caesar Kunikov, off the coast of Crimea using sea drones, with reports of explosions and a rescue operation failing. The incident comes as NATO's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, acknowledges Ukraine's recent victories against the Russian Black Sea fleet, enabling grain exports." + }, + { + "article": "Ukraine estimates that 19,500 children have been deported or forcibly displaced to Russia An international team of investigators say they have tracked down eight Ukrainian children, believed to have been abducted during Russia's invasion. More than 60 detectives used digital open source techniques to trace the missing children who are understood to have appeared in Russian propaganda. Experts from 23 countries joined forces at Europol's headquarters in The Hague. They used advanced facial recognition to find recent images of the children online. As investigators are unable to travel to Russia or Belarus, geolocation experts analysed photos and videos and used satellite data to determine where they were taken. Network data analysis was then able to establish whether multiple children were in the same location. Detectives at the EU's police agency are not revealing either the identities or the whereabouts of the eight children who've been tracked down using open source intelligence, citing potential risks to their safety. Ukrainian police will inform the relatives and possibly open a criminal investigation. However, Ukraine's liaison for Europol said the ultimate goal was \"to bring our children home to their families\". The government in Kyiv estimates that at least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been deported and forcibly displaced from their homes to Russia and Russian-occupied territories since the full scale invasion began in February 2022, and of those only 388 have returned home. The exact figure is unclear, and where they are is mostly unknown. The BBC has compiled evidence from many children who said they were separated from parents, were not allowed to go home or call their relatives. In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the alleged unlawful deportation of children. Russia denies the accusation and says it has protected vulnerable children by moving them from a war zone for their own safety. Maria Lvova-Belova talks of \"rescuing\" Ukrainian children and has repeatedly argued that they are free to go home. She says some 730,000 children have been brought to Russia, most of them with their parents or other relatives, and that 2,000 children were evacuated from Ukrainian orphanages, although she makes no mention of forcible displacement. These children who were deported to Russia took part in a recreational camp in western Ukraine this month Researchers from Yale University in the US mapped the deportation system and found that children were often placed in re-education camps or psychiatric hospitals. Russian authorities have made it easier to adopt a Ukrainian child, change their name and issue them with a Russian passport. The BBC reported last year on the gruelling journeys of Ukrainians to find their children who had been moved deep into Russia. Humanitarian organisation Save Ukraine has managed to rescue at least 95 kidnapped Ukrainian children and will receive the international Four Freedoms Award in the Netherlands in recognition of its achievements. This month18 Ukrainian children who were transferred to Russia and then returned home took part in a recreational camp in Irshava in the Zakarpattia region of western Ukraine, organised by a foundation set up by a Ukrainian billionaire. \u2022 None Ukraine mothers go behind enemy lines to save stolen children", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An international team of investigators, including experts from 23 countries, have located eight Ukrainian children who were believed to have been abducted during Russia's invasion, using advanced digital techniques. Ukraine estimates that 19,500 children have been deported or forcibly displaced to Russia, with only 388 returning home since the invasion began in February 2022. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and a children's rights commissioner over the alleged unlawful deportation of children, while Russia claims it is protecting them." + }, + { + "article": "An increasing number of people are getting behind the wheel after using cannabis and cocaine, according to one of Britain's top police officers. Chief constable Jo Shiner of the National Police Chiefs Council said there was a \"social acceptance\" particularly among younger people. Some forces made more arrests for drug-driving than drink-driving during December crackdowns, the BBC has found. The Home Office said it was clamping down on the behaviour. The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) has released new arrest data following a campaign of roadside testing in December. It suggested that in England and Wales 48.5% of drug tests were positive, while 9.5% of breath tests for alcohol were positive. Merseyside Police said it regularly catches more drug drivers than those over the alcohol limit and the problem is \"highly prevalent\". Other police forces where drug-related arrests exceeded those for drink driving include Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Thames Valley, Greater Manchester, Sussex and North Wales. The BBC joined Merseyside officers on a roadside testing operation in Liverpool on Tuesday morning. Within half an hour, preliminary drug wipe tests had detected cannabis or cocaine in the systems of three drivers. They were also breathalysed but weren't over the limit for alcohol. All three were arrested and taken into custody for a blood test, which will determine whether they face further action. Roads policing inspector Gavin Dixon said 85-90% of these forensic tests - which currently take at least four weeks to come back - do show a level of drugs above the limit. He does not think there is yet the same social stigma around driving after taking drugs, compared with alcohol. \"I think people don't realise it's stays in your system as long [as it does], they don't think the police are out catching drug drivers. The reality is we are.\" Summer Mace, a 24-year-old trainee teacher from King's Lynn, knows all too well the devastating impact drug driving can have. In January last year her mother, sister and stepfather were killed in a head-on collision with a driver who was under the influence of illegal drugs, just a few miles from their home. Now, Summer describes her life as a waking nightmare: \"The moment those people are gone, your whole life has just been destroyed. It's absolutely shattered into a million pieces.\" She wants tougher sentences for anyone caught drug driving, even if they don't cause an accident. \"If you have a harsh sentence that puts someone away, the moment they drug drive, that is going to deter people. But people\u2026. just get a driving ban and a bit of a fine. They're not going to care.\" Chief Constable Shiner also said stronger sentences were needed, particularly where someone was killed or seriously injured. A government spokesperson said: \"We have tough penalties and rigorous enforcement in place to screen suspected drug drivers at the roadside, and people found guilty of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drugs can now face a lifetime prison sentence. It said its 10-year drug strategy would \"further help clamp down... by tackling the supply of illicit drugs whilst building a world class system of treatment for those who abuse drugs to help turn their life around.\" Insp Dixon said: \"Over the last few years we've seen year on year increases. Last year we arrested 2,700 people for drug driving, one of the highest in the country. And I think that's because of the effort and resources we've put into it.\" Merseyside police recorded a particularly high number of drug driving arrests during its December Operation Limit campaign - 469, compared to 191 for drink driving. The NPCC figures did not give a breakdown of drug and drink driving arrest by region so the BBC approached individual forces for their December figures. Police forces where drug-related arrests exceeded those for drink driving include: Jo Shiner, the NPCC's Road Safety Lead, said: \"We're definitely seeing more people who are driving under the influence of drugs. And there seems to be a social acceptance between those groups who do that, that it's okay. It's absolutely not.\" She added that it was notable among younger drivers: \"I think generally in society we're seeing more use of cannabis, for example, and we are definitely seeing that when we are stopping and testing drivers.\" Since 2015 in England and Wales - a few years later in Scotland - it's been an offence to drive with above certain limits of specified illegal or prescription drugs. The law change was designed to make it easier to catch and convict drug drivers, and enabled roadside testing. It was brought in after a campaign by the family of 14-year-old Lillian Groves, who was killed by a speeding driver who had smoked cannabis. People convicted of drug driving may end up with a driving ban of one year or more, a fine, and up to 6 months in prison. Causing death by careless driving under the influence of drugs can carry a life sentence. Katie's partner and dad of her three children Sam Morris was killed in a drug driving collision, she doesn't think people take risks of drug driving, and dangerous driving in general, seriously enough. \"The impact Sam's death has had on us as a family is unmeasurable and continues to unfold as time passes, our daughters are so young that as they grow new questions are asked\", she said in a statement to the BBC. \"I believe that if you cause a death while driving unlawfully whether that is through drink or drugs or any other reason it should be treated as manslaughter. \"The laws around this need to change to bring a small amount of peace to my families like mine and hopefully deter anyone from getting behind the wheel when they are unfit to do so,\" Katie added.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The number of people driving under the influence of cannabis and cocaine is rising in the UK, according to Chief constable Jo Shiner of the National Police Chiefs Council, with some forces making more drug-driving arrests than drink-driving ones. The Home Office is taking action against this trend, as data shows that in December, 48.5% of drug tests were positive compared to 9.5% for alcohol breath tests. There is a call for stricter sentences to deter drug-driving, especially after incidents like the one involving Summer Mace, whose family was killed by a drug-impaired driver." + }, + { + "article": "Scott Benton is now an independent MP Rishi Sunak faces the prospect of another difficult by-election after an independent panel upheld a 35-day suspension of MP Scott Benton. The Blackpool South MP, who was caught in a lobbying scandal, has lost his appeal against the move. MPs will vote on triggering a recall petition that could force a new poll. Mr Benton was caught breaching Commons rules by offering to lobby ministers and table parliamentary questions on behalf of gambling investors. He was elected as a Conservative in 2019 with a 3,690 majority but currently sits as an independent. Mr Benton said he was \"deeply disappointed\" by the decision and claimed there had been a \"lack of integrity\" throughout the process, which was \"prone to regular leaks at every stage\". The MP appealed against both the finding and the suspension, but a report by an independent panel upheld the Standards Committee's original decision, saying there had been \"no procedural flaw\" in the process. The panel also described Mr Benton's arguments as \"misconceived or erroneous\", finding the sanction was \"neither unreasonable nor disproportionate\". The finding means MPs will vote on whether to implement the recommended suspension which, if supported, would trigger a recall petition and a potential by-election in Mr Benton's seat. Mr Benton was the subject of a Times newspaper investigation It raises the prospect of another challenging poll for Mr Sunak after losses in Wellingborough and Kingswood last week. Voters will have six weeks to register their support for Mr Benton's removal - 10% is the threshold needed to trigger a by-election. Labour has urged Mr Benton to resign as an MP completely. Jonathan Ashworth, shadow paymaster general, said: \"Scott Benton should do the decent thing and resign, saving the people of Blackpool South a lengthy recall petition that would leave them without the representation they deserve. \"This is yet another by-election caused by Tory scandal. Britain deserves better than this carousel of Conservative chaos.\" A Blackpool South by-election would be the fourth this year, while defeat would be the 11th time the government had lost a seat since the start of the current Parliament in 2019.Any poll would be unlikely to occur until the end of April or the beginning of May. Mr Benton had claimed the investigation by the Commons Standards Commissioner was \"materially flawed\", alleging the commissioner \"drastically over-reached\" and \"arrived at conclusions which were unsupported by any adequate evidence\". In a new statement, he said: \"I am deeply disappointed by the decision of the appeal panel to uphold the Standards Committee's unjust findings against me. \"The entire process has been prone to regular leaks at every stage, with journalists knowing the details throughout. \"This lack of integrity throughout the process has formed an inescapable appearance of bias.\" He said he had continued to work for his constituents throughout the process. \"My record of activity, both in Blackpool, and in Westminster, where I am among the most frequent contributors to Parliament, speaks for itself,\" he said. \"Since being elected in 2019, I have helped to deliver over \u00a3400m in additional government funding for projects in Blackpool - one of the highest amounts in the country.\" Alistair McCapra, chief executive of lobbying trade association the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, welcomed the panel's decision, saying the footage of Mr Benton recorded by the Times had been \"clear and damning\". He said: \"We need a radical shift in the culture around lobbying in this country and effective and clear rules to support that change. \"Until then we will continue to see unethical, disingenuous and underhand attempts to influence policy and there is good evidence to show the continued damage to public trust in politics associated with it.\" A Conservative seat from 1945 until 1997, Blackpool South went red between 1997 and 2019. Scott Benton then snatched the seaside seat from long-serving Labour MP Gordon Marsden. But now it could be up for grabs again - with a majority of 3,690. Given recent by-election results in less favourable conditions for the Labour Party, they must fancy their chances if one is called here. The path to power for Labour at the next general election could be through winning back seats like these, so the party will mount a strong campaign, with its candidate Chris Webb already primed. Residents here have been hit by the long-term decline of seaside towns, and many in 2019 were enthused by Boris Johnson's Levelling Up policies and the hope that his government could help turn the tide. Now Rishi Sunak could face a strong electoral test in a battleground seat - and it might be tougher than a stick of rock. Why not follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Rishi Sunak faces the possibility of another by-election as MP Scott Benton, who was suspended for 35 days over a lobbying scandal, lost his appeal against the suspension. If MPs vote to support the suspension, a recall petition could be triggered, leading to a by-election in Benton's Blackpool South constituency." + }, + { + "article": "Hundreds of millions of farmed salmon have perished in mass die-offs over the past decade, say researchers. The scientists say that large-scale mortalities are now happening more frequently and at a larger scale than ever before. They argue that warmer seas and greater reliance on technology are contributing to the rise in deaths. This global assessment looked at salmon deaths in some leading producers, including Norway, the UK and Canada. Salmon farming has come a long way since the fish were first grown commercially in cages in Norway in the 1960s. The industry has expanded rapidly in recent decades, with around 70% of salmon eaten around the world now coming from farms. But the aquaculture industry has long been controversial - with significant worries over disease among the fish, escapes to the wild and the overall environmental impact of raising them in cages. Major mortality events, involving the sudden deaths of millions of fish have been well documented, sometimes caused by disease outbreaks but also linked to warmer seas resulting from climate change. In Scotland last year, government data shows that more than 17 million salmon died, the most ever recorded. Producers blamed hotter oceans for the losses. Technology is increasingly being used to monitor salmon, leading to greater risks according to scientists Other countries have experienced even greater mortality. Norway says close to 17% of their farmed fish died suddenly in 2023. To shed some light on these deaths, researchers looked at data from countries producing 92% of farmed salmon over the past decade. The scientists found 865 million instances of farmed salmon dying prematurely during this period. They found that the frequency of the biggest die-offs was rising over time for Norway, Canada and the UK. Not only were they increasing in frequency, the authors said, the die-offs were also getting bigger. The authors estimate that the potential maximum losses for any single mass mortality event are 5.14 million fish in Norway, 5.05 million in Canada and more than one million in the UK. A warming climate is playing a role say the authors - but so is the growing reliance on technology like underwater cameras and AI. \"An increasingly variable ocean environment, largely from climate change, may mean more production sites will be exposed to these events more often,\" said Dr Gerald Singh from the University of Victoria in Canada, the study's lead author. \"In addition, production practices, and technology that is increasingly pushing production into riskier conditions and allowing for greater production per site may expose larger and larger populations of fish to conditions that cause mortalities.\" The authors say that technology such as remote, real-time monitoring of fish farms can help justify placing them in sites farther offshore. A major salmon die off in Chile due to algae However, being further offshore may increase the threats and reduce the chances of operators spotting them early. So the increased reliance on the technology actually leads to greater risks for the fish. Campaigners against salmon farming say this new study is \"alarming\" and underlines the fact that human decisions as well as warmer oceans are playing a role in the discomfort suffered by the fish. \"Mortality is only one of many grave welfare concerns for farmed salmon,\" said Kirsty Jenkins, a policy officer at campaigners OneKind. \"They are plagued by sea lice and disease, suffer from stressful handling and treatments, and live a monotonous life in barren, crowded cages.\" \"The industry has shown itself to be incapable of, or unwilling to, reform, and it must be questioned if salmon farming has any place in a compassionate and sustainable food system.\" Some experts wonder if the industry can survive the increasing frequency of these mass die-offs in major production centres. Dr Singh believes that aquaculture will continue globally, but that mass die-offs with huge clean-up costs might threaten future operations in many communities. \"It's probably unlikely that these events will negate or counter food production at an aggregate global level,\" he told BBC News. \"Instead, these events can have considerable local effects, especially considering welfare of coastal communities and for workers.\" The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Over the past decade, hundreds of millions of farmed salmon have died in mass die-offs, with the frequency and scale of these events increasing, according to researchers. Warmer seas, linked to climate change, and greater reliance on technology for monitoring are contributing factors, as a global assessment reveals 865 million premature salmon deaths in leading producers like Norway, the UK, and Canada. The authors suggest that technology may expose more fish to risky conditions, and campaigners argue that the industry must address welfare concerns and its environmental impact." + }, + { + "article": "The prime minister has backed calls for Alan Bates to be knighted Number 10 has backed calls for Alan Bates to be knighted for his fight for justice in the Horizon scandal. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokeswoman said on Wednesday it would be \"common sense\" to honour him after a mass quashing of convictions was announced. Mr Bates is said to have refused an OBE while ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells still held a CBE. She received that in 2019, in spite of the scandal. MPs and campaigners have called for Mr Bates' honour to be re-submitted now Ms Vennells has agreed to relinquish hers in the face of a public outcry. There have also been a number of online petitions calling for Mr Bates, from Llandudno, Conwy, to be honoured, one of which has more than 80,000 signatures. The scandal has been brought to the fore by ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. It lasted from 1999 and 2015 and saw 736 sub-postmasters unfairly prosecuted due to a faulty IT system Senior minister Esther McVey said she wanted to see Mr Bates knighted \"as soon as possible\". \"Anybody can nominate him and I'm quite sure we will see Sir Alan as soon as possible,\" the Tory MP told GB News. The prime minister's press secretary argued it was \"hard to think of someone more deserving of being rewarded through the honours system than him\". Actor Toby Jones played the postmaster in an ITV drama that has highlighted the scandal Asked if she agreed with Ms McVey about the knighthood the official said: \"That sounds like common sense.\" But Mr Bates told BBC Radio 4's World at One it was \"not about me\". \"It's about the whole group, and it's about getting this money out to people as soon as possible, so they can try and get on with their lives and try and put this behind them,\" he said. His spokesman said: \"Alan Bates clearly has emerged as a hero throughout this for the way in which he has led the campaign, the fortitude and resolve he was shown given everything that has been thrown at him throughout this process. \"Obviously honours have their own independent process, but I'm sure that is something the public would regard as entirely appropriate and we would support.\" Meanwhile, a former sub-postmaster jailed in the Post Office scandal says he is not convinced by Rishi Sunak's latest plan. Noel Thomas, 77, from Anglesey, was locked up for false accounting in 2006 after his books fell short by \u00a348,000. Upon hearing that new legislation is to be rushed in to quash convictions he said he would have to \"wait to see the small print\". He added he has been \"promised a hell of a lot\" so far only for nothing to come of it. Plaid Cymru has called for a review of any contracts held by the Welsh government with Fujitsu - the Japanese company whose system was at the heart of the scandal. Have you been personally affected by the Post Office scandal? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's support has been expressed for Alan Bates to be knighted for his role in fighting for justice in the Post Office Horizon scandal, with calls being made following the quashing of convictions. Bates has refused an OBE, and there are petitions with over 80,000 signatures advocating for his knighthood, especially after former Post Office boss Paula Vennells agreed to give up her CBE amid public outrage." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: What led to Mayorkas' historic impeachment... in two minutes The House of Representatives has narrowly voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, making him the first cabinet member to face impeachment in nearly 150 years. Many Republicans blame Mr Mayorkas for an unprecedented influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border. The Republican-led chamber voted 214 to 213 for the measure, after the first attempt failed last week. The issue now heads to the Democratic-led Senate, where it looks doomed. President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the vote a \"blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship\" and a \"political stunt\". Opponents of Mr Mayorkas accused him of not living up to his oath to \"well and faithfully discharge the duties\" of his office by failing to do more to secure the border. The vote was largely divided along party lines, with 210 Democrats voting against the impeachment. Two Democrats missed the vote owing to illness and a flight delay. Judy Chu of California had Covid and Lois Frankel's plane had a mechanical failure in her home state of Florida. Three Republican defectors - Tom McClintock of California, Ken Buck of Colorado and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin - voted no. The trio also voted against the first attempt to impeach Mr Mayorkas, arguing that impeaching someone who had not committed a serious crime would weaken the constitutional penalty and do little to address the crisis at the border. Mr Gallagher has since announced he won't run for re-election. More than 6.3 million migrants are known to have entered the US illegally since 2021, making immigration a politically contentious issue ahead of the November election. It is a major focus of Donald Trump's campaign to oust Mr Biden from office. In a statement released shortly after the vote, Mr Biden defended Mr Mayorkas, calling him \"an honourable public servant\". \"He has upheld the rule of law faithfully and has demonstrated a deep commitment to the values that make our nation great,\" the president said. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Mia Ehrenberg, accused Republicans of spending their time \"trampling on the constitution\" instead of \"working to solve the serious challenges at our border\". Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said Mr Mayorkas \"deserves to be impeached\". Over the course of two hearings in January, Republicans charged Mr Mayorkas with failing to enforce immigration policies and lying about the border's security. Mr Mayorkas did not testify, although a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said he had offered to do so. On Tuesday night, Republicans were able to secure their narrow victory with an additional vote from House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who had missed last week's vote because he was undergoing treatment for cancer. Impeachment - a process outlined in the US Constitution - marks the first step in removing a federal official for high crimes or misdemeanours. It requires a simple majority in the 435-member House. This then triggers an impeachment trial in the Senate, but a two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate is needed for it to succeed. But Mr Mayorkas seems in no imminent danger of losing his job. The upper chamber of Congress is narrowly controlled by the Democrats and some Republican senators - including James Lankford, Tommy Tuberville and Mitt Romney - have also criticised the impeachment. Mr Lankford told reporters it would be \"dead on arrival\" in the upper chamber. The House is due to present the impeachment articles to the Senate on 26 February when it returns from recess. The last cabinet secretary to be impeached was Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, although he resigned shortly ahead of the vote. A January poll conducted by CBS - the BBC's US partner - suggests that nearly half of Americans view the situation at the border as a crisis, with 63% wanting \"tougher\" policies. The US Customs and Border Protection agency on Tuesday said border crossings were down 50% in January, attributing the dramatic drop to \"seasonal trends, as well as enhanced enforcement efforts\". Experts have also credited increased enforcement by the Mexican government for the drop in migrant \"encounters\" at the border in the wake of a December meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador. In the US, migrant crossings have also shifted geographically to Arizona and California from Texas, where state officials have credited unilateral border security efforts for the shift. Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The House of Representatives has impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, making him the first cabinet member to face impeachment in 150 years, over his handling of the US-Mexico border. The vote, largely along party lines, now moves to the Democratic-led Senate where it is unlikely to pass, with President Biden calling it a \"political stunt." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union \"I have been practising my drop-kicks. We had the advantage so I thought let's go for it.\" Marcus Smith follows in the footsteps of Jonny Wilkinson and George Ford as the latest English fly-half to write his name in drop-goal folklore. Wilkinson delivered the biggest prize of all during the 2003 World Cup final and Ford's masterclass saw off Argentina at last year's tournament in France, while Smith's boot ended Ireland's dream of historic back-to-back Six Nations Grand Slams. Smith came off the bench to mark his return from injury with a last-gasp clip over the posts to hand England a stunning victory - and afterwards namechecked both Ford and England kicking coach Kevin Sinfield. \u2022 None Win over Ireland one of George's 'proudest' days \u2022 None Rugby Union Daily: England drop for glory once more \u2022 None 'How good is this!' - reaction after England stun Ireland \"I was pretty excited to be honest,\" Smith told BBC Sport. \"We got an advantage in the wide channels after Manny [Feyi-Waboso] did a destructive run, like he did all game, and got us to within 10 metres. \"Then the forwards went in and exhausted them. We had another penalty advantage right in front and I have been practising my drop-goals, learning off George [Ford] and Kev [Sinfield], and I thought, why not?\" This was supposed to be the Six Nations for Smith to cement his standing as England's number 10 after impressing at full-back as England finished third at the World Cup, but he was ruled out of the opening three games of the competition with a calf injury. He replaced the usually assured Ford, who missed a penalty and conversion, in the second half and his arrival on the field seemed to lift everyone inside Twickenham of an England persuasion. Smith received the ball from Harlequins team-mate Danny Care, who also came off the bench for his 100th Test cap to steer England over the line. \"It was nice to get the ball off Danny on his special day,\" Smith added. \"This was a tournament I was really excited for and it was an opportunity for the team to step forward off the back of the World Cup. \"Being ruled out before the first games was disappointing but watching the lads from home on the sofa got me excited again. \"I was desperate to get back for part of the Six Nations so I feel lucky and honoured. \"We didn't get the result we wanted against Scotland but this team will take a lot of pride and confidence from that performance. \"We challenged one of the best teams in the world through 80 minutes. \"It ebbed and flowed and it was a brilliant spectacle for the fans. I know the boys will be very happy with that one. \"The chat all week was to have the belief and the confidence in one and another because we don't turn into a bad team overnight. \"Last week was a blip but if we keep our standards high and push each other, anything is possible. It's moments like this that give us hope and confidence moving forward.\" Smith's impressive cameo will give Steve Borthwick a selection headache for the final game against France, with the Six Nations title possibly still on the line. The 25-year-old's importance to the squad, especially with Owen Farrell absent at Test level, has been clear to see during this campaign despite his recent unavailability. The hosts showed greater attacking intent and a renewed speed of ball in hand against Ireland than at any other time during Borthwick's tenure. And with his contribution, Smith has to be in contention for a starting berth in Lyon next Saturday.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "English rugby union fly-half Marcus Smith scored a last-minute drop-goal to give England a dramatic victory over Ireland in the Six Nations, reminiscent of Jonny Wilkinson's famous World Cup-winning kick. Smith, who recently returned from injury, replaced George Ford and credited Ford and kicking coach Kevin Sinfield for his drop-goal practice, sealing a comeback win and potentially setting up a selection dilemma for the final game against France." + }, + { + "article": "Police are still searching for a motive after a man suspected of killing eight people in Joliet, Illinois, took his own life after a cross-country manhunt. Romeo Nance, 23, died after authorities tracked him down more than 1,000 miles (1,600km) away in Texas. Nance is suspected of killing eight people at multiple locations in Joliet. Seven of the victims were in two houses on the same street. Police say Nance also shot two other people, one fatally. Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans said on Tuesday that Nance had an extensive criminal history and was related to most of the seven people found dead in the two houses, which are across the street from each other. But he said that the other two shootings were random and that authorities are still searching for a motive in what he called a \"very complicated and active investigation\". \"We can't get inside his head,\" Mr Evans said at a news conference. \"We just don't have any clue as to why he did what he did.\" Mr Evans said that five women were found in the homes along with two men. Some of those victims have been identified by officials. They are Christine Esters, 38, Tamaeka Nance, 47, William Esters, 35, Joshua Nance, 31, and Alexandria Nance, 20. The names of two other victims, teenage girls aged 14 and 16, have not been released. Authorities believe Nance killed those seven people before carrying out two other shootings elsewhere in Joliet, a city of about 150,000 people some 40 miles (64km) south-west of Chicago. One of the attacks resulted in the death of a 28-year-old Toyosi Bakare, who was shot in the head as he left his apartment to buy cigarettes, authorities said. Police said Mr Bakare was originally from Nigeria and had been living in the US for the past three years. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died. The other victim was an unnamed 42-year-old man shot in the leg on Sunday, resulting in non-life threatening injuries. Video of the incident shows the victim exchanging words with the driver of a red Toyota Camry, which pulls away and returns before gunshots are heard. Police said they were able to trace the licence plate number on the Camry, which led them to Nance and the two houses with other victims. That discovery sparked a manhunt for the suspect, who authorities warned \"should be regarded as armed and dangerous\". But by that time, Nance had left the area and had fled south, police said. He was located by US Marshals near Natalia, Texas, just outside San Antonio and about 18 hours from Joliet by road, at approximately 20:30 local time on Monday (02:30 GMT Tuesday). Police said they do not believe he had any relatives or connections to Texas. \"I've been a policeman 29 years and this is probably the worst crime scene I've ever been associated with,\" Mr Evans said during an earlier news conference in Joliet.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A man suspected of killing eight people in Joliet, Illinois, died by suicide in Texas after a cross-country manhunt; the motive remains unknown, with police stating the suspect, Romeo Nance, had an extensive criminal history and was related to most of the victims found in two houses on the same street, while two other shootings were random. The investigation is ongoing, and police are still searching for a reason behind the tragic acts." + }, + { + "article": "Yulia Navalnaya had backed calls for anti-Putin voters to turn up at polling stations at midday A number of the front pages continue to focus on rumours at Westminster about a challenge to the prime minister's leadership from within the Conservative Party. The Daily Telegraph reports Rishi Sunak is urging MPs to \"stick with him\" and that he's issued a rallying cry to backbenchers telling them \"the economy is turning a corner\" - and that 2024 will be the year the UK \"bounces back\". The paper says Mr Sunak was forced to speak out after days of speculation that right-wing Conservatives are lining up the Commons leader, Penny Mordaunt, to replace him. Mr Sunak's allies are \"furious\" Penny Mordaunt has failed to distance herself from recent reports she's being lined up as a \"unity candidate\", according to the Daily Mail. Cabinet minister Esther McVey is quoted in the Daily Express as saying some colleagues are putting \"leadership ambitions\" ahead of the party's interests, adding that plotting to topple the prime minister is \"self-indulgence\". The front page of the Times carries a photograph of the widow of the Russian opposition leader - Alexei Navalny - at a protest in Germany against the re-election of Vladimir Putin as Russian president. The paper reports Yulia Navalnaya defaced her own ballot paper - adding in her late husband's name. In other news, the NHS Ombudsman - Rob Behrens - has told the Guardian hospitals are burying evidence about poor care in a \"cover-up culture\" that leads to avoidable deaths and families being denied the truth about their loved ones. \"Dark Ages dentistry\" is the headline in the Daily Mirror - which reports there will be a protest at Parliament today about the crisis in the sector which it says has left patients taking out their own teeth with pliers or screwdrivers. The paper says more than 200,000 people have signed its petition for better dental care - sharing their horror stories from across the country. The front page of the i paper reveals that Fujitsu - the IT company at the centre of the Post Office Horizon scandal - is still managing a \"highly classified\" British military computer system despite having lost the contract to do so in 2022. The paper says it is because of delays in vetting replacement contractors. Finally, the Sun's front page reports the Princess of Wales was spotted out and about at a farm shop in Windsor over the weekend, amid what it describes as \"wild speculation\" about her health on social media. Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The news covers a range of topics, including Yulia Navalnaya's protest against Putin's re-election in Germany, rumors of a leadership challenge in the UK Conservative Party with Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt as key figures, concerns over a \"cover-up culture\" in hospitals leading to avoidable deaths, a dental care crisis in the UK, Fujitsu's continued management of a British military computer system despite losing the contract, and the Princess of Wales dispelling health rumors by being seen at a farm shop." + }, + { + "article": "Lee Anderson has rarely been out of the headlines since becoming the Conservative Party's deputy chairman just over a year ago. In a coup for the Reform Party, he's become their first MP, declaring: \"I want my country back\" and being hailed by party leader Richard Tice as the \"champion of the Red Wall\". The move comes after Mr Anderson was kicked off the Tory benches by the prime minister, over his false claims that London mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour leaders Sir Keir Starmer are \"controlled by Islamists\". The MP for Ashfield was already in the PM's sights in January, when Mr Sunak warned he would fire any frontbenchers who failed to vote with the government on the Rwanda bill. Instead, Mr Anderson and his former fellow Tory deputy chairman Brendan Clarke-Smith quit their roles ahead of the vote in order to rebel. The Nottinghamshire politician - who is paid \u00a3100,000 a year on top of his MPs' salary for hosting a GB News show - enjoys speaking his mind and upsetting what he sees as the politically correct \"woke\" establishment. In an interview conducted a few days before he was given the deputy chair role in February 2023, Mr Anderson expressed his support for bringing back the death penalty - a position not shared by the government. He was given the nickname \"30p Lee\" after comments in Parliament when he suggested people needed to learn how to cook and budget \"properly\". \"We can make a meal for about 30p a day and this is cooking from scratch,\" he said. He's also said that poor families were \"more resourceful\" in the past - and was criticised by the Hope Not Hate campaign for saying he had sympathy with people protesting outside hotels providing refuge for asylum seekers. But despite his tendency to create media storms, his supporters in the Conservative Party believe the former Labour councillor can connect with so-called \"red wall\" voters in the Midlands and the north of England in a way that others can't. Born in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, to a family of coal miners, he followed in the footsteps of his father by working in the area's pits for 10 years after leaving school. After separating from his partner, he raised his two sons as a single parent on what he described as a \"meagre wage\". \"I've been that man that has to put five quid in the gas meter on a Sunday night and been watching the meter spin round all week,\" he told TalkTV in 2022. He went on to volunteer at a local Citizens Advice centre before working in hostels for homeless care leavers. His first job in politics was working in the office of local Labour MP Gloria De Piero, serving as a district councillor at the same time. In February 2018 he was suspended from the council's Labour group after hiring a digger and placing concrete blocks to stop travellers illegally camping in a car park. A month later he defected to the Tories, saying his former party had been \"taken over by the hard-left\". In the 2019 general election the Brexit-supporter stood as the Conservative candidate for Ashfield, winning the seat from Labour. The constituency was one of many Leave-supporting areas to turn blue in Boris Johnson's landslide victory over Jeremy Corbyn. However, his successful campaign was not without controversy. He faced mockery after he appeared to be caught setting up a door knock while out canvassing, accompanied by journalist Michael Crick. During the visit a microphone picked up Mr Anderson asking a voter not to mention he was his friend during filming. There was further criticism for comments suggesting \"nuisance tenants\" living on a council estate should be forced to live in tents and pick vegetables. Mr Anderson continued to attract attention for his strident views as an MP. During the Euro 2020 football tournament he criticised the England team for taking the knee in protest at racism and vowed to boycott their matches. He returned to the theme of budgeting, when he posted a photo on Twitter of one of his staff members to illustrate his argument that nurses on \u00a330,000 a year didn't need to use food banks. The post, which detailed her monthly spending on rent and travel, provoked a backlash on social media. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Lee Anderson: \"There's not this massive use for food banks in this country\" The 57-year-old's appointment as deputy party chairman by Mr Sunak came despite Mr Anderson initially backing his rival Boris Johnson in last year's leadership election. He's also been critical of the government's approach to tackling illegal immigration. In December, he wrote that he was \"putting my party on notice\" over the issue, saying the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats was \"making us the laughing stock of the world\". In a joint resignation letter, Mr Anderson and Mr Clarke-Smith said they backed rebel amendments to the Rwanda bill \"not because we are against the Rwanda legislation but because... we want it to work.\" They added \"our main wish is to strengthen the legislation. This means that in order to vote for amendments we will therefore need to offer you our resignations from our roles\". The two said they believed when it came to asylum claims \"there are far too many who wish to cheat our system\" yet provisions in international and domestic law meant deportations could still be blocked under the government's bill. Many of Mr Anderson's former fellow Tory MPs in the Midlands and north of England love his outspoken style. They think he reflects the concerns of real voters - the people they want to hold on to at the next general election.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Lee Anderson, a former Conservative Party deputy chairman, has defected to the Reform Party, becoming their first MP. Known for his controversial statements, Anderson was previously expelled from the Tory benches by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over false claims about London's mayor and Labour leaders. Anderson, who represents Ashfield, is popular with some for his connection to \"Red Wall\" voters, having worked in the area's mines and overcome personal challenges." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section European Football Bayern Munich could end the weekend 10 points off the top of the Bundesliga after dropping points against Freiburg. Christian Gunter fired the mid-table hosts into a lead with a fine 20-yard strike. Bayern thought they had turned it round through Mathys Tel's excellent curling effort and Jamal Musiala's placed shot after a solo run. But Lucas Holer struck an 87th-minute volley to snatch a point for the hosts. \"We played completely without structure,\" said Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel on his side's first-half performance. \"We were not disciplined. We were not in our positions, we lost possession going forward and allowed them to counter-attack. \"It wasn't a matter of will, we played recklessly for the first half hour. \"We did things that we've never trained, that we've never spoken about. We played like it was the 85th minute and we were a goal down.\" Bayern are now seven points behind unbeaten leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who visit Cologne in their game in hand on Sunday. It could spell the end of the Munich outfit's decade of total dominance in German football. They have won a record 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles. Their poor season has already led to the news Tuchel will leave at the end of the season. If Bayern fail to beat Lazio on Tuesday in the Champions League last-16 second leg - they lost the first tie 1-0 in Rome - they are likely to end the season without any silverware. It was a frustrating night for England striker Harry Kane, who missed several chances for Bayern and failed to build on his run of three goals in two games. \u2022 None Lucas H\u00f6ler (SC Freiburg) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Mathys Tel (FC Bayern M\u00fcnchen) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Alphonso Davies. \u2022 None Goal! SC Freiburg 2, FC Bayern M\u00fcnchen 2. Lucas H\u00f6ler (SC Freiburg) left footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Michael Gregoritsch. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Maximilian Eggestein (SC Freiburg) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Merlin R\u00f6hl with a cross. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Michael Gregoritsch (SC Freiburg) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Merlin R\u00f6hl. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Aleksandar Pavlovic (FC Bayern M\u00fcnchen) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Mathys Tel. \u2022 None Aleksandar Pavlovic (FC Bayern M\u00fcnchen) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Bayern Munich drew against Freiburg, potentially leaving them 10 points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen, ending their decade-long dominance in German football. Bayern's coach, Thomas Tuchel, criticized his team's performance, and with a potential loss in the Champions League, they might finish the season without any silverware." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: 'Joe, you're fired' - Trump focuses on Biden as Haley fights on Donald Trump is one step closer to the Republican presidential nomination after a massive win over Nikki Haley in South Carolina. The former president won his primary opponent's home state by a 20-point margin, his fourth consecutive victory. As he celebrated, Mr Trump made no mention of Ms Haley, who vowed to stay in the race. Instead he set his sights on the general election in November. That will be a likely rematch with his successor in the White House. \"We're going to look Joe Biden right in the eye,\" he told supporters minutes after US media projected him as the winner on Saturday night. \"He's destroying our country - and we're going to say 'get out Joe, you're fired'.\" Mr Trump lauded his party's \"unity\" after Saturday's result, saying: \"There's never been a spirit like this. I have never seen the Republican Party so unified.\" It marked a shift from his response to last month's primary in New Hampshire, where he raged against Ms Haley for \"doing a speech like she won\". Ms Haley, who once served as a popular two-term governor of South Carolina, congratulated her opponent on his victory in her speech. She promised not to quit, however, saying the roughly 40% of the vote she received was \"not some tiny group\". \"There are huge numbers of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative,\" she said, emphasising that her continued campaign was not about her own political ambitions. \"I'm not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden,\" she added. She has re-committed to staying in the race until at least Super Tuesday - 5 March - when voters in 16 states will cast their ballots on the same day. \"I'm a woman of my word,\" the former UN ambassador said. \"We're headed to Michigan tomorrow, and we're headed to the Super Tuesday states throughout all of next week.\" Nikki Haley's said she would not bow out of the race in her speech after the South Carolina primary on Saturday The Trump campaign dismissed Ms Haley's continued effort in a statement on Saturday, stating that her \"delusion is clouding her judgement, and she is no longer living in reality\". It has predicted the former president will accumulate enough delegates to formally clinch the nomination within the next month. Ms Haley does not have a clear path forward - her opponent has a large lead in the delegate count and is polling far ahead in all future contests. And yet the Haley campaign is still standing, in large part due to contributions from deep-pocketed donors. That flow of cash has continued despite her facing long odds. Ms Haley raised $16.5m in January alone, campaign officials said. That was her largest monthly total so far, and much more than Mr Trump's numbers. To drive home the point that he believes the primary has now ended, Mr Trump wasted no time in making his victory speech moments after the race was called, not allowing Ms Haley to speak before him as she had done in New Hampshire. Nearly two dozen allies flanked Mr Trump during his victory speech after the South Carolina primary Flanked at his podium on the Columbia state fairgrounds by nearly two dozen allies, including most of the state's political leaders, he told a raucous crowd: \"This was a little sooner than we anticipated.\" Mr Trump certainly has much to boast about with this win. Exit polling conducted by the BBC's US partner, CBS News, shows that the ex-president bested Ms Haley with both men and women, and among all age groups. He also drew strong support from white evangelicals and voters who identify as very conservative. Thanking them for their support, Mr Trump, 77, reminded his audience: \"We have a lot of work ahead of us.\" Andre Chang, 21, told the BBC that Mr Trump is still the only candidate willing to fight the establishment, particularly the \"unelected political regime\" of bureaucrats and technocrats that govern Washington DC. \"With the Democrats, it's like we're playing Russian roulette with a handgun,\" the University of South Carolina senior said. \"Well Trump is a revolver. And I want to spin the barrel again.\" Mr Trump believes in \"supporting the nation of Israel\", Noel Caldwell, 85, said. \"And not only that, Trump did such a good job - we built up our military and he kept the border closed down and he kept inflation down. Now those things are no longer being taken care of by the administration,\" the Lake Murray resident added. Ms Haley failed to garner traction despite her homefield advantage because voters did not like \"the way she has been criticising Trump\", according to Micah Rea, the national committeeman for the South Carolina Young Republicans. He argued the writing is on the wall for her campaign and she should drop out for the good of the party. Haley supporters, however, described their votes as taking action against \"demagoguery\" and the danger they believe Mr Trump poses to democracy. \"America always likes a great underdog, and I think she's got that,\" said Sian Owens. \"Donald Trump is mired down. How much focus can he give to our country with all these legal problems?\" The former president faces the first of four criminal trials next month. He is also now on the hook for more than half a billion dollars, the combined total of two recent civil trial rulings against him in New York - one for sexual assault and defamation, and another for business fraud. As Mr Biden racks up a sizeable cash advantage over him in what will likely be the most expensive presidential race in US history, Mr Trump is increasingly relying on donations to cover his soaring legal costs. It appears the Republican Party could come to his aid. He has consolidated his hold over it by endorsing key allies to lead its national committee. His daughter-in-law Lara Trump, his pick to take over as co-chair of the Republican Party, has pledged to \"spend every penny\" of party funds on his legal defence.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Donald Trump has won a significant victory over Nikki Haley in the South Carolina primary, moving closer to the Republican presidential nomination. Despite Haley's vow to continue her campaign, Trump focused on a potential rematch with Joe Biden in the general election, stating, \"We're going to say 'get out Joe, you're fired'." + }, + { + "article": "Alan Bates wrote to the government criticising the speed of Post Office scandal compensation payouts - just days before he was made an offer. The former sub-postmaster, whose story sparked an ITV drama, said in a 22 January letter seen by BBC Two's Newsnight that the scheme needed a \"radical boot up the backside\". He said he received a \"cruel\" compensation offer on Wednesday. Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has vowed to look into his complaint. In the letter to Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake, Mr Bates said claims from some victims were being processed too slowly. Mr Bates, whose own offer was received 111 days after his claim was submitted, wrote: \"This is certainly not in the best interests of the victims in the group who continually look for closure of the painful events they have endured which continue to drag on year after year.\" He suggested the firm assessing claims for the government should pay a \u00a31,000-a-day penalty to the victim in question if they had not received an offer within 40 days. Mr Bates added the current compensation scheme \"needs a radical boot up the backside to actually get things moving\". Mr Hollinrake said Mr Bates \"quite rightly\" raised the issue of speed and reiterated a commitment to issue 90% of initial offers within 40 days of receiving a full claim. An independent panel will decide compensation amounts if victims and the government cannot reach an agreement. In his 29 January reply, also seen by Newsnight, Mr Hollinrake said the \"great majority\" of offers made so far had been acceptable to victims. He added: \"No cases have therefore had to be assessed by the independent panel yet but I am confident in their ability to do so.\" On 31 January, Mr Bates said he had received a compensation offer that was worth about a sixth of what a claim prepared with the help of forensic accountants had asked for. He earlier told the Daily Telegraph: \"Full and fair might be His Majesty's Government's interpretation, but in reality the offer is derisory, offensive and after all this time, yes, cruel. \"I will absolutely be turning this offer for financial redress down. \"It's just a terrible way to treat human beings - and I have heard from several sub-postmasters who have received similarly derisory offers, while others are still waiting.\" Ms Badenoch has said that she will look \"personally\" into Mr Bates's complaint and, while not going into the specifics of the case, confirmed she had asked for a meeting. The government confirmed plans for \"full and fair compensation\" to sub-postmasters affected by the IT scandal in 2022. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses talk to BBC Breakfast Mr Bates's two-decade fight inspired the recent ITV series - \"Mr Bates vs the Post Office\" - which told the story of hundreds of sub-postmasters and postmistresses who were wrongly prosecuted after faulty computer software calculated money was missing from post office branches. The Post Office brought many of the Horizon IT cases to court itself, and between 1999 and 2015, it prosecuted 700 people - an average of one person a week. In 2017, a group of 555 sub-postmasters took legal action against the Post Office and two years later it agreed to pay them \u00a358m in compensation, but much of the money was swallowed up by legal fees. Mr Bates, who took over a Post Office counter in Llandudno, north Wales in 1998, was among more than 500 people who received an average of about \u00a320,000 after the High Court ruling in 2019. Although campaigners won the right to have their cases reconsidered, only 95 convictions had been overturned. The government has promised to quash their convictions and pay compensation. Toby Jones starred in ITV's Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which aired earlier this month The government has previously said it would \"swiftly exonerate and compensate\" those affected and settle all claims by 7 August 2024. Victims will be able to sign a form to say they are innocent, in order to have their convictions overturned and claim compensation.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Alan Bates, a former sub-postmaster whose story inspired an ITV drama, criticized the slow compensation payouts for the Post Office scandal in a letter to the government, calling for a faster process. Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has pledged to investigate Bates' complaint after he received what he considered a \"cruel\" offer, with the government promising \"full and fair compensation\" to those affected by the IT scandal." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Football MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the 2026 World Cup final on 19 July, while Azteca Stadium in Mexico City will stage the opening group game on 11 June. Mexico is one of three countries co-hosting the expanded 48-team tournament along with USA and Canada which will last a record 39 days. They have hosted two World Cups in 1970 and 1986, while the US hosted in 1994. Canada are first-time hosts and their opening game is in Toronto on 12 June. The United States will play their opening match at So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles also on 12 June The Azteca was the venue for Argentina striker Diego Maradona's famous 'Hand of God' goal in the 2-1 win against England in the 1986 quarter-finals and has a capacity of 83,000. MetLife Stadium, home to American football teams the New York Giants and New York Jets, is based in New Jersey's East Rutherford and can hold 82,500 fans. Fifa president Gianni Infantino, alongside comedian and actor Kevin Hart, rapper Drake and celebrity Kim Kardashian, announced the plans on Sunday and also revealed the third-place play-off match will take place in Miami. The quarter-finals onwards will be held in US cities, with Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami and Boston hosting last-eight matches, while the semi-finals will be in Dallas and Atlanta. Dallas will host a record nine matches. The draw for the World Cup is expected to take place towards the end of 2025. \u2022 None What will World Cup across six continents look like? The tournament will last 10 more days than the 2022 edition in Qatar. In total, 16 cities have been chosen including Monterrey and Guadalajara in Mexico, and Vancouver in Canada. Philadelphia, Houston, Seattle and San Francisco are the other US host cities. Only one city, Guadalajara, will not host a knockout game. Teams are likely to face a large amount of travel between games. The shortest distance between a quarter-final and a semi-final venue is just over 500 miles from Kansas City to Dallas while the longest - between Los Angeles and Atlanta - is just under 2,200 miles. Infantino said \"players and fans have been at the core of our extensive planning for this game-changing tournament\" and it will be a tournament that will \"not only set new records but also leave an indelible legacy\". Fifa said the schedule was drawn up in consultation with stakeholders including national team coaches and technical directors. The governing body says teams will have three days of rest for 103 of the tournament's record 104 matches. \"The tournament's innovative match schedule will serve to minimise travel for teams and fans alike, while the number of rest days between fixtures will be maximised,\" the governing body said. The new format will feature 12 four-team groups and a last-32 knockout round for the first time. The tournament hosts will play the group stage in their own countries, with the US staying on the West Coast with two games in LA and one in Seattle. Canada will play one group stage game in Toronto followed by two in Vancouver while Mexico will play twice at the Azteca and once in Guadalajara.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The 2026 World Cup final will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19, with the opening game taking place on June 11 at Mexico City's Azteca Stadium. The tournament, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, will be the first with 48 teams and will span 39 days, featuring matches across 16 cities." + }, + { + "article": "Jameela is reportedly \"thriving\", says the zoo A premature baby gorilla was delivered via emergency caesarean section at a US zoo after its mother suffered from a medical issue called preeclampsia. The \"historic and emotional\" birth of Jameela was documented by the Fort Worth Zoo on its Facebook page. The young primate was born four to six weeks early with the help of medical specialists. It is the first gorilla to be born via caesarean section in the zoo's 115-year history. Jameela - which means \"beautiful\" in Swahili - was born to 33-year-old Sekani, a western lowland gorilla, on 5 February, the zoo announced in a Facebook post on Valentine's Day. It was Sekani's fourth pregnancy, but this time, the zoo's veterinarians sensed that she was exhibiting signs of preeclampsia - a serious blood-pressure condition that can happen during pregnancy in both humans and primates. After confirming Sekani's diagnosis, the zoo said its veterinarians consulted with a local obstetrician and determined that a caesarean section was needed to save both the mother and the baby. Western lowland gorillas like Sekani are native to central Africa, and are listed as critically endangered due to hunting and disease, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their numbers have declined by more than 60% over the last 20 to 25 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Gorillas also have a low birth rate, making it difficult for them to recover from population decline. Jamie Erwin, the obstetrician, said delivering Jameela was one of the highlights of her entire career. \"I was amazed at how Sekani's anatomy matched that of my human patients,\" Dr Erwin said in a statement. Jameela required immediate medical care due to her early birth, zoo officials said. Jameela required immediate medical monitoring and attention as she was born four to six weeks premature Neonatologist Robert Ursprung helped assist with resuscitation and stabilisation efforts, as well as putting together a meal plan for the baby. \"It was incredible how similar this mother-infant pair was compared to what I see in the hospital for babies born under similar circumstances,\" Dr Ursprung said. \"The baby needed critical respiratory support for a few hours post-delivery, but as she transitioned to life outside the womb, she stabilized quite nicely.\" The zoo said the mother, Sekani, has since made a full recovery, but has not yet warmed up to her new baby. \"Despite repeated attempts to reunite the mother and baby, Sekani showed little interest in caring for her baby,\" the zoo said. They added it is difficult to know exactly why the mother and baby are not bonding, but zoo experts suspect it is because Sekani did not experience the hormonal cues that could come with a natural, full-birth term. Staff have since shifted their focus to training another gorilla, 24-year-old Gracie, to become a surrogate mother to Jameela, who is now \"thriving\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A premature baby gorilla named Jameela was born via emergency caesarean section at the Fort Worth Zoo due to her mother's preeclampsia, marking the first such birth in the zoo's 115-year history. Jameela, meaning \"beautiful\" in Swahili, is currently thriving under the care of medical specialists and a surrogate mother, as her birth mother, Sekani, showed no interest in bonding with the baby." + }, + { + "article": "Gianni Infantino has ruled out the introduction of blue cards as part of a sin-bin trial, stating: \"It is red card to the blue card.\" Football's rule-makers are set to approve sin-bin trials, but an idea to use blue cards is likely to be ditched. It is understood senior figures within the game were taken aback by the proposals of a blue card when it emerged last month. \"This is a topic that is non-existent for us,\" Fifa president Infantino said. Plans of a sin-bin trial are due to be discussed by the International Football Association Board (Ifab) - the game's rule-making body - at its annual general meeting at Loch Lomond in Scotland on Saturday. However, Infantino says the blue card plan is a non-starter. \"Fifa is completely opposed to blue cards. I was not aware of this topic, the president of Fifa - and I think Fifa has a say in Ifab. No way,\" he said. \"We have to be serious. We are always open to look at ideas and proposals and everything has to be treated with respect of course. \"But once you look at it you also have to protect the essence and tradition of the game. There is no blue card.\" Caution was also expressed at which levels of the game the sin-bin trials might be applied. Further discussion on the subject will take place at the meeting, although debate is more likely to centre around whether sin-bins should just be issued for dissent and not cynical fouls, which had been thought likely. The Premier League has already distanced itself from any sin-bin trials with numerous managers, including Tottenham's Ange Postecoglou, saying they were a terrible idea. BBC Sport has been told the intention is to introduce them at much lower levels, although this will also be clarified at the Ifab meeting. Discussion around 'cooling off periods' will also take place, with a press conference due to take place at around 13:00 GMT. Infantino is expected in Scotland for the meeting, before going to watch the Scottish Premiership game between St Mirren and Aberdeen in the afternoon. VAR will also be discussed at the AGM, although that will centre around an extension of the current trial of referees confirming what decisions have been reached rather than any in-stadium access to real-time discussions in the VAR Hub. \"It will be difficult in a stadium to hear what is happening in the VAR booth,\" said Infantino. \"But explanation by referee is an important step in the right direction in explaining to the public and people in the stadium why he took a certain decision. \"VAR isn't that old. It has made a lot of progress and will make more.\" Asked whether he still believed in the concept, Infantino said: \"Very much so. You can't imagine football anymore without VAR. Nobody can do that.\" Infantino also rejected the idea of temporary concussion substitutes, which many feel would be a good way of dealing with head injuries amid concerns some players do not leave the pitch currently. \"We will not introduce temporary concussion subs because, we care about the health of the players and concussion is an important topic for us,\" he said. \"We have invested a lot of money, \u00a31.5m, in research. We have an expertise in this area now. \"And medical experts are saying it is simply impossible in a few minutes to be able to determine whether there has been a concussion and if it is serious, or not. \"That's why, in case of a suspected concussion, the player has to be substituted. If you want to care about the health of the player, the players goes out and another player comes in. That's the end of it. \"All the rest is not protecting the heads of players, just making some PR announcements.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "FIFA President Gianni Infantino has ruled out the introduction of blue cards for sin-bin trials in football, stating that FIFA is completely opposed to the idea. Instead, sin-bin trials are expected to be discussed by the International Football Association Board (Ifab), with a focus on potentially using them for dissent but not cynical fouls, and likely to be implemented at lower levels of the game. The use of temporary concussion substitutes, which some advocate for player safety, has also been rejected by Infantino due to medical experts' concerns about accurately assessing concussion in a short time frame." + }, + { + "article": "With the largest measure off the menu, more medium and small glasses of wine were sold Removing the largest glass of wine from sale cuts the total amount people drink by 7.6%, a four-week trial in 21 pubs, bars and restaurants suggests. With the largest measure, 250ml - equal to a third of a bottle - off the menu, more 125ml and 175ml glasses of wine were sold. Customers bought the same amount of wine by the bottle, but overall, less volume of wine was sold daily. Sales of beer and cider stayed the same as did the venues' overall takings. \"Value for money\" was likely to have been a factor in the drop in the amount of wine sold, the University of Cambridge researchers say. However, they believe the policy should now be \"considered\" for trial by licensing authorities. The study's lead author, Prof Dame Theresa Marteau, said: \"What it tells us is that people are very sensitive to cues in their environment.\" And the results were \"in keeping\" with existing evidence people ate less if served smaller portions of food. \"People are sensitive to the size of containers and serving size,\" Dame Theresa said. \"And these have tended to get bigger and so we've consumed more. \"So the focus of my research group is on whether or not we can reverse-engineer our environments to see whether we can reduce our consumption to improve everybody's health.\" But Dame Theresa said financial constraints were also likely to have affected drinkers' behaviour. \"A 250ml glass of wine usually costs less than the cost of two 125 ml glasses. Value for money is therefore likely to be one factor influencing a decision to buy larger rather than smaller glasses of wine,\" she said. She added she believed the strategy \"merits consideration\" to be added to licensing regulations. \"It does seem quite a relatively simple way of reducing the amount of alcohol that that we're consuming, often without our awareness,\" she said. This, in turn, might \"shift our social norm\" and make people drink less at home. Charlotte Lyster said most of her customers had been satisfied with small glasses Charlotte Lyster, licensee of the Prince Albert pub in Stroud, Gloucs, told BBC News most of her customers had been \"fine\". \"They said, 'I'll just have another one,' but actually they didn't,\" she said. \"People drink in rounds - so when they finished one, they would wait for someone else to go to the bar.\" And many had stuck to the smaller measures even after the trial had ended. All the venues that took part in the study were in England - mostly in London. Lauren Johns, licensee of the Three Compasses in Dalston, east London, said most of her customers had also been happy with smaller glasses of wine. Those who did complain tended to be over the age of 50, she said. \"There was no major reaction,\" she said. \"I was interested to do this study as I thought people might buy a bottle instead - but it turns out people would just buy a medium glass.\" Regular or heavy drinking is a contributing factor in many diseases, causing three million deaths worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization. A Department of Health and Social Care official said: \"The UK chief medical officer's low-risk drinking guidelines recommend not regularly exceeding 14 units of alcohol a week. \"And we continue to promote the guidelines in England, online and by encouraging producers to include them on alcoholic-drinks labels. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A four-week trial in 21 UK pubs, bars, and restaurants found that removing the largest wine glass size (250ml) led to a 7.6% decrease in total wine consumption, with more customers opting for smaller 125ml and 175ml glasses. Researchers suggest that \"value for money\" and portion size sensitivity played a role in the drop, and propose considering this policy for trial by licensing authorities to potentially reduce alcohol consumption and improve public health." + }, + { + "article": "It's probably raining. It's cold. The sofa is comfy. It's been a long day and the polling station feels like miles away. Behind the huge headlines of Labour's victories and the Conservatives' by-election thumpings, it's worth paying attention to voters' instinct - not to choose one party or another, but to stay at home. The two contests this week in Kingswood and Wellingborough have one important thing in common. In both places, the rise in Labour's share of the vote was dwarfed by the fall in support for the Tories. In other words, the headline of Labour pummelling the Conservatives doesn't account for voters who chose neither of the big parties - or crucially those who chose to stay cosy at home. It is as much about Conservative voters sitting on their hands as it is them transferring to Labour. There is important evidence about the appeal of Reform UK, who have strong ambitions, whether or not Nigel Farage ever concludes his game of footsie. But the big parties need also to look at those whose ballot might be \"none of the above\". One former cabinet minister claims there is \"zero appetite for switching to [Sir Keir] Starmer, but our voters are deeply, profoundly switched off\". And the former party leader, Lord Howard, writes this morning that \"hordes\" of Tory voters stayed at home. These results are truly dreadful for Downing Street. The spin that these are \"mid-term elections\" doesn't wash. We are already in the warm up to a general election, which is probably about eight months away. This is not a mid-term government. This isn't a slap on the wrist - it is latest in a line of kickings for the Conservatives as the moment of reckoning gets closer and closer. Rishi Sunak's team originally believed by now they would have narrowed the gap. Definitively, that has not happened. The mood in the Conservative Party is not just bleak but strangely apathetic, accepting of a defeat most believe is coming. One senior Tory told me: \"It's weird, one of the most competitive bunch of people in the country is already accepting annihilation.\" There was more evidence, as we found in our Britain in a Room focus groups a few weeks ago, that voters aren't rushing gleefully towards the Labour party. But that should be little comfort to Conservatives. These by elections, just like months and months of polling, demonstrate their voters abandoning them in droves, however many resets Rishi Sunak tries. The keys to No 10 are dangling in front of Starmer. Sign up for the Off Air with Laura K newsletter to get Laura Kuenssberg's expert insight and insider stories every week, emailed directly to you. There is a simple logic then to what a senior Tory source describes as their \"number one job\", to get the Conservative voters from 2019 to turn out. \"We have to show them there is something worth it\u2026 if they don't feel that, they will follow through on their disengagement and stay at home,\" the source says. It's wrong to pretend people's behaviour at by-elections will be exactly the same as in a general election - but they are important hints. And it won't have escaped the parties' notice that the number of people bothering to vote was lower than other recent contests in Mid Bedfordshire, Somerton and Frome, and Selby and Ainsty. The importance of what you might call the sofa vote - where members of the public choose just to stay at home - is often underplayed. The narrative of New Labour's fairy-tale victory of 1997 doesn't always include the role of turnout. One Tory campaigner from the time says there was a \"toxic combination of switchers and stay at homes\". They recall that \"for every ten doors you knocked on of Tory voters, you probably had three or four direct switchers and two or three who were just not going to vote\". Yes, the New Labour project was staggeringly successful. But if you are in the market for obscure political facts (I know you are), it's John Major, not Tony Blair, who holds the record for the biggest number of actual votes ever, in 1992 - just over 14 million, compared to around 13.5 million for Blair in 1997, when turnout dropped. The full story of the incredible Blair victory should include Conservative voters who didn't much fancy him, but didn't feel their natural party was worth defending, and so didn't bother. And if you really love these facts - on average, around 9,000 fewer people turned out in Labour seats in 1997 than Conservative ones. That was partly because their constituencies tended to be smaller, but turnout was significantly lower too. If it looked like Labour had a chance of taking a seat, lots of Tory voters chose to stay at home and let it happen. People decide where to put their cross on the ballot paper for all sorts of reasons. Recession. The deep unhappiness in the Tory Party. A local MP standing down, which might be a huge factor this time with dozens and dozens of Conservatives going - a tally that's likely to increase (a very important story for another time). But the decision not to cast a ballot is also a choice. What questions would you like to ask our guests this Sunday? In some cases your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy. Use this form to ask your question: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "In two recent by-elections, Labour's gains were overshadowed by a significant drop in Conservative support, with many voters choosing not to participate or turning to other parties like Reform UK. The Conservative Party's apathetic mood and loss of voters signal potential challenges ahead for them, while Labour's lack of a strong appeal isn't comforting for the Tories, as the general election approaches and the \"sofa vote\" - people staying at home - becomes an important factor." + }, + { + "article": "A Metropolitan Police firearms officer named for the first time as Martyn Blake has pleaded not guilty to murdering Chris Kaba. Mr Kaba, 24, died from a single gunshot wound in a Met operation in Streatham, south London, in September 2022. Mr Blake, 40, had been known by the codename NX121 after threats were made against him but a judge has decided he can now be named. The officer was given bail ahead of a trial that is set to begin in October. Judge Mark Lucraft lifted the anonymity order after media organisations, including the BBC, challenged the legal application to protect his identity, on the basis that confidence in the criminal justice system requires cases to be held, wherever possible, in public. Appearing at the Old Bailey, Mr Blake spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and to enter his plea. Mr Kaba was driving in Streatham on the night of 5 September 2022 when he was stopped by police in two cars. In the moments that followed, Mr Kaba was shot in the head through the car windscreen. He died in the early hours of the following day. Mr Kaba died in hospital after being shot during a Met Police operation In his judgment on naming Mr Blake, Mr Justice Lucraft said that significant information had emerged about a threat to his safety in the aftermath of the shooting. He examined \"raw underlying intelligence\" about the threat, to enable him to make the decision about whether the officer should be allowed to remain anonymous. He said that as the trial approached, attempts might be made to find out more about Mr Blake and he had considered whether there was a \"real and immediate\" threat to the officer's life or to his family. Mr Justice Lucraft concluded: \"In my judgment, the naming of the defendant, or the giving of his date of birth, does not give rise to a real and immediate risk to his life.\" Restrictions on publishing pictures of the officer or his address will remain in place. Previously, police officers facing serious criminal charges have been named in court and the media has been able to report their names. Speaking outside court, Anita Sharmar, a caseworker for the charity Inquest which is representing Mr Kaba's family, welcomed the judge's decision to lift the anonymity order. \"In any other murder trial the accused would be publicly named; this case should be no different,\" she said. In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Federation secretary Rick Prior said the organisation was \"hugely shocked, saddened and concerned\" about the naming of Mr Blake. \"Our police officers must have full confidence that they have the protection needed to do this difficult and dangerous job society expects of them,\" he said. Mr Prior added: \"Being a firearms officer in London is one of the world's toughest jobs.\" After Mr Blake was charged, some Metropolitan Police firearms officers stepped back from their duties in protest. At one point the BBC was told up to 300 armed officers had turned in their firearms permits allowing them to carry weapons, out of a total of about 2,500 armed officers in the Met. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hellobbclondon@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Met Police officer Martyn Blake has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Chris Kaba, a 24-year-old who died from a single gunshot wound during a police operation in Streatham, London, in September 2022. Blake, previously known as NX121 due to safety concerns, had his anonymity lifted by a judge, allowing his name to be publicized ahead of his trial set to begin in October." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Never in my wildest dreams' - Raye on her record seven Brit nominations Singer-songwriter Raye has received seven Brit Award nominations, a new record for one artist in a single year. She has overtaken Craig David, Gorillaz and Robbie Williams, who previously held the joint record with six each. Raye's nominations include one for artist of the year, a category in which six of the 10 nominees are female. That is in stark contrast to last year, when there was an all-male best artist line-up after the merging of the best British male and female categories. Following criticism, Brits organisers have expanded the artist of the year category from five to 10 slots this year. The result is nominations for Raye, Jessie Ware, Olivia Dean, Little Simz, Arlo Parks and Dua Lipa, alongside male artists Dave, Central Cee, J Hus and Fred Again. The split is even more pronounced in international artist of the year, where Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo are among eight female nominees in the 10-strong category. Instead, some high-profile men have been snubbed this year - with Ed Sheeran and Lewis Capaldi both missing out on recognition in the artist of the year and album of the year categories. Sheeran released two albums during the Brits' eligibility period, both of which reached number one. Capaldi also topped the chart with his second album Broken by Desire to be Heavenly Sent. However, both did score nominations for song of the year - Sheeran for Eyes Closed, and Capaldi for Wish You The Best. Ed Sheeran missed out on best album and best artist nods despite releasing two records during the eligibility period Raye's other nominations include best album, best new artist, best pop act and two in the best song category - Escapism, featuring US rapper 070 Shake, and Prada, a collaboration with Casso and D-Block Europe. The success is further vindication for the south London singer, who complained in 2021 that her major label was refusing to release her debut album, so put it out independently instead. \"As far as the industry was concerned, I was down and out,\" Raye said. \"Never in my wildest dreams would I think that trying again would mean seven Brit nominations!\" Overall, 55% of the nominations feature women, either as solo acts or part of an all-female group. The figure rises to 57% if mixed-gender groups are included. Saxophonist YolanDa Brown, chair of music industry body the BPI, said it was \"wonderful to see the representation in the nominees\". \"The [artist of the year] category being expanded helps to showcase the music we've had this year, but it has been a great year for women as well,\" she said. \"It was important for us to listen to our critical friends, and learn, and I think you'll see that's been reflected this year. But we need to keep listening and learning and make sure it doesn't happen again.\" Elsewhere, The Rolling Stones have scored their first nomination in a decade in best rock act - a category that will be voted on via Instagram. The Rolling Stones are nominated for best rock act following the release of their latest album Hackney Diamonds Mahalia is nominated for best new artist as well as best R&B act, a new category this year A new genre category, best R&B act, has been announced this year. It will sit alongside the existing categories for alternative/rock, dance, pop and hip-hop/grime/rap. The inaugural nominees in the new category, which has a 24-month eligibility period to allow more submissions, are Cleo Sol, Jorja Smith, Mahalia, Sault and Raye, who is also listed in the pop category. Raye, Young Fathers, Little Simz, Blur and J Hus are all up for the prestigious album of the year prize. Rock group The Last Dinner Party have already been announced as the recipients of this year's rising star prize. The Brits' voting body is made up of around 1,300 members from across the music industry. Dua Lipa is also the first artist to be confirmed to perform at the ceremony, which will take place in London on 2 March. Nominations in the three biggest categories are: Little Simz's nominations include album and artist of the year", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Singer-songwriter Raye has broken the record for the most Brit Award nominations in a single year with seven, overtaking previous record holders Craig David, Gorillaz, and Robbie Williams. The Brits have expanded the artist of the year category to 10 slots, resulting in six female nominees, including Raye, Jessie Ware, Olivia Dean, Little Simz, Arlo Parks, and Dua Lipa." + }, + { + "article": "The sheep were chased over three fields Sheep were chased over three fields in a bloody rampage which left eight ewes and 20 lambs dead and many more badly injured, said farmer Ali Dawe. The animals were found by Mr Dawe at Langford Farm, near Tavistock, in Devon. Devon and Cornwall Police said there was an ongoing investigation into the attack. Mr Dawe said 13 injured ewes and four lambs had to be put down due to the severity of their injuries after the attacks on Sunday. Including those that had to be put down, a total of 45 animals died. Mr Dawe is certain it was an attack by one dog or more and he has photos of footprints in the mud around the scene. The sheep were chased over three fields with dead and mutilated animals left stuck in gates and hedges, he said. \"The scenes we turned up to in the morning at first light were absolutely traumatic,\" he said. \"Sheep and lambs alive and dead straight across over 50 acres, over three fields. \"We are absolutely beside ourselves.\" Mr Dawe said it was \"too much destruction\" for one dog to have carried out on its own. \"We've taken prints and measured the size of the paw prints,\" he said. \"They are four inches wide - there's only a few breeds of dogs that have that width of paw. \"We believe there's more than two dogs and someone hasn't kept them shut in at night.\" One of the dog prints found at the scene of the attacks Dartmoor livestock protection officer Karla McKechnie said the attack was one of the worst she had seen. \"I've been doing this job for some time now and I've dealt with some big attacks but I've got to say this pretty much tops it all,\" she said. \"These animals should be safe and flourishing. \"I don't even feel angry, I feel saddened and sickened when a farmer phones you up and doesn't know which way to turn. \"Their lambs and ewes with those lambs have been absolutely savaged. \"It's carnage and I feel desperate for them, absolutely desperate.\" Mr Dawe said it was possible the dogs were let out by accident but he urged anyone with information to come forward. \"We don't mind what the situation is - we're just very, very concerned as a family that these dogs have not been found,\" he said. \"We just hate the thought that anything could happen. These dogs could come back.\" Devon and Cornwall Police asked anyone who could assist the investigation to contact them. \"The sheep are believed to have been attacked by a dog or dogs,\" it said. \"Officers have spoken to the landowner and enquiries are ongoing.\" Follow BBC Devon on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A farmer in Devon, UK, found eight ewes and 20 lambs dead, with many more injured, following a dog attack at Langford Farm near Tavistock; 13 injured ewes and four lambs had to be euthanized due to severe injuries. The farmer believes multiple dogs were involved based on the paw prints found, and an investigation by Devon and Cornwall Police is ongoing." + }, + { + "article": "Kneecap are a hip-hop trio from Belfast who use the stage names Mo Chara, M\u00f3gla\u00ed Bap and DJ Pr\u00f3va\u00ed Belfast band Kneecap have pulled out of South by Southwest (SXSW) in Texas over the arts festival's sponsorship with the US Army. The group is the latest to cancel their sets at the event in protest against the military's support for Israel in the war in Gaza. Other artists who've announced they won't be performing include Lambrini Girls, Scowl and Sprints. BBC Newsbeat has contacted organisers of the festival for comment. The festival, which runs until 16 March in the city of Austin, celebrates film, comedy and music and attracts more than 300,000 people each year. In a statement shared on social media, Kneecap said they cancelled their three sets at the festival \"in solidarity with the people of Palestine\". The trio said they did it to highlight the \"unacceptable\" links between the military and SXSW - which lists the US Army as a \"super sponsor\" on its website. They said they \"cannot in good conscience\" attend the event, even though pulling out would have \"a significant financial impact\" on the band, But they said it wasn't comparable to the \"unimaginable suffering\" in Gaza. SXSW is held across the city of Austin, Texas, every year Israel launched a campaign in the Gaza Strip after Hamas - the group which runs the territory and which the UK government says is a terrorist organisation - attacked Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage. More than 30,000 people in Gaza have been killed since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. America is Israel's biggest military backer, providing billions of dollars in defence aid every year, and a number of weapons Israel is using in the conflict, including jets and bombs, are US-made. Brighton-based duo Lambrini Girls announced on Saturday they'd also be boycotting SXSW. They said their last-minute decision was due to them looking for a way to keep their \"moral integrity intact and not have to repay thousands of pounds at the same time\". \"That really just isn't possible. Money has to be repaid and we can't affiliate ourselves whatsoever with SXSW,\" they wrote. Both acts say they considered other options to show their support for Gaza, including protests on stage or performing at unofficial events, but decided against it. Other acts to pull out include Sprints, Scowl, Gel, Okay Shalom and Squirrel Flower. In a post on Instagram, New York-based singer-songwriter Okay Shalom said the decision \"cost a dream\" but that it was \"the right thing to do\". Indie rocker Squirrel Flower said she was withdrawing her \"art and labour in protest\" but would still be playing unofficial showcases. The US military is also playing a role in humanitarian efforts in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned famine is \"almost inevitable\" and that children are starving to death. America sent a military ship carrying materials for a pier to get food and supplies into Gaza on Saturday, and the US has also parachuted in more than 11,000 meals. In a statement, the US Army told Newsbeat it was \"proud to be a sponsor of SXSW, and to have the opportunity to showcase America's Army... explore new ideas and insights, and create dynamic industry partnerships.\" SXSW has not responded to a request for comment from BBC Newsbeat. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap has withdrawn from the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Texas over the event's sponsorship by the US Army, citing solidarity with Palestine and objections to the military's support for Israel in the Gaza conflict. Other artists, including Lambrini Girls and Scowl, have also canceled their performances in protest." + }, + { + "article": "Roy Reynolds, 54, was found dead in a reservoir near Carrickfergus in March 2022 A 34-year-old man has been jailed for at least 21 years for the murder of a man in Newtownabbey two years ago. Michael Campbell killed Roy Reynolds in a flat in Rathcoole and then got help to take the victim's body to a reservoir near Carrickfergus. A judge described the murder as \"brutal in the extreme\" and \"merciless\". Roy Reynolds, 54, died after being beaten and stabbed. His remains were placed in a car boot and taken to North Woodburn Reservoir. Flowers were left at the reservoir after the body was found Campbell, whose address was given as HMP Maghaberry, admitted murdering Mr Reynolds, in March 2022. He also admitted a charge of attempting to prevent the burial of the victim's body. Mr Justice O'Hara said the way in which Mr Reynolds' body was removed from the scene and dumped made matters \"many, many times\" worse. Another man Robert Fulton, 70, of Brickhill Park, Newtownabbey, was sentenced to two years and four months imprisonment for helping with the disposal of the body. His sentence was reduced to one year and two months because of his early guilty plea and his \"genuine remorse\". Fulton will not go to prison because of time already served in jail in relation to the case. Det Insp Sean Armstrong from the PSNI described the murder as a \"horrific attack\" that was \"made even more disturbing by the callous way that the two subsequently disposed of his body\". He paid tribute to the \"strength, patience, and dignity\" shown by Mr Reynolds' family during the investigation and trial. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Roy Reynolds' brother-in-law describes family's pain after a man is jailed for his killing Eric McCulley, Mr Reynolds' brother-in-law, said that Roy was a \"cherished brother, father, and grandfather\". Speaking outside court in Belfast on Wednesday, he said the family had experienced an \"unimaginable tragedy\". Mr Culley added that the family wished to thank those who had come forward to the police with information about the murder. In a statement after the sentencing, Mairead Lavery from the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said Campbell subjected Mr Reynolds to a \"ferociously violent and senseless attack\". She said the PPS and PSNI worked closely to \"build a strong case against both defendants\". \"Mr Reynolds was much-loved and his loss in these most painful circumstances have left a terrible void in the lives of his family and friends. I want to thank Mr Reynolds' loved ones for their dignity throughout these proceedings,\" Ms Lavery added. \"I hope that the conclusion of this case will bring some small sense of comfort as they attempt to rebuild their lives without him.\" \u2022 None Reservoir murder victim had more than 100 injuries", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Michael Campbell has been sentenced to at least 21 years in prison for the brutal murder of Roy Reynolds, who was beaten and stabbed in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, in 2020. Campbell admitted to killing Reynolds and disposing of his body in North Woodburn Reservoir. Another man, Robert Fulton, received a reduced sentence for helping with the body disposal but will not serve additional time due to time already spent in jail." + }, + { + "article": "Dozens of vessels have been targeted by the Houthis in the Red Sea since November (file image) Yemen's Houthi movement has hit another ship in the Red Sea off Yemen, the Iranian-backed rebel group says. The Greek-owned bulk carrier Zografia was sailing from Vietnam to Israel when it was struck on Tuesday. It is said to have suffered only minor damage. The incident comes as the US military announced it had seized Iranian-supplied weapons bound for the Houthis during an operation last week. Meanwhile, the US has hit more targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. Four anti-ship ballistic missiles that were ready to be launched were destroyed, an official told CBS, the BBC's American partner. The US and UK launched a wave of airstrikes against dozens of Houthi targets on 11 January following attacks by the group on shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis began attacking merchant vessels in November, saying they were responding to Israel's military operation in Gaza. On Tuesday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the Zografia had been targeted by naval missiles, resulting in a \"direct hit\". The Greek-owned, Malta-registered ship was empty and had 24 crew onboard. There are no reports of injuries. The Houthis say they are attacking vessels that are Israeli-owned or operated, or are heading to Israeli ports. However, many of the ships targeted have no connections with Israel. On Sunday, the US said it had shot down a missile fired towards one of its warships from a Houthi area of Yemen. A day later, the group said they had carried out a ballistic missile strike on a US-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden. The Red Sea connects the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal but several shipping lines have announced they are now diverting round the Cape of Good Hope to reach Europe instead. British oil giant Shell on Tuesday became the latest to suspend all of its shipments through the Red Sea indefinitely, according to the Wall Street Journal. The US has seized weapons from a ship near the coast of Somalia The US said on Tuesday that it had seized advanced Iranian weapons that were being transported to the Houthis. The operation took place five days ago. The material found onboard a sailboat included components for ballistic and cruise missiles, among them warheads and guidance systems. Parts for air defence equipment were also seized. The US military said initial analysis indicated the Houthis had been using the same kinds of weapons in attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea. \"This is the first seizure of lethal, Iranian-supplied advanced conventional weapons (ACW) to the Houthis since the beginning of Houthi attacks against merchant ships in November,\" US Central Command said in a statement. Central Command also said a search is continuing for two Navy Seals who were lost overboard during the operation. Iran denied being behind the Houthi missile capability. The US says it is seeking to ease tension in the Middle East, despite repeated US military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. \"We are not looking for regional conflict, far from it. Through a combination of steady deterrence and steadfast diplomacy, we seek to stop the spread of conflict and to create the conditions for de-escalation,\" National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. But he added that much would depend on Iran and its support for the militants.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Yemen's Houthi rebels have attacked a Greek-owned ship in the Red Sea, claiming it was hit by naval missiles, while the US military seized Iranian-supplied weapons bound for the Houthis. The US and UK have conducted airstrikes against Houthi targets in response to attacks on shipping, and the Red Sea is seeing increased tensions as shipping lines divert due to safety concerns." + }, + { + "article": "Mr Zelensky said Ukraine would produce \"a million\" extra drones in 2024 President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised a sharp increase in the amount of weapons Ukraine produces next year. In his new year's message, Mr Zelensky repeated his pledge that at least a million drones would be built. There was more fighting overnight into New Year's Day with five people killed in attacks in Odesa in Ukraine's south, and the Russian-held Donetsk region. Earlier Vladimir Putin gave his new year address, praising his army but without explicitly mentioning the war. The Russian president hailed his soldiers as \"heroes... at the forefront of the fight for truth\" and also referenced economic issues, a key topic for many Russians, and declared 2024 the \"year of the family\". Speaking on Sunday, as the war against Russia approaches its third year, Mr Zelensky said: \"Next year, the enemy will feel the wrath of domestic production.\" He said Ukraine would produce \"a million\" extra drones in 2024 - something he said earlier this month - and that F-16 fighter jets would be delivered by Ukraine's Western partners. \"Our pilots are already mastering F-16 jets, and we will definitely see them in our skies,\" he said. \"So that our enemies can certainly see what our real wrath is.\" The new year's message came just hours before more attacks. In Donetsk, which is occupied by Russia, four people were reported killed and 13 wounded, according to Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of Donetsk, on Telegram. He described the attack as \"massive shelling from multiple launch rocket systems\". Separately in Odesa, in the south of Ukraine, one person was killed and three others were wounded in a Russian drone attack, local governor Oleg Kiper said. A couple take a selfie next to a Christmas tree during New Year's Eve in front of the St Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv Fighting has escalated in recent days, after Russia carried out strikes across Ukraine on Friday, killing 39 people in what Kyiv described as Russia's biggest missile bombardment of the war so far. Several cities were hit, including the capital, Kyiv. This was followed by Ukrainian attacks on Russia on Saturday, with Moscow reporting deadly air strikes on the south-west of the country - with 24 people killed and more than 100 injured in Belgorod, near the border. Mr Zelensky urged his Western allies to keep up support for Ukraine, as the country faces the prospect of a slowdown in aid from allies in Washington and Europe. Ukraine has received its last package of military aid from the US - with any further aid packages being held up by a row in US Congress. Mr Zelensky has admitted his country's spring offensive has not been the success he hoped, but in his message insisted that his country had become stronger in the face of Russia's full-scale invasion. Mr Putin did not broach the war in Ukraine during his new year address, which was noticeably scaled back compared to last year's. But he said: \"To everyone who is at a combat post, at the forefront of the fight for truth and justice: You are our heroes, our hearts are with you,\" he said. \"We are proud of you, we admire your courage.\" Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to produce one million drones in 2024 and vowed that Western partners would deliver F-16 fighter jets, while Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Russian soldiers in his new year's address without directly mentioning the war. Overnight into New Year's Day, attacks in Odesa and the Donetsk region resulted in fatalities, with both sides reporting escalated fighting." + }, + { + "article": "Speculation has surrounded the giant for centuries A centuries-old mystery surrounding the origins of a chalk giant hill figure has been unravelled by academics from Oxford University. New research indicates the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset was originally carved as an image of Hercules to mark a muster station for West Saxon armies. Speculation has long surrounded the figure, with some believing it could date back to prehistoric times. The academics said it was reinterpreted in the 11th Century by local monks. Cerne Abbey was founded at the end of the 10th Century In 2021, tests carried out for the National Trust, which owns the site, revealed the giant had been carved in the Anglo-Saxon period and was not prehistoric, or more recent, as previously thought. Dr Helen Gittos and Dr Thomas Morcom have been building on the discovery to uncover why the giant was created in the first place. They explained that Hercules was well known in the Middle Ages and there was a particular spike of interest in him during the 9th Century, at a time when the area was under attack by Vikings. Dr Helen Gittos said the land was owned by the West Saxon royal family The location of the giant - jutting out from a ridge and close to major routeways - along with its access to fresh water and the supplies of the local estate, would have made it an ideal meeting point for West Saxon armies fighting against the invaders. Dr Helen Gittos, associate professor in early medieval history, said: \"This land was owned by the West Saxon royal family in the 9th Century and the 10th Century and we have descriptions of that land. \"They describe that there was a herepath - an army road - that led on to Giant Hill and this hillside looks like a special kind of meeting place that we now recognise in the Anglo Saxon landscape.\" A medieval manuscript refers to Eadwold planting his staff into the ground The giant is also alluded to in an 11th-Century manuscript held at the British Library that refers to a local hermit, Saint Eadwold, planting his staff at the top of the hill. It is now believed the monks at Cerne Abbey had attempted to rebrand the naked giant as Eadwold in a bid to lay claim to the saint's relics. Dr Morcom, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oslo, said: \"Having a large, very obviously naked, pagan figure on your doorstep was an inconvenient fact for the monks and they engaged in a piece of intellectual interpretation, associating him with their patron saint, Eadwold.\" Dr Morcom said the naked, pagan figure was \"inconvenient\" for Cerne's monks Dr Gittos added: \"What's wonderful is that the story we have found is so much more interesting than it being a mystery. \"It tells us so much more about this place and these people and that, for me, is really exciting.\" The findings, by Dr Gittos and Dr Morcom, were due to be published in Speculum the journal of the Medieval Academy of America. Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Oxford University researchers have revealed that the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, a centuries-old chalk hill figure, was originally carved as an image of Hercules to mark a muster station for West Saxon armies in the Anglo-Saxon period, not as a prehistoric or more recent creation as previously thought. The 11th-century reinterpretation of the figure by local monks as Saint Eadwold was an attempt to connect it with the saint's relics, but the true origins now shed light on the area's history and its significance during Viking attacks." + }, + { + "article": "Crowds welcomed Bluebird as it arrived in Coniston on the back of a lorry Donald Campbell's Bluebird craft has returned to the Lake District 57 years after its pilot was killed in a crash on Coniston Water. The hydroplane's wreckage was recovered in 2001 and rebuilt by Tyneside engineer Bill Smith. Following a legal battle, it was handed to Coniston's Ruskin Museum. The machine was collected from North Shields on Saturday morning and was welcomed with claps and cheers when it reached Coniston later that day. The journey from North Shields began at about 12:00 GMT Mr Campbell had been trying to push his water-speed record past 300mph (480km/h) when Bluebird somersaulted in January 1967. The reconstructed craft took to the water again in Scotland in August 2018 and Mr Smith vowed to \"fight to the death\" over what he said was his stake in it. However, last month it was announced he had relinquished his claim. Jeff Carroll, vice-chairman of the museum's trustees, said it was a \"momentous day\". \"It means that everybody can actually come and look at Bluebird and see her in all her glory,\" Mr Carroll said. \"It will mean my mission accomplished, for the moment.\" He thanked Mr Smith and his Bluebird Project volunteers, who reconstructed the craft. It will now become the centrepiece of the museum's Bluebird wing. Bill Smith led Bluebird's recovery in 2001 and restored it in his Tyneside workshop Mr Smith said: \"I've always described this as a diving job that got out of hand. That's my short version. \"Everyone's very proud of their work and everyone want to clap their work off the premises and be very positive.\" Mr Campbell's daughter, Gina, was at Coniston for Bluebird's arrival, where crowds of onlookers had gathered. \"I said to my partner, I will never live long enough to see this day,\" she said. \"And if it hadn't been for the museum and their tenacity and doggedness to see this through, I don't think I would've lived long enough to see this day.\" Bluebird was visible as it was transported to Cumbria from Tyneside Mr Smith has accused the museum of being \"spiteful\" and \"vindictive\" in requesting the craft be handed over. While Miss Campbell said she had sympathy for BBP volunteers, she said that Bluebird was \"coming home\". \"I'm not going to gloat in any way, shape or form. There are no winners in this other than right over wrong. It didn't have to be this way,\" she said. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Donald Campbell's Bluebird hydroplane, which crashed in 1967, has returned to Coniston, Lake District, 57 years later, after being rebuilt and involved in a legal battle. The craft, now at the Ruskin Museum, was welcomed by crowds as it arrived from North Shields, marking the end of a long restoration journey led by engineer Bill Smith." + }, + { + "article": "The General Frank S Besson is carrying the first load of equipment to build a floating harbour A US military ship is sailing towards the Middle East, carrying equipment to build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, the army says. The support ship, General Frank S Besson, set sail from a military base in the state of Virginia on Saturday. It comes after President Joe Biden said the US would build the floating harbour to help get aid into Gaza by sea. The UN has warned that famine in the Gaza Strip is \"almost inevitable\" and children are starving to death. The US and Jordan carried out an airdrop on Sunday, parachuting in more than 11,500 meals that included rice, flour, pasta, and canned food, the US military said. Aid deliveries by land and air have proved difficult and dangerous. The World Food Programme had to pause land deliveries after its convoys came under gunfire and looting. And on Friday, there were reports that five people had been killed by a falling aid package, when its parachute failed to open properly. The US ship departed \"less than 36 hours\" after Mr Biden made his announcement, US Central Command wrote on X. It is \"carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies\" to Gaza, the statement continued. The Pentagon has said it could take up to 60 days to build the pier with the help of 1,000 troops - none of whom would go ashore. Charities have said those suffering in Gaza cannot wait that long. Meanwhile, an aid ship laden with some 200 tonnes of food had been expected to set sail from a port in Larnaca, Cyprus on Sunday afternoon, Cypriot media reported. However as Sunday night ticked into Monday morning, it was still docked in Cyprus. The charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), which has provided the food aid, told the BBC: \"This maritime operation remains a quickly evolving and fluid situation... we plan to embark as soon as possible.\" It follows an EU announcement that a new sea route would be opened over the weekend to allow aid to sail directly from Cyprus - the closest EU country to Gaza. The Open Arms aid ship has been ready to depart for weeks, the charity's founder has said The ship, Open Arms, belongs to the Spanish charity of the same name. Exactly where it plans to dock when it reaches Gaza has not been publicly revealed. Gaza has no functioning port and its surrounding waters are too shallow for large vessels, but WCK said its team had been building a jetty off the coast to receive the aid. The charity added that its plans are \"not related\" to the floating pier the US is aiming to build. Israel has welcomed the ocean initiative, and said aid would be delivered after security checks were carried out in Cyprus \"in accordance with Israeli standards\". Israel's military launched an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip after Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage. More than 30,900 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says. The conflict has created a growing humanitarian crisis, and the UN has warned that at least 576,000 people across the Gaza Strip - one quarter of the population - are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity. Western countries have pressed Israel to expand land deliveries by facilitating more routes and opening additional crossings. Lorries have been entering the south of Gaza through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing. But the north, which was the focus of the first phase of the Israeli ground offensive, has been largely cut off from assistance in recent months. An estimated 300,000 Palestinians are living there with little food or clean water. Israel has been accused of hampering aid efforts, and an independent UN expert last week accused it of mounting \"a starvation campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza\". Yeela Cytrin, a legal adviser at the Israeli mission to the UN, responded that \"Israel utterly rejects allegations that it is using starvation as a tool of war\", before walking out in protest.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A US military ship, the General Frank S Besson, is en route to the Middle East to build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza for delivering humanitarian aid, following President Biden's announcement. The UN has warned of an impending famine in the region, with aid deliveries by land and air facing challenges." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Moment driver is rescued from dangling truck in Kentucky A driver has been rescued from the cab of a truck that was left dangling dramatically over the edge of a bridge in Louisville, Kentucky, after her vehicle crashed through a barrier. The woman was unharmed, officials say. Video showed rescue workers descending to pull her out of the cab. Attention now turns to how to remove the truck from its precarious position, as it hangs over the Ohio River. It is not yet clear how the incident happened. The bridge has been closed. Police have confirmed there was a \"motor vehicle collision\" on the bridge, saying they expected the route to be close \"for a period of time\". Firefighters confirmed the driver was pulled from the truck using ropes and ladders, and was back safely on the bridge in about 45 minutes. They added that nobody ever entered the water below. \"She held it together like a champ,\" Louisville Fire Department Chief Brian O'Neill said in a news conference, describing the woman as very calm throughout her ordeal. \"But I will say, the second she hit solid ground she was able to let those emotions go and just have that relief. It's a pretty impressive thing.\" He added that it was \"extremely lucky\" that the vehicle never plunged into the water, roughly 75ft (23 meters) below. One of the rescuers, firefighter Bryce Carden, said his training prepared him for the encounter, telling reporters \"we've certainly done some crazy things but this tops it so far\". The rescue included a firefighter dangling from a ladder by a rope to access the truck Police urged people to stay away from the scene. The city's mayor, Craig Greenberg, saluted those who \"swiftly responded\", saying: \"Your bravery is unmatched and we're grateful for your lifesaving work.\" The vehicle has been described as a semi-truck, consisting of a cab which tows a trailer. The driver of another vehicle involved in the Friday afternoon crash was taken to hospital with unspecified injuries. The structure in question - the Clark Memorial Bridge, also known as the Second Street Bridge - connects Kentucky with southern Indiana. Sysco, the company that owns the truck, released a statement saying it was \"enormously grateful to rescue services and law enforcement who quickly and safely resolved the accident\". \"We are thankful our Sysco colleague is safe and thank the first responders for their courageous efforts rescuing our driver. \"Safety is a priority at Sysco, and we are cooperating with the law enforcement investigation.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A driver was safely rescued from a truck hanging over the edge of a bridge in Louisville, Kentucky, after a crash left it dangling above the Ohio River. The bridge has been closed, and efforts are underway to remove the truck, with the incident under investigation." + }, + { + "article": "King Charles has given his \"heartfelt thanks\" for messages of support from the public, in his first statement since being diagnosed with cancer. The 75-year-old monarch said: \"As all those who have been affected by cancer will know, such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort and encouragement.\" News of the diagnosis was announced by Buckingham Palace on Monday. The King is being treated for an unspecified form of cancer and is currently staying at Sandringham. His cancer was detected while he was undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate in January. While the type of cancer has not been disclosed, the Palace confirmed it was not prostate cancer. In the message of thanks, he wrote: \"It is equally heartening to hear how sharing my own diagnosis has helped promote public understanding and shine a light on the work of all those organisations which support cancer patients and their families across the UK and wider world. \"My lifelong admiration for their tireless care and dedication is all the greater as a result of my own personal experience.\" The King has stepped back from all public-facing duties while he is being treated for the cancer, with senior royals - including Queen Camilla and Prince of Wales - taking on his duties for some events. He left Clarence House, London, for his Norfolk residence on Wednesday, accompanied by the Queen. His younger son, the Duke of Sussex, had flown in from the US for a brief visit earlier that day. \"I have to be seen to be believed\" was one of the guiding principle of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Well, the King won't be seen any time soon, the whirlwind of engagements is paused for the moment. But he will be heard from. And by the normally very restrained standards of Royal prose, this is pretty personal. Not many people of his age have chosen to make their medical condition a global talking point. And the King goes out of his way to express his hope that his relative openness has served a purpose. And there's more - this is a man who, like so many cancer patients, is now in hands of the doctors and the nurses. And like many patients he goes out of his way to highlight the work of those who care, work he has of course come into contact with before, but never like this. The thanks the King gives for all the messages of support is unsurprising royal fare. But even there, the meeting of man and monarch in diagnosis and treatment is revealed - those messages, he says in rather different words, mean a lot. The Queen had said her husband was \"very touched by all the letters and messages the public have been sending from everywhere\". Speaking at an event at Salisbury Cathedral on Thursday, she said the support had been \"very cheering\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. King Charles \"is doing extremely well under the circumstances,\" the Queen says Prince William had also expressed gratitude for messages of support for his father and also for his wife, the Princess of Wales, as she recovers from abdominal surgery. She is not expected to return to royal duties until after Easter. Speaking at a charity fundraiser for London's Air Ambulance, attended by guests including Hollywood star Tom Cruise, Prince William said the comments meant \"a great deal to us all\". \"It's fair to say the past few weeks have had rather a 'medical' focus,\" he said. The King's sister, the Princess Royal, acknowledged words of support for both the monarch and Catherine earlier this week. Anne attended the Six Nations match between Scotland and France on Saturday, in her role as the patron of Scottish Rugby.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "King Charles has expressed gratitude for public support after his cancer diagnosis, stating that it has encouraged him. He hopes his openness has raised awareness for cancer support organizations. The King is currently undergoing treatment for an unspecified type of cancer at Sandringham, and has temporarily stepped back from public duties." + }, + { + "article": "New rules make it harder to keep chimpanzees and other primates as pets in the UK The government has been told that new regulations on keeping primates as pets in England falls short of a full ban. The new rules make it illegal to keep monkeys, lemurs, and other primates without a license from April 2026. Critics argued that this is not an outright ban on keeping primates as pets, as promised in the Conservative party's 2019 manifesto. A minister said the claims that the regulations do not ban keeping primates as pets are \"essentially incorrect\". The legislation, which was passed by peers on Tuesday, means that private owners of primates - such as chimpanzees, orangutans and baboons - will need to be checked by local authorities to make sure they have the right arrangements in place to properly care for the animals. Anyone who owns a primate without the appropriate licence could face six months in jail, an unlimited fine, or both. Lemurs kept as pets are affected by the new rules Several members of the House of Lords raised specific concerns with the legislation. Labour frontbencher Baroness Hayman of Ullock said it was \"disappointing that the regulations don't ban the keeping of primates as pets\". Former RSPCA chair and Conservative peer Baroness Fookes said that she would have liked to have seen a \"straight ban on the keeping of primates by private owners\", adding that it was \"impossible\" for most private owners to provide the \"kind of natural setting that is suitable for animals of this kind\". Lord Douglas-Miller, a minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, disagreed, and called claims that the regulations do not ban keeping the animals as pets \"essentially incorrect\". He added that the vast majority of animals kept as pets do not need to comply with the kinds of requirements in the new legislation. \"This is not semantics\", Lord Douglas-Miller said. \"Primates have particular welfare needs that cannot be met by keeping them as a household pet and this legislation seeks to end this practice.\" He added that those people who have primates in \"bird cages and other wholly inappropriate conditions\" will no longer be allowed to do so. Animal charity the Humane Society International said the new legislation \"should drastically reduce the number of pet primates over time\", but added that it was \"disappointed [...] that the new licensing scheme falls short of the ban promised by the Conservative party in its manifesto\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government has introduced new rules that require a license to keep primates, such as chimpanzees and lemurs, as pets from April 2026, but critics argue this falls short of a promised ban. Those found keeping primates without a license could face jail time, fines, or both, and while the legislation aims to improve animal welfare, some, including animal charities, express disappointment that it doesn't fully prohibit private ownership." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: \"The bulk of the bullying and abuse I was experiencing... was when I was pregnant\" The Duchess of Sussex has criticised the \"seemingly endless toxicity\" of social media, revealing she was targeted with \"bullying and abuse\" while pregnant with Archie and Lilibet. Meghan was the keynote speaker on a high-profile panel marking International Women's Day at the annual SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. She said she now keeps her distance from such comments for her wellbeing. Prince Harry was in the front row of the audience watching the event. Meghan said people have \"forgotten our humanity\" in certain parts of the media and digital sphere. \"The bulk of the bullying and abuse that I was experiencing on social media and online was when I was pregnant with Archie and with Lili\", she explained. \"You just think about that and really wrap your head around why people would be so hateful - it is not catty, it is cruel.\" The event was titled Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On And Off The Screen. The 42-year-old former Suits actress also discussed issues ranging from the importance of diverse representation to portrayals of motherhood in film and entertainment. Panellists from left to right: Journalist Errin Haines, Meghan, former news anchor Katie Couric, actress Brooke Shields and sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen Meghan said she found it \"disturbing\" that women were \"spewing\" hatred at each other online, adding: \"I cannot make sense of that.\" \"If you're reading something terrible about a woman, why are you sharing it with your friends?\" she asked. \"If it was your friend, or your mum or your daughter, you wouldn't do it. \"I think that is the piece that is so lost right now (with) what is happening in the digital space and in certain sections of the media - we have forgotten about our humanity and that has got to change.\" At fellow panellist Katie Couric's urging, Meghan also re-shared how a letter she sent aged 11 to consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble led to a sexist advert promoting dishwashing liquid being changed. Meghan said that experience showed her the power of speaking up and advocacy. \"Your voice is not small, it just needs to be heard,\" she told a live audience. Actress Brooke Shields, also on the panel. joked: \"This is one of the ways we're different, when I was 11 I was playing a prostitute,\" referring to her background as a child actor and role in 1978 film Pretty Baby. The SXSW keynote panel event was also simultaneously streamed on YouTube, with most of the comments about Meghan being overwhelmingly positive. The Duke of Sussex and Meghan have come under heavy criticism, particularly in the UK tabloid press, after they stepped back from the Royal Family. Scrutiny of the couple intensified following a revealing interview on Oprah and a Netflix documentary. The couple's public appearances have been less frequent since they moved to California and set up the Archewell Foundation. Meghan was last in England in September 2022. Prince Harry in the audience at the event There has been significant online speculation about a possible return to the UK to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Invictus Games - set up in 2014 by Prince Harry. Meghan's latest appearance comes during a difficult period for the Royal Family as the King undergoes cancer treatment and the Princess of Wales recovers from abdominal surgery in the UK. They have been put further under the microscope by the appearance of Kate Middleton's maternal uncle, Gary Goldsmith on Celebrity Big Brother. Goldsmith has criticised Meghan on the ITV reality show and reportedly claimed that Prince William has offered an olive branch to his brother. On Friday evening, he became the first housemate evicted from Celebrity Big Brother on ITV. Speaking after his eviction, Goldsmith backed the one-time Dragons' Den contestant Levi Roots to win, adding that his niece would \"100%\" support his choice. \"[Roots] is somebody who puts other people first and that's our Kate,\" he said. Earlier, Prince Harry's memoir Spare was shortlisted for the British Book Awards in two categories.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan, spoke at the SXSW festival about the bullying and abuse she faced on social media during her pregnancies, emphasizing the need for empathy and humanity in the digital space. She highlighted the power of speaking up and advocacy, sharing her experience of changing a sexist advert as a child." + }, + { + "article": "A puppet of a Syrian refugee child has joined protesters on the pro-Palestinian march in London Thousands of people joined a pro-Palestinian march in London calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Demonstrators carried placards emblazoned with \"ceasefire now\" and a giant puppet of a Syrian child refugee, named Little Amal, accompanied the march to highlight child refugees. Organisers said the protest was part of a global day of action in 30 countries. More than 1,700 police officers were on duty to manage the march from London's commercial centre to Westminster. Six people have been arrested for a range of alleged offences, the Metropolitan Police said. \"Two for offensive placards, one for being in possession of stickers to be used for criminal damage and the three arrested under the Terrorism Act,\" the Met said on social media. Ahead of the march, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor from the Met warned people who \"intentionally push the limit\" on placards or chanting slogans that they face arrest. Alongside the heavy police presence, including forces from outside of London, police handed out flyers to protesters which said \"keep on the right side of the law\". This was the seventh national pro-Palestinian march held in London following the unprecedented Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October which led to around 1,200 people being killed and more than 240 kidnapped. More than 23,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its retaliatory bombing campaign and launched a subsequent ground campaign, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Protests have taken place most weekends in the British capital and have been attended by tens of thousands of largely peaceful people. But there have been dozens of arrests for a variety of public order offences, including people chanting or carrying placards with antisemitic slogans and for supporting Hamas - which is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK. Officers have handed leaflets warning protesters they may face arrest if they breach the law on the march Thousands of demonstrators began gathering in the Bank area of central London around mid-day on Saturday, before heading west along Fleet Street on the planned route to Parliament Square in Westminster. The Met also placed some limits on the protest - like marchers must stick to the route to Parliament Square and speeches need to be finished by 16:30 GMT. Protesters were also banned from entering the area around the Israeli embassy in Kensington. Home Secretary James Cleverly said he had been briefed by Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley over the force's plans to \"ensure order and safety\" on Saturday. \"I back them to use their powers to manage the protest and crack down on any criminality,\" Cleverly said. A giant puppet of a Syrian child refugee, known as Little Amal, joined a group of children on the march to bring focus on the suffering of children in Gaza. The 11ft (3.5m) tall puppet became an international symbol of human rights after she journeyed thousands of miles from the Turkish-Syrian border to Manchester in July 2021. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed the crowd calling for a ceasefire. London is one of 30 countries taking part in the Global Day of Action protests - elsewhere people have gathered in parts of Indonesia and Thailand. On Sunday there will be a rally in support of Israel taking place in London's Trafalgar Square. Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A large pro-Palestinian march took place in London, with thousands of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and carrying placards. The event, part of a global day of action, included a giant puppet of a Syrian child refugee to highlight the plight of child refugees. Six people were arrested, and the police presence was significant, with warnings given about potential legal breaches." + }, + { + "article": "Some think Vaughan Gething might need to embark on a clean-up operation if victorious The Labour leadership campaign has been running for so long that it has a BC date stamp - Before Christmas. It began on 14 December, the day after Mark Drakeford announced he was standing down. And it might have dragged on still further given how close the candidates are in terms of policy and their position in the party. Thanks though to campaign donations, it hasn't. But one of these in particular has attracted headlines, namely the \u00a3200,000 given to Vaughan Gething's campaign by a company whose owner has twice been convicted for the illegal dumping of waste. And the story has developed, as you can read here: For some in the Welsh Labour party it has left a nasty stink, and Mr Gething might need to embark on a clean-up operation if he wins. The current economy minister says he has done everything by the book and that the donations have been declared in the proper way with both the Senedd and the Electoral Commission. He has also been cleared by Mr Drakeford of breaking the ministerial code after the Welsh Conservatives asked him to investigate. It is a huge amount of money for Welsh politics and, for context, Mr Drakeford said this week that he spent \u00a325,000 in his leadership campaign back in 2018. Leaving the amount of money aside, this has also raised questions for some about Mr Gething's judgement. Both Mr Drakeford and Mr Miles have avoided venturing an opinion on the donations or whether they should be paid back - as, in public at least, have most Labour Senedd members. But behind the scenes there is disquiet, or \"real anger and fury\" as one puts it and \"an increasing and enormous frustration\" around the donations and an earlier row over a union nomination. One MS has told me the rules need to change, and that it might set a precedent for the amount of money future candidates might need to raise. And that's before you get onto questions integrity on environmental issues. Another harks back to a previous Welsh Labour rift in 1999 between supporters of Alun Michael and Rhodri Morgan \"that took a long time to heal\". Jeremy Miles has avoided commenting on the donations or whether they should be paid back Would MSs taking a dim view of what's happened refuse to serve in a Vaughan Gething cabinet? \"They say 'no'\" said one. But would they really? \"This isn't a game, this is a serious proposition and there is a job of work to be done,\" the MS added. Mr Gething's supporters have stood by their man, one insisting that everything is well within the rules whilst also saying that if victorious he will need to unite the group and the party around the government. But the problems might extend beyond the Labour party. The Welsh Conservatives are already waiting eagerly to go on the attack if Mr Gething wins - albeit their colleagues at Westminster have their own donation issues. And what about Plaid Cymru? It is in a co-operation agreement with Welsh Labour, but as of Thursday afternoon were publicly calling for the \u00a3200,000 to be returned. That agreement runs until the end of the year, so if Mr Gething wins and the money is not given back does that bring to a head the signs of rupture that have been starting to emerge? Then again, Jeremy Miles might win.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Vaughan Gething's Labour leadership campaign in Wales has been overshadowed by a \u00a3200,000 donation from a company whose owner has a history of illegal waste dumping, raising questions about his judgment and potentially needing a \"clean-up operation\" if he wins. Despite Gething stating that all donations were declared properly, some Welsh Labour members express anger and concern, with calls for rule changes and the possibility of impacting future cabinet appointments and the Labour-Plaid Cymru cooperation agreement." + }, + { + "article": "The Post Office may have underpaid more than \u00a3100m in tax by deducting payments to victims of the Horizon scandal from its profits, say tax experts. Claiming tax relief in this way could count as a breach of the law and could mean it is at risk of insolvency, said Dan Neidle, of Tax Policy Associates. The company also may have overpaid senior executives, he says. The Post Office said its financial information was \"appropriate and accurate\". It has been paying out to sub-postmasters who have had their theft convictions quashed. Repaying the alleged shortfall to HMRC could render the Post Office technically insolvent and would involve the government stepping in to financially support it. However as the Post Office is owned by the government, exacting financial penalties is tantamount to the government fining itself and no-one is suggesting the Post Office will cease to function. Corporation tax is paid to the government by UK companies and foreign companies with UK offices. It is charged on their profits - the amount of money companies make, minus their costs such as staff and raw materials. While businesses can claim corporate tax deductions for legitimate business expenses, costs related to penalties or fines are not generally tax deductible. In this instance, the Post Office allegedly deducted the payments made to victims of the Horizon IT scandal from their revenue, resulting in a lower profit and therefore a lower tax bill. Mr Neidle said: \"The non-deductibility of compensation for unlawful acts is a well-known point.\" Heather Self from accounting and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg agreed. \"The payments of compensation by the Post Office are almost certainly not deductible for corporation tax purposes, in my view. Not only is it difficult to argue that they were incurred for trading purposes, there is also a general rule of public policy that fines - or payments in the nature of fines - are not deductible.\" The BBC understands that HMRC is investigating the way that the Post Office has accounted for the compensation payments and provisions. In its most recently published financial accounts, the risk of a significant adverse tax ruling is acknowledged. Notes to the accounts include the following: \"As at the balance sheet date the company was engaged in discussions with HMRC regarding potential taxation liabilities that could arise in relation to past events but for which no liability has currently been recognised\". It continues \"the Directors recognise that an adverse outcome could be material\". Mr Neidle estimates that deducting postmaster compensation from the Post Office's trading profit would mean that it underpaid more than \u00a3100m in corporation tax. The Post Office does not currently have enough money to pay that bill and would therefore, Mr Neidle argues, be technically insolvent. A spokesman said that HMRC could not comment on specific business or individuals but said: \"We collect the tax due under the law, creating a level playing field for everyone and funding public services.\" The Post Office said its financial information was \"appropriate and accurate\" and it was in discussions with HMRC and the Department for Business and Trade, which oversees the state-owned company. While the Post Office appears to have deducted compensation provisions from their taxable profits, it apparently ignored them when it came to calculating executive pay. The largest determinant of bosses' pay is a measure the Post Office calls \"trading profit\", which excludes the money set aside to compensate scandal victims, thereby increasing the pay of executives. Chief executive Nick Read received a salary of \u00a3436,000 in the year ended 2022, plus a bonus of \u00a3137,000, as the Post Office was deemed to have recorded an above target trading profit if compensation provisions were ignored. Mr Neidle said: \"Bonuses have been paid to the executive team based on an apparent level of profitability which does not exist. If a public company missed an obvious tax point that made the business insolvent the shareholders would be demanding the CFO and CEOs head on a platter\". Were you a sub-postmaster or post-mistress? Tell us your story by emailing: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Tax experts claim the Post Office may have underpaid over \u00a3100m in tax by deducting payments to victims of the Horizon scandal from its profits, potentially breaching the law and risking insolvency. The company disputes the assertion, stating its financial information is accurate, but HMRC is investigating the matter." + }, + { + "article": "Jeremy Hunt has insisted the government is \"on track\" to deliver a planned expansion of free childcare in April. However, the chancellor told the BBC he could not give \"an absolute guarantee\" that the places needed would all be available in time. From April, the government has promised working parents of two-year-olds in England 15 hours of free care a week. Labour said the commitment was \"in tatters\", describing it as a \"botched pledge without a plan\". Under proposals announced in last year's Budget, the government is rolling out the expansion of free childcare in stages. Working parents of three and four-year-olds are already able to get 30 hours of free childcare. From September, it will be extended to 15 hours for those aged nine months and above. Then from September 2025, the government has pledged to offer 30 hours of free childcare for all under-fives. However, nurseries and other early years providers have warned they will struggle to meet the expected demand for the scheme. The sector argues that years of underfunding has led to a recruitment and retention crisis, meaning there are not enough staff to deliver the policy. Nurseries have also complained of delays in confirming how much they will be paid to offer free hours. Meanwhile, some parents have reported challenges finding local nurseries offering free hours which have places available. Asked if he could give a guarantee to parents and childcare providers that all the places needed to deliver the pledge would be ready for April, Mr Hunt said the policy amounted to \"the biggest expansion of childcare in a generation\". \"It may mean that we need to employ 40,000 more people in the sector and that's why we're bringing it in stages,\" he told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. \"You'll understand why I don't want to give an absolute guarantee. But am I confident we are delivering this programme and it will be on track for this April? Yes, I am.\" Labour's shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson accused Mr Hunt of \"rushing out\" the commitment \"with no plan to make it happen\". \"Now it's working parents, who in the weeks and months ahead - when they go and try and access those places that have been promised - will discover that they just can't be delivered in the way that he set out,\" she told the programme. She has written to the chancellor to demand the free childcare pledge will be delivered as scheduled and without parents facing extra charges. Asked what provision Labour would guarantee if it wins power, Ms Phillipson said: \"I'm not going to make the same mistakes the Conservatives have made - rushing something out without a plan to make it happen.\" She added her party had commissioned a review of early years by the former chief inspector of Ofsted, Sir David Bell, which she said would look at how to drive up standards and ensure childcare places were available. Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said the chancellor needed to address \"the huge challenges facing early years providers\", including by offering sustainable funding rates and removing business rates. \"This is the only way that nurseries can plan for a sustainable future and be able to deliver the increased childcare offer being made to parents,\" she said. Are you affected by issues covered in this story? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC News journalist. You can also make contact in the following ways: If you are reading this page but cannot see the form, visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment, or email HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government is committed to expanding free childcare in England, with 15 hours a week for two-year-olds of working parents set to start in April, but Chancellor Jeremy Hunt cannot guarantee all places will be available on time. Nurseries and early years providers warn of staff shortages and funding issues, raising concerns about their ability to meet the demand for the policy." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Cricket Fifth Test, Dharamsala (day one of five): England's hopes of salvaging a final victory from their tour of India are already in grave danger after an awful batting collapse on day one of the fifth Test in Dharamsala. The tourists were spun out for 218, losing their last eight wickets for 81 runs and at one stage a calamitous 5-8 in 37 deliveries. Opener Zak Crawley made an attractive 79, surviving the exaggerated movement found by the India new-ball bowlers in the mountain air after England won the toss. Crawley's dismissal, bowled by a sharp turner from the magical Kuldeep Yadav, preceded the real carnage. Jonny Bairstow, playing his 100th Test, Joe Root and Ben Stokes were all dismissed in the space of 13 balls for no addition to the score. On a good batting surface, albeit one offering turn, all 10 England wickets fell to spin. Left-armer Kuldeep bewitched England for 5-72, while Ravichandran Ashwin marked his own 100th Test with 4-51. Any suggestion of a swift England fightback with the ball was snuffed out by an opening stand of 104 between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma. Jaiswal was stumped off Shoaib Bashir for 57, but Rohit remained on 52 not out, guiding his team to 135-1, only 83 behind. \u2022 None TMS podcast: The worst day of England's series so far? \u2022 None Can you name every England cricketer to play 100 Tests? \u2022 None India's dominant day in Dharamsala - as it happened England may feel this Test could have been a decider, and captain Stokes is insistent his team have made progress despite the 3-1 scoreline. A final result of 3-2 would be creditable and support the skipper's assertion, but instead the tourists are heading for a 4-1 defeat and a battle to justify any talk of progression. The setting could not be more picturesque. The snow-capped mountains, brightly coloured seats and stands of Dharamsala hint at a cricketing Disneyland. Rather than take inspiration from their surroundings or a meeting with the Dalai Lama on Wednesday, England put on an end-of-tour showing lacking in steel. This is a match of milestones. Bairstow was emotional as his family joined him in the England huddle before play, while Ashwin was given a guard of honour as India took the field. James Anderson is two short of 700 Test wickets. Ultimately, the most important number is England's 218 - their lowest first-innings total since September 2022. Some of the batters were reckless, others simply undone by the skilful Indian spinners. Three of Kuldeep's wickets came from England not being able to pick his googly. Off-spinner Bashir at least recovered from illness to take his place in the XI, only to be hit for three sixes in his first over by Jaiswal. Ollie Robinson is still ill, leaving England with 13 fit players and resulting in assistant coaches Marcus Trescothick, 48, and Paul Collingwood, 47, named as fielding substitutes. England might have been better calling on them to bat too. Crawley and Ben Duckett did well to come through a testing first hour, even if the India seamers wasted the movement by bowling too short. England's openers added 64 for the first wicket, only for Kuldeep's introduction in the 18th over to change the course of the day. Duckett, on 27, miscued an attempted loft down the ground and was well caught by Shubman Gill running back from cover. Another skittish Ollie Pope innings resulted in him charging at Kuldeep to be stumped by a distance in the final over before lunch, but even then 100-2 represented a solid morning. Crawley, England's leading runscorer since last year's Ashes began, played gorgeous drives and a languid loft off Ashwin for six. He survived being caught at bat-pad off Kuldeep, with India failing to review, but after he missed another drive at Kuldeep's ripper, England unravelled. Bairstow's 18 balls yielded 29 runs, two sixes, a drop and finally an edge behind off Kuldeep. Root was lbw on the front foot to Ravindra Jadeja, Stokes leg before on the back foot to Kuldeep. England's guts had been ripped out. Tom Hartley holed out, Mark Wood edged to slip, Ben Foakes tried to guide the tail for 24 before dragging a sweep on to his stumps and Anderson slapped straight to mid-wicket. India have completely turned this series around since their defeat in the first Test. They dominated this opening day to get on course for a huge win. Kuldeep's spell of 15 consecutive overs was wonderful. He bowled with unerring control, arcing flight and disguised variations. Pope, Bairstow and Stokes all fell to the googly. The wrist-spinner took five of the first six wickets to fall before being withdrawn for Ashwin to torment the tail, the off-spinner claiming the final four. England needed a strong start with the ball, but Rohit and Jaiswal put the visitors' batting into context. Rohit pulled Wood for six, while Jaiswal treated Bashir with disdain. Rohit overturned being given out caught down the leg side off Anderson on 20 and Jaiswal, at the age of 22, reached 1,000 runs in his 16th Test innings - the second-fastest by an Indian man. Jaiswal passed 50 and was just starting to motor when he ran past Bashir and was stumped, but Gill arrived to accompany Rohit, who carries an ominous presence into the second day. England batting coach Marcus Trescothick on TNT Sports: \"A challenging day. We had some good moments. We just didn't get enough partnerships together in the middle, to put the total on the board. \"You never look at a game like you're dead and buried.\" BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew: \"A seriously chastening day in which the lessons England have been dealt in this series regarding prizing your wicket were ignored again. \"England appear to be down and out already.\" Former England captain Alastair Cook on TNT Sports: \"The only way England can win this game is by matching India's first-innings score in their second innings and then setting them 200 to win. That is the mentality England's batters will have to have.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "England's cricket team suffered a disastrous batting collapse on the first day of the fifth Test against India in Dharamsala, being bowled out for 218, with spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin taking 5-72 and 4-51 respectively. India's openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma, then put on a 104-run partnership, leaving India 83 runs behind at 135-1 at the end of the day, putting England in a challenging position to avoid a 4-1 series defeat." + }, + { + "article": "Billie Piper was married to Laurence Fox from 2007 until 2016 Actress Billie Piper has discussed how she deals with recent comments made by her ex-husband Laurence Fox, which sparked controversy. The I Hate Suzie star shares two sons with actor turned right-wing commentator Fox. They divorced in 2016. Fox was sacked by GB News last year after an outcry over comments he made on-air about a female journalist. Piper told Vogue she co-parents with Fox in a situation like this with \"enormous difficulty\". \"I've had to make some choices and a divorce speaks for itself,\" she said. Earlier this month, media regulator Ofcom ruled that his comments on an episode of Dan Wootton Tonight on GB News broke broadcasting rules. Fox also lost a High Court libel case in January with two people he called paedophiles on social media, and was arrested last October on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to Ulez cameras. The magazine's Giles Hattersley asked Piper: \"What happens when a storm of his creation explodes?\" She responded: \"I close everything down and keep a very strict routine with the kids so that there's consistency. I keep them close. That's all I can do.\" She added that she also dislikes being told or asked about it. \"I try to keep people from telling me stuff but it's really, really hard,\" she said. \"I don't read it but everyone wants to talk about it. Sometimes I have to say to people: 'Please don't bring this to me, now or ever'.\" Laurence Fox at an anti-lockdown march in 2021 Piper, who stars in forthcoming Netflix film Scoop with Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell, about Newsnight's interview with the Duke of York, said dealing with press headlines over Fox had made her \"feel stronger in many ways\". \"I've learnt I have a lot of resilience I didn't know I had. I've had to learn the hard way that you can only control yourself and how you react to things,\" said the former pop singer and Doctor Who star. She said she also continues to be asked about her first husband, the DJ Chris Evans, who is 16 years her senior. \"It was 20 years ago. It makes slightly more sense to constantly be asked about husband number two, but even then I resent that because we've been separated for almost 10 years.\" Fox has challenged Piper over her Vogue interview, writing on X that he took \"great exception to the assertion that co-parenting with me is enormously difficult\". In a lengthy statement, he said he \"would never wish her anything other than a stable family, which it seems continues to elude her\". \"My only focus these past years has been to be present in their lives and be a loving dad,\" he added. \"I'm not perfect, but I've done my absolute best to put the kids first.\" He suggested that \"the reason co-parenting is hard is because the secretive family court system is hugely weighted towards the mother\", adding: \"It is a system totally unfit for purpose.\" In 2021 he unsuccessfully stood for London mayor as The Reclaim Party's candidate. Fox, who said in January he hoped to appeal his High Court libel case, also stood in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election in June, a seat previously held by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Actress Billie Piper has spoken about the challenges of co-parenting with her ex-husband, Laurence Fox, following his controversial comments and public controversies, including his dismissal from GB News and a High Court libel case. Piper told Vogue she focuses on maintaining a consistent routine for their children and distances herself from the media storm, while Fox has disputed her assertion that co-parenting is \"enormously difficult,\" stating he has always prioritized their children's well-being." + }, + { + "article": "About 200 workers are likely to be affected by the closure of the coke ovens Tata Steel has announced the coke ovens at its giant plant in south Wales will close on Wednesday over concerns about their \"operational stability\". The Community union called it \"a massive blow\" while Unite said it was the \"result of years of betrayal\". About 200 workers in Port Talbot are likely to be affected, but uncertainty remains about their immediate future. The ovens are used to heat coal to create a hard residue called coke which is then used to fuel blast furnaces. Unions had been aware of concerns about the condition of the ovens for some time and previously said they would not oppose early closures on safety grounds, but want assurances on job security. Workers will be required to decommission the coke ovens and there may be the possibility of redeployment to other parts of the operation in the short term. The coke ovens were scheduled to close in June, along with blast furnace five, under Tata's proposals for the future of Port Talbot. Blast furnace five will continue to operate despite the closure, with coke imported from elsewhere. The ovens are used to heat coal to create a hard residue called coke, which is then used to fuel blast furnaces Community union's national officer for steel Alun Davies said the union was working to conclude negotiations on an enhanced redundancy and retention package. \"Regretfully the coke ovens were always going to close during the transition period, but once the national consultations conclude we will ballot for industrial action should Tata confirm their intention to close blast furnace number four,\" he added. Unite union's regional secretary for Wales, Peter Hughes, said the company needed to halt its plans. \"Tata cannot be allowed to carry on its course of deliberate industrial vandalism. Unite will fight the company every step of the way.\" Tata Steel chief executive Rajesh Nair said the condition of the ovens had worsened, making it untenable to keep running them. \"The performance of the coke ovens has been deteriorating over many months, despite some Herculean efforts by the teams there,\" he added. He said the company would work with workers \"to understand their aspirations in alignment with our ongoing wider consultation programme\". Nearly 2,000 redundancies are planned at the Port Talbot because Tata plans to close both blast furnaces by the end of the year and build an electric arc furnace (EAF) by 2027. Three trades unions with members working at the plant are opposing Tata's plans and urging the company to keep one blast furnace running while the EAF is built.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Tata Steel's coke ovens in Port Talbot, Wales, will close due to safety concerns, affecting around 200 workers. Unions, while acknowledging the safety grounds for closure, are seeking job security assurances and are prepared to ballot for industrial action if blast furnace number four also closes." + }, + { + "article": "Nicola Sturgeon has said her \"informal\" messages were handed over to the Covid Inquiry last year Questions about Scottish government WhatsApps from the pandemic era have rumbled on for months. There have been claims that some messages were handed over too slowly, and even accusations of exchanges being deleted. Right now, the figure in the spotlight is Nicola Sturgeon. Last week the counsel to the UK Covid Inquiry said the former first minister appeared to \"have retained no messages whatsoever\" from the pandemic. In a statement issued yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon said messages communicated through \"informal means\" were handed to the inquiry last year. She conceded that messages had not been \"retained\" on her own device, but said she had obtained copies which she'd passed over. Ms Sturgeon stressed that she acted in line with Scottish government policy. This has prompted some to ask how guidance can have been followed if messages were not kept on the former first minister's phone. Here things get a bit complicated. Government guidelines in this area are complex. The Scottish government brought in new mobile messaging guidance in November 2021 - in the midst of the pandemic. This spells out how ministers should approach informal messaging systems, such as WhatsApp. Officials and ministers are allowed to use these apps to conduct business, with the guidance stating \"you must transcribe the salient points of any business discussions and/or decisions in a mobile messaging app into an email or text document\". This should then be saved centrally. In other words, you can make decisions and have government discussions on WhatsApp, provided you then copy that information and save it. This will then be stored exactly as official minutes, records etc would be. Crucially, it will be accessible to the public under Freedom of Information laws. Once this has all been done, the guidance states \"you must delete business conversations in the mobile messaging app\". So the Scottish government policy therefore actively encourages the deletion of conversations on apps like WhatsApp. Former minister Kate Forbes and current First Minister Humza Yousaf have said they kept all their messages The thinking is that the relevant information has now been saved centrally, and so it's safe to get rid of the original conversation. What's the logic here? Well, bearing in mind phones can be lost or stolen, you could make the argument that it's sensible to regularly clear them of government conversations. This potentially explains how Nicola Sturgeon can say she hasn't retained messages on her own device, but was able to submit \"copies\" to the inquiry. This could also explain her statement - issued on social media yesterday - that she has always \"acted in line with Scottish government policy\". Though there are still important questions to be asked about all of this. Why does there appear to be a difference in how ministers have approached retaining messages? Humza Yousaf insists he kept all of his from the pandemic. As does the former Finance Secretary Kate Forbes. The explanation for this may be that this guidance is\u2026 guidance. It's not hard and fast rules, and therefore some ministers may have taken a different approach. Many will also question guidance that essentially allows ministers and officials to mark their own homework. After all, it looks like it's left up to them to determine which messages are relevant and should be saved for posterity, and which should be chucked into a digital wastebasket, never to be seen again. And some would say that a looming public inquiry should have led to all ministers keeping everything on their phones intact. As this guidance is put under the spotlight, it's likely that opposition politicians will question how fit for purpose it is. When it comes to how civil servants and ministers interpreted all of this, and how assiduously they followed it, that's something known only to each individual. Nicola Sturgeon will get the opportunity to spell all of this out when she appears in front of the UK Covid Inquiry in the coming weeks.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Nicola Sturgeon has stated that \"informal\" messages related to the Covid pandemic were handed over to the inquiry last year, despite claims of slow delivery and deletion of some exchanges. The Scottish government policy, introduced in 2021, allows for the deletion of business conversations on messaging apps like WhatsApp after their salient points are transcribed and saved centrally, potentially explaining why Sturgeon didn't retain messages on her device but submitted copies. Questions remain about inconsistencies in how ministers have approached message retention." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The World Health Organization has said Gaza's Nasser hospital has ceased to function following an Israeli raid. Israel Defense Force (IDF) troops entered the complex on Thursday, saying intelligence indicated hostages taken by Hamas were being held there. The WHO said it had not been allowed to enter the site to assess the situation. The IDF has described its operation in Nasser as \"precise and limited\" and accused Hamas of \"cynically using hospitals for terror\". Writing on X, formerly Twitter, WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: \"Nasser hospital in Gaza is not functional anymore, after a week-long siege followed by the ongoing raid.\" \"Both yesterday and the day before, the WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners,\" he said. \"There are still about 200 patients in the hospital. At least 20 need to be urgently referred to other hospitals to receive health care; medical referral is every patient's right.\" The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says only four medical staff were left in the hospital trying to care for the remaining patients. The BBC has not been able to access the hospital and has been unable to independently verify the situation there. One source inside the hospital, who did not want to be named, told BBC News that 11 patients had died due to interruptions in the supply of electricity and oxygen, and that several doctors had been arrested. The Israeli military said no-one died as a result of its actions, adding that its troops had been told to keep the hospital running. It said diesel and oxygen supplies had been taken to the facility, and that a temporary generator was operating. Fighting has raged around the Nasser site for weeks. Israel has repeatedly claimed Hamas is using hospitals, along with schools, as operational bases. The Israeli military says it has killed about 20 Hamas fighters and seized numerous weapons in the area of the hospital. \"Over the past day, dozens of terrorists were eliminated and large quantities of weapons were seized,\" the IDF said. At least 1,200 people were killed during attacks in Israel by Hamas-led gunmen on 7 October last year. In response, Israel launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip. More than 28,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and more than 68,000 wounded since the war began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. It added that at least 127 Palestinians have been killed and 205 others injured in the past 24 hours. Despite the continued fighting in Gaza, efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been taking place in Cairo in recent days - although Qatari mediators said recent progress was \"not very promising\". \"The pattern in the last few days [is] not really very promising but, as I always repeat, we will always remain optimistic and will always remain pushing,\" said Sheik Mohammed, speaking at a meeting of world leaders at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he sent negotiators following a request from US President Joe Biden, but added they did not return for further discussions because Hamas's demands were \"delusional\". Hamas has blamed Israel for a lack of progress in achieving a ceasefire deal. The group has laid out a series of conditions, including the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, full withdrawal of Israel's forces and an end to the war after a 135-day pause in fighting, broken into three phases. Mr Netanyahu has also reiterated the Israeli government is continuing to push its ground invasion of Gaza further south, taking in the area of Rafah, despite international pressure not to do so without first having a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians who fled there during the early days of the war. Some 1.5 million people are in Rafah, close to the border with Egypt, after being told by Israeli forces to seek safety there while Hamas targets were attacked in northern, then central, Gaza. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday reiterated his opposition to any forced displacement of Palestinians into Egypt's Sinai desert. In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, both leaders agreed instead on the \"necessity of the swift advancement of a ceasefire\", according to a summary. Mr Sisi has long maintained that the only solution is an independent state for Palestinians. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. However, on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu announced that his government had unanimously voted to formally oppose what it called the \"unilateral recognition\" of Palestinian statehood. He said any such agreement must be reached through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. \"Israel rejects outright international dictates regarding a permanent accord with the Palestinians. An accord, should it be reached, will only come through direct negotiations between the sides, without preconditions,\" a government statement said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that Gaza's Nasser hospital has stopped functioning after an Israeli raid, with around 200 patients still inside and around 20 in urgent need of transfer to other facilities. The Israeli military says it was a precise operation to address Hamas activity, providing supplies, but the WHO claims it was denied access to assess the situation and patients' needs." + }, + { + "article": "Manager Jurgen Klopp believes Chelsea are \"definitely\" favourites for Sunday's Carabao Cup final but said a depleted Liverpool \"will go for it\". The Premier League leaders had nine senior players missing for Wednesday's 4-1 win against Luton at Anfield. \"We have to see [who will be fit for the final], but I said it before the game [against Luton] as long as we have 11 players we will go for it,\" Klopp said. \"Will we be big favourites? Definitely not. \"Since we [last] played them [Chelsea], they have improved a lot and it will be tricky. This was exceptional tonight.\" \u2022 None Liverpool beat Luton to move four points clear at the top \u2022 None Click here for all the best Liverpool news, analysis and fan reaction Klopp confirmed prior to the meeting with Luton that Jota faces \"months\" out with a knee injury, while Jones has a bone ligament injury and Alisson is sidelined with a muscle issue. Alexander-Arnold, Szoboszlai and Thiago are long-term injuries but Klopp has remained coy on the availability of Salah and Nunez for Sunday. Nunez went off at half-time in the win at Brentford on Saturday and Salah came off the bench to score, returning from an injury sustained on duty for Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations, but was then left out of the matchday squad against Luton. In the absence of regular starts for the visit of Luton, Klopp had to trust in the depth of his squad as they attempted to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League. Klopp fielded a starting line-up with an average of age of 25 years and 68 days - the club's youngest since February 2018 - while Liverpool's bench had five players aged 19 or under, with 16-year-old midfielder Trey Nyoni among the substitutes. Eighteen-year-old Jayden Danns, the son of former Crystal Palace midfielder Neil, made his senior debut from the bench in the 89th minute and had a hand in Liverpool's fourth goal as his threaded ball eventually fell to Harvey Elliott. \"Then kids came on and did an incredible job. It is cool how culture educated the next generation,\" Klopp said. \"It's not obviously perfect. We said it before :How many games would have Jarell Quansah played if Joel Matip wasn't injured? \"Quansah has stepped up. Same with Conor [Bradley] and Bobby [Clark], James McConnell. Massive improvement in our young boys.\" It proved to be a special night for 20-year-old Elliott, making his 100th Liverpool appearance, as his 90th-minute goal was their 100th across all competitions this season. The midfielder, who joined the Reds from Fulham aged 16, carried himself as one of the more senior players against Luton and was essential in helping his side to pull four points clear at the top of the table. He attempted five shots during the game, his highest total in a single match in the Premier League, while he created more chances (seven) and had more touches in the opposition box (17) than anyone else on the pitch. Elliott, who topped the charts for passes in the final third (27), has bettered last season's tally of one goal in the Premier League, scoring twice in 22 appearances this campaign. In what is Klopp's final season in charge, Liverpool remain in contention for four trophies as they look to add to the six they have collected since he arrived in 2015. Their determination is clear - they have recovered 22 points from losing positions in the Premier League this season, more than any other side. \"The boys did exceptionally well - [it was] one of the best [games] I have seen us play and I enjoyed it very much,\" Klopp said. \"It is all about the boys. They gave themselves a chance. Nobody needed that lesson tonight but if our crowd believes, this club is able to do special things.\" A key factor of the season has been Liverpool's ability to share their goals around - they are the first club in Europe's biggest five leagues to have five players scoring 10 or more goals across all competitions - Salah (19), Jota (14), Nunez (13), Cody Gakpo (11) and Luis Diaz (10). Klopp might not be able to call on all of those this weekend but Gakpo and Diaz, both on the scoresheet against Luton, could have a part to play.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp acknowledges that Chelsea are the favorites for the Carabao Cup final on Sunday due to Liverpool's depleted squad, but his team will still give their all with 11 players on the pitch. Despite injuries to key players, including Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones, and Alisson, Klopp remains optimistic, though he confirms Salah and Nunez's availability is uncertain." + }, + { + "article": "Cat Janice continued to perform shows after her sarcoma diagnosis US singer Cat Janice, who found fame on TikTok, has died of cancer aged 31. Janice, who released the song Dance You Outta My Head from hospice care, had been diagnosed with sarcoma, a rare cancer of the bones or soft tissue, in March 2022. She revealed during treatment she had transferred the rights to her music to her seven-year-old son, Loren. Her family said they were \"eternally thankful for the outpouring of love\" they had received. \"Cat saw her music go places she never expected and rests in the peace of knowing that she will continue to provide for her son through music,\" they said. \"This would not have been possible without all of you.\" Since she released Dance Outta My Head, in the first week of this year, it has topped the TikTok Billboard Top 50 and reached the top 10 of Billboard's dance and electronic chart. Cat Janice with her seven-year-old son, Loren, in January Her music video has also had 57 million views online. Janice, whose real name is Catherine Ipsan, started writing and producing music as a teenager, which she released in her 20s. She kept her social-media followers up to date with her treatment after being diagnosed. Four months later, after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, Janice was told she was cancer free - but the disease returned to her lungs in June 2023. In a message to her followers, she posted: \"I've got the rough news that cancer has won. \"I've fought hard but sarcomas are too tough. \"I reset all my music to go to my son. And I wanted to put out one more song for my birthday. \"I want my last song to bring joy and fun. \"It's all I've ever wanted through my battle with cancer.\" In another video update, she told her followers her \"tumours tripled basically overnight\". Sorry, we're having trouble displaying this content. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. She said she was leaving her songs \"behind for my son\" and encouraged her followers to download her music to help secure his financial future. Janice, who was from Washington DC, spent her final weeks at home baking and making music when she felt strong enough, according to the New York Times. Her husband, Kyle Higginbotham, said he hoped her music career would be remembered as more than a \"sob story.\" \"It's not just, some girl made a song because she's dying of cancer,\" he said. \"Cat's a real-deal artist and poured every minute of her life into it, right up until the end.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "American singer Cat Janice, who gained popularity on TikTok, passed away at 31 due to sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Despite her diagnosis, she continued to create music, with her song \"Dance You Outta My Head\" becoming a success on TikTok and Billboard charts, with the rights transferred to her young son Loren." + }, + { + "article": "Ian Whateley, left, and Chris Ball have seen orders rise at their UK manufacturing firm Chris Ball and Ian Whateley sit around a large office table and talk about how much they are benefiting from UK firms reshoring. Reshoring is when a company decides to stop getting its manufacturing done overseas, such as in China, and instead returns the work to its home country. Mr Ball and Mr Whateley are the bosses of Shropshire-based Advanced Chemical Etching (Ace), which makes precision metal components for customers in the aerospace, automotive, electronics and telecoms sectors. They say that Ace's order book is greatly improving as its clients increasingly bring manufacturing work back to the UK. \"We recently had a \u00a3800,000 boost in orders, with probably in the region of about \u00a3250,000 to \u00a3350,000 of that from reshoring,\" says Mr Ball. \"And there's a lot of stuff that is just at the quotation stage too.\" We have all heard of offshoring, which started as a major economic movement in the 1990's, when companies started to relocate their manufacturing abroad. They more often went to China, where incentives from the Chinese government were generous, and the workers were cheap. The result was a Chinese manufacturing boom, and a long supply chain from Europe and the US to China and beyond. Studies show that more firms in the West are reshoring But now the West is fighting back, with an increasing trend towards reshoring. More than half of UK manufacturers are now reshoring, according to one study at the start of this year. Other firms are \"near shoring\", which means that while they are still getting their manufacturing done overseas, they are moving it to a nearer country. And then there is so-called \"friend shoring\", whereby you keep your manufacturing abroad, but move it to a country that has friendlier relationships with your own. Apple is said to be doing this, as it increasingly moves production from China to India. The motives for this shift are complex and varied, but break down into three main groups - economics, risk and politics. The big attraction of offshoring in the first place was that it was cheaper and therefore more profitable to make things in places like China or Indonesia, not least because the labour there was much cheaper. But several factors have worked to reduce those benefits Firstly, wages have risen in such countries, while new technology means that Western factories need fewer staff, and are therefore cheaper. Also, the increasing speed of product development is fuelling this trend. Phones, TVs, games terminals, pretty much everything is being improved, changed, and updated all the time. It is far easier to do that in a capital-intensive factory in Birmingham or Baltimore, than one in Beijing, as Prof Dennis Novy an expert in trade economics at Warwick University explains. \"Production runs are becoming much shorter, products are changing much more rapidly, and actually having access to the manufacturers and the suppliers in a local area makes you much more flexible and that is actually a factor behind this,\" he says. Then there is the \"Amazon factor\" - increasingly we all demand our new products tomorrow, at the latest. If they are made close by that is easy, if they are made on the other side of the world there are obviously delays, or the company has to hold large stocks of goods in case of orders which have to be filled immediately. Stocks which are costly to hold and will be out of date the second the product is updated. Then there is the risk factor, as Covid showed us the supply chains that we in the West all depend on are very long, stretched and vulnerable. It was a wake-up call for the West, is it safe to be reliant for many essential items on factories on the other side of the world, shipped over huge distances? The recent attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the water shortage crisis that is massively reducing shipping through the Panama Canal have also shown that there are pinch points on supply chains routes that are very risky and unreliable. Reduced water levels in the Panama Canal have limited the number of ships that can pass through it In short, you do not get Houthi attacks in the English Channel, or between Mexico and the US, although Prof Novy thinks these concerns have been overplayed. \"Ultimately this is not the first time that the Red Sea has been in the news. There have been similar disruptions elsewhere\u2026 but I don't see this being a major headache.\" Finally, there is the politics, in the US and Europe leaders have been encouraging the return of manufacturing. It is not just the patriotic thing to do, western governments have become increasingly aware that they are becoming dependent on potential enemy nations for their cutting-edge technology and supplies. In America Presidents Biden and Trump have tried to address this issue, President Trump with tariffs, and President Biden with financial incentives. Mr Biden has been throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at making American industry make things in the US, especially microchips via the 2022 Chips Act. This pledged $52bn (\u00a341bn) to boost domestic production of computer chips. The Biden administration is also giving $15.5bn to the US electric car sector. Lisa Anderson, head of US management consultancy LMA Consulting Group, is a supply chain expert. She says that the Chips Act \"has spurred on certainly quite a bit of investment\" in that sector. Regarding the US manufacturing sector as a whole, in 2022 reshoring and foreign direct investment announcements hit their highest rate on record. That is according to the business group that monitors this development, the Reshoring Initiative. It says that record highs continued in the first half of last year, with 300,000 new jobs likely created for 2023 as a whole. And it is not just American workers who are benefitting from US firms bringing manufacturing closer to home. Mexico is also booming, says Ms Anderson, who points out that America's southern neighbour now exports more goods to the US than China. Mexico exported $475.6bn of goods to the US last year, up 5% from 2022, according to official US figures. Meanwhile the US imported a total of $427.2bn from China, a 20% decrease. Mexico has all the advantages these days - cheap labour, ease and speed of access to the American market, and it is a friendly neighbour of the US inside a free-trade zone. The classic example of both friend and near shoring. But the town of Telford in Shropshire is also doing well. Ace's Mr Ball says the firm is due to be visited by a an aerospace company, \"and they're looking at bringing stuff in from other areas of the world\". Re-shoring is obviously on a roll.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "UK manufacturing firm Advanced Chemical Etching (Ace) is experiencing a boost in orders due to reshoring, as more companies bring manufacturing back to the UK from overseas. The trend, driven by factors such as rising wages abroad, technological advancements, shorter production runs, and supply chain risks, is seeing over half of UK manufacturers reshore, with some also nearshoring or friendshoring to countries with closer ties. The US is also witnessing a significant increase in reshoring and foreign direct investment, particularly in the microchip and electric car sectors." + }, + { + "article": "People seeking help with their tax return will be forced to use a chatbot and online services for half the year because a helpline will be shut. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said the self-assessment telephone helpline would be permanently closed between 8 April and 30 September. The tax authority has been toiling with long waiting times and intense criticism of its services. The helpline will deal with priority cases only for the rest of the year. People unable to get online will still get assistance from staff during office hours, although it is not immediately clear how this will work. The permanent closure, which follows a trial last year, has already been criticised by one trade body which said it would lead to more mistakes on tax returns. More than 12 million people are required to complete self-assessment forms every year. HMRC has been running campaigns to move enquiries on to online services, such as automatic redirection of calls. Now, it has announced the closure of the helpline for the summer months, ahead of the self-assessment deadline at the end of January. Angela MacDonald, HMRC's deputy chief executive, said: \"Changing our services to encourage customers to self-serve online wherever possible will allow our helpline advisers to focus support where it is most needed - helping those with complex tax queries and those who are vulnerable and need extra support.\" But critics have said the move has come too soon. \"There's no escaping the fact that tax is complicated, and people sometimes need reassurance that what they are doing is right,\" said Gary Ashford, from the Chartered Institute of Taxation. He said HMRC's own review concluded that it was too early to say if there had been a long-term shift from phone contact to online self-service. \"Yet HMRC have decided to go ahead anyway,\" he said. \"We are concerned there may be an increase in how many will include estimates or errors because of the inability to seek clarification from HMRC.\" Harriett Baldwin, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee, said: \"These are well-meaning people just trying to get their taxes right. This should not be forced upon taxpayers until there is evidence that people know how to do their taxes on HMRC's incredibly complex website.\" MPs on the Public Accounts Committee last month said customer service at HMRC was at an all-time low with nearly two-thirds of taxpayers forced to wait more than 10 minutes to speak to an adviser. The average wait for a call to HMRC to be answered was 16 minutes and 24 seconds in the year to April 2023, according to the committee's report. That compares with 12 minutes and 22 seconds the previous year. Some 63% of callers waited more than 10 minutes to speak to an adviser, up from 46% in 2021-22. The committee said this proportion had increased every year since 2018-19. It said more people were being drawn into paying tax, known as fiscal drag, and their tax affairs were becoming more complicated. As a result HMRC's customer service was \"struggling to cope\" and taxpayers were left \"exasperated\" by the quality of support.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will permanently close its self-assessment telephone helpline between 8 April and 30 September, forcing people to use online services and a chatbot for assistance during that period, a move that has been criticized by a trade body over potential increase in errors on tax returns. The closure, following a trial last year, aims to redirect customers to online services, but critics argue it may impact those with complex queries or who are unable to access online help, especially given HMRC's recent history of long waiting times and customer service issues." + }, + { + "article": "Russia has used ballistic missiles and launchers supplied by North Korea in its war on Ukraine, the US has said. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called it a \"significant and concerning escalation\" relating to Pyongyang's support for Russia. He said the US would raise the matter at the UN Security Council and impose additional sanctions on those working to facilitate arms transfers. Moscow has denied any such collaboration. Hours after the White House made the accusations, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for missile launch vehicle production to be expanded in the country. The North Korean leader visited Russia to discuss potential military co-operation in September. The US has previously accused Pyongyang of supplying Russia with weapons, but this is the first time US intelligence has shared details about ballistic missiles - self-guided rockets that can reach targets 900km (500 miles) away. It is unclear what North Korea will get in return for providing the weapons to Russia. Some Western countries have raised concerns over the potential transfer of weapons or military technologies to Pyongyang. In 2017, a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank suggested that North Korea was able to quickly develop new missiles by obtaining a Soviet RD-250 rocket engine from illicit channels operating in Russia or Ukraine. Ukraine denied the allegation and said Russia was to blame. But that year, North Korea was able to rapidly expand its missile arsenal, introducing two new systems: the medium-range Hwasong-12 and the intercontinental Hwasong-14. Speaking during a White House press briefing on Thursday, Mr Kirby said Russia's procurement of ballistic missiles from North Korea was a direct violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions. \"We will demand that Russia be held accountable for yet again violating its international obligations,\" he said. He also said the US believed Russia was planning on purchasing close-range missiles from Iran, but that it had not done so yet. The UK said it \"strongly condemns\" Russia's use of ballistic missiles sourced from North Korea in Ukraine. \"North Korea is subject to a robust sanctions regime, and we will continue to work with our partners to ensure that North Korea pays a high price for supporting Russia's illegal war in Ukraine,\" a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said. In his briefing, Mr Kirby also urged US Congress to approve extra US funding for Ukraine \"without delay\". \"The most effective response to Russia's horrific violence against the Ukrainian people is to continue to provide Ukraine with vital air defence capabilities and other types of military equipment,\" he said. \"Iran and the DPRK [North Korea] are standing with Russia. Ukrainians deserve to know that the American people and this government will continue to stand with them.\" The last US military aid package to Ukraine, worth some $250m (\u00a3195m), was approved by the White House on 27 December. Talks on further funding have stalled in Congress because of a lack of support among Republicans, who insist that tougher security measures on the US-Mexico border must be part of any military aid deal. Ukraine has warned that its war effort and the country's public finances are at risk if further Western aid does not come soon.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The US has accused North Korea of supplying ballistic missiles and launchers to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, calling it a significant escalation and vowing to impose more sanctions. This is the first time the US has provided details about North Korean ballistic missiles being used, violating multiple UN Security Council resolutions, while Russia denies the collaboration." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: \"The bulk of the bullying and abuse I was experiencing... was when I was pregnant\" The Duchess of Sussex has criticised the \"seemingly endless toxicity\" of social media, revealing she was targeted with \"bullying and abuse\" while pregnant with Archie and Lilibet. Meghan was the keynote speaker on a high-profile panel marking International Women's Day at the annual SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. She said she now keeps her distance from such comments for her wellbeing. Prince Harry was in the front row of the audience watching the event. Meghan said people have \"forgotten our humanity\" in certain parts of the media and digital sphere. \"The bulk of the bullying and abuse that I was experiencing on social media and online was when I was pregnant with Archie and with Lili\", she explained. \"You just think about that and really wrap your head around why people would be so hateful - it is not catty, it is cruel.\" The event was titled Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On And Off The Screen. The 42-year-old former Suits actress also discussed issues ranging from the importance of diverse representation to portrayals of motherhood in film and entertainment. Panellists from left to right: Journalist Errin Haines, Meghan, former news anchor Katie Couric, actress Brooke Shields and sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen Meghan said she found it \"disturbing\" that women were \"spewing\" hatred at each other online, adding: \"I cannot make sense of that.\" \"If you're reading something terrible about a woman, why are you sharing it with your friends?\" she asked. \"If it was your friend, or your mum or your daughter, you wouldn't do it. \"I think that is the piece that is so lost right now (with) what is happening in the digital space and in certain sections of the media - we have forgotten about our humanity and that has got to change.\" At fellow panellist Katie Couric's urging, Meghan also re-shared how a letter she sent aged 11 to consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble led to a sexist advert promoting dishwashing liquid being changed. Meghan said that experience showed her the power of speaking up and advocacy. \"Your voice is not small, it just needs to be heard,\" she told a live audience. Actress Brooke Shields, also on the panel. joked: \"This is one of the ways we're different, when I was 11 I was playing a prostitute,\" referring to her background as a child actor and role in 1978 film Pretty Baby. The SXSW keynote panel event was also simultaneously streamed on YouTube, with most of the comments about Meghan being overwhelmingly positive. The Duke of Sussex and Meghan have come under heavy criticism, particularly in the UK tabloid press, after they stepped back from the Royal Family. Scrutiny of the couple intensified following a revealing interview on Oprah and a Netflix documentary. The couple's public appearances have been less frequent since they moved to California and set up the Archewell Foundation. Meghan was last in England in September 2022. Prince Harry in the audience at the event There has been significant online speculation about a possible return to the UK to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Invictus Games - set up in 2014 by Prince Harry. Meghan's latest appearance comes during a difficult period for the Royal Family as the King undergoes cancer treatment and the Princess of Wales recovers from abdominal surgery in the UK. They have been put further under the microscope by the appearance of Kate Middleton's maternal uncle, Gary Goldsmith on Celebrity Big Brother. Goldsmith has criticised Meghan on the ITV reality show and reportedly claimed that Prince William has offered an olive branch to his brother. On Friday evening, he became the first housemate evicted from Celebrity Big Brother on ITV. Speaking after his eviction, Goldsmith backed the one-time Dragons' Den contestant Levi Roots to win, adding that his niece would \"100%\" support his choice. \"[Roots] is somebody who puts other people first and that's our Kate,\" he said. Earlier, Prince Harry's memoir Spare was shortlisted for the British Book Awards in two categories.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan, spoke at the SXSW festival about the bullying and abuse she faced on social media during her pregnancies, emphasizing the need for empathy and humanity in the digital space. She highlighted the power of speaking up and advocacy, sharing her experience of changing a sexist advert as a child." + }, + { + "article": "The five suspects previously charged are (clockwise from top left): Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova (centre), Bizer Dzhambazov, Orlin Roussev and Ivan Stoyanov A sixth person has been charged with being part of a suspected Russian spy ring operating in the UK. Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, a 38-year-old Bulgarian national, from Acton, west London, was arrested earlier this month and will appear in court on Wednesday. He is accused of \"conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy\". Five other Bulgarian nationals are due to go on trial in October after being charged with the same offence. Orlin Roussev, 46, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Bizer Dzhambazov 43, and Katrin Ivanova, 32, of Harrow, north-west London, Ivan Stoyanov, 32, of Greenford, west London, and Vanya Gaberova, 29, of Euston, London, were arrested in February 2023. It is alleged surveillance was carried out on people and places targeted by Russia between August 2020 and February 2023. The charge faced by Mr Ivanchev alleges he acted with the five other defendants, a person named as Jan Marsalek and others unknown. It says they\"conspired... to obtain, collect, record, publish or communicate documents or information which was calculated to be, or might be intended to be, directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state\". Commander Dominic Murphy, from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said Mr Ivanchev was \"was identified and arrested as a result of inquiries made following the previous five arrests in this investigation\". Police said he was bailed after his initial arrest on 7 February and charged on Tuesday. The Crown Prosecution Service said it had authorised the charge \"against a sixth person suspected of spying for Russia\". Mr Ivanchev is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. The other five accused were remanded in custody after appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in September, and a trial date has been set at the Old Bailey. Mr Ivanchev is listed as the owner of a London decorating business. He is registered as having lived at the same addresses as Ms Gaberova, an award-winning beautician, who specialised in eyelashes and ran a salon called Pretty Woman in west London. Mr Stoyanov, nicknamed \"the Destroyer\", was an amateur mixed-martial-arts fighter appearing in contests in the UK. In Bulgaria he appeared in so-called combat sambo fights, a form of martial arts popular in eastern Europe. Mr Roussev previously worked in financial services. Biser Dhzambazov and Katrin Ivanova lived as a couple and ran a community organisation for Bulgarian citizens living in the UK. It is alleged that the operating hub in this country for the offence of espionage was a now-closed guesthouse in the seaside resort of Great Yarmouth occupied by Mr Roussev. Mr Roussev is alleged to have organised and managed the cell's spying operations from the UK. It is alleged that such operations took place in the UK and Europe. The person named Jan Marsalek has not been charged in the case. Mr Marsalek is best known as the Austrian former chief operating officer of the company Wirecard, who became a wanted man in Germany after being suspected of having committed fraud. He is believed to have left Germany in 2020 and is reportedly now in Russia. It is claimed Mr Roussev received tasking from abroad by Mr Marsalek. \u2022 None Five alleged Russian spies appear in London court", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A sixth person, Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, has been charged with being part of a Russian spy ring in the UK, along with five Bulgarian nationals who are set to stand trial in October. Ivanchev, a Bulgarian national, is accused of conspiring to collect information useful to an enemy, and he is connected to the other defendants, including one named Jan Marsalek, who is not charged in the case but is linked to Wirecard fraud allegations." + }, + { + "article": "Sir Ed Davey called on the Liberal Democrats to \"bring the blue wall tumbling down\" Sir Ed Davey has urged Liberal Democrats to \"make this a once-in-a-generation election\" in his speech at the party's spring conference. He argued his is the only party to offer transformational change at the general election, calling on members to \"bring the blue wall tumbling down\". The party leader focused on the NHS in his speech in York on Sunday setting out reforms so people can see a GP, dentist or pharmacist. No date has been set for the election. It has to be held by January next year with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week ruling out holding an election on 2 May, having previously indicated it would be in the second half of the year. Sir Ed urged Mr Sunak to \"go to the palace\" immediately and call for a general election. He accused Labour and the Conservatives of \"trying to cloak themselves in the costume of change, but they're both really saying keep things the same\". The Liberal Democrats, he claimed, \"will deliver a fair deal\" and want to change the whole system. The party won 11 seats at the last general election in 2019, and has since gained four formerly Conservative constituencies in southern England after by-elections. These are Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire, Frome in Somerset, Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, and North Shropshire. Emphasising his focus on the NHS, Sir Ed calledfor a health service where community and primary healthcare services are the priority. He said there needed to be investment in community services, \"to save lives and save money in the long run\". \"Instead of throwing cash at crisis after crisis, with nothing to show for it,\" he added. \"Better for the NHS. Better for taxpayers. Better for patients.\" The Lib Dems are using the conference to prepare to push into areas traditionally held by Conservatives, including more seats in the south and south-west of England. \"In so many parts of the country, only we can beat the Conservatives,\" Sir Ed said. \"And we must.\" He called on members to \"knock on five million doors\" and \"send more Liberal Democrats to Parliament\". While polls suggest Labour is on course to win the election, Sir Ed has refused to be drawn on discussions of a power-sharing pact, if there was a hung Parliament. \"I don't believe in pacts or deals before an election,\" he said earlier this week. The spring conference comes to an end on Sunday. Correction 18th March: The original version of this article wrongly described the political party Reform UK as far-right when referring to polling. This sentence was based on news agency copy and was subsequently removed from the article as it fell short of our usual editorial standards. We have also published a statement and apology on the BBC's Corrections and Clarifications page.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, has called on his party to \"bring the blue wall tumbling down\" in a speech at the party's spring conference, emphasizing the need for transformational change and focusing on NHS reforms. He urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to call a general election, with the Liberal Democrats positioning themselves as the only party offering a fair deal and a change from the status quo." + }, + { + "article": "The Israeli military published photographs of Givati Brigade soldiers, who are fighting in southern Khan Younis Israel says its troops have reached the southernmost area of Khan Younis, as they expand their operations in the Gaza Strip's second biggest city. The military announced that dozens of Palestinian fighters from Hamas had been killed in \"close quarter combat\". Armed groups also reported clashes in the area, while health officials said 172 people had been killed across Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel's president said he was praying that medicines delivered to the Strip would reach Israeli hostages. Qatar said on Wednesday night that the supplies had arrived via the border crossing with Egypt, along with a shipment of humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, under an agreement it had brokered between Israel and Hamas. A spokesman for Qatar's foreign ministry told CNN on Thursday that there was every likelihood that the medicines had reached the hostages, but that it would be difficult to confirm because of a near-total communication blackout. Israeli President Isaac Herzog marked the first birthday of the youngest hostage in Gaza, Kfir Bibas Majid al-Ansari also said that Palestinian health authorities had been tasked with handing over the medication, rather than a neutral intermediary like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). \"The security situation is certainly not easy. It would be very difficult to involve the Red Cross or any other organisation at the moment,\" he added. The ICRC also stated that the \"mechanism that was agreed to does not involve the ICRC playing any part in its implementation\". The medicines are supposed to be delivered to some 45 of the more than 100 Israeli hostages in Gaza, who are reported to be suffering from chronic diseases or in need of other life-saving drugs. On Thursday, President Isaac Herzog was among the many Israelis who marked the first birthday of the youngest hostage, Kfir Bibas. Hamas has claimed the baby was killed in an Israeli air strike, along with his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri in November. without providing evidence. \"His whereabouts are unknown,\" Mr Herzog said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, sitting next to a photograph of the infant. \"I call upon the entire universe to work endlessly to free Kfir and all the hostages.\" Hamas gunmen took about 250 people hostage and killed about 1,200 others when they carried out an unprecedented cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, Israeli authorities say. More than 24,600 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign in response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Gaza's health ministry said on Thursday that 172 people were killed across Gaza over the previous 24 hours The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Thursday morning that infantry soldiers from the Givati Brigade in Khan Younis were \"now fighting in the southernmost area that IDF ground troops have operated in so far\". The troops had \"eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat and with the assistance of tank fire and air support\", and raided the \"Martyrs' Outpost\" of the Southern Battalion of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade, it added. It did not say where the fighting took place, but Hamas's military wing reported that its fighters had fired at Israeli soldiers and shelled a tank and armoured bulldozer in the southern Batn al-Samin area on Wednesday. Palestinian Islamic Jihad - the second biggest armed group in Gaza - also said there had been fierce clashes in the south of Khan Younis on Thursday. Meanwhile, civilians have been fleeing the city as the fighting closes in, including many displaced families sheltering at Nasser Hospital in the west of Khan Younis, which is Gaza's largest functioning health facility. According to a M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF) surgeon, there was panic at the hospital after Israeli forces heavily bombed a nearby area on Tuesday night without issuing an evacuation order. An Israeli government spokesman could not confirm the attack but accused Hamas fighters of hiding behind civilians and embedding themselves in medical facilities. In a video recorded during a visit on Tuesday, MSF head of mission Leo Cans warned that the situation at Nasser Hospital was \"catastrophic\", with \"way too many patients for the staff to handle\". Unicef's deputy director said conditions for the one million displaced people in Gaza were \"inhumane\" The deputy director of the UN children's agency (Unicef), Ted Chaiban, also visited the hospital on the same day. He recalled meeting a 13-year-old boy called Ibrahim whose badly injured hand became infected. \"Without medicine, gangrene took hold and he ultimately lost his arm during an amputation without anaesthetic,\" he said. On Wednesday night, 16 people, half of them children, were killed in a strike on a house further south in Rafah, local medics and health officials said. Umm Walid al-Zamli said she had rushed to the local hospital after the attack and found that all of her children were dead. \"They were all so young. The eldest was in second grade,\" she told AFP news agency. \"What did they do wrong?\" Rafah, a small town near the Egyptian border, has been overwhelmed by more than half of the 1.9 million people - nearly 85% of Gaza's population - who the UN estimates have been fled their homes over the past 14 weeks. \"The sheer mass of civilians on the border is hard to fathom and the conditions they live in are inhumane,\" Mr Chaiban of Unicef warned in a statement on Thursday. \"Water is scarce and poor sanitation is inescapable. The cold and rain this week created rivers of waste.\" Mr Herzog defended Israel's actions, saying it was left with no choice. \"I'm not shying away from the human tragedy in Gaza. And you want to know something? We care,\" he said. \"It is painful for us that our neighbours are suffering so much. But how else can we defend ourselves if our enemies decided to entrench themselves in an infrastructure of terror of unbelievable size?\" Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israeli troops have reached the southernmost area of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, engaging in close quarter combat with Hamas fighters, resulting in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians. Meanwhile, Qatar has delivered medicines and humanitarian aid to Gaza under an agreement with Israel and Hamas, with the hope that the supplies reach Israeli hostages, although the International Committee of the Red Cross is not involved in the distribution process." + }, + { + "article": "Aaron Donald helped the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl in their own stadium in 2022 Aaron Donald, one of the NFL's greatest defensive players, has announced his retirement with immediate effect. The defensive tackle, who turns 33 in May, spent 10 seasons in the NFL, all with the Los Angeles Rams franchise. He helped them win the Super Bowl in 2022 and is one of three men to be named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year three times. \"Cheers to what's next,\" he said on X., external \"Extending a big thank you to the Rams and all of the fans for your support.\" Donald hinted he was contemplating retirement during the Super Bowl run in 2022, before returning with the Rams, but his announcement on Friday came as a surprise. NFL teams are currently in the free agency period and are beginning to shape their rosters for the 2024 season, which begins in September. Donald was the 13th overall pick by the Rams in the 2014 draft and he spent two seasons with them in St Louis, winning the 2014 Defensive Rookie of the Year award, before the team relocated to LA. They reached the Super Bowl in 2019, losing 13-3 to the New England Patriots, but Donald was able to add a Super Bowl ring to his accomplishments after the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in their own stadium in LA. \"Throughout my career, I have given my everything to football both mentally and physically - 365 days a year was dedicated to becoming the best possible player I could be,\" he added. \"I respected this game like no other and I'm blessed to be able to conclude my NFL career with the same franchise that drafted me. Not many people get drafted to a team, win a world championship with that team and retire with that team. I do not, and will not, take that for granted.\" Donald finishes his career with 117 sacks, two of them coming in the Rams' Super Bowl win. He became the fastest defensive tackle to reach 100 sacks in NFL history and was an eight-time All-Pro selection. Rams owner Stanley Kroenke, who also owns Premier League club Arsenal, said: \"We are so grateful for Aaron's dedication to greatness and for leading our franchise on and off the field for the past decade. He has left his mark on generations of football fans.\" General manager Les Snead said simply \"there will never be another Aaron Donald\", while head coach Sean McVay added: \"he's an exceptional team-mate who inspires everyone around him to be the best version of themselves. \"As great of a player he is, he's an even better person. He epitomises everything that's right about sports.\" The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Aaron Donald, a dominant defensive player for the Los Angeles Rams, has announced his retirement from the NFL after helping the team win the Super Bowl in 2022. Donald, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, spent his entire 10-season career with the Rams, leaving a lasting impact on the franchise." + }, + { + "article": "The UK's Ministry of Defence shared images of the HMS Diamond deploying Sea Viper missiles and guns The US and UK have hinted they could take military action against Yemen's Houthi rebels, after they repelled the largest attack yet on Red Sea shipping. Carrier-based jets and warships shot down 21 drones and missiles launched by the Iran-backed group on Tuesday night. The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Wednesday demanding an immediate end to the Houthi attacks. The text endorsed the right of UN member states to defend their vessels. The Houthis reacted scornfully to it. Their spokesman Mohammed Ali al-Houthi called the resolution a \"political game\". They claim to be targeting Israeli-linked vessels, in protest at Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. The UN resolution demanded \"that the Houthis immediately cease all such attacks, which impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security\". Eleven nations voted for it, but Russia, China, Mozambique and Algeria abstained. Earlier, the US and several allies warned of \"consequences\" for the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Asked about potential strikes in Yemen, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said: \"Watch this space.\" The International Chamber of Shipping says 20% of the world's container ships are now avoiding the Red Sea and using the much longer route around the southern tip of Africa instead. The Houthis said they targeted a US ship on Tuesday providing support to Israel. It was the 26th attack on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since 19 November. The US military said Iranian-designed one-way attack drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen at around 21:15 local time (18:15 GMT). Eighteen drones, two cruise missiles and one ballistic missile were shot down by F/A-18 warplanes from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower, which is deployed in the Red Sea, and by four destroyers, the USS Gravely, USS Laboon, USS Mason and HMS Diamond. HMS Diamond shot down seven of the Houthi drones using its guns and Sea Viper missiles, each costing more than \u00a31m ($1.3m), a defence source said. No injuries or damage were reported. Later, Houthi military spokesman Yahya al-Sarea confirmed its forces had carried out an operation involving \"a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones\". \"It targeted a US ship that was providing support for the Zionist entity [Israel],\" he said. \"The operation came as an initial response to the treacherous assault on our naval forces by the US enemy forces,\" he added, referring to the sinking of three Houthi speed boats and killing of their crews by US Navy helicopters during an attempted attack on a container ship on 31 December. He added that the rebels would \"not hesitate to adequately deal with all hostile threats as part of the legitimate right to defend our country, people and nation\". Mr Sarea also reiterated that the Houthis would continue to \"prevent Israeli ships or ships heading towards occupied Palestine from navigating in both the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until the [Israeli] aggression [on Gaza] has come to an end and the blockade has been lifted\". A spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was \"very concerned\" because of the risks the situation posed to global trade, the environment and lives, as well as the \"risk of the escalation of the broader conflict in the Middle East\". The UK's HMS Diamond and three US warships helped shoot down the Houthi drones and missiles Mr Shapps warned on Wednesday that the UK and its allies had \"previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences\". \"We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy,\" he added. Later, the defence secretary said in a TV interview that Iran was \"behind so much of the bad things happening in the region\" and warned the Islamic Republic and the Houthis that there would be \"consequences\" if the attacks on shipping did not stop. Asked if there could be Western military action against Houthi targets in Yemen, or even targets inside Iran, he replied: \"I can't go into details but can say the joint statement we issued set out a very clear path that if this doesn't stop then action will be taken. So, I'm afraid the simplest thing to say [is] 'watch this space'.\" He was referring to a statement put out a week ago by the UK, US, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore, who launched \"Operation Prosperity Guardian\" last month to protect Red Sea shipping. They said the attacks posed \"a direct threat to the freedom of navigation that serves as the bedrock of global trade in one of the world's most critical waterways\". It may not have had the bravado of Mr Shapps' \"watch this space\" warning, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also clear in his condemnation of the incident. Speaking to reporters at an airport in Bahrain during a Middle East tour, he was pressed by BBC North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher about whether it was time that talk of consequences turned to US action. Mr Blinken responded that he did not want to \"telegraph\" a US military move, but that he had spent the past four days in the region warning the Houthis to cease their aggression. They have not only refused, but after this latest strike have claimed they are specifically targeting US ships. Almost 15% of global seaborne trade passes through the Red Sea, which is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez canal and is the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. The fear is that fuel prices will rise and supply chains will be damaged. The Houthis say they have been targeting Israeli-owned or Israel-bound vessels to show their support for the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas since the start of the war in Gaza in October. Formally known as the Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), the Houthis began as a movement that championed Yemen's Zaidi Shia Muslim minority. In 2014, they took control of the capital, Sanaa, and seized large parts of western Yemen the following year, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in support of the international-recognised Yemeni government. The ensuing war has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and left 21 million others in need of humanitarian assistance. Saudi Arabia and the US have accused Iran of smuggling weapons, including drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, to the Houthis in violation of a UN arms embargo. Iran has denied the allegation.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK and US have threatened military action against Yemen's Houthi rebels after they repelled a large attack on Red Sea shipping, with carrier-based jets and warships shooting down 21 drones and missiles. The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an end to the Houthi attacks, but Russia, China, Mozambique, and Algeria abstained. The Houthis claim to be targeting Israeli-linked vessels in protest of Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza." + }, + { + "article": "Itai Svirsky has been named as one of the two male hostages shown in recent footage released by Hamas Hamas has issued a new video purporting to show the bodies of two Israeli hostages, with the militants claiming that they died in air strikes on Gaza. It comes a day after Hamas released another video of the hostages when they were alive, but warning they could die if Israel continued its bombardment. Israel denied they were killed by strikes. Its defence minister accused the militants of \"psychological abuse\". He added that military pressure was essential to release more hostages. The video released on Monday shows a woman named as Noa Argamani, speaking under duress and saying that two men with whom she had been held had been killed in captivity. She says the men - one of whom was identified as Itay Svirsky, 38 - were killed by \"our own IDF strikes\", referring to the Israel Defense Forces. Footage of Noa Argamani - pictured here in a family handout - being abducted on a motorcycle during a music festival was widely circulated She added that they were buried under rubble after the strikes, but that Hamas fighters had \"succeeded in saving my life\". It was not clear when the video was taken. In response, IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the hostages had not been killed by Israeli forces. \"This is a Hamas lie,\" he said in a statement. \"The building where they were being held was not a target.\" Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: \"Hamas is severely beaten by Israeli forces, what is left for them is to lash out at the sensitive nerves of the Israeli society through the psychological abuse of the (Israeli) family members.\" He also insisted that continued military pressure remained vital. \"They only talk to us when they want something,\" Mr Gallant said. \"The moment we give them ceasefire without a price, they won't talk to us.\" The video released by Hamas on Sunday showed Ms Argamani, 26, along with the two men when they were alive. It urges the Israeli government to stop its offensive and bring about their release. That footage ends with the caption: \"Tomorrow (Monday) we will inform you of their fate.\" This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ms Argamani, Mr Svirsky and the third hostage mentioned in the videos were among 240 people taken by militants in a series of Hamas raids in southern Israel on 7 October. About 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were also killed in those attacks. About 132 hostages are still being held in Gaza. The raids triggered Israel's intense bombardment of Gaza, which have killed more than 24,000 people so far, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Palestinian officials say that 85% of Gaza's population has been displaced. While more aid is now getting into Gaza the UN's humanitarian chief has described the situation as \"intolerable\". Israeli forces continued to bomb targets across the Gaza Strip on Monday, and clashed with militants in southern and central areas. Mr Gallant said that the intensive phase of operations against Hamas would soon come to an end in southern Gaza. Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final. \u2022 None Stories of the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Hamas has released a video claiming to show the bodies of two Israeli hostages, Itay Svirsky and another man, stating they died in Israeli air strikes on Gaza, while Israel denies responsibility and calls it psychological abuse. The Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, asserts that military pressure is necessary to secure the release of more hostages, and accuses Hamas of using the hostages' families as leverage." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Conroys have a unique way of welcoming wildlife into their garden. \"If we take care of our own little pocket of Armagh, it'll make a difference.\" Ian and Paula Conroy's story of how they use their garden to remember their late son is one of many featured in a new series to showcase the diversity of the Orchard County. The four-part documentary, narrated by Armagh-born actor Colin Morgan, begins on Monday and will be available on the BBC iPlayer. The locations in The Chronicles of Armagh range from the Armagh Observatory to Gosford Forest Park and agricultural shows. From spring to winter, the Conroys are depicted in the variety of ways they use their land; to produce flowers for sale, space for workshops and even an outdoor pool for cold water swimming which features in episode four. Built by Ian over a summer, it was used for the Irish ice swimming championships after a lake in Camlough had frozen over. \"It was an adventure,\" Ian told BBC News NI, who pointed out the water temperature on display during filming was a cool three degrees Celsius. The couple said the activities they run has helped them to grieve for their son Stan, who died aged 13 in 2020 after developing a brain tumour. Ian and Paula Conroy feature throughout the new series about life in Armagh It was his love of photography which inspired his parents to expand their garden and open their land to others. \"The more people talk about him and his story the more it helps us,\" Paula said. Ian continued: \"We had to do something to help us through that. \"Sharing what we have in our back garden and around us, if it's easily in your giving it's not that hard to do.\" The series is narrated by Armagh-born actor Colin Morgan, known for his role in Merlin In the series' first episode, Spring, astronomer Dr Rok Ne\u017ei\u010d observes the Spring Equinox at Armagh's iconic observatory, a focal point of the city since the 1790s. The county's birthplace of the Bramley apple, Crannagael House, also features. In Gosford Forest Park, rangers watch for stags shedding their antlers to show females are close to calving in one episode and in another marvel at the kaleidoscope of colours in the park as summer turns to autumn. In the autumn episode, Armagh comes into its own, with harvest celebrations and Halloween events such as the Celtic Festival of Samhain at Navan Fort. The programme also looks at the life of pigeon racer Cyril Beattie, who is seen in one episode competing along with his grandson, and in another in his loft choosing which of his birds to breed. As the colder weather hits, the Nicholson family at Crannagael House are seen busy decorating their tree, while the Conroys are cutting down theirs. Shane Kelly, Estates Officer at Armagh Observatory, who features in The Chronicles Of Armagh In another memorable scene, the Conroys set up a camera on the forest floor to catch local field mice using a miniature replica of their own outdoor furniture. \"To have a private little joke in the forest, to me, was just fabulous,\" Ian Conroy said. To recreate it for the filmmakers, he added: \"They couldn't believe we got the mouse to appear and actually sit on the chair. Forkhill triathlete Rosie Tennyson tells her story in the new series Veronica Cunningham, the series' producer and director, from Waddell Media, said \"revealing hidden gems and incredible untold human tales\" was a key focus of the series. \"The fantastic and diverse characters that we chose to follow in the series do this, and we hope their passion for the landscape around them will once again delight local audiences,\" she said. \"The Chronicles Of Armagh tells the stories of modern-day Armagh but with a continuous nod to its rich backdrop of antiquity, clearly visible through its iconic buildings and beautiful open spaces.'' The Chronicles of Armagh begins on BBC One Northern Ireland at 20:00 GMT on Monday 19 February. It will also be available on the BBC iPlayer.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Conroys, a couple from Armagh, have transformed their garden into a haven for wildlife in memory of their late son, Stan. Their story is part of a new four-part documentary series called \"The Chronicles of Armagh,\" narrated by Colin Morgan, which showcases the county's diversity, from the Armagh Observatory to Gosford Forest Park. The series highlights the couple's activities, including an outdoor pool used for ice swimming championships, and how they use their land to grieve and connect with others." + }, + { + "article": "First Minister Humza Yousaf and Deputy First Minister Shona Robison have defended the proposals The Scottish government's budget has passed its final vote at Holyrood. Finance Secretary Shona Robison said her \u00a359.7bn spending plans would protect frontline services and include funding for a council tax freeze. Extra revenue will be raised by new 45% and 48% income tax rates for higher earners, which were voted on last week. But opposition parties warned the measures could harm economic growth and they criticised cuts for affordable housing. The budget was passed by 68 votes to 55 with one abstention. First Minister Humza Yousaf made the surprise promise of a year-long council tax freeze to help those struggling with the cost of living crisis when he addressed the SNP conference last October. Scotland's 32 local authorities have been offered \u00a3147m as compensation, with an extra \u00a362.7m also announced for those that freeze council tax. Ministers claim the freeze is \"fully-funded\". However, a failure to consult with council leaders before the announcement led to a dispute over funding between the Scottish government and local government body Cosla which says not enough money is being provided to cover the policy. Argyll and Bute Council's Conservative, Lib Dem and independent coalition was the first to defy SNP ministers when it voted for a 10% rise last week - although other councils have so far stuck to the freeze. On Monday, Mr Yousaf told BBC Scotland News he was hoping to persuade Argyll and Bute to reconsider. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The tax plans includes a new \"advanced rate\" tax band of 45% for those earning between \u00a375,000 and \u00a3125,140 The top rate of tax, paid by those earning more than \u00a3125,000, will also rise from 47% to 48%. It means Scotland will have six income tax bands from April, while England and Wales have three. Anyone earning over \u00a328,500 will pay more in tax than they would if living south of the border, according to the Scottish Fiscal Commission. Ms Robison told MSPs: \"We are choosing to make our income tax system more progressive in order to help fund our vital frontline services.\" She said Scotland's different tax rates would raise an extra \u00a31.5bn, and she challenged anyone who preferred the UK tax rates and bands to \"say where your hammer blow of \u00a31.5bn of cuts would fall\". Other measures include an increase the Scottish Child Payment from \u00a325 to \u00a326.70 from April and \u00a31.5m for local authorities to cancel school meal debt. Funding for NHS boards will rise by \u00a3550m - or 4.3% - and amounts to \u00a313.2bn which the government claims is an \"above real terms\" rise but capital spending on infrastructure such as new health centres is in doubt. The Scottish Conservatives said the budget was a \"desperate attempt\" to plug the hole in Scotland's finances. Finance spokeswoman Liz Smith said the the choices exposed a fundamental divide in Scottish politics. She said the divide was \"between those of us who believe that the policy is to stimulate jobs, investment and economic growth and encourage aspirations to be the top priority\" and those who favour the \"so-called social contract\" between the government and the public. She said many leading business figures and groups were warning that tax divergence between Scotland and the rest of the UK was moving \"beyond the tipping point\" and would affect the economy. Michael Marra said the budget was \"chaotic and incompetent\" Scottish Labour's finance spokesman Michael Marra described it as a \"chaotic and incompetent\" budget. \"It is not a budget for growth, it is not a budget for public services and it is not a budget that fights poverty,\" he said. \"It is a budget based on the economically and fiscally illiterate assumption that income tax can be left to plug the hole left by the SNP's failure to grow the economy.\" He said the Institute of Fiscal Studies had described the government's presentation of its local government funding as \"seriously misleading\" and had \"called out\" its \"spin\" about investment in the NHS which he said faced a real terms cut. The Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton the budget showed ministers were \"completely out of ideas\" on how to drive growth and innovation. During the Holyrood debate, the finance secretary addressed the nearly \u00a3200m in cuts to the affordable housing budget, a reduction of about 26%. Ms Robison said they had been forced on her by funding cuts from Westminster, but she said the Scottish government still had a target to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. She also promised that affordable housing would be a priority if more money becomes available for capital spending as a result of the chancellor's spring budget. Cosla resources spokesperson Katie Hagmann said it was \"not a good budget for Scottish local government\", and councils were left with uncertainty over promises of potentially more funding which are dependent on UK government spending decisions. \u2022 None Argyll and Bute votes to raise council tax by 10% - BBC News", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Scottish government's budget has been approved, with a council tax freeze and increased funding for frontline services, but higher income tax rates for higher earners have drawn criticism from opposition parties who claim they could harm economic growth. The budget includes a new 45% and 48% income tax rate for higher earners, a \u00a359.7bn spending plan, and an increase in the Scottish Child Payment. However, council leaders dispute the funding for the tax freeze, and some councils have already defied the policy." + }, + { + "article": "Mike Chesworth bought his mobile home for \u00a3180,000 in 2019 People are being tricked into buying homes on holiday parks where they have no right to live, the BBC has found. Buyers told BBC One's Panorama they were cheated out of their life savings after being falsely promised they could live full-time on the sites. An undercover reporter secretly filmed one salesperson falsely claiming year-round living was permitted on a holiday park in Lancashire. Site owner David Welch says contracts clearly state it is a holiday park. In the UK, there are more than 170,000 residents living permanently in mobile homes. The majority do so legally, as they are living on residential parks that have planning permission and residential licences. However, thousands more people are thought to be living unofficially on holiday parks. It is usually a breach of planning laws for anyone to live full-time on a site that only has a holiday park licence. Delivery driver Mike Chesworth, 59, found himself trapped in this situation when he bought a home on Wyre Country Park for \u00a3180,000. Located on the banks of the River Wyre just outside Blackpool, Lancashire, it appealed to Mr Chesworth as a pleasant place to retire with his wife. The contract they signed in 2019 says the caravan is for holiday use only. But they say the site owner, David Welch, promised them they could stay in the park permanently. Now they're stuck in a home where they are not supposed to live. The couple say they were threatened with eviction after complaining to Mr Welch. They could also be evicted by the local council for breaching planning rules and the site owner could face enforcement action. Mr Chesworth says he is now working six days a week to save money as he believes he may have to fight Mr Welch in court. \"It's heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking, and that's why I want to raise money, and that's why I want to fight these people, because they've got to be stopped.\" Panorama spoke to five other residents at Wyre Country Park who also said they had been falsely promised they could live on the site full-time by Mr Welch and then threatened with eviction when they later complained. Reporter Rory Carson meets the caravan park residents who say they have been mis-sold their properties and falsely promised they could they could live in them all year round. Watch now on BBC iPlayer (UK Only) or on BBC One at 20:00 on Monday 11 March (20:30 in Wales and Northern Ireland) Panorama sent an undercover reporter to Wyre Country Park to pose as a buyer. They made it clear they were looking for somewhere to live full-time. The reporter first spoke to Mr Welch on the phone and was told the park had a \"residential\" area, where she could live all year round. The reporter was later taken round the park by the sales manager, who said most of the residents lived on site full-time. \"They've chosen probably, for this to be, potentially, their last home,\" she said. Even when the reporter raised the issue of the holiday licence, the sales manager still insisted people could live on the site 12 months a year. Consumer lawyer Dean Dunham, who viewed the footage, says buyers are being misled like this in parks around the UK. \"I think this is a really big issue because there are so many people who have fallen down this trap. I'm not saying I've heard from one or two people who have lost their life savings. I've heard from countless people who have lost their life savings.\" Site owner David Welch denies misleading buyers, and says the site's signs and sales agreements clearly state that it is a holiday park. \"We have not received any formal complaints about how the park is managed. We totally reject any allegations of intimidation or threats to 'evict' holidaymakers,\" he said. The sales manager did not respond. Alfie Best - nicknamed the Gypsy Billionaire - owns 90 residential mobile home parks across Britain Panorama has discovered that people can also be misled when buying mobile homes on residential parks. Even when a park has a full residential licence - meaning people can live there all year round - the site owner may not have planning permission for all of the homes. Alfie Best owns 90 residential parks through his company Wyldecrest Parks and he is the star of a TV documentary called Gypsy Billionaire. He was ranked number 232 in last year's Sunday Times Rich List, which valued his wealth at \u00a3745m. In 2015, one of his companies sold a mobile home without planning permission at Bayworth Park in Oxfordshire. The local council started enforcement action over the planning breach in 2016. Louise Hopkins discovered her home did not have planning permission shortly after she bought it When the owners found out their home did not have the necessary permission, they took legal action and Alfie Best's company eventually bought it back in January 2020. But that was not the end of it. Louise Hopkins was looking for a new start and thought that Bayworth Park would be the perfect spot. When she was shown the same mobile home on the same plot, Alfie Best's company did not say anything about the planning dispute. She paid \u00a3165,000 in October 2020 and then discovered her home did not have planning permission. \"I was knowingly sold a home that did not have planning permission. I think it's fraud. I absolutely think it's fraud.\" The following year Wyldecrest was fined \u00a375,000 for breaching planning rules. The judges said the company's conduct had been dishonest and deceitful. But Ms Hopkins could still lose her home as, without planning permission, she has got no right to live on the site. \"It sounds like madness now that I didn't engage a lawyer,\" she says. \"I feel quite foolish, I feel quite angry. A very rich and influential man has treated me appallingly.\" Alfie Best says what happened to Louise was not his fault, because Wyldecrest had sold the same home to another resident before it was sold on to her and site owners are not allowed to interfere in sales by residents. \"We did not sell Mrs Hopkins a home. She purchased the home from the previous owner of that home, not us.\" Mr Best says he has offered to buy back the home from her. But a price has not been agreed with Louise. The British Holiday and Home Parks Association, which represents site owners, says it is important that customers understand exactly what they can expect for their money. It said: \"Many thousands of people buy a holiday caravan or residential park home each year - the vast majority of whom have a positive experience, and go on to enjoy all the holiday and lifestyle benefits that come with ownership.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The BBC has found that people are being misled into buying mobile homes on holiday parks where they have no right to live full-time, with some losing their life savings. An undercover investigation revealed salespeople falsely claiming year-round living was allowed on a Lancashire holiday park, while site owners deny misleading buyers. Thousands of residents are believed to be living illegally on holiday parks, breaching planning laws, and facing eviction." + }, + { + "article": "Airline regulators in the US have formally launched an investigation of Boeing's processes, after a door plug blew off one of its planes. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would examine whether Boeing failed to ensure its completed jets matched their approved design. The FAA had already grounded most of the 737 Max 9 fleet for inspection. The reviews after the emergency on the Alaska Airlines flight have uncovered issues such as loose bolts. \"This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again,\" the FAA said. \"Boeing's manufacturing practices need to comply with the high safety standards they're legally accountable to meet.\" Boeing said it would \"cooperate full and transparently\" with the investigation. Company boss, Dave Calhoun, had previously described the problem as a \"quality escape\". It means the incident was caused by some failure in quality control in the plane, which had been in service for just eight weeks before the blowout. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: 'Trip from hell': On board flight during mid-air blowout He told CNBC there were still questions that needed to be answered about how the incident was allowed to happen. \"What broke down in our gauntlet of inspections? What broke down in the original work that allowed for that escape to happen,\" he said. The door plug is a piece of fuselage, with a window, that fills the space where an emergency exit would be in certain configurations. The part broke off a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet that was operated by Alaska Airlines minutes after its take-off from Portland, Oregon on Friday. No serious injuries were reported after an emergency return to the airport but the FAA on Saturday grounded 171 planes that had the same door plug installed. It is unclear when the planes will be allowed to fly again. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has said the government would not be rushed into clearing the grounded planes, despite hundreds of flight cancellations. He said the aircraft \"need to be 100% safe\". \"The only consideration on the timeline is safety,\" he said. \"Until it is ready, it is not ready. Nobody can or should be rushed in that process.\" Alaska Airlines has cancelled about 20% of its flights after 65 of its Max 9s were grounded. United Airlines, the other major US 737 MAX 9 operator, has 79 of the planes in its fleet out of action. It said it expects \"significant\" cancellations on Thursday after 167 flights did not go ahead on Wednesday. Alaska Airlines said it still needed revised inspection and maintenance instructions from Boeing, which must be approved by the FAA before it can begin flying the planes again. \"We will only return these aircraft to service when all findings have been fully resolved and meet all FAA and Alaska's stringent standards,\" the airline said. Both Alaska and United said on Monday they had found loose parts on a number of the grounded aircraft. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The part which fell off was eventually found in a teacher's back garden without its four bolts. Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating what happened on the flight, said on Monday it was possible the bolts were missing from the start but they might have come off in the descent. The incident has revived scrutiny of Boeing, which has been trying to repair its reputation after crashes in 2018 and 2019 involving a different version of the 737 Max plane killed 346 people. Its popular 737 Max planes were subsequently grounded globally for more than 18 months. It has reported a string of smaller issues as production resumed.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "US regulators have launched an investigation into Boeing's processes after a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 plane, grounding 171 similar aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will examine whether Boeing's completed jets match approved designs, with issues like loose bolts being found during inspections. Boeing has pledged to cooperate with the investigation, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized that safety is the only consideration for clearing the grounded planes." + }, + { + "article": "The Colombian Navy showed off the haul of cocaine, including parcels stamped with a scorpion A semi-submersible carrying almost 800kg of cocaine, including parcels stamped with a scorpion symbol, has been intercepted by the Colombian Navy. The 15m-long (50ft) \"narco-sub\", the first to be detected this year, was seized in Colombian waters. The navy estimated the haul was worth $27m (\u00a321m) and said the sub was believed to be on its way to the US or Europe. Three people who were on board the craft have been arrested. The navy said it intercepted the sub travelling through the Pacific Ocean on Sunday. On board were packages of cocaine hydrochloride, many stamped with the scorpion image or labelled \"Winnie\" and \"Carnal\". The drugs and the suspects were transported to Buenaventura, a Colombian port city, the navy said. Further details about the suspects are yet to be released. \"With this seizure, the entry of nearly $27m to drug trafficking organizations was prevented, as a result of its sale in the international illegal market, as well as the distribution of approximately two million doses on the streets of the world,\" the Colombian Navy said in a statement. An image of the narco-sub was shared by the Colombian Navy on Sunday Narco-subs are a popular way to transport drugs as they can go largely undetected, and can be sunk after delivery. They are often homemade, constructed using fibreglass and plywood. Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine. In 2023, the Colombian Navy intercepted 30 tonnes of the drug and more than five tonnes of marijuana. In May last year, the largest narco-sub ever recorded in Colombia was intercepted with three tonnes of cocaine on board, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News. It was about 100ft long and 10ft wide. The UN said Colombia had set a new record in 2022 for cocaine production, with the cultivation of its main ingredient, coca leaf, spreading over 230,000 hectares (888 sq miles). Authorities in Belgium said they had seized a record amount of cocaine at the port of Antwerp last year, as the port city has become Europe's main gateway for the drug shipped from South America. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Spanish police gave the BBC's Nick Beake access to the \"narco-sub\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Colombian Navy intercepted a semi-submersible vessel carrying almost 800kg of cocaine, worth $27m, with packages stamped with a scorpion symbol. Three suspects were arrested, and the drugs were seized in the Pacific Ocean en route to the US or Europe." + }, + { + "article": "At 121m long, Bella will be bigger than her \"cousins\" the Kelpies There are few works which can live up to the description \"groundbreaking\". But Bella and the Seven Winds certainly earns her title. At 121m (397ft) long, her body is made from a thousand tonnes of soil lifted to build the \u00a314m pound Stockingfield Bridge in North Glasgow. The bridge reunites the communities of Maryhill, Gilsochhill and Ruchill for the first time since the Forth and Clyde Canal was built, but it also offers a chance to create an art park. Bella is the biggest of 22 works commissioned by Scottish Canals for the site, all of which draw on the heritage of the area. Ceramics from this area of Glasgow were exported all over the world - now community volunteers will piece together the mosaic across the whole sculpture Nichol Wheatley has been working with a team of artists on Bella's head for the past three months. Two metres high, and four metres long, it's decorated with thousands of ceramic pieces, reclaimed from the area. \"Bella is a beithir, a mythological water serpent. She's part of the Fuath family which includes the Kelpies, so she's a cousin of the Kelpies,\" he said. The Kelpies - two 30m (98ft) steel horse heads at Helix Park in Falkirk - reflected Scotland's heavy industries and have had a huge impact on tourism. The Kelpies have been a feature at the Helix for the last 10 years Scottish Canals who commissioned Bella hope she and the rest of the art park will eventually produce the same effect. \"This whole area is famed for its ceramic industry and they travelled the whole of the world,\" says John Paterson, CEO of Scottish Canals. \"Some of it went by canal networks into the oceans and around the world so Bella symbolises that connection. She's using reclaimed ceramics, broken tiles and she symbolises rebirth and regeneration.\" Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren grew up in the area, and has included personal photographs and memories on some of the tiled artworks. Bella is decorated with a mosaic of ceramics, symbolising the past industry of the area She said: \"I was a child of the Forth and Clyde Canal. I travelled up and down here with my brothers and it's just magical for this area to see this important transformation.\" \"We have created a destination for visitors.\" But the site isn't complete. Nor is Bella who begins the next stage after her unveiling to the community on Friday. Nichol Wheatley posted an image of an early model of Big Bella Over the next five years, Nichol Wheatley will work with Louise Nolan and Ruth Impey of the community organisation Make it Glasgow to create and attach the thousands of ceramic \"scales\" needed for Bella's body. What starts as a local project can be something that will be truly worldwide,\" said Nichol. \"That reflects back to the history and heritage that we have here. \"Scotland used to export its clay products and its ceramic products right across the world. So we're going to maybe try and see if that can happen in reverse and get everybody involved.\" \u2022 None The man who created The Kelpies", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Bella, a 121-meter-long sculpture inspired by a mythological water serpent, is set to become a landmark in North Glasgow,\u66f4\u5927\u7684\u4e8e\u8457\u540d\u7684\"\u4eb2\u621a\"Kelpies\u3002\u4f5c\u4e3aStockingfield Bridge\u7684\u4e00\u90e8\u5206\uff0c\u8fd9\u5ea7\u6865\u91cd\u8fde\u4e86\u5206\u9694\u591a\u5e74\u7684\u793e\u533a\uff0c\u5e76\u5c06\u53d1\u5c55\u6210\u4e3a\u4e00\u4e2a\u827a\u672f\u516c\u56ed\uff0c\u5176\u8eab\u4f53\u7531\u4e00\u5343\u5428\u571f\u58e4\u5236\u6210\uff0c\u8868\u9762\u5c06\u88c5\u9970\u6709\u53cd\u6620\u5f53\u5730\u9676\u74f7\u5386\u53f2\u7684\u9676\u74f7\u9a6c\u8d5b\u514b\u3002" + }, + { + "article": "TikTok has removed music by stars including Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Olivia Rodrigo from videos after a row with their record label, Universal Music Group (UMG). A licensing agreement between TikTok and the label expired on Wednesday, and a new deal could not be reached. UMG said TikTok wanted to pay a \"fraction\" of the rate other social media sites do for access to its songs. All videos which have UMG music on them will be muted and new videos will not be able to be made with those tracks. Some artists such as Ariana Grande and Katy Perry have had most of their music disappear from their official pages, except a few songs which are on other labels. Billie Eilish, another UMG artist, has had all but one of her songs taken down. Her song What Was I Made For? was featured in the Barbie movie - whose soundtrack was published by Warner Music Group. Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Murder on the Dancefloor, which became a viral hit after appearing in the film Saltburn, is also unavailable. Unofficial, sped-up and slowed-down versions of tracks are still available to use. The likes of Lewis Capaldi and Taylor Swift have no music available, while Billie Eilish only has one track available, which is not a Universal song Noah Kahan, whose number one song Stick Season started as a viral TikTok clip, posted a video on his account saying he was unable to promote his new song on the platform. \"I can't stick it down your throats any more on this app,\" he said. \"I'll probably be OK, right? I'll land on my feet, right?\" Meanwhile Cody Fry, an artist signed to a record label owned by UMG, said in a TikTok video he felt \"like a person standing between two colliding planets\" - having seen reports about the licensing agreement expiring as one of his tracks was going viral in China. The 33-year-old musician told the BBC he did not even have a TikTok account when his song, I Hear A Symphony, went viral on the platform in 2021, several years after it was first released. He added that he thought TikTok should \"value music more than it does currently\" and he wished the two giants could have resolved differences without \"leaving it to the expense of artists on the ground\". \"I don't know much about the mechanics of these massive corporate negotiations,\" he said, \"but I'd be remiss if I didn't express the frustration about how this was handled on behalf of myself, and I think Universal's artists, because to find out something like this on the news, it's pretty tough.\" Music companies and artists earn royalty payments when their songs are played on streaming and social media platforms. On TikTok, they are used as backing music to the videos uploaded to the site. But there has long been unease about how little the platforms pay, which in this case developed into a major and very public disagreement. UMG and TikTok were in talks over a new deal, but were unable to agree one before the 31 January deadline. In an open letter, published on 30 January, Universal claimed that \"ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music\". Universal said it was also concerned about getting artists fair compensation for AI-generated songs made to sound like real artists - such as one made to sound like Drake and The Weeknd which went viral. \"Content creators already compete on social media platforms with diluted or non-existing royalty pools,\" said Franklin Graves, an attorney and author of a newsletter focused on legal developments in the creator economy. \"By throwing an additional licensing payment for AI-generated music into the mix, it could potentially decrease any ad revenue share left after TikTok's cut and rights holders are paid,\" he added. Universal also had issues with TikTok's content moderation, saying it failed to adequately deal with \"the tidal wave of hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment on the platform\". TikTok responded: \"It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters. \"Despite Universal's false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent,\" it added.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "TikTok has removed music from popular artists like Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, and Olivia Rodrigo after a licensing agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG) expired without a new deal being reached. UMG accused TikTok of offering a fraction of the rate paid by other social media platforms for access to its songs, leading to the muting of affected videos and restrictions on new content creation with those tracks." + }, + { + "article": "Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou says the possible introduction of blue cards and sin-bins would \"destroy\" the game. Football's lawmakers Ifab delayed plans to release information about four proposed trials after talks with world governing body Fifa. Under the plans, players would get blue cards for dissent and tactical fouls and spend 10 minutes off the pitch. \"Adding another [card] one. What is that going to do? The remedy is already there,\" said Postecoglou. \"If it's not being enforced to the level people are satisfied, do that. That's the change. One team being down to 10 men for 10 minutes, you know what that is going to do to our game? It's going to destroy it. \"You'll have one team sitting there trying to waste time for 10 minutes waiting for someone to come back on. Every other game is trying to speed up and declutter, all we are trying to do is go the other way for some bizarre reason.\" If passed into the laws of the game, the introduction of a blue card would mark the biggest single change in managing player discipline since red and yellow cards came into force at the 1970 World Cup. However, the Australian's forthright views on the topic were also echoed by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, with the proposals seemingly getting little traction among Premier League managers. \"It doesn't sound like a fantastic idea in the first moment. But actually, I can't remember when the last fantastic idea came from these guys [Ifab] - if they ever had one,\" Klopp said. Meanwhile, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, added: \"I'm not a big fan, to be honest. I think that's what yellow cards are for. I think the current system works well, it's just got to be applied right. \"Adding a blue card would just add more confusion, in my opinion. I'm against it. I think [sin-bins] would change it a lot, but again not, for me, in a good way because I think it will make it very bitty, more stop-start.\" Speaking earlier, Postecoglou also questioned the motivation to introduce new rules: \"I struggle to understand why there is this urgency all of a sudden to bring in new things. I don't know if there's much wrong with the game as I see it and why a different colour card will make any difference.\" Fifa responded to multiple stories on Thursday, some of which raised the potential for the trials to involve elite football, with a public statement urging caution. It is understood the four trials will remain following further consideration initiated by Fifa, but it has now been decided there will be no confirmation of the precise details until a media conference immediately after Ifab's annual meeting at Loch Lomond on 2 March to allow for \"further exchange\". Fifa has four of the eight seats at Ifab, with the other four belonging to the home nations. President Gianni Infantino has previously attended Ifab annual meetings. If he does not attend, another senior official from the organisation will be present. Sin-bins have been used at grassroots level for dissent but their use could be extended to cynical fouls as part of a trial. \u2022 None Our coverage of your Premier League club is bigger and better than ever before - follow your team and sign up for notifications in the BBC Sport app to make sure you never miss a moment", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou opposes the proposed introduction of blue cards and sin-bins in football, arguing it would \"destroy\" the game, while Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Newcastle's Eddie Howe also express skepticism about the ideas. The football's lawmakers, Ifab, delayed announcing details of the trials after discussions with Fifa, with concerns about potential impact on the sport's flow and clarity." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Scottish Cup Rangers kept their \"emotions\" in check during a bruising battle with nine-man Hibernian to progress to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and maintain their four-fronted campaign. The frenetic pace at Easter Road made the opening goal a matter of time, and it came when John Lundstram pushed through bodies to bundle home after James Tavernier's penalty was saved. Hibs' recent revival fell by the wayside in a game when they lost Martin Boyle to a concerning injury, as well as Jordan Obita and Nathan Moriah-Welsh to careless moments of ill-discipline that ended with red cards. Any slither of hope the depleted home side could force extra time vanished when Fabio Silva fired Rangers to Hampden with a late finish. \u2022 None Keep up to date with Hibernian \"It's a massive game to win,\" Rangers manager Philippe Clement told BBC Scotland. \"We stayed calm and we didn't go into the emotions. \"Everybody worked really hard. We played a mature game in the circumstances. We had a massive game on Thursday that cost a lot of energy.\" This was Leith, not Lisbon, where the Ibrox side drew 2-2 with Benfica in the Europa League last 16. Cultured on the continent, this contest was immediately thrust into frenzy as both sides traded blows in raucous capital conditions. Hearts were in mouths early on. Jack Butland's pondering on the ball allowed Myziane Maolida to lunge into a challenge and bounce the ball off a post, while Cyriel Dessers curiously chose to cut inside when he was through on goal, allowing David Marshall to make the save. It wouldn't be long before the veteran goalkeeper was forced into action again, successfully saving his third spot-kick of the campaign, only to watch helplessly as Lundstram's desire broke the deadlock. The game's ferocity was pierced by an unfortunate injury to the visitors' Dujon Sterling, before a sense of concern engulfed Easter Road as Boyle lay motionless on the turf after John Souttar landed on him. That prompted a quick medical response and a lengthy delay as the Australian international was removed on a stretcher and taken to hospital. If the first half was wild, the second period was a whirlwind. Emiliano Marcondes' fierce free-kick forced a big save from Butland. Substitute Ross McCausland had to trudge off injured himself. Steven MacLean had to remove a cherry-coloured vape from the pitch. And then, Hibs lost their heads. Obita had been on thin ice for much of the match, and a second booking seemed inevitable as he charged carelessly around the pitch, finally coming for a block on Rabbi Matondo. No sooner had the defender returned to the home dressing room, he was joined by Moriah-Welsh, who was shown a straight red for a reckless slide on Lundstram. Deflation became despondence when Silva rifled Rangers into the last four in what was the first Scottish Cup meeting between these sides since Hibs ended their 114-year wait to lift the famous old trophy. It was a different kind of drama to that historic occasion, and one that leaves the Ibrox side with belief that their campaign can end with added silverware in the cabinet. Given Clement's tendency to tinker, a few eyebrows were raised when the Belgian chose to stick with the side that had to run themselves into the ground against Benfica on Thursday. He may have lost Sterling and McCausland to injury, but away from the treatment table, there was so much for the Rangers manager to appreciate about his side's display. They battled through the contest and showed real quality to continue their charge in another competition. Top of the league. League Cup already hoisted. Scottish Cup progression. And a Europa League last-16 second-leg finely poised in an imposing Ibrox. The Rangers revival under Clement continues forward with steam. For Hibs, it's a sense of frustration as Hampden eludes them on this occasion. There wasn't much between the sides for much of the affair, only for their lack of discipline to effectively end the contest. Again though, their winter signings showed why fortunes have turned in recent weeks, with Nectarios Triantis thriving in the madness. Focus must now shift to securing a place in the top-six before the split comes around. Achieve that, and sneaking into Europe isn't beyond the realms of possibility. What they said Hibernian manager Nick Montgomery: \"We probably should have scored a goal or two, we limited them to very little. They're a top side. We gave them a real tough game. \"The officials had a bit of a bad day today, but everybody can have a bad day.\" Rangers manager Philippe Clement: \"I'm not thinking about [a domestic treble]. It's game after game. We're two games away from a trophy, but it's two massive games. \"It would be a very massive thing if we can beat Benfica and go through. I think we have one big advantage, and that's our support.\" Rangers attempt to see off Benfica and reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League on Thursday (17:45 GMT), before a trip to Dundee on Sunday (12:00). Hibs have a game at Ross County on Wednesday (19:45), followed Saturday's meeting with Livingston at Easter Road (15:00). \u2022 None Attempt blocked. James Tavernier (Rangers) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. James Tavernier (Rangers) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Ridvan Yilmaz (Rangers) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by F\u00e1bio Silva. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Nicolas Raskin (Rangers) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Ridvan Yilmaz with a cross. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Nicolas Raskin (Rangers) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. \u2022 None Goal! Hibernian 0, Rangers 2. F\u00e1bio Silva (Rangers) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by John Lundstram. \u2022 None Attempt missed. John Lundstram (Rangers) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left following a corner. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Rangers advanced to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup after defeating nine-man Hibernian, maintaining their chances at a four-trophy campaign. John Lundstram scored the opening goal following a saved penalty, while Hibernian saw Martin Boyle injured and Jordan Obita and Nathan Moriah-Welsh receive red cards. Fabio Silva's late goal secured Rangers' spot in the semi-finals, with manager Philippe Clement praising the team's maturity and hard work." + }, + { + "article": "One of Broadway's most celebrated stars, Chita Rivera, has died at the age of 91. The Tony Award-winning entertainer is known for her successful theatre career spanning nearly seven decades. Her most notable roles included Anita in West Side Story, Velma in Chicago and Rose in Bye Bye Birdie. Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the first film version of West Side Story in 1961, led the tributes, describing her as \"the essence of Broadway\". Rivera originated the role of Anita in West Side Story on stage in 1957 \"As I write this, I am raising a glass to this remarkable woman and friend,\" the 92-year-old wrote in a tribute on Instagram. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda described Rivera as a \"trailblazer\" who had many \"iconic Broadway roles because she was an absolute original\". Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote that she \"redefined the words 'theatrical legend'.\" This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Andrew Lloyd Webber This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter\u2019s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Rivera was born in 1933 in Washington DC to a Puerto Rican father and a mother of Scottish and Irish heritage. She began her Broadway career in the 1950s, landing roles in productions like Can-Can and Mr Wonderful. In 1957, she was part of the original West Side Story cast - a performance that paved her way to Broadway stardom. Soon after, Rivera was nominated for a Tony Award for the musical Bye Bye Birdie alongside Dick Van Dyke. Van Dyke also paid tribute, saying Rivera was \"the best that ever was\". A few decades later, the actress starred in another iconic role: vaudeville performer Velma Kelly in Chicago. Catherine Zeta-Jones, who won an Oscar for playing Velma on screen, said on Instagram: \"There are no words to tell you what an incredible impact you have had on my life. \"From dreaming of being you as a little girl, then meeting you and then being deeply connected to you by playing the one and only Velma Kelly in Chicago. \"There will never, ever, be anyone like you Chita, ever. Dim the lights on Broadway! Or, may I suggest, we just plug the plug. I love you Chita, sleep tight my Queen.\" Rivera was celebrated for being a \"triple-threat\" - singing, dancing and acting in numerous Broadway hits throughout the years, as well as being a trailblazer for Latina women. Her last Broadway appearance was in 2015 in The Visit alongside the late Welsh actor and director Roger Rees. Other colleagues and friends of Rivera's remembered her for her dazzling stage presence and outstanding achievements. Actor Jason Alexander in a post on X: \"The incomparable Chita Rivera was one of the greatest spirits and colleagues I've ever known. She set the bar in every way. I will cherish her always.\" \"No one who was fortunate enough to have seen any of her performances will ever forget the experience,\" Ms Farrow said on X. The Tony Awards called her a \"Broadway legend ... whose grace, talent and passion left an unforgettable mark on the world of theatre\". Rivera's work earned her two Tony Awards for best actress in a musical for The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman. She was nominated for eight others. In 2002, Rivera was the first Latina to be awarded Kennedy Center Honors, which is given to artists for lifetime achievements in performing arts. She is also a recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US, given to her by former President Barack Obama in 2009 for her work as an \"agent of change\". In 2018, Rivera was given a lifetime Tony award. Last year she published her autobiography, Chita: A Memoir, which became a New York Times best seller. Her daughter Lisa Mordente said she died peacefully in New York from a brief illness.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Chita Rivera, a legendary Broadway star known for her roles in West Side Story, Chicago, and Bye Bye Birdie, has passed away at 91. Tributes from fellow actors, including Rita Moreno and Lin-Manuel Miranda, praised her as a trailblazer and an \"essential\" figure in Broadway history." + }, + { + "article": "Convicted sex offender Gary Glitter will remain behind bars after losing a Parole Board bid. Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 for sexually abusing three schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980. The 79-year-old was automatically released in February last year but was put back behind bars six weeks later after breaching his licence conditions. A panel said Gadd continued to show a \"lack of victim empathy\". The summary of the Parole Board panel's decision said: \"It found on the evidence that at the time of the offending, and while he was on licence, Mr Gadd had a sexual interest in underage girls.\" It said Gadd had not taken part in any programmes in prison to address his offending and continues to deny having a sexual interest in children. The decision published by the Parole Board on Wednesday continued: \"After considering the circumstances of his offending, the lack of progress made while in custody and on licence, and the other evidence presented at the hearing, the panel was not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public. \"Rather, the panel considered that Mr Gadd was appropriately located in custody where outstanding levels of risk could be addressed.\" The hearing last month took place in secret after a request for proceedings to be heard in public was rejected. Lawyer Richard Scorer, who represents one of Gadd's victims, told the Press Association news agency: \"This is the right decision and in our view the only decision that the parole board could have made. \"Everything we know about Gadd/Glitter indicates that he remains a risk to children and has never shown any remorse.\" Gadd was first jailed in the late 1990s for possessing thousands of child abuse images. After being freed for the first time, he moved abroad but was expelled from Cambodia in 2002 amid reports of sex crime allegations. In March 2006, he was convicted of abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam and was jailed for two-and-a-half years. Gadd's crimes stretching back to the 1970s were uncovered after Operation Yewtree was launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. The investigation led to inquiries over historic sex offences committed by other celebrities, including former entertainer Rolf Harris and celebrity agent Max Clifford. During the height of his fame, Gadd had three UK number ones including I'm the Leader of the Gang (I am!).", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Convicted sex offender Gary Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, has been denied parole due to a lack of empathy for his victims and not participating in programs to address his offending. The Parole Board decided that releasing him would not be safe for the public, and he will remain in custody." + }, + { + "article": "Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, has not been seen since last Wednesday The suspect in the Clapham alkali attack was in a relationship with the injured woman, police believe, and the breakdown of that relationship may have been his motive. Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, is believed to have arranged a meeting with the woman, who is still sedated in hospital. In its latest update, police said he is wanted for attempted murder. He was last seen on 31 January, after the attack on the mother and her two girls in south London. The Metropolitan Police called on Ezedi to hand himself in. Police said there is a \"very strong indication\" that Ezedi had been in a relationship with the woman but it had broken down. He arranged to meet the woman before attacking her with the corrosive liquid, police said. \"We can't give any details about how long the relationship had taken place or how it broke down,\" Cdr Jon Savell told a press briefing. The 31-year-old woman remains sedated and in hospital. Police say she may lose sight in her right eye as a result of the attack. Her daughters have been discharged and are recovering from their injuries. The Met released a new last known location for Ezedi hours after the attack. CCTV shows him crossing Vauxhall Bridge and onto Vauxhall Bridge Road at 23:00 GMT on Wednesday. Police said that Ezedi's injuries appear \"very significant\" and could even be fatal if not treated. They do not believe he has received hospital treatment. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. There are many theories about where the suspect could have escaped to. \"He could have gone north, he could have gone east, south, west or he could have gone abroad,\" Cdr Jon Savell said. He added there is a possibility Ezedi could have gone into the River Thames, but there have been no reports of anyone entering the river and no bodies have been recovered that match his. Police believe Ezedi, who is from the Newcastle area but believed to have travelled to the UK on a lorry from Afghanistan in 2016, is not the father of the children injured in the attack, aged eight and three, and was in the capital visiting their mother. A \u00a320,000 reward for information leading to his capture has been offered by the Met Police. A 22-year-old man was arrested in London on Monday on suspicion of assisting an offender. He has since been bailed. At the police briefing, Darius Nasimi, of the charity Afghanistan and Central Asian Association, said his organisation was working closely with the police to make sure the Afghan community are reached as widely as possible. \"Violence against women and girls cannot be tolerated,\" he said, before issuing a plea for anyone harbouring Ezedi or helping him to avoid capture to come forward. Mr Nasimi stressed the attack is \"not a reflection of the people of Afghanistan who are in the UK\". Ezedi was convicted of a sexual offence in 2018 after pleading guilty to one charge of sexual assault and one of exposure. He was given a suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court and put on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years. Ezedi was later granted asylum after two failed attempts. He was allowed to stay in the country after a priest confirmed he had converted to Christianity. The Archbishop of Canterbury said it had been \"disappointing to see the mischaracterisation of the role of churches and faith groups in the asylum system\". \"It is the job of the government to protect our borders and of the courts to judge asylum cases,\" Justin Welby said in a statement on Wednesday evening. \"The Church is called to love mercy and do justice. I encourage everyone to avoid irresponsible and inaccurate comments.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, is wanted by the police for the attempted murder of a woman and injuring her two daughters with a corrosive liquid in Clapham, London. The attack is believed to have been motivated by a recent relationship breakdown with the victim. Ezedi, who has a previous sexual assault conviction, is thought to have arranged a meeting with the woman before the assault and has been missing since January 31st. A \u00a320,000 reward has been offered for information leading to his capture." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir Tony Blair says rise of AI presents a \"massive opportunity\" for the UK The NHS should sell anonymised medical records to harness a new biotechnology \"industrial revolution\", Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague have said. The former Labour PM and ex Tory leader said the NHS' wealth of data could give the UK an advantage in new technologies shaping the future economy. Speaking to the BBC, the former rivals said selling NHS data could help boost public services and research. The NHS has repeatedly faced lawsuits over sharing data with tech firms. Sir Tony and Lord Hague have jointly published a new report calling for \"a new national purpose\" focussed on harnessing a revolution in biotechnology and AI. Speaking on BBC's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Sir Tony said: \"How do you achieve higher economic growth? Well, you're going to have to build the business sectors for the future. And this is bioscience, artificial intelligence.\" Sir Tony added there was a unique \"opportunity in Britain with the NHS because it's a single payer system, and you have got data that is of immense value to creating your bioscience industry into and to letting it flourish\". The NHS has already experimented with training AIs using NHS data. University College London academics have developed an AI system that has the potential to predict heart attacks, stroke and Parkinson's disease in patients. The tool evolved from a 2016 collaboration between Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and Google company DeepMind. Data could also be harnessed to help create personalised \"AI doctors\" for every person in Britain, according to the report published via the Tony Blair Institute. Ultimately AI could monitor all NHS patients via smart watches and mobile phones, alerting doctors to issues, the report said. Following a court case, the Information Commissioner in 2017 said the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust did not adequately safeguard 1.6 million people's private medical records, accessed by Google's DeepMind. DeepMind insisted that the patient records were being used to help create a life-saving app, and the lawsuit brought by patients was eventually thrown out. Media platform openDemocracy took the NHS to court in 2021 over a \u00a323m contract with the firm US tech giant Palantir, known for supplying data-sifting software to government agencies. Sir Tony and Lord Hague are campaigning for an overhaul of how the NHS handles data - giving patients more control over how their data is used. Their joint report calls for the creation of an NHS Data Trust (NHSDT) - an arm's length body with a controlling stake owned by the NHS - to oversee and distribute anonymized NHS data for profit. Governments will \"need the expertise of the private sector\" to make the most of the data, Lord Hague argued, and should be allowed to \"earn a return\" on their work. People already give away personal data through \"their mobile phone to many private companies, without particularly getting any benefit from it\", Lord Hague said. Creating a system where patients can \"control\" their personal data was \"actually a better way of thinking about it than the current chaotic system, where our own data ends up all over the world without us knowing where it's gone,\" he argued. An overhaul of how government works may also be necessary, Lord Hague said. He told the BBC: \"Unless you are at the forefront of this change and redesign government for these purposes, you are not going to be able to pursue it, you are just going to be stuck with low productivity.\" You can listen to Political Thinking: The Blair and Hague One on BBC Sounds", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague propose that the NHS sell anonymized medical records to fuel a biotechnology and AI-driven \"industrial revolution,\" arguing that the UK could benefit from its vast data in the future economy. They suggest establishing an NHS Data Trust to oversee data usage, with patients having more control over their information, potentially boosting public services and research while addressing privacy concerns." + }, + { + "article": "Donald Trump has posted a $91.6m (\u00a371m) bond as he appeals against the verdict in E Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit against him. A jury in January found Mr Trump owed the former columnist millions of dollars for defamation when he denied he sexually assaulted her. A judge had rejected the former president's request for more time to secure a bond to cover the penalty. Mr Trump also owes over $400m in a separate fraud case. When posting the bond, Mr Trump asked to pause the verdict while he fights to reverse the decision in a separate court. \"Due to the numerous prejudicial errors made at the lower level, we are highly confident that the Second Circuit will overturn this egregious judgment,\" the former president's lawyer, Alina Habba, said in a statement. A different jury last year found Mr Trump sexually assaulted Ms Carroll, a former Elle Magazine columnist, in a Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman store in the 1990s. The jury found Mr Trump liable of defamation for lying about the assault in 2019, and in January he was ordered to pay her $83.3m. The bond payment is equal to 110% of the amount he was required to pay Ms Carroll, and was required to stay the verdict while he appeals. Mr Trump was also ordered to pay Ms Carroll $5m in a separate defamation case related to the sexual assault last year. He put up the money shortly after. Judge Lewis Kaplan made the verdict official in February and gave Mr Trump 30 days to post a bond or put up the cash. In this year's trial, the jury found Mr Trump liable of defamation for lying about the assault in 2019, and in January he was ordered to pay her $83.3m, much of it in punitive damages. On Thursday, Judge Kaplan said Mr Trump waited too long - 25 days - before seeking to delay the payment. \"Mr Trump's current situation is a result of his own dilatory actions,\" he wrote. Ms Carroll's lawyers opposed the request, writing to Judge Kaplan that Mr Trump \"asks the Court to 'trust me' and offers, in a case with an $83.3 million judgment against him, the court filing equivalent of a paper napkin; signed by the least trustworthy of borrowers\". A spokesperson for the former president said the decision was \"a continuation of a totally lawless witch hunt,\" a frequent comment from Mr Trump's team throughout his numerous legal trials. But the 77-year-old is facing mounting legal bills and damages this year. In February, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Mr Trump to pay $355m - which amounts to more than $450m with interest - for fraudulently inflating his assets to secure better loan deals. An appellate judge rejected Mr Trump's request to post a bond for just a fraction of the penalty in that case. The likely Republican presidential nominee claimed this week that he was not worried about securing the funds in his legal cases. \"I have a lot of money. I can do what I want to do,\" he told Fox News on Tuesday.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Donald Trump has posted a $91.6m bond as he appeals against the verdict in E Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit, where a jury found him liable for denying he sexually assaulted her. A judge had denied his request for more time to secure the bond, and Trump also faces a separate $400m fraud case." + }, + { + "article": "Crispr therapy allows single genes to be targeted Gene therapy has transformed the lives of people with a genetic disorder that causes painful and unpredictable swelling attacks. Angiodema, thought to affect 50,000 people worldwide, can be seriously debilitating, affect airways, and occasionally prove fatal. Patients treated with a single dose of gene therapy Crispr-Cas9 showed little sign of further symptoms. The therapy also has big potential as a treatment for other genetic conditions. \"It looks as if the single-dose treatment will provide a permanent cure for my hereditary angioedema patients' very disabling symptoms,\" principal investigator Dr Hilary Longhurst, from the University of Auckland said. Angiodema causes swelling in the soft tissues and can affect many parts of the body. Cleveland Firman, from Suffolk, who received the treatment in the UK said: \"The randomness, unpredictability and potential severity of the attacks has made trying to live my life almost impossible. I spent my life constantly wondering if my next attack would be severe. \"The swellings are painful and disfiguring. I was embarrassed to go out in case of an attack. I've been hospitalised with swellings on my neck and throat that have affected my ability to breathe. \"Since the treatment, I've not had a single attack. I've had a radical improvement in my physical and mental wellbeing. \"I am very positive about the future. I am now volunteering where I can meet like-minded people. The freedom has opened up my world and improved my self-confidence.\" Crispr-Cas9 is a DNA cutting and pasting system that scientists have borrowed from nature. Bacteria use it to protect themselves against foreign DNA from viruses. Scientists have been using it in the lab to target and cut out faulty DNA in human cells that cause illnesses. However, the edits are not always perfect and the cuts can end up in the wrong place. In the trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, angiodema symptoms were reduced by 95% among a small group of patients from the UK, New Zealand, and the Netherlands given a single infusion - targeted at cells in the liver - to reduce the KLKB1 gene's ability to produce plasma prekallikrein. Just one of the patients continued to show symptoms, which were only minor. Dr Padmalal Gurugama, who led the UK branch of the research, at Cambridge University Hospital, said the therapy could significantly improve lives. \"Hereditary angioedema can cause patients severe swellings and intense pain, which can be life-threatening as well as restricting normal activities, such as going to work or school,\" he said. \"Because it is often misdiagnosed, many patients undergo unnecessary treatments and invasive procedures. \"This is not the only condition in which Crispr-based gene editing is being tried. \"There are a lot of clinical trials targeting various other conditions that are producing similar results.\" The patients will be followed up for 15 years - to monitor the treatment's long-term safety and efficacy. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "CRISPR gene therapy has shown significant promise in treating hereditary angioedema, a rare and potentially fatal genetic disorder causing painful swelling attacks, with patients receiving a single dose experiencing a 95% reduction in symptoms. The therapy, using CRISPR-Cas9 to target and reduce the KLKB1 gene's function, has potential for other genetic conditions, offering hope for a permanent cure." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jo Hamilton says she has 'mixed feelings' over her compensation award Former sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton says she feels \"survivor's guilt\" after settling with the Post Office over the Horizon IT scandal for an undisclosed sum. Ms Hamilton said the settlement would pay off her mortgage and debts, but she got less than she had hoped for. She said she and her husband accepted the offer as they were \"exhausted\". Her story was one of the central strands in the ITV dramatisation which put a fresh spotlight on the scandal. The mother-of-two was prosecuted for a shortfall of \u00a336,000 at her Post Office in South Warnborough, Hampshire in 2006 and was persuaded to plead guilty to a charge of false accounting. She took up cleaning jobs, had to mortgage her house twice, borrowed money from friends, and received donations from the local community to pay back the funds. Her conviction was overturned in 2021 when it was discovered that more than 700 sub-postmasters and postmistresses had been prosecuted because of a faulty accounting system. Ms Hamilton - who was played by Monica Dolan in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office - said she had \"mixed feelings\" at accepting the compensation offer. \"I almost feel like I've got survivor's guilt, because many of my colleagues that I've fought alongside in court, they haven't been settled,\" she said. But she said her was husband was getting older and she didn't want him to go into his eighties still waiting for money. \"While I didn't want to walk away, we were just tired. We had debt around our ears and a large mortgage, all of which has gone now. I think it was the right thing to do.\" Ms Hamilton got 80% of what she wanted, she said. She added the feeling when her debt disappeared was \"just incredible\". However, she said her claim was reasonable, and the Post Office \"shouldn't be arguing with anybody\", especially as that hikes up legal fees that could be spent on compensation. \"Why can't they just pay people?\" she said. She began negotiating with the Post Office in 2021, but was initially offered only 20% of what she wanted. She received the last compensation payment about five weeks ago. Ministers have vowed to speed up compensation for the victims, with new measures announced last week. As of 1 February 2024, approximately \u00a3160m had been paid to more than 2,700 claimants across three compensation schemes, according to government data. Mrs Hamilton presented an award at the Brits alongside Monica Dolan, the actress who portrayed her on screen The Department for Business and Trade said the government is \"working as fast as possible to get compensation to every single postmistress and postmaster caught up in this injustice\". Last week, ministers announced new measures to speed up compensation for victims. An interim payment of \u00a3450,000 will be available to sub-postmasters who had convictions overturned, up from the current level of \u00a3163,000. In addition, legislation to clear sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted is expected to be brought forward within weeks. Jo Hamilton appeared at the Brit Awards last week, and was joined by Monica Dolan. On stage at the ceremony, she called for compensation to be sped up for those wrongfully prosecuted. She told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday that Ms Dolan was \"just wonderful\". \"Not only is she a brilliant actress, she's a lovely person,\" she said. Appearing at the Brits was \"probably as scary as being in Crown Court, almost,\" she said. \"To walk along that landing, with all those people in the hall [was scary],\" she said. \"But seriously, when I got to the podium at the end, I didn't realise I was going to be met with the applause that I was. I really do believe the country is behind us.\" Meanwhile, a row between the government and former Post Office chair Henry Staunton deepened on Tuesday. He accused the government of using the Post Office as a \"fig leaf\" to avoid promptly paying compensation to sub-postmasters. However, the government responded by saying Mr Staunton was \"trying to deflect from his terrible tenure as chair of the Post Office\". As part of a series of letters published by the Business and Trade Committee on Tuesday, Mr Staunton also alleged an investigation into chief executive Nick Read was about bullying. A letter from Ben Tidswell, a Post Office director, did not deny this, but pointed out the investigation was wider. A spokesman for the Post Office said there were \"inaccuracies and falsehoods\" in Mr Staunton's claims. \"The investigation remains ongoing, and nobody should be drawing any conclusions at this stage,\" he added.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Former sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton has mixed feelings about her compensation settlement over the Post Office's Horizon IT scandal, which saw her prosecution for a faulty accounting system-related shortfall overturned in 2021. Hamilton, who received less than she hoped for but enough to pay off her mortgage and debts, calls for faster compensation for other victims as the government announces new measures to speed up payments." + }, + { + "article": "It is not advisable to play cards against Ben Stokes. After the bluff of not playing in a World Cup that he played in, he is now not ruling out bowling on the tour of India, having been convincing when he initially said he wouldn't. The timing of Stokes potentially becoming an all-action all-rounder for the fourth Test in Ranchi could not be better, given the shellacking England took in the third Test. The last and only time they were beaten by more than that 434-run margin, Don Bradman made a double century. The rout in Rajkot supercharged the debate around the way England play their cricket, a conversation that seems to follow every defeat. No doubt they were awful, with the last two days probably the worst they have played since Stokes took over as captain. But some of the outrage has been disproportionate, without the memory of where England were less than two years ago. \u2022 None Stokes has 'never seen' anything like Ranchi pitch \u2022 None Every chance Stokes will bowl in fourth Test - Pope Being 2-1 down after three Tests in India would have been a scoreline with merit at the start of the series, albeit if back then we did not know how depleted India would be, or about the chances England had to be 3-0 up. On the subject on depletion, it is worth remembering the lack of Harry Brook and Jack Leach. It is possible to be a huge fan of England's approach and also demand more on the occasions when they could and should have done better. Not every Test has to put Bazball on trial. If we are asking England to play in a drastically different fashion, then we are asking for a different captain and coach. There are obvious areas of improvement. Jonny Bairstow needs a score to ensure he plays his 100th Test in Dharamsala next month. The batting unit needs to sense the opportunity to grab a Test by the scruff of the neck. In Rajkot, the 875 runs India scored was the most England had conceded in a Test for 70 years, not helped by dropped catches and a use of the DRS system that lurches from too eager to not at all. Most out of sorts has been Joe Root, who has become the personification of the Bazball debate. A run of six innings without a half-century is the longest since the tail end of his captaincy, stooping to a nadir with his reverse scoop at Jasprit Bumrah in the first innings in Rajkot. Along with the need for runs and to rediscover his identity, Root is tied up in an England rhetoric that is becoming an increasing source of frustration for some. Earlier this week, coach Brendon McCullum said of Root: \"Do we want just a normal Joe Root, or do we want a Joe Root that is even better?\" McCullum is a fine speaker who commands respect. But even for him, a suggestion one of England's finest batters could become better with a more aggressive approach feels like a stretch. Stokes was singled out for a comment after Rajkot when he said, \"3-2, like the Ashes,\" while Ben Duckett's \"the more the better\" in reference to a chase was widely ridiculed. On both occasions, I happened to be the journalist asking the questions. My impression was Stokes was referring to the situation England were in during the Ashes, rather than the outcome, while Duckett's tongue was firmly in his cheek. It is admirable for England to aim for absolute positivity. Athletes can often be wracked with self-doubt, so it seems reasonable logic to do everything possible to eliminate that. The hope is there is room for honesty behind closed doors, that Stokes and McCullum are not such big personalities they cannot be challenged if an opposing view exists. Ultimately, the Ned Flanders approach to life might be suited to this group of players, even if it rubs some up the wrong way. When McCullum says, \"You have got one crack at life so you may as well enjoy yourself, there's lots of people who see the grey sky not the blue,\" some might think he is talking complete guff, while others might want to frame his words and hang them in the kitchen. In Ranchi, the land of MS Dhoni, any England panic about the pitch seems to have calmed. Chat of bringing in Dan Lawrence to lengthen the batting has given way to the balanced selection of two seamers and two spinners. England must win to force a deciding fifth Test and avoid defeat to preserve an unbeaten series record under Stokes. In theory, India resting Bumrah gives England a better chance, but the hosts have missed key players throughout and a generation of new stars have turned things around from 1-0 down. Ranchi, smallish by Indian standards, is full to the brim, and some journalists have been slung out of their hotels. England have remained relaxed despite being in the goldfish bowl. Ollie Pope and Gus Atkinson play darts, though neither are good enough to beat James Anderson. There have been movie nights and a definite theme running through Old School, Step Brothers and Austin Powers; early-2000s university hall of residence. The main pastime is a thriving card school and the game 500, which Stokes and Mark Wood played as youngsters at Durham. According to Stokes, he and Zak Crawley are the men to beat. It is not advisable to play cards against Ben Stokes. Regardless of what happened in Rajkot, Stokes and his team will remain all in for Ranchi.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "England cricket team's all-rounder Ben Stokes, who initially said he wouldn't bowl on the tour of India, now might bowl in the fourth Test, adding to the team's options after their heavy defeat in the third Test against India. Amidst debates about England's playing style, known as \"Bazball,\" there are calls for improvement, especially in batting and fielding, with Joe Root seeking a return to form. England needs to win in Ranchi to force a deciding fifth Test and maintain an unbeaten series record under Stokes' captaincy." + }, + { + "article": "Whenever the politicians or anybody else start talking about history being made in Northern Ireland, Gail McConnell feels wary. Too much has been suffered and too much time wasted for her to put much faith in rhetoric. She wants hard work and action, she tells me. \"This should be just another day of government,\" she says of today's power-sharing restoration and the election of an Irish nationalist first minister. \"Our politicians should be getting on with what they have been paid to do.\" Days like today, played out in front of the cameras, will come and go. Her father will still be dead. Like the other 3,500 lost in the Troubles. \"My thoughts are with those people today,\" she says. Gail was three when the IRA came for her dad. It was a still morning in March 1984, an edge of spring kind of day, and William McConnell was checking under his car for booby traps. That was his daily routine as an assistant prison governor. His wife, Beryl, and daughter Gail had come to the doorstep to wave him off. But the threat wasn't under the car. And when it appeared, from a house across the road, her mother's warning was too late. Two masked men with guns covered the distance in seconds, shooting at point blank range. William, aged 35, was dead in an instant. The body that had hugged, carried and held her was bleeding out in the driveway. Years later, Gail learned that she ran back into the house when the shooting started. And it is only when she is grown, and a prize-winning poet, that she found the right word to describe what the IRA bullets inflicted on her dad's body: Perforation. The putting of holes in flesh. By then she was a mother with a young son from her relationship with her American partner Beth, and highly conscious of trauma that can carry down the generations. Northern Ireland has continuing high rates of PTSD and one of the highest levels of anti-depressant usage in the world. \"Trauma is an ongoing reality for so many people. A young generation born after the conflict tell us they feel keenly the effects of that conflict. They feel the aftermath of trauma. It has been passed down through families. We have a mental health crisis. We have high rates of suicide here.\" Yet as a gay woman advocating on gender issues, climate change, and the rights of the victims of violence Gail McConnell symbolises an outward-looking Northern Ireland. It is a place where identity is no longer entirely defined by religious or constitutional affiliation. There has been a significant rise in migration with new communities forming that have no ties to the entrenched attitudes of the past. Research shows that the number of people living in so-called mixed relationships between Catholics and Protestants has trebled since the late 1990s. \"I really want to be hopeful,\" says Gail. \"I am just a little conscious that there's still a long way to go.\" Gail McConnell says intergenerational trauma is common in Northern Ireland A healthy caution is wise. The peace walls that separate Catholic and Protestant in so-called \"interface areas\" remain largely in place. Only about 8% of schoolchildren are educated in schools where Catholic and Protestant are integrated. While paramilitary groups no longer pose a serious threat to the peace they are active in drug dealing and can still impose fear on communities. However former IRA prisoner, Richard O'Rawe, believes there will be no return to political violence. He welcomes today's events at Stormont not simply because a nationalist is becoming first minister, but because it offers a chance to address bread and butter issues like a struggling healthcare system and youth unemployment. O'Rawe was jailed for eight years for taking part in an IRA raid on a bank in the 1970s but now looks back on the campaign with regret. \"At the end of the day the IRA struggle didn't work. We still live in a United Kingdom. We still live under British rule. My view is that all the killings, all the time done in jail, all the suffering, all the tears, was for nothing\u2026 the IRA campaign kept alive the flame of a united Ireland. \"Was that enough? No, it wasn't, considering the number of people who were killed. The whole thing in my view was an awful waste.\" \"There's an awful lot of work to be done,\" says Richard O'Rawe, a former IRA prisoner The election of a Sinn F\u00e9in first minister is an historic and welcome moment for former activists like himself who emerged from a tradition of revolutionary violence. The IRA fought since 1922 against the idea of a divided Ireland and refused to take seats in \"partitionist\" parliaments. That all changed with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Now Sinn F\u00e9in argues that taking part in a devolved government is part of the road to a united Ireland. Does Richard O'Rawe believe that today brings a united Ireland closer? \"There's an awful lot of work to be done. There has to be a programme put together that is attractive to all the citizens, particularly unionists. It has to be non-confrontational.\" It is essential, he says, that there be no triumphalism because in Northern Ireland \"it always has an adverse effect\". And the message to his former comrades and enemies who now sit in Stormont? His words echo those of Gail McConnell. \"Be nice, be conciliatory to those on the other bench, work together and make life better for the poor people in the backstreets.\" The constitutional question won't go away. But it would be a mistake to see it as the only issue of significance. Returning to Belfast now - 40 years after I first worked in the city during the Troubles - I see a city that is changed profoundly. It's not just the vanished police and army patrols and security barriers. The absence of the daily burden of fear has allowed this place to breathe. New conversations about different futures have become possible. There is hope that - in the words of the Ulster poet Louis MacNeice - \"there will be sunlight later\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The restoration of power-sharing in Northern Ireland and the election of an Irish nationalist first minister is a significant moment, but for some like Gail McConnell, whose father was killed by the IRA, it's a day of mixed emotions. While there are signs of progress and a more diverse society, issues like intergenerational trauma, sectarian divides, and economic challenges remain, highlighting the need for continued work and reconciliation." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Drivers on the M25 in Surrey faced delays over the weekend Disruption is expected on the M25 in Surrey as \"unprecedented\" closures remain in force for a third day. A five-mile stretch along both carriageways between junctions 10 and 11 was closed at 21:00 GMT Friday and will remain shut until 06:00 on Monday. There was congestion on the detour route on Saturday, with drivers told not to \"try to be clever\" and seek out alternatives. People should only use the M25 if \"absolutely necessary\". There was also five miles (8.04km) of congestion on the M25 between junction five, near Sevenoaks, and junction six on Saturday following a multi-vehicle crash. Traffic has been flowing fairly steadily along the designated detour route, but Surrey Highways reported vehicles queuing for two miles on the approach to the closure at one stage. It is the first time there has been a scheduled daytime closure of all lanes on the M25 since it opened in 1986. It is to enable the demolition of a bridge and the installation of a new gantry, which is now in place. The closure is part of the junction 10 improvement scheme, which is due to be completed in mid-2025. National Highways said the carriageway between junctions nine and 11 typically carried between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles per hour in each direction between 10:00 and 21:00 at the weekend. The Sun is reporting that Tom Cruise has helicopters on standby ready to fly the cast and crew of the latest Mission Impossible film to Surrey's Longcross Studios if they cannot get there because of the closures. Cruise's representatives have not responded to an approach from the BBC, while Longcross Studios declined to comment. The village of Byfleet is on the detour route and residents headed to a motorway bridge to photograph the empty lanes. Councillor Amanda Boote described it as a \"moment in history\". She added: \"The traffic is starting to build up now but it was lovely overnight. \"We could hear the birds singing and we all slept well.\" Mark Pollak, owner of caterers Billy Tong, said he expected to see 50% of the firm's weekend turnover go \"down the drain\". He said he had to refuse a request to cater an event in Guildford and was forced to cancel its stall at a market. Cobham Veterinary Centre is also on the diversion and has been affected by roadworks for more than a year. Andrew Bradnock from the vets told BBC Breakfast: \"We've had a few clients who have now left because getting backwards and forwards to us is so difficult for them they decided to move to practices closer to them. \"There's no way I'm going be able to get in or out of here, it'll be gridlock because the diversion they have set is virtually going past our front door.\" A five-mile stretch along both carriageways between junctions 10 and 11 will remain shut until 06:00 on Monday Emergency services are also warning of a difficult weekend. South East Coast Ambulance Service said on X, formerly Twitter: \"It's likely to be a challenging weekend for our teams. \"Please be aware of any emergency vehicles looking to progress through any likely heavy traffic.\" St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey, Surrey, warned people to \"only visit if necessary\". Travellers affected may include people going to Gatwick and Heathrow Airports and the Channel ports, as well as concert-goers, sports fans and holidaymakers travelling to London and surrounding areas, National Highways said. Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, told BBC Radio 4 Today programme if people needed to catch a flight they should take the train or allow plenty of time if they drive. \"It is unprecedented. We haven't closed the M25 for an entire weekend before... so the best thing is allow plenty of time and think ahead,\" he said. The closure will be the first of five between now and September as part of a \u00a3317m upgrade, with the next due in April. National Highways previously said it was not yet at a stage where it could release exact dates about the other closures. How have you been affected by the M25's closure? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission. Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A five-mile stretch of the M25 in Surrey remains closed for a third day, causing disruptions and delays, as part of a major bridge demolition and gantry installation project. The closure, which began on Friday, is expected to last until Monday morning, with National Highways warning drivers to avoid the area if possible, and alternative routes experiencing congestion. This unprecedented closure is part of a \u00a3317m junction improvement scheme due for completion in 2025." + }, + { + "article": "The future looks bright for the Lionesses with a host of youngsters breaking through the international set-up - but who could soon become a first-team regular? Grace Clinton stole the show on Friday night as the former under-23s international scored on her debut in Sarina Wiegman's side's 7-2 thrashing of Austria. She is one of several players to have made the step up in recent years, and with the under-23s joining the European champions on a warm-weather training camp in Spain this month, there is even more desire for others to follow suit. Here are five players to look out for. \u2022 None Clinton's impressive debut - but is there more to come? \u2022 None The future Lionesses - why England's under-23s are thriving Manchester City paid \u00a3200,000 to sign Laura Blindkilde Brown from Aston Villa on deadline day last month. The 20-year-old midfielder was a standout for Villa in the first half of the season, starting eight of their 12 Women's Super League (WSL) matches and clocking up more than 50 appearances for the club before moving to City. Her composure on the ball, experience in the WSL and ability to play in various positions suggests she would be a big asset to the Lionesses. Blindkilde Brown's recent move to City means she will need to battle for regular game time at club level, but she is training with several Lionesses on a daily basis including Chloe Kelly, Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood. Bristol City centre-back Naomi Layzell, 19, has been called up to senior training by Wiegman twice and started in Thursday's 3-1 defeat by Spain for the under-23s. \"I first started working with Naomi in the under-18s, so I've worked with her over the last three seasons or so and her development has just been so good,\" said Under-23s head coach Emma Coates. \"This season, everyone has been impressed with her defensive displays. She's a proper defender and it's rare you find young players who just love to defend. \"She thrives in that side of the game and has improved significantly in some of her in-possession stuff. The fact she had that opportunity [to train with the first team] will do her confidence the world of good.\" Southampton's Ella Morris, 21, has also impressed at full-back - a position which England's first team lacks depth in - while Liverpool centre-back Hannah Silcock, 19, is highly rated, so keep an eye on them too. Chelsea striker Aggie Beever-Jones, 20, is a serious contender for the Euro 2025 squad. She spearheads the under-23s' attack and has had a breakout campaign with Chelsea this season with five goals in 10 WSL games - a better minutes-per-goal ratio (46) than any other player who has netted at least four times. There is stiff competition for forward places in the Lionesses, with Manchester United's Nikita Parris missing out on selection this month, while under-23s regulars Ebony Salmon and Katie Robinson have both played for England's first team. Tottenham's Jess Naz has also impressed in the WSL. But Beever-Jones could be the pick of the bunch. She had a late call-up to the senior squad for Friday's victory over Austria, replacing the injured Kelly on the bench, just a day after scoring in the under-23s' defeat by Spain. There are few England youngsters with more WSL experience than midfielder Missy Bo Kearns, 22, who has 16 appearances for Liverpool this season. She became the youngest player to captain the Reds at the age of 20 and has since been given the armband for the England Under-23s. \"We're all aiming to be in that senior squad and having a bit of experience and exposure around them. [This week] is going to give all of us extra hunger,\" said Kearns. \"But there's no need to put pressure on yourself. I trust in my own football ability and hope that it comes through.\" On captaining the under-23s, she added: \"It's been a massive step up for me but a good challenge. If I can learn different things about leadership, how to deal with certain situations and become mature, it's only going to help me in the future.\" Manchester City's Ruby Mace, 20, joined from Arsenal in 2021 and while she has struggled for regular game time with the club, she has proven her worth in loan spells with Birmingham City and Leicester City in the WSL. Used as a holding midfielder with the England Under-23s, she can also play centre-back and is one of England's most highly-rated youngsters. \"Ever since I was young, all I wanted to do was take the steps on the ladder to get [to England's first team],\" Mace told BBC Sport. \"I just want to keep working hard and hopefully I can reach it one day.\" But will a lack of game time at City hold her back? Under-23s boss Coates said: \"Do we want players playing every week at the highest level? Absolutely - as that will accelerate them. But there's also a point where they have to be really brave and step into those environments in the WSL. \"That might have a trade-off of minutes. That's where our jobs comes in. We think Ruby has terrific potential. With the right opportunities - hopefully they will come thick and fast - we think Ruby will get there.\" \u2022 None The health benefits of going to bed one hour earlier: Dr Michael Mosley investigates the positive effects of a bit more sleep \u2022 None Welcome to the weird world of an NHS labour ward:", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The England women's football team, the Lionesses, have several promising young players making strides, with Grace Clinton's impressive debut against Austria highlighting the potential of the next generation. Players like Laura Blindkilde Brown, Naomi Layzell, Ella Morris, Hannah Silcock, Aggie Beever-Jones, Missy Bo Kearns, and Ruby Mace are being watched closely, with some already attracting attention for their skills and versatility." + }, + { + "article": "Despite Labour suspending its former candidate Azhar Ali, he will still appear on voting papers in Rochdale under the party banner. Electoral law means ballot papers effectively cannot be changed after publication. Ballot papers are \"a snapshot in time\", explains Peter Stanyon, the chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, The only exception to this is, he says, is in the event of a candidate's death. Mr Stanyon explains nominations must be closed 19 working days before the date of any election \"regardless of there being any change in circumstances\", and Mr Ali was confirmed as the Labour candidate on Friday 2 February. That means the party's withdrawal of support on Monday 12 February is too late to change the ballot paper before the by-election, which will take place on 29 February. He says: \"The ballot paper will be as it would have been had there not been the situation that's developed, so he will be on the ballot paper in alphabetical order with the description of the Labour Party candidate standing on behalf of the party. \"Even if the candidate decides they don't want to stand with the party ticket, it's a snapshot in time at the point they made their nominations, so you can't withdraw your party description or your candidate after the deadline.\" The party has no control over what their former candidate does if elected, Mr Stanyon says, as \"ultimately the person being elected is the person not the party\". He adds: \"It would very much rest with Mr Ali - if he was elected and chose then to resign we're back into the same process again of another by-election with a new timescale running from whenever the day of that election is called.\" Voters in Rochdale will also see Guy Otten listed as the Green Party candidate, despite having quit the race earlier this month. The main reason for the deadline being 19 working days before voting is because of postal voting, Mr Stanyon explains, with time needed for postal votes to go out internationally. The date of the poll is decided by MPs and the returning officer works backwards from that date, often scrambling to organise ballot papers, polling stations and staff on a short timescale. This is not the first time candidates who have had party support withdrawn have appeared as official candidates on polling day. Neale Hanvey was listed as the SNP candidate in the 2019 general election, despite having been suspended from the party for using antisemitic language. He was elected as the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, and readmitted to the SNP some months later.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Despite being suspended by the Labour Party, Azhar Ali will still appear on the ballot paper in Rochdale as the party's candidate due to electoral law that prevents changes after publication. The only exception to this rule is in the case of a candidate's death. As nominations closed before Ali's suspension, he remains listed, and if elected, the party would have no control over his actions as the elected representative." + }, + { + "article": "A former leader of the Labour Party in Scotland has admitted voting SNP. Kezia Dugdale told a new BBC documentary she was \"so mad about Brexit\" she backed the party at the European Parliament election in 2019. She said she had voted Labour at every election since. Ms Dugdale was still a member of the Scottish Parliament at the time. She had quit as leader two years previously and had also announced she was quitting Holyrood. But she did not formally stand down until two months after the European Parliament vote, which saw Labour lose both its seats in Scotland and poll at just 9%. Ms Dugdale was speaking to a Radio 4 documentary exploring the fall of Labour in Scotland and its hopes for a major comeback at the next general election. \"I voted SNP once in my life and that was in the European Union elections immediately after Brexit, where I was so mad about Brexit,\" she said. \"I felt I could vote for the SNP in that European Union election, because that in no way could be construed as a vote for independence.\" She added: \"I voted Labour in every election since then.\" But her admission is a sign of how much trouble Labour faced in Scotland over several years following the independence referendum. The programme - Labour's Scottish Challenge - charts the collapse in the party's vote at the general election in 2015, when it was almost wiped out in Scotland. It lost 43 seats and returned just one MP from Scotland. Ms Dugdale became party leader after that election and told the programme the challenges felt \"existential\" in the immediate aftermath. She led the party until August 2017, when she resigned to \"pass on the baton\". Recent polls have suggested Labour could make a significant comeback in Scotland. The programme reveals Labour believes 28 constituencies north of the border are \"in play\" - political shorthand for potentially winnable. It will not take them all, but it is a sign of how Labour thinks its position in Scotland has changed fundamentally. Some argue they can beat the SNP at the general election. Anas Sarwar - who has been leader of Scottish Labour since 2021 - told the programme: \"People talk a lot about tipping points in the polls. \"I think the tipping point in Scotland is around 35% - if we get around 35% in the polls then we are in competition to beat the SNP. \"If I said that to anybody two-and-a-bit years ago, they would have thought I was deluded. But I have always believed that's what we can do.\" Anas Sarwar became leader of Scottish Labour in 2021 Labour's average polling at the moment sits at around 34%, according to elections expert Sir John Curtice. Despite the SNP's challenges, Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf, told the programme he was optimistic about the general election. \"I don't fear a general election at all. I see it's a huge opportunity,\" he said. \"There's no getting away from the fact that 2023 was a difficult year. \"I'm not going to treat you or your listeners as fools\u2026 but the general election presents an opportunity because ultimately a general election will be and should be a battle of ideas. And I think the SNP is strongest when it's talking about policy.\" Conservative peer Ruth Davidson, who used to lead the Scottish Conservatives, told the programme Labour would benefit from a sense of 2024 being a \"change\" election. But she also said the Conservatives could increase their seat tally in Scotland, despite poll woes across the UK. \"They expect to hold what they have, give or take boundary changes that exist,\" she said. \"And they are targeting to try and put on a couple of seats across the country - and it's realistic.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Kezia Dugdale, a former leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, admitted voting for the SNP in the 2019 European Parliament election due to her anger over Brexit, marking a rare departure from her usual Labour support. The revelation comes in a BBC documentary exploring Labour's decline in Scotland and its prospects for a comeback, with current leader Anas Sarwar believing the party could be competitive with around 35% of the polls." + }, + { + "article": "If you feel like you're not getting paid enough, you're probably not alone. Increases in average wages have finally overtaken the pace of price rises, but many of us are still feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. Last year saw waves of strikes, with tens of thousands of workers walking out in disputes over pay, jobs and conditions. Many of these strikes have taken place in the public sector, where workers often do not have the power to negotiate individually. And whether you work in the public or private sector, even if you do have a conversation with your manager there's no guarantee that it will result in a pay rise. However, there are ways to give yourself the best chance of success. We spoke to recruiters, a manager and a workplace psychologist to get five tips on how to best negotiate for more money. Jill Cotton, a career trends experts at jobs site Glassdoor, says scheduling a talk in advance will allow you and your boss time to prepare, and means you're more likely to have a productive conversation. \"Don't spring this on your line manager,\" Ms Cotton says. \"Be upfront and say that you want to book in a conversation that is specifically about pay.\" Rowsonara Begum, who helps her brother run Saffron Indian takeaway in Salisbury, says it also needs to be the right time for the business. The takeaway has five members of staff and occasionally takes on additional workers during busy periods. Rowsonara Begum says workers seeking a pay rise should ask at a good time She says if workers pick a time when the business is doing well, they will have the best chance of successfully negotiating more money. If you're asking for a pay rise, you should have lots of evidence of why you deserve one. \"Know what you've achieved either from a work setting or what you've done to develop yourself, maybe to support your team, support your line managers. List all the pros of what you've done,\" says Shan Saba, a director at Glasgow-based recruitment firm Brightwork. This evidence also helps your manager rationalise why you should be paid more, according to Stephanie Davies, a workplace psychologist. \"The brain needs a 'why' - why should I pay you this amount?\" she says. However, it's not just about bringing a list of all the things you've done. You should also be clear about what you want to do next, says Mr Saba. \"If you have aspirations of moving up through your organisation, have a plan of what you're looking to do over the coming year.\" When asking your boss for more money, it helps if you're confident and know your worth. That's something Ms Begum has noticed, from her experience of having these talks with staff. \"Here in Salisbury, it's quite difficult to get the staff we need,\" she says. \"It's also become harder to recruit from overseas. So workers have negotiating power because they know there's a shortage.\" Often people don't feel confident because there is a \"stigma\" around talking about pay, says Glassdoor's Jill Cotton, but it's \"an important part of work\". Women and people from minority backgrounds can often find it particularly hard to ask for more more, adds psychologist Stephanie Davies. Her advice to them is to ask for a mentor or role model, who can help guide them through those conversations. Most experts agree it's best to have an exact figure in mind before embarking on a conversation about pay. Do your research, advises James Reed, chair of recruitment firm Reed. \"You can go online and look at job adverts and see what other comparable jobs are being recruited for and what the salaries are,\" he says. Ms Cotton warns the figure should be realistic. \"We would all love to be paid millions of pounds every single year. But we are being paid to fulfil a role with the skillset we have,\" she says. If the above steps don't result in a pay rise, try not to be disheartened. \"Sometimes these conversations can take a while, even months, but it's important to keep the communication open,\" says Ms Begum. Pay is also not the be-all and end-all, says Mr Reed. \"It's not just necessarily about money. You might be able to get more holiday or more flexibility around working hours,\" he says, adding you could also negotiate extra training and development. And if you don't feel you're getting what you want from your employer, remember, there are other opportunities out there. \"You can always look elsewhere, that's the really big lesson,\" says Ms Davies.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Workers across sectors are feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, leading to strikes over pay, jobs, and conditions. To negotiate a pay rise, experts suggest scheduling a conversation in advance, choosing the right time for the business, providing evidence of achievements, having clear career aspirations, being confident, researching salary expectations, and considering non-monetary benefits. If unsuccessful, maintaining open communication and exploring other job opportunities can be helpful." + }, + { + "article": "What's in vogue? Not just Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in this month's glossy mag, or news that \"discreet chic\" is back and flamboyant \"statement gowns\" are out! Politics has fashions too - what's in and out. It's not so long ago that world leaders were jostling to be pictured with celebs like Leonardo diCaprio, Stella McCartney or Emma Watson at the huge COP26 climate conference in Glasgow where Boris Johnson played host. Then, it was hip to be green - being at COP in 2021 was the political equivalent of the fashion week front row. But with Labour shrinking away from its big \u00a328bn commitments this week, and the Conservatives shifting tack and rumoured to be dropping the so-called \"boiler tax\", there's no doubt trends have changed. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took the first steps back in September. He didn't junk the government's green commitments but slowed the pace of existing plans. Some Conservatives were delighted at he was heeding some voters' concerns about the cost of going green, most notably extending the ultra low emissions zone to outer London. Other Tories were infuriated it sent the message that the environment was less important, and that irritation has festered since then, with former minister Chris Skidmore quitting as an MP. This week however it's been the Labour leadership's turn, finally getting rid of its vow to spend \u00a328bn a year to help the country go green. Without adding to the vast acreage of coverage about this decision, it shows above all that Labour wants to reassure voters it would be careful with their cash over anything else. It's worth noting this week was the deadline for Labour's top team to give their manifesto plans to shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves. The decision was finally made, after weeks of Tory taunting, when the sums actually had to add up. Alongside its manifesto, Labour will publish a \"grey book\" that will set out its exact spending plans. So close to an election the view at the top is that every line of those calculations has to be accurate. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. After weeks of speculation, the Labour leader says the party is dropping its spending commitment. The leaderships of both main parties have moved, but there isn't agreement among their ranks either. On the right of the Conservatives, there's pressure on No 10 now to ditch the so called \"boiler tax\" - planned fines payable by boiler makers if they fail to hit targets for selling new heat pumps. Former cabinet minister Robert Jenrick is one of those thundering about the risks of \"dangerous green fantasy economics\". But there's a pull from the other direction too. The previously mentioned Chris Skidmore suggested that \"if the UK does not step up, or turns its face against net zero opportunities, it would be an economic disaster\". In turn, Sir Keir Starmer's been accused by Labour former minister Barry Gardiner of being \"economically illiterate and environmentally irresponsible\". Another of his MPs, Clive Lewis, responded to this announcement by tweeting a meme of Homer Simpson shrinking backwards into a hedge to describe how he'll feel on the doorstep talking to voters this weekend. Others are frankly relieved the big number has gone, with one insider telling me it was \"not our finest hour in terms of handling but we will look back and be really grateful that we did it\". While the parties' political attitudes have been shifting what has not budged at all is the obligations they face - not because of star-studded celeb pressure or activists gluing themselves to roads. This is because, just before she left office, Theresa May changed the law in an absolutely profound way by introducing legislation that would force the UK to hit net zero by 2050. In 2020 that was followed by another target to cut emissions by nearly 70% by 2030. At the time the former PM pushed it through at breakneck speed 2050 seemed very far away. The practicalities of how such an ambition would be achieved were so vague that MPs (mostly) happily signed up. One of those involved in the decision told me this week: \"We thought it was the right thing to do but we understood we didn't have all the answers. It was a bit like when JFK said we are going to land a man on the moon at the end of the decade. He had no idea how he'd do it but it was a clear ambition.\" Despite shifting political passions that clear ambition and obligation has already had a major effect on what the government is actually doing. One climate leader points to the package for cleaner steel at Port Talbot, or new laws on electric vehicles, for example, but adds that the government is \"green hushing\" - taking action but playing it down because \"they don't want any coverage of it\". There is a definite sense in industry that politicians are yet to understand fully the scale of the changes that have to be made to reboot the energy system - the \"transition\". Endless shifts in specifics of policies, or arguments about headline numbers risk missing the big picture. But with both the Conservatives and Labour grappling with the realities of what the big long-term commitments to net zero might really mean, perhaps what we are seeing is a new phase in this argument. Polling consistently shows that action on climate change is near the top of voters' concerns - at number three on research group More In Common's list behind the cost of living and the health service, and not just among those on the left or the under-40s. Was the climate in vogue when Rishi Sunak went to the COP27 climate conference in Egypt shortly after becoming prime minister? But as we move closer to the 2050 and 2030 targets the practical realities of the move to a greener economy will hit closer to home. As one of the architects of the 2050 law, a former senior Conservative figure, said now \"we've got to the point where it is starting to affect individual families it was always going to become politically contentious\". The public wants action generically, but might not like the effect of them - or as it was put to me: \"Voters are allowed to be hypocrites - they can say 'I want you to do more' but then when you do, they say 'oh I didn't mean that'.\" You can be horrified by what's happening to the planet round the world, but not be too eager to pay thousands for a new boiler at home. There's a tension between how fast our two main parties are willing to move to tackle climate change and the rules and targets they set themselves. But there is impatience in industry over how the appetite to act goes in and out of fashion, because much of the money to green the economy will come from them. Maybe our conversations about the climate are becoming less about emotion and more about the economy. The problem is real. Now the political arguments are here to stay.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Both the UK's Labour and Conservative parties are shifting their stances on green policies, with Labour dropping its commitment to spend \u00a328bn a year on climate change and the Conservatives considering dropping the \"boiler tax.\" The change in attitudes reflects a focus on cost concerns and the need to reassure voters, but the legal obligation to reach net zero emissions by 2050 remains in place, creating a tension between political ambitions and public acceptance of the costs involved." + }, + { + "article": "Lee Anderson has rarely been out of the headlines since becoming the Conservative Party's deputy chairman just over a year ago. In a coup for the Reform Party, he's become their first MP, declaring: \"I want my country back\" and being hailed by party leader Richard Tice as the \"champion of the Red Wall\". The move comes after Mr Anderson was kicked off the Tory benches by the prime minister, over his false claims that London mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour leaders Sir Keir Starmer are \"controlled by Islamists\". The MP for Ashfield was already in the PM's sights in January, when Mr Sunak warned he would fire any frontbenchers who failed to vote with the government on the Rwanda bill. Instead, Mr Anderson and his former fellow Tory deputy chairman Brendan Clarke-Smith quit their roles ahead of the vote in order to rebel. The Nottinghamshire politician - who is paid \u00a3100,000 a year on top of his MPs' salary for hosting a GB News show - enjoys speaking his mind and upsetting what he sees as the politically correct \"woke\" establishment. In an interview conducted a few days before he was given the deputy chair role in February 2023, Mr Anderson expressed his support for bringing back the death penalty - a position not shared by the government. He was given the nickname \"30p Lee\" after comments in Parliament when he suggested people needed to learn how to cook and budget \"properly\". \"We can make a meal for about 30p a day and this is cooking from scratch,\" he said. He's also said that poor families were \"more resourceful\" in the past - and was criticised by the Hope Not Hate campaign for saying he had sympathy with people protesting outside hotels providing refuge for asylum seekers. But despite his tendency to create media storms, his supporters in the Conservative Party believe the former Labour councillor can connect with so-called \"red wall\" voters in the Midlands and the north of England in a way that others can't. Born in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, to a family of coal miners, he followed in the footsteps of his father by working in the area's pits for 10 years after leaving school. After separating from his partner, he raised his two sons as a single parent on what he described as a \"meagre wage\". \"I've been that man that has to put five quid in the gas meter on a Sunday night and been watching the meter spin round all week,\" he told TalkTV in 2022. He went on to volunteer at a local Citizens Advice centre before working in hostels for homeless care leavers. His first job in politics was working in the office of local Labour MP Gloria De Piero, serving as a district councillor at the same time. In February 2018 he was suspended from the council's Labour group after hiring a digger and placing concrete blocks to stop travellers illegally camping in a car park. A month later he defected to the Tories, saying his former party had been \"taken over by the hard-left\". In the 2019 general election the Brexit-supporter stood as the Conservative candidate for Ashfield, winning the seat from Labour. The constituency was one of many Leave-supporting areas to turn blue in Boris Johnson's landslide victory over Jeremy Corbyn. However, his successful campaign was not without controversy. He faced mockery after he appeared to be caught setting up a door knock while out canvassing, accompanied by journalist Michael Crick. During the visit a microphone picked up Mr Anderson asking a voter not to mention he was his friend during filming. There was further criticism for comments suggesting \"nuisance tenants\" living on a council estate should be forced to live in tents and pick vegetables. Mr Anderson continued to attract attention for his strident views as an MP. During the Euro 2020 football tournament he criticised the England team for taking the knee in protest at racism and vowed to boycott their matches. He returned to the theme of budgeting, when he posted a photo on Twitter of one of his staff members to illustrate his argument that nurses on \u00a330,000 a year didn't need to use food banks. The post, which detailed her monthly spending on rent and travel, provoked a backlash on social media. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Lee Anderson: \"There's not this massive use for food banks in this country\" The 57-year-old's appointment as deputy party chairman by Mr Sunak came despite Mr Anderson initially backing his rival Boris Johnson in last year's leadership election. He's also been critical of the government's approach to tackling illegal immigration. In December, he wrote that he was \"putting my party on notice\" over the issue, saying the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats was \"making us the laughing stock of the world\". In a joint resignation letter, Mr Anderson and Mr Clarke-Smith said they backed rebel amendments to the Rwanda bill \"not because we are against the Rwanda legislation but because... we want it to work.\" They added \"our main wish is to strengthen the legislation. This means that in order to vote for amendments we will therefore need to offer you our resignations from our roles\". The two said they believed when it came to asylum claims \"there are far too many who wish to cheat our system\" yet provisions in international and domestic law meant deportations could still be blocked under the government's bill. Many of Mr Anderson's former fellow Tory MPs in the Midlands and north of England love his outspoken style. They think he reflects the concerns of real voters - the people they want to hold on to at the next general election.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Lee Anderson, a former Conservative Party deputy chairman, has defected to the Reform Party, becoming their first MP. Known for his controversial statements, Anderson was previously expelled from the Tory benches by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over false claims about London's mayor and Labour leaders. Anderson, who represents Ashfield, is popular with some for his connection to \"Red Wall\" voters, having worked in the area's mines and overcome personal challenges." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section FA Cup Erling Haaland scored five in a stunning display of finishing as holders Manchester City thrashed Luton to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals. It was the Norwegian's eighth hat-trick for City and he also became the first player to score five in a game twice for the club. City opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Kevin de Bruyne, who assisted the first four goals, was allowed time and space to cut the ball back for Haaland to convert. The pair combined again 15 minutes later, with Haaland running on to a through ball before powering it past Luton goalkeeper Tim Krul and it was a similar move that brought the third, only this time with a delicate dink to finish. Jordan Clark pulled one back for Luton with a stunning strike, curled beautifully into the top corner from 25 yards on the stroke of half-time and gave Rob Edwards' side hope of a memorable comeback with a thumping finish seven minutes into the second half. However, Pep Guardiola's team soon dashed those hopes when De Bruyne squared for Haaland to tap into an empty net after a superb pass from Kyle Walker had sent the Belgium midfielder clear. Haaland got his fifth - matching his effort against RB Leipzig in last season's Champions League last 16 - when his low shot went straight through Krul, who then saw a long-range strike from Mateo Kovacic flash past him for the visitors' sixth. Luton had opportunities in the second half with Stefan Ortega, starting in place of Ederson for City, forced into action a number of times. City might easily have added to their lead at the other end but once Haaland was replaced with 15 minutes to go, there was not the same ruthlessness and the hosts were spared any further punishment. The one sour note for City was an injury to Jack Grealish, who was forced off late in the first half, but they are now unbeaten in 18 games and remain in pursuit a second consecutive treble. There was some surprise at the strength of the City XI before the game but Guardiola's decision was rewarded with a clinical showing from his side. De Bruyne was brought back in and it quickly became evident that he was in the mood. That there might even be the slightest debate over the man of the match when Haaland scored five seems absurd but De Bruyne's performance, especially in the first half, was such that the debate was warranted. Luton simply could not live with his sheer athleticism. The 32-year-old overwhelmed them time and again with his pace and power. Add in his game intelligence and technical brilliance and the effect was devastating. Of course, it was made all the more destructive by a masterful striking performance from Haaland. Luton centre-back Teden Mengi did all he could to make life hard for the former Borussia Dortmund striker but Haaland had the power to deal with the defender's presence as well as the movement and timing of runs to leave the defender trailing. Once presented with the chances - and De Bruyne made sure he was - the outcome was never in doubt. It is now 79 goals in 83 games for Haaland since moving to the Etihad Stadium and, with him in this kind of form, things are starting to look ominous for City's challengers on all three fronts. \u2022 None How did you rate Luton's performance? Have your say here \u2022 None What did you make of Manchester City's display? Send us your views here \u2022 None Relive Luton v Manchester City and all of Tuesday's FA Cup action \u2022 None Attempt saved. Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez (Manchester City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Oscar Bobb. \u2022 None Attempt blocked. Ross Barkley (Luton Town) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Andros Townsend with a cross. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Carlton Morris (Luton Town) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Joe Johnson with a cross. \u2022 None Attempt missed. J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku (Manchester City) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Matheus Nunes. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Andros Townsend (Luton Town) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Carlton Morris. \u2022 None Goal! Luton Town 2, Manchester City 6. Mateo Kovacic (Manchester City) right footed shot from outside the box to the top left corner. Assisted by John Stones. \u2022 None Attempt saved. J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku (Manchester City) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Mateo Kovacic. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Erling Haaland scored five goals, securing his eighth hat-trick for Manchester City, as they comfortably beat Luton Town 6-2 to advance to the FA Cup quarter-finals. Kevin de Bruyne provided four assists and also scored, while Luton's Jordan Clark managed two goals in a losing effort." + }, + { + "article": "Bartlomiej Kuczynski, 45, Jasmin Kuczynska, 12, and nine-year-old Natasha Kuczynska were found dead by police officers in Costessey on Friday A father was taken to hospital by police weeks before he was found dead with his sister-in-law and two children. Bartlomiej Kuczynski, 45, was found at a house in Costessey, near Norwich, on Friday, along with Jasmin Kuczynska, 12, Natasha Kuczynska, eight and Kanticha Sukpengpanao, 36, All died from stab wounds to the neck. Mr Kuczynski's death is not being treated as suspicious but the other three are being treated as murder. The four bodies were discovered by police officers at a house in Allan Bedford Crescent, Queen's Hills, on Friday morning. It has emerged that Mr Kuczynski was taken to the emergency department at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital by police on 14 December, the same day he was reported as a missing person. He left the unit after being assessed as having \"mental capacity\", the hospital said. A spokesperson for the hospital said: \"We can confirm that the patient was taken to the emergency department by police on December 14. \"Following a comprehensive clinical assessment, the patient was assessed as having mental capacity and he left the unit before being reviewed again by the team.\" The fact Bartlomiej Kuczynski was voluntarily taken to A&E because of his mental health in December proves he did have prior contact with health services. Police took Bartlomiej Kuczynski to A&E after they sought telephone advice from a mental health team about his behaviour, I understand. The team told police to get him checked over, so officers took him to A&E and left him there. He had a clinical assessment - but that does not mean he had a thorough mental health assessment or a follow-up with a mental health professional. We don't know how long he waited in A&E but he left before this was carried out. Even though he was judged as having capacity, it's not known if concerns were raised by the mental health liaison team at the hospital when he left. Nor is it known if concerns had previously been raised by Mr Kuczynski's family regarding his state of mind, either to the police or mental health services. Norfolk Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) over the case. On Tuesday, the IOPC confirmed Mr Kuczynski called 999 shortly before 06:00 GMT from inside the house. He said he was confused and worried about his mental state. It is understood he was advised to seek medical advice and contact the NHS on 111. Police were not despatched until after they received a second 999 call at 07:00 GMT from a member of the public and forced their way into the house Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830 \u2022 None Police urged to shelve new 999 plan after deaths", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A man, his two children, and his sister-in-law were found dead in Costessey, near Norwich, with stab wounds. The man had been taken to the hospital by police for a mental health assessment a few weeks earlier but left before a thorough evaluation could be completed. The police have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the case, as concerns are raised about the handling of the situation." + }, + { + "article": "Hayley Martin thought she was dying when she had her heart attack Women who survive a heart attack caused by a condition called SCAD are usually told not to have children due to the risk of it happening again. Now the first babies are being born at the world's first clinic that helps heart attack survivors to have a baby. \"I woke up and I felt very, very poorly. I put my hands to my head and I was drenched in sweat. I knew straight away it was a heart attack,\" she told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. She was a healthy 38-year-old when she had a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD), a rare and often undiagnosed condition. It is the leading cause of heart attacks in women of childbearing age, affecting around 1,000 women a year. It occurs when there is a sudden tear in one of the coronary arteries, blocking the flow of blood to the heart. In hospital, Hayley, from Congleton in Cheshire, feared the worst. \"I can remember saying to them, 'am I dying?' And they just kept saying, 'we've tried everything we can, but nothing is working,'\" she said. She survived, but like many women with SCAD, was told pregnancy would mean the risk of another heart attack. \"I think it was another thing that was stolen from me, so I almost don't allow myself to think about it, because it could take you down a dark path of sadness,\" Hayley reflected. \"I felt less of a person, less of a woman, more of a failure, like I was faulty.\" Hayley is the kind of woman who consultant cardiologist Dr Abi Al-Hussaini is trying to help, with her clinic at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Dr Al-Hussaini aims to allow women to make an informed decision on whether to have a baby. Dr Al-Hussaini assesses the damage done to the heart by the SCAD and reviews the patient's medication, generally lowering the amount they are on. She uses that information to advise the patient how risky a pregnancy could be. This does mean sometimes she has to advise that the risk to health might be very high, but the key is the patient makes the decision, rather than the usual blanket advice not to get pregnant. If one of her patients decides to proceed, they are referred to the pre-existing \"high risk pregnancy team\" at the hospital, who monitor them throughout the pregnancy. \"I have seen a lot of patients over the last few years who have come to me unhappy that they have been told they cannot have a child ever again,\" she explained. \"That's one of the reasons I established the clinic, to give these patients the correct advice and allow them to make an informed decision themselves.\" She believes a lack of research into the condition is why most cardiologists prefer the blanket advice. One of the first women helped by the clinic was Julie Murphy, 40, from Ruislip. Julie Murphy and Holly play with baby Bella, who was born in April Shortly before her honeymoon in 2013, she started to feel unwell, like she had flu. While on holiday in Kenya, the symptoms got worse. Then, while swimming, she had a sharp pain in her chest. When she got home, she had tests on her heart and, \"the next day I found out I'd had a heart attack\". The days and weeks that followed were very tough. \"All the medication I was on really slowed me down so I couldn't even walk up the stairs when I came home from hospital. That was really difficult to get my head around,\" she says. Like Hayley, Julie was initially told she would not be able to have children. But she became part of a research project led by Dr Al-Hussaini and had her first daughter, Holly, in 2015. She then became one of the clinic's first patients when she became pregnant for a second time. \"I was worried that they would say there's no possibility or it would be too dangerous for us to try to have a baby, that it might mean that I'm putting my life at risk,\" she said. \"They're such an awesome team that you felt so looked after,\" Julie said. Despite the hope she is giving patients, Dr Al-Hussaini says she has encountered resistance from doctors around the world, in terms of what advice they give their patients. \"In America, they are against becoming pregnant any time after a heart attack, or having had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection,\" she said. \"But again, I think that's because there hasn't been a huge amount of research - but there is a growing amount of research at the moment that's been developed.\" Follow the Victoria Derbyshire programme on Facebook and Twitter - and see more of our stories here.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Hayley Martin, a survivor of a rare heart attack caused by SCAD, has become one of the first patients to benefit from the world's first clinic helping heart attack survivors conceive safely. The clinic, led by Dr. Abi Al-Hussaini at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, assesses the risks and supports women in making informed decisions about pregnancy, challenging the usual advice against having children due to the risk of recurrence." + }, + { + "article": "Highways England said it wanted to build the tunnel to reduce traffic and cut journey times on the A303 Campaigners have lost a High Court challenge against renewed plans to build a road tunnel near Stonehenge. Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) challenged plans for a tunnel on part of the A303 near the site. The High Court quashed the project in 2021 amid environmental concerns, but the Department for Transport (DfT) approved it again on 14 July last year. National Highways says the tunnel will remove the sight and sound of traffic passing the site and cut journey times. In December, campaigners brought a second bid to the High Court in London to challenge the decision to reapprove the plans, which will overhaul eight miles of the A303, including building the 2km tunnel. However, in a ruling on Monday, Mr Justice Holgate largely dismissed their claim, finding most parts of their case were \"unarguable\". SSWHS previously said the approved scheme would \"destroy\" around seven hectares of the world heritage site, and mark \"the first step\" towards being de-listed by Unesco. In his 50-page ruling, Mr Justice Holgate said ministers had \"rightly focused on the relevant policies\" and that the campaigners' evidence \"provides no basis for undermining that conclusion\". One part of the legal bid, over the DfT's approach to an environmental impact assessment, will be determined at a later date. During the hearing last year, David Wolfe KC, for SSWHS, said the Government gave \"unlawful consideration of alternatives\" to the project, and that campaigners believed National Highways had provided \"fundamentally flawed\" information over these that \"failed to acknowledge the heritage harm\". The information was also based on a \"flawed analysis of likely traffic figures for the A303,\" he added. However, James Strachan KC, for the DfT, said the government concluded the project was \"consistent with the UK's obligations\" under the world heritage convention and that it would work with advisory bodies to \"minimise harm\". The government has argued that the need for the scheme and its benefits \"outweighed the harms\", including the \"less than substantial harm to heritage assets\". The Planning Inspectorate said the decision was made following \"careful consideration\" National Highways has said its plan for the tunnel will remove the sight and sound of traffic passing the site and cut journey times. Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said the charity was pleased the court had upheld the Secretary of State's decision. \"We firmly believe that putting much of the busy, noisy and intrusive A303 road into a tunnel past Stonehenge is right for the World Heritage Site,\" he said. \"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore this internationally-important landscape, which has been of great importance to people for over 5,000 years.\" Then-transport secretary Grant Shapps first gave the green light to the project in November 2020, despite advice from Planning Inspectorate officials that it would cause \"permanent, irreversible harm\" to the area. The SSWHS alliance successfully challenged his decision in the High Court. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Campaigners against a Stonehenge tunnel have lost a High Court challenge against the renewed plans to build a road tunnel near the historic site. The judge largely dismissed their claim, stating that ministers had focused on relevant policies, but one aspect of the environmental impact assessment will be determined later. The tunnel, aimed at reducing traffic and journey times, has been defended by Historic England as a chance to restore the World Heritage Site." + }, + { + "article": "Prince Harry faced questions from the Mirror lawyers in court There is little doubt the High Court ruling that Prince Harry was a victim of phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers on multiple occasions has huge implications. The court has ruled that Prince Harry was hacked, as were his friends and associates. The case established that Mirror titles also used other unlawful methods to get information about him. It raises questions. Firstly, will any criminal proceedings follow from it? The Metropolitan Police has already said it will consider the judgment carefully. Clearly the burden of proof is higher in a criminal trial - but there is no doubt it is what Prince Harry wants. What - if anything - will lead from the ruling that phone hacking was going on, even during the Leveson Inquiry which investigated the scandal? A government-appointed inquiry that was told by many senior newspaper executives they had no knowledge of this illegal behaviour. Those executives include the former Mirror CEO Sly Bailey. On Friday the judge said she knew about what was happening. Another question brought up by the ruling - can we read anything from it about the actions and methods used by other newspaper groups? The prince is also pursuing News Group which owns the Sun and the defunct News of the World, as well as Associated Newspapers which owns the Daily Mail. These are different cases, with different evidence. The power and influence of tabloids has reduced in the age of the internet and social media But, as the judge put it, \"the duke has been one of the most important storylines in town for much of his life\". And clearly, that does not just apply to Mirror titles. The articles that broke the law date back to a time when newspapers were the gatekeepers of information and when millions read the tabloids. They were in a vicious battle for exclusives and stories about the royals sold. Certainly, at the time, Mirror Group's newspapers implicated in the judgment wanted scoops and were willing to break the law to get them. The media landscape is very different now, with newspaper groups buffeted by the headwinds of social media and the internet, as well as a fall in advertising - and crucially, readers. Circulations are a fraction of what they were. Which means the value of these newspapers has fallen dramatically too. In March 2005 for example, at their peak, shares in Reach PLC which owns the Daily and Sunday Mirror and the People were worth \u00a36.72. Earlier on Friday, they were valued at 71p. Interestingly, after the judgment the share price rose 4%, perhaps because the damages awarded to the prince were not as high as he had wanted. Or perhaps it was because the decision offered \"clarity\", as MGN put it. It is a sign of the difficulties facing the press. This judgment can only add to that existential crisis. Reach is valued at around \u00a3250m. It has already paid out around \u00a3100m in damages and legal costs over phone hacking. It must pay Prince Harry \u00a3140,600, and potentially more over other articles that have not yet been decided on. And there are around 80 other people waiting in the wings, with their own claims they want to pursue. During the trial, the Mirror barrister referred to the \"catastrophic effects\" of previous settlements. As recently as last month, Reach announced 450 job cuts, blamed on the economic environment. These are very difficult times. Prince Harry has long maintained that the newspapers have an agenda against him. Covering the trial, I often felt as if I was in a parallel universe. What I saw in court did not seem to equate with what I read about in the reporting by some papers about the trial. Some of this was trivial. Something the prince clearly said as a joke was described in the Mail as a grumble. It really wasn't. A polite ask to \"repeat the question\" was written up as a demand. He was described as a combustive mixture of \"victimhood and arrogance\". More damagingly perhaps, some headlines too appeared a little skewed. For example, that he had told the judge he \"is not aware of any evidence he was hacked by the Mirror\". Clearly, he and his legal team believed there was evidence, or they would not have brought this case. He has had the last laugh. This is the most comprehensive legal judgment about one media organisation's unlawful methods since the scandal of phone hacking first emerged. And as he put it, his \"mission\" continues.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Prince Harry has won a High Court case against Mirror Group Newspapers, which ruled that he was a victim of phone hacking on multiple occasions. The judgment raises questions about potential criminal proceedings, the actions of other newspaper groups, and the impact on the already struggling newspaper industry, with Reach PLC, which owns Mirror titles, facing significant damages and legal costs." + }, + { + "article": "Allan Marshall was 30 when he died in 2015 The decision to give immunity from prosecution to prison officers over one of Scotland's most high-profile deaths in custody was \"incorrect\", new documents seen by the BBC show. Allan Marshall died at HMP Edinburgh in March 2015 after being restrained, at different times, by 17 prison officers. BBC Disclosure has seen a Crown Office review which said the police did not carry out a proper investigation. If they had, one or more officers could have been prosecuted, it said. The Crown Office review, seen by BBC Scotland but not published, said the decision not to prosecute the prison officers, made just two months after Mr Marshall's death, was \"incorrect\". It said the Crown Office - Scotland's public prosecution service - should have instructed the police to carry out a more thorough investigation and should have obtained independent expert evidence. The Crown Office later decided to grant lifelong immunity from prosecution to the prison officers when they gave evidence at a fatal accident inquiry. The review said this decision was also \"incorrect\", especially as new evidence had emerged by then about the repeated use of feet during the restraint. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. CCTV shows Allan Marshall being restrained by guards at HMP Edinburgh Allan Marshall, from South Lanarkshire, was 30 when he died in 2015. He had been placed on remand for 30 days before his next court date on breach of the peace charges. He was transferred to the jail's segregation unit on 24 March after officers said he had become agitated. CCTV footage shows him being dragged into a corridor and restrained by prison officers. He died in hospital four days later. He had an underlying heart condition. The cause of death was brain injury due to cardiac arrest during physical restraint. Some 17 prison officers were involved at various points and some of them used their feet, which is not a technique that is taught for use when restraining inmates. According to the fatal accident inquiry, one officer said he used his feet 10 or more times and also stamped on Mr Marshall. He later admitted it was totally out of order. Allan Marshall was on remand at HMP Edinburgh over breach of the peace charges The Crown Office review of the case said if they had known about the \"repeated use of feet\" and evidence of experts like Trevel Henry, they would have made a different decision. Mr Henry is a restraint expert who has been an expert witness in more than 200 UK cases - including that of Mr Marshall. He told BBC Disclosure that normally a prison restraint should involve three officers not 17. He said: \"I was surprised when I saw feet being used. \"I can't think of any other situations where I've seen the feet being used, certainly like that. \"I felt there were lots of questions that needed to be addressed when I saw the CCTV footage.\" Asked if he believed the restraint was acceptable, he said \"Large parts weren't, no.\" Watch now: Prisons On The Brink is available here on BBC iplayer. Lucy Adams investigates the impact of overcrowding, drugs and suicides on inmates and staff, and asks whether our crumbling prison estate can cope much longer. Almost nine years on, BBC Disclosure has seen Crown Office documents detailing failings in how it handled the original investigation. We took the witness transcripts to Dr Bernadette McInerney, a forensic psychiatrist with two decades experience working with people in high security settings. She said there was no doubt Mr Marshall was behaving strangely in the days before the restraint and was psychotic. She said he \"needed to see a psychiatrist\". \"Restraining somebody is a risky thing to do in a person who is over-aroused for any reason be it drugs or psychosis or exhaustion,\" she said. \"They should have stopped it. It would have saved his life.\" One prisoner who witnessed the restraint wrote to BBC Disclosure in a letter. It said: \"Alan screamed repeatedly\u2026 high-pitched shrill, he must have been demented with pain. \"I witnessed the life drain from his eyes. The screws {prison officers} stood in a circle, they looked scared and worried, their jaws wide open. They knew what they had done.\" Sharon McFadyen feels the new police investigation has stalled Sharon McFadyen, Mr Marshall's aunt, has been campaigning on her nephew's case. A year ago the lord advocate apologised to her in person for the decision to grant immunity but she is still angry. \"They were all promised immunity, it's just unbelievable,\" she said. In March last year, police were told to investigate whether the Scottish Prison Service should be prosecuted for corporate homicide. Ms McFadyen feels the police investigation has stalled but said she would not give up until her last breath. \"I think what they're doing is, they're trying to take their time so we'll get fed up and go away,\" she said. \"But I'm not going to get fed up and go away until I get some justice for Allan.\" Dr Bernadette McInerney said Allan Marshall needed to see a psychiatrist Between 2014 and 2019 there were 135 deaths in custody but Allan Marshall's was the only one where a decision was made to give the officers immunity from criminal prosecution. Police Scotland has since apologised in person to Mr Marshall's relatives. A spokesperson said: \"We have received instruction from the lord advocate to investigate possible corporate responsibility by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). \"We are not able to comment further at this time due to the live nature of this investigation.\" Teresa Medhurst, the chief executive of the SPS, said: \"Any death in custody is one that is felt by everyone, but in particular by the family. \"And obviously our thoughts go out to Mr Marshall's and family. But currently this is a matter of a live investigation. So it would be inappropriate for me to make any comment at this time.\" The Crown Office told the BBC that some aspects of the initial casework fell short of what the family were entitled to expect. It said it had learned lessons from Mr Marshall's case and the way in which custody death investigations were handled had been \"reviewed and transformed\". It confirmed it had instructed Police Scotland to re-investigate and the family was being kept informed of its progress but said it was not able to comment on an ongoing investigation.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A Crown Office review has found that the decision not to prosecute prison officers over the death of Allan Marshall, who died in custody in 2015 after being restrained by 17 officers, was \"incorrect.\" The review also criticized the granting of lifelong immunity to the officers during a fatal accident inquiry, stating that a more thorough police investigation and independent expert evidence should have been sought. The case is now being reinvestigated by Police Scotland for possible corporate responsibility by the Scottish Prison Service." + }, + { + "article": "Kate Garraway thanked viewers for their \"incredible\" support as she made her return to hosting Good Morning Britain on Thursday. She came back to present the ITV breakfast show less than a week after the funeral of her husband Derek Draper. Garraway, 56, said it was \"lovely\" to be back but she felt a little \"wobbly\". She added: \"The make-up girls had me in tears this morning just by saying hello.\" Co-host Ben Shephard said he would give Garraway a bit of \"leeway\", before saying she did her husband proud with the \"extraordinary funeral\". Garraway made a brief appearance on GMB on Monday before returning to the presenter's seat. She said: \"Thank you to all of you at home as well. I know I mentioned it on Monday, but you have been incredible.\" \"It was really lovely as well to feel so much love from everybody here.\" Draper fell seriously ill during the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 and stayed in hospital for just over a year before being discharged to receive at-home care. He died on January 3 this year at the age of 56, after suffering long-lasting symptoms. Garraway took several breaks from presenting to care for Draper after he fell ill, most recently in December after he suffered a cardiac arrest. The couple had been married since 2005 and have two children His north London funeral was attended by former prime minister Sir Tony Blair, musician Sir Elton John and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Commenting on the funeral later on in the show, entertainment reporter Richard Arnold said it was an \"extraordinary send-off for such a wonderful man\", joking that whilst in attendance a whole tray of champagne was knocked over him. \"It was like a Greek wedding, wasn't it? Suddenly this clatter of the tray and the flutes of Champagne and everything... \"I was drenched and I had to wait a good half an hour before I left, and when I got back to look after my mum she went 'Have you had a drink?',\" he added, making Garraway and Shephard laugh. Arnold also said there was a \"gush of emotion\" when welcoming Garraway back, adding: \"It's lovely to have you home.\" Shephard also read out messages sent in by viewers, with one saying it was \"great to see Kate back with her sidekick Ben\". He also posted a selfie of himself and Garraway back together on social media, writing: \"Morning! Lovely to have Kate back with us - thank you for all the messages we've had already. \"You'll be pleased to know I'm already tidying up after her, so things are getting back to normal.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Kate Garraway returned to host Good Morning Britain, expressing gratitude for viewers' support following her husband Derek Draper's funeral. She described feeling \"wobbly\" but appreciative of the love from the show's team and at-home viewers. Draper, who fell seriously ill with COVID-19 in 2020, passed away in January, and his funeral was attended by notable figures including Sir Tony Blair, Sir Elton John, and Sir Keir Starmer." + }, + { + "article": "Rebecca Rigby, the widow of murdered Fusilier Lee Rigby, is one of the letter's signatories More than 50 victims of Islamist-inspired terror attacks have signed a joint letter against what they describe as anti-Muslim hate. They warn it is \"irresponsible\" for some politicians to equate extremists with \"the vast majority of British Muslims who deplore such violence\". Survivors and relatives of those killed during attacks in London, Manchester and Brussels are among the signatories. It comes as the government prepares to set out a new definition of extremism. The letter says \"Islamist-inspired extremism is the country's most pressing terror threat, but not the only one\". \"To defeat this threat, the single most important thing we can do is to isolate the extremists and the terrorists from the vast majority of British Muslims who deplore such violence,\" it reads. However the signatories say in recent weeks there have been \"too many cases where politicians and others have failed to do this\" adding those intervening have, in some cases, equated \"being Muslim with being an extremist.\" Their letter warns that responding to the Islamist threat by \"feeding far-right extremism, dividing communities and exaggerating the risk will feed a cycle of extremism that will put more people at risk\". The 57 signatories to the letter include Magen Inon, whose parents were killed by Hamas during the 7 October attacks on Israel. Other people who signed the letter include Rebecca Rigby, whose husband Lee was killed by two men with extremist views outside Woolwich barracks in 2013, and Figen and Stuart Murray whose son Martyn was killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack. Claudia Vince, who survived the 2019 London Bridge attack, and Charlotte Dixon-Sutcliffe, whose partner David was killed in the Brussels Metro bombing in 2016, have also added their names. \"We also know where anti-Muslim hate can lead,\" the letter continues. It notes the upcoming fifth anniversary of shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 in which 51 worshippers were killed. Darryn Frost, who used a narwhal tusk to disrupt an attack on London Bridge in 2019, told the BBC's Broadcasting House that he and the other signatories of the letter lived with the lasting impact of terrorism incidents. \"It is not something we take likely, it is not something that we as a group look lightly upon when we see leaders being so flippant with these things and using them as political tools to win votes - its cheap, its nasty and its dangerous.\" Meanwhile, Communities Secretary Michael Gove plans to set out a new official definition of extremism that will be used by the government to cut ties or funding to any groups deemed to have crossed the line. The new definition will replace one in the existing Prevent counter-radicalisation programme, giving \"more specificity\", and will enable the government and other public bodies to ban funding and engagement with Islamist and far-right groups, he said. Currently the government defines extremism as \"vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs\". Mr Gove is also calling for pro-Palestinian protesters not to march alongside extremists who he says are trying to \"subvert democracy\". In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he warns that some pro-Palestinian events \"have been organised by extremist organisations\". \"That doesn't mean that people who have gone on them are extremist, quite the opposite. \"But it means that you can begin to question: do you really want to be lending credence to this organisation? If you do, fair enough. But now there is no excuse for ignorance,\" he says. Former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that he agreed with the suggestion that parts of London had become \"no-go areas\" for Jewish people whilst pro-Palestinian marches are taking place. Lord Howard, who is himself Jewish, said the right to protest was \"undoubtedly a fundamental part of a free society and we must maintain the right to protest\". \"But it's also unacceptable that sections of our community think that our streets are no-go areas for them - how you strike that balance, how you try and reconcile those two sometimes conflicting rights, is a really, really difficult challenge and I don't think we've quite got it right at the moment.\" Earlier this week, the government's counter-extremism commissioner, Robin Simcox, urged ministers to \"be willing to accept higher legal risk\" when tackling extremism. Rishi Sunak's spokesman said the PM took concerns of extremism \"extremely seriously\" and noted a rise in both antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred. Mr Simcox said the creation of a new definition of extremism had a \"clear purpose\" and would be used \"to guide future decisions over who the government does and does not engage with and fund\". The issue of extremism has risen on the political agenda in the aftermath of claims by Lee Anderson, a former Tory deputy chairman, that the mayor of London Sadiq Khan was controlled by \"Islamists\". Mr Sunak said the comments were \"wrong\", suspended him from the party and gave a speech in which he warned of forces \"trying to tear the country apart\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Over 50 victims of Islamist-inspired terror attacks, including the widow of Lee Rigby, have signed a letter against anti-Muslim hate, warning that equating extremists with the majority of British Muslims is irresponsible and risks fueling extremism. The signatories, which include survivors and relatives of attacks in London, Manchester, and Brussels, urge isolating extremists and emphasize the importance of not dividing communities in the fight against terrorism. The letter comes as the UK government prepares to set out a new definition of extremism." + }, + { + "article": "Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has been involved in talks with the government on post-Brexit trade Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) officers did not hold a vote or make a decision on whether or not to return to power-sharing at Stormont when they met earlier. The DUP is the second largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly but it has been blocking a functioning assembly and executive since February 2022. It is facing pressure to say if it will back a new deal to end the impasse. But for now the deadlock continues. Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is a member of the party officer board, along with 11 others whose support is critical if the party's Stormont boycott is to end. The DUP said on Friday evening it understood there was \"considerable interest\" in the meeting, but it would \"not give a running commentary on our position, save to say, we will continue to engage with the government\". Even if a decision had been taken, Sir Jeffrey had given a guarantee to his party executive - which is made up of more than 100 members - that they will be able to discuss any decision made by DUP officers. It is not clear how quickly the party could get an executive meeting in place. Northern Ireland's government collapsed after the DUP withdrew in protest against post-Brexit trade checks between the region and Great Britain. The UK agreed a new deal with the European Union called the Windsor Framework aimed at addressing issues with the previous deal, the Northern Ireland Protocol. But the DUP said this did not go far enough and the party has been in talks with the government seeking further changes. The former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service has said it is a \"pivotal moment\" for Northern Ireland, adding that he hopes the DUP will return to power-sharing. In a rare intervention, Sir David Sterling, who held the role from 2017 until 2020, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday that if the institutions did not return, it would be \"unionists who come to regret it the most\". He told BBC News NI he had been captured by recent pessimism but hoped that would change. \"I don't usually want to get involved in politics but as somebody from the unionist community, I just feel if you want the union to succeed this place needs to work and the assembly and executive will make this place work,\" he said. \"If they're seen not to, that calls into question future of the union.\" It became pretty clear as the day wore on that there wasn't going to be a decision today. As it turned out there wasn't a vote, nor was there a decision taken. So nothing really has changed this evening, albeit we do know Sir Jeffrey Donaldson took more time to go through the deal with the party officers. We understand Sir Jeffrey has a majority of officers in his corner so to speak, so that when he does present this deal at whatever stage in the future, he will have a majority of support on the officer team. I think the key for him is going to be the margin of support that he has. He wants to be in a position where, when he goes to sell a deal, he has everybody lined up behind him. He can't really afford some big hitters in the party pulling in a very different direction. The DUP's meeting came after a day of mass industrial action from public sector workers across Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland ground to a halt as workers from 16 unions took to the picket line. On Wednesday, the assembly was recalled in a seventh attempt to restore devolved government since elections were last held in May 2022. But the DUP again vetoed the election of an assembly Speaker, meaning no other business could take place. On Friday, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said he hoped the DUP meeting was a \"positive sign\" that devolution could return. \"Our role as the Irish government will be to do everything we can to make sure that is sustainable, that it's successful,\" he said. \"There are some very serious issues that need to be dealt with in Northern Ireland from public sector pay to the health service to other important issues.\" If an executive is not re-established, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is to be involved for a second consecutive year in setting Stormont's budget. In 2023, he set a budget for Stormont in the absence of local ministers, leaving unelected civil servants with the task of making substantial cuts. Mr Heaton-Harris also offered a \u00a33.3bn financial package for Northern Ireland including funds to settle public sector pay claims - but it is contingent on the Stormont institutions being restored. In a statement released after the day of action, Mr Heaton-Harris said he would act to protect public services and he expected to set out his next steps in parliament next week. Speaking before the DUP officers would met on Friday, Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said unionism had \"to do things better\" if Stormont returned. He said there could be a split in the DUP the party opted to go back into the executive and believed Sir Jeffrey would be in \"a lonely place\" as leader. \"I wouldn't want to be in his place right now, but I generally hope that they make the right call,\" he said. Alliance Party deputy leader Stephen Farry said he was cautious and it was disappointing the meeting was being held after Thursday's strike. \"We have been down this road many times with previous false dawns,\" he said. \"We shall see if anything does emerge.\" Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said it was a \"defining moment for unionism\" and warned if the post-Brexit rules remained the same then \"a false bill of goods was sold to the unionist people\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson held talks with the government on post-Brexit trade, but the party did not make a decision on ending its boycott of power-sharing in Northern Ireland's Stormont. The DUP is awaiting further changes to the Windsor Framework deal, and Sir Jeffrey needs the support of party officers, with a majority already backing him, before any decision is made. The ongoing impasse has led to concerns about the future of Northern Ireland's government and the potential impact on the union." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Premier League Arsenal cruised to a seventh successive Premier League win as they put six past a dreadful Sheffield United side at Bramall Lane. The Gunners were 3-0 up inside 13 minutes and led 5-0 at half-time against the league's bottom side. Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Ben White scored - with an own goal from Jayden Bogle - for Mikel Arteta's team. The win ensures Arsenal move two points behind leaders Liverpool. It keeps the Gunners in the thick of the title race, while in contrast Sheffield United are 11 points from safety with just 11 games remaining. Arsenal scored after five minutes, with the only surprise being that it took them so long. They carved United open down the left, before the ball was cut back for Odegaard - unmarked 10 yards out - to slot home. The lead was doubled in the 13th minute - Bukayo Saka's low cross was deflected into his own net by Bogle, who got his legs in a tangle with the ball deflecting off his ankle - and was quickly extended when Martinelli fired in via a deflection after Jakob Kiwior's cut back. As fans once again streamed out of Bramall Lane during the first half, Havertz made it 4-0 by tucking into the bottom corner following a Martinelli through ball. Arsenal cut through United at will, and another slick move of short passes on 39 minutes ended in Rice finishing low past the beleaguered home keeper Ivo Grbic. The visitors did not ease up after the break, as another well-worked move ended in right-back White firing powerfully past Grbic with his left foot. The Gunners have become the first English league side to win three consecutive away games by a margin of five or more goals, while United - seemingly doomed to relegation - are the first English league side to lose four consecutive home games in all competitions while conceding five or more goals. After Liverpool's last-gasp win at Nottingham Forest on Saturday and Manchester City's derby victory on Sunday, Arsenal needed to respond here to keep up with the title pace. They certainly did by taking no pity on limited and passive opponents, demolishing them with ruthless efficiency. The tone was set inside the opening two minutes when Arsenal hit the bar and had a shot cleared off the line inside. Saka - whose mauling of Auston Trusty down the left for the opening 15 minutes will long haunt the American - cut in from the right, got the ball back via a deflection and cracked a shot off the woodwork, before Martinelli's follow-up was deflected away. Arsenal then had the ball in the net a few minutes later, and were away. By 22 minutes, they had reached the 10-shot mark. In the first half, they had 80% possession. While Sheffield United's lack of quality will be rightly noted, Arsenal's attack is firing on double cylinders in 2024. They have scored 31 goals in just seven Premier League games this calendar year, winning them all. The one downside for Arsenal was Martinelli having to be helped from the pitch in the second half with an injury to his right leg. In an attempt to get some kind of coherent tune from his beleaguered side, Blades manager Chris Wilder lined up with an unfamiliar back four here, including former Arsenal defender Trusty at left back. After the third goal, Wilder was hurredly reverting to a back five with the unfortunate Ollie Norwood yanked off, but it had the feeling of rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic - too little, too late. What will be more worrying for Wilder and United is the response of fans. While many were streaming out of Bramall Lane inside the opening quarter-hour, those who remained could barely be roused to boo their team. There is a feeling of resignation in the stands, while the anger seems to be more present on the pitch. In the build up to the fourth goal, Blades captain Anel Ahmedhodzic brutally threw Martinelli to the floor as the Brazilian played a through ball for the German. Advantage was played and Havertz scored. It was a dreadful piece of play from Ahmedhodzic, and indicates where his team's heads are right now. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Jayden Bogle (Sheffield United) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Oliver Arblaster. \u2022 None Attempt saved. Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Kai Havertz. \u2022 None Attempt missed. William Osula (Sheffield United) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right following a fast break. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Jakub Kiwior (Arsenal) with an attempt from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Martin \u00d8degaard with a cross following a corner. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Arsenal secured a 6-0 victory over Sheffield United in the Premier League, extending their winning streak to seven games and moving two points behind leaders Liverpool. The Gunners dominated from the start, scoring three goals in the first 13 minutes and five by halftime, with goals from Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Declan Rice, Ben White, and an own goal from Jayden Bogle. Sheffield United, at the bottom of the league, remain 11 points from safety with 11 games left." + }, + { + "article": "Kaylin Gillis was in the car with three friends when she was killed A householder has been convicted of murder for shooting a 20-year-old woman as the car she was in took a wrong turn up his driveway in rural New York. Kaylin Gillis was shot in the neck by Kevin Monahan, 66, on 15 April 2023. Monahan's lawyers had argued the fatal shot was fired accidentally by a defective shotgun after he tripped on a nail on his porch and dropped it. He was found guilty of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment and tampering with physical evidence. Monahan could face life in prison when he is sentenced on 1 March. The jury in Washington County, New York, took less than two hours to reach its decision on Tuesday. Friends and family members of Ms Gillis cried and hugged in court as the verdict was delivered. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ms Gillis was in one of a group of three vehicles that drove down Monahan's long, curving driveway on a Saturday night in the small town of Hebron, about 55 miles (88km) north-east of Albany. The friends were in an area without mobile phone service and trying to find a party at a different address. They had realised their mistake and were already turning back when Monahan emerged and fired twice from his 20-gauge shotgun. He testified last week that he felt his life was threatened and that he fired a warning shot from his weapon. But he said the second shot, which killed Ms Gillis as she rode in the passenger seat of an SUV driven by her boyfriend, was a misfire that came after he dropped the gun on his porch. \"I didn't mean to shoot the second shot,\" Monahan testified according to the Greenwich Time newspaper. \"The gun went off.\" During closing arguments on Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Christian Morris told jurors that Monahan had \"acted out of anger\". \"He grabbed his shotgun and intended to make them leave as fast as possible and he didn't care if they were hurt or killed.\" Local police had previously said that he had \"not shown any remorse\" for the killing. The victim's family said in a previous statement that she had been looking forward to starting college in Florida so she could become a marine biologist. In a separate case that took place just days after Ms Gillis' death, a householder in the US state of Missouri was charged with shooting 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, who rang the wrong doorbell while picking up his younger brothers.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A 66-year-old man, Kevin Monahan, has been convicted of second-degree murder for shooting and killing 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis in rural New York after her car mistakenly drove up his driveway. Monahan claimed the shooting was accidental due to a defective shotgun, but the jury found him guilty, potentially facing life in prison when sentenced on March 1." + }, + { + "article": "Model Alexsandrah (left) says her AI twin (right) can do jobs that she can't get to Alexsandrah never really wanted to be a model. First scouted when she was 13, and then again as a young adult, she turned down those initial two opportunities. But then she finally decided to give it a go. \"What have you got to lose? Just see how it goes,\" she told herself. Now full time in the industry, the London-based model is taking another chance in her career, by creating a virtual, AI-generated version of herself. She hopes it will secure her future in modelling. \"Having an AI version of you kind of keeps you safe,\" she explains. \"I will benefit from it because it's literally an AI version of me, I'm not cut out from anything. All the proceeds, if any proceeds are made, will be coming to me. \"You don't have to travel, you don't have to do the airport runs, you don't have to do anything. It gives people an opportunity to also just live their lives and do other things, and be in two places at the same time,\" she adds. Alexsandrah says she is one of the first to market a virtual version of herself to clients, in an industry that has become one of the latest to keep a watchful, over-the-shoulder eye at the growth of AI. Nearly three quarters of the fashion executives in a survey published by management consultancy McKinsey in November last year, said AI was a priority for their companies in 2024. More than a quarter said they already used it in creative design and development. Behind Alexsandrah's virtual twin is Cameron Wilson, founder and chief executive of AI and 3D modelling agency The Diigitals. The company found its first taste of global success with the 2017 launch of Shudu, marketed as the world's first digital supermodel. Now counting 250,000 people among her Instagram followers, Shudu - a virtual influencer - has fronted campaigns for Balenciaga, Lexus and Balmain, but not without criticism. Shudu, the world's first \"digital supermodel\" was created by Cameron Wilson \"At the time that I created Shudu, it created a huge amount of comment about how a white person could create a black virtual character,\" Cameron explains. \"So when that happened, it really made me think about creating these characters in ethical ways, and the implications of it in the future.\" The online backlash has shaped his latest work with Alexsandrah, who is paid to have her image used in any campaigns or photoshoots her AI twin appears in. \"We're trying to show, businesses, brands, magazines that they can still use AI and real models together, to encourage the fair use of AI rather than the doom and gloom of jobs being taken away,\" he says. The protection of jobs is something groups representing those in the industry - models, makeup artists and hairstylists - want to see too. Equity, which represents fashion models in the UK, tells the BBC it is lobbying the UK government bring in laws to strengthen the rights of performers. \"We encourage our members not to sign away their rights, and ensure that their image is only used based on fair pay and fair conditions of usage,\" says a spokesperson for the group.. Meanwhile, the British Fashion Model Agents Association urges caution against the growth of AI. \"We are not burying our heads in the sand, AI is coming and the industry needs to be prepared and to adapt its business model to reflect this,\" says its director John Horner. The perceived threat of AI to the fashion industry came to a head last year after fashion brand Levi's announced it would be using AI to generate models of more diverse body types and skin tones to increase representation of its product models. Anger from within the modelling world followed, with accusations of laziness levelled at the brand, and some online describing the technology as \"perpetuating racism\". Levi's backtracked and said it was \"committed to using AI technologies equitably and transparently\". Josephine Markham Webster, the boss of Mentor Models agency in Sheffield, was of those to voice anger at the time, and thinks AI generated models are a step backward for the industry. \"All this work has been done over the last few years with diversity, with representing women and men of different body shapes, different sizes, different looks,\" she says. \"AI versions of models are taking away from that. It's a backwards move. \"It's going back to using the ideal standard of a model. It's not a real dress size. It's not real skin. It's not real beauty. And I think it's going to be damaging to the people who are modelling.\" But there's no denying that demand for virtual models and influencers is growing. In October last year, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta announced its latest attempt to merge the real and virtual worlds by introducing of a team of AI chatbots - modelled on celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Kendall Jenner and Bear Grylls. Some reports suggest the celebrities are being paid as much as $5m (\u00a33.96m) for their likeness. Kami is the world's first virtual influencer with Down's Syndrome \"Brands are really looking for characters that can can exist on social media and really engage their audience, often to bring awareness to certain things,\" says Mr Wilson. One of his latest clients was the charity Down's Syndrome International. \"We worked with them to create the world's first virtual influencer with Down's Syndrome; Kami. Along with over 100 different women from the Down's Syndrome community,\" he explains. \"When we try to create characters we're looking at it from an ethical perspective. How do we bring awareness to the space? How do we impact this space for the better?\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Model Alexsandrah has created an AI-generated version of herself to secure her future in the modeling industry, allowing her to benefit from virtual campaigns without the need for travel or physical presence. The use of AI models is on the rise, with companies like The Diigitals behind virtual influencers like Shudu, but the fashion industry faces criticism and calls for ethical considerations, as well as concerns about job displacement." + }, + { + "article": "Henry Staunton had been the Post Office chairman since December 2022 The Post Office chairman has stepped down amid ongoing tensions around the Horizon IT scandal that saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted. The organisation said Henry Staunton had been asked to leave the post by Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch. She said the company was \"rightfully\" under heightened scrutiny as the public outcry over the scandal continues. \"I felt there was a need for new leadership, and we have parted ways with mutual consent,\" she said. However, appearing on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Badenoch acknowledged she decided Mr Staunton needed to go after looking into Post Office governance. An interim chair is expected to be appointed shortly. Mr Staunton had been in the position at the state-owned company since December 2022. As part of the role, advertised with a salary of up to \u00a3150,000, he had been tasked with leading the board of directors and working to right the wrongs of the Horizon dispute. Before that, he had worked on the board of companies ranging from ITV to WH Smith. A Post Office spokesperson said: \"On Saturday afternoon, the Post Office was informed that the business and trade secretary had asked Henry Staunton to stand down as chairman of the Post Office. \"We have been advised by the government that they will appoint an interim chairman shortly.\" The government said a recruitment process would be launched in due course. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: What was Post Office sacking about? - Badenoch asked Ms Badenoch told the BBC she had been looking at the governance around the Post Office and that informed her decision that a new chairman was needed. \"It just wasn't working,\" she said. \"It is very difficult to be asked to stand down from a position,\" she continued. \"But I decided - given all of the difficulties the Post Office is having, it's not just about Horizon, it's about the entire business model, how we make it work - that we needed someone who could chair a board that was able to deal with these things effectively.\" Appearing on Sky earlier, Ms Badenoch did not rule out further personnel changes at the organisation. It comes as the Post Office is reeling from the fallout from the Horizon scandal, which has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history. More than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty accounting software Horizon made it look as though money was missing from their shops. Many of those affected were financially ruined. The issue recently came to wider public attention after it was depicted in an ITV drama. and public anger led to the former Post Office boss Paula Vennells handing back her CBE. Senior figures from the Post Office and the technology firm Fujitsu, which developed the Horizon software, are currently facing questions at a public inquiry over what happened. The Conservative peer James Arbuthnot, who has campaigned on behalf of sub-post masters, told the BBC he was surprised that Mr Staunton had left the role. He said the departure was an opportunity to change the culture and governance of the organisation. Some of his fellow campaigners have accused the Post Office leadership of being too slow to deliver compensation, and too quick to hand out bonuses to senior managers. Their hope is that the appointment of a new chairman will signal the start of more wide-ranging changes.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Post Office chairman, Henry Staunton, has resigned following tensions related to the Horizon IT scandal, in which hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly convicted. Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch sought new leadership, acknowledging the need for change as the organization faces public scrutiny. An interim chair is set to be appointed soon." + }, + { + "article": "Clare Duffy was surprised at the response she got when investigating incel culture When writer and theatre director Clare Duffy started to explore the world of incels, she had no idea what she was letting herself in for. Within days she was pulled into the dark side of an anti-female culture. Incel is short for \"involuntary celibate\", a member of a misogynistic culture which has amassed a following online. It has hit headlines due to the arrest of online personality and self-declared misogynist Andrew Tate. But ideologies based on distrust and hatred towards women have been gaining space in the mainstream over the past decade through online channels, especially social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok. The controversial online influencer is detained in Romania as part of an investigation into allegations of human trafficking and rape - which he denies To find out more, Clare set up an internet identity as a 23-year-old man called Clive and posed the question - how do I get a girlfriend? Within an hour she'd received a barrage of messages. \"They started off quite benign,\" she says. \"Like you need to have a shower, eat right, take exercise. Then it becomes you need to be brave, to be strong, to be powerful, you need to take control of the space and the situation, and gradually the messages become more and more about power and dominance.\" A few days later, she found the messages had become even darker. They referred to \"pills\" which are used in incel ideology to denote progress in radicalisation. The concept was first used in the film The Matrix in which Neo, played by Keanu Reeves is offered a choice between a red pill which allows him to question his surroundings, or a blue pill which allows him to continue in a simulated world. Incel culture also refers to a \"black pill\" which is much more nihilistic. Men believe that women and society are biased against them and there is no hope of them ever finding love or acceptance. \"Those messages were basically about accepting that you'll never get a girlfriend, and you may as well lay down and rot - LDAR,\" she said. \"You start to understand the reasoning behind incel violence. It's very rare but that journey from a bit of sexism that is so common it won't be called out, to real hatred to real self hatred is one we wanted to explore.\" Clare then went on to explore the responses \"Clive\" received in two workshops with teenagers, aged between 15 and 18. The workshops were split into teen boys and teen girls. She said the teens told of pornography being used secretly in the classroom, and \"not being able to get away from these constant messages of how to be a man, how to be a woman Clare continued: \"The young women were really aware of a lot of misogyny that was online which was slipping into their real world. \"For the young men, it was all about football. They get their cues for what it means to be a man from the football players they watch.\" Clare Duffy has created a theatre experience based around two \"footballers\" and set in Tynecastle Stadium The company were wary about allowing the young people to be interviewed but they gathered some statements. \"It was eye-opening to learn what [incels] are and what they do. I think if people knew more they could stop people going down that rabbit hole,\" said one of the young women. \"I knew quite a bit but only on surface level. I think it's really prevalent because it's online and not really regulated,\" said another. One 15-year-old boy said: \"I now understand the severity and how it can be taken to extremes. It's an important project because I don't think we know that much about it.\" Clare's company Civic Digits approached Hearts Football Club about staging their show Many Good Men inside Tynecastle Stadium. \"It's a really important issue, and a scary one and important for us with the safeguarding obligations we have with the young men in our football academy, for them to understand some of the risks and dangers they have in this space.\" says Hearts CEO Andrew McKinley. And he believes it can have positive benefits for the club, and the male-dominated world of football. \"We are seeing a change in the demographic and the upsurge in our women's team. There's no doubt on match day it's still male dominated so it would be great to see some younger girls. We want everyone to feel welcome and to feel like it's a safe space for them.\" The show, which begins its second run this week, invites an audience to take part in an immersive and interactive performance around Tynecastle Stadium, where they are instrumental in the outcome. Each show starts with the same premise - there's been an incel shooting in Edinburgh and two footballers are trying to find out more about the culture around it. Many Good Men will run two different productions - one all-male and one all-female The performances are free to locals, schools and youth groups, but the project doesn't stop there. The workshops with young people will be used for research on online incel culture in Scotland. Clare hopes the project it can tour around Scotland, and further afield. \"The performance is just one stage,\" she said. \"We hope the research will have an impact for policy makers and we've already agreed to take it further afield to Romania.\" \"This show is a way of experiencing the internet together. We usually experience it on our own. We all react differently to content and by coming together collectively, we can have that conversation.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Writer and theater director Clare Duffy investigated incel culture online, posing as a 23-year-old man and receiving messages promoting a journey from sexism to self-hatred. Duffy's immersive theater experience, \"Many Good Men,\" staged at Tynecastle Stadium, aims to raise awareness about incel culture and its potential dangers, particularly among young people, with workshops and performances highlighting the impact of online misogyny on both boys and girls." + }, + { + "article": "Kate Garraway, Derek Draper's wife, arrived at the church with her children Kate Garraway has been joined by family, friends and stars including Sir Elton John at the funeral of her husband Derek Draper. Sir Tony Blair and Sir Keir Starmer were also in attendance at the private service in London. Draper had been living with extreme complications from Covid since contracting the disease in March 2020. The author and former political adviser suffered a cardiac arrest in December and died in early January. At the time, Garraway wrote about her \"darling husband Derek\" in a statement posted on Instagram. In April last year, Sir Elton dedicated his song, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, to Garraway and Draper, who managed to attend his show at the O2 Arena in London. Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish were among those paying their last respects Draper and Garraway married in 2005 and they had two children together. Garraway, who presents Good Morning Britain (GMB), greeted guests ahead of Draper being laid to rest. They included her fellow GMB hosts, Ben Shephard, Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid. Former GMB presenter Piers Morgan was also in attendance. Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair attended the ceremony with his wife Cherie Blair Broadcaster Richard Madeley and musician and broadcaster Myleene Klass also came to pay their last respects. Klass has previously stepped in to host Garraway's Smooth Radio show. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Alastair Campbell, former Labour spin doctor, were also seen arriving at the church in North London. They were joined by former Labour MPs Lord Peter Mandelson and Tristram Hunt, who is now director of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was also in attendance Other political figures, including former shadow chancellor Ed Balls and the shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband, were also at the ceremony. Draper, who was from Chorley in Lancashire, was a Labour Party lobbyist for almost a decade. He left politics in 1998 after being involved in the \"Lobbygate\" scandal in which he was caught on record boasting of his ability to sell access to government ministers. He retrained as a psychotherapist and wrote regularly in magazines and newspapers on psychotherapy issues. He is the author of two books, Blair's 100 Days and Life Support. In 2009 he founded the LabourList website, a news website supportive, but independent of, the Labour Party. After Draper died, Sir Tony was among those paying tribute to him, describing him as a \"good colleague and great friend\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Kate Garraway's husband Derek Draper, who battled severe complications from Covid-19, was mourned at a private funeral in London attended by family, friends, and notable figures including Sir Elton John, Sir Tony Blair, and Sir Keir Starmer. Garraway, a presenter on Good Morning Britain, was joined by her children and colleagues from the show, as well as other public figures, to say goodbye to Draper, with whom she had been married since 2005." + }, + { + "article": "Swift's prize for Midnights was her 13th Grammy award Taylor Swift has announced the arrival of her 11th studio album live on stage at the Grammy Awards. The singer was collecting the prize for best pop vocal album, for Midnights, when she dropped the news. \"I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret I've been keeping from you for the last two years,\" she said. \"Which is that my brand new album comes out April 19. It's called The Tortured Poets Department.\" The star then went backstage and posted the cover art to her social media accounts. \"All's fair in love and poetry,\" she wrote in the caption, signing herself the \"Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department\". According to a listing her official website, the album will contain 16 tracks, with some editions containing a bonus song called The Manuscript. No other song titles have been revealed. This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by taylorswift This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta\u2019s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The record follows the hugely successful Midnights, which sold 1.6 million copies in its first week in the US two years ago. That record, which featured the singles Anti-Hero, Bejeweled and Karma, went on to win album of the year at the end of the Grammys ceremony - making Swift the first person to win the award four times. She previously won in 2010 for Fearless, in 2016 for her pop crossover album 1989, and in 2021 for the lockdown-era project Folklore. The arrival of a new album sent shockwaves through her fan community as it means there will be new material to add to the star's blockbuster Eras tour, which hits Europe this summer. The concerts, which see Swift revisit each of her previous 10 albums, already run for over three hours. Meanwhile, eagle-eyed fans have already spotted that Swift's newest album has a link to her former boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. In 2022, the English actor told Variety magazine he was part of a WhatsApp group called \"The Tortured Man Club\", along with fellow actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott. \"It hasn't had much use recently,\" Alwyn told the magazine, \"I feel like we're less tortured now,\" Mescal added. The interview took place in December 2022 - around the same time that US media outlets reported that Swift and Alwyn had broken up. Mescal was confirmed to have separated from his partner, the musician Phoebe Bridgers, shortly afterwards.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Taylor Swift announced her 11th studio album, \"The Tortured Poets Department,\" set to release on April 19, during her Grammy Awards acceptance speech for best pop vocal album for \"Midnights.\" The album will have 16 tracks, with some editions including a bonus song called \"The Manuscript,\" and follows the success of \"Midnights\" and her record-breaking four album of the year wins at the Grammys." + }, + { + "article": "Mr Trump's lawyers say they have approached dozens of bond companies but cannot secure one Donald Trump cannot find a private company to guarantee the $464m (\u00a3365m) he has been ordered to pay in a New York civil fraud case. The former president must either pay the full amount in cash or secure a bond to avoid having assets seized. If he is unable to do so by 25 March, he faces the prospect of some of his real estate assets being seized by the state's attorney general. Mr Trump said that securing a bond of that size was \"practically impossible\". For a fee, a bonding company would guarantee the full amount to the New York court. They would then have to pay it if Mr Trump loses his appeal and cannot do so himself. In his statement, Mr Trump said that the bond he was asked to pay would be \"impossible for any company, including one as successful as mine\". \"The bonding companies have never heard of such a bond, of this size, before,\" he said. Mr Trump's team spent \"countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world\", his lawyers wrote in a court filing. But they concluded that \"very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude\". The lawyers said they had approached 30 companies without success. To secure a bond, an individual has to demonstrate to the company providing the guarantee that they have enough liquidity - usually in the form of cash plus things like stocks or securities which can be sold quickly - to cover the amount. Mr Trump's two eldest sons must also pay millions of dollars in the case. Along with ordering Mr Trump to pay the penalty, New York Judge Arthur Engoron banned him from running any businesses in the state for three years after he found the former president falsely inflated assets to secure better loan deals. A judge paused Mr Trump's business ban last month, but denied his bid to provide a smaller bond amount, $100m, to cover the fine. In the latest filing, the former president's lawyers included an affidavit from a president of a private insurance firm, who said that \"simply put, a bond of this size is rarely, if ever, seen\". \"In the unusual circumstance that a bond of this size is issued, it is provided to the largest public companies in the world, not to individuals or privately held businesses,\" the lawyers also said. Mr Trump's unprecedented legal situation makes it difficult to predict next steps, said former federal prosecutor Diana Florence, who also said that penalties on this scale are usually levied against large companies. The beachfront resort of Mar-a-Lago is a national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida His legal team has been playing a delaying game as he appeals the verdict, she said, but now \"he might be out of rope\". \"He's facing the very real possibility that the AG [attorney general] will begin to liquidate [his assets], and he's really dependent on whether a court is willing to give him more time,\" Ms Florence said. New York's attorney general gave a 30-day grace period from the ruling to give Mr Trump time to find the money. That expires next Tuesday. Interest on the penalty is accruing by at least $112,000 per day until he pays. Mr Trump's lawyers said bond companies would not accept \"hard assets such as real estate as collateral\" for the bond, but only cash or \"cash equivalents\", such as investments that can be quickly liquidated. According to a Forbes estimate, Mr Trump is worth about $2.6bn. He testified last year that he had $400m in liquid assets. The $464m judgement is not his only expense. He was ordered to pay $83m in January after losing a defamation case to E Jean Carroll, a woman he was found to have sexually abused. He has already posted a bond in that case. Mr Trump had another legal setback on Monday in one of four criminal cases he faces. A New York judge denied the former president's bid to block two key witness testimonies in the case where he is accused of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment. Judge Juan Merchan said Michael Cohen, Mr Trump's former lawyer, and Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, may give evidence in the trial, which could begin as soon as April.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Former US President Donald Trump is struggling to find a bonding company to guarantee the $464m he has been ordered to pay in a New York civil fraud case, with his lawyers claiming it's \"practically impossible\" to secure such a bond. If Trump fails to pay the amount in cash or obtain the bond by March 25, his assets could be seized by the state's attorney general." + }, + { + "article": "Mr Fox said he hopes to appeal his counter-claim Laurence Fox has lost a High Court libel case with two people he called paedophiles on social media. The actor-turned-politician was sued by former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal. In an exchange on X, formerly Twitter, about a decision by Sainsbury's to mark Black History Month, Mr Fox referred to the two as \"paedophiles\". High Court judge Mrs Justice Collins Rice said Mr Fox's labelling was \"harmful, defamatory and baseless\". She said he did not attempt to show the court that these allegations were true and that \"the law affords few defences to defamation of this sort.\" In his written evidence for the case, Crystal, a former RuPaul's Drag Race contestant and whose real name is Colin Seymour, said he had faced \"overwhelming and distressing\" abuse after Mr Fox's tweet. He added that he felt less safe as a drag performer as a result of Mr Fox's allegations. Mr Blake, now chief executive of Mental Health First Aid England, said the incorrect suggestion that gay men are paedophiles is \"a trope as old as the hills\". Reclaim Party founder Mr Fox, who said at the time that he would boycott the supermarket, counter-sued Mr Blake and Mr Seymour, over tweets accusing him of racism. Mr Fox also attempted to sue broadcaster Nicola Thorp for the same reason. However, the judge did not make a ruling on whether describing Mr Fox as \"a racist\" was \"substantially true\", after finding the three tweets in his counter-claim were unlikely to cause serious harm to his reputation. Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Fox described the ruling in his libel case as a \"nothing burger\". He said: \"It means that we're going to have to go back to court, to appeal, to get a meaning of this word. \"What is a racist? Every single person in this country knows what a racist is, except the people that dominate every single national institution that we have.\" In a statement posted on X after the verdict, Crystal said: \"I am incredibly relieved to have this outcome - a huge weight I've been carrying for over three years has just been lifted. \"I want to say again that I took no joy in bringing this case, nor did I do so lightly. Mr Fox could have made this go away very early on with a meaningful apology and settlement.\" He added: \"I hope it will make some difference in the ongoing demonisation of queer people as 'groomers' or 'dangerous'. \"This is a lesson: we will not take it.\" Ms Thorp wrote on X: \"It's time that Mr Fox accepted that any damage to his reputation is entirely his own doing.\" Mr Fox hosted a weekly GB News show until recently, when he was sacked after an outcry about comments he made on air about a female journalist. Previously, he was known for his acting work, with high-profile roles such as DS James Hathaway in the ITV series Lewis, the spin-off detective show from Inspector Morse, which ended in 2015. The 45-year-old, who has two children with his ex-wife Billie Piper, has dedicated more of his time to politics in recent years. In 2021 he unsuccessfully stood for London mayor as The Reclaim Party's candidate. He also stood in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election in June, a seat previously held by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Actor and politician Laurence Fox lost a High Court libel case against two individuals he falsely accused of being paedophiles on social media. The judge ruled Fox's claims were \"defamatory and baseless,\" and he did not attempt to prove their truth. Fox, who also lost a counter-claim over accusations of racism, plans to appeal the decision." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Premier League Pep Guardiola hailed Phil Foden as the \"best player in the Premier League right now\" after his second-half double ensured Manchester City came from behind to beat Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. In a game packed with international stars, it was two local boys who provided the key moments. The visitors had led through Marcus Rashford's sensational eighth-minute strike from 30 yards. However, in a contest City dominated, Foden took centre stage. There was an element of controversy over his second-half equaliser. United boss Erik ten Hag was booked for arguing his side should have had a free-kick in the City half when Rashford went down under Kyle Walker's challenge. Contact was minimal and within seconds Foden had curled a superb shot past Andre Onana. Foden then burst away from a static Casemiro to score City's second from Julian Alvarez's return pass before Erling Haaland rounded off the scoring in stoppage time, after the Norwegian earlier missed an open goal from barely three yards. \"It is the amount of games he is playing,\" Guardiola told Match of the Day about Foden. \"He was always a talented player but now he is more mature and understands more the game, especially defensively. He can play middle, right, make moments and cut inside, play in the left, scoring from the left. \"What can I say? He is the best player in the Premier League right now for the amount of things he does. Unbelievable.\" It was City's sixth win in seven meetings against United, who suffered their 11th Premier League defeat of the season. More importantly, the result means Pep Guardiola's side move to within a point of leaders Liverpool before next week's trip to Anfield. United remain in sixth in the table but are now 11 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa and six behind Tottenham, in what could turn out to be a fifth Champions League spot, having played a game more. \u2022 None Premier League title race run-in: Will Liverpool, Manchester City or Arsenal come out on top? There was something fitting about Stockport-born Foden becoming the match winner. It seems a long time ago now that Guardiola was having to defend his treatment of a player he was accused of be holding back while contemporary Jadon Sancho was excelling at Borussia Dortmund having decided he would not wait to develop at City. The contrast in current fortunes for the two players could not be more marked, with United outcast Sancho back on loan at Dortmund. Foden's equaliser was City's 600th goal in this stadium under Guardiola and was a sublime effort, curled into the top corner out of Onana's reach after he had run across Victor Lindelof on the right edge of the United box. His second saw him burst into the area from the other side, collect a pass from Julian Alvarez and drill a low shot home, almost through the United keeper, who might have done better. Foden is now picking his moments to get involved in attacks and watching England boss Gareth Southgate must surely find a way of getting the 23-year-old, who has scored 18 goals this season, into his starting line-up at Euro 2024 alongside the likes of Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. Haaland will have been pleased to get his name on the scoresheet given his incredible first-half miss when he somehow put Foden's knock-back over an open goal from three yards. \"He was disappointed, I was disappointed. I want him to score four or five goals every game like he did against Luton [in the FA Cup],\" said Guardiola. \"But I don't care. He can miss this one, it is the reaction. He is sad for 10 seconds and he can miss five more and is sad for 10 seconds in his mind but after that erase it and on to the next one. \"The great, great players I met, and I've been fortunate as a player and especially a manager, they have this incredible ability to forget in an instant. \"Tennis players, golf players, basketball players, when they miss, and everyone misses, they say 'OK', smile, be positive and go for the next. That defines the great players and he did it.\" \u2022 None How did you rate Manchester City's performance? Have your say here \u2022 None What did you make of Manchester United's display? Send us your views here Rashford on target but United well beaten In the build-up to the game, Rashford spoke extensively to Players' Tribune, detailing his journey through poverty to United's first team and underlining how much the club means to him. It was thought-provoking stuff and very personal. Yet, for a sizeable number of fans who have viewed Rashford's efforts this season through the prism of underperformance, a lack of goal threat and a body language of indifference, the words meant nothing. For them the general reaction was 'save it for the pitch'. To that end, it is quite possible Rashford will never score a better goal than his eighth-minute opener. Bruno Fernandes did well to hold off Ruben Dias to control Onana's booming kick downfield. Then, as Scott McTominay sprinted into the area, Fernandes had the vision and intelligence to wait for Rashford coming behind. He rolled a pass perfectly to the England striker, who did not have to break stride as he launched a shot into the City net off the underside of the bar. Rashford could easily have had another but, in attempting to control a bouncing ball as Fernandes lifted a pass towards him beyond a static home defence, he succeeded only in heading it into the ground, which allowed Kyle Walker to get back and snuff out the danger. That turned out to be United's last realistic opportunity as they attempted to repel wave after wave of City attacks. Ten Hag simply did not have the personnel to complete the task, as hard as his players tried. New co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said he wants to knock City off their perch. On this evidence, he is going to need a pretty long ladder to attempt that. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Casemiro (Manchester United) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Bruno Fernandes following a set piece situation. \u2022 None Substitution, Manchester City. Oscar Bobb replaces Phil Foden because of an injury. \u2022 None Goal! Manchester City 3, Manchester United 1. Erling Haaland (Manchester City) left footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Rodri. \u2022 None Attempt missed. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Phil Foden. \u2022 None Rodri (Manchester City) wins a free kick on the right wing. \u2022 None Goal! Manchester City 2, Manchester United 1. Phil Foden (Manchester City) left footed shot from the left side of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Manchester City came from behind to beat Manchester United 3-1 in a Premier League match, with Phil Foden scoring twice and being praised by Pep Guardiola as the \"best player in the league right now.\" Foden's goals, including a controversial equalizer, helped City close the gap with leaders Liverpool to one point ahead of their clash at Anfield. Manchester United, who took the lead through Marcus Rashford's stunning strike, suffered their 11th league defeat of the season and remain in sixth place." + }, + { + "article": "People spending less, doctors' strikes and a fall in school attendance dragged the UK into recession at the end of last year, official figures show. The economy shrank by a larger than expected 0.3% between October and December, after it had already contracted between July and September. The UK is in recession if it fails to grow for two successive quarters. The figures raise questions over whether Rishi Sunak has met his pledge made last January to grow the economy. The government has never publicly said what measure should be used to assess if it had met the Prime Minister's pledge, despite repeated requests. In some private briefings to journalists, sources said it would be if the economy was bigger between October and December compared to the previous three months. But based on that measure, Mr Sunak's promise has not been fulfilled because the UK economy shrank by 0.1% in July to September. For the whole of 2023, the UK economy grew by 0.1%. Nevertheless, excluding the Covid years, that annual growth figure is the weakest since 2009 when the UK and other major economies were reeling from the global financial crisis when bank lending almost ground to a halt. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the latest figures showed that Mr Sunak's pledge to grow the economy was \"in tatters\". The UK is not alone in facing economic pressure. The European Union narrowly avoided recession in the second half of 2023 while Japan confirmed its economy had contracted for a second quarter. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there were a number of areas where economy faltered at the end of the year. Shoppers spent less in December after taking advantage of Black Friday sales in November. The health sector was affected by strike action by junior doctors while attendance levels at schools dropped by 1%. Gross domestic product (GDP) is a key measure of all the economic activity of companies, the government, the public sector and individuals in a country. The government can use growing GDP as evidence that it is doing a good job of managing the economy. Likewise, if GDP falls, opposition politicians can suggest the government is running it badly. If GDP is going up steadily, people pay more in tax because they're earning and spending more. This means more money for the government that it can choose to spend on public services, such as schools, police and hospitals. Governments also like to keep an eye on how much they are borrowing in relation to the size of the economy. Treasury sources have confirmed to BBC News that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is looking at a larger squeeze on public spending as a way to deliver tax cuts in the Budget on 6 March. Forecasts for the public finances have materially deteriorated in recent weeks as interest costs on UK government borrowing have increased. Final decisions on the Budget have not been made. Commenting on whether or not Mr Sunak had fulfilled his pledge to grow the economy, Mr Hunt told the BBC: \"When the Prime Minister made his commitment he was very clear, tackling inflation had to come first. \"The big picture is that actually since then the economy has been more resilient, unemployment has stayed low, real wages have been rising now for six months. And if we stick to our guns now, we can see light at the end of the tunnel.\" Figures earlier this week showed wage growth had slowed, but was still outpacing price rises. Meanwhile, inflation - the rate at which prices rise - was lower than expected in January with monthly food prices falling for the first time in over two years. However, it is still double the Bank of England's 2% target. Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said \"this recession is as mild as they come\", adding that the data \"is more politically significant than it is economically\". However, Lord Rose, chairman of Asda, the supermarket group, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"It looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, it walks like a duck, it is a duck - it is a recession. \"There is no surprise here and I take no pleasure in saying there is no surprise that we're in it. We've got a low growth economy or a no growth economy.\" Official figures from the ONS showed that during the final three months of last year, there was a slowdown in all the main sectors it measures to determine the health of the UK economy, including construction and manufacturing. Mark Keyes, construction director at building firm Bennett, said last year had been \"turbulent\". \"We were still feeling the ripple effects of inflation running through the industry, and then that was, in a way, compounded with rising interest rates,\" he said. Last year was \"turbulent\", according to Mark Keyes, construction director at building firm Bennett The Bank of England had been lifting interest rates to put the brakes on inflation but has kept them at 5.25% since August last year. Mr Hunt said: \"While interest rates are high - so the Bank of England can bring inflation down - low growth is not a surprise.\" But he said he believed the economy was \"turning a corner\", while Mr Keyes said there were signs of optimism in the construction industry. \"I suppose you look at the start of the year compared to the start of last year, there definitely is an uptake in inquiries,\" said. \"I suppose the air of optimism is there, albeit a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.\" BBC News is keen to hear what questions you have on recession and the economy. You can get in touch by using the form below or by emailing YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in. In some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK entered recession in the last quarter of 2022, with the economy shrinking by 0.3% due to factors including reduced consumer spending, doctors' strikes, and lower school attendance, official figures show. This marks the second consecutive quarter of contraction, raising questions about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's pledge to grow the economy, as it failed to expand between October and December compared to the previous quarter." + }, + { + "article": "Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart is to retire at the end of the season, saying he feels \"physically great\" but wants to \"smash through the finish line\". The former England and Manchester City keeper, 36, recently told Celtic his third season in Glasgow is his last. Manager Brendan Rodgers says Hart, who played 75 times for his country, will be a \"huge miss to the game\". As well as double title success north and south of the border, Hart has won six cup medals with City and Celtic. He told Celtic TV: \"I wanted to get the message out as of June I am going to stop playing football. This is something that I have thought about for a while, there's no right or wrong time is there? \"There is obviously a conversation around the goalkeeping position for next season and I think it's really important that with the blessing of the club we get the message out and it takes one thing out of what people are going to speculate over. \"Physically I feel great, I feel as good as I possibly can do. For my age and what I have done to my body, I have been on the bench since I was 15, have been involved in professional football every day since I was 16. \"I have gone down every avenue to keep myself in the best possible shape to give my all on game day and I do really think I am at that peak, but I am aware time waits for no man and I don't want my body to be retiring me. That was one of the key factors, thinking I can smash through the finish line. \"Mentally I am in the one place I like to be, I am in a place of clarity. Obviously I have thought about this a lot. There's loads of key factors that have come into it but I think the right time is now.\" Hart has made 690 club appearances, having also turned out for Shrewsbury, Tranmere, Blackpool, Birmingham, Torino, Burnley and Tottenham. He was part of England's squad in four successive major tournaments between 2010 and 2016, his last cap coming the following year. Hart helped Celtic win five of six domestic trophies in the past two seasons under Ange Postecoglou, and current manager Rodgers says the Englishman deserves \"huge praise and congratulations\" for his contribution to football. \"He has been such a brilliant asset to Celtic of course and the wider game at the highest levels, domestically and internationally,\" Rodgers told the club's website. \"But more than that, he is a tremendous man, just brilliant to work with, someone who I know has been a great team-mate to so many throughout his career and a player who never gives anything but his absolute best. \"I also know he will continue to work right through this season with the same intensity, commitment and drive which he has always been known for.\" \u2022 None Visit our Celtic page for all the latest news, analysis and fan views \u2022 None You can now get Celtic news notifications in the BBC Sport app - find out more \u2022 Celtic is bigger and better than ever before - here's everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment \u2022 None Everything Celtic - go straight to all the best content", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart has announced his retirement from football at the end of the season, stating he feels physically fit but wants to go out on a high note. The 36-year-old, who has played 75 times for England and had a successful stint at Manchester City, will leave Celtic after three seasons, with manager Brendan Rodgers praising his significant contribution to the game." + }, + { + "article": "Tesco could be breaking the law over how it displays Clubcard prices, according to consumer group Which?. The group says Tesco does not explain the unit price of deals clearly enough to shoppers, making it hard for them to determine the cheapest product. Which? has reported the supermarket to the regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). In response, Tesco said it complied with all current rules and called Which?'s claims \"ill-founded\". Heinz tomato ketchup was one of the items that Which? highlighted in its report into pricing at Tesco. It found a 700g bottle in Tesco for which the label showed the standard price to be \u00a33.90, or 55.7p per 100g. A prominent Clubcard label showed the same size bottle on offer at \u00a33.50, but the unit price, which would be 50p per 100g, was not given. A 910g bottle of the same ketchup on the shelf below was priced at \u00a33.99, or 43.8p per 100g, for all shoppers, making it the cheapest option per 100g. Which? argued many shoppers would wrongly assume the Clubcard option was the best deal available. The Tesco Clubcard is a loyalty scheme that offers members discounted prices on products. Which? said Tesco's decision not to display unit pricing on its Clubcard offers could be breaking the law. According to competition rules, unit prices could be seen as \"material information\" which most people would need in order to make an informed decision about how to get the best value from what they are buying. Which? head of food policy Sue Davies said given the backdrop of a cost of living crisis, supermarkets should not be cutting corners. \"They have a duty to ensure pricing is clear so that customers can get the best value. Tesco's unclear Clubcard pricing is at best confusing for shoppers struggling with soaring food inflation and at worst, could be breaking the law,\" she said. \"This is simply not good enough from the UK's biggest supermarket. Tesco should think of its customers and act now to introduce clear unit pricing on all offers, including Clubcard promotions, so shoppers can easily find the best value items.\" A spokesperson for Tesco said the company had sought advice and approval from its local trading standards office in Hertfordshire where its headquarters are based. \"Providing great value and clear pricing is really important to us, we are supportive of calls for greater clarity on the regulations in this area,\" it said. \"However, given that we are complying with all the current rules, we are disappointed that Which? has chosen to make these ill-founded claims against our Clubcard Prices scheme, which helps millions of households get great value week in, week out.\" The CMA is already investigating whether supermarkets are making excess profits through inflated prices. In May, the boss of Sainsbury's, Simon Roberts, told the BBC that supermarkets were not profiteering from high inflation.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Consumer group Which? has accused Tesco of potentially breaking the law by not clearly displaying unit prices for its Clubcard deals, making it difficult for shoppers to determine the best value products. Which? has reported the supermarket chain to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), claiming that the lack of unit pricing on Clubcard offers could be misleading customers, especially during the cost of living crisis. Tesco denies any wrongdoing and says it complies with current rules." + }, + { + "article": "Immediate action is needed to tackle the impact of ethnic and other biases in the use of medical devices, an independent review says. It found pulse oximeter devices could be less accurate for people with darker skin tones, making it harder to spot dangerous falls in oxygen levels. And it warned devices using artificial intelligence (AI) could under-estimate skin cancer in people with darker skin. The review said fairer devices needed to be designed urgently. In total, it made 18 recommendations for improvement. The government says it fully accepts the report's conclusions. It looked closely at three types of device where there is potential for \"substantial\" harm to patients: Pulse oximeters were used frequently during the Covid pandemic, for example, alongside other observations, to help judge whether a patient needed hospital admission and treatment. Building on previous research, the review says the devices, which are clipped on to a finger, can overestimate the level of oxygen in the blood for people with darker skin tones. The report says there is evidence from the US to suggest this can sometimes lead to worse health outcomes for black patients. And researchers say the situation is compounded by the devices mostly being tested and calibrated on participants with lighter skin tones. The government points to action already being taken on the issue, including updated NHS guidance on pulse oximeters and more research into smarter devices being funded. But the researchers said it was crucial that people do not stop using pulse oximeters - which nevertheless help monitor trends of oxygen levels - while more action is taken to resolve the situation. Artificial intelligence can be used to help read X-rays Prof Dame Margaret Whitehead, from the University of Liverpool, who chaired the review, called for \"system-wide action\" to be implemented as a matter of priority. She said: \"The advance of AI in medical devices could bring great benefits, but it could also bring harm through inherent bias against certain groups in the population, notably women, people from ethnic minorities and disadvantaged socio-economic groups. \"Our review reveals how existing biases and injustices in society can unwittingly be incorporated at every stage of the lifecycle of AI-enabled medical devices, and then magnified in algorithm development and machine learning.\" One example is the potential under-diagnosis of skin cancers for people with darker skin. This would probably be a result of machines being 'trained' predominantly on images of lighter skin tones, the team explains. Another concern arises when using AI systems for reading chest x-rays - which are mainly trained on images taken of men, who tend to have larger lung capacities. This could potentially lead to underdiagnosis of heart disease in women, the report suggests, worsening an already long-standing problem. The government says it is committed to removing bias in datasets and increasing training for health professionals. When it comes to predicting someone's risk of disease using so-called polygenic risk scores, the report says there are similar issues with the data because it is based overwhelmingly on populations of European ancestry - meaning the results may not be applicable to people of other backgrounds. Another concern is that these scores are only predictive and cannot say for certain that people will develop a disease. Prof Habib Naqvi, chief executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, welcomed the findings, saying access to better health should not be determined by ethnicity nor by the colour of your skin, and medical devices needed to be fit-for-purpose for all communities. He added that the lack of diverse representation in health research and robust equity considerations had \"led to racial bias in medical devices, clinical assessments and in other healthcare interventions\". Andrew Stephenson, Minister of State in the Department of Health, said the review was important. \"Making sure the healthcare system works for everyone, regardless of ethnicity, is paramount to our values as a nation. It supports our wider work to create a fairer and simpler NHS,\" he said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An independent review has highlighted ethnic biases in medical devices, particularly pulse oximeters, which can be less accurate for people with darker skin tones, potentially leading to worse health outcomes. The review calls for urgent action to design fairer devices and made 18 recommendations for improvement, including addressing biases in AI-enabled medical devices and increasing diversity in clinical research. The UK government has accepted the report's conclusions and is taking steps to address the issues." + }, + { + "article": "From left: Heba Alhayek, 29, and Pauline Ankunda, 26, were convicted of offences under the Terrorism Act at Westminster Magistrates' Court Three women have been found guilty of terrorism offences despite \"no evidence\" of support for Hamas. Heba Alhayek, 29, and Pauline Ankunda, 26, attached images to their backs seven days after Hamas militants used paragliders to enter Israel in October, the court heard. Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, stuck one to a placard's handle at a central London pro-Palestinian march. They denied charges under the Terrorism Act. The three were charged with carrying or displaying an article to arouse reasonable suspicion that they were supporters of a banned organisation. Convicting them at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram said: \"Seven days earlier, Hamas went into Israel with what was described by the media as paragliders. \"A reasonable person would have seen and read that. \"I do not find a reasonable person would interpret the image merely as a symbol of freedom.\" During their trial, prosecutor Brett Weaver told the court that the images displayed could have been viewed as \"celebrating the use of the paragliders' tactic\". But Mr Ikram, delivering his verdict, said: \"I want to be clear, there's no evidence that any of these defendants are supporters of Hamas, or were seeking to show support for them.\" He said he had \"decided not to punish\" the defendants, and handed the trio each a 12-month conditional discharge. Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, stuck an image of a paraglider to a placard's handle at a central London pro-Palestinian march, the court was told \"You crossed the line, but it would have been fair to say that emotions ran very high on this issue,\" Mr Ikram said. \"Your lesson has been well learned. I do not find you were seeking to show any support for Hamas.\" Lawyers for the group had suggested they were actually displaying images of a parachute emoji rather than paragliders, and claimed police had \"mistaken\" what they saw that day. Mark Summers KC, for Alhayek and Ankunda, said the idea that the image was a paraglider started with \"an internet group with an agenda\". He also argued that flying-related images were a common symbol of peace in the region. Reacting to the verdict, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said displaying the images amounted to the \"glorification of the actions\" of Hamas. Images circulated of images of paragliders on the backs of the defendants Nick Price, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said: \"The fact that these images were being displayed in the context of a protest opposing the Israeli response to the Hamas attacks demonstrates a glorification of the actions taken by the group. \"Displaying these images could be viewed as celebrating the use of paragliders as a tactic to breach the Gaza Israel border, and creates a risk of encouraging others to support Hamas. \"When people break the law - whether by hateful speech, supporting proscribed organisations or by threatening public order - we prosecute swiftly and independently. \"We have already prosecuted a string of offences linked to events in the Middle East and we are working closely with the police and community leaders to make sure our approach commands public confidence.\" Their display of the images at the protest on 14 October was widely condemned when footage of the demonstration was published on social media, their trial was told. Clarification 22 February: This article's original headline said \"Protesters who celebrated Hamas found guilty\" and was amended on 14 February to make clear that this was the prosecution's argument and not the judge's. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Three women have been found guilty of terrorism offences for displaying images of paragliders at a pro-Palestinian march in London, which the court linked to Hamas' tactics, despite no evidence of their support for the organization. The judge handed them a 12-month conditional discharge, stating that while they crossed a line, emotions were high during the event." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A 31-year-old woman who received a kidney from her mother says she cannot repay kindness. A 31-year-old woman from Belfast has become the 3,000th person to undergo a successful life-saving kidney transplant in Northern Ireland. Shannon Stewart received a live kidney donation from her mum Joanne Osborne on 3 January at Belfast City Hospital. The significant achievement is a being hailed as a landmark moment for organ donation. \"The first 1,000 transplants took 30 years,\" said consultant Dr Aisling Courtney. \"The second 1,000 took 17 years, and the last 1,000 were done in just under nine years. \"It's an outstanding testament to the team at the hospital, to the altruism of the donors, and all the hard work here since renal services were set up in the mid 1960s.\" Shannon discovered she required a kidney transplant in June 2023 and just six months later had undergone her transformational surgery, thanks to her mum. \"She's my hero,\" an emotional Shannon said. \"What she has done for me and my family is unreal and you can never repay her for that. I just love her dearly, she is everything and more to me.\" She said that before her transplant she was exhausted all the time, and had brain fog. \"Straight away, still in hospital after the transplant, I felt amazing, albeit tired and sore from the surgery,\" she said. \"It's almost as if my head cleared automatically.\" Shannon with her son Grayson and husband Gary Joanne and Shannon's sister Shalane were both tested to see if they could be donors, and it was Joanne who was the most suitable match. She said she had absolutely no hesitation donating to her daughter to give her a better family life with two-year-old son Grayson. \"He needed her,\" said Joanne. \"I've had my life, I've raised my kids, I've got grandkids and they are the most important thing, so Grayson needed her and I had to do it for Shannon. \"I know the operation is done and dusted but I still can't believe it - it's unreal. It really is just amazing what I could do for her. \"I'm just happy as long as she's well; that's my main concern.\" Shannon and her mum Joanne were in hospital together She said her daughter was \"glowing\" after her operation. \"You could literally see the difference in her. I know she will have so much more energy and be able to do things,\" she said. Shannon and Joanne, who both work at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, County Down, were thrilled when they were informed their transplant was the 3,000th performed since renal services began in Belfast in 1968. \"Working in the health service you see the day-to-day running of things but you are never on the receiving end of it,\" said Shannon. \"You see how hard everyone works around the place but to actually be a patient, see it from a different angle and actually reach that milestone as a patient is unbelievable.\" The increase in the number of kidney transplants being performed in Northern Ireland over the past decade is due to the expansion of the highly successful live donor programme. \"There are people who are coming forward to donate to family, as in this case, or a friend or sometimes even just to a stranger,\" said Dr Courtney. \"It's a phenomenal achievement for Northern Ireland which was recognised as being the leading country for living organ donation in the world.\" Shannon got her new kidney on 3 January It is not the first time that the team at Belfast City Hospital has made headlines. In 2020, a record number of 137 life-saving kidney transplants were performed in Northern Ireland. More than 100 of those operations were carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic and included a UK record-equalling five kidney transplants in one 24-hour period. Five years earlier the same record was achieved with five transplants in single day. At the end of 2023 a three-year-old boy, Olly Cartmill, became the smallest, and one of the youngest, recipients of a kidney transplant. Since Shannon's kidney transplant 15 more life-saving transplants have taken place in Belfast.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A 31-year-old woman from Belfast, Shannon Stewart, has become the 3,000th person to undergo a successful kidney transplant in Northern Ireland, with her mother, Joanne Osborne, being the live donor. The milestone is a significant achievement for organ donation in the region, with the last 1,000 transplants occurring in under nine years, highlighting the growth of the live donor program." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Pakistan has launched missile strikes into Iran, killing nine people, after Iran carried out strikes in Pakistan late on Tuesday. Pakistan said its strikes had hit \"terrorist hideouts\" in Iran's south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. Iran condemned the attack, which it said killed three women, two men and four children who were not Iranian. The country's foreign ministry later said it was committed to good neighbourly relations with Pakistan. However, it called on Islamabad to prevent the establishment of \"bases and armed terrorist groups\" on its soil. The reciprocal attacks come as tensions in the Middle East are high with several overlapping crises. Israel is fighting the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza and exchanging fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria are targeting US forces, and the US and UK have struck the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, who have been attacking shipping. Thursday's strikes by Pakistan were the first external land attack on Iran since Saddam Hussein's forces invaded in the 1980s - launching a brutal eight-year war. Pakistan's foreign ministry said its strikes around the Iranian city of Saravan had come in light of \"credible intelligence of impending large-scale terrorist activities\" and added that it \"fully respects\" Iran's \"sovereignty and territorial integrity\". In its own statement, Pakistan's army said the \"precision strikes\" were conducted with drones, rockets and long-range missiles and targeted the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front. Both groups are part of a decades-long struggle for greater autonomy in Balochistan, a remote region in south-western Pakistan. Pakistan had fiercely condemned Iran's strike on Tuesday, which struck an area of Pakistan's Balochistan province near the Iranian border and which Islamabad said killed two children. The country's former foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, told the BBC he was surprised at the attack because Iran's foreign minister met with Pakistan's acting prime minister on \"the day they violated the sovereignty of our country\". He added \"it would be a mistake\" for a country to think Pakistan can't respond to violations, and says it sends a \"clear message that Pakistan has both the will and ability to respond\". Iran insisted its strikes were aimed only at Jaish al-Adl, or \"army of justice\", an ethnic Baloch Sunni Muslim militant group (formerly called Jundullah) that has carried out attacks inside Iran, and not Pakistan's citizens. Iranian state media reported on Thursday that Tehran had summoned Pakistan's charg\u00e9 d'affaires over the strikes. Pakistan had earlier recalled its ambassador and blocked the Iranian envoy from returning. China, Turkey and the Taliban government in Afghanistan have all called for restraint and dialogue. Earlier in the week Iran also attacked targets in Iraq and Syria. It said it had hit Islamic State and Israel's Mossad spy agency, both of which it said had been involved in a bomb attack in the Iranian city of Kerman earlier this month which killed 84 people. Iran and Pakistan have complicated but cordial relations. Their ministers met at Davos this week and their navies conducted joint exercises in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf. The two countries have similar concerns about the lawless border area, where drug smugglers and militant Baloch groups are very active. After both sets of air strikes, each side seemed anxious to emphasise that these did not represent attacks on a brotherly neighbour. Tehran's reaction to the Pakistani strike appears relatively muted and the authorities have said that the victims, who included women and children, were not Iranian nationals. Michael Kugelman, South Asia director at the Wilson Center, said that while Pakistan's retaliation raises the risk of escalation, \"it also provides an opportunity to step back from the brink\". \"In effect, the two sides are even now. Islamabad had a strong incentive to try to restore deterrence, especially with Iran on the offensive around the wider region deploying direct strikes and proxies to hit out at threats and rivals. In effect, if Pakistan had held back, it would have faced the risk of additional strikes,\" he said. Others suggested that the government in Islamabad was under domestic pressure to respond. The country, which saw its former leader Imran Khan removed nearly two years ago, is holding an election next month. \"There was a lot of public pressure on the government to do something and so they have done this just to prove that they are not less than [Iran], this act of sabre-rattling,\" said retired Lt General Asif Yaseen, a former Pakistani defence secretary. But he said he had a \"gut feeling that this will stop here for both the countries\" and Pakistan could now be in a position to restart dialogue with Iran. Iranian missiles - seen here during a training drill - have hit Pakistan, Iraq and Syria in recent days Some commentators have suggested Iran's strikes on Iraq, Syria and Pakistan this week were also driven by the current turbulent dynamics in the Middle East. Tehran has said it does not want to get involved in the wider Israel-Gaza conflict, but groups that it backs have been targeting Israel and its allies to show solidarity with the Palestinians. However, Shashank Joshi, defence editor at The Economist, said he does not believe the strikes are an outcome of the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and triggered Israeli retaliation against Hamas in Gaza, which officials from the Hamas-run health ministry there say has killed about 24,000 people. \"The story here is about Iran flexing its muscles, perhaps outraged by what it saw as a grievous assault on its country,\" he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, referring to the deadly bomb attack in Kerman earlier this month, which he described as \"the worst terrorist attack in Iran since the revolution of 1979\". \"Iran is wounded and is lashing out. I don't think there's any compelling reason to say the bombing was caused by, or is an outcome of 7 October,\" he said. He adds that this is \"not the first time there have been border tensions, but it is by far and away the most serious escalation in tensions that I can remember\". Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Pakistan launched missile strikes into Iran, killing nine people, in response to Iranian strikes on its territory, with both countries exchanging attacks amidst heightened tensions in the Middle East. Pakistan claims its strikes targeted \"terrorist hideouts,\" while Iran condemned the attack and called for good neighborly relations, urging Pakistan to prevent terrorist groups from operating on its soil." + }, + { + "article": "Residents are asked to leave their homes, but can choose to stay if they wish More than 40 households have been advised to evacuate after issues with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete were found. Housing association Trivallis said surveys found two properties at \"critical risk\" in Hirwaun in Rhondda Cynon Taff, but that 38 other properties have the same design. Trivallis said it was finding temporary accommodation for those affected. Raac is a lightweight material used in buildings between the 1950s and 1990s. It is a cheaper alternative to standard concrete, and is quicker to produce, but it is aerated - or \"bubbly\", like an Aero chocolate bar - and is less durable with a lifespan of about 30 years. Forty Trivallis properties were affected, plus four privately-owned properties, the company said. It added that 24 families were affected, but that no tenants had been asked to move on Monday night. It added that a survey of two properties highlighted \"cracking in the Raac panels\" and that it had advised people living in identical properties that they should move out. Duncan Forbes, chief executive of Trivallis, said members of the housing association were knocking on doors informing residents about the situation. He told Radio Wales Drive the company found out on Monday morning from structural surveyors that a number of properties that had been surveyed were \"critical risk\". He added that surveyors said that \"as long as you sort it in the next six months that will be OK\". \"We didn't think that was sufficient - the words critical risk to us means there's too much of a risk for us to take, and for us to take with tenants' safety,\" he said. \"That's our primary concern, and we wanted to make sure tenants were aware, we started the process of moving them somewhere else as soon as possible.\" He said they would initially be put in hotels, or with family and friends, and that they would support families in getting children to school. \"We will keep on working with them daily, if they are still in their homes, and indeed beyond that, to make sure we have a permanent solution either for the work being done in the homes to make them safe, or that we rehouse them elsewhere wherever we can.\" He said they did not know how long it would take, however structural engineers would be in the properties within days. \"Until we know what the technical solution is we can't predict how long it will take to implement, hopefully there will be a temporary solution that is quick and easy and that makes it safe and then we can get people back in their homes ,\" he said. Christine is one of the residents in Hirwaun who had survey work done on her house which identified problems with Raac. \"Everybody on the site is in shock - it's scary because we don't want to leave our homes,\" she said. \"They've offered to put us up, but that would mean leaving our homes with all our stuff in it.\" Despite the safety warning from the housing association, she said nobody had moved out of their homes on Monday evening. \"We were all going to move tomorrow, but the ones around me have now decided to stay until we've got to go,\" she said. Christine, who had survey work done on her house, said many of the residents were in shock Councillor Adam Owain Rogers said many residents were panicking, and did not fully understand. \"But what we've been informed by Trivallis is that they'll be here through the week, giving as much information as they can to reassure residents that they're working on the issue and identifying the problem,\" he said. He added that different properties were affected in different ways. \"But at the moment, there is uncertainty because of the time of day which people are being told, and people have informed us that they don't want to move,\" Mr Rogers said. Trivallis describes itself as one of the largest housing association in Wales, providing more than 10,000 homes. Last year, hundreds of schools in England, and dozens in Scotland, were found to have Raac, leading to many being partially closed. Just a handful of schools were found to have Raac in Wales.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Over 40 households in Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taff, have been advised to evacuate due to safety concerns over reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in their homes, with two properties deemed \"critical risk.\" Housing association Trivallis is providing temporary accommodation for affected residents, while structural engineers investigate and plan a solution, potentially involving repairs or rehousing." + }, + { + "article": "The two biggest political parties at Westminster and Parliament itself are finding themselves buckled, bent and contorted by the furious arguments provoked by the Israel-Gaza war. For the Conservatives, the Lee Anderson row about Islamophobia. For Parliament, the Commons Speaker row about a ceasefire and parliamentary procedure. And for Labour, the Rochdale row about antisemitism and the by-election there in a few days. The prime minister's week began with a trio of BBC local radio interviews, where alongside questions about spending on transport projects in the north of England he was inevitably asked about his former deputy chairman's remarks. It's only a few weeks back that Rishi Sunak and Mr Anderson were doing a joint campaign video. Now Mr Sunak is distancing himself from Mr Anderson. But the prime minister, like his deputy, is not describing what Lee Anderson said as Islamophobic. In fact, a row about that very word has broken out within the Conservative Party, with former chairman Baroness Warsi at loggerheads with the Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch over it. Next, the Speaker of the Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle starts the week with the third biggest party, the SNP, saying it doesn't have confidence in him. And Conservative MPs' WhatsApp groups are inflamed too, I hear, the sentiment of many being \"how can we ever trust him again?\" As it stands, 72 MPs have signed a Commons motion saying he should go. This may all mean Sir Lindsay concludes he has no option but to address the issue - either by standing down or saying he will at the election. But the pressure on him seems to have eased a little - or not got worse - for now at least. The SNP's focus is on securing a debate where they can shift the dial on the government's approach to the Israel-Hamas war. They want one under what is known as standing order 24. It only allows for the Commons to consider something, rather than vote on a substantive question, which is what the SNP want. Which leaves the Speaker in a bind: fail to give them what they want, or bend parliamentary conventions again - which is what got him into trouble in the first place. Meanwhile, I hear some of the smaller parties have been comparing notes on how they feel they are treated by the Speaker and will see him later to set out their argument too. And then there is Labour. The Rochdale by-election is on Thursday and the party that aspires to be in government before the year is out is a mere bystander, a spectator - after their candidate was accused of antisemitism and the party disowned him. What we are seeing is a noisy, angry mess on three fronts and two big central questions: what is it legitimate to say about different communities or religious groups? And, in an election year, is it in the interests of our political parties to seek to calm things down, or crank things up? Right now, the evidence suggests the latter.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK's major political parties, particularly the Conservatives, Parliament, and Labour, are embroiled in controversies related to the Israel-Gaza conflict, with disputes over Islamophobia, the Speaker of the Commons, and antisemitism. The Conservative Party is dealing with a row over remarks made by a former deputy chairman, while Parliament faces a loss of confidence from the SNP over the Speaker's actions. Labour is grappling with an antisemitism scandal ahead of a by-election in Rochdale. These issues are intensifying tensions and raising questions about acceptable discourse and election strategies." + }, + { + "article": "Ahmad al-Ghuferi was stuck in the West Bank when a bomb killed 103 members of his family in Gaza City Ahmad al-Ghuferi missed the bomb that obliterated his family. When 103 relatives were killed in a strike on their family home in Gaza City, he was stuck 50 miles (80km) away, in the occupied West Bank town of Jericho. Ahmad had been working on a Tel Aviv construction site when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October - unable to return to his wife and three young daughters because of the war that followed, and Israel's military blockade. He spoke to them at the same time every day, when the phone connections allowed, and was on the phone to his wife, Shireen, as the attack happened on the evening of 8 December. \"She knew she would die,\" he said. \"She told me to forgive her for anything bad she might ever have done to me. I told her there was no need to say that. And that was the last call between us.\" A large bomb attack on his uncle's house that evening killed his wife and his three young daughters - Tala, Lana and Najla. It also killed Ahmad's mother, four of his brothers and their families, as well as dozens of his aunts, uncles and cousins. More than 100 dead in all. Over two months on, some of their bodies are still trapped under the rubble. Last week, he marked his youngest daughter's birthday. Najla would have turned two. Ahmad is still trying to grasp the loss. Unable to hold his children's bodies or be at their hurried burials, he still speaks of them in the present tense, his face motionless beneath the rolling tears. \"My daughters are little birds to me,\" he said. \"I feel like I'm in a dream. I still can't believe what's happened to us.\" Ahmad with his three daughters, Tala, Lana and Najla He has removed pictures of the girls from his phone and laptop screens, so as not to be ambushed by them. He has been left to piece together the story of what happened from the accounts of a few surviving relatives and neighbours. They told him that a missile had first struck the entrance to his family's house. \"They hurried out and went to my uncle's house nearby,\" he said. \"Fifteen minutes later, a fighter jet hit that house.\" The four-storey building where the family was killed sat around the corner from the Sahaba Medical Centre in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood. It is now a mound of splintered concrete, the rubble shot through with bright dots of colour: a green plastic cup, shreds of dusty clothing. The house where Ahmad's family were killed The crumpled frame of a silver car, its windscreen twisted into a grimace, sits nearby under overhanging concrete rocks. One of Ahmad's surviving relatives, Hamid al-Ghuferi, told the BBC that when the strikes began, those who ran away up the hill survived, and those who sheltered in the house were killed. \"It was a fire-belt,\" he said. \"There were strikes on the four houses next to ours. They were hitting a house every 10 minutes.\" \"110 people from the Ghuferi family were there - our children and relatives,\" he said. \"All but a handful of them were killed.\" Survivors say the eldest victim was a 98-year-old grandmother; the youngest a baby boy born just nine days earlier. Another relative, a cousin who is also called Ahmad, described two big explosions from an air strike. \"There was no advance warning,\" he said. \"If [some] people hadn't already left this area, I think hundreds would have been killed. The area looks totally different now. There was a car park, a place to store water, and three houses plus one big house. The blast obliterated a whole residential area.\" Hamid said the survivors had worked until the early hours of the morning to retrieve the bodies from the rubble. \"Airplanes were hovering in the sky, and quadcopters were firing at us as we were trying to pull them out,\" the cousin Ahmad said. \"We were sitting in the house and we found ourselves under the rubble,\" Umm Ahmad al-Ghuferi told the BBC. \"I was thrown from one side to the other. I don't know how they got me out. We saw death in front of our eyes.\" Two and a half months on, they're still trying to reach some of the bodies buried beneath the rubble. The family have collected money to hire a small digger, to chip away at the debris. \"We retrieved four bodies [today],\" Ahmad told the BBC, \"including my brother's wife and my nephew Mohammed, who was pulled out in pieces. They had been under the rubble for 75 days.\" Their temporary graves lie in a piece of empty land nearby, marked by sticks and plastic sheeting. Ahmad, stuck in Jericho, has not visited them. \"What did I do to be deprived of my mum, my wife, my children and my brothers?\" he asked. \"They were all civilians.\" We asked the Israeli army about the family's allegations that it was targeted by air strikes. In response, the army said it was not aware of the strike in question, and that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took \"feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm\" in its war with Hamas. There was intense fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas gunmen in the area of Shejaiyya, a few blocks south of the al-Ghuferi house, in the days immediately before and after Ahmad's family were killed. In a daily update on 9 December, the army said that it had \"identified a number of terrorists armed with anti-tank missiles\" approaching troops in Shejaiyya, and called in a helicopter strike on them. Residents continue to search the rubble by hand to find those buried underneath It also said fighter jets had been striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip, as ground operations continued. The area of Zeitoun, where the family house once stood, is now the focus of fresh operations by the IDF. Stuck in Jericho with his father - another construction worker trapped in the West Bank - Ahmad still sometimes calls his surviving relatives in Gaza. But after months of being trapped outside his beloved home and desperate to return, he is no longer sure if he will ever go back. \"My dream was shattered in Gaza,\" he said. \"Who should I go back for? Who will call me Dad? Who will call me darling? My wife used to tell me I was all her life. Who will tell me that now?\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ahmad al-Ghuferi's family of 103 members was killed in a bomb strike on their Gaza City home during the conflict between Hamas and Israel in October-December 2022. Ahmad, who was working in the West Bank, was unable to return home due to the war and military blockade, and he learned of the tragedy through a phone call with his wife just before the attack." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The PM appears to rule out holding a general election in the spring Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he is working on the assumption that he will hold a general election \"in the second half of this year\". In recent weeks, there has been speculation he might call one in May, when there are local elections. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused him of \"squatting in Downing Street for months on ends, dithering and delaying while the country wants change\". He said both the country and the Labour Party were ready for an election. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey also called Mr Sunak a \"squatter... holed up in Downing Street, desperately clinging on to power rather than facing the verdict of the British people\". The prime minister had \"bottled\" a May poll, Sir Ed said. The latest the next election could legally be held is 28 January 2025. The opening days of this year have already been full of speculation about the timing of the election - but Mr Sunak has now killed a lot of that, for a few months at least. Last week, Labour claimed a spring vote was the \"worst kept secret in Parliament\". The Liberal Democrats have called on Mr Sunak to hold the vote in May. SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Mr Sunak had \"shown a little bit of cowardice\" by \"trying to run back into the autumn\". Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said voters did not want the Conservatives to \"get one day more to screw up the country\", but were not \"feeling inspired by the Labour party either\". Opposition parties were talking up the prospect of a May poll so that, if the prime minister decided to wait until later in the year, they could then accuse him of running scared. Mr Sunak and his team have clearly decided this is not a risk they want to take - and the phrase \"working assumption\" gives him enough room to change his mind should circumstances change. The prime minister told broadcasters on a visit to a youth centre in Mansfield: \"I've got lots that I want to get on with.\" He declined to rule out a May election categorically, but repeated his intention to go to the country later in the year. \"I want to keep going, managing the economy well and cutting people's taxes. \"But I also want to keep tackling illegal migration. I'm determined to keep delivering for the British people,\" the prime minister said. He acknowledged that the last 12 months had been \"tricky\", but promised a \"better year\" ahead. \"Look, 2023, I'll be honest, it wasn't the easiest of years, for any of us, it wasn't an easy year for our country.\" The nation was still dealing with the legacy of Covid, the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza, he said. Mr Sunak raised the prospect of further tax cuts after the easing of national insurance on 6 January, despite the Conservatives increasing the overall tax burden to its highest level since the Second World War. He said: \"We want to do more because as we manage the economy responsibly, we can cut your taxes, give you and your family peace of mind, immediate relief from some of the challenges you're facing and confidence that the future is going to be better for you and your children.\" Earlier, in a speech in Bristol, Sir Keir set out what he called \"Project Hope\" for a \"downtrodden Britain\". He said the public were right to be \"anti-Westminster\" after 14 years of Conservative rule, but added his party was offering \"a decade of national renewal\". In a dividing line with the Conservatives, he signalled he would wait to grow the economy before cutting taxes.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has indicated that he plans to hold a general election in the second half of 2023, dispelling rumors of a May poll. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and other opposition leaders criticize Sunak for delaying an election, accusing him of avoiding the people's verdict." + }, + { + "article": "Olly Alexander is the highest-profile musician to represent the UK in years Singer Olly Alexander has sent Eurovision fans into a spin by revealing the chorus of his song Dizzy, which he'll perform on behalf of the UK at this year's song contest in May. The former Years and Years frontman posted 20 seconds of the pulsating, club-friendly pop song on social media. He also announced that the full track would be available on 1 March. Despite only hearing a snippet, some fans began predicting whether it could end the UK's long wait for victory. \"EUROVISION WINNER FOR SURE,\" one user enthused on Instagram. \"Dizzy sounds soooo good, it's gonna go straight into my playlist,\" wrote another on X. But, they added: \"Of course, I never put UK in the context of winning Eurovision with something like this, and it won't, I'm not sure about top five. It needs to be staged carefully and sung convincingly!\" BBC Radio 2's Eurovision host Scott Mills responded with: \"YAAAAAAS here we gooooo.\" Co-host Rylan had an advance copy. \"I've been singing this for months it's sooooo catchy,\" he wrote. In the video clip, Alexander is seen performing the song on a rooftop at night-time wearing a pinstripe jacket with the sleeves cut off, a matching skort and a home-made rosette badge. He sings: \"So won't you make me dizzy for your kisses / Will you take my hand and spin me / Round and round until the moment never ends.\" The song lives up to his promise in December that the song was \"not a ballad\" but would be \"electronic, something you can dance to\". It was co-written by Alexander and Danny L Harle, who has produced hits for Dua Lipa, Chic and Charli XCX. Alexander will hope to improve on the UK's disappointing Eurovision performance last year, when Mae Muller came second to last. The UK hasn't won since 1997, and its recent track record has been largely underwhelming. This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by ollyalexanderr This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta\u2019s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The English singer's teaser clip came several hours after he posted a message with the title and release date, accompanied by a photo of himself upside down on a swing wearing nothing but a kilt, tattered socks and one shoe. That may or may not be a clue to his intended performance routine at the grand final in Malmo, Sweden, on 11 May. Alexander is already known to music fans around Europe for singing on Years and Years hits including Desire, King and If You're Over Me. He is also a Bafta-nominated actor, having played the lead role in Channel 4's hard-hitting Aids drama It's A Sin.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Singer Olly Alexander, former frontman of Years and Years, will represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest with an upbeat, club-friendly pop song called \"Dizzy,\" co-written with Danny L Harle. The full track will be released on March 1, and while fans are excited, expectations for a UK victory are cautious, given the country's recent Eurovision performance history." + }, + { + "article": "Zenana say it has been fun to get back together and for a new audience to hear their music A 1980s female band whose single was discovered by chance in a second-hand shop have signed a new record deal. Zenana, made up of Anita Gabrielle Tedder, Penny Griffiths and Ruth Elder, formed in Milton Keynes in 1983 and disbanded in 1987. But they have now been signed to Rush Hour Records, based in Amsterdam, and have started to perform again. Ms Tedder said since their 1987 single Witches was found by a DJ, \"it's been a roller coaster that's continued since\". The band (left to right, Anita Gabrielle Teddler, Penny Griffiths and Ruth Elder), got together again in September to launch their new EP \"If you'd told me in my 70th year I would ever be signing a record deal, I would have never have considered it. It's amazing,\" said Ms Tedder, who lives in Wootton, Bedfordshire. Zenana played local pubs and clubs such as The Point in Milton Keynes and The Angel in Bedford, and in London they appeared at the Hippodrome, Dingwalls and Le Beat Route. They recorded one single, Witches, in 1986 for the PRM label, but it never charted. In May 2022, a 24-year-old Bristol-based DJ, Kiernan Abbott, got in contact with the group to say he had stumbled across their single in a second-hand shop in Cornwall, and he thought it was brilliant. He then played it in clubs in Los Angeles, Paris and places that specialised in 80s music. This led to DJ Antalheitlager, managing director of Rush Hour, signing them, as he had played Witches at festivals. Their next gig will be in Bedford in July A remastered 12in vinyl, a digital version and an extended remix of Witches by Bedmo Disco (DJ Matt Anniss, and Gareth Morgon) along with the group's 2023 Witches With The Spell of Love EP will be released distributed by the label. Ms Tedder said signing for the \"highly respected\" record company was not about \"the money\" but a chance for the next generation to hear the music that the group and her brother, Mike Tedder, had created. \"I couldn't have seen it coming. I can't get over how unexpected it is,\" she said. \"You just never ever know quite where life is going to lead you, so I think we're really just taking one day at a time. We're just going to enjoy every moment.\" Anita Gabrielle Tedder said the group are back rehearsing for the first time in decades Two members of the group, Ms Tedder and Ms Griffiths, played an LGBTQ+ event at the Green Earth Cafe, Bedford, on Saturday, and the trio will be on the Garden Stage at the Bedford Fringe Festival on 28 July. Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An 80s female band, Zenana, has signed a new record deal with Rush Hour Records after their single \"Witches\" was rediscovered in a second-hand shop by a DJ. The band, who reunited in September, is set to release a remastered vinyl and an EP, enjoying a resurgence in their music career." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: In an emotional interview, Grace O'Malley-Kumar's family say they are \"dizzy with grief\" The mother of a student who was stabbed to death has called for mandatory prison terms for carrying a knife. Dr Sinead O'Malley and Dr Sanjoy Kumar's daughter Grace was killed in Nottingham on 13 June last year. They said there needed to be a \"massive deterrent\" against using knives and called on the government to \"urgently\" examine the issue. Ms O'Malley-Kumar and friend Barnaby Webber, both 19, and Ian Coates were fatally attacked by Valdo Calocane. Calocane's guilty pleas to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility were accepted on Tuesday. The court was told how Ms O'Malley-Kumar was killed \"heroically\" trying to protect Mr Webber as they walked home from a night out. In an emotional interview with the BBC's Breakfast, Dr O'Malley, a consultant anaesthetist, said carrying a knife was \"no different\" to carrying a gun. She said: \"I believe there has to be mandatory prison sentences for carrying a knife. \"It is not just an offensive weapon or something you could eat your food with. It is a lethal weapon.\" The mum of Grace O'Malley-Kumar has demanded mandatory prison sentences for carrying a knife Dr Kumar, a GP, described knife crime in England as an \"epidemic\", adding that existing legislation on the issue appeared \"easy-going\". \"Every day it seems there is a story about someone being stabbed to death and it feels like nothing is being done about it,\" he added. Ms O'Malley-Kumar's younger brother James echoed the calls of his parents, saying it seemed \"easier to get access to a knife than alcohol\". He has set up a foundation in his sister's name to fund causes she supported and to \"ensure she is never forgotten\". There is currently no minimum sentence for people caught carrying a knife for the first time. Whether or not a prison sentence is imposed depends on culpability, harm or aggravating and mitigating factors. For those aged over 18, a minimum sentence of six months' custody applies if someone has been caught with a knife before. For 16 and 17-year-olds, the equivalent is a four-month detention order. Ms O'Malley-Kumar's parents also paid tribute to their daughter, who was studying medicine at the University of Nottingham, saying she was the \"happiest she had been in her whole life\". Fighting back tears, Dr O'Malley said: \"I miss her so much. She was my little friend, my pet. I'm literally dizzy with grief and it's the same every day.\" Dr Kumar added: \"The fact I will not see her graduate, or marry or see grandchildren is brutal.\" Dr O'Malley also revealed she had got a tattoo of her daughter's name on her wrist, written in the way Ms O'Malley-Kumar had signed a birthday card to her mother when she was 16. Ms O'Malley-Kumar dreamed of becoming a doctor like her parents and administered hundreds of jabs in the Covid vaccination programme. She was also a keen cricketer and hockey player. Calocane, 32, admitted three counts of manslaughter and three counts of attempted murder, but denied murder on mental health grounds. In court, Dr Kumar praised his daughter's bravery for trying to fight off Calocane but said \"because of the weapon you carried she stood no chance\". He branded Calocane a \"cold, cowardly and calculating killer\" who had left his child \"lying in the street\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The parents of Grace O'Malley-Kumar, a student stabbed to death in Nottingham, have called for mandatory prison terms for carrying a knife, stating it should be a \"massive deterrent\" and not treated as an offensive weapon. They believe current legislation is \"easy-going\" and are urging the government to act urgently, following the conviction of Valdo Calocane for their daughter's manslaughter." + }, + { + "article": "A court in Bangladesh has sentenced the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to six months in jail for violating the country's labour laws. Prof Yunus' supporters say the case is politically motivated. The acclaimed economist and three colleagues from Grameen Telecom - one of the firms he founded - were found guilty of failing to create a welfare fund for their workers. All four deny any wrongdoing and have been granted bail pending appeals. \"As my lawyers have convincingly argued in court, this verdict against me is contrary to all legal precedent and logic,\" Prof Yunus said in a statement released after the verdict. \"I call for the Bangladeshi people to speak in one voice against injustice and in favour of democracy and human rights for each and every one of our citizens.\" The 83-year-old Yunus, known internationally as the \"banker to the poor\", is credited with establishing a pioneering system of micro-finance loans helping to lift millions out of poverty. Prof Yunus and his Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their pioneering work in 2006. Discussing the verdict, one of his lawyers, Abdullah Al Mamun, told the BBC: \"It was an unprecedent judgement. No due legal process was followed in the case and it was rushed through.\" Mr Mamun added: \"The whole idea is to damage his international reputation. We are appealing against this verdict.\" Prof Yunus's lawyers say he is facing more than 100 other charges over labour law violations and alleged graft. Prime Minister Hasina Sheikh once described Prof Yunus as a \"bloodsucker\" of the poor and accused Grameen Bank of charging exorbitant interest rates. Irene Khan - the former head of rights organisation Amnesty International who works as a UN special rapporteur - was present at Monday's verdict. She told the AFP news agency the conviction was \"a travesty of justice\". In August, more than 170 global figures called on Ms Hasina to stop the \"persecution\" of Prof Yunus. The letter, whose signatories included former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and U2 lead singer Bono, asked that the \"continuous judicial harassment\" of Prof Yunus be stopped. Ms Hasina said she welcomed international experts to assess the ongoing legal proceedings against Prof Yunus. It is not clear what led to the friction between Ms Hasina and Prof Yunus, but supporters of the economist said the government was attempting to discredit him because he once considered setting up a political party to rival the governing Awami League.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Bangladesh's court sentences Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to six months in jail for violating labor laws, a ruling his supporters claim is politically motivated. Yunus and three colleagues from Grameen Telecom face charges of not establishing a welfare fund for workers, but they deny any wrongdoing and have been granted bail while they appeal." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. For decades, Eurovision fans have wondered why the UK underplays its hand so badly. We produce world-beating pop stars like Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa - but our Eurovision entrants have largely been untested amateurs, singing songs so underwhelming they might has well have walked on stage with a white flag. The tide turned in 2022, when Sam Ryder brought the Bowie-inspired Space Man to Turin, blowing away cobwebs (and more than a few loudspeakers) with the Taurean force of his live vocals. He duly claimed second place - the UK's best result since 1998. Buoyed by that success, the UK sent rising pop star Mae Muller to last year's contest. Her song, the archly titled I Wrote A Song, was a bubbly pop anthem that won approval from fans - but lacklustre staging and a problematic vocal performance torpedoed her chances. The UK ended the night in 25th place, out of 26. So what next? The BBC could have admitted defeat and returned to the ranks of reality show runners-up, or they could have doubled down. Enter Olly Alexander - the former frontman of chart-topping pop group Years & Years, and a Bafta-nominated actor, who's been obsessed with Eurovision his whole life. \"It goes right back to being a kid and watching the show with my family - ordering pizza and spending all night in front of the TV watching this insane, amazing show,\" he told BBC News last year. \"It's a bit like a spiritual homecoming for me because I love Eurovision so much.\" This YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by YearsAndYearsVEVO This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google\u2019s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. His participation was revealed on the grand final of Strictly Come Dancing last December - another sign of how seriously the BBC is taking the contest this year. Three months later, he's finally revealed the song he'll be performing. A pulsing electro anthem called Dizzy, it dropped on streaming services at midnight, ahead of its radio premiere on Zoe Ball's Breakfast show on Friday morning. \"It's funny, I've never had a song with this much anticipation,\" he told Graham Norton, in an interview that will be screened on BBC One at 10:40pm on Friday. So will it make you giddy with excitement, or simply leave you nauseous? The first impressions are good. This is a sleek, streamlined slice of modern pop (imagine the Pet Shop Boys on a trip to the disco) anchored by a descending chord progression that'll be instantly recognisable to anyone who's heard Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive or Miley Cyrus's Flowers. Unlike those songs, which are all about emerging from a break-up, this is more about falling head-over-heels, whisk-me-off-my-feet-and-kiss-me-on-the-mouth in love. \"Won't you take my hand and spin me / Round and round so the moment never ends.\" The verses, meanwhile, are (intentionally?) written in the mangled English that characterises Eurovision's best songs. \"Beautiful garden / Eternal flowers,\" sings Alexander, apparently quoting directly from the Interflora website. Alexander duetted with Elton John at the 2021 Brit Awards Crucially, however, the hook is instantly memorable - a huge advantage in a competition where you only have one chance to make an impression. If there's a criticism, it's that the song could go harder. Instead of building to a climax, that final chorus is too polite. Without wanting to trivialise things, the song is desperately in need of a donk. Dizzy for Eurovision? Here's a look back at must-see moments: legendary wins, scandals, controversy & more. But that can all be tweaked for the performance. There's no rule that says the live version has to sound like the radio edit; and a few well-timed pyrotechnics could easily bring the house down (not literally, one hopes). As always, the staging is crucial, and that's one area where Alexander excels. His 2021 Brits performance of It's A Sin, striding across Sir Elton John's piano, was one of the ceremony's most memorable performances in years. A blissed-out, intricately-choreographed Glastonbury set the following year proved he has the ability to command a huge audience. The other variable is his competition. After Loreen's victory for Sweden last year, several countries have entered up-tempo bops - from the techno bounce of Lithuania's Silvester Belt to the percolating synthpop of Spain's Nebulossa. Others have drawn inspiration from 2023's runner-up, Kaarija, with Ireland's Bambi Thug and Croatia's Baby Lasagna putting forward gloriously chaotic songs that test the very boundaries of pop music. In other words, the UK needs to work hard to distinguish itself. Personally, though, I can't see Dizzy tripping up too badly. Alexander is a beloved performer with name recognition across Europe, and the song capitalises on his cheeky charisma. It might not attract \"douze points\" across the board, but it would be hard to relegate to last place. All eyes will be watching when Alexander twirls into Malm\u00f6 this May. This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by BBC Eurovision This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter\u2019s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Olly Alexander, former frontman of Years & Years, will represent the UK at Eurovision 2023 with the song \"Dizzy,\" an electro-pop anthem about falling in love. After Sam Ryder's second-place finish in 2022, the BBC is taking the contest seriously, and Alexander's participation, revealed on Strictly Come Dancing, indicates their commitment to a strong entry. The song's catchy hook and potential for impactful staging could make it a contender, although it may need to be intensified for the live performance." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Louise Slorance says there is a 'culture of secrecy' within the Scottish government The widow of a civil servant who died after catching Covid has accused ministers of putting more effort into hiding mistakes than learning from them. Louise Slorance's husband Andrew contracted the virus while being treated in hospital for cancer in 2020. Ms Slorance was reacting to Nicola Sturgeon's evidence at the UK Covid Inquiry in Edinburgh. She said she would \"never forgive\" those involved for what happened. Andrew Slorance was head of the Scottish government's response and communication unit, which was responsible for its handling of the Covid pandemic. When he died in December 2020 the first minister led tributes, saying the government was devastated. Mr Slorance, 49, died in Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH), with the cause of his death listed as Covid pneumonia. Speaking on Wednesday, Louise Slorance said there was a \"culture of secrecy\" within the Scottish government that continues to this day. She said it was \"clear\" from Ms Sturgeon's evidence to the inquiry that the former first minister \"likes to be in control\" and added that \"the secrecy must stop now\". Ms Slorance told BBC Scotland News: \"I think so much evidence has been lost that we can't get the answers we all deserve and need in order to grieve properly. \"Mistakes were made. Probably they were known at the time. But there is a failure to acknowledge those mistakes and learn from them. \"And more effort is being put into hiding those than acknowledging them and taking the learning forward.\" Aamer Anwar and members of the Scottish Covid Bereaved group Ms Sturgeon's testimony was attacked by others who lost relatives to Covid. Speaking outside the Edinburgh venue at the end of the day's evidence on Wednesday, lawyer Aamer Anwar made a statement on behalf of the Scottish Covid Bereaved group. The group has accused the former first minister of a \"betrayal of the many promises she made\" during the pandemic. Mr Anwar said: \"Nicola Sturgeon as first minister became Scotland's master of spin and today was the greatest trial she has ever faced to date. \"There was no hiding place, no toleration of spin, no acceptance of tear-filled sorrow.\" He said that in comparison to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Ms Sturgeon \"projected a daily image of sincerity in wanting to do right by the people of Scotland during the pandemic\". But he added that her \"carefully crafted image\" had been left \"shattered by her own hands\". Mr Anwar continued: \"Those who lost loved ones were convinced that they would no longer be invisible in their misery, and Ms Sturgeon would do everything possible to illuminate the truth. That was the very least she owed to those who lost their lives to Covid. \"Today Nicola Sturgeon stands accused of a betrayal of the many promises she made, including that 'nothing would be off limits' in the public inquiries.\" Nicola Sturgeon was giving evidence at the UK Covid Inquiry Mr Anwar questioned why Ms Sturgeon deleted WhatsApp messages when she knew a public inquiry was going to happen. He said it left his clients with questions over PPE, and \"what discussions took place over the trial of Alex Salmond and whether they had any impact on a delay in the lockdown\". Mr Anwar said, as a former lawyer, Ms Sturgeon knows there are \"severe consequences\" for anyone choosing to delete information to prevent its disclosure to a public inquiry. \"My clients have asked me to consider asking for a criminal investigation into the actions of the former first minister and others, we will carefully consider our next steps once the evidence is completed today,\" he added. Members of the group also spoke out. Margaret Waterton, who lost her mother and husband to coronavirus, said Ms Sturgeon was a \"consummate politician\" but the context of the decision-making at the heart of government remained unclear. \"Ms Sturgeon said she had not had a day off for months during the pandemic. I would ask Ms Sturgeon to consider walking in our shoes, because we have not had a day off since the deaths of our loved ones,\" she said. Pamela Thomas lost her brother, James Cameron, to the virus. She said: \"Crocodile tears aren't washing with me. If there is any tools available to my solicitors or the inquiry with regards to any criminal activity that took place, I would like them to use them all.\" Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross accused Ms Sturgeon of leading an \"orchestrated cover-up of her government's actions during the pandemic\". And he claimed decision-making had been motivated by the SNP's political agenda. \"Her repeated claims that no meaningful decisions were taken over her deleted WhatsApps - and her cringeworthy efforts to deny she lied to the public over destroying them - were repeatedly exposed by evidence to the contrary,\" he said. \"This slippery performance confirmed what the public now know - Nicola Sturgeon is a discredited politician who betrayed bereaved families. That's why her reputation and credibility lie in ruins.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The widow of a Scottish civil servant who died of Covid after contracting it in hospital has accused the government of prioritizing secrecy over learning from mistakes. Louise Slorance criticized Nicola Sturgeon's evidence at the UK Covid Inquiry, stating there is a \"culture of secrecy\" that continues, and called for transparency. Other bereaved families also expressed disappointment, accusing Sturgeon of betrayal and considering calling for a criminal investigation over deleted WhatsApp messages." + }, + { + "article": "Dwelaniyah Robinson was fatally injured at his home near Durham in 2022 A mum accused of murdering her three-year-old son did not seek help for his scald injuries because she thought it \"looked bad\" for her, jurors heard. Dwelaniyah Robinson had 20% burns inflicted on his legs in the weeks before he was fatally injured at his home, near Durham, in November 2022. Christina Robinson, 30, who denies murder and child cruelty, told Newcastle Crown Court she did not realise a hot shower was hurting him. She admitted hitting him with a cane. The court has heard Dwelaniyah died from a combination of the burns, which covered his lower body, and a brain injury suffered at his home in Ushaw Moor on 5 November. Ms Robinson told jurors she went to shower Dwelaniyah on the morning of 19 October after he soiled his pyjamas. She said he was already crying and \"screaming\" as he feared the showerhead, and she did not realise the water had got so hot. Afterwards he was \"quiet\" and she noticed his legs had gone a \"burgundy colour\", Ms Robinson said under questioning from her barrister, Jamie Hill KC. The court heard she made multiple internet searches over the following days about how to treat burns and ordered bandages, painkillers, dressings and antiseptic creams. Ms Robinson said she thought it was only a \"very minor\" wound which she could treat, but realised it was more serious after three days. \"At that point, when I realised the actual damage and extent of the burns, so many days had passed and I just felt ashamed,\" Ms Robinson said, adding she \"felt really, really bad\" and \"knew it would look really bad\" for her. She said she felt \"responsible for doing this by accident to him\" and it was her \"responsibility to take care of it\", adding: \"I went straight into care mode.\" The trial has heard Ms Robinson was having an affair with 27-year-old Chisom Innocent Onoja, from Middlesbrough, while her husband, Gabriel Adu-Appau, was working away with the RAF near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. In messages sent to Mr Onoja, Ms Robinson said her son would get a \"major ass-kicking\" after spilling vitamin pills. Ms Robinson said that did \"not necessarily\" mean physical punishment, adding she was \"just in a mood\". She admitted she did slap him on the back in chastisement, adding \"it wouldn't have been gentle\", but he had not been injured by it. Ms Robinson also admitted striking Delwaniyah across the chest with a cane just an hour or so before he collapsed. She told the court it was the first time she had ever hit her son with the cane and she did it to stop him \"messing about\" with his food. Ms Robinson said she was a new follower of the Black Hebrew Israelites and had been watching videos which said a rod should be used to chastise a child. She said she \"honestly thought\" she was \"doing the right thing\", adding: \"I just really wanted to be obedient to God and I thought this was part of it.\" She said looking back, she had been \"misguided\" and lacked \"understanding\", adding her relationship with God now was \"great\". Christina Robinson is on trial at Newcastle Crown Court In cross-examination, Richard Wright KC said Dwelaniyah had suffered more than 60 injuries including 19 apparently inflicted by the cane. He asked if she stood by a claim made to detectives that she had \"done her best\" by her son or would she accept she had \"failed him completely\". Ms Robinson replied, apart from where she was \"misguided with the scriptures\" and not taking him to hospital, that \"yes\", she \"did the best that [she] could\" for her child. Ms Robinson said Dwelaniyah made a \"gargling\" or \"gasping\" sound while eating a cheese bap on the living room floor and \"collapsed\" shortly before 16:00. She said he carried him upstairs, scooped food out of his mouth and did an internet search for performing CPR on a child. Mr Hill asked her why she did not contact emergency services for about 20 minutes, to which Ms Robinson replied: \"It honestly did not cross my mind, it really, really didn't.\" Ms Robinson refuted a police officer's claim she \"lacked any urgency\" to follow her son to the hospital, and said she was not someone who showed public emotion. She said she lied to police when she told them Dwelaniyah had been playing alone in the shower when he was burned because she was \"afraid\" and \"ashamed\". She denied shaking her son, adding she had low iron so would not have had the energy to harm him. She said her son was \"clumsy\" and she had seen him fall face-first a number of times. The court heard she grew up in Tamworth, Staffordshire, and, after seven years living in Bulgaria, moved to the North East with Mr Adu-Appau six months after Dwelaniyah was born. She said by September 2022 she was \"completely done\" with their marriage as her husband's career was \"more important to him\". She said she \"wanted a very large family\" with \"double figures\" of children but her husband did not, claiming he said he \"didn't care\" after she had several miscarriages. Ms Robinson said Mr Adu-Appau disciplined Dwelaniyah with punishments ranging from a telling off to \"something physical\" using utensils, shoes or a piece of wood. She also admitted they would regularly leave their son home alone for up to half an hour at a time. She said it was the \"norm\" for Dwelaniyah to be left while she and her husband made a \"quick nip to the shops\", if Mr Adu-Appau \"went for a run\" or if he took her to a \"nail appointment\". \"We shouldn't have done it,\" she said, but added she always thought her son was safe. Follow BBC North East on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A mother on trial for the murder of her three-year-old son, Dwelaniyah Robinson, told the court she didn't seek help for his scald injuries because she thought it would \"look bad\" for her. Christina Robinson, who denies murder and child cruelty, admitted hitting her son with a cane and not realizing the hot shower was causing him harm. Dwelaniyah died from a combination of burns and a brain injury in November 2022." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Alexei Navalny's widow Yulia has vowed to continue his work to fight for a \"free Russia\" in a video posted on Monday. Her voice sometimes shaking with grief and anger, Ms Navalnaya asked viewers to stand alongside her and \"share the fury and hate for those who dared to kill our future\". She also accused the authorities of hiding her husband's body. Navalny's death in prison was announced on 16 February. The prison authorities at the Siberian penal colony he was being held in said he collapsed following a walk and never regained consciousness. Navalny's body has not yet been released to his family, despite his mother and lawyer travelling to the remote penal colony where he was being held as soon as news of his death broke. Attempts to locate the body have repeatedly been shut down by the prison mortuary and local authorities. On Monday, the Kremlin said an investigation into Navalny's death was ongoing and that there were \"no results\" as of yet. Later, Navalny's spokewoman Kira Yarmysh said that investigators told Navalny's mother they would not hand over the body for two weeks while they conduct a \"chemical analysis\". In her video message, Ms Navalnaya said she believed the authorities were waiting for traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok to disappear from Navalny's body. Navalny, who was the Russian opposition's most significant leader for the last decade, had been serving a 19-year sentence on charges many viewed as politically motivated. Now, Ms Navalnaya - who previously mostly shied away from the spotlight - indicated she might be ready to continue her husband's political fight for change in Russia. \"Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband Alexei Navalny. Putin killed the father of my children. Putin took away the most important thing I had. The person who was closest to me and whom I loved most,\" she said in her video message. She promised to \"continue to fight for our country\" and added: \"We need to use every opportunity - to fight against the war, against corruption, against injustice. To fight for fair elections and freedom of speech. To fight to take our country back. Russia - free, peaceful, happy - the beautiful Russia of the future, of which my husband dreamed so much.\" In the video, Ms Navalnaya also said she knew \"exactly why Putin killed Alexei three days ago\" and promised to release the information \"soon\". Makeshift memorials to Alexei Navalny have appeared across Europe Western leaders have put the blame for Navalny's death squarely on President Putin. Responding to questions from reporters on Monday, President Joe Biden said: \"The fact of the matter is: Putin is responsible, whether he ordered it or he is responsible for the circumstances he put that man in. And... it's a reflection of who he is. And it just cannot be tolerated.\" During a press conference on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he believed her husband \"was slowly murdered in a Russian jail by Putin's regime\". Both the EU and the US have said they are considering new sanctions on Russia following Navalny's death. Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway and France said they were summoning the Russian ambassadors in their capitals. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said comments by Western politicians in regards to Navalny's death were \"arrogant\" and \"unacceptable\". Russian prison authorities said at the weekend that Navalny had suffered \"sudden death syndrome\". Hundreds of people in more than 30 cities across Russia were detained at the weekend for attending makeshift memorials to Navalny. In Moscow, 20 people were sentenced to various amounts of prison time - ranging from one day to nine days - and two people were fined 10,000 rubles (\u00a385). n.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Alexei Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, vows to continue his fight for a \"free Russia\" after his death in prison, accusing authorities of hiding his body and suggesting they may be trying to cover up evidence of the nerve agent Novichok. Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, blame President Putin for Navalny's death, with the EU and US considering new sanctions on Russia, while protests and detentions occur in Russia." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Cleared sub-postmaster tells his family he is 'free' A former sub-postmaster wrongly accused of embezzlement during the post office IT scandal has had his conviction overturned. Rab Thomson, 64, from Alva, wept as he told his sister he had been cleared after a 20-year fight. Mr Thomson, who was convicted in 2006, is the fifth person in Scotland to have their post office conviction quashed. The scandal has been described as the most widespread British miscarriage of justice in modern times. More than 700 post office branch managers across the UK were prosecuted on the basis of a faulty IT system called Horizon, designed by Fujitsu, which made it look like money was missing when it was not. Mr Thomson took over the post office in Cambus, near Alloa in Clackmannanshire, from his mother Margaret in 1999. He was prosecuted after a 2004 audit found an apparent shortfall of \u00a35,700 and sentenced to 180 hours of community service. Mr Thomson's mother died before he could officially clear his name. He told BBC Scotland he felt his exoneration \"would never come,\" adding he felt the worst chapter of his life was now closed. Rab Thomson's mother died before he had the chance to clear his name He said: \"It's been like a noose - the longer it was going on, it seemed to be getting tighter and tighter. \"I never thought this day would come. It's been 20 years, every time we spoke to the lawyers, they were waiting on something else. It did get to the stage that I was just going to throw the towel in. \"But the people who have stuck by me, my family, they all told me it would happen. I only wish my mum was here today to see what has happened. \"Hopefully she is looking down on me and smiling and we'll go and see her up at the graveyard and thank her for everything she has done for us.\" Mr Thomson's case was one of six in Scotland that were referred to the High Court as a potential miscarriage of justice in November 2022. His appeal was due to be heard on 1 February but the Crown Office decided earlier this week it would not oppose it and he was formally cleared on Wednesday. A UK-wide inquiry into what happened during the Horizon scandal is under way. The case was thrust back into the public arena by an ITV drama which followed the scandal being uncovered. Mr Thomson said it should not have taken 20 years for those wrongly prosecuted to be cleared. He called on the current Post Office boss, Nick Read, and his predecessor Paula Vennells to formally apologise to those affected by the scandal. He said: \"If I met the head [of the Post Office] at the moment. I would ask him what he has done for the last 20 years and what have I done in the last 20 years. \"What you see in the inquiry at the moment, it is making your blood boil. It's lie, after lie, after lie. \"I would like the current Post Office boss to come out and apologise. I would like Venells to apologise. Why has it taken an inquiry and a programme to come on the television for us to get answers?\" David Enright, partner with Howe & Co Solicitors, who acts for over 200 postmasters said: \"Although Robert's name has finally been cleared, tragically his mother did not live to see this day. \"We will now be demanding immediate and substantial compensation for Robert, so that he can get back to the life that was stolen from him. \"Although money can never make up for everything that Robert has lost, we will ensure that he is compensated to the fullest extent that he is entitled.\" A Post Office spokesperson said: \"We are deeply sorry for past wrongs and are doing all we can to put these right, including extensive work to support overturning wrongful convictions. \"This work includes assisting the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service, and we continue to work with the UK government to support its efforts to speed up the exoneration of people with wrongful convictions.\" Have you been personally affected by the Post Office scandal? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A former sub-postmaster, Rab Thomson, had his conviction for embezzlement overturned after a 20-year fight, becoming the fifth person in Scotland to have a post office conviction quashed in the UK's Horizon IT scandal. Thomson, wrongfully accused due to a faulty IT system, said he felt the worst chapter of his life was now closed, calling for an apology from current and former Post Office bosses." + }, + { + "article": "More than 38 million people hold accounts at Commercial Bank Ethiopia Ethiopia's biggest commercial bank is scrambling to recoup large sums of money withdrawn by customers after a \"systems glitch\". The customers discovered early on Saturday that they could take out more cash than they had in their accounts at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). More than $40m (\u00a331m) was withdrawn or transferred to other banks, local media reported. It took several hours for the institution to freeze transactions. Much of the money was withdrawn from state-owned CBE by students, bank president Abe Sano told journalists on Monday. News of the glitch spread across universities largely via messaging apps and phone calls. Long lines formed at campus ATMs, with a student in western Ethiopia telling BBC Amharic people were withdrawing money until police officers arrived on campus to stop them. The student, who attends Jimma University Institute of Technology, said he \"did not believe it was true\" when his friends told him at around 01:00 local time (22:00 GMT) that it was possible to withdraw large amounts from ATMs, or transfer the money using the bank's app. Another student, at Dilla University in southern Ethiopia, said a number of his peers retrieved money from CBE between midnight and 02:00 local time. More than 38 million people hold accounts at CBE, which was established 82 years ago. Ethiopia's central bank, which serves as the financial sector's governing body, released a statement on Sunday saying \"a glitch\" had occurred during \"maintenance and inspection activities\". The statement, however, focused on the interrupted service that occurred after CBE froze all transactions. It did not mention the money withdrawn by customers. Mr Sano did not say exactly how much money was withdrawn during Saturday's incident, but said the loss incurred was small when compared to the bank's total assets. He stated that CBE was not hit by a cyber-attack and that customers should not be worried as their personal accounts were intact. At least three universities have released statements advising students to return any money not belonging to them that they may have taken from CBE. Anyone returning money will not be charged with a criminal offence, Mr Sano said. But it's not clear how successful the bank's attempts to recoup their money has been so far. The student from Jimma University said on Monday he had not heard of anyone giving the money back, but said he had seen police vehicles on campus. An official at Dilla University said bank employees were on campus collecting money that some students were returning voluntarily.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ethiopia's largest commercial bank, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), experienced a systems glitch that allowed customers to withdraw more cash than they had in their accounts, resulting in over $40 million being withdrawn or transferred. The bank, which has over 38 million account holders, froze transactions after several hours, and while some students have returned the excess money, it is unclear how much has been recouped." + }, + { + "article": "Tata says the switch could slash the site's emissions by around 85% a year Workers have been left stranded by Tata Steel's announcement of 2,800 job losses as part of a move to greener steel, say campaigners. Greenpeace policy director Doug Parr said it was a \"missed opportunity\". He believes some of the Port Talbot workforce could have taken part in a pilot to explore the potential of manufacturing steel using hydrogen. The UK government said hydrogen powered steelmaking is not \"commercially viable\" at the moment. Tata's managing director TV Narendran said he was not ruling out further investment in natural gas or hydrogen powered steelmaking at Port Talbot in the future. \"If [natural] gas was available here we could have considered that even today,\" he said. \"Hydrogen is even further away. So these are not off the table. I think this is just the first step.\" The jobs are going because Tata is shutting down both blast furnaces at its Port Talbot site and building a \"more sustainable, green steel business\" using an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). Blast furnaces make new steel from iron ore, usually by burning coal which produces a lot of carbon dioxide, a gas which contributes to global warming. An electric arc furnace at a steel plant in Izhevsk, Russia Tata said that closing them would reduce \"overall UK country emissions by about 1.5%\". But Dr Parr said: \"It is not the just transition we want to see where workers in carbon intensive industries should be helped and supported into other forms of employment.\" The Port Talbot plant is the UK's biggest steelworks employing about 4,000 people. A total of 8,000 people work for Tata around the UK. Unions said they expect the bulk of the job losses will be at Port Talbot, but Tata has not confirmed the breakdown. Tata Steel is planning to build the EAF, which produces recycled steel from scrap using electricity, by 2027. EAFs are more automated and require a much smaller workforce. Dr Parr said the UK government was missing out on the chance to pioneer green technology \"and answer the strategic question of whether we want to stay a producer of steel\". \"Around Europe there are 40 plants being set up that use this technology,\" he said There is currently no infrastructure in place to supply hydrogen or natural gas to the Port Talbot plant. David Davies, the Welsh Secretary, said the UK government had given Tata \u00a3500m to build the EAF to secure the future of the Port Talbot site and the bulk of the 8,000 strong workforce around the UK. Mr Davies said hydrogen powered steel \"is not commercial\". He added: \"It's 25% more expensive than the steel produced from a blast furnace. \"We cannot produce steel in that fashion in anything like the quantities that would be needed to make that viable.\" Tata UK said its plans were \"intended to reverse more than a decade of losses\" as well as reducing carbon emissions and \"maintain the country's self-sufficiency in steelmaking\". Unions have condemned the decision to cut jobs and urged Tata to reconsider alternative proposals. Are you a Tata Steel worker? Share your views and experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Tata Steel's plan to cut 2,800 jobs and switch to greener steel production at Port Talbot has been criticized by Greenpeace for missing an opportunity to explore hydrogen manufacturing, with the UK government stating that hydrogen steelmaking is not yet commercially viable. The move, aimed at reducing emissions by 85% a year, will involve shutting down blast furnaces and using an Electric Arc Furnace, leading to concerns about the impact on workers and the UK's steel production capabilities." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Lava flows have slowed in south-west Iceland following a volcanic eruption that has destroyed several homes. A volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula erupted on Sunday, spilling molten rock into the town of Grindavik. The local population was evacuated. Defences built after an eruption in December were breached in places, setting houses on fire. But by Monday the flow had almost stopped. There is no danger to the rest of Iceland, officials say. Dr Matthew Roberts of the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) told the BBC that the situation near Grindavik had \"very much eased\" on Monday. He added that micro-earthquakes - which are not commonly felt by people - were still happening, but their number and intensity were decreasing. However, many Grindavik residents have been left shaken by the eruption. \"Seeing your home burn down on live television is something you cannot easily handle,\" Unndor Sigurthsson told the MBL news website. She said her family had left almost all their belongings when they were evacuated, leaving them only with clothes and essential items. A volcano spews lava and smoke as it erupts in Reykjanes Peninsula There has been no disruption to domestic or international flights. The IMO's aviation colour code for the Reykjanes peninsula was orange on Monday morning, indicating an ongoing eruption with \"no or minor ash emission\". Addressing the nation on Sunday evening, President Gudni Johannesson urged people to \"stand together and have compassion for those who cannot be in their homes\". Volcanologist Evgenia Ilyinskaya told BBC Breakfast that the peninsula could be entering a period of frequent eruptions, known as the New Reykjanes Fires. Prof Ilyinskaya said eruptions could take place \"every few months or once a year for several decades or several centuries\". The Reykjanes Fires were a series of instances of intense volcanic activity on the peninsula in the 12th Century. Strong tremors preceded the December eruption in the Svartsengi volcanic system. In the weeks since, walls were built around the volcano to direct molten rock away from Grindavik, home to some 4,000 people. Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said the eruption was a \"black day for all of Iceland\", but added that \"the sun will rise again\". Sunday's eruption is the fifth to have taken place along the Reykjanes peninsula since 2021. Iceland sits over what's known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the boundary between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates - two of the largest on the planet. Iceland has 33 active volcano systems.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A volcanic eruption in south-west Iceland has slowed down, with lava flows almost stopping and no further danger to the local population. The eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula destroyed several homes, but defenses built after a previous eruption in December helped prevent further damage." + }, + { + "article": "The Conservatives and Labour have been accused of a \"conspiracy of silence\" over the scale of spending cuts or tax rises by an influential think tank. Tough decisions would need to be made following the next election, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the BBC it would be \"challenging\" to live within current spending restrictions. Labour says it will have to make future savings to public spending to fund some of its policies if it wins power. The state of the economy is under intense focus in the run-up to a general election that must be called before next January. In Wednesday's Budget, the chancellor cut National Insurance by 2p and increased child benefit salary thresholds, while introducing a new vaping levy and abolishing non-dom tax status. Scrapping non-dom status had been a Labour Party policy and leader Sir Keir Starmer described the decision by the Conservatives to use it in their Budget as \"humiliating\". Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused to be drawn on the date of the general election. He told BBC Radio Leeds \"nothing has changed\" since when he said his working assumption was for the public to go to the polls in the second half of this year. \"I was very clear about this at the beginning of the year about my working assumption for the election being in the second half of the year - nothing has changed since then,\" he said. Mr Sunak also said the focus on the election date was coming from the Labour party to \"distract from the fact that actually they don't want talk about the substance\". The IFS said the tax cuts announced in the Budget would not make up for the impact of tax increases and rising prices. It said households would be worse off at the election than they were at the start of this parliament. Under the current government's self-imposed fiscal rules, debt must be falling as a proportion of the size of the economy in five years' time. IFS director Paul Johnson said that debt as a proportion of the size of the economy was at its highest level in 70 years and \"is showing no signs of falling\". He added that the next parliament could \"well prove to be the most difficult of any in 80 years for a chancellor wanting to bring debt down\". Mr Johnson said both Conservatives and Labour were joining in \"a conspiracy of silence in not acknowledging the scale of the choices and trade-offs that will face us after the election\" which included \"eye-wateringly tough choices\" on public service spending to stabilise debt as a fraction of national income. In the Budget, Mr Hunt said he would keep the planned increase in day-to-day government spending at 1% above inflation every year until 2029. However, as some departments like health and schools have protected budgets, that means others such as justice and local government could see significant cuts. Unprotected departments could face day-to-day cuts of up to \u00a320bn, Mr Johnson warned. The chancellor said the lack of detail was because plans are decided and reliant on a government spending review which, he disclosed on Wednesday, will not be done until after the general election. The last spending review was in 2021. Mr Hunt told the BBC: \"We know it's going to be challenging to live within a tight spending envelope and we want to do it without affecting the services the public value.\" Earlier this year, Richard Hughes, the head of the independent government economic forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said it would be \"generous\" to call the spending plans a \"work of fiction\" given the lack of detail in them. Speaking to the BBC on Thursday, Mr Hughes said while the OBR had lots detail on the government's tax plans, it had much less about spending plans for public services which accounts for two-thirds of the deficit reduction that Mr Hunt needs to deliver over the next five years to meet his debt targets. \"They've got a very constrained envelope for that spending, no real growth per person on public services,\" he told the Today programme. \"But what we don't know is, what does that mean for the NHS? What does it mean for transport? What does it mean for education? We don't have that detail on the spending side.\" Mr Hunt has defended the squeeze on public spending as realistic if schools, hospitals and the police increased productivity by deploying automation, artificial intelligence and drones. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said Labour now intends to pay for its NHS and school breakfast plans through future savings to public spending if it wins power. Labour had intended to use money raised from scrapping the non-dom tax regime, but Mr Hunt is now using this to help fund the cut to National Insurance. Ms Reeves admitted it will force her to change her own plans. \"But we will find that money, because it is a national priority, and it is a Labour priority,\" she told the BBC. Separate analysis from the Resolution Foundation, a think tank which focuses on low and middle earners, said that Wednesday's Budget would mean a net tax cut of \u00a39bn is taking effect this year. However, that was dwarfed by an estimated \u00a327bn of tax rises that came into effect last year - and a further \u00a319bn coming in after the election. The foundation said that while more than three-quarters of the personal tax cuts announced in the Budget go to the richest half of households, there is a different picture when all the tax and benefit policies announced in this parliament - starting in 2019 - are analysed. \"Middle earners have come out on top, while taxpayers earning below \u00a326,000 or over \u00a360,000 will lose out. The biggest group of losers are pensioners, who face an \u00a38bn collective hit,\" said Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation. He added that policy changes seen in the current parliament \"reinforces the sense that the government has reversed course from the approach that dominated during the 2010s\". \"Back then, support was focused on pensioners and takeaways on poorer, younger households. This time it is those aged over 65 and on the highest incomes who are set to lose most.\" The Resolution Foundation also said that the UK is heading for nearly 20 years of lost pay growth as, after taking account of rising prices, the average wage will not regain its 2008 level until 2026. It said that if pay had continued to grow at the same pace seen before the 2008 financial crisis, the average worker in 2023 would have been around \u00a314,000 better off.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An influential think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), has criticized both the Conservatives and Labour for not addressing the significant spending cuts or tax rises that will be necessary after the next election. The IFS warns of \"eye-wateringly tough choices\" on public service spending to reduce debt, with households expected to be worse off by the election compared to the start of the parliament. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt acknowledges the challenge, while Labour plans to fund some policies through future savings in public spending." + }, + { + "article": "A British consultancy that compiled a salacious dossier linking Donald Trump to Russia has welcomed a UK High Court decision to throw out a lawsuit by the former US president. Orbis Business Intelligence - run by ex-MI6 officer Christopher Steele - said it was \"delighted\" by the ruling. Mr Trump had been seeking to use data protection laws to sue the company. Funded by Hillary Clinton's Democrats and other political opponents of Mr Trump, the dossier was leaked to the media just before Mr Trump, a Republican, was sworn in as president. In bringing the lawsuit against Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd, Mr Trump's legal team said the dossier contained claims that were inaccurate and breached his data protection rights. In Thursday's ruling in London, Mrs Justice Steyn DBE said she did not make any judgement on the allegations themselves. But she found Mr Trump's claim had not been brought within the six-year limitation period. \"There are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial,\" she wrote. Orbis said the lawsuit should never have been brought. \"Mr Trump has already been criticised by US courts for pursuing vexatious litigation against us,\" said its statement. \"And we feel strongly that Mr Trump also brought this claim in an attempt to exact revenge on Orbis and to chill free speech and legitimate investigations. \"Orbis stands by its sources and work and will not be deflected by such 'lawfare' practices.\" Another lawsuit that Mr Trump filed against Orbis, Mrs Clinton and FBI officials was dismissed by a federal judge in Florida in 2022. Mr Steele has previously said the dossier was a series of memos based on intelligence and never meant for publication. The case stems from 2016, when a US political consultancy asked Mr Steele's company to produce a report into potential Russian interference in that year's US general election. Mr Steele, the former head of MI6's Russia desk, sent his findings to the FBI, a British national security officer and an aide to a senior US senator. The dossier, later obtained and published by BuzzFeed News, detailed uncorroborated intelligence claims that Mr Trump had a \"compromising relationship with the Kremlin\". The former president said in his witness statement when he brought the case last year that \"none of these things [in the Steele dossier] ever happened\". \"I can confirm that I did not, at any time engage in perverted sexual behaviour including the hiring of prostitutes to engage in 'golden showers' in the presidential suite of a hotel in Moscow.\" Mr Trump said the dossier continued \"to cause me significant damage and distress\" because people still believed it. He added that he had not had time to sue in the UK before 2023 because he had been busy being president. Antony White KC, for Orbis, told the court in October that Mr Trump had accepted that the company was not responsible for BuzzFeed's publication of the document. Orbis also argued that the former president's case was an attempt to address \"longstanding grievances\". A spokesman for Mr Trump, Steven Cheung, said that Mr Trump \"will continue to fight for the truth and against falsehoods such as the ones promulgated by Steele and his cohorts\". \"The High Court in London has found that there was not even an attempt by Christopher Steele, or his group, to justify or try to prove, which they absolutely cannot, their false and defamatory allegations in the fake 'dossier',\" Mr Cheung said in a statement. A US Department of Justice report found in 2019 that the FBI had \"raised doubts about the reliability of some of Steele's reports\". Federal investigators \"also assessed the possibility that Russia was funneling disinformation to Steele\", said the inspector general. An inquiry by Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Mr Trump's campaign and Russian agents to sway the 2016 election in his favour. But it laid out 10 instances where Mr Trump had possibly obstructed justice during the investigation.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A UK High Court has dismissed a lawsuit by former US President Donald Trump against British consultancy Orbis Business Intelligence, which compiled a dossier linking him to Russia. The court ruled that the claim was not brought within the six-year limitation period, and Orbis stated that the lawsuit was an attempt by Trump to exact revenge and chill free speech." + }, + { + "article": "UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres (second left) and EU top diplomat Josep Borrell (first right) had a lot to discuss It's called the Munich Rule: engage and interact; don't lecture or ignore one another. But this year, at the 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC), two of the most talked-about people weren't even here. That included former US President Donald Trump, whose possible return to the White House could throw a spanner in the work of the transatlantic relationship, which lies at the heart of this premier international forum. And Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who was vehemently blamed by one world leader after another for the death of his most prominent critic Alexei Navalny, not to mention his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which continues to cast a long dark shadow across Europe and far beyond. The staggering news of Navalny's death, which broke just hours before the conference kicked off on Friday, underlined again the perilous unpredictability of a world carved up by multiple fault lines and entrenched interests. \"We live in a world where there is more and more confrontation and less co-operation,\" regretted the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. \"The world has become a much more dangerous place,\" he told me as the conference drew to a close on Sunday. \"Lose-Lose?\" was the maxim of this year's gathering, at a time of deepening geopolitical tensions and jarring economic uncertainties. The MSC's annual report warned that it could give rise to \"lose-lose\" dynamics among governments, \"a downwards spiral that jeopardises co-operation and undermines the existing international order\". \"I think this has been the conference of a disordered world,\" reflected David Miliband, the CEO and president of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). \"It's a world dominated by impunity, where the guardrail stabilisers are not working and that's why there's so much disorder, not just in Ukraine and in Gaza and Israel, but more widely in places like Sudan, whose humanitarian crisis isn't even getting on the agenda,\" he said. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This issue of impunity, one of the toughest of political challenges, was suddenly transformed into a poignant personal story when Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, unexpectedly appeared on the conference's main stage in the grand Bayerischer Hof hotel to condemn Russia's president and urge the assembled presidents, prime ministers, defence chiefs and top diplomats to bring him to justice. Her remarkable composure and clarity stunned the packed hall, which gave her a sustained standing ovation before and after she spoke with palpable pain. This year Russia, as well as Iran, weren't invited to Munich because the organisers assessed they weren't \"interested in meaningful dialogue\". Protesters against Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine made their voices heard during the Munich conference In MSC forums gone by, vitriolic speeches by Russia's veteran Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov angered and electrified the main hall, and Iran's visible presence highlighted the rivalries and risks in urgent need of resolution. The imperative of continuing hefty Western military and financial assistance to Ukraine was underscored repeatedly by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who exhorted participants to act, as he rushed from one high-level meeting to the next. \"The year of 2024 demands your response - from everyone in the world,\" he beseeched delegates when he spoke from the top podium. The US's pivotal support was uppermost in his mind as a vital security package, amounting to $60bn (\u00a348bn), is being held up by a US Congress where Republican lawmakers are increasingly divided over whether to keep backing Kyiv in its fight. Back home in Ukraine, soldiers are even running out of bullets on front lines. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh argued that a \"serious ceasefire\" was urgently needed in Gaza US delegates in Munich, including Vice-President Kamala Harris, were at pains to insist that she and President Joe Biden would not abandon Ukraine, nor America's leadership in global affairs. But with US elections just nine months away, Mr Trump is already shaping the polarised political debate in Washington and reviving anxiety that he could pull the US out of the Nato military alliance and other international commitments. \"They know what they need to do but they can't get it done, and that's the gap that has to be filled,\" was how Mr Miliband assessed pledges voiced by the US and European allies in Munich. Others were even more stinging in their criticism. \"Lots of words. No concrete commitments,\" posted Nathalie Tocci, Director of the Institute of International Affairs, on X, formerly known as Twitter. \"It's a sad MSC2024.\" The gaps were even more glaring when it came to the devastating Israel-Gaza war, which erupted after Hamas's murderous assault on southern Israel on 7 October. Israel's military operations are causing a staggering number of civilian casualties and have ravaged much of this coastal strip. \"We have seen a really great interest from the international community and the world leaders who have gathered here in Munich that they would like to see a serious ceasefire and a substantial amount of international aid into Gaza,\" Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh remarked in an interview. But Israeli delegates, including former peace negotiator Tzipi Livni, doubled down on the need to keep pressing forward. \"I'm a political opponent of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, but I support the war in Gaza,\" she emphasised in a session, which also included Mr Shtayyeh and the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. \"I support the strategic need to eliminate Hamas as a terrorist organisation and as a regime,\" Ms Livni said. This year's MSC marked a record attendance: more than 900 participants including some 50 heads of state and government from around the world, more than 100 ministers, as well as representatives of think-tanks, non-governmental organisations and leading businesses. Top spooks, feminist foreign ministers, climate warriors, Iranian activists, weapons experts, technology wizards and more - all gathered for their own get-togethers on public stages and in private rendezvous and hushed huddles. It all underlined how the world's understanding of \"global security\" keeps shifting shape. Over the decades, this forum - born in 1963 in a Cold War quest for peace and prosperity - has often been a venue for real-time diplomacy, too. But in a year marked by worry over \"lose-lose dynamics\" Munich was a place for a lot of talking and taking stock as the world nervously wonders where the next blows will fall.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The 60th Munich Security Conference saw global leaders discuss the challenges of a \"disordered world\" marked by confrontation and geopolitical tensions, with the absence of key figures like former US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin. The conference highlighted issues of impunity, as exemplified by the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, and the need for continued support for Ukraine, while concerns were raised about the potential impact of upcoming US elections on international commitments." + }, + { + "article": "Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Princess Mary in 2018 Danes were given a surprise on New Year's Eve as Queen Margrethe II announced her abdication. The world's only reigning queen and the longest-serving living monarch in Europe will step down on 14 January, which will be 52 years to the day since she became queen. \"I will leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik,\" she announced live on TV. But what do we know about Denmark's soon-to-be king? Crown Prince Frederik was known in Denmark as somewhat of a party prince in the early 1990s, but perceptions started to change after he graduated from Aarhus University in 1995 with a masters in political science. He was the first Danish royal to complete a university education. During his studies he spent time at Harvard in the United States, where he enrolled under the pseudonym Frederik Henriksen. He later served in the Danish navy, where he was nicknamed \"Pingo\" - which according to the Mail was earned after his wetsuit filled up with water during a scuba diving course and he had to waddle like a penguin. The 55-year-old has earned his name as a daredevil, taking part in a four-month ski expedition across Greenland in 2000. He has been hospitalised in sledging and scooter accidents. \"I don't want to lock myself in a fortress. I want to be myself, a human being,\" he once said, insisting he would stick to that even after taking the throne. Crown Prince Frederik took part in a 3,500 km journey across Greenland in 2000 Crown Prince Frederik, like Britain's King Charles III, is known for his passion for the environment. He has vowed to \"guide the ship\" of Denmark into the future. His Australian-born wife, Princess Mary, grew up on the island of Tasmania and was working as a lawyer when the pair met in 2000, at a bar in Sydney during the Olympic Games. She once said in an interview that she did not know he was the prince of Denmark when they met, saying: \"Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, 'Do you know who these people are?'\" They are considered by some to represent modern values and have tried to give their four children - a daughter, son and twins - as normal an upbringing as possible, sending them mainly to state schools. Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary attended the coronation of King Charles III in May Unlike British royal tradition, there will be no formal crowning ceremony for Crown Prince Frederik. Instead, his accession will be announced from Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on the day. He will become King of Denmark and head of state in the country - which is a constitutional monarchy - as well as in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Queen Margrethe II is the world's only reigning queen and the longest serving current monarch in Europe, taking the throne after the death of her father King Frederik IX in 1972. The 83-year-old revealed the decision was made after a period of reflection following surgery on her back in early 2023. \"The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future - whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation,\" she said. \"I have decided that now is the right time,\" she added, and offered her thanks to the Danish public for their support over the years.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has announced her abdication, set to take place on January 14, 2023, after 52 years on the throne. Crown Prince Frederik, who has a background in political science and a history of daredevil pursuits, will succeed her as king, with no formal coronation ceremony planned." + }, + { + "article": "The Rev Matthew Firth has previously spoken of a \"conveyor belt\" of baptisms of asylum seekers Some asylum seekers see baptisms \"as a ticket to something\" and most baptism requests were when they were appealing an asylum claim, a vicar has told MPs. Rev Matthew Firth told the Home Affairs select committee he was brought groups of asylum seekers looking to convert. MPs were hearing evidence after it was claimed Clapham attacker Abdul Shokoor Ezedi got asylum on the grounds of his conversion to Christianity. The Bishop of Chelmsford told MPs she queried Rev Firth's claims. \"The figures don't quite add up to me,\" the Right Reverend Guli Francis-Dehqani said. She added: \"I have spoken to clergy who have turned people down [for baptism] because they did not feel they met the criteria.\" The clergy took baptisms very seriously, she said. Rev Firth, who was a priest at St Cuthbert's church in Darlington, left the Church of England in 2020, and is now a vicar for the Free Church of England. He previously wrote in the Telegraph that there was a \"conveyor belt\" system of baptisms of asylum seekers hoping to obtain leave to remain in the UK on religious grounds. He told MPs that when he came to St Cuthbert's in 2018 he found there was a \"surprising number\" of asylum seekers being baptised. He honoured the ones that were already in process but then \"started to look into it a bit further\". He said: \"After those baptisms, week-in, week-out, significant groups of mainly Iranian and Syrian young male asylum seekers were being brought to me in sizeable cohorts.\" Rev Firth told MPs that cohorts of \"six or seven\" people were brought to him \"every two or three weeks\". Asked who brought the asylum seekers to him, Rev Firth said: \"There was a particular individual who I think had received right to remain in the UK through the asylum application system.\" \"This particular individual\", he added, \"was bringing lots of people who [he] said needed to be baptised\". The Diocese of Durham has strongly rejected Rev Firth's claims. It says there had been 15 baptisms in the area of potential asylum seekers since 2014, seven of which were performed by Rev Firth. Asked about these figures by the committee, Rev Firth said that he did not have access to the parish registers, so was not familiar with those figures. He told committee members that a lot of people who came to him for baptisms \"had already failed in their asylum claim\". He said: \"I spotted that dynamic going on and pressed pause in a reasonable way.\" Asked by MP Tim Loughton what happened when he pressed pause, he said they \"melted away\", saying: \"People would, fairly quickly, stop coming to that morning service\u2026 they weren't coming along to church after that.\" He later added: \"I think some of them are in very difficult situations and they are seeing baptism as a ticket to something whether that it's true or not.\" The cleric told the committee there are some worship centres positioning themselves to be centres of legal help and support and advice for people who have had their applications refused. There is bit of a grey area developing there, he suggested. Little is known of Abdul Shokoor Ezedi but a church witness said he believed that Ezedi had converted to Christianity Discussion around asylum seekers converting to Christianity resurfaced after the case of Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, who was found drowned after being named as wthe suspect in a corrosive substance attack on a woman and her two daughters near Clapham Common. He was an Afghan refugee who came to the UK in a lorry in 2016. He was convicted of sexual assault and exposure in 2018 and had had his asylum claim rejected twice before he successfully claimed asylum after claiming he had converted to Christianity. Following Rev Firth's testimony, representatives of the Church of England, the Catholic Church for England and Wales, and the Baptist Union of Great Britain were questioned about their conversion and baptism procedures. Asked if there was guidance to clergy on baptisms for asylum seekers, Rev Canon Christopher Thomas, senior priest in the Catholic Church, replied: \"No, there is not.\" He told the committee that the process for someone seeking baptism generally took around nine months and involved a team of catechists who engaged with applicants on a weekly basis, and a welcome by the local bishop before a baptism ceremony. The Right Rev Francis-Dehqani told MPs that the baptism process in the Church of England typically takes 10 to 12 weeks, while Rev Steve Tinning added that in the Baptist Church it is about six weeks. All three church representatives were vocal that their mission was to welcome and support people in need, including asylum seekers. At the time of the Clapham attack, the Church of England came under scrutiny for its guidelines on how clergy should engage with the Home Office when providing references for asylum seekers - a process in which priests are called to participate by the Home Office whenever an asylum claim is based on conversion. The guidelines were published seven years ago and are currently being reviewed, but the Bishop of Chelmsford said the advice's \"underlying message\" won't change. Home Office minister Tom Pursglove told MPs that Christian conversion was \"not a determinative factor\" in the decision-making process, and that this \"is weighed within the decision making, with credibility associated to that - testing of credibility amongst a range of other factors, relevant to each individual case\". Mr Pursglove explained that from the sampling officials did ahead of today's committee hearing, this did not appear to be a recurring issue. \"What we are dealing with in terms of this hearing today, it strikes me as a subset of a subset,\" he said. \"What we are seeing is that the vast majority of individuals where Christian conversion is a factor are saying that they have converted at that initial reporting stage.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A former Church of England vicar, Rev Matthew Firth, has told the Home Affairs select committee that some asylum seekers see baptism \"as a ticket to something\" and that he was brought groups of asylum seekers looking to convert, particularly Iranians and Syrians. Firth claimed there was a pattern of conversions happening mainly when asylum seekers were appealing claims, but the Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani, disputed his claims, saying that clergy take baptisms seriously and sometimes turn people down if they don't meet the criteria. The issue resurfaced after it was alleged that Clapham attacker Abdul Shokoor Ezedi gained asylum based on his conversion to Christianity." + }, + { + "article": "The Highlands region has long struggled with tribal violence Dozens of people have died in a tribal dispute in Papua New Guinea's remote Highlands region, authorities say. The victims were shot dead during an ambush in the Enga province over the weekend, a national police spokesman told the BBC. The Highlands area has long struggled with violence, but these killings are believed to be the worst in years. An influx of illegal firearms have made clashes more deadly and fuelled a cycle of violence. Authorities initially said at least 64 people have died. But later reports said they had miscounted and revised the toll down to 26. The BBC has asked the Papua New Guinea police for confirmation. Police started collecting bodies at the scene near the town of Wabag - roughly 600km (373 miles) northwest of the capital Port Moresby. \"This is by far the largest [killing] I've seen in Enga, maybe in all of Highlands as well,\" Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Acting Supt George Kakas told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). \"We're all devastated, we're all mentally stressed out. It's really hard to comprehend.\" Police received graphic videos and photos purporting to be from the scene, showing bodies loaded onto a truck, say media outlets. Escalating tribal conflict - often over the distribution of land and wealth - led to a three-month lockdown in Enga last July, during which police imposed a curfew and travel restrictions. In August last year, the violence made international headlines after graphic footage involving three dead men circulated online. Governor Peter Ipatas told ABC that there had been signs that fighting was about to erupt again ahead of the ambush. With up to 17 tribes involved in the most recent escalation, it was ultimately up to the security forces to keep the peace, he said. \"From a provincial perspective, we knew this fight was going to be on and we [alerted] the security forces last week to make sure they took appropriate action to ensure this didn't occur.\" Security more broadly remains a key concern for PNG. The government last month declared a state of emergency after major rioting and looting left at least 15 people dead. Australia - one of the country's closest allies - said news of the killings was \"very disturbing\". \"We're providing considerable support, particularly for training police officers and for security in Papua New Guinea,\" Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a radio interview on Monday.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Dozens of people were killed in a tribal dispute in Papua New Guinea's Highlands region, with initial reports of 64 deaths revised down to 26. The area has a history of violence, and the use of illegal firearms has escalated clashes; police are working to recover bodies and restore peace." + }, + { + "article": "Four games that were formerly exclusive to Microsoft will soon be available on rival consoles. Hi-Fi Rush and pirate game Sea of Thieves are coming to Sony's PS5 only. Meanwhile, narrative adventure game Pentiment and co-op game Grounded will be on PS5 as well as Nintendo Switch. It follows Microsoft's announcement in February that four Xbox exclusives would soon appear on rival platforms, in what some considered a major change of direction for the industry, Until now, it had not been known what those titles were. Two of the games were revealed on Wednesday in a Nintendo Direct, an online showcase for the firm, before Microsoft confirmed the full list in a blog post. \"These multiplayer titles available will bring more people together and continue to grow their communities of players,\" said head of Xbox game studios Matt Booty. Neil Watton, editor of TheXboxHub, said fans would not be too surprised by the names of the games that were chosen to appear on other consoles, after several weeks of rumours. \"It's those jumping into Grounded and Sea of Thieves who will ultimately be rewarded, with full cross-play across platforms building the player base immediately on launch in April,\" he told the BBC. \"When you consider the depth of the cooperative play found in those titles, the moves make complete and utter sense.\" Several other upcoming titles for the Nintendo Switch were also revealed during Nintendo's event, including a new Endless Ocean game, Monster Hunter Stories, and a remake of 2010 Disney hit Epic Mickey. Viewers were also surprised by the developers of the 2017 hit, Sonic Mania, unexpectedly announcing their latest game. Penny's Big Breakaway, made by Evening Star, is a platform game with a distinctively 1990s look. \"I think the 3D platformer genre at the moment is actually in a bit of a renaissance\", the developer's director Christian Whitehead told the BBC. \"There's a lot to choose from, even just on Steam and Nintendo Switch\", he added. Penny's Big Breakaway has its looks based firmly in the 90s Evening Star was formed by many of the people who worked on Sonic Mania as independent contractors. That game was a hit in 2017, picking up an average score of 86 on review aggregator Metacritic alongside a nomination at that year's Game Awards. Though a sequel to that game was highly anticipated by fans it never came to pass, and Sega instead released Sonic Superstars in 2023, made by Sonic's original designer. Sonic and Mario - the mascots of Sega and Nintendo - were considered rivals in the 1990s, but after Sega stopped making its own consoles in the 2000s, it began releasing Sonic on rival consoles. Nowadays, Sonic games appear on Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft hardware. Argick, a Scottish Twitch streamer with about 20,000 followers, said he planned on spending his evening playing Penny's Big Breakaway on stream. \"Sonic Mania was a phenomenal critical success, fans and critics loved it,\" he told the BBC. \"Just looking at the footage for Penny's Big Breakaway, it looks really smooth, fluid, speedy and fun - really simple to pick up and play. \"But it's also really silly and not taking itself too seriously.\" Elsewhere on Wednesday, gamers less interested in Nintendo updates were treated to a trailer for the upcoming expansion to 2022 Game of the Year award winner Elden Ring. Shadow of the Erdtree is slated for a June release on PC, Xbox and PlayStation in the UK.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Microsoft is making four formerly exclusive games, including Sea of Thieves and Pentiment, available on Sony's PS5 and Nintendo Switch, with Grounded also coming to Switch. This move follows Microsoft's announcement in February about expanding its titles to rival platforms, aiming to grow player communities with cross-play support. During a Nintendo Direct event, other titles like Sonic Mania's spiritual successor, Penny's Big Breakaway, were revealed, indicating a resurgence of interest in 3D platformers." + }, + { + "article": "Under-20 Six Nations: Why Henry Pollock might be England's next breakthrough star Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union Henry Pollock says he plays best when he is \"aggressive and confrontational\" The Under-20 Six Nations is producing ready-made senior internationals quicker than ever before. England flanker Chandler Cunningham-South played in the competition last season and is pushing for a senior start after impressive cameos from the bench in this year's Six Nations. In 2022, full-back Henry Arundell caught the eye with a length-of-the-field try against Scotland before playing under Eddie Jones during England's tour of Australia. The name to remember this campaign is Henry Pollock. The 19-year-old put in back-to-back player-of-the-match performances in England's opening two victories over Italy and Wales, which included a hat-trick of tries in Treviso. \"It shows you that you aren't too far away, especially with what Chandler did, coming off the back of the Under-20 World Cup and going straight into the first-team squad,\" Pollock told BBC Sport. \"But in my experience I can't think about that yet. I have to keep playing well for under-20s, and after under-20s see what happens.\" The Northampton Saints flanker, who will still be eligible for the under-20s next season, made his Premiership debut in November against Leicester Tigers. An all-action 30-minute cameo, which included a run down the wing and a jackal turnover on his own line, showed why his potential is so high. He has been using 2003 World Cup-winning open-side flanker Richard Hill - now the England team manager - as his mentor. \"He has been in touch with me week in and week out,\" Pollock added. \"He came to the Scotland game and he has talked about stuff I don't do right. \"Like work-rate off the ball or on kick chase - not dropping back early. Little pointers that maybe other coaches wouldn't pick up, but because he is such a high-level coach having played at such a high level, he is very knowledgeable in that aspect.\" Born in 2005, Pollock missed Hill's impactful performance in the World Cup final in England's win against Australia. Instead, Michael Hooper's role in helping the Wallabies reach the World Cup final in 2015 caught the eye of a 10-year-old Pollock, who sees similarities with the former Australia captain in terms of his size and speed. \"When I was younger, I would look up to Michael Hooper,\" he said. \"The way he uses his size to his maximum potential. \"He has gone from strength to strength and now is playing sevens, which is something I want to do when I am his age.\" The teenager's speed and footwork for his opening try against Italy showed why he would be a good fit for sevens. Add in a length-of-the-field solo try while on loan at Bedford Blues in the Championship, and Pollock is quickly building quite the highlight reel of tries for an open-side flanker. But he also wants to be known for producing \"those moments that no-one expects you to do\", such as his vital turnover at the end of the first half against Wales in round two. On the immediate horizon this Friday is Ireland, who are also undefeated and still on course for a third Grand Slam in a row. However, a bonus-point win for England in Bath would seal the title for the first time since 2021. \"Ireland being such an experienced team is something we do talk about,\" Pollock said. \"But if we play to our maximum I believe that no team will stand in front of us. \"It is not knockout rugby, but it almost feels like that.\" \u2022 None This is a truly life-changing declutter! Stacey Solomon and her team help families transform their homes \u2022 None Why did the Challenger space shuttle blow up in 1986? One of America's most famous scientists searches for the answers", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Henry Pollock, a 19-year-old flanker for England's Under-20 rugby team, has impressed with back-to-back player-of-the-match performances in the Six Nations, leading some to consider him the next breakthrough star. Following in the footsteps of players like Chandler Cunningham-South and Henry Arundell, Pollock is gaining attention for his aggressive style and has even received mentoring from 2003 World Cup-winning flanker Richard Hill. Despite his success, Pollock remains focused on performing well for the under-20 team and is looking to emulate players like Michael Hooper in maximizing his potential." + }, + { + "article": "Donald Trump must post a bond to cover the full $454m penalty while he appeals against the judgment in his New York civil fraud trial, a court has ruled. Mr Trump's lawyers had argued he would \"suffer irreparable harm\" if forced to pay the entire sum and that he was prepared to post a $100m (\u00a379m) bond. The judge did pause a three-year ban on him seeking loans from New York banks - which could help him secure the bond. New York's attorney general has vowed to seize his assets if he doesn't pay. Mr Trump's lawyers have not immediately responded to the appeals court's ruling. The order issued on Wednesday requires Mr Trump to pay the full amount, which stems from his misrepresenting of his property values, in the coming weeks. In a filing on Wednesday, Mr Trump's lawyers said the \"exorbitant and punitive amount of the judgment coupled with an unlawful and unconstitutional blanket prohibition on lending transactions would make it impossible to secure and post a complete bond\". They also said a $100m bond coupled with Trump's \"vast\" real estate properties and oversight by a court-designated monitor for the Trump Organization, should be sufficient to secure the full sum. But their motion, which was opposed by Attorney General Letitia James, failed to convince appeals court Associate Justice Anil Singh. But Judge Singh did agree to pause part of the judgement that prohibits Mr Trump and his sons from conducting business in the state, effectively leaving them at the head of the Trump Organization. The penalty will keep accruing interest by at least $112,000 per day if he refuses to pay. Ms James had asked the appeals court to deny Mr Trump's request. \"There is no merit to defendants' contention that a full bond or deposit is unnecessary because they are willing to post a partial undertaking of less than a quarter of the judgment amount,\" the attorney general's office said in a filing. \"Defendants all but concede that Mr Trump has insufficient liquid assets to satisfy the judgment: defendants would need 'to raise capital' to do so. These are precisely the circumstances for which a full bond or deposit is necessary.\" Last week, Ms James told ABC News: \"If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets.\" According to a Forbes estimate, Mr Trump is worth about $2.6bn. Though it is unclear how much cash he has on hand, he testified last year he has $400m in liquid assets. In addition to paying penalties for business fraud, the ex-president was also ordered to pay $83m last month after losing a defamation case to E Jean Carroll, a woman he was found to have sexually abused. Meanwhile, Judge Arthur Engoron, who issued the judgement that Mr Trump is seeking to overturn, was involved in a hazardous substances scare on Wednesday. Court staff opened an envelope containing a powdery substance addressed to him, officials say. Preliminary testing \"showed it was negative for hazardous substances\", Al Baker, a court spokesperson told the BBC. Judge Engoron did not have any exposure to the letter.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A court has ruled that Donald Trump must post a $454m bond while he appeals against a New York civil fraud penalty, stemming from his misrepresentation of property values. The judge paused a ban on Trump seeking loans from New York banks, but a daily interest of $112,000 will accrue on the penalty if he doesn't pay, and New York's attorney general has vowed to seize his assets if necessary." + }, + { + "article": "The hospital said staff had been redeployed and a \"huge effort\" was under way to manage patient demand The six-day junior doctors' strike is the longest period of industrial action by NHS workers in its history. We were warned it would pose a \"serious threat to patient safety\". One hospital even told staff the situation could become as difficult as it was during the first wave of Covid. How does a hospital cope when a large proportion of its medics heads out of the door and onto the picket line? On the first day of this strike, I went to a major teaching hospital to find out how it planned to cope in the days ahead. It was clear managers had planned well for the strike, with more consultants and other more senior medics drafted in to cover. The emergency department seemed to be running efficiently when I arrived, despite the strike and some staff sickness. But the general manager told me a \"huge team effort\" was under way to keep on top of demand for care, and manage \"tight\" capacity. It was to be a challenging week ahead, but senior doctors on the whole seemed to support the industrial action by their junior colleagues. That said, an obvious and growing sense of fatigue had set in. One consultant covering in the emergency department told me he expected to work 70 hours over the six days, by which time he would be \"exhausted\". \"The workload is heavy and it's complex. And we can only sustain it in short bursts, doing this complete, perpetual day and night cover,\" he said. As the ward and all its beds quickly filled up, he admitted the days ahead seemed \"daunting\". After many months of covering strike days, hospital consultants are, like many others, keen to see a settlement. As well as covering the wards and dealing with medical emergencies, they are having to perform surgery, and even manage discharges. Delays in patients leaving hospital were likely to clog the system and create a shortage of beds for new arrivals, I was told. The beds, waiting room and cubicles in the hospital were full by noon on Wednesday, the strike's first day As most non-urgent operations are cancelled during doctors' strikes, this hospital was prioritising cardiac and cancer surgery. But managers said they were \"treading a tightrope\" over decisions on whose operations should be postponed, as long waits for surgery could be life-threatening for some. The medical director told me the trust was \"on track\" with cancer operations, but \"by the skin of our teeth\". Meanwhile, a matron running a post-surgery recovery ward told me her nurses were having to take on emergency cases during the strike. This, she said, was a \"whole different kettle of fish\" which required different skills and experience. Her already overstretched staff were worried about doing their best for patients, she said, which was \"frustrating\". Some other hospitals are struggling with sheer demand. Historically, hospitals are under the greatest pressure at this time of year, and this time they're having to cope without a significant proportion of their workforce. Many trusts have this week declared \"critical incidents\", which means they are facing \"extraordinary\" pressures. More than 20 trusts have asked the doctors' trade union, the British Medical Association (BMA), to call back striking doctors from the picket lines - requests which have largely been refused. An internal letter I have seen, sent to staff at another major hospital, reveals a heightened sense of concern about the junior doctor strikes. It refers to an incident response call-out plan to cover rota gaps and warned that \"these are truly extraordinary measures which we have not had to implement since early pandemic times\". This has been the longest strike in the history of the NHS When the strike ends early on Tuesday morning, there is likely to be renewed and intense focus on a solution. The BMA and the government have indicated a willingness to resume negotiations, but there may first have to be \"talks about talks\" to set out the terrain for discussion. The junior doctors' committee of the BMA wants a more \"credible\" offer. Ministers may feel unwilling to add to the 3% extra suggested on top of the 8.8% already paid out. Patients, staff and NHS managers can only hope that a settlement can be reached, but the outcome is far from certain. There could still be more of this trouble ahead. Consultants in England are being balloted on a pay offer and it is possible they will reject it. Junior doctors in Wales are to stage a three-day strike from 15 January in a dispute over pay, and those in Northern Ireland are to be balloted. It is hard to rule out the possibility of continued walkouts and disruption for the NHS beyond the early weeks of 2024. Are you a junior doctor with a view on the strike? Are you a patient affected? Have you experienced a busy A&E department recently? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The six-day junior doctors' strike in the UK, the longest in NHS history, has put a \"serious threat\" on patient safety, with hospitals struggling to manage demand and some facing conditions similar to the first wave of Covid. Despite consultants and senior medics stepping in, fatigue is evident, and delays in patient discharges risk bed shortages, while critical incidents have been declared at multiple trusts. Negotiations for a settlement are anticipated once the strike ends, with potential for more industrial action if unresolved." + }, + { + "article": "The attacked base was named by US officials as Tower 22 Three US troops have been killed and dozens injured in a drone attack on a US base near Jordan's border with Syria. US President Joe Biden said the attack was carried out by \"radical Iran-backed militant groups\". He added: \"We shall respond.\" Iran has denied any involvement in the attack. It is the first time that a strike has killed US troops in the region since Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel. Jordan says the attack took place in Syria, not inside Jordan. There have been other attacks on US bases in the region, but before Sunday there were no fatalities, according to the US military. It is not clear who is behind this latest attack. President Biden said the US \"will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing\". Iran denied US and British accusations that it supported militant groups blamed for the strike. \"These claims are made with specific political goals to reverse the realities of the region,\" foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said, according to Tehran's official IRNA news agency. The White House said Mr Biden was briefed Sunday morning on the attack by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and other officials. \"Jill and I join the families and friends of our fallen - and Americans across the country - in grieving the loss of these warriors in this despicable and wholly unjust attack,\" Mr Biden said in a statement. The names of the servicemen killed and injured have not yet been released as officials work to notify their families. On a visit to South Carolina, Mr Biden said \"we had a tough day last night in the Middle East. We lost three brave souls\". US officials say at least 34 military personnel were being evaluated for possible traumatic brain injury, and that some of the injured soldiers were medically evacuated from the base for further treatment. They also say that the drone struck the living quarters, which, if confirmed, could explain the high number of casualties. US Central Command and President Biden said the attack was on a base in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border. It was later named by US officials as Tower 22. A Jordanian government spokesman, Muhannad Moubaideen, however, told state TV that the attack targeted al-Tanf base in Syria. In December, US officials said that US bases in Iraq and Syria had been attacked at least 97 times since 17 October. Last month, the US carried out airstrikes against Iran-affiliated groups after three US servicemembers were injured, one critically, in a drone attack on a base in northern Iraq. Earlier in January, one retaliatory US strike in Baghdad killed a militia leader accused of being behind attacks on US personnel. In a pre-recorded interview with ABC News that aired on Sunday morning, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen CQ Brown said that America's aim in the region is to \"not have the conflict broaden\". \"The goal is to deter them and we don't want to go down a path of greater escalation that drives to a much broader conflict within the region.\" US and coalition troops are also stationed in the Red Sea after the Iran-backed Houthis began attacking commercial ships in the region. The Yemen-based group says it is targeting vessels in the region in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is fighting Hamas. The US military has previously said \"these unlawful actions have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza\". \"The Houthis have fired indiscriminately into the Red Sea, targeting vessels impacting over 40 countries around the world,\" Centcom has said. Two Navy Seals are presumed dead after they went missing in January during an operation off the coast of Somalia to seize Iranian-made weapons bound for Houthis in Yemen.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Three US troops have been killed and several injured in a drone attack on a US base near Jordan's border with Syria, with President Biden blaming \"radical Iran-backed militant groups\" and vowing a response. Iran has denied involvement, and the attack marks the first fatalities of US troops in the region since Hamas's attack on Israel in October." + }, + { + "article": "Footage showed the unnamed woman being escorted by a uniformed officer A woman with US-Russian citizenship has been detained in Russia on suspicion of treason and fundraising for Ukraine's armed forces. She has been named in US media as Ksenia Karelina, 33, who is reportedly an amateur ballerina from Los Angeles. Russia earlier said an unnamed woman had been arrested over raising funds for a Ukrainian organisation whose ultimate beneficiary was Kyiv's army. She was also accused of attending pro-Ukraine rallies in the US. Ms Karelina was detained by Russian authorities in Yekaterinburg, a city in the southern Ural Mountains. NBC News reported that her identity was confirmed to them by officials who said she had arrived in Russia at the beginning of January. The US government learned of Ms Karelina's arrest earlier this month, the US network also said. She is reported to have obtained US citizenship in 2021 and worked at a spa in LA in addition to her amateur dancing. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Ms Karelina was travelling home to see family members in Russia when she was detained. The newspaper spoke to her former mother-in-law who expressed concerns that Ms Karelina faced up to life behind bars and being mistreated in Russian prison. \"I don't have hope for Russian justice. It does not exist. But here, we live in a powerful country, and we can make noise and attract attention,\" Eleonora Srebroski said. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), which did not name Ms Karelina in its statement announcing the arrest, said the detained woman had been collecting money for the Ukrainian military since February 2022 - when Russia first launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour. It said the funds had subsequently been used to purchase medical supplies, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian army. No detail or evidence were provided. Razom for Ukraine, a US-based charity, said it was \"appalled\" by the reports of the arrest over the alleged donation - also without naming Ms Karelina. \"Our activities, which are in keeping with our charitable purpose and our legal obligations as an American charitable organization, are focused on humanitarian aid, disaster relief, education and advocacy,\" the organisation's CEO Dora Chomiak said in a statement. Before Ms Karelina was identified in reports, the White House said it was aware of the reported arrest and had been trying to get more information. Footage shared by Russian state-owned news agency Ria Novosti showed a woman, whose face was obscured by a hat and blurred out, being escorted by a uniformed officer. She was seen being handcuffed and placed into a car, before being led into what appeared to be a holding cell in a courtroom, from which she was eventually led out. The FSB said the woman had been acting \"against the security of our country\" and was supporting the Ukrainian army while in the US. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday that the White House and state department were trying to \"secure some consular access to that individual\". In April last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree increasing the maximum sentence for treason to life in jail, up from 20 years, as part of a crackdown on dissent. The FSB said the woman had been detained in Yekaterinburg, about 1,600km (1,000 miles) east of Moscow - the same city in which US journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested on charges of espionage on 29 March last year. Mr Gershkovich, an experienced Russia reporter, had been working for the Wall Street Journal at the time. In January, Russia extended his pre-trial detention again, until the end of March. His appeal against the extension was rejected on Tuesday. He faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. The US government has designated the reporter as being \"wrongfully detained\". Last week, Mr Putin said during an interview with US host Tucker Carlson that he believed a deal could be reached to free Mr Gershkovich. Several other US nationals are currently imprisoned in Russia, including former US marine Paul Whelan, who has been in prison in Russia since 2018. He is serving a 16-year sentence on spying charges.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A US-Russian citizen, reportedly named Ksenia Karelina, has been detained in Russia on suspicion of treason and fundraising for Ukraine's military. She was arrested in Yekaterinburg and faces up to life in prison if found guilty, with the US government attempting to gain consular access to her." + }, + { + "article": "Priti Patel joined her two immediate predecessors as home secretary in signing an open letter urging Conservatives and Labour to work together on extremism Three Conservative ex-home secretaries have warned the government against using extremism to score political points in a general election year. Priti Patel, Sajid Javid and Amber Rudd said cross-party support is needed to defeat extremism, in an open letter published in the Guardian. It comes as the government prepares to set out a new definition of extremism. Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said the UK must \"confront\" a rise in Islamist and far-right extremism. The government's new anti-extremism plan is designed to update and increase the number of organisations that are classed as \"extremist\" and put new limits on their activities. Subject to cross-government sign-off, the plan will see a change in the current definition of extremism of \"vocal or active opposition to British values\" - established by the Counter Extremism Strategy 2015. But critics have warned a new definition could be so broad that it could worsen community tensions and expose ministers to legal challenges. The three ex-home secretaries signed an open letter along with half a dozen senior counter-terror and extremism experts, urging Conservatives and Labour to work together on the issue. Others who signed the statement include Brendan Cox, the widower of the MP Jo Cox and co-founder of Survivors Against Terror; Neil Basu, the former head of counter-terrorism policing, and Richard Dannatt, the former chief of the general staff. The open letter said: \"We urge the Labour party and the Conservative party to work together to build a shared understanding of extremism and a strategy to prevent it that can stand the test of time, no matter which party wins an election. \"In the run-up to a general election, it's particularly important that that consensus is maintained and that no political party uses the issue to seek short-term tactical advantage.\" Responding to the letter Mr Tugendhat told BBC Breakfast: \"I think they are absolutely right; I don't think we should and I don't think we are.\" The new anti-extremism plan was \"to make sure all those who are threatened by extremism are protected from it and what we need to make sure those who are particularly vulnerable do not the lure of radicalisation drawing them towards it,\" he added. Mr Tugendhat said the prime minister had set out \"a very, very clear and, I would argue, very inclusive agenda on keeping British people safe.\" \"Extremism in this country sadly has risen and we must take action to confront it,\" he added. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave a speech outside Downing Street warning democracy was being targeted by extremists and there are \"forces here at home trying to tear us apart\". He criticised regular mass protests and disruptive campaigns, claiming: \"There is a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule.\" The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, endorsed Mr Sunak's comments, saying: \"The prime minister is right to advocate unity and to condemn the unacceptable and intimidatory behaviour that we have seen recently.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Three former UK Home Secretaries, including Priti Patel, have warned against using extremism for political gain in an election year, urging cross-party cooperation in an open letter. The government is set to introduce a new definition of extremism, which has raised concerns about potential broadness leading to community tensions and legal challenges." + }, + { + "article": "PropertyPal is the largest property website in Northern Ireland for sales and rentals A group of estate agents have said they will stop posting listings on the website PropertyPal in a row over fees. It came after PropertyPal announced it had a new system for charging for listings. PropertyPal is the largest property website in Northern Ireland for sales and rentals. The company said the decision to increase fees was \"aimed at delivering enhanced value and services\". In a statement to BBC News NI, Errol Maxwell, chief executive officer at PropertyPal, said the company \"takes pride in offering the most competitive pricing of any property portal in the UK and Ireland\". The intention of some estate agents to stop listings on the site was communicated in a letter sent on behalf of a steering group representing agents from across Northern Ireland. Speaking on behalf of the group, Stephen McCarron, an estate agent based in Londonderry, said agents felt \"coerced and bullied\". He said that under the new system estate agents could expect to pay 25-45% more per listing on the PropertyPal website. The steering group is made up of several of the largest property retailers in Northern Ireland including CPS, Simon Brien, UPS, Reeds Rains, and Donnybrook. In the letter, seen by BBC News NI, the estate agents said they feel they \"have no alternative but to take drastic action\". \"As such we need to inform you of our collective intention to cease placing any new listings on the PropertyPal platform from midnight on Thursday 29th February, until further notice,\" the letter continued. Mr McCarron said that his group felt that PropertyPal were using their \"dominate market position\" to force estate agents into accepting their terms. Mr Maxwell said PropertyPal's \"new membership plan allows estate agents to advertise all their properties for an average of \u00a320 per listing and provides them with a powerful suite of new tools to support their business\". He added: \"We're delighted that the majority of estate agents have embraced the change and recognise the significant value it brings to their partnership with us.\" On its website, PropertyPal claims to host listings for more than 60,000 properties for sale and rent in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Estate Agent Stephen McCarron said any price increase from PropertyPal would be passed on to clients It is understood the proposed changes to the pricing structure would move from a set fee per listing to a membership-type scheme with different tiers. Mr McCarron said estate agents would have to pass on any costs to their clients, which he said was \"really unfair on the consumer\". He said the changes were made with \"zero consultation\" with estate agents and a \"refusal to meet with our steering group or acknowledge the very real concerns that we have\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A group of estate agents in Northern Ireland plan to stop posting listings on PropertyPal, the region's largest property website, due to a dispute over increased fees. The agents claim they could face a 25-45% hike under PropertyPal's new membership system, which they argue is coercive and would lead to higher costs for clients. PropertyPal says the changes provide enhanced value and services, with the majority of agents supporting the update." + }, + { + "article": "There are fears that the lack of ammunition is affecting performance as well as morale in Ukrainian ranks Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has made an urgent appeal for more weapons to avoid a \"catastrophic\" situation in Europe. An \"artificial deficit of weapons\" will only help Russia, Mr Zelensky told an international conference in Germany. Ukrainian troops have been running out of ammunition as vital US support has been held up by supporters of former President Donald Trump in Congress. Mr Zelensky said he was prepared to tour the front lines with Mr Trump. \"If Mr Trump will come, I am ready to go with him to the front line. What does it mean, the real war, not Instagram, the real war,\" the Ukrainian president said. President Joe Biden assured Mr Zelensky during a phone call on Saturday that the US was committed to supporting Ukraine's fight against \"Russia's brutal invasion\", the White House said in a statement. Mr Biden also said that earlier in the day \"Ukraine's military was forced to withdraw from Avdiivka after Ukrainian soldiers had to ration ammunition due to dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction, resulting in Russia's first notable gains in months\". Avdiivka - a gateway to the Russian-seized Donetsk regional capital in the east - had for months witnessed some of the fiercest fighting before the Ukrainian pull-out announced by the country's top military commander. For his part, President Zelensky said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the two leaders discussed the current situation on the front line. He said he was \"grateful to have President Biden's full support\", adding that he hoped Congress would make a \"wise decision\" on approving a stalled aid package for Ukraine. US Vice-President Kamala Harris had earlier repeated assurances of support to Kyiv. The US \"can't play political games\" over the military aid, she said at a joint news conference with Mr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference. The gathering of world leaders and senior defence officials comes one week before the two-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The president told delegates Ukrainian efforts were \"limited only by the sufficiency and length of range of our strength\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"I will die here\": Evacuation \"angels\" help front-line town's last residents flee \"Keeping Ukraine in the artificial deficits of weapons, particularly in deficit of artillery and long-range capabilities allows Putin to adapt to the current intensity of the war,\" he said. \"Ukrainians have proven that we can force Russia to retreat,\" he said. \"We can get our land back.\" He went on to warn that the Russian leader would make the next few years \"catastrophic\" for many more countries if the Western world did not stand up to him. \"Do not ask Ukraine when the war will end. Ask yourself, why is Putin still able to continue it?\" Mr Zelensky told the conference. Ukraine is critically dependent on weapons supplies from the US and other Western allies to keep fighting Russia - a much bigger military force with an abundance of artillery ammunition. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said help for Ukraine from the UK, the EU and the US would make a \"real difference\" to the fight against Russia. But earlier this week, the US Senate approved a $95bn (\u00a375bn) foreign aid package - including $60bn for Ukraine - after months of political wrangling, but it faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives, where members of the Republican Party who are loyal to Mr Trump seem unwilling to pass the measure. Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told the Munich conference Europe should help Ukraine more because it was in its interests, and stop \"all that whining and moaning about Trump\". Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said a Putin victory in Ukraine was \"not only a tragedy for the Ukrainians but it sends not only a message to Putin but also to [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping], that when they use military force, they get what they want. So what happens in Ukraine today and can happen in Taiwan tomorrow. And therefore I strongly believe that it's a good deal for the United States to support Ukraine. It's not charity, it's an investment into their own security.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urgently appealed for more weapons at the Munich Security Conference, warning of a \"catastrophic\" situation in Europe due to an ammunition shortage affecting Ukrainian troops. US President Joe Biden assured Zelensky of continued support, but aid packages face opposition in Congress, with Ukrainian forces recently forced to withdraw from Avdiivka due to ammunition rationing." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Commons Speaker is facing accusations he played \"party politics\" by granting a vote on Labour's Gaza ceasefire motion. Sir Lindsay Hoyle broke with convention to allow the vote during a debate, sparking fury from SNP and Conservative MPs. He said he allowed the vote on to protect MPs' safety, but it saw the Commons descend into acrimony. Sir Lindsay later apologised, but still faces calls to resign. The move meant Labour MPs could call for a ceasefire without backing a differently-worded SNP motion, limiting a potential Labour rebellion. Health Minister Maria Caulfield claimed the decision was made \"under undue pressure\" from Labour, and accused Sir Lindsay of \"putting party politics\" above his obligation as Speaker to be impartial. This has been denied by both Labour and a source close to the Speaker. Some 56 Tory and SNP MPs have signed a motion declaring they have no confidence in Sir Lindsay, who is due to meet parties for clear-the-air talks. The row erupted during a debate allocated to the Scottish National Party, during which they are allowed to put forward motions for debate and vote. The SNP tabled a motion calling for an \"immediate ceasefire\" in Gaza and calling for an end to the \"collective punishment of the Palestinian people\". Labour, which has shifted its stance on the conflict on recent days, tabled an amendment that also backed an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, but also noted that Israel \"cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence\". Sir Lindsay broke with tradition on such Commons debates by allowing a vote on Labour's amendment to the SNP's motion. After the Conservatives then said they wouldn't take part, Labour's motion was passed, meaning a standalone vote on the SNP wording couldn't take place. Explaining his decision, Sir Lindsay said he wanted to give MPs the chance to vote on \"the widest range of propositions,\" and was also concerned about threats to MPs' security over the issue. But he was accused of allowing the vote to be \"hijacked\" by Labour, with some SNP and Tory MPs walking out in protest. Sir Keir suffered a major revolt over Gaza in November when 56 of his MPs, including 10 frontbenchers, defied him to back an SNP motion urging an immediate ceasefire. In a statement after the debate, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Sir Lindsay had \"colluded\" with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to \"block Parliament voting on the SNP motion\". Speaking on Thursday, Labour campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden acknowledged that party leader Sir Keir had lobbied Sir Lindsay before the debate to allow a vote on Labour's motion. But he denied reports Labour had threatened to withdraw support from the Speaker after the election unless he allowed the vote, adding that Sir Lindsay had acted in \"good faith\". He blamed the Conservatives' decision not to take part in the debate for a vote on the SNP's wording not taking place, accusing them of trying to avoid a rebellion from their own MPs. This was denied by Health Minister Maria Caulfield, who added that Sir Lindsay's decision meant MPs from her party could face criticism for not backing the SNP motion. \"He took the threats to Labour MPs seriously, but took no consideration of what would happen to Conservative MPs,\" she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Chaos in the Commons over Gaza ceasefire vote There is no formal mechanism allowing MPs to oust the Speaker, but it is a convention they should have the confidence of the main parties in the Commons. On Thursday more MPs signed an early day motion signed by Tory and SNP MPs expressing no confidence in him. SNP MP Pete Wishart was one of the MPs to put their names to the motion, and said he had done so because the \"position of the Speaker is pretty much untenable\". However, many other MPs said they would not be taking this step. Former Conservative minister Robert Buckland said he accepted the Speaker's apology and would not be asking for a vote of confidence. Sir Lindsay was first elected as a Labour MP but after becoming Speaker he relinquished his party affiliation, as is the convention. Israel launched its operations in Gaza following an attack by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 others taken hostage. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 29,000 people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are accepted by the United Nations.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is under fire for allowing a vote on a Labour motion calling for a Gaza ceasefire during an SNP debate, breaking with convention and sparking accusations of partisanship. Amidst calls for his resignation, Sir Lindsay apologized but defended his decision, citing MP safety concerns; the move prevented a potential Labour rebellion and led to a standalone vote on the SNP's motion not taking place." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Cricket England captain Ben Stokes said he was \"proud\" of his team despite a five-wicket loss in the fourth Test that sealed a series defeat in India. The tourists are 3-1 down despite winning the first Test and having opportunities to win the other three. India have stretched a 12-year unbeaten home record while inflicting Stokes' first series defeat as captain. \"The 3-1 score doesn't look great, but the way in which we've come at India is what I'm most proud of,\" said Stokes. \"This young, inexperienced team has been successful over the past two years, but coming to India is a completely different beast, something that this team has not been exposed to.\" Set 192 to win, India were rocked by an England fightback on the fourth day in Ranchi. The home side were 100-3 and 120-5, before an unbroken stand of 72 between Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel sealed India's 17th consecutive home series win. \"We didn't have a chance in hell of even competing with India, but even today that wasn't an easy win for India and I think they would admit that,\" Stokes told BBC Sport. \"I'm very proud of the way every player has thrown everything at India. No-one has ever taken a backward step.\" \u2022 None Agnew column: All not lost for England - Bashir looks the real deal England were beaten despite having the better of the first two days of the fourth Test. India fought back from 177-7 in their first innings, helped by Ollie Robinson's crucial drop of Jurel, who made 90. With a first-innings lead of 46, England were bowled out for just 155 in their second innings, undone by the high-quality spin of India's Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja. \"Cricket is always skill against skill,\" said Stokes. \"Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep and the conditions we found ourselves in against them were very, very challenging. \"When India have a sniff in conditions like that, any team is going to find it hard to not only keep the scoreboard ticking but rotate the strike. You've got to give them a lot of credit for the way in which they bowled in very favourable conditions. On this occasion, their skill was better than ours.\" Even with a modest target to defend, England had the opportunity to pull off a remarkable win when Shoaib Bashir took two wickets in as many balls after lunch on Monday, only for Gill and Jurel to compile their match-winning stand. \"We took wickets in clusters, and even with 30 runs left we knew that if we went 'bang, bang' all the pressure was back on India,\" said Stokes. \"I still believed we could win the game.\" Off-spinner Bashir, 20, was playing in only his second Test. After taking five wickets in the first innings he hinted at bowling England to victory in the second. Meanwhile, left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, also playing in his first Test series, is the leading wicket-taker on either side with 20 victims. \"Before a ball was bowled in this series, there were a lot of question marks around the two selections,\" said Stokes. \"They'll be able to leave at the end of this tour with their heads held very high. We've got more exciting talent which is a great thing for English cricket.\" There is a break of more than a week before the fifth and final Test in Dharamsala begins on 7 March.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "England's cricket team, captained by Ben Stokes, suffered a 5-wicket loss in the fourth Test against India, resulting in a 3-1 series defeat. Despite the loss, Stokes expressed pride in his team's performance, highlighting their competitive spirit throughout the matches, and praised the young and inexperienced team for their efforts against India's formidable home record." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. SpaceX launches Starship for the third time US company SpaceX's Starship rocket made major progress in its third test flight on Thursday, completing many of its objectives. The two-stage vehicle produced a clean getaway from its Texas launch site, to send its upper portion around the globe to a re-entry over the Indian Ocean. Radio contact was lost towards the end but the firm said it was \"incredible to see how far we got this time around\". SpaceX boss Elon Musk was delighted with the outcome of the flight, too. He posted on X, formerly Twitter, that \"Starship will take humanity to Mars\". Huge crowds had gathered on nearby beaches to watch the launch When the 120m-tall (395ft) vehicle launched in April and November last year, it blew apart not long into the missions. Mr Musk was looking for significant improvement from his SpaceX team this time - and he got it. The rocket left its launch mount with a huge rumble from its 33 engines, and the vehicle then proceeded to step perfectly through all of the anticipated phases in the climb to space. Separation of the bottom half, the booster, from the top half, the Ship, occurred right on cue, two minutes and 44 seconds into the flight. The ship then powered on, crossing the Atlantic and southern Africa. Video cameras sent back spectacular views of Earth from more than 100 miles up. The Ship was aiming for a splashdown in the Indian Ocean Then came the task of re-entry, when the ship needed to descend to a splashdown in the ocean. Video imagery once again captured incredible scenes as hot gases enveloped the vehicle, just before radio contact was interrupted. Controllers reported shortly after that the Ship had been \"lost\", presumably because it had broken up. The hot gases (plasma) of re-entry surrounded the ship as it came down Not every milestone was ticked off. It was hoped the booster after separation might have been able to power its way back to a controlled drop into the sea just off the Texas coast. It got close but it looked as though the vehicle came in way too fast and was lost before hitting the water. The Ship, too, was expected to re-ignite an engine to initiate the re-entry, but this was skipped for a reason not immediately apparent. These are issues that can be re-visited once all the data is in hand. The upsum, however, is that engineers now know the development of the world's most powerful rocket is firmly on track. And Elon Musk is promising perhaps six more test flights this year. Starship is unlike any rocket system we've seen to date. The 33 engines at the base of the booster produce 74 meganewtons of thrust. This dwarfs all previous vehicles, including those that sent men to the Moon in the 1960s/70s. If engineers can perfect Starship, it will be revolutionary. The rocket is intended to be fully and rapidly reusable, to operate much like an aeroplane that can be refuelled and put back in the air in quick order. This capability, along with the heft to carry more than a hundred tonnes to orbit in one go, would radically lower the cost of space activity. For Elon Musk, Starship is key to his Starlink project which is establishing a global network of broadband internet satellites. The current count in orbit is more than 5,500. The new rocket will be able to put up many more spacecraft for the network. To that end, this test flight demonstrated the opening and closing of a payload bay door, through which future Starlink satellites could be dispensed. And Starship will also help Mr Musk realise that long-held ambition of taking people and supplies to Red Planet to build a human settlement. Among the keenest observers on Thursday will have been the US space agency. Starship is central to Nasa's Artemis programme to put astronauts back on the Moon this decade. A version of Starship would act as the landing craft, taking the crew from lunar orbit down to the surface - and then lifting them back off again. SpaceX will have to show it can produce a safe and reliable vehicle before astronauts are permitted to climb aboard. Nasa has scheduled late 2026 for when it would like to see this happen. Bill Nelson, the Nasa Administrator, issued a statement on X: \"Congrats to @SpaceX on a successful test flight! Starship has soared into the heavens. Together, we are making great strides through Artemis to return humanity to the Moon \u2014 then look onward to Mars.\" The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial spaceflight in the US, immediately announced there would be a mishap investigation following the mission, given the way the booster and Ship ended their flights. This is standard practice, and SpaceX will lead the inquiry into what it got right and what it got wrong. This, too, is standard practice.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "SpaceX's Starship rocket successfully completed many objectives in its third test flight, reaching orbit and re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, though contact was lost towards the end and both the booster and Ship were lost during re-entry. The launch marks significant progress in the development of the world's most powerful rocket, with Elon Musk expressing delight and promising more test flights this year, as Starship is crucial for SpaceX's Starlink satellite network and future Mars colonization plans." + }, + { + "article": "Sally Stringer is one of the victims campaigning for compensation Fujitsu should be paying compensation to sub-postmasters wrongly convicted for theft, says Sally Stringer one of the victims of the Post Office scandal. She is angry the Japanese-owned company, which developed the software at the heart of the affair, is still winning government contracts 20 years after the problems first arose. Fujitsu said it was sorry for its role in sub-postmasters' suffering. But there is a growing chorus calling for action over the firm's role. No-one from Fujitsu has been held to account for failures with Horizon, the software it supplied to the Post Office. The firm has not paid any compensation to victims and has continued to win government contracts for its IT services worth billions of pounds. The public inquiry into the scandal is still waiting to hear from Gareth Jenkins, Fujitsu's former chief IT architect. His court testimony was central to convictions of many sub-postmasters and used repeatedly by Post Office lawyers in court cases to say that the Fujitsu IT system was working correctly. Mr Jenkins has twice asked for immunity from prosecution before giving evidence, but the judge chairing the inquiry has turned down the requests. On Tuesday the prime minister announced the government would bring in a new law to \"swiftly exonerate and compensate victims\". Ms Stringer, along with hundreds of other sub-postmasters, was accused of taking money from the till at the Post Office she ran, after Horizon indicated there was a cash shortfall. She had to pay back \u00a350,000 out of her own pocket. Speaking on BBC television she challenged Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake over the issue. \"I believe that [Fujitsu] should be held responsible for some of the compensation... I mean Horizon is faulty,\" she said. Ms Stringer's calls for swifter action have been echoed by senior politicians including Liam Byrne, chair of parliament's Business and Trade Committee, which has asked the firm's executives to appear before it next week. \"When a firm has been heavily involved in a system that's shared information that put innocent people behind bars, then it's only rational that there is a moral obligation to contribute to compensation,\" he said. But the government has said it will not pre-empt the findings of the public inquiry into the scandal. Mr Hollinrake said the government's position was to wait for the inquiry to conclude \"and then we impose sanctions on those that are responsible, be it a prosecution, or asking people to contribute to the tax payers' bill for compensation\". He agreed that the taxpayer should not be left to \"pick up the tab for the compensation that we're paying the postmasters\" he told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday. The Horizon system was designed to record the transactions carried out in Post Office branches Questions are also being asked over why the firm has continued to win government contracts, despite a High Court judge ruling in 2019 that Horizon contained \"bugs, errors and defects\" and that there was a \"material risk\" shortfalls in branch accounts were caused by the system. Over the past four years Fujitsu has won 101 contracts worth \u00a32bn including \u00a336m for an extension to the contract for Horizon, according to according to the procurement analysts Tussell. The government has removed Fujitsu from its list of preferred suppliers, but the firm is still able to win contracts through the normal procurement process. In fact Fujitsu's products are so deeply entrenched in the government's IT infrastructure, it may be near impossible to remove them, according to IT journalist Tony Collins, who has covered the industry for decades. \"If Fujitsu pulled the plug on the Post Office, which you wouldn't do, post offices would cease to function. Government cannot do without Fujitsu.\" The firm supplies large IT systems to the tax authority, HMRC, the Department for Work and Pensions and other parts of government, Mr Collins explained. However, Fujitsu may decide to offer compensation to victims of the scandal without being required to by the government, Mr Collins suggested. \"I would imagine Fujitsu may seriously consider donating. Government hates suing big IT suppliers because it means going into an open courtroom and revealing things about government schemes that might be highly dysfunctional\" he said. As well as appearing at the parliamentary committee, Fujitsu executives will also face questioning next week at the independent public inquiry looking into the scandal. The government has indicated that the outcome of the inquiry could influence future contracts with Fujitsu. Fujitsu said it was fully committed to supporting the inquiry to learn from the events stretching back two decades. \"The inquiry has reinforced the devastating impact on postmasters' lives and that of their families, and Fujitsu has apologised for its role in their suffering,\" the firm said. The inquiry has been under way since 2021 but the scandal hit the headlines after ITV aired a dramatisation of the events last week. It told the story of how more than 700 branch managers were convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud based on faulty software, over 15 years. More than 100 new potential victims of the scandal have since come forward, prompted by the programme and subsequent coverage. For an in-depth account of the scandal listen to Radio 4 podcast series: The Great Post Office Trial", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Sally Stringer, a victim of the Post Office scandal, is calling for Fujitsu to pay compensation to sub-postmasters wrongly convicted due to faults in the Horizon software it developed. Despite acknowledging its role in the scandal, Fujitsu has not compensated victims and continues to win government contracts, sparking calls for accountability and potential impact on future contracts." + }, + { + "article": "Jan Gholami claimed he was out food shopping when the incident happened at their home in Gravesend, Kent Police said The adoptive father of a two-year-old girl has been jailed for life for her murder. Zahra Ghulami sustained head injuries at their home in Gravesend on the 27 May 2020 and died two days later. Medical evidence concluded her fatal injury was likely to have been inflicted by Zahra being thrown to the floor or against a wall. Jan Gholami, 33, was convicted at Maidstone Crown Court and was also found guilty of cruelty to a child. A judge said he \"habitually\" treated female family members in a \"brutal and brutish way\", and sentenced him to a minimum of 23-and-a-half years in prison. Gholami's wife, Roqia Ghulami, 32, was sentenced to two years in jail after being found guilty of cruelty to a person under 16. She had previously been found not guilty of murder and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charge of allowing the death of a child. The pair - who denied all charges - had adopted Zahra from Afghanistan, where they both had lived before moving to the UK. On Friday, Judge Mr Justice Wall said Gholami could have sought help for Zahra by dialling 999 or calling a friend. He said: \"I sentence you not on the basis that your fatal attack was a one-off, but rather that it was the culmination of the brutal and brutish way you habitually treated the female members of your family.\" He said instead of Gholami immediately seeking help, he went to a supermarket. \"You did that while Zahra was on the floor fighting for her life - if there had been any hope of saving her, your actions made it less likely she'd survive,\" he added. Roqia Ghulami, 32, will serve two years for child cruelty Police said evidence was presented during the trial of previous incidents where Gholami had been violent towards his partner and, as a result, had served a short jail sentence. To Ghulami, Mr Justice Wall said her \"criminality was to ensure suffering of your daughter\". The judge told her: \"You were in an abusive relationship and had recently left Afghanistan and had no support outside of him - you had no English and no friends to whom you could turn to help. \"Despite that, you knew that your duty as a mother was to protect your daughter from everything and everyone - and that included your husband.\" Zahra had been described as a \"bright, intelligent\" child who was \"highly curious\" and wanted to find out about everything. During examinations, doctors found evidence of older injuries, which included a skull fracture, and a healing fracture to her arm and shoulder blade, police added. Following sentencing, Det Insp Ross Gurden said Zahra had been \"betrayed in the most brutal way\". He said: \"Zahra would have thought she was being cared for by people who loved her. Gholami inflicted catastrophic injuries on Zahra, and his partner failed to intervene to help her.\" Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Jan Gholami, the adoptive father of a two-year-old girl named Zahra Ghulami, has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 23-and-a-half years for her murder in Gravesend, Kent. Zahra died from head injuries in May 2020, and Gholami was also found guilty of cruelty to a child. His wife, Roqia Ghulami, received a two-year sentence for cruelty to a person under 16 but was acquitted of murder." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section West Brom Shilen Patel has completed the takeover of West Bromwich Albion from Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai. The American, now the Championship club's majority shareholder, has also become the Baggies' new chairman. Bilkul Football WBA - a company owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Patel and his father Kiran Patel - has acquired an 87.8% shareholding in Albion. \"I am humbled to become the new custodian of West Bromwich Albion Football Club,\" said Shilen Patel. The Baggies have not played in the Premier League since being relegated at the end of the 2020-21 season, having twice lost their top-flight status under Lai. But Albion are well placed in the battle for a Championship play-off place, lying fifth under head coach Carlos Corberan - 16 points off an automatic promotion place, although with a four-point cushion on the chasing pack. The takeover, first announced by Albion on 16 February, has taken almost a fortnight to be finalised but, having been approved by the English Football League, Patel has now officially taken charge. Patel also owns a minority shareholding in Italian Serie A club Bologna, which he has had since 2014. BBC Sport originally reported in January that Patel had become a significant candidate to take control of the club from Lai, who had been owner since buying out Jeremy Peace in 2016. \"Today marks the beginning of an exciting project for the club to regain its standing as a consistent Premier League presence,\" Patel added. \"Success does not occur overnight, but it is my ambition to build on the club's current and historical strengths and surround West Bromwich Albion with high quality stakeholders at home and globally. \"I am also fortunate to be inheriting and continuing the great work of The Albion Foundation at home and abroad. \"I am in awe of the opportunity to help write the next chapter in Baggies history and am committed to being a responsible, respectful, and effective steward of the club.\" The American has also previously invested in businesses across five continents including technology, healthcare, real estate, finance, food and beverages. Where do Albion stand now? Albion are in their fifth season out of six outside the Premier League, something they have not experienced in more than two decades. They are no longer in receipt of parachute payments and fans remain furious at Lai's failure to repay the \u00a35m he owes from a loan received from the club following the Covid pandemic in March 2021. In November, the Baggies confirmed they had taken out another loan for an unspecified amount from American investment group MSD Holdings, on top of the \u00a320m they borrowed in December 2022, to help with \"ongoing funding\". Having already won over a fan base who had become increasingly disillusioned under the previous owners, Albion's first task under the new Patel regime will be trying to take all three points off Midlands promotion rivals Coventry City on Friday. Patel was at The Hawthorns for Albion's last home game - the Friday night defeat by Southampton - and is expected to be there for the Coventry game too. How the time under Lai unfolded: No risk of 'big name' backfiring Despite all the off the field turmoil created by his predecessor, Guochuan Lai, the American businessman is inheriting a football club with the infrastructure in place to be the consistent Premier League presence that he aspires for them to be. Thanks to the miraculous and meticulous work of head coach Carlos Corberan, they're also in a league position from where that could become a reality in just a few short months. The Spaniard is the key to their short-term success - and hopefully Mr Patel saw what his fellow Americans did down the road at Birmingham City when they disposed of their respected coach in favour of a 'big name', which very quickly backfired. There are certainly no signs that the Baggies will make that same mistake and with the opening words of their new owner and chairman referring to himself being humble but also ambitious, the fans can look forward with optimism for this new era.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Shilen Patel has completed the takeover of West Bromwich Albion from Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai, becoming the Championship club's majority shareholder and new chairman. Patel's company, Bilkul Football WBA, now owns an 87.8% shareholding in the club, with ambitions to return Albion to the Premier League." + }, + { + "article": "Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, seen last July posting bail Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been jailed for 14 years, the second sentence handed to Pakistan's former prime minister in two days. The couple were convicted of illegally profiting from state gifts - just a week before a general election in which he is barred from standing. Khan, who was ousted as PM by his opponents in 2022, is already serving a three-year jail term for corruption. He has said the numerous cases against him are politically motivated. Wednesday's court case revolved around accusations over state gifts that he and his wife received while in office, while Tuesday's case - for which he was sentenced to 10 years - for leaking classified state documents. It is thought the two sentences will run concurrently, although that has not been confirmed. The court has also ordered the couple to pay a fine of about 1.5 billion rupees (\u00a34.2m; $5.3m). Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party also said that the sentencing further bans their leader from future political work: he will be disqualified for 10 years from holding public office. Khan's lawyers said they would be launching an appeal to Pakistan's High Court in both cases. His wife Bushra Bibi, who had been out on remand, surrendered at the jail on Wednesday. A government order late on Wednesday said she would be held under house arrest at her residence in Islamabad until further notice. Bibi has typically kept a low profile during their period in office. The two married in 2018, months before Khan was elected prime minister. In the so-called Toshakhana (state treasury) case, both had strongly denied the accusations brought against them by Pakistan's anti-corruption watchdog that they had sold or kept state gifts received in office for personal profit. Such gifts included a jewellery set from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. The PTI has described the cases against Khan as bogus, arguing the trials occurred under duress in \"kangaroo courts\", where proceedings have been rushed. His lawyers have said he was not given a chance to defend himself, while reporters at the court said neither Khan nor Bibi - nor their legal team - were in the room when the sentences were handed down. It said Wednesday's case heralded \"another sad day in our judicial system history\", alleging the judiciary was being \"dismantled\" and that the decision was akin to \"a pre-determined process in play\". Pakistan's judiciary maintains it is independent. According to Dr Farzana Shaikh, an associate fellow at Chatham House's Asia-Pacific programme, the timing of the sentences could be read as the establishment ensuring \"there is absolutely no way Imran Khan can make it out in time for the election\". \"He has been in prison, but do remember the first of these sentences [was] imposed on him for corruption and a higher court actually suspended the sentence because it was seen to be full of holes,\" she told the BBC. But it could also be an attempt to demoralise his supporters. \"That of course is a big gamble,\" Dr Shaikh added. \"It could galvanise his base and bring his supporters out in force.\" Khan himself told his followers on Tuesday to \"take revenge for every injustice with your vote on February 8 while remaining peaceful\" in a statement released on his X (formerly Twitter) account. Even before the latest sentences were handed down, many were already questioning the credibility of the election next Thursday given the extent to which Khan and his party have been sidelined. The authorities deny carrying out a crackdown on PTI, but many of its leaders are now behind bars or have defected. Its candidates are standing as independents and many are on the run. Thousands of the party's supporters were rounded up after protests - at times violent - when Khan was taken into custody last May. The party has also been stripped of its cricket bat symbol, essential in a country with low literacy rates to allow voters to choose where to mark their ballots. The man tipped to win is three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif, who returned from self-imposed exile in the autumn. He was a thorn in the side of the powerful military for much of his long career and was jailed for corruption ahead of the 2018 election that Imran Khan won. Now many believe he is currently preferred by the Pakistan military establishment, while Khan - who used to be seen as close to the military - has fallen out of favour.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Pakistan's former prime minister, Imran Khan, and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have been sentenced to 14 years in jail for illegally profiting from state gifts, just a week before the general election in which Khan is barred from standing. This is the second conviction for Khan in two days, who is already serving a three-year term for corruption; he claims the cases against him are politically motivated." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Iris Apfel: It's better to be happy than well dressed (speaking in 2015) American designer and fashion icon Iris Apfel has died at the age of 102. The self-described \"geriatric starlet\" was known for her distinctive cropped white hair, oversized glasses, bright lipstick and chunky beads. Apfel reached the peak of her fame in the 1980s and 90s, but was a familiar face at Paris fashion shows for more than half a century. She also served a host of celebrity clients, including Greta Garbo and Est\u00e9e Lauder. Her death was announced to her almost three million followers on Instagram, with a picture of Apfel sporting her renowned oversized round glasses. US designer Tommy Hilfiger was among those to pay tribute as he praised Apfel as an \"innovator and leader\" in the world of textiles and style, who \"will go down in history\". Iris Apfel was aged 97 when she signed a modelling contract with global agency IMG Models, who also represent Gigi Hadid and Karlie Kloss \"Iris Apfel has become a world-famous fashion icon because of her incredible talent not only as an artist, but as an influencer,\" he said. \"She has had an amazing effect on so many people with her huge heart and magic touch with everyone she meets.\" US singer Lenny Kravitz and Ted Lasso actress Hannah Waddingham also paid tribute. Born to a Jewish family in New York in 1921, Apfel originally studied the history of art and specialised in interior design, particularly textiles. She worked as an interior designer for decades, including on restoration projects at the White House, before becoming a trend setter in her 80s and a professional model at 97. Apfel's agent Lori Sale said working alongside her was \"the honour of a lifetime\". \"I will miss her daily calls, always greeted with the familiar question: 'What have you got for me today?' Testament to her insatiable desire to work,\" Ms Sale said. \"She was a visionary in every sense of the word. She saw the world through a unique lens - one adorned with giant, distinctive spectacles that sat atop her nose. \"Through those lenses, she saw the world as a kaleidoscope of colour, a canvas of patterns and prints. \"Her artistic eye transformed the mundane into the extraordinary and her ability to blend the unconventional with the elegant was nothing short of magical.\" During her career, Apfel founded international textile manufacturing company Old World Weavers in 1950 alongside her husband Carl, who died in 2015 aged 100 Jean Paul Gaultier and Iris Apfel in New York City in September 2006 In 2014, she was the subject of a documentary, Iris, made by acclaimed director Albert Maysles. Speaking to BBC Newsnight in 2015, she said she thought \"dressing up should be fun\" and was a \"chance to play\". \"It's part of my life because I'm a creative person and I think other people should indulge in a bit of creativity,\" she said. Asked what she thought of the idea of age-appropriate dress, she said that \"if you can pull it off, it's appropriate\". \u2022 None Iris Apfel: It's better to be happy than well dressed. Video, 00:01:07Iris Apfel: It's better to be happy than well dressed", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Fashion icon Iris Apfel, known for her distinctive style and oversized glasses, has passed away at the age of 102. The American designer, who gained fame in the 1980s and 90s and was still attending fashion shows in her later years, had a career spanning interior design, textiles, and modeling. Tributes from the fashion industry and celebrities alike have poured in, celebrating her influence and unique vision." + }, + { + "article": "Jimmy Kimmel will once again host this year's Oscars, which will take place in Los Angeles on 10 March A new Oscar for best casting will be introduced from 2026, Academy Awards organisers have announced. It will be the first new competitive category at the ceremony since best animated feature was added in 2002. Casting directors have campaigned in recent years to be recognised in the way other film crafts like sound, costume and hair and make-up are. In a statement, Academy bosses said casting directors \"play an essential role in filmmaking\". Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang continued: \"As the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognise and celebrate. \"We congratulate our casting directors branch members on this exciting milestone and for their commitment and diligence throughout this process.\" The category will not be introduced until the 2026 ceremony because of how far in advance awards campaigns are planned. The move comes despite the Academy's efforts to shorten the Oscars ceremony in recent years in an effort to keep viewers interested. Often, the show runs well over its scheduled three hours. Currently, 23 awards are given out at the Oscars - although generally the public are mainly interested in the major prizes such as best picture, the acting categories and best director. The Academy did not confirm whether the new casting category would be included in the telecast, and a decision will likely not be made until nearer the time. Casting directors are among the earliest staff to be involved in new film projects, playing a key role in shaping major Hollywood films. They are in charge of hiring A-list stars who will front a film as well as the performers who appear in smaller roles. Stunt performers have also been campaigning for their own category at the Academy Awards, but have not yet been successful. One of the key precursor ceremonies, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, introduced a stunt category in 2007. Last year, it was won by the team who worked on Top Gun: Maverick. Barbie won the newly introduced box office achievement prize at the Golden Globes last month Responses to the news of the casting category have been much warmer than that of the popular film category, which the Oscars attempted to introduce in 2018. The proposed prize was a populist move designed to recognise films that had been successful at the box office but were less likely to be nominated in the traditional categories, such as summer blockbusters and superhero franchises. However, the move prompted criticism, as many high-profile industry figures said such a category would dilute the prestige and integrity of the Oscars. Instead, the Academy a few years later experimented with a \"fan favourite\" prize, a viewer vote that was not strictly a formal Oscars category. It was won by Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead but was not repeated the following year. Earlier this year, the Golden Globes introduced a box office achievement prize, which went to Greta Gerwig's Barbie, ensuring the film was recognised despite losing some of the major categories. This year's Oscars ceremony, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be held in Los Angeles on 10 March. After the casting prize was announced, the three governors of the Academy's casting directors branch - Richard Hicks, Kim Taylor-Coleman and Debra Zane - thanked the Academy. \"This award is a deserved acknowledgment of our casting directors' exceptional talents and a testament to the dedicated efforts of our branch,\" they said.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Jimmy Kimmel will host the Oscars on March 10 in Los Angeles, and starting from 2026, a new award for best casting will be introduced, marking the first new competitive category since 2002. The Academy acknowledges the essential role of casting directors in filmmaking but will not decide until closer to the time if the category will be included in the telecast." + }, + { + "article": "Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on a trip to Dover to promote his Stop the Boats policy The government's Rwanda deportation bill could face a further delay, after Labour vowed to try and change it again in the Lords. On Monday, MPs voted down 10 amendments to the draft law proposed by the House of Lords earlier this month. But Labour peers will try and reinsert five or six of the proposed changes when the bill returns to the Lords on Wednesday, the BBC has been told. It means the bill might not become law until after Parliament's Easter break. This could threaten Downing Street's ambition of getting the first flights to the east African country off the ground before June. The proposed law aims to ensure the UK can deport asylum seekers to Rwanda by declaring it to be a safe place, after the Supreme Court ruled last year it could lead to human rights breaches. Earlier this month, peers added changes to the bill to make it easier for judges to challenge this, and ensure the treaty underpinning deportations is \"fully implemented\" before flights take off. These were rejected in a series of votes on Monday evening, with government majorities ranging from 57 to 78. The bill will now return to the Lords on Wednesday in a process known as \"ping pong,\" where MPs and peers will try and agree the final wording, as the bill is batted between the two Parliamentary chambers. Labour has suggested its peers will not seek to block the bill's passage into law completely. However, the party will order them to try again to reinsert amendments designed to prevent flights taking off until the UK has more assurances that Rwanda is a safe country. If they fail, the bill could become law by the end of this week. But if they succeed, the bill would have to return to the Commons once again. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson urged peers to \"work with the government\" at the votes on Wednesday to help \"end the business of people smuggling\". Another vote would probably have to wait until MPs return from their Easter break on April 15, potentially delaying any flights by several weeks, unless the government clears the Commons schedule to allow votes next week. Labour says each deportation will cost as much as sending six people to space. Michael Tomlinson, Home Office minister, told the Commons on Monday that the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill was \"an essential element\" of protecting the UK's borders. He said that the bill did not conflict with the government's international obligations. Mr Tomlinson also criticised \"systematic legal challenges\" that he said continued to \"frustrate and delay\" removals. Legal challenges meant the first Rwanda flight was cancelled shortly before take-off in June 2022 During the votes on Monday, Labour's Stephen Kinnock supported all the Lords amendments to the bill and said peers were fulfilling their \"patriotic duty\" by scrutinising the draft laws. The shadow Home Office minister said the government must have \"due regard\" for the Supreme Court ruling and claimed Conservative MPs were pushing through \"absurd legislation\" that is \"frankly turning our institutions into a laughing stock\". Labour backbencher Neil Coyle asked whether Mr Tomlinson was aware of the National Audit Office findings showing that the scheme could cost taxpayers nearly \u00a32m for each of the first 300 asylum seekers sent to Rwanda. \"Is the minister aware that Virgin Galactic can send six people into space for less than this government wants to spend sending one person to Rwanda?\" he said. \"Is it not time to rethink this absurd policy and extortionate cost?\" A Virgin Galactic flight to the edge of space for six people was costed at \u00a32.14m last summer. Tory backbencher Richard Graham replied that critics of the cost \"entirely miss the point\" that it would act as a \"huge disincentive\" to those wishing to enter the UK without genuine reason. However Robert Buckland, a former justice secretary, was one of a few Conservative rebels to support some of the Lords' amendments, saying he was concerned about \"creating legal friction\" over whether Rwanda was and continued to be a safe destination. Sir Robert was also keen to stress his support for an amendment exempting those who had helped the UK's armed forces, such as Afghan translators, from deportation to Rwanda. He said: \"I would expect the government to be very sensible and sensitive to the position of Afghan refugees and future refugees and not put them into this scheme, it does seem to me to lose nothing by adding this particular insertion.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK government's Rwanda deportation bill faces potential delay as Labour plans to reinsert amendments in the House of Lords, which could push the legislation past the Easter break, potentially affecting the timeline for the first asylum seeker flights to Rwanda. Despite Labour not seeking to block the bill entirely, the ping-pong between Commons and Lords may prolong the process, with concerns raised about the safety and cost of the policy." + }, + { + "article": "Paul Maynard (right) at the Conservative Party Spring Conference in Blackpool with Rishi Sunak in 2022 Claims that Pensions Minister Paul Maynard broke parliamentary rules by using taxpayer money to fund Conservative Party work and campaigning are to be assessed by a watchdog. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which oversees MPs' expenses, told the BBC it would refer the claims to its compliance officer. Mr Maynard said he believed he had the proper agreements in place. But he told the Sunday Times he would abide by any Ipsa findings. MPs are given public funding to enable them to run a constituency office to serve people in their area. They are not allowed to use the same facilities or staff for party political work or campaigns. That must be funded from separate political donations. The Sunday Times reported the allegations that Mr Maynard had used his constituency office, for which he received parliamentary funding from Ipsa, as the premises of his local Conservative Association as well. Mr Maynard was elected MP for Blackpool North and the Cleveleys in 2010. He was appointed parliamentary under-secretary of state for pensions by Rishi Sunak in November. The paper said a member of the local Conservative association had contacted it as she was concerned parliamentary rules were being broken and had tried, but failed, to get the Conservative Party to stop what was happening. The paper said the activist claimed Mr Maynard had also used facilities in his office to print overtly campaigning material. Ipsa told the BBC that in the light of the claims in the Sunday Times the matter would be referred to its compliance officer who would assess the facts and determine whether to take the matter further. Ipsa said it had already become aware, in 2022, of the use of the one location for both parliamentary and some party work after Mr Maynard contacted the watchdog. Under guidance from Ipsa Mr Maynard subsequently drew up a formal agreement governing the use of the premises. However Ipsa said that, as the Sunday Times report contained allegations Mr Maynard might have used the location for party work before 2022, it was now referring the matter. The BBC contacted Mr Maynard for comment but has not received any reply. He told the Sunday Times: \"I have financial agreements in place with Ipsa over the ad hoc use of my constituency office by the local Conservative association. I believe that these arrangements are appropriate, but will be seeking clarification from Ipsa to ensure this is the case. I will, of course, abide by any findings they make and ensure that any payments deemed necessary can be made promptly.\" Downing Street referred enquiries to the Conservative whips' office. The whips' office gave no statement but instead pointed to Mr Maynard's words given to the newspaper. Anneliese Dodds, the Labour Party chairwoman, said the allegations against the pensions minister were \"extremely serious\" and \"must be thoroughly investigated\". \"Rishi Sunak's promise of professionalism, integrity and accountability was in tatters long before these revelations,\" she said. \"We urgently need a general election and change with Labour.\" The Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper MP, called on Rishi Sunak to suspend Mr Maynard as a minister and suspend the party whip while \"these extremely serious allegations\" were investigated. \"These latest allegations are yet another sore reminder of the number of times that senior Conservatives have shown utter contempt for the rules,\" she said. \"The Conservative Party has proven itself completely unfit to be in office. We need a general election now.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) is set to investigate claims that Pensions Minister Paul Maynard used taxpayer money to fund Conservative Party activities, potentially breaching parliamentary rules. Maynard says he believes he had proper agreements in place but will abide by any Ipsa findings; if found to have misused funds, he could face consequences." + }, + { + "article": "Yemen's Houthis have targeted a US-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden after Washington said it will re-designate the group as \"global terrorists\". The group said they hit the \"Genco Picardy\" bulk carrier with missiles which resulted in a \"direct hit\". The US military says the vessel was hit by a drone on Wednesday evening. Washington's new designation of the Houthis will require US financial institutions to freeze Houthi funds and its members will be banned from the US. The Houthi attacks in the Gulf of Aden and neighbouring Red Sea are a response to Israel's military operation in Gaza. Earlier this month, the UK and US launched air strikes on dozens of Houthi targets in Yemen in an attempt to stop the group from targeting vessels in the waters. On Wednesday evening, a Houthi spokesperson said the group had successfully targeted the Genco Picardy, and that the attack was a response to \"the American-British aggression against our country\". The US military said the ship was hit by a drone launched from Houthi controlled areas in Yemen. It said there was some damage but no injuries, and the vessel remained seaworthy. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the re-designation of the Houthis as \"global terrorists\" is in response to the Iran-backed group's attacks on commercial shipping in the region. The move to re-designate the Houthis reverses Secretary of State Antony Blinken's 2021 decision to remove the rebels from the US Specially Designated Global Terrorist List (SDGT). In a statement, Mr Sullivan said the recent Houthi attacks \"fit the textbook definition of terrorism\", as they have put US personnel in danger and jeopardized global trade operations. \"If the Houthis cease their attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the United States will immediately re-evaluate this designation,\" Mr Sullivan added. In the waning days of the Trump administration officials imposed the SDGT and foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) labels on the Houthis. This action was taken despite warnings from the UN and aid groups that it could push war-torn Yemen into a large-scale famine. But in 2021, shortly after President Joe Biden's inauguration, that decision was reversed by Mr Blinken, the newly installed Secretary of State. He cited the dire humanitarian situation faced by the people of Yemen. Speaking to reporters ahead of Wednesday's announcement, senior administration officials defended the decision to reinstate the SDGT designation but not the FTO designation, which they said had been taken to ensure the continued flow of aid into Yemen. \"It was the correct step to revoke,\" one official said, arguing that it was a move taken in \"recognition of a very dire humanitarian situation\" in the country and to ensure that \"US policies weren't impeding\" civilians' access to urgent aid. But they accepted that the Houthis' campaign of attacks on commercial shipping, which has now seen dozens of missiles fired at vessels in the Red Sea, has become \"unacceptable\". The new SDGT designation will also bar people and companies in the US from offering any support to the Houthis. However, officials were keen to emphasise that a range of exemptions will be worked into the new designation to ensure humanitarian aid continues to flow into Yemen, a country devastated by almost a decade of civil war. \"We are rolling out unprecedented carve outs and licenses to help prevent adverse impacts on the Yemeni people,\" said Mr Sullivan in his statement. \"The people of Yemen should not pay the price for the actions of the Houthis.\" The Houthis began attacking merchant vessels in November, saying they were responding to Israel's military operation in Gaza. Since then, the group has launched dozens of attacks on commercial tankers passing through the Red Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. In response, the US and UK launched a wave of air strikes against dozens of Houthi targets on 11 January. The strikes - supported by Australia, Bahrain, the Netherlands and Canada - began after Houthi forces ignored an ultimatum to cease their attacks in the region. Biden administration officials denied that the new terrorist designation was an acceptance that the air campaign may not deter further Houthi attacks. \"We see these sanctions as one piece of a broader effort to bring the Houthis back from the terror attacks they are currently committing,\" one official said. \"Our sanctions are best not seen in isolation but as part of a broader effort.\" In the wake of last week's strikes, the Houthis said the US and UK would \"soon realise\" the action was \"the greatest folly in their history\". \"America and Britain made a mistake in launching the war on Yemen because they did not benefit from their previous experiences,\" senior Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti wrote on social media. Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that escalated in 2015, when the Houthis seized control of large parts of the west of the country from the internationally recognised government and a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an effort to restore its rule. The fighting has reportedly left more than 160,000 people dead and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with two thirds of the population - 21 million people - in need of some form of aid.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Yemen's Houthis have targeted a US-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden, claiming a direct hit with missiles, while the US military says it was struck by a drone. The attack comes after the US re-designated the Houthis as \"global terrorists,\" requiring freezing of their funds and a ban on members entering the US, in response to attacks on commercial shipping in the region. The move reverses a 2021 decision due to humanitarian concerns in Yemen, but recent Houthi attacks have led to the re-imposition of sanctions, with exemptions to ensure aid continues to flow into the war-torn country." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Hunt: Tax receipts are higher because the economy is set to grow Jeremy Hunt has announced cuts to tax paid by workers from April, in a bid to revive Tory fortunes. The chancellor cut National Insurance by 2p in the last spring Budget before the next general election. Labour said the move was a \"con\" and would leave many people worse off. The Budget also included increases to child benefit salary thresholds and a new vaping levy, while non-dom tax status was abolished. The 2p cut on National Insurance is the second by the chancellor this year. Mr Hunt argued that it would make the tax system fairer and help revive the economy. But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, while supporting the cut, said it would not offset freezes to tax thresholds, which will see some people pay more income tax over time. He added that taxes were at a 70-year high, and people had taken an \"unprecedented hit\" to their living standards in recent years. Mr Hunt had been under pressure to cut personal taxes, with the Tories trailing Labour heavily in opinion polls ahead of the next general election, expected to take place later this year. January's cut to National Insurance, announced at last year's Autumn Statement, did not result in the bounce in the polls longed for by Tory MPs. It had fuelled speculation ahead of the Budget the chancellor would opt to cut income tax, which is thought to have a greater political impact with voters. But despite this, he announced a widely-trailed 2p cut in National Insurance (NI), reducing the rate paid by employees from 10% to 8%, and from 8% to 6% for the self-employed. He also extended eligibility for child benefits for around 170,000 families, with people earning up to \u00a360,000 getting benefits in full and the threshold for them to be withdrawn entirely raised to \u00a380,000. Mr Hunt said the change to NI would be worth \u00a3450 a year to an employee on an average salary of \u00a335,000. In an interview with BBC political editor Chris Mason, he added his long-term ambition was to abolish National Insurance completely, but this would only take place when this was \"affordable\". In a bid to raise revenues elsewhere, he emulated two of Labour's flagship policies: replacing the non-dom regime for UK residents whose permanent home is overseas, and extending the windfall tax on oil and gas companies to 2029. The party had earmarked extra revenue from the policies to pay for new breakfast clubs and extra hospital appointments. Labour has been keen to stress that freezes in the thresholds when people start paying income tax, slated until 2028, mean the tax burden will still rise for many, pointing as well to \"stealth\" rises in council tax. In the Commons, Sir Keir said the chancellor was attempting to \"give with one hand, take even more with the other\". He added: \"The whole country can see exactly what is happening here. They recognise a Tory con when they see it.\" Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called the Budget a \"last-ditch attempt from the Conservative Party to cling on to power\", adding it \"reeks of desperation\". \"Never before have I seen a government deliver weaker public services, higher taxes and zero growth all at the same time,\" he added. Former ministers Suella Braverman and Sir David Davis both expressed regret that the chancellor had not opted to cut income tax. Mrs Braverman, who was sacked by the prime minister last year, also said frozen income tax thresholds had led to \"millions of low and middle-income workers being dragged into paying higher tax\" while \"unprecedented levels of low-wage, low-skilled migration\" were damaging the economy. \"The government could have fixed both problems today but did not,\" she said. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think tank, says the combined effect of both cuts in NI and the threshold freezes between 2021 and this April means those earning between \u00a326,000 to \u00a360,000 are better off. However, people earning less than \u00a325,000 are worse off, whilst those earning \u00a360,000 to \u00a3120,000 will see little difference. As well as making changes to the child benefit thresholds, the chancellor said he would consult on moving to a system that used household, rather than individual, income by April 2026. The current system has been criticised as unfair because the threshold is based on the highest-earning parent, rather than a family's combined salary. That means a family where two parents each earn \u00a350,000 can receive the full amount, whereas a single person earning \u00a360,000 would get nothing. The Budget comes against a backdrop of sluggish economic growth, with the country falling into recession at the end of last year. However, Mr Hunt said the economy would \"soon turn the corner\", with growth forecast to be faster than expected over the next two years. The government's independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, is also expecting inflation - the rate prices are rising - to fall to the target rate of 2% before the end of June. This suggests the government may wait until the autumn to call an election, which must be held by the end of January 2025, rather than calling a May poll. By then the economic picture is likely to have improved and there could be another opportunity to cut taxes. In other measures announced in the Budget: The move to extend the windfall tax on energy firms has prompted a backlash from some Tories, with Energy Minister Andrew Bowie and Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross both describing it as \"deeply disappointing\". SNP economy spokesman Drew Henry also criticised the move, adding it meant both the government and Labour were \"intent on pulling the rug from under industry's feet\". He added that a \"just transition from oil and gas\" would not happen \"if we squeeze the life out of the sector overnight\". On public services, the chancellor said he would keep the planned increase in day-to-day spending at 1% above inflation every year until 2029. However, as some departments like health and schools have protected budgets, that means others such as justice and local government could see significant budget cuts. Mr Hunt said the public sector would also need to improve efficiency to deliver better value for taxpayers. He announced investment in new technology to help free up time for doctors, nurses and police, including \u00a33.4bn to modernise NHS IT systems.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a 2p cut in National Insurance from April, along with increases to child benefit salary thresholds and the abolition of non-dom tax status. Labour has criticized the move, saying it won't offset freezes to tax thresholds and that taxes are at a 70-year high, with people's living standards suffering. The Budget also includes a new vaping levy and an extension of the windfall tax on oil and gas companies." + }, + { + "article": "Jass Thethi has been without her medication for more than six months \"Taking medication meant my brain was quiet for the first time; it was amazing, I cried because I was so happy,\" Jass Thethi, whose life was transformed after an ADHD diagnosis just over a year ago, told a BBC North West investigation. But the 34-year-old's joy was short-lived because, like more than 150,000 others who live with the condition and are reliant on medication, Jass has been affected by a UK-wide medicine shortage that started in September. Jass, who lives in Levenshulme, Greater Manchester, said: \"When the medication shortage started I had to go back to white knuckling everyday life\u2026 I had to take the decision to change things and I had to quit the job I was doing.\" The charity ADHD UK said it had recorded a \"significant decline\" in the availability of medicines, with only 11% having their normal prescription in January, a drop from 52% in September. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said increased global demand and manufacturing issues were behind the shortages. Former charity worker Jass has been without her prescription for six months and told the BBC it had exacerbated her fibromyalgia, a long-term condition that causes pain all over her body. \"Not having my ADHD meds means I can't sleep,\" she said. \"That means my anxiety is worse and that means the pain gets worse and unfortunately there's not a lot that can be done as I'm at the top of what they can do for my pain. \"There's not a lot of options at the moment, so I had to take the decision to really change my life and quit the job I enjoyed.\" Dr Morgan Toerien warned people can \"literally fall apart\" if medication was stopped abruptly Dr Morgan Toerien, associate specialist in mental health at Beyond Clinics in Warrington, said Jass's experience was not unique and many patients' lives had been \"completely destabilised\". \"You find some people whose lives have been really transformed on medication, in terms of confidence, relationships, self-esteem and you find they've been able to go back into work. \"It just completely destabilises people and they can literally fall apart if the medication is stopped abruptly.\" Dr Toerien explained ADHD medication regulates brain function to help patients \"switch on\" and \"switch off\". \"Medication stimulates the nervous system, it penetrates deep into the nervous system where there is a switch, which allows the nervous system to engage and disengage. \"Often in people with ADHD when they're trying to relax, their mind is racing at a hundred miles an hour and then when they're trying to focus they get distracted and their thoughts are off in other places.\" Dr Toerien said proper medication can have a \"profound\" impact, adding: \"Some people find very small amounts of drugs make a significant impact, some have very profound changes and they find that all of a sudden, they are able to do tasks that they were never able to do before.\" Jass told the BBC her medication made her feel \"free\" and \"independent\". \"Having ADHD is like having six different radio channels on in your brain at the same time and occasionally a couple of them might be in a different language,\" she said. \"They're all the same volume, you don't know where the off switches are and you don't know which one to listen to and which one to deal with first. \"Taking medication meant it was quiet for the first time ever. I cried when I took it because it was quiet in my brain, it was amazing, I was so happy.\" She added: \"I didn't know that's what normal people felt like, I was so confused for so much of my life. I was like how is everyone just getting on with it?\" Having quit her job, Jass now works as a dog walker ADHD UK estimated about 150,000 people were currently experiencing issues with their medication. Survey results, published by the charity last month, found that 87% of members agreed that their work had been negatively impacted due to the shortage and 84% of full-time students said their learning had suffered. Warrington MP Charlotte Nichols raised the issue at Prime Minister's Questions last month and said she was still being contacted by constituents about it. \"I've been getting more and more contact from people with increasingly desperate stories, people have bene rationing their medication, people have been having to ring lots of different pharmacies, and they have been having to make really huge round trips to get the medication they need,\" she said. \"It feels like if this is going to be three or four more months of disruption, there is more that could be being done to support people.\" Warrington MP Charlotte Nichols said she has been inundated with calls from affected constituents A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: \"We have taken swift action to improve the supply of ADHD medications, but we know some challenges remain and understand that this may be distressing to patients and families. \"We have well-established processes to prevent, manage and mitigate medicine shortages to ensure patients can continue to access the treatments they need. \"We are working closely with the NHS, industry and others operating in the supply chain to help resolve any issues with ADHD medication as soon as possible. \"We have also issued advice to healthcare professionals and any patient who is worried about their condition should speak to their clinician.\" Why not follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Jass Thethi, a person with ADHD, has been without her medication for six months due to a UK-wide shortage, causing significant distress and impacting her life. The charity ADHD UK reports a decline in medicine availability, with only 11% of patients receiving normal prescriptions in January. The Department of Health and Social Care attributes the shortages to global demand and manufacturing issues." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Moment medical students find out school will be tuition-free after $1bn donation A New York City medical school will offer students free tuition following a $1bn donation from the 93-year-old widow of a major Wall Street investor. The gift to Albert Einstein College of Medicine came from Dr Ruth Gottesman, a former professor at the Bronx school. It is one of the largest ever donations made to a US school and is the largest ever made to a medical school. The Bronx, New York City's poorest borough, is ranked as the unhealthiest of New York state's 62 counties. In a statement, university dean Dr Yaron Yomer said that the \"transformational\" gift \"radically revolutionises our ability to continue attracting students who are committed to our mission, not just those who can afford it\". Tuition at the school is nearly $59,000 (\u00a346,500) each year, leaving students with substantial debt. The statement from Einstein noted students in their final year will be reimbursed for their spring 2024 tuition, and from August, all students, including those who are currently enrolled, will receive free tuition. The donation \"will free up and lift our students, enabling them to pursue projects and ideas that might otherwise be prohibitive\", Dr Yomer added. Dr Gottesman, now 93, began working at the school in 1968. She studied learning disabilities, ran literacy programmes and developed widely used screening and evaluation protocols. Her late husband, David \"Sandy\" Gottesman, founded a prominent investment house and was an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet's multinational conglomerate. He died in September 2022 at the age of 96. Dr Gottesman said in a statement that the doctors who train at Einstein go on to \"provide the finest healthcare to communities here in the Bronx and all over the world\". \"I am very thankful to my late husband, Sandy, for leaving these funds in my care, and l feel blessed to be given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause,\" she added. About 50% of Einstein's first-year students are from New York, and approximately 60% are women. Statistics published by the school show that about 48% of its medical students are white, while 29% are Asian, 11% are Hispanic and 5% are black. In an interview with the New York Times, she recalled that her late husband had left her a \"whole portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway stock\" when he died with the instructions to \"do whatever you think is right with it\". \"I wanted to fund students at Einstein so that they would receive free tuition,\" Dr Gottesman said she immediately realised. \"There was enough money to do that in perpetuity.\" She added that she occasionally wonders what her husband would have thought of the donation. \"I hope he's smiling and not frowning,\" she said. \"He gave me the opportunity to do this, and I think he would be happy - I hope so.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Dr Ruth Gottesman, a 93-year-old former professor, has donated $1 billion to New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, enabling the school to offer free tuition to all students. This historic gift, the largest ever to a US medical school, aims to alleviate financial burdens on students and support those committed to the school's mission, regardless of their financial background." + }, + { + "article": "Matt Wright said he believed The Crooked House was the \"only pub in the world\" you could walk out feeling more sober than when you entered it Mystery surrounding the destruction of The Crooked House in the West Midlands has prompted a sense of anger and grief, and not only in the local community. Many stories have emerged, sharing sometimes very personal connections with what was once dubbed the UK's \"wonkiest\" pub. \"I think it was the only pub in the world, when you walk out, you feel more sober,\" customer Matt Wright said. A week ago, having recently been sold to new owners, it stood proud, if at an angle that made you question its durability. But on Saturday, a fire, later to be treated by police as arson, left it an empty shell, only for the remains to be mysteriously demolished less than 48 hours later. Flames ripped through the 18th Century building in Himley on Saturday night \"It is like losing someone in your family. It's still the lack of belief it has really gone,\" Mr Wright said. \"It was like the beating heart of the Dudley community. It didn't matter where you went, when you told people you were from Dudley, a lot of people would mention The Crooked House.\" The 45-year-old has become part of a Facebook group campaigning to rebuild it, which has seen its numbers swell to more than 13,000. How the pub got its stoop is the stuff of Black Country legend. The building itself dates back to the 18th Century when, in 1765, it was built as a farmhouse. In about 1830 it was converted into a pub and named the Glynne Arms, after the landowner at the time, Sir Stephen Glynne. It was known locally as The Crooked House from the early 1900s, but it would be almost another 100 years until it was officially renamed The \"crooked-ness\" began in the middle of the 19th Century when, due to mining work in the area, the building began to subside on one side. The lean was about 15 degrees and it would have collapsed but for the addition of buttresses to support one side, the Lower Gornal local history group said. It was then known by locals in the area as the \"siden house\" or \"sidin\" (side-in) as an expression in the area for crooked, the group added. At one stage, the lean on the Glynne Arms was about 15 degrees, a local historian said The pub was condemned in the 1940s and would have been demolished but instead the buttresses on the south side were further strengthened. It's not clear how gradual the subsidence was or why the decision was first made to support the structure, rather than demolish it, Colin Morris, from the local history group, said. Further repairs were carried out in the following decades by owners Wolverhampton and Dudley brewery, and the pub gained the name The Crooked House in 2002, although it had been known as that locally from the turn of the 20th Century, as postcards showed. The Crooked House's lean, here pictured in 1907, began in the middle of the 19th Century when one side began to subside due to mining works But to many in the Black Country, it was so much more. \"It was Dudley's Leaning Tower of Pisa for a long time,\" local author Miranda Dickson said. She said she regularly visited The Crooked House from her childhood and added it was \"part of our local psyche\". \"It was a very strange place to drink in, you didn't want to be having a few drinks and then sitting there because already the room was spinning,\" she said. People visited the site on Monday and Tuesday after news spread about the demolition When the BBC's Nationwide programme visited in September 1974, much was made of how bottles and other objects appeared to defy gravity by seeming to roll uphill. Since then, many have said they have tried the same trick with marbles, including Cora Barras who, on a visit from Northern Ireland with her daughter, said \"the thrill of trying to figure out\" what was going on was \"such fun\". Georgia Witton said a university friend made a special request to go the pub and roll a marble up the bar during a visit. \"I just remember the magic of it - the fact it was wonky, people would talk about it and you'd see it really was like that,\" she said. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The BBC's Nationwide programme spent an afternoon inside The Crooked House in 1974 The place was so unique, Sara Howes and her husband Mic could not think of a better place to celebrate their wedding in September 2021. \"We chose there as it was quirky and matched our aesthetic,\" she said. But as well as talking of the magic of the place, feelings quickly turn to anger at The Crooked House's destruction. \"I feel angry - I don't understand how it was able to happen,\" Mrs Howes said. The pub's unique qualities enticed Sara Howes and her husband to celebrate their wedding there in 2021 Kel Cunningham, who regularly visited the Crooked House on trips back to the area said she almost \"burst with pride\" to take her husband there in December. \"I am devastated, it's like mourning the loss of a family member - she won't ever be the same,\" she said. There has been talk, including from the mayor of the West Midlands, of rebuilding the pub, although others have questioned whether that would even be possible. It's a move Mrs Dickinson would support, although \"it would not be the same building\" she said. \"It's such an important part of all of our childhoods here,\" she added. Flowers and cards were left near the pub after it was demolished, with many local residents expressing feelings of grief Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Crooked House, a historic and iconic pub in the West Midlands known for its leaning structure, was destroyed by a fire believed to be arson and subsequently demolished, causing anger and grief in the local community. The pub, which had a unique charm and personal connections for many, is now the subject of a campaign to rebuild it, with over 13,000 people joining a Facebook group in support." + }, + { + "article": "Odysseus at the moment of touchdown. A support pole to the leg on the left is broken The first clear images of the Odysseus robot on the surface of the Moon have just been released. They include a view of the American mission lying to one side, having broken a leg on touchdown. The spacecraft continued to work afterwards, however, sending back data about the lunar environment. Odysseus made history last Thursday by becoming the first ever privately built vehicle to complete a soft landing on the Moon. And despite the awkward orientation it eventually adopted, the robot should be celebrated, said US space agency administrator Bill Nelson. Nasa had contracted the operating company, Houston-based Intuitive Machines, to carry six scientific instruments on board the lander. \"Odysseus is a success,\" the agency chief told reporters. \"We are in the sixth day of what was planned as an eight-day mission, and we're still receiving data from those instruments.\" The robot is lying at an angle of about 30 degrees to the surface Odysseus' descent, clearly, was a little hairy. The robot was supposed to come straight down, vertically, with a speed of one metre per second. In the event, it had navigation issues whereby the onboard computer couldn't process precise laser range-finding data fast enough and had to rely solely on optical cameras for altitude and velocity information. It meant the craft actually came in three times faster than it should have, and with an element of sideways movement that resulted in a skid. \"The landing gear took the bulk of the load and we broke one or two possibly landing gear,\" explained Steve Altemus, IM's CEO and co-founder. \"We sat there upright with the engine firing for a period of time. And then, as it wound down, the vehicle just gently tipped over, and in our simulation with 1/6 gravity, we showed that it took about two seconds.\" Odysseus is thought to be resting on one of its yellow helium pressure tanks at an angle to the surface of roughly 30 degrees. The craft was forced to communicate with Houston via its low-gain antennas. But once controllers got the hang of how the signals were being sent, a broad data stream was established. Artwork: How Odysseus was imagined to look on the Moon before launch Nasa's six instruments were focused on testing new navigation technologies and studying the surface conditions at the landing site. Susan Lederer, who oversaw all the experiments, said the agency teams and IM staff worked side by side to make the mission a success. \"We were collaboratively working together to find solutions so that the spacecraft could live and the payloads could get their data,\" she told reporters. \"We went from basically a cocktail straw of data coming back to a boba tea-sized (very large) straw of data coming back.\" The robot is expected to go into hibernation on Thursday at the latest. Because of the way its solar cells are pointing, they're going to lose sight of the Sun and that will deny the battery of charge. And, in any case, the Sun will soon disappear over the horizon. Only when it returns in mid-March will engineers have a chance of reviving Odysseus. \"We'll start listening at sunrise at our location and see if 'Odie' wakes up from a nap,\" said Tim Crain, IM's CTO and co-founder. Susan Lederer said she wouldn't bet against the \"scrappy little dude\" re-establishing contact. A view of the landing using the fish-eye camera The Intuitive Machines mission is part of Nasa's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, in which the agency is paying various private American companies for cargo services to the Moon. These companies are responsible for designing, building and operating their robot landers - Nasa is a payload customer. A whole series of robotic \"scouts\" is planned as the agency works towards returning astronauts to the Moon's surface later this decade. Nasa regards the CLPS approach as a more economical way of getting its science done, while at the same time seeding what it hopes will become a thriving lunar economy. Intuitive Machines has two further missions in prospect for 2024. The next will see a robot drill into the surface. \"We've kicked open the door for a robust thriving cislunar economy in the future. That's compelling,\" said Steve Altemus. \"I think this CLPS experiment, this first landing, the success on the Moon for first time (by the US) in 52 years, is really a point in history that we should celebrate.\" Earlier this week, the Japanese space agency managed to wake its Slim lander after it had gone through a \"lunar night\". The Jaxa robot had also touched down in an awkward fashion - on its nose. But like Odysseus, this didn't stop it functioning, and it was able to send back many pictures of its surroundings. Japan's Slim robot came back to life after lunar night so there's hope for Odysseus", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The privately built Odysseus robot made history as the first private spacecraft to land on the Moon, but it broke a leg during touchdown, causing it to lie at a 30-degree angle. Despite the landing issue, the mission is considered a success as the robot continues to send back data on the lunar environment, and NASA is still receiving information from its six scientific instruments." + }, + { + "article": "Labour has withdrawn support for Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali over comments he apparently made about Israel and Jewish people. Labour had stood by Mr Ali when he claimed Israel had allowed the 7 October attacks by Hamas as a pretext to invade Gaza. But it changed position after Mr Ali apparently also blamed Jewish media figures for fuelling criticism against a pro-Palestinian Labour MP. Mr Ali has been contacted for comment. He will still be listed as the Labour candidate on the ballot paper as under electoral law it is too late to replace him. However, it is understood Mr Ali has been suspended from the party pending an investigation. Labour had spent days defending him as a candidate, after the Mail on Sunday published comments from Mr Ali, claiming Israel had \"allowed\" the Hamas attack. Mr Ali subsequently apologised \"to Jewish leaders for my inexcusable comments\". On Monday evening, the Daily Mail published a fuller recording, allegedly of Mr Ali, blaming \"people in the media from certain Jewish quarters\" for the suspension of Andy McDonald from the Labour Party. Mr McDonald was suspended last year after saying: \"We will not rest until we have justice. Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty.\" The person on the recording goes on to say Israel planned to \"get rid of [Palestinians] from Gaza\" and \"grab\" the land. He also appears to boast about preventing Israeli flags being flown from local public buildings after the deadly attack by Hamas gunmen on 7 October. Labour's National Campaign Coordinator Pat McFadden said Mr Ali was suspended after \"more comments\" came to light. Mr McFadden said that \"the fact you have got very rare circumstances where a political party is withdrawing support for a candidate after nominations have closed\" showed Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was serious about \"rooting antisemitism out of the Labour Party\". Labour has faced intense pressure since Mr Ali's remarks first surfaced, with widespread condemnation from party members and political rivals. Frontbenchers Lisa Nandy and Anneliese Dodds had been out campaigning for Mr Ali at the weekend, and shadow minister Nick Thomas-Symonds was defending Labour's decision to back him on Monday morning. Azhar Ali launched his campaign to be Labour's candidate for Rochdale on 7 February, gaining public backing from many senior figures including Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham Martin Forde, who led a review into allegations of bullying and racism in the Labour Party, said the handling of the case had been \"pretty shambolic\" and it would have been \"sensible\" to withdraw support for Mr Ali when his comments first emerged. The senior lawyer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was a perception among some left-leaning MPs \"that when it comes to disciplinary action taken against them then things move rather slowly, but if you're in the right faction of the party, as it were, then things are dealt with either more leniently or more swiftly\". However, former Labour MP Lord Mann, who is now an independent adviser to the government on antisemitism, told the BBC: \"I think it's actually quite a bold decision, basically to throw away a parliamentary seat.\" He added: \"I think the Jewish community, as it reflects, will take quite a lot of comfort from the fact that Sir Keir Starmer has been prepared to do that.\" The row over Mr Ali still raises two key questions for Sir Keir Starmer's leadership: Why was the story allowed to run for almost 48 hours? And is antisemitism being \"weaponised\" along factional lines, as Mr Forde has suggested it may be? There's a kind of textbook for how these stories often emerge - the initial story, the political reaction, followed by new information that has a habit of making the situation worse. Sir Keir - via his frontbench - is trying to claim that it took \"swift\" action once the new details emerged, but as one Labour MP put it this morning, he was \"late by about 20 hours\". Meanwhile the left wing of the party is outraged that the cases of MPs Andy MacDonald and Kate Osamor, also suspended over comments in relation to the war in Gaza, haven't been given the same benefit of the doubt as was initially afforded to Mr Ali. A decision has been taken and Sir Keir has stamped his authority on his party again - but the Labour leader is open to accusations he was politically inept. And this row will remind onlookers that despite Sir Keir's efforts, there is still plenty of disunity in the Labour Party. Labour's decision to withdraw support from Mr Ali, who was selected to represent the seat after the death of Sir Tony Lloyd, means it is also highly unlikely that he would be selected by the party to fight this year's general election. And it will add an extra layer of uncertainty to the outcome of the by-election on 29 February in Rochdale, where Labour has a majority of more than 9,000. Also running are former Labour MP Simon Danczuk, now the Reform Party candidate, and George Galloway, of the Workers Party of Britain, who is campaigning against Labour's stance on Gaza. Paul Ellison, a local business owner and campaigner, is standing for the Conservatives, while Iain Donaldson will represent the Liberal Democrats. Guy Otten's name will appear on the ballot paper for the Green Party, but he has said he will not campaign for the seat after comments came to light in which he criticised Palestinians and Islam. A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said the decision to withdraw support from Mr Ali was \"the worst of all worlds\". \"Rather than appearing as a principled decision, Labour's withdrawal of support for its candidate at this late stage just looks as expedient as the failed attempt to defend him,\" the spokesperson added. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accused Labour of only withdrawing support for Mr Ali due to \"enormous media pressure\". \"That's not principled,\" Mr Sunak said. In recent months, Labour has suspended two of its MPs from the party for comments related to the conflict - including Mr McDonald. In January, Kate Osamor had the party whip removed after saying Gaza should be remembered as genocide in a post about Holocaust Memorial Day. Israel declared war on Hamas after the group led an attack on communities inside Israel, killing around 1,200 people. Since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed and 68,000 injured as Israel launched missiles and ground operations into the Gaza Strip in response.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Labour Party has withdrawn support for its candidate, Azhar Ali, in the Rochdale by-election over alleged antisemitic comments he made about Israel and Jewish people. Despite being suspended from the party, Ali will still appear on the ballot as it is too late to replace him, but Labour has stated it is serious about eradicating antisemitism within the party." + }, + { + "article": "Labour believes it has found a new dividing line with the Conservatives at the next general election - National Insurance. Both the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and the shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall road-tested it today, when they denounced the Conservatives' long-term aim of abolishing National Insurance Contributions. The party did not oppose new cuts to National Insurance in last week's Budget. But the Labour leadership believes they have found a way to turn the tables on the Conservatives when it comes to economic competence. Labour is still licking its wounds over its \u00a328bn green prosperity plan - a pledge that was diluted last month under sustained attack over how it would be funded. So, Labour has been quick to attach a price tag - a whopping \u00a346bn - to the Conservatives' \"ambition\" to do away with National Insurance. This was branded by Sir Keir as an \"unfunded pledge\". This is despite Chancellor Jeremy Hunt making clear it would only happen when fiscal and economic conditions allow - and that it could not happen overnight. But as Liz Kendall put it in a speech - ostensibly about pensions - on Wednesday morning: \"If Labour made a commitment 100 times smaller than this we would rightly be asked to spell out - where is the money coming from?\" \"Will it be paid for by higher borrowing? Or spending cuts to vital public services?\" At PMQs, Sir Keir suggested it would come at the expense of health expenditure or pensions. Challenging the prime minister in the Commons, he said that 80% of National Insurance is spent on social security and pensions, and 20% on the NHS. So, if pensions or NHS were not to be cut, the government would have to raise other taxes or borrow money. Soon after, Labour released a dossier claiming that a \"pensions bombshell\" was in the offing - echoing the successful Conservative warning of a Labour \"tax bombshell\" at the 1992 election. What is driving all this is not just a desire for revenge over the beaten and battered \u00a328bn green investment pledge. Labour held post-Budget focus groups last weekend, and they found that those questions resonated with key voters. Certainly, national insurance contributions can determine how much state pension you qualify for. So if National Insurance were to go, there was a worry amongst these voters about how pensions would be paid for - a concern Labour has been keen to amplify. But on health spending, previous attempts to 'hypothecate' - or earmark - NICs for specific public services have been abandoned. For example, the health and social care levy on National Insurance - proposed by Rishi Sunak as Chancellor - was scrapped by Liz Truss and never re-introduced. So worries about National Insurance cuts being linked to NHS cuts are misplaced. Jeremy Hunt has accused Labour of \"scaremongering\" and has said on X: \"The value of NICs receipts do not determine the NHS budget, or the value of pensions.\" And appearing before the Commons Treasury Committee, the chancellor said complete abolition would not happen in the next Parliament. He stressed it was \"a long-term ambition\" of the Conservatives. And the Treasury has added that this won't be done in a way which would harm pensioners, compromise public services or increase taxation of workers. Nonetheless, confusion and concern over the government's intentions aren't necessarily unhelpful for Labour. Liz Kendall has declared Labour is now the party for pensioners. That claim may be a little premature. But it is certainly Labour's aim to peel pensioners away from the Conservatives - more than 60% of over-65s backed the Tories in 2019 - and whether by post or at a polling station, they are more likely to cast their ballot than younger people. Some recent polls have suggested there is now a much narrower gap between the parties, in part due to some previous Conservative voters peeling off to Reform. Labour are going to point out that cuts to NICs, unlike income tax reductions or higher tax thresholds, don't benefit pensioners. And Labour will stick to the government's triple lock on pensions - ensuring the state pension rises with the highest of three measures: inflation, earnings, or 2.5%. So there will be a political dividing line on NICs at the next election. But it isn't pre-determined that the government loses the argument. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has at least set out a trajectory for lower NICs. These reductions are cheaper than income tax cuts. But he has also argued that it is right to target reductions at those who are in work rather than retired - as this is an incentive to get 50 and 60-somethings back in to the workforce. That in turn could help boost the nation's income and productivity. And in the Commons at PMQs, Mr Sunak took Labour's attack on the NICs policy as an admission that a Starmer government wouldn't cut the tax burden. But some Conservative MPs believe people neither understand nor give the government credit for changes in NICs - unlike a cut in headline income tax rates. So Labour hopes that Conservative concerns and voters' confusion could pay them political dividends.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Labour has accused the Conservatives of having an \"unfunded pledge\" to abolish National Insurance Contributions, with the party highlighting the potential impact on pensions and public services. Labour calculates the cost of this pledge at \u00a346bn and is using it as a new dividing line with the Tories, questioning their economic competence, while the Conservatives argue that Labour is scaremongering and that National Insurance cuts would incentivize employment." + }, + { + "article": "About 160 people were evacuated from the building and neighbouring properties Eight police officers were among 11 people who were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a five-storey building in London. About 160 people were evacuated from Emperor's Gate, in South Kensington, after the fire spread from a ground-floor flat just after midnight. An eyewitness described seeing police officers \"running about\" helping before London Fire Brigade (LFB) arrived. Arnis Altens said he saw the \"whole building ablaze\" within 14 minutes. LFB said the blaze, which had spread to the roof of the building, was brought under control by about 05:30 GMT. It said the people taken to hospital were treated for the effects of smoke inhalation. LFB, which told the BBC that police were often first to arrive to a fire, said it received the initial report at 00:31 and was at the scene four minutes later. A total of 14 calls were made by police officers and residents, it said. Fifteen fire engines and about 100 firefighters arrived to find half of the ground floor of the building alight, LFB said. Two people were rescued from a second-floor flat, one person was helped from a first-floor flat and another two from a flat on the fourth floor. Five people were rescued from the building Borough commander Ben King described the fire as \"incredibly challenging\" to tackle. \"Our crews have acted with, as you would expect and as London rightfully deserves, utmost professionalism as they have conducted a number of rescues,\" he said. The flames became \"very significant\" and it was a \"dynamic incident\" for the service to deal with, Mr King explained. Borough commander Ben King said the roof of the building was \"significantly damaged\" Crews worked extremely hard to stop the fire spreading to adjacent buildings, LFB said. Mr King said the roof of the building was \"significantly damaged\" and the ground floor and an adjoining property had also suffered damage. LFB said some of the evacuated residents had been able to return to their homes. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Arnis Altens saw the fire spread from the ground floor Mr Altens, who was one of the people evacuated, described the fire as \"pretty scary\". The 58-year-old said he saw a \"small fire\" on the ground floor, which people were trying to put out using extinguishers. \"They broke the window and after that the fire spread rapidly... the blaze came out of the window,\" Mr Altens explained. \"In 14 minutes the whole building was ablaze,\" he told the BBC. The blaze spread from a ground-floor flat just after midnight on Friday It's bucketing it down with rain here in south Kensington. Firefighters using a turntable ladder continue to battle the blaze which is now under control. There's a heavy police presence too with road closures in every direction and buses on diversion. Dozens of tired looking firefighters have been accepting hot drinks from a Salvation Army van a street away. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea said council staff provided assistance and shelter at a nearby hotel for those affected. Its deputy leader Kim Taylor-Smith thanked the emergency services for \"the incredible job they have done in very challenging conditions\" and council staff, \"who have sprung into action in the middle of the night\". A website has been set up by the council for residents to get help and information: Kensington Flat Fire. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A fire at a five-storey building in London's South Kensington led to the evacuation of about 160 people, with 11, including eight police officers, hospitalized for smoke inhalation. The London Fire Brigade, which received the call at 00:31 GMT, had the blaze under control by 05:30, rescuing several people from the building, and the cause of the fire is currently unknown." + }, + { + "article": "On Sunday morning, 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell walked calmly up to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC and set himself on fire. Dressed in his US Air Force uniform, Mr Bushnell said he would \"no longer be complicit in genocide\". He shouted \"Free Palestine\" as he burned, until he collapsed to the ground. Hours later, he died in hospital. Mr Bushnell live-streamed his self-immolation, ensuring that his actions - which he described as an \"extreme act of protest\" - were seen far beyond Washington. Though his initial video was removed, the footage was shared widely on social media, and Mr Bushnell's suicide has prompted vigils in US cities this week by those campaigning against Israel's military actions in Gaza. The death toll there passed 30,000 this week, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Others have expressed concern about the extreme nature of his protest and fears it could inspire other deadly acts. But for Mr Bushnell's friends, his death has hit much closer to home. His self-immolation took even those closest to him completely by surprise and they have found themselves caught between the weight of grieving a friend and processing what he did, while also dealing with the sudden spotlight from the world's media. Those who knew him in San Antonio, Texas, where Mr Bushnell lived from 2020 to late last year while stationed at Lackland Air Force base, said his death had rippled through a community of organisers and activists like a \"shockwave\". \"Initially, there was just a lot of shock and sadness, that he felt this was the only action that he could do to bring attention to something that he cared heavily about,\" Mason Escamilla, who knew Mr Bushnell, told the BBC on Friday before a public vigil held in a San Antonio Park. \"It's hard that he chose these actions, it's hard to comprehend even from people who sympathise with a ceasefire and the safety of Palestinian people and civilians,\" Mr Escamilla, 25, said. At least 200 people attended the vigil, including many local Palestinians. One by one, Mr Bushnell's friends took to the microphone to remember and mourn him. Before Sunday, Mr Escamila said he knew Mr Bushnell as \"normal, quiet, friendly, quirky guy,\" who drank root beer, embraced leftist politics, and volunteered with groups who helped people experiencing homelessness. The airman had a cat named Sugar and liked the Lord of the Rings, he said. Moon, a friend of Mr Bushnell's who asked to be identified only by his first name, met him through volunteer work and described him as \"incredibly strong willed\". The video of his final moments, he said, \"was very tough to see.\" Sara Masoud, a 32-year-old Palestinian organiser who attended the vigil, said learning the news of his death \"was really devastating.\" But the shocking act has prompted discussion among activists who feel \"a sense of relatability to the futility that drove his action\", she said. Mr Bushnell had described himself as an anarchist, once writing that he \"believed in the abolition of all hierarchal power structures\" through legal means. While based in San Antonio with the Air Force, he was also active in number of community and mutual aid groups and gravitated especially towards helping the homeless, his friends said. In initial volunteer outings, delivering supplies like first aid and clothing, Mr Bushnell was \"a little shy\", Mr Escamilla recalled, but said he soon learned to engage closely with the people he helped. Mr Escamilla believed Mr Bushnell felt a tension between his military service and his political beliefs. He was still in the military when the Israel-Gaza war erupted in October last year. Some 1,200 people were killed after Hamas gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel. They took around 250 hostages back into the Gaza Strip, with many still alive and being held there. About 1.8 million Palestinians have been displaced since Israel launched retaliatory military action, which it says is aimed at destroying Hamas. Moon, a friend of Aaron Bushnell's, speaks at the San Antonio vigil While Mr Bushnell had strong pro-Palestinian views and engaged with local activist groups, no-one expected that he would end his life in a protest against the war in Gaza. Aaron Bushnell grew up in Orleans, Massachusetts, in a tightly cloistered religious community known as the Community of Jesus, according to his friends. A childhood friend, Ashley Schuman, told the New York Times he had told her he left the community in 2019. Mr Escamilla said that Mr Bushnell was no longer involved in the Community of Jesus and had distanced himself from his family. Some former members of the Community of Jesus alleged psychological abuse in a 2021 ABC News investigation. Mr Bushnell's parents, the Community of Jesus, and a former employer in the community declined to comment to the BBC. In his youth, Mr Bushnell belonged to a competitive performance group called Spirit Winter Percussion. A group photo from six years ago on his Facebook page shows the young performers wearing colourful uniforms and large grins. Aaron Bushnell and his cat, Sugar, in an undated photo provided to the BBC by his friends. \"Back then he didn't really talk about much besides sports, music, etc,\" Brian Spencer, who was in the percussion group with Mr Bushnell, told the BBC. \"But he was a good dude and would always lend a helping hand when needed.\" Mr Bushnell entered active service on 5 May, 2020, according the Air Force. His most recent role was in cyber defence operations. Friends say he left San Antonio late last year, and he was living in Ohio before his death. On his LinkedIn page, Mr Bushnell wrote he was seeking opportunities in the US military's SkillBridge program, which allows military personnel to transition into civilian jobs after their service ends. He was still in the Air Force at the time of his death. \"We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Senior Airman Bushnell,\" US Air Force Col. Celina Noyes said in a statement. At Friday's vigil, there was an emphasis on remembering the airman as his friends knew him and the causes he believed in, rather than how the world had come to learn his name. Before she began her speech on Friday, a woman who volunteered with Mr Bushnell told the crowd: \"You're going to hear a lot of sad things. But you're also going to hear a lot of really good things. \"Because this final, fiery moment was not the sum of his life.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A 25-year-old US Air Force member, Aaron Bushnell, set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, protesting against what he called \"genocide\" and shouting \"Free Palestine\" before dying in hospital. His extreme act, live-streamed and widely shared on social media, has sparked vigils in support of Gaza and raised concerns about the potential for\u6a21\u4eff, while his friends in San Antonio, Texas, where he was stationed, are grappling with the loss and the attention his death has brought." + }, + { + "article": "Andrew James Thompson, known as Jimmy, died in the fire A 44-year-old man has been sentenced to seven years for the manslaughter of his friend in a deliberate fire in 2021. Newry Crown Court heard that Andrew James Thompson, known as Jimmy, died as a result of the deliberate fire in his Parkview Home in Cloughogue. Magee, whose address was given as HMP Maghaberry, was told he would spend half his sentence in prison and half on licence. In a statement following the sentencing, Mr Thompson's brother, Colin Thompson, said it had been a \"sad and truly difficult\" two-and-a-half years for the family. \"We've all suffered: Jimmy's partner, his friends, and the whole family,\" he said. Magee's sentencing would \"help to bring some closure\", Colin Thompson said. \"But it won't bring Jimmy back. Nothing will change.\" He added the family were \"left with an emptiness\" and missed Mr Thompson every day. \"We'll continue to grieve for the loss of our brother for a long time to come,\" he added. He also thanked the investigating team and the emergency services on behalf of Mr Thompson's family and partner. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A statement from Colin Thompson was read by Det Ch Insp Anthony Kelly The court heard that on the evening of the fire - 21 May 2021 - the two men had been drinking and smoking cannabis together in Mr Thompson's terraced bungalow. At 23:30 BST a neighbour saw smoke coming from a bedroom window. The emergency services were called and the fire service arrived 18 minutes later. Mr Thompson, who was 62, was found in a seated position on a bedroom floor while Magee was found seated at the back kitchen door. The court heard Mr Thompson died as a result of smoke inhalation in connection with other ailments including COPD and asthma. Both fires had been deliberately started in three locations in the house and testing later confirmed that cigarettes could not have started the fires. There was no evidence of a falling out or aggression between the two men. Forensic officers investigate the scene of the fire in May 2021 The court heard Magee maintained he had no recollection of the fire and that his last memory was drinking with Mr Thompson at about 23:00. The prosecution barrister had previously told the court that there was a burn mark on an item of clothing connected to Magee and also an injury to his hand. Magee had said he suffered the hand injury a day earlier. Magee has 115 previous convictions - for violence, drugs and public order offences. Madam Justice McBride said victim impact statements from Mr Thompson's family recalled a much-loved man who was houseproud and had been in a relationship for 15 years. She said his death left \"unanswered questions and anguish they experience on a daily basis. This senseless and cruel act has brought much pain and anguish to the entire family circle.\" Following the sentencing, Det Insp Anthony Kelly said it had been proven Magee started three fires, at various locations within the property, \"by the direct ignition of combustible material\". \"I'm deeply mindful that nothing will take away the family's sorrow. This was a deliberate and senseless act, which has resulted in unimaginable loss,\" he said. \"It leaves behind a grieving partner and loving family who remain truly heartbroken. My thoughts, and that of the team, are with them.\" Det Insp Kelly acknowledged first responders from the police, fire and ambulance service who attended the scene. He also thanked neighbours who raised the alarm and went on to help with the investigation.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A man has been sentenced to seven years for the manslaughter of his friend, Andrew James Thompson, who died in a deliberate fire in 2021. The court heard that the two men had been drinking and smoking cannabis together before the fire, and Thompson died from smoke inhalation. The perpetrator will serve half his sentence in prison and half on licence, but Thompson's family said no sentence would bring him back." + }, + { + "article": "YouTuber Jake Paul will face former world champion Mike Tyson in a boxing match on 20 July. It is unclear if it will be an official fight or an exhibition bout, but it will be staged in Texas and broadcast live on streaming platform Netflix. Paul, 27, beat Ryan Bourland in his 10th professional fight last Saturday. Tyson, whose professional career ended in 2005, had his most recent exhibition bout in 2020 and will turn 58 three weeks before facing Paul. He made a blistering start to his professional career to become the youngest heavyweight champion in history at 20, when he beat Trevor Berbick in his first title fight in November 1986. That was his 28th professional fight since making his debut in March 1985 aged 18 - and he won 26 of them by knockout. Paul said on X: \"My sights are set on becoming a world champion, and now I have a chance to prove myself against the greatest heavyweight champion of the world, the baddest man on the planet and the most dangerous boxer of all time. Time to put Iron Mike to sleep.\" Tyson was the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles in 1987 but his reign as unified champion came to a shock end in 1990 as he was beaten by Buster Douglas in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. Although he briefly regained the WBA and WBC titles in 1996, he then suffered back-to-back defeats to Evander Holyfield - the second ending as Tyson was disqualified for biting part of Holyfield's ear off. Tyson's legal issues have included a rape conviction in 1992, serving three years of a six-year prison sentence, and in 1999 he served a third of a 12-month sentence, external for a road rage assault. He got back into shape to play his part in an engaging draw with fellow former world champion Roy Jones Jr in 2020, and his fight with Paul will take place in Arlington's AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, which has a seating capacity of 80,000. Paul has won nine of his 10 boxing fights, mostly against ex-UFC fighters, with his solitary defeat coming against British heavyweight Tommy Fury in February 2023.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "YouTuber Jake Paul is set to face former world champion Mike Tyson in a boxing event on July 20, either an official fight or an exhibition bout, to be held in Texas and streamed live on Netflix. The match will take place at AT&T Stadium, with Paul aiming to prove himself against the iconic Tyson, who turned 58 three weeks prior to the event." + }, + { + "article": "David worked at the Haig Colliery in Whitehaven During the 1970s, hundreds of deceased miners had their lungs removed and passed on for medical research. Was this done without the consent of miners or their bereaved families? Black lung disease, formally known as pneumoconiosis, is a horrible condition caused by inhaling coal dust. \"It was really bad,\" ex-coalminer Michael Quinn recalls, memories flashing of seeing his colleagues left unable to breathe. His friend and fellow former miner David Cradduck nods in agreement, adding: \"It wasn't really talked about, it was worried about. \"Everybody thought 'I don't want to catch that'. \"But it was just looked on as an occupational hazard.\" During the 1960s alone, some 16,000 miners were certified as having the condition across Great Britain. Michael and David, who worked at the Haig Colliery in Whitehaven, Cumbria, know many miners who were struck down by black lung. In a bid to learn more about the disease, the National Coal Board started a major research project which in part relied upon inspecting the lungs of dead miners. Ex-miners David, Tom and Michael have seen the effects of pneumoconiosis Chris Fairbairn, who worked in the mortuary of Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital, can remember being asked to help preserve organs. \"If [the deceased] was a miner with black lung, we'd take the lungs out and set them up in a preservative,\" Chris, who now lives in Canada, says. \"I was told that every three or four months, a panel from the National Coal Board would come and do their dissecting and then they'd say 'thank you' and leave,\" he adds. Records of post-mortem examinations and inquests from the 1970s show references to lungs and hearts being kept to be examined by so-called Pneumoconiosis Medical Panels (PMPs). There were nine such panels made up of clerical assistants and medical officers. They were overseen by the then-Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) to assess miners' conditions and determine their entitlement to pensions and benefits. When a miner died and it was suspected they had pneumoconiosis, local coroners in England and Wales were required to inform the PMPs when and where a post-mortem examination would be taking place. At the government's request, thoracic organs such as the lungs and hearts were then made available to the panels for further analysis. Bruce, who worked as a clerical assistant for a panel in the mid '70s and asked the BBC not to use his surname, remembers lungs and hearts coming into the office. \"They would come in via a courier in a sealed polythene bag,\" he says, adding they would then be repacked and sent on for further study to hospitals, research departments or the Department of Health. Such handling of organs was ruled over by the 1961 Human Tissue Act. Under that act, where a person had not specifically stated their body could be used for research, their bereaved family would have to consent, according to Sir Jonathan Montgomery, Professor of Health Care Law at University College London. Records at the National Archives in Kew contain letters about the practice, with references to studies by the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) in Edinburgh. The IOM was set up by the coal board to study lung diseases in miners, with one study published in 1979 based on organs from 500 miners from across England, Scotland and Wales who had taken part in a Pneumoconiosis Field Research (PFR) study. Most of the organs were supplied by the PMPs, but some also came directly from pathology departments at six hospitals, including West Cumberland. West Cumberland said it could not provide any information around the study or how consent was gathered, as its records did not go back that far. The Trusts responsible for the other hospitals, Ballochmyle Hospital in Ayrshire, Sunderland General Hospital, and Burnley General, said similar. Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital also could not provide further detail, but it was operated by a different trust at that time. Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said while it had no knowledge of the studies and involvement of Ashington Hospital, it was aware of and regrets the distress that such historical UK wide research practices have had on relatives of the deceased. The IOM said it was unable to comment as it did not have the information available due to records being destroyed after 15 years. Professor Anthony Seaton, who was the IOM's director in the late 1970s, said: \"I can't say in individual cases but consent from the relatives was given to allow a post-mortem examination which would, in those days, have implied removal of organs for examination and, if no disapproval had been announced, their use in teaching and research. \"So there was an overall belief at the time that organs removed at autopsy with proper permission could be used.\" Meeting minutes from the IOM also reveal that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) were approached to help in obtaining lungs, and it agreed. The NUM said it could not find any specific reference to indicate that the union were aware of or endorsed the sharing of organs for research from coal miners. What is evident within archive government papers is that concerns were being raised about what the panels were doing with the organs, and how that sat within the law at the time. In short, was it permissible for the organs to be passed on to groups like the IOM, with the PMPs warned it \"should not be done without proper authority in writing\"? Prof Seaton says: \"We were completely unaware of any objections to us having the lungs. The panels would just have them incinerated after examining them so it didn't seem unreasonable to use these lungs for the purposes we used them for, for the benefit of miners. \"It was all done for a very good, honest and ethical purpose.\" The government did not respond to requests for a record of the historic practices. Paperwork for the 500 coal miners is scant, so who consented to what remains a mystery. For the former Whitehaven miners David and Michael and their colleague Tom Scott, questions remain about what the families of their friends knew and agreed to. \"I could understand why they were doing it for research but it didn't filter down to us,\" Tom says, adding: \"I can't see the wives agreeing with it for a start off, if their husbands' parts were sent all over the country.\" David agrees, adding: \"These hard working people deserve more respect than that.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "During the 1960s and 1970s, the National Coal Board conducted research on black lung disease by examining the lungs of deceased miners, potentially without the consent of the miners or their families. Organs were removed during post-mortems and sent to medical panels and research institutions, raising questions about the ethical practices and consent at the time, as the Human Tissue Act required family consent for research use." + }, + { + "article": "Peter Phillips paid tribute to the festival in a statement The Festival of British eventing at Gatcombe Park has been cancelled due to the cost of running the event. The Gloucestershire event, which started as the Gatcombe Horse Trials, has been declared \"unfeasible to run\" by organisers. Gatcombe Park began hosting the festival in the 1980s, after Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips \"first had the dream\". The couple's son Peter Phillips said it was a huge part of his family's lives. \"Despite great determination from the organising team, the current economic climate has made it unviable for the event to go ahead,\" the team behind the event said in a statement on Monday. It added: \"Following the adverse weather experienced at Gatcombe last year, which led to the abandonment of the event, and due to the ever-increasing costs associated with operating on a green field site, it has made the event unfeasible to run.\" The final day of the Festival of Eventing at Gatcombe Park was abandoned due to the effects of the adverse weather last year Peter Phillips, event director, celebrated the community that the event created as he offered his thanks to supporters. \"It is with a heavy heart that the festival, which has played a significant part in the British Eventing calendar since 1983, cannot run this year,\" he said. \"The event has also been a huge part of my family's lives and those of many others for 40 years. \"It has built up a large community that has enjoyed and celebrated the festival each year. \"I would like to thank everyone who has been involved over the past four decades; our sponsors for their unwavering support, the large selection of trade stands and arena entertainment and our spectators who have loved coming to Gatcombe to watch the world-class equestrian sport from the famous Park Bowl.\" Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Mr Phillips said it would not be the same event if they did make the changes necessary in order to run the festival this summer. \"What we did talk through is if we were able to get the costs down to where our income was, even on a budgetary basis, we would have to rip the heart out of the event. \"It wouldn't be the same event that people have come to know and support over the last 40 years,\" he explained. Captain Mark Phillips said that, since the pandemic, costs, particularly insurance, have risen so much that the numbers no longer add up\" He added: \"It is an end of an era, the next 40 years of the sport will be different, let's hope it can be equally special.\" This year's Magic Millions Festival of British Eventing was due to take place at Gatcombe Park between 2-4 August. \u2022 None Eventing festival looks to 2024 after washout The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park, a renowned equestrian event with a 40-year history, has been cancelled due to mounting costs and the impact of adverse weather in the previous year. Organizers, including Princess Anne's son Peter Phillips, have deemed it unfeasible to continue, marking an end to a significant part of their family's legacy and the British Eventing calendar." + }, + { + "article": "In the blizzard of guesswork about politics in the coming year, there's a fact as solid as a lump of coal at the bottom of your Christmas stocking. The election campaign has to begin in 2024, and it looks likely it will end, with the election itself, in 2024 too. Indeed, the prime minister told reporters just before Christmas: \"2024 will be an election year.\" First, let's examine the facts about why the campaign legally has to begin in 2024. Tuesday 17 December 2024 marks five years since Parliament met after the last general election, and so if Rishi Sunak hasn't trundled to the palace to see the King to request a dissolution of Parliament before then, Parliament will dissolve automatically and a general election campaign would formally begin just before Christmas. Tuesday 28 January 2025 is the latest the next election can legally be. (You can read more on all this here, courtesy of the Institute for Government). So there was a snippet of hard facts. Once we are into the new year, the sprocket wheel of general election fever will crank around a few notches. For some at least. Most people miss most of what's going on at Westminster most of the time, but there's a mild risk nonetheless of getting a little tired of the E word. I have been trying to ration how many times I used the E word in 2023, conscious that folk might say: \"Oh shut up about it until you can tell us when it's actually happening.\" The thing is, once we are into January all the parties will think, behave and prepare as though the election will be in the spring, until it legally can't be. Ditto the summer, ditto the autumn, and yes, ditto the winter. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer with new Tamworth MP Sarah Edwards after her by-election victory As I've written before, there is an excitable industry of guesswork about the timing of the election at Westminster. The timing will obsess Westminster to the point of tedium, with just a handful of folk around the prime minister in the know and/or influential in arriving at an answer. It means the opposition parties, not least Labour, will have to work towards potential election dates that may turn out to be phantom - and do so several times until polling day is actually announced. That has practical campaigning consequences: if you are Keir Starmer - or any of the other opposition leaders - what do you announce in, say, March, when the election might be two months away, or seven months away? Or more, or less? For Labour, in particular, we are still in the foothills of scrutiny; this will notch up and up and up with every passing week next year. For the Conservatives, the scrutiny has been incessant and Rishi Sunak has attempted multiple reboots to try to improve his political fortunes. So far at least, they haven't seemed to work. Let's put the coming general election into a bit of historical context. In the past century, no party has won five general elections in a row. Granted David Cameron needed a little help from the Liberal Democrats to get over the line in 2010, but the last four general elections have led to a Conservative prime minister. Rishi Sunak is attempting to win a fifth on the spin. Perhaps little wonder diminishing returns might be kicking in with those reboots. The electorate tends to tire of parties that have been in government for a fair chunk of time. History suggests it will be mighty difficult for the Conservatives to win again. But then again, the Conservatives are incredibly good at winning general elections, including ones many suspect they will lose. And Labour are very good at losing general elections, including ones many suspect they will win. In 18 out of the 28 general elections since 1918 the Conservative Party have won the most seats. Labour have won the most seats on the other 10 occasions. And Labour approach the next election from a starting point that is the worst for them in nearly a century. In 2019 they won 202 seats, their lowest number since 1935. With Jeremy Corbyn as leader they secured 10.3 million votes, 32.1% of the total - a share lower than in 2017, but higher than in 2015 and 2010. But it is seats that count and they need to count one heck of a lot more. So, when it comes to the history books, something will have to give. The Conservatives are seeking to make history. Labour is seeking to win from a generationally bad starting point, from their perspective. Next into the mix, the Scottish National Party, which was the colossus of Scottish politics at the last three general elections in a row. And in government at Holyrood since 2007. But the evidence - such as Labour's victory in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election - suggests they're on the slide and Keir Starmer is super keen to capitalise. The Liberal Democrats are chipper and are hopeful they can chip away at Conservative support, and seats, primarily in the south of England. Reform UK, honorary president one Nigel Farage, continue to spook the Tories too with their polling numbers. The Green Party lose their only MP Caroline Lucas, who is standing down - but hope to be competitive in a handful of places. Then there is Plaid Cymru in Wales, and the platter of parties that contest Northern Ireland's seats. And talking of Northern Ireland, could devolved government return to Stormont early in the new year, with - for the first time - a Sinn F\u00e9in first minister? Let's see. So here goes with politics in 2024. I'll try to guide you through it. And sorry in advance for the E word. It'll feature quite a bit.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The UK general election campaign must legally begin in 2024, with the election itself taking place no later than January 28, 2025. As parties prepare for the election, opposition parties, particularly Labour, will face challenges in planning due to uncertainty around the exact election date, which could be in spring, summer, autumn, or winter." + }, + { + "article": "Nicola Sturgeon has said the UK Covid Inquiry does have copies of messages between her and colleagues. In a statement posted on X, the former first minister said messages communicated through \"informal means\" were handed to the inquiry last year. Ms Sturgeon has come under criticism after the inquiry heard she had deleted her messages. Inquiry counsel Jamie Dawson KC said on Friday that Ms Sturgeon appeared to \"have retained no messages whatsoever\". The hearing in Edinburgh was also told that her then-deputy John Swinney's WhatsApp messaging was set to auto-delete. Ms Sturgeon previously said she had \"nothing to hide\" but had not clarified if her WhatsApp messages were deleted. The UK Covid inquiry is sitting in Scotland for three weeks. It was taking evidence from senior civil servant Lesley Fraser, director general corporate at the Scottish government. On Saturday, Ms Sturgeon wrote on the social media site X: \"I do not intend to give a running commentary on the ongoing Inquiry. Instead, out of respect to all those impacted by the pandemic, I will answer questions directly and openly when I give evidence at the end of this month. \"However, in light of recent coverage, there are certain points I feel it important to make clear. \"Contrary to the impression given in some coverage, the Inquiry does have messages between me and those I most regularly communicated with through informal means. \"Although these had not been retained on my own device, I was able to obtain copies which I submitted to the Inquiry last year.\" Ms Fraser told the inquiry that relatively new technologies such as Zoom were being used during the pandemic and that records may not have been retained in the way they might be now, when a digital footprint is more likely to be created. Mr Dawson then questioned her about a table supplied by the Scottish government last October summarising ministers' use of notebooks, retention of messages and other forms of communication. The inquiry was told former deputy first minister John Swinney used an auto-delete function for his messages He said: \"Under the box 'Nicola Sturgeon', it says that messages were not retained, they were deleted in routine tidying up of inboxes or changes of phones, unable to retrieve messages. \"What that tends to suggest is at the time that request was made Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister of Scotland, had retained no messages whatsoever in connection with her management of the pandemic.\" Ms Fraser replied: \"That's what that indicates to me.\" She also confirmed that the Scottish government had been unable to supply Ms Sturgeon's messages from its corporate record. Writing on Saturday, Ms Sturgeon said that she conducted her Covid response through \"formal processes\" from her office and not through WhatsApp or \"any other informal messaging platform\". \"I was not a member of any WhatsApp groups. The number of people I communicated with through informal messaging at all was limited,\" she wrote. \"Also, any handwritten notes made by me were passed to my private office to be dealt with and recorded as appropriate. \"Throughout the entire process, I acted in line with Scottish government policy. \"I did my level best to lead Scotland through the pandemic as safely as possible - and shared my thinking with the country on a daily basis. \"I did not get every decision right - far from it - but I was motivated only, and at all times, by the determination to keep people as safe as possible,\" she added. Scottish Conservative party chairman Craig Hoy MSP said Ms Sturgeon must \"think the Scottish public are fools\". He said: \"The former first minister appears to have deliberately and repeatedly deleted her WhatsApp messages and she must have done so for a reason. \"Rather than apologising to the country, she is cynically seeking to deflect attention from the mass deletion of key messages by top ministers and officials.\" Mr Hoy added that Ms Sturgeon's statement did not make clear how decisions were made during the pandemic. \"Saying there's no decisions sent by WhatsApp does not inform the public at all. This statement is just another instalment in the unravelling of the SNP. The addiction to spin and secrecy must come to an end now,\" he said. A Scottish government spokesperson said: \"The Scottish government is committed to responding to both the UK and Scottish Covid-19 inquiries, as learning lessons from the pandemic is vital to prepare for the future. \"It would be inappropriate to comment on any matters being considered by the UK Covid Inquiry while hearings are ongoing.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that the UK Covid Inquiry has copies of messages between her and colleagues, which were submitted last year, despite earlier criticism that she had deleted her messages. The former first minister stated she conducted most of her Covid response through formal channels, and any informal messages were limited and submitted to the inquiry." + }, + { + "article": "Former Sinn F\u00e9in president Gerry Adams is being sued by three people Former Sinn F\u00e9in president Gerry Adams can be sued in a personal capacity by victims of IRA bomb attacks in England, the High Court in London has ruled. They are seeking symbolic damages of \u00a31 for \"vindicatory purposes\". The civil action is being brought by three people. John Clark, a victim of the Old Bailey bombing in March 1973, has brought forward the case alongside Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock. On Friday, the court decided their claim against the IRA is struck out \"because of the established principle of law that an unincorporated association is not a legal entity\". Mr Adams has consistently denied being a member of the IRA. The blast at the London Docklands in 1996 killed two people and caused about \u00a3150m worth of damage Mr Adams also failed to have the victims made liable for his legal costs - which are said to have totalled more than \u00a3120,000 to date. The victims, who are using crowdfunding to bring their case, viewed this as an attempt to get them to drop the case. Mr Ganesh is a victim of the London Docklands bombing in February 1996. Mr Laycock is a victim of the June 1996 Arndale shopping centre bombing in Manchester. They allege Mr Adams \"acted with others in furtherance of a common design to bomb the British mainland\", and was \"directly responsible\" in various roles within the IRA for decisions made to place devices in 1973 and 1996. At an earlier hearing in November, Mr Adams, who denies the allegations, asked Mr Justice Soole to throw the case out. In his ruling, the judge stated whether Mr Adams was \"at the material times\" a member of the IRA or its leadership \"is a question of fact that can only be determined at full trial\". A solicitor representing the individuals taking the case said Friday's court ruling was an \"unequivocal victory for all victims and survivors of IRA terrorism\". Matthew Jury added that the action was the \"last chance\" for a case to be brought against Mr Adams after the government's legislation on the future of Troubles-related cases and civil proceedings. Seamus Collins, a lawyer who represents Mr Adams, said it was \"significant though not surprising that the judgement struck out the claim against the IRA and against Mr Adams in a representative capacity\". \"The legal application we took has succeeded on all elements save the issue of costs which will be heard next week in court,\" he added. \"Mr Adams will discuss all of these matters with his legal representatives.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The High Court in London has ruled that former Sinn F\u00e9in president Gerry Adams can be sued by victims of IRA bomb attacks in England for symbolic damages, despite Adams consistently denying IRA membership. The court struck out the claim against the IRA itself due to it not being a legal entity, but allowed the case against Adams in a personal capacity to proceed, with a full trial to determine if he was involved in the attacks." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Women's Football Sarina Wiegman says England have given \"many answers to questions we had\" in friendly victories over Austria and Italy this month. The Lionesses, who are preparing for Euro 2025 qualifiers in April, beat Italy 5-1 on Tuesday after thrashing Austria 7-2 on Friday. \"I think the whole camp pleased me,\" Wiegman told ITV Sport. The Euro 2025 qualifying draw takes place on 5 March at 12:00 GMT. Wiegman added: \"We had the opportunity to play many players - basically everyone except for [the injured] Fran Kirby - see what the level is, see players in some positions and see the connection between players. \"When you have two wins like we have - that's really nice too.\" Asked if she had learned a lot before the first qualifiers in April, the England boss added: \"You never know because things in football can change quickly, but it gave us many answers to questions we had at this moment. \"We could take this opportunity to see many players and play two good games, train also and see the under-23s. Very, many positives about this week.\" \u2022 None Clinton's impressive debut - but still more to come? Wiegman made clear her intentions to rotate the squad in Spain during a media conference at the team's hotel in Marbella last week. Hit by injuries to key players Kirby, Leah Williamson and Millie Bright, she was keen to see her squad depth in these non-competitive fixtures. Among those hoping for opportunities were Manchester United midfielder Grace Clinton, on loan at Tottenham this season, and club-mate Millie Turner, called up as a late replacement for Arsenal defender Williamson. Clinton, 20, started both games in midfield, impressing hugely on her debut with a goal against Austria, before another confident display in the success over Italy. Turner was handed her debut as a substitute on Tuesday, four years after her first senior call-up, while Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy and Manchester City's Jess Park were given rare opportunities to play. \"Millie trained really hard, she's so proactive and she wants to learn things,\" said Wiegman of the 27-year-old. \"She's an absolute team player and wants to improve every day. She came on and did well and I think every player that came on did well.\" Asked about the development of Wubben-Moy, who has impressed for Arsenal this season and scored in the win over Italy, Wiegman added: \"I think she's definitely taken a step forward because she's developing a lot. \"That's what we see weekly at Arsenal and she shows it[with England] too. What you can see is the competition in positions is really high.\" As well as rotation, and a chance to call-up several under-23s players to first-team training across the week in Spain, Wiegman was particularly pleased with the improvements to England's set-pieces, which they had put \"a little more emphasis on\". Manchester City forward Lauren Hemp, who scored twice against Italy, admitted it was an area the squad had worked hard on throughout the week and it clearly paid off. Both of Hemp's goals came from set-pieces, while Wubben-Moy flicked in a header from a corner in the opening minute. \"A lot of goals came from set-pieces which is something we've been working hard on,\" Hemp told ITV Sport. \"It's been massive. It's something we can be better on. We've got a lot of tall people in this squad that we can make more chances from and that's something we've been working hard on this week. \"I'm sure our set-piece coach will be buzzing on that one. I'm happy to contribute even though I didn't know much about the first goal [which ricocheted off Italy defender Aurora Galli].\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "England women's football team, under the guidance of Sarina Wiegman, secured impressive victories over Austria and Italy in friendly matches, providing valuable insights into the squad's depth and potential ahead of Euro 2025 qualifiers. Notable performances included debutants like Grace Clinton and Millie Turner, while set-piece improvements were a key takeaway from the camp, with several goals scored from such situations." + }, + { + "article": "South Korean military held live fire drills in response to artillery fire from the North North Korea has fired more than 200 rounds of artillery shells off its west coast, towards the South's Yeonpyeong island, Seoul's military has said. South Korea ordered civilians to seek shelter on the island before holding live fire drills of its own. The South called it a \"provocative act\", but the North denied the islands were in danger from its firing drills. In 2010, North Korean artillery fired scores of times on Yeonpyeong island, killing four people. The artillery shells fired on Friday, between 09:00 to 11:00 local time (00:00 to 02:00 GMT) did not enter South Korean territory as they all landed in the buffer zone between the two countries. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the incident caused \"no damage to our people or military\", but added that the act \"threatens peace on the Korean peninsula and raises tensions\". The shelling follows warnings from Pyongyang that it was building up its military arsenal in preparation for war that could \"break out at any time\" on the peninsular. Authorities on two nearby islands, Baengnyeong and Daecheong, also told civilians to seek shelter. \"North Korea resuming its artillery fire drills inside the non-hostility zone this morning is an act of provocation which threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and raises tension,\" South Korea's Defence Minister Shin Won-sik said in a statement on Friday. \"Our military must assume the readiness to completely wipe out the enemy so that they wouldn't dare another provocation, and to back up the pace through strength,\" he said. His ministry said it did not observe any movements from the North during South Korea's drills. The North's official news agency KCNA later said its firing drills off the west coast were a \"natural response\" to large-scale military actions by its neighbour. The latest incident comes months after the North fully suspended a military deal with the South that had been aimed at improving relations. The deal started to sour after Pyongyang claimed to have successfully launched a spy satellite into space in November. This led to South Korea partly suspending the agreement, saying it would resume surveillance flights along the border. Afterwards, Pyongyang said it would withdraw all measures \"taken to prevent military conflict in all spheres including ground, sea and air\", and deploy \"more powerful armed forces and new-type military hardware\" in the border region. But North Korea had violated the pact multiple times in the two years before, launching missiles and firing artillery rounds into the sea in the South's direction. The last time North Korea fired artillery shells into the sea was in December 2022, with nine such incidents happening in that year alone. Some analysts therefore argue that Pyongyang officially withdrawing from the deal might not make much of a difference. \"Because North Korea was not adhering to the agreement in the first place, the possibility of limited collision has always been there\", said Jo Bee Yun of the Korea Institute for Defence Analysis. Yeonpyeong island, home to a military base and a small civilian population of about 2,000 people, lies 3km (2 miles) from the disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea and 12km from the North Korean coast. It has been the scene of inter-Korean naval clashes over the years. In 2010 - two soldiers and two civilians were killed after North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells towards the island. The latest incident comes as North Korea fully suspended a military deal with the South aimed at lowering tensions", + "qwen_reference_summary": "North Korea fired over 200 artillery shells off its west coast towards South Korea's Yeonpyeong island, prompting the South to hold live fire drills and order civilians to seek shelter; no damage was reported, but the South called it a provocative act, while the North claimed it was a response to military actions by the South. This tension follows North Korea's suspension of a military deal with the South and its recent satellite launch, which led to heightened tensions along the border." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"This is what I wanted, for them to have a normal life\" Marieme and Ndeye were not expected to survive for more than a few days when they were born. Now aged seven, they are thought to be the only growing conjoined twins in Europe. While both girls have their own unique personalities and moods, they rely on each other to survive. \"When you are told from the beginning there is no future, you just live for the present,\" said their dad, Ibrahima. Conjoined twins are rare, representing about one in every 500,000 live births in the UK. Around half are stillborn, with another third dying within 24 hours of birth. So seeing Marieme and Ndeye celebrate their seventh birthday with a classful of friends doesn't just give Ibrahima joy, but also to the doctors who have cared for them. Ibrahima kept his daughters Marieme and Ndeye in the UK to stay under the medical supervision of Great Ormond Street Hospital Marieme and Ndeye share one pair of legs and one pelvis but each has a spinal cord and a heart. They have round-the-clock care but go to a mainstream school in south Wales with their friends. \"They are fighters and proving everyone wrong,\" said Ibrahima. \"My daughters are very different. Marieme is very quiet, an introverted personality, but it's completely different with Ndeye, she's very independent. \"I would not pretend it's easy but it's a huge privilege. You feel lucky to witness this constant battle for life.\" When the twins were born in Senegal in 2016, their parents had been expecting one baby. Doctors didn't expect them to live much longer than a few days. \"I was preparing myself to lose them very quickly,\" Ibrahima told the BBC's Inseparable Sisters documentary. \"The only thing we could do is be beside them and not allow them to walk alone through this journey. We saw very clearly early on that we were dealing with warriors, who hang on to life.\" Marieme and Ndeye enjoy trying on clothes at the University of South Wales fashion department Their best chance of survival was believed to be separation, according to doctors in Senegal After calling hospitals around the world \"begging\" for help, the family arrived in the UK for treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in 2017. Ibrahima hoped that the renowned children's hospital, which had separated more conjoined twins than anywhere in the world, would be able to separate them and that they could go back home to their brothers and sisters in Dakar - but it didn't work out that way. Tests found that Marieme's heart was too weak for the complex surgery, and she would not survive the operation. Ibrahima and a huge team of medical experts discussed at length the complex decision of whether or not to separate the girls. It was eventually decided their best option would be not to separate them. \"It was killing one of my children for another, it's something I can't do,\" Ibrahima said at the time. \"I can't allow myself to choose who will live and who will die now.\" As their mum returned to Africa to look after their other children, Marieme, Ndeye and Ibrahima remained in the UK for medical care and the three moved to Cardiff. An uplifting insight into the lives of seven-year-old conjoined twins, who weren't expected to live more than a few days. Marieme and Ndeye remained in the UK for the medical care that was not available to them at home in Senegal Inseparable Sisters will be available on BBC iPlayer from Wednesday and on BBC One on Wednesday at 22:40 GMT. For viewers in Wales, it will be on BBC One Wales on Wednesday at 20:00 GMT. \"Not being able to go back home was very difficult because you had the rest of your family and your job back home,\" said Ibrahima, who is the former managing director of a travel organisation in Senegal. \"It's into the unknown but I didn't think too much, I just followed my heart. It is my parental responsibility to make sure they will have somebody who will be here for them, that will be my life purpose.\" The twins need regular hospital check ups as they are at serious risk from infection and heart failure. \"At first it was a bit of a novel excitement and then a realisation that this is something I've only ever read about in text books,\" said Dr Gillian Body, a consultant paediatrician at the University Hospital of Wales. Marieme and Ndeye share some major organs and they also have their own separate organs \"They've got one pair of legs between them and one pelvis. Moving up through their abdomen we've got a lot of different organs. We don't know exactly, but we know some bits are shared and they have some individual bits. \"They've two separate spinal cords with all their nerves yet somehow they completely coordinate and they don't have to tell each other how to move an arm or how to move a leg, it just works.\" \"You have to buy two identical tops and take them to the alterations shop to join them together,\" said Ibrahima. \"They have two legs, so they can have regular trousers, but their hip is very wide so you have to take that to the alternations shop too.\" The family have now integrated into their community in Cardiff and the twins are looked after night and day as carers help dad with respite support. They are in year three at their local mainstream primary school, where the sisters are helped by two classroom support workers. Marieme and Ndeye weren't expected to last a few days but have defied medical expectations and grown stronger \"I want them to have a normal life, play and laugh with kids and make friends and develop as individuals,\" said Ibrahima. \"They don't have to hide from anybody and being in mainstream school shows they're part of society and they are lucky to be part of this community.\" The next challenge for Marieme and Ndeye is to try to stand and walk. They are currently managing about 20 minutes each day with the help of a standing frame. \"They have achieved things that nobody thought they would,\" said Ibrahima. Ibrahima is grateful for the \"dedicated\" surgeons, doctors, school staff, classroom support workers and carers that help him look after Marieme and Ndeye \"When you're told from the beginning there is no future, you live for the present,\" he added. \"I know that any time, I can receive a call to say that something bad has happened. \"How long? I don't want to know. We're going to make every day a surprise and celebrate life. \"It can be conflicting but you feel lucky despite whatever the difficulties you're having. They are bringing me such joy. It is a huge blessing to be their dad.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Conjoined twins Marieme and Ndeye, aged 7, are defying the odds as they are believed to be the only growing conjoined twins in Europe, attending a mainstream school in Wales with round-the-clock care. Born in Senegal with a low survival expectancy, they share one pair of legs and a pelvis but have separate hearts and spinal cords. Despite medical challenges, they continue to thrive, with their father Ibrahima cherishing every moment, acknowledging the support from doctors, carers, and their community." + }, + { + "article": "Ruth Perry was head teacher at Caversham Primary School, in Reading Ofsted has apologised fully for the first time for the role it played in Ruth Perry's suicide and promised a review of lessons to be learned. The head teacher killed herself while waiting for an inspection report, in January 2023. After December's inquest, coroner Heidi Connor warned of a risk of further deaths \"unless action is taken\". Responding to her report, on Friday, Ofsted also promised a major review of how it handled safeguarding concerns. The Department for Education (DfE), who also received the coroner's prevention-of-future-deaths (PFD) notice, promised to work with Ofsted to make changes. In her report, the coroner said she was worried by \"the almost complete absence of Ofsted training\" for inspectors looking for signs of distress in school leaders or for pausing an inspection. And there was also no \"clear path\" to raise concerns during an inspection. Mrs Perry had been the head teacher at Caversham Primary School for 13 years and had had no relevant mental-health history, the inquest heard. Safeguarding concerns saw the school downgraded from \"outstanding\" to \"inadequate\", after Ofsted's visit in November 2022. It has since been regraded \"good\". In Ofsted's response to the PFD report, Sir Martyn Oliver, who became chief inspector on 1 January 2024, said \"such tragedies should never happen again - and no-one should feel as Ruth did\". \"As his majesty's chief inspector (HMCI), I would like to express my deepest condolences to Ruth's family and friends and apologise sincerely for the part our inspection of her school played in her death,\" he added. In Ofsted's initial response to the inquest, former chief inspector Amanda Spielman said sorry \"for the distress that Mrs Perry undoubtedly experienced\" but did not take responsibility for Ofsted playing a direct role. Since Mrs Perry's suicide, schools judged inadequate on safeguarding alone are now re-inspected within three months. Sir Martyn Oliver took over as chief Ofsted inspector on 1 January Ofsted has also changed its confidentiality rules, to allow head teachers to share the outcome of an inspection before a report is published - including with colleagues, family, friends and medical professionals. And the DfE has committed to working with Ofsted to review how safeguarding is handled, during its major consultation in the spring, which it is calling its \"big listen\". But it did not mention any plans to change one- or two-word judgments of schools, which only government can do. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the coroner's findings \"made clear that lessons need to be learned\". Mrs Perry's sister, Prof Julia Waters, said if the latest reforms had been in place last year \"perhaps my beautiful sister Ruth might still be with us today\". But to prevent other such tragedies, more work was needed towards a \"radical overhaul\" of the culture of school inspections. \"Sir Martyn Oliver faces a huge challenge to drive through meaningful reform and to restore trust in Ofsted but we have been impressed by his commitment so far,\" Prof Waters added. Education unions also praised Ofsted's \"positive steps\" but added they \"must be the beginning of a process\". \"We hope that when the HMCI says that 'nothing is off the table' when it comes to the future of inspection, that he really means it,\" National Association of Head Teachers general secretary Paul Whiteman said. Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Ofsted has apologized for its role in the suicide of head teacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life while awaiting an inspection report, and pledged a review of its handling of safeguarding concerns. The coroner's report highlighted a lack of training for inspectors in identifying distressed school leaders and called for changes, with both Ofsted and the Department for Education committing to improvements, including more rapid re-inspection for schools downgraded on safeguarding and allowing head teachers to share inspection outcomes before publication." + }, + { + "article": "Some of the passengers fell sick during a voyage to South Africa Mauritius has given a Norwegian cruise ship the all clear to dock at the capital Port Louis after finding no evidence of cholera onboard. At least 15 people on the Norwegian Dawn were in isolation with a stomach illness and authorities feared it was cholera. The director of Mauritius Ministry of Health confirmed the passengers had gastroenteritis, not cholera. Dr Bhooshun Ori said the passengers have now \"fully recovered\". Mauritian authorities had initially blocked the ship \"to avoid any health risks\". The passengers developed mild symptoms of a stomach illness during a trip to South Africa, a representative of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said. Mary Francovilla Dees, 69, a passenger on the Norwegian Dawn, told the BBC that despite the delay the atmosphere on the ship had been \"fairly calm\". \"The passengers on this ship have appeared to take this in their stride,\" she said. Ms Francovilla says passengers have entertained themselves by sitting by the pool, attending shows and going to the bar. The passengers will be subject to screening by health authorities upon disembarking from the liner. The Ministry of Health will provide medical assistance for all at the disembarkation point. A Dutch passenger on board told BN DeStem that they were told by the captain that there could be a cholera outbreak on board. Since January 2023, at least 188,000 people have been infected with cholera across seven countries in southern Africa, according to the UN. More than 3,000 people have died, with Zambia being hardest hit. South Africa has reported 1,076 cholera cases and at least 47 deaths over the past two years, according to Africa Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention. \"The health and safety of passengers as well as that of the country as a whole are of the utmost importance to the authorities,\" the Mauritius Ports Authority said. The ship arrived in Mauritius on Saturday evening after arriving a day early because it did not stop in R\u00e9union Island. There are 2,184 passengers and 1,026 crew members on the ship. About 2,000 planned to disembark in Port Louis, with another 2,000 expected to board at the same time. Those who were disembarking or joining the cruise will now do so on 27 February, the Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson said. Are you on the cruise ship? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A Norwegian cruise ship, the Norwegian Dawn, was cleared to dock in Mauritius after initial fears of a cholera outbreak were dismissed; passengers who fell ill had gastroenteritis and have now recovered, according to the Mauritian Ministry of Health. The ship, which had been blocked over health concerns, will now allow passengers to disembark and board on February 27, with health screenings in place." + }, + { + "article": "The Israeli military published photographs of Givati Brigade soldiers, who are fighting in southern Khan Younis Israel says its troops have reached the southernmost area of Khan Younis, as they expand their operations in the Gaza Strip's second biggest city. The military announced that dozens of Palestinian fighters from Hamas had been killed in \"close quarter combat\". Armed groups also reported clashes in the area, while health officials said 172 people had been killed across Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel's president said he was praying that medicines delivered to the Strip would reach Israeli hostages. Qatar said on Wednesday night that the supplies had arrived via the border crossing with Egypt, along with a shipment of humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, under an agreement it had brokered between Israel and Hamas. A spokesman for Qatar's foreign ministry told CNN on Thursday that there was every likelihood that the medicines had reached the hostages, but that it would be difficult to confirm because of a near-total communication blackout. Israeli President Isaac Herzog marked the first birthday of the youngest hostage in Gaza, Kfir Bibas Majid al-Ansari also said that Palestinian health authorities had been tasked with handing over the medication, rather than a neutral intermediary like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). \"The security situation is certainly not easy. It would be very difficult to involve the Red Cross or any other organisation at the moment,\" he added. The ICRC also stated that the \"mechanism that was agreed to does not involve the ICRC playing any part in its implementation\". The medicines are supposed to be delivered to some 45 of the more than 100 Israeli hostages in Gaza, who are reported to be suffering from chronic diseases or in need of other life-saving drugs. On Thursday, President Isaac Herzog was among the many Israelis who marked the first birthday of the youngest hostage, Kfir Bibas. Hamas has claimed the baby was killed in an Israeli air strike, along with his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri in November. without providing evidence. \"His whereabouts are unknown,\" Mr Herzog said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, sitting next to a photograph of the infant. \"I call upon the entire universe to work endlessly to free Kfir and all the hostages.\" Hamas gunmen took about 250 people hostage and killed about 1,200 others when they carried out an unprecedented cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, Israeli authorities say. More than 24,600 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign in response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Gaza's health ministry said on Thursday that 172 people were killed across Gaza over the previous 24 hours The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Thursday morning that infantry soldiers from the Givati Brigade in Khan Younis were \"now fighting in the southernmost area that IDF ground troops have operated in so far\". The troops had \"eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat and with the assistance of tank fire and air support\", and raided the \"Martyrs' Outpost\" of the Southern Battalion of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade, it added. It did not say where the fighting took place, but Hamas's military wing reported that its fighters had fired at Israeli soldiers and shelled a tank and armoured bulldozer in the southern Batn al-Samin area on Wednesday. Palestinian Islamic Jihad - the second biggest armed group in Gaza - also said there had been fierce clashes in the south of Khan Younis on Thursday. Meanwhile, civilians have been fleeing the city as the fighting closes in, including many displaced families sheltering at Nasser Hospital in the west of Khan Younis, which is Gaza's largest functioning health facility. According to a M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF) surgeon, there was panic at the hospital after Israeli forces heavily bombed a nearby area on Tuesday night without issuing an evacuation order. An Israeli government spokesman could not confirm the attack but accused Hamas fighters of hiding behind civilians and embedding themselves in medical facilities. In a video recorded during a visit on Tuesday, MSF head of mission Leo Cans warned that the situation at Nasser Hospital was \"catastrophic\", with \"way too many patients for the staff to handle\". Unicef's deputy director said conditions for the one million displaced people in Gaza were \"inhumane\" The deputy director of the UN children's agency (Unicef), Ted Chaiban, also visited the hospital on the same day. He recalled meeting a 13-year-old boy called Ibrahim whose badly injured hand became infected. \"Without medicine, gangrene took hold and he ultimately lost his arm during an amputation without anaesthetic,\" he said. On Wednesday night, 16 people, half of them children, were killed in a strike on a house further south in Rafah, local medics and health officials said. Umm Walid al-Zamli said she had rushed to the local hospital after the attack and found that all of her children were dead. \"They were all so young. The eldest was in second grade,\" she told AFP news agency. \"What did they do wrong?\" Rafah, a small town near the Egyptian border, has been overwhelmed by more than half of the 1.9 million people - nearly 85% of Gaza's population - who the UN estimates have been fled their homes over the past 14 weeks. \"The sheer mass of civilians on the border is hard to fathom and the conditions they live in are inhumane,\" Mr Chaiban of Unicef warned in a statement on Thursday. \"Water is scarce and poor sanitation is inescapable. The cold and rain this week created rivers of waste.\" Mr Herzog defended Israel's actions, saying it was left with no choice. \"I'm not shying away from the human tragedy in Gaza. And you want to know something? We care,\" he said. \"It is painful for us that our neighbours are suffering so much. But how else can we defend ourselves if our enemies decided to entrench themselves in an infrastructure of terror of unbelievable size?\" Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israeli troops have reached the southernmost area of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, engaging in close quarter combat with Hamas fighters, resulting in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians. Meanwhile, Qatar has delivered medicines and humanitarian aid to Gaza under an agreement with Israel and Hamas, with the hope that the supplies reach Israeli hostages, although the International Committee of the Red Cross is not involved in the distribution process." + }, + { + "article": "A major UK news agency, PA, has become the fifth picture service to withdraw a photo of the Princess of Wales and her children over concerns about the image. Four international photo agencies had already retracted the picture because of concerns it has been \"manipulated\". The photo, taken by Prince William for Mother's Day, was the first of Catherine to be released by Kensington Palace since her surgery in January. Earlier, Getty Images, AFP, Reuters and Associated Press pulled the photo - noting an \"inconsistency in alignment of Princess Charlotte's left hand\". PA news agency said the image, originally posted by Kensington Palace on their social media, was provided \"in good faith\". But in a statement it added: \"We became aware of concerns about the image and we carried a report about it last night, and made clear that we were seeking urgent clarification about the image from Kensington Palace. \"In the absence of that clarification, we are killing the image from our picture service.\" The photo shows the princess sitting down, surrounded by Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Prince George, the latter wrapping his arms around her. It was the first official photo of the Princess of Wales since her abdominal surgery two months ago. Since then she has stayed out of the public eye. The image was posted on the Prince and Princess of Wales's social media accounts with a message from Catherine which said: \"Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. It has become a regular routine for the royal couple to release their own photos of special family occasions. More often than not, the photos are taken by Catherine and are issued to the media with instructions on how they can be used. But, before Prince William's image of his family was posted online, it would have gone through the social media team at Kensington Palace who manage the online accounts of the Prince and Princess of Wales. It may well have been that some editing was done on the original photo which has now resulted in the discrepancies in its appearance. The implication here is not that the entire photo is a fake or that the Princess of Wales is more unwell than she appears in the image. That seems unlikely and would be a very high-risk strategy from the Kensington Palace team. The Mother's Day image was included on the front pages of several national newspapers and websites, including BBC News, and used on TV news bulletins - again including the BBC. In order to use the new photo as quickly as possible, the BBC took the one used by Kensington Palace on their social media accounts. But, late on Sunday, the Associated Press, one of many international agencies that distributed the photo, issued a \"kill notification\" - an industry term used to make a retraction. It said: \"At closer inspection it appears that the source has manipulated the image. No replacement photo will be sent.\" A second news agency, Reuters, said it too had withdrawn the image \"following a post-publication review\". This was followed by a third agency, AFP, which also issued a \"mandatory kill notice\". Getty Images became the fourth organisation to retract the photograph. Most news organisations follow their own strict guidelines on the use of manipulated photographs, only using them when accompanied by an explanation that the image has been changed from the original. News agencies, such as AP, therefore make a commitment to their clients that their photos are accurate and not digitally manipulated. AP's rules only allow \"minor adjustments\" in certain circumstances, including cropping and toning and colour adjustments, as well as the removal of dust on camera sensors. It says changes in density, contrast, colour and saturation levels \"that substantially alter the original scene\" are not acceptable. Social media platform X has posted its own disclaimer on the Prince and Princess of Wales's official account, saying the image is \"believed to be digitally altered\". At this stage, the more likely explanation is that some overzealous editing of the picture to get it ready for publication has actually cast doubt on its authenticity. The photo, designed to cool the conversation around the Princess of Wales's recovery, has instead heated all the rumours up again. Royal photographer Ian Lloyd told BBC Breakfast that editing of photos was \"not unusual\", saying: \"It has gone on in photography, and royal photography particularly, since the dawn of photography.\" He pointed to the Prince and Princess of Wales' Christmas card photo, released in December 2023, where Prince Louis \"apparently had a finger missing\" and there was \"an extra leg\". But he said the withdrawing of a photo \"was definitely new\", saying: \"Clearly somebody feels they have gone a step too far and they've withdrawn the photograph.\" Catherine, 42, spent 13 nights at the London Clinic, near Regent's Park in central London, following the surgery. Prince William visited his wife during her stay and she was visited by the King before he had his own treatment there. The Palace has shared few details about her condition, which has garnered significant social media speculation, but has said it is not cancer-related. The team supporting the princess as she recovers is small and limited to those closest to her. At the time of her stay, the Palace said the princess wanted her personal medical information to remain private, adding that she wanted to \"maintain as much normality for her children as possible\". The Palace said it would only provide updates on her recovery when there was significant new information to share. It was thought on Sunday morning the photo would quell some of the more extreme theories around the princess's absence from the public stage. But within hours social media was abuzz with zoomed-in images of Princess Charlotte's left cuff and Prince Louis' fingers.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Multiple news agencies, including PA, Getty Images, AFP, Reuters, and Associated Press, have withdrawn a photo of the Princess of Wales and her children due to concerns it may have been digitally manipulated. The image, taken by Prince William for Mother's Day and the first official photo of the princess since her surgery, was initially posted by Kensington Palace on social media. The agencies are seeking clarification from the palace, and in the absence of it, have removed the photo from their services." + }, + { + "article": "Palestinians disembark an evacuation flight that has taken them from Egypt to the UAE Two very different flights in 24 hours, each with the same aim: to alleviate Gaza's suffering. The first is the less perilous: an Etihad Airways passenger plane, flight EY750 from Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The Boeing 777 has been converted into a virtual flying ambulance with seats in economy turned into hospital beds. Its mission, paid for by the government of the UAE, is to return civilians who had previously got out after being trapped in Rafah in southern Gaza, in some cases for months, and to evacuate wounded Palestinian children who had crossed from Gaza to al-Arish in Egypt's northern Sinai. After hours on the ground, the first evacuees start to make it on board. There is relief on their faces as they make it across the airfield to the plane, but uncertainty too. Many have left family members behind in Gaza. Among them is 58-year-old Hanaa Hasan Abu Namous. Her hand is badly injured. She says 25 members of her family were killed in an Israeli air strike on their home in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. \"During the war they were displaced,\" she tells me. \"Thirty or 50 of them would come to our house. We are civilians. We never have and never will fight.\" She holds a picture on her phone of shroud-wrapped bodies. They had to be buried together, four or five to a coffin, she says. The plane evacuated Palestinian children who had crossed from Gaza into Egypt Sitting a few rows forward is 13-year-old Yazan Wajih Barhum, whose left foot has been partially amputated. He was at a neighbour's house in Rafah when an Israeli bomb hit, he says. His seven-year-old brother, Yamen, was hit with shrapnel in the eye and is already in Abu Dhabi. When I ask him when they last saw each other he answers, quick as a flash, \"58 days ago\". What are his hopes for the future, I ask. \"To be able to walk on my legs again, get back to how I was, play football with my friends, and for the war to end so I can go back to my country\", he says. The crew on board, regular airline staff, hand the 25 injured children backpacks with games and a SpongeBob blanket. The kids who are able sit watching cartoons on the entertainment system; some are on stretchers at the back of the plane. Kiran Sadasivan, the cabin manager, welcomes the children and their chaperones on board, taking pictures with their phones and distributing meals. \"This is my tenth mission flight,\" he tells me. \"And I'll be on the next one in a few days.\" Also on board is Dr Maha Barakat, the UAE's assistant foreign affairs minister. A UK-trained doctor, she does not rest during the 20-hour evacuation mission, checking on the patients and medical team and liaising with the Egyptian authorities on the ground. \"The actual day today was clearly a more challenging day than usual,\" she says. \"There was a particular girl that we were trying to get through - she was in urgent medical need. And she wasn't able to make it to the border. However, we will have another plane coming in the next few days.\" A member of the crew explains the plane's entertainment system to a Palestinian girl Not all the Palestinians on the plane are leaving Gaza. Sitting alone, wearing a dark red headscarf and with a small leather handbag at her side is mother-of-three Zahra Mohammed Al-Qeiq. She has leukaemia, and left Gaza a few months ago for treatment in Abu Dhabi. Now she is returning to Rafah. Isn't she scared, I ask her. \"The whole period I spent in the Emirates, my kids were crying on calls asking me to come back, saying 'come back; we will die in Gaza'. I had to stop my treatment and go back to my children,\" she says. Emirati doctors have given her six months of chemotherapy drugs. \"I cried every night I was away from home. I have to go back, they are my children,\" she says. Twenty-four hours later, a Royal Jordanian Airforce cargo plane - \"Guts Airline\" painted on its side - heads for Gaza at sunset. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch as UK aid is dropped from plane into Gaza The aircrew on board have done this flight a dozen times. As they reach 17,000ft (5,200m), they put on oxygen masks and make final precise adjustments for the drop. For the first time, the cargo on board is British: four tonnes of supplies, including fuel, medical gear and food rations, to resupply the Jordanian-run field hospital in Gaza City. Until now Britain has only sent aid by land and sea, but northern Gaza has become almost entirely unreachable. The World Food Programme has suspended deliveries there because its convoys have endured \"complete chaos and violence\", it said. There is a heavy Israeli military presence on the ground. The Jordanian authorities will not disclose what co-ordination is made with Israel to allow the plane to fly overhead without incident. Israel maintains a tight grip on the aid going into Gaza. Britain and others have complained that only a fraction of the aid needed is making it into the strip. Everything is subject to stringent Israeli checks, to prevent supplies making it inside that would aid Hamas. Most of the people in this once densely packed part of Gaza have been driven out by Israeli forces, but some 300,000 remain, barely surviving in the most desperate of circumstances. The UN has been warning for months of the threat of famine in northern Gaza. I watch as the cargo doors opened and the first two pallets of supplies fly off into the black night. The plane banks sharply and turns, and the second two pallets are launched. The Jordanian crew give a thumbs-up and head for home. It is a small drop in the chasm of Gaza's need. But this aid sent into the night at least manages to get through; the crew confirms it has landed right on target.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Two recent flights, one from Egypt to the UAE and another from Jordan to Gaza, aimed to alleviate the suffering in Gaza. The UAE-funded flight evacuated wounded Palestinian children and civilians, while a Royal Jordanian Airforce cargo plane delivered British aid, including medical supplies and food, to the conflict-stricken region. These efforts come amidst concerns over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, with access to aid being restricted." + }, + { + "article": "Last updated on .From the section Man City Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says Jack Grealish will return to his starting line-up on a regular basis when his performances improve. The England midfielder, 28, started 41 games for City in last season's Treble-winning campaign, including the FA Cup and Champions League finals. He has started only 19 games this term, including seven in the Premier League. \"He is the same player, he has the same manager, and the way we play has not changed,\" said Guardiola. \"It's just the way he has performed. That's the difference.\" This season, Grealish has had limited top-flight minutes and of his 19 starts, four were in the Community Shield, the European Super Cup, and both ties at the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia. He last started a league game on 30 December against Sheffield United, when he was replaced by youngster Oscar Bobb after 52 minutes. The \u00a3100m man remained on the bench throughout the win at Bournemouth on Saturday and there are no guarantees he will start the FA Cup fifth-round tie at Luton. \"I said from day one, we need him,\" said Guardiola. \"He has a special quality for our team. But it depends on him. Hopefully he can do a good last three months.\" Grealish is not the first player to find himself in and out of Guardiola's team, such are the demands the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach places on his players. And the England international has been warned he will not be given time to ease himself back into the City side. \"I cannot give players three or four games to get their rhythm,\" added Guardiola. \"They have to find the rhythm to play for 20 minutes or 90. \"At a high level, the team don't wait to be fit. You cannot give someone three or four games to be fit. What about the 10 who don't play? They deserve not to play? \"You have to see the training sessions and all the small details. The players don't have to convince me. They have to convince themselves that they deserve to play.\" \u2022 None Our coverage of Manchester City is bigger and better than ever before - here's everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment \u2022 None Everything City - go straight to all the best content \u2022 None Listen to the latest We're Not Really Here podcast from BBC Radio Manchester", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Manchester City's Pep Guardiola says Jack Grealish will regain his regular starting spot when his performance improves, as the player has started only 19 games this season compared to 41 last season. Guardiola emphasizes that selection depends on the player's performance and fitness, and there are no guarantees for Grealish to start in the upcoming FA Cup tie against Luton." + }, + { + "article": "Ibrahima Bah, sketched at a previous hearing, had continued the crossing even after signs the boat had been deflating, jurors heard A man who piloted a boat in the English Channel has been found guilty of the manslaughter of four migrants who drowned when it ran into difficulty. Ibrahima Bah, a Senegalese migrant, had offered to steer the dinghy in December 2022 in exchange for a free crossing. He had claimed that he was forced by violent smugglers to make the journey with at least 43 other migrants. A jury at Canterbury Crown Court also found Bah guilty of facilitating a breach of immigration law. The case is the first time a migrant who navigated an inflatable has been found responsible for harm caused to other occupants, the BBC's home and legal correspondent, Dominic Casciani, said. Bah previously told the court he had changed his mind about piloting the boat to the UK when he arrived at the beach on the French coast and saw it was too small for the number of passengers. The home-built, low-quality inflatable should not have held more than 20 people. But he claimed he was assaulted by smugglers and threatened with death if he did not go ahead with the crossing. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Dominic Casciani breaks down the video from the rescue in the English Channel Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, said as the pilot, Bah owed them a \"duty of care to ensure their safety and protect them from the overwhelming risk to their lives\". Libby Clark, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: \"He could've turned back. That's what some of the migrants wanted to do. \"But Ibrahima Bah carried on. Those aren't really the actions of somebody who's acted under duress.\" Bah, whom a court determined was an adult but whose exact age is in dispute, will be sentenced on Friday afternoon. He was found guilty by the jury by a majority of 10 to two of four counts of gross negligence manslaughter, which the CPS describes as where a death is a result of a grossly negligent act or omission on the part of the defendant. Bah was also found guilty unanimously of facilitating illegal entry to the UK. The jury in a previous trial, held last summer, was dismissed after being unable to reach a verdict. The court heard that a crew on a British fishing boat came across the sinking boat and tried to rescue the passengers, with help from the RNLI, air ambulance and UK Border Force. A total of 39 survivors were brought to shore in Dover. But the exact number of migrants who drowned is unknown, as it appears at least one person's body believed to have not been recovered. The inflatable was not seaworthy Many of the passengers, not all of whom had life jackets, paid thousands of euros to smugglers. Ms Clark said the crossing \"on a sober and reasonable analysis was almost bound to fail\". She said there was \"no direct evidence of Bah being assaulted other than what Bah says\", and that was not a \"tenable defence\". \"If we consider his actions as that boat went forward, he could have refused to have got in,\" said Ms Clark. \"He could've gone out in the boat for a small distance if he was in fear and then gone back because it was too dangerous in his opinion.\" \"But he kept going even when after about half an hour into the voyage, that boat was taking on water and people were hearing sounds of puncturing and hissing as the boat deflated.\" One of the four who lost their lives was named as Hajratullah Ahmadi. The other three were described as \"unknown\". Mr Atkinson said Bah did not have training or experience, while the boat had no lights or safety equipment such as flares. The journey was navigated by two Afghan men at the front of the boat using mobile phones. After being rescued from the Channel, Bah told police he travelled from Senegal to Mali, Algeria and Libya, before travelling by boat from Libya to Italy using smugglers. One of the passengers, Ahmadi, from Afghanistan, told BBC South East he was on the boat but could not tell who was driving because it was \"really dark\". He did not give evidence during the trial. After attempting to push out water from the boat with a bottle, he said he went into the sea to try to swim to the fishing boat. Because it was so cold, he felt like he had \"died after about five minutes\" and described seeing other people in the water. \"One person didn't have a safety jacket. I swam over to him but after two minutes I left him because I realised he was dead,\" said Ahmadi. Det Ch Insp Neil Kimber, who led the investigation, said: \"Today marks the end of a complex investigation carried out by officers of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate. \"Our thoughts remain with the families of the victims who lost their lives during that crossing.\" Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A Senegalese migrant, Ibrahima Bah, has been found guilty of the manslaughter of four migrants who drowned while attempting to cross the English Channel in a dinghy. Bah, who steered the overcrowded boat in exchange for a free passage, claimed he was forced by smugglers, but the jury also convicted him of facilitating a breach of immigration law." + }, + { + "article": "Iain Packer was giving evidence for a third day at his trial at the High Court in Glasgow The man accused of murdering Emma Caldwell has admitted taking sex workers to the woods where the 27-year-old's body was found - but not to the same spot where she was discovered. Iain Packer was giving evidence at his trial at the High Court in Glasgow. He denies killing sex worker Ms Caldwell and disposing of her body in Limefield Woods near Biggar, South Lanarkshire, in April 2005. He denies 36 charges of physical and sexual violence against multiple women. Mr Packer said he made six visits to the woods when he wanted to \"go a run in the van\" away from Glasgow. The court has heard soil found in his van was a 97% match for soil at the spot where Emma Caldwell was dumped. When asked to explain how that could be the case, Mr Packer said: \"I can't answer that. I'm not a scientist.\" The 51-year-old has been answering questions from both his lawyer, Ronnie Renucci KC, and the prosecutor Advocate Depute Richard Goddard KC, for more than nine hours over the past three days. At the start of Thursday's evidence session, Mr Goddard said to him: \"Your account is, this (the woods) is somewhere you just happened upon in your van with a sex worker from Glasgow?\" The prosecutor then asked: \"And another one?\" to which the accused said: \"Correct, six times I was there\". Mr Packer agreed that he only took sex workers to the remote location when it was dark. Emma Caldwell's body was found in a remote part of South Lanarkshire five weeks after she went missing Asked specifically how many women he took to Limefield Woods, Mr Packer said: \"Three or four.\" Then, when pointing out that number differed from Mr Packer's previous answer of six women, Mr Goddard said: \"The truth is you just don't know, do you Mr Packer?\" The accused denied that the area he took sex workers to was the same area Emma Caldwell's body was found - telling the court it was a \"different part of the woods\". Mr Goddard then asked the accused where he was on the night Emma Caldwell disappeared, and Mr Packer said he did not know. He told the court he could have been at work or walking his dogs. Asked if he had been at work would there not be records to prove it, Mr Packer told the court the company was no longer in business so the paperwork had all gone. He told the court that he would often work anti-social hours as a sign erector to get access to shops when they were closed. \"My job wasn't nine to five,\" he told the prosecutor. Mr Goddard told the court the last sighting of Emma Caldwell was on the night she went missing in Glasgow Green - somewhere Mr Packer was known to frequent regularly. Mr Goddard reminded the jury about telecoms evidence that showed Glasgow Green as the second most popular signal point for Mr Packer's mobile phone, other than his home address. Iain Packer was asked about visits to the woods where Emma Caldwell's body was found Asked about his work as a sign erector in 2005, Mr Goddard asked Mr Packer about cables he used in the course of his work. Mr Packer was shown a cable that was found by Emma Caldwell's body which was recovered in Limefield Woods in 2005. The accused said that was not the type of cable he would use for this work. Mr Goddard said: \"Might that have come from the back of your van Mr Packer?\", to which the accused replied: \"I've never had that cable in the back of my van\". The prosecutor reminded Mr Packer about soil evidence given to the court by Prof Lorna Dawson. She had said there was a 97% match at two locations close to where Emma Caldwell's body was found with soil samples taken from Mr Packer's van. Mr Packer insisted he had not been in that part of the woods and told the court: \"I was where I showed the police.\" Mr Goddard repeated that the samples with the highest match \"were close to where Emma's body lay, a woman you previously sexually assaulted?\" The accused replied: \"Yes, that doesn't mean I killed her.\" Mr Goddard asked Mr Packer about previously changing his story during police interviews, which the accused said he had done so because he was \"scared\". Mr Packer said: \"When you're scared, it's a scary thing for the police to interview you for something you haven't done.\" Mr Goddard asked Mr Packer if he was changing his story now because the soil evidence put him at that site, to which the accused replied: \"I wasn't there.\" \"How do you think I feel sitting here, an innocent man, and I'm accused of something I haven't done?\" Mr Packer said. Mr Packer was later cross-examined by his own lawyer, Ronnie Renucci KC. Mr Renucci said Mr Packer had been accused of changing his story to police seven times and asked the accused if he had ever changed his story about killing Emma Caldwell. On Wednesday, Mr Packer had been asked about an incident involving Ms Caldwell, eight months before her death. He said he was ashamed he continued to have sex with her after she asked him to stop and admitted indecently assaulting the 27-year-old in August 2004. The trial, before Lord Beckett, will continue on Friday when the defence and prosecution will begin their closing speeches.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Iain Packer, on trial for the murder of Emma Caldwell,\u627f\u8ba4\u66fe\u5e26\u6027\u5de5\u4f5c\u8005\u53bb\u5979\u88ab\u53d1\u73b0\u7684\u6811\u6797\uff0c\u4f46\u5426\u8ba4\u5c06\u5979\u9057\u5f03\u5728\u53d1\u73b0\u5c38\u4f53\u7684\u540c\u4e00\u5730\u70b9\u3002Packer\u5426\u8ba4\u4e86\u5305\u62ec\u6740\u5bb3Caldwell\u548c\u57282005\u5e74\u5c06\u5979\u7684\u5c38\u4f53\u4e22\u5f03\u5728\u82cf\u683c\u5170\u5357\u62c9\u7eb3\u514b\u90e1Limefield Woods\u5728\u5185\u768436\u9879\u6307\u63a7\u3002\u6cd5\u5ead\u4e0a\uff0c\u4ed6\u627f\u8ba4\u66fe\u5e26\u4e09\u5230\u56db\u4f4d\u6027\u5de5\u4f5c\u8005\u5728\u665a\u4e0a\u5230\u8be5\u6811\u6797\uff0c\u4f46\u575a\u79f0\u81ea\u5df1\u6ca1\u6709\u53bb\u8fc7Caldwell\u88ab\u53d1\u73b0\u7684\u5730\u65b9\u3002" + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Old Bailey evacuated after fire breaks out About 1,500 people were evacuated from the Old Bailey and surrounding buildings in London after a fire. Five separate explosions were heard at the rear of the Central Criminal Court at 10:30 GMT, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) said, and black smoke was seen coming from the building. A BBC reporter said all the lights flickered inside the courthouse and went out before a fire alarm went off. Juries were sent home and defendants on remand were returned to prison. Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London and most senior judge at the Old Bailey, told the BBC the building would remain closed on Thursday and emergency work was taking place. An electrical substation in Warwick Lane was involved, according to the fire service. Judges and barristers in black gowns and wigs, as well as jurors and court staff were seen standing outside the building waiting for updates - but were later told to return to court on Thursday. Among the high-profile trials abandoned for the day was that of wealthy aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner, Mark Gordon, who are accused of the manslaughter of their newborn baby. One defendant on trial was led to a prison van Some defendants were seen being walked out of a side exit and into a waiting prison van, and were escorted by uniformed City of London Police officers. The BBC was told there were no reported casualties. UK Power Networks said the fire had affected power supplies in the area, which it was working to restore. Judge Lucraft also told the BBC the fire was in a nearby electrical substation. He added a decision on whether to reopen on Friday would be made on Thursday and contingency plans were being considered, such as the use of generators. The BBC was told there were no reported casualties BBC reporter Nick Johnson said there was an electrical humming noise before everything went black inside the courtroom, followed by an alarm that came over a sound system telling people to leave the building quickly. There was a smell of the smoke similar to when a lightbulb blows, he continued, adding all proceedings at the Old Bailey were immediately postponed. A worker in an adjacent building told the BBC he heard rumbling before black smoke appeared. Sarah, a member of the public who was in a court gallery, told BBC Radio London: \"The lights started flickering, they flickered again and all of a sudden we heard, 'get out'.\" She said there was a \"rush\" but the public were evacuated from the building \"within a few minutes\", adding: \"I've never seen anything like it in my life.\" Black smoke marks could be seen on a wall Jeremy Britton, the BBC's Old Bailey producer, said \"security is as important as safety\" at the courts. While the veteran court reporter is used to \"dramatic scenes\" at the Old Bailey, he said the evacuation was something he had \"never seen in my 25 years here as a journalist\". Barristers and other court users were told by security officials they were not allowed back inside the Old Bailey until safety checks had been carried out. The CBA, which represents barristers, later said juries had been sent home and confirmed that defendants in custody cells had \"been returned to prison remand\". It said five explosions had come from one of two power plants supplying the court building \"as trials began or barristers were in judges' chambers ahead of sitting\". \"Smoke was then seen from the rear of the court building,\" it said. Dozens of firefighters gathered by two fire engines near the Old Bailey It added barristers were advised to return to court on Thursday \"unless told otherwise\". London Fire Brigade earlier confirmed 1,500 people had been evacuated from the court and surrounding buildings and it sent 25 firefighters to the scene. UK Power Networks said: \"Engineers were called to Paternoster Square in London at 11:10 GMT after a fire was reported which has affected power supplies. \"We will work to restore supplies as quickly as is safely possible.\" Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hellobbclondon@bbc.co.uk", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The Old Bailey in London was evacuated after a fire broke out, with five explosions heard and black smoke seen coming from the building. An electrical substation in Warwick Lane was involved, and the court will remain closed on Thursday for emergency work, affecting high-profile trials, including the case of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon. No casualties have been reported." + }, + { + "article": "Manu Tuilagi: England centre leaving Sale Sharks to join Bayonne at end of season Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union Manu Tuilagi replaced Henry Slade in England's Six Nations defeat by France in Lyon on 16 March England centre Manu Tuilagi will leave Sale Sharks at the end of the season, a move which is likely to bring an end to his international career. The 32-year-old will join French Top 14 club Bayonne, with whom he has signed a two-year contract. Players based overseas are not eligible for England selection. Tuilagi has won 60 England caps since his debut in 2011 and scored 20 tries, playing in three World Cups and in one Test for the British and Irish Lions. He is the latest England player to head to France to play their club rugby, following ex-captain Owen Farrell, who is leaving Saracens to join Racing 92, and Lewis Ludlam, who is going to Toulon from Northampton Saints. Tuilagi has been a key figure in England's team ever since he was given his debut against Wales aged 20, in a World Cup warm-up match in 2011. His powerhouse approach gave the attack an added physical dimension, never better illustrated than in the 38-21 win over then world champions New Zealand at Twickenham in 2012, when he scored one try and was heavily involved in the other two scores. But the Samoa-born player has also been blighted by injuries in that time. From his debut until his appearance as a substitute in the Six Nations game away to France in Lyon, Tuilagi has missed 97 Tests. He won the Six Nations with England in 2016 and 2020 and he was a member of the side that lost the World Cup final to South Africa in Japan in 2019. However, a hamstring injury kept him out of rugby for more than a year meaning he did not play for Stuart Lancaster's side in the home World Cup of 2015. He featured for Steve Borthwick's side in the autumn World Cup in France in which England came third, although Six Nations game time was limited to his 20-minute cameo in Lyon. This announcement effectively ends his international career, with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) policy of only English-based players being eligible for the national team in place since 2011. At club level, Tuilagi was twice a Premiership winner with Leicester Tigers - the club where he came through the academy - in 2010 and 2013, scoring a try in the 2013 Premiership final against Northampton Saints. But he left the Tigers in 2020 to join Sale on an initial short-term deal. That was subsequently extended and it has been his home for the past four years, helping the Sharks reach a first Premiership final last season for 17 years, which they lost to Saracens. But with Fiji captain and centre Waisea Nayacalevu joining from Toulon for next season as a player in the same physical mould, his departure from Sale seemed inevitable. \"We'll miss him massively on the field, but the void he leaves off it will be harder to fill,\" Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson said. \u2022 None Revealing the truth about the stories that matter: Meet the caravan park residents who have been mis-sold their properties \u2022 None There's a million ways to get it wrong:", + "qwen_reference_summary": "English rugby union player Manu Tuilagi is leaving Sale Sharks at the end of the season to join French club Bayonne, which likely marks the end of his international career due to the RFU's policy on overseas players. The 32-year-old center, who has played 60 times for England, has signed a two-year contract with Bayonne, following in the footsteps of other English players like Owen Farrell and Lewis Ludlam who have also moved to France." + }, + { + "article": "Rishi Sunak said the UK would do \"whatever it takes\" for Ukraine to achieve victory Political leaders in the UK have reaffirmed their support for Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Britain was prepared to do \"whatever it takes\" and pledged almost \u00a3250m towards producing artillery shells. King Charles praised the strength of Ukrainians, who continue to endure \"tremendous hardship\". It comes a day after the UK announced further sanctions against Russia. Mr Sunak, who visited Kyiv last month to sign a new security agreement and announce \u00a32.5bn of military aid to Ukraine over the coming year, said \"we must renew our determination\" on this \"grim anniversary\". \"This is the moment to show that tyranny will never triumph and to say once again that we will stand with Ukraine today and tomorrow,\" he said. \"We are prepared to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, until they prevail.\" Bolstering the UK government's message of support further, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps insisted that it is \"absolutely committed\" to supporting Ukraine. He emphasised that ammunition is what Ukraine \"needs desperately at the moment\" and said Parliament remains united in its support: \"Parliament can be divided over all sorts of things, but we are not over our support of Ukraine\". Mr Shapps warned there would be \"fatal\" consequences if Western countries give up on Ukraine, adding: \"The world won't be safe unless we stop a tyrant like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin\". Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said President Vladimir Putin's \"cowardice and barbarity\" would not prevail. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Ukraine two years on: A look back at the war Western leaders including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, as well as EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, have travelled to Kyiv to show their solidarity. Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also joined them. During his visit to Kyiv, Mr Johnson said he had \"no doubt that the Ukrainians will win and expel Putin's forces\". But he emphasised that Ukraine would only be able to do so if given \"the military, political and economic help that they need\". A new package, announced on Saturday, includes \u00a3245m intended to replenish Kyiv's reserves of artillery ammunition - an area which has been key to Ukraine's resistance, with shortages recently being cited as an issue. Mr Sunak said \"against all the odds\", Ukraine had \"pushed back the Russian invaders to recapture half of the land Putin stole\". The announcement comes after the Royal Air Force completed its delivery of a previously announced consignment of anti-tank missiles. The prime minister's verbal commitment comes after Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron warned the United Nations against \"fatigue\" and \"compromise\". Addressing the UN general assembly in New York on Friday, he said the world must \"recognise the cost of giving up\". \"Putin has said there will be no peace until Russia's goals have been achieved,\" he said. The foreign secretary again urged the United States Congress to back a fresh package of military support for Ukraine. The US has provided the most military aid to Ukraine during the conflict, according to the Kiel Institute, which tracks support. But a bill promising almost $60bn (\u00a350bn) in military aid may not pass Congress after opposition from some Republicans in the House of Representatives. The UK announced a raft of new sanctions this week targeting individuals and organisations sustaining Russia's military, as well as six prison bosses following the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of Mr Putin and his war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer, hoping to enter Downing Street after the general election which is widely expected to be held this year, said the UK would support Kyiv \"no matter who is in power in this country\". \"The resistance of the Ukrainian people has inspired and humbled the world,\" he said. \"The UK and our allies will stand in solidarity with them until their day of victory.\" On Saturday, Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf said Scotland maintained \"steadfast support\" for Ukraine, ahead of his attendance at a service with other political and religions leaders. \"Ukrainians are fighting for freedom, the rule of law, and the right of countries across Europe to co-exist in peace and security,\" he said. The war in Ukraine has largely been at a stalemate in recent months, though Russia has appeared to make recent advances. Last weekend, Ukrainian forces withdrew from the eastern city of Avdiivka - where they had battled a fierce Russian assault for four months despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is expected to take part in a virtual meeting with G7 leaders on Saturday, has publicly urged western allies to provide more weapons or risk emboldening Russia's forces. In a joint statement on behalf of more than 50 governments, including the UK, Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said: \"We reiterate our demand to Russia to stop its war of aggression against Ukraine and to ensure the full, immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian forces and military equipment from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "UK leaders, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, have reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia's invasion, with Sunak pledging almost \u00a3250m for artillery shells and stating that Britain is prepared to do \"whatever it takes\" for Ukraine's victory. Western leaders, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have visited Kyiv to show solidarity, while new sanctions against Russia have been announced and military aid continues to be provided." + }, + { + "article": "Eden Golan will represent Israel at the song contest in Sweden this May Israel has unveiled its revised entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, after the original version was rejected for its perceived political overtones. Eden Golan will now sing Hurricane, a rewritten version of October Rain, which was thought to reference the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. The soaring, impassioned piano ballad premiered on Israeli TV on Sunday. The lyrics now told the story of a woman experiencing a personal crisis, said Israel's public broadcaster, Kan. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises Eurovision, rejected October Rain last month. Lyrics such as \"There's no air left to breathe,\" and \"They were all good children, each one of them,\" were seen as references to the victims of Hamas's deadly attack, which triggered Israel's current ground offensive in Gaza. Kan initially refused to change the song, saying it would prefer to withdraw from the contest - but Israel's President, Isaac Herzog, later called for \"necessary adjustments\" to ensure the country could participate. The broadcaster said: \"The president emphasised that at this time in particular, when those who hate us seek to push aside and boycott the state of Israel from every stage, Israel must sound its voice with pride and its head high and raise its flag in every world forum, especially this year.\" Musically, Hurricane is the same song as October Rain - but the lyrics are now more general, with phrases such as \"Every day, I'm losing my mind\" and \"I'm still broken from this hurricane.\" As expected, the phrase \"October rain\" has been excised completely. This YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by Eurovision Song Contest This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google\u2019s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose \u2018accept and continue\u2019. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Another significant change is the word \"flowers\" has been replaced by \"powers\". According to the Israel Hayom newspaper, the former is often used to denote Israel's war fatalities. The spoken-word section, which Golan delivers in Hebrew, has also been altered. The original references to poisoned air and dead children have been switched for the more generic: \"No need for big words, only prayers. Even if it's hard to see, you always leave me one small light.\" As the song was revealed, Golan, 20, addressed the difficulty of representing Israel at such a politically sensitive time. \"I ended up in a not simple year,\" she told the Times of Israel. \"But on the other hand, I even more so want to represent the country this year, because of its meaning - it has a totally different significance. \"And we can bring everything we're feeling, and everything the country is going through, in those three minutes. To speak through the song to the world.\" Israel has won Euorvision four times since its first appearance, in 1973. Last year, it was represented by pop sensation Noa Kirel, whose acrobatic dance number Unicorn placed third. But the country has faced serious opposition to its participation in this year's contest, due to concerns over the humanitarian cost of the war in Gaza. Last week, Belgium's French-speaking Culture Minister, Benedicte Linard, called for Israel to be banned as long as the war continued. \"Just like Russia has been excluded from competitions and Eurovision following its invasion of Ukraine, Israel should be excluded until it puts an end to its flagrant violations of international law, which are causing thousands of victims, especially children,\" she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Israel insists its ground offensive is in line with international law. Its military has repeatedly said it goes out of its way to try to avoid harming civilians. Ms Linard also told parliament on Wednesday she would ask public broadcaster Radio-t\u00e9l\u00e9vision belge de la Communaut\u00e9 fran\u00e7aise (RTBF), which is organising Belgium's entry to Eurovision, to voice the concerns to the EBU. Her Flemish counterpart, Benjamin Dalle, said an Israeli suspension would be appropriate while so many Palestinian civilians were suffering, according to Flemish broadcaster VRT. Musicians in several countries have also called for Israel to be suspended from the contest. Before he was selected to represent the UK, Olly Alexander also endorsed a statement accusing Israel of genocide. An Israeli official later told the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper the arguments were \"absurd\" and accused Alexander and his fellow signatories of \"anti-Israel bias\". Israel launched an air and ground campaign in Gaza after Hamas's 7 October attacks, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. More than 30,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory's Hamas-run Health Ministry says.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israel has revised its Eurovision Song Contest entry, replacing the original song \"October Rain\" with \"Hurricane\" due to perceived political references to the Hamas attacks on Israel. The new lyrics now focus on a personal crisis rather than the conflict, following the European Broadcasting Union's rejection of the initial entry. Eden Golan will represent Israel at the contest in Sweden, amid calls from some politicians and musicians to ban the country over the war in Gaza." + }, + { + "article": "Blink, and you might have missed it. In its 45-minute Friday night news bulletin, Russian TV devoted 28 seconds to the news about Alexei Navalny. His death was announced almost in passing. Just 28 seconds for the man who'd become Russia's most prominent opposition figure and the country's most famous prisoner. Alexei Navalny had, in fact, been many things: lawyer, blogger, anti-corruption campaigner, political activist - and always a thorn in the side of the Kremlin. Not all Russians had supported him. But, for a decade he was the only opposition figure in Russia capable of bringing large numbers of protesters on to the streets - across the country - to rail against the government, slam corruption and demand free and fair elections. Which is why the Kremlin saw him as a threat. Navalny had charisma and strength of character, as well as a sense of humour and the ability to inspire - rare for a Russian politician. He also understood the power of the internet for getting across his message. He and his team produced and uploaded highly polished documentaries that shone a light on alleged corruption at the highest levels of power in Russia. \"What we're seeing now,\" he told me in 2017, \"is that the internet is the number one concern for the current regime - and its number one enemy, too.\" At the time the authorities had clearly wanted to avoid turning Navalny into a political martyr. He had run-ins with the police, but initially the punishments were smaller scale. In March 2017 I remember being crammed into a Moscow courtroom where he was being prosecuted for resisting arrest at a street protest. \"Millions of people back the battle against corruption,\" he told me from the dock. \"That shows the Kremlin is categorically wrong to claim it enjoys enormous support.\" He was found guilty and sentenced to 15 days behind bars. Compare that to the 19-year prison sentence he received last year on extremism charges, widely viewed to have been politically motivated. There were physical attacks, too. In 2017 his eyesight was damaged when he was splashed with a green antiseptic dye. Three years later in Siberia he was poisoned with a nerve agent and airlifted to Germany for life-saving treatment. He survived and accused the Kremlin of trying to murder him. And yet the following year - despite concerns for his safety - he returned to Russia. Navalny's return to Russia after the Novichok poisoning was heavily reported, with observers astonished he wanted to go back Perhaps the \"inner politician\" was telling him that to effect political change at home he had to be in Russia. But almost immediately he ended up in prison. Now Alexei Navalny is dead. The Russian authorities claim that he lost consciousness after a walk inside a penal colony and that medical teams tried, but failed, to resuscitate him. His supporters are convinced it was a political assassination. Will there be political consequences? These were already dark times for the Russian opposition. The country's main opposition leaders are either in exile or in prison. With Navalny's death, dark times have just got even darker. It's likely to demoralise the Kremlin's opponents even more. Western leaders are insisting that President Vladimir Putin be held accountable and demanding serious consequences for the Kremlin. Right now, it's hard to see what those could be. More sanctions? After its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia is already the most sanctioned country in the world, and the International Criminal Court has already issued an arrest warrant for President Putin in relation to the war. But for Alexei Navalny's supporters, pondering the political consequences of his death is not their priority right now. They're in mourning. By Moscow's \"Wall of Grief\" - a memorial to the victims of Stalin-era political repression - I watch Russians laying roses and carnations, and lighting candles in memory of the opposition leader. Police are out in force, hurrying people along. In a country where dissent has pretty much been silenced, for many here just laying flowers is an act of courage. There is a palpable sense of disbelief. \"I saw the news on my phone,\" Mikhail tells me. \"My first reaction was, 'It's just a joke. It can't be real.' But then the news came more and more and more. And I was crying for one hour.\" This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"I was with my friends [when I found out],\" says Alina. \"I was broken. I really thought that it couldn't happen. Never.\" \"We never thought it could happen\": it's a phrase I have heard so often from Russians in recent times. Later the riot police try to clear the square in front of the memorial. \"Move along. No-one is allowed to gather here,\" says an officer. \"We have the right to be here,\" shouts a woman. \"We want to stand here and we will. This street isn't yours. It belongs to everyone.\" The police don't think so. They start pushing people away and making arrests. There are cries of \"Disgrace! Shame!\" from people on the square. But I'll tell you what struck me most when I talked to people who'd come to lay flowers. Some of them told me that, despite a sense of shock, they still hoped for a better future, a different Russia. And they were clinging on to that hope - like a single shaft of light in the darkness.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Russian state TV devoted just 28 seconds to the news of Alexei Navalny's death, a prominent opposition figure and anti-corruption campaigner, whose activism often challenged the Kremlin. Despite numerous attacks and imprisonments, Navalny's passing has left the Russian opposition in a darker place, with his supporters mourning and demanding accountability, while facing a suppressed climate of dissent." + }, + { + "article": "Social media giant Snap, which operates Snapchat, has announced plans to cut \"approximately\" 10% of its staff. The firm said in November 2023 it had 5,000 employees, suggesting around 500 people are facing redundancy. It comes a day before Snap reports its fourth-quarter results - having reported a net loss of $368m (\u00a3294m) in the previous quarter in October 2023. Snapchat said the move would \"reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration\". \"We are focused on supporting our departing team members and we are very grateful for their hard work and many contributions to Snap,\" a spokesperson told the BBC. According to its most recent annual report, more than 500 people work for the firm in the UK. It is unclear if any of the cuts will fall in the UK. Jasmine Enberg, principal social media analyst at Insider Intelligence, told the BBC the layoffs \"don't bode well for the state of Snap's business\" ahead of its latest earnings announcement on Tuesday. She pointed to rival Meta's latest results - which showed quarterly profits tripling year-on-year, a surge in users, lower costs and higher ad sales - as \"a tough act for Snap to follow\". \"Snap is likely trying to garner some goodwill with investors, who rewarded its competitor for its cost-cutting measures and its continued 'do more with less' mantra going into 2024,\" Ms Enberg said. She added that Snap's advertising revenues have been \"slow to recover from the digital ad slowdown\". It is the second wave of mass redundancies from the social media company, which laid off about 20% of its workers in August 2022. Snap has attempted to expand into products beyond Snapchat, including experimenting with augmented reality (AR) glasses, dubbed Spectacles. But the firm has been unable to find a mass market for its other products, and it subsequently closed a division that offered AR services to business customers in 2023. The latest job cuts come as companies, including Meta and Google, have been grappling with how to balance cost-cutting measures with the need to remain competitive. According to layoffs.fyi, which tracks job losses in the tech sector, there were more than 232,000 job cuts in the industry in 2023. Elsewhere, last week the firm's chief executive Evan Spiegel was grilled alongside the bosses of X (formerly Twitter), Meta, Discord and TikTok at a US Senate hearing about child safety online, where senators' attention mostly fell on Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew. Mr Spiegel said in his opening testimony at the hearing that he and co-founder Bobby Murphy built Snapchat as an alternative to other social media platforms, where images shared were \"permanent, public, and subject to popularity metrics\". The redundancies were announced by the firm in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Snap said that the layoffs would affect staff globally, but did not specify who would be affected further. \"In order to best position our business to execute on our highest priorities, and to ensure we have the capacity to invest incrementally to support our growth over time, we have made the difficult decision to restructure our team,\" the firm said. In its filing, it said the cuts would be \"subject to local law and consultation requirements\" in each country, which could extend the process. And it estimated the move could cost it between $55m (\u00a344m) and $75m (\u00a360m) in severance payments \"and other charges\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Snap, the company behind Snapchat, plans to cut around 10% of its staff, approximately 500 jobs, in a bid to reduce costs and promote in-person collaboration. The move comes ahead of the company's fourth-quarter results and follows a net loss of $368m in the previous quarter. This is the second round of mass redundancies for Snap, which laid off 20% of its workforce in 2022, and reflects challenges in the tech sector, with other companies like Meta and Google also implementing cost-saving measures." + }, + { + "article": "A banner still marks the site of the crash where Eve Smith, 21, Rafel Jeanne, 24, and Darcy Ross, 21, died in March 2023 A police officer is being criminally investigated for allegedly falsifying their witness statement after a car crash when three young people died, the police watchdog has said. Seven Gwent Police officers have now been served misconduct notices after the incident in Cardiff in March 2023. Eve Smith, 21, Rafel Jeanne, 24, and Darcy Ross, 21, were found dead in the car in St Mellons 46 hours later. Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were both seriously injured. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has announced it has widened its investigation after one Gwent officer was handed a misconduct notice in June. The IOPC said it had analysed \"a significant amount of evidence\" and received \"detailed complaints\" from the families of the young people involved. Eve Smith, Rafel Jeanne and Darcy Ross were found dead 46 hours after the crash Two officers have been handed gross misconduct notices concerning whether or not they carried out searches of the homes of two of the people reported missing. One of these officers is also under criminal investigation for allegedly falsifying their witness statement. Another two officers have been served notices over their handling of missing person reports, one officer for potential misconduct and another for possible gross misconduct. One officer has been served a notice for potential gross misconduct concerning their face-to-face communication with family members at a police station and how they dealt with the information received. An additional two officers have been served misconduct notices over alleged remarks made at the collision scene. The IOPC has clarified that these notices do not necessarily mean disciplinary or criminal proceedings are guaranteed to follow. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Hundreds of people attend vigil for crash victims in March 2023 IOPC director David Ford said: \"Since the start of our investigation, we have expanded our work to investigate a number of detailed complaints from the families affected. As a result, seven Gwent Police officers have been advised that they are under investigation. \"At the end of our investigation, we will make decisions as to whether any officer should face disciplinary proceedings and whether any matters should be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.\" Gwent Police Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hobrough said the force understands \"how important the findings of this investigation will be to all those affected\". \"We have been and continue to fully support the investigation which is being carried out by the Independent Office for Police Conduct,\" he said. \"It's important that these matters are investigated thoroughly in an open and transparent manner.\"", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A police officer is under criminal investigation for allegedly falsifying a witness statement after a car crash that killed three young people in Cardiff in March 2023, with seven Gwent Police officers now facing misconduct notices. The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating a range of issues, including missing person reports and officer conduct towards the victims' families." + }, + { + "article": "Shveta Sharma accuses her bank manager of pulling an elaborate con on her An Indian woman has accused a manager at one of the country's largest banks of defrauding her by siphoning off 160m rupees ($1.9m; \u00a31.5m) from her account. Shveta Sharma says she had transferred money to the ICICI Bank from her US account, expecting it to be invested in fixed deposits. But she alleges that a bank official created \"fake accounts, forged her signature, took out debit cards and cheque books in her name\" to withdraw money from her accounts. \"He gave me fake statements, created a fake email ID in my name and manipulated my mobile number in the bank records so I won't get any withdrawal notifications,\" she told the BBC. A spokesman for the bank admitted to the BBC that \"indeed the fraud had happened\" but said that the ICICI \"is a bank of repute which holds trillions of rupees in deposits from millions of customers\". \"Whoever is involved will be punished,\" he added. Ms Sharma and her husband, who returned to India in 2016 after living for decades in the US and Hong Kong, met a banker through a friend. As the interest rate on bank deposits in the US was negligible, he advised Ms Sharma to move her money to India where fixed deposits were offering an interest of 5.5% to 6%. She opened an NRE account meant for non-resident Indians on his advice after visiting the ICICI's branch in old Gurugram near the capital, Delhi, and in 2019, began transferring money into it from her US account. \"Over a period of four years from September 2019 to December 2023, we deposited our entire life savings of around 135m rupees in the bank,\" she said, adding that \"with interest, the sum would have grown to more than 160m rupees\". She said she never suspected anything was amiss because the branch manager \"would give me proper receipts for all the deposits on bank's stationery, regularly send me email statements from his ICICI account and sometimes even come over with folders of documents\". The fraud came to light in early January when a new employee at the bank offered to get Ms Sharma better returns on her money. It was then that she discovered that all her fixed deposits had vanished. There was also an overdraft of 25m rupees taken on one of the deposits. \"My husband and I were shocked. I suffer from an autoimmune disorder and I was so traumatised that I couldn't get up from bed for an entire week,\" she told me. \"Your life is being ruined right in front of your eyes and you can't do anything about it.\" Ms Sharma says she has shared all the information with the bank and held several meetings with top officials. \"At our first meeting on 16 January, we met the bank's regional and zonal heads and the head of the bank's internal vigilance who had flown in from Mumbai. They told us they accepted that it had been their fault, that this branch manager had cheated us. \"They assured us that we will get all our money back. But first, they said, they needed my help in identifying fraudulent transactions.\" Ms Sharma and her team of accountants spent days going through the statements for the past four years. Her accountants then sat with the vigilance team to mark the transactions which they were \"100% sure\" were fraudulent. \"It was shocking to actually discover how the money had been siphoned from my account and where it had been spent.\" Ms Sharma says despite the bank's assurances that the issue would be resolved within two weeks, more than six weeks later, she's still waiting to see any of her money back. In the meantime, she has sent letters to the CEO and deputy CEO of ICICI and lodged complaints with the Reserve Bank of India - the country's central bank - and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police, which deals with financial crimes. In a statement sent to the BBC, the bank said they have offered to deposit 92.7m rupees into her account with a lien, pending the outcome of the investigation. But Ms Sharma has rejected the offer: \"It's a lot less than the 160m rupees they owe me and the lien would effectively mean the account would be frozen until the case is closed by the police, which could take years.\" \"Why am I being punished for no fault of mine? My life has turned upside-down. I can't sleep. I have daily nightmares,\" she added. Shveta Sharma says she has lost 160 million rupees Srikanth L, who runs a fintech watchdog called Cashless Consumer, says such cases are not very common and banks use audits and checks to ensure such things don't happen. But if your bank manager decides to defraud you, he says, there's little you can do. \"Since he was the bank manager, she had some implicit trust in him. But customers must be more vigilant. They must monitor the outflow of money from their account at all times. \"The lack of double checks on a customer's part can lead to this kind of fraud,\" he adds. This is the second time just this month that ICICI bank has been in the news for the wrong reason. Earlier this month, police in Rajasthan state said a branch manager and his aides had duped depositors of billions of rupees for years to meet targets set up by the bank. Police said they withdrew money from customer accounts and used it to open new current and savings accounts and set up fixed deposits. The ICICI spokesperson said in that case, the bank acted swiftly and took action against the manager involved. He added that none of the customers had lost any money. In Ms Sharma's case, he said it was \"bewildering\" that she remained \"unaware of these transactions and balances in her account over the past three years, and only recently noticed a discrepancy in her account balance\". The bank \"has consistently sent transaction details to her registered mobile number and email\", he said, adding that their \"records indicate notifications regarding changes to contact details were sent to her mobile number and email address registered with the bank\". The accused branch manager \"has been suspended, pending investigation\", he said, adding \"we have also been defrauded\". \"We have also lodged a complaint with the EOW and we have to wait until the police investigation is complete. She will get all her money back, along with the interest, once her allegation is proven to be true. But unfortunately, she has to wait.\" The BBC was unable to contact the manager for comment.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "An Indian woman, Shveta Sharma, has accused a manager at ICICI Bank of defrauding her of 160 million rupees by siphoning off funds from her account through fake accounts and forged signatures. Despite admitting that the fraud occurred, the bank says it is a reputable institution and assures that those involved will be punished. Sharma, who transferred her savings from the US to India for higher interest rates, discovered the fraud when attempting to get better returns on her deposits, and is still waiting for her money to be returned despite bank assurances." + }, + { + "article": "About 85% of Gaza's population has been displaced Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to allow more humanitarian aid into war-ravaged Gaza, Qatari mediators say. They say that under a deal brokered by Qatar and France, medicines will be given to hostages held by Hamas. In return Israel will allow more basic supplies into Gaza. Conditions in the territory are dire after more than three months of Israeli bombardment. Meanwhile the US says it is hopeful that further talks could lead to the release of more hostages. The US Middle East envoy has been in Qatar to discuss the possibility of such a deal, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday. The discussions were \"very serious and intensive\", he added . \"We are hopeful it will bear fruit and bear fruit soon.\" Under the deal, the humanitarian supplies will leave the Qatari capital, Doha, for Egypt on Wednesday. The aid will then be taken to Gaza, to be delivered to civilians, while medicines are to reach Israeli captives. More than 132 hostages are thought to be still held in Gaza. About 240 people were captured by Hamas in a series of raids in southern Israel on 7 October. Some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed. In a letter sent to Israel's war cabinet after a ceasefire ended last year, the Hostages Families HQ group said many abductees needed regular medical attention and some were in immediate danger. Last week Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said David Barnea, head of Israel's national intelligence agency Mossad, had approached Qatar to secure a deal for providing the medicines needed. On Tuesday Mr Netanyahu issued a statement expressing \"his appreciation to all those who have assisted in the endeavour\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Hamas attacks in October triggered Israel's intense bombardment of Gaza, which has killed more than 24,000 people so far, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Palestinian officials say that 85% of Gaza's population has been displaced. While more aid is now getting into Gaza the UN's humanitarian chief has described the situation as \"intolerable\". Israel is coming under increasing international pressure to consider a ceasefire or pause in Gaza, such is the scale of the civilian suffering. Even its closest ally the US, which consistently defends Israel's right to self defence, has repeatedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the civilian death toll is \"far too high\". Last week US State Secretary Anthony Blinken cited UN figures that 90% of the population continued to face severe food insecurity, adding: \"For children, the effects of long periods without sufficient food can have lifelong consequences.\" \"More food, more water, more medicine, other essential goods need to get into Gaza.\" Correction 13th February: This article wrongly reported that about 1,300 people had been killed following the 7th October attack by Hamas. This was based on counting those who later died from their injuries in addition to the figure of more than 1,200. The article has been amended to now refer to about 1,200 deaths, a figure which includes those deaths and which Israel says is not final. \u2022 None Stories of the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Israel and Hamas have reached a deal, brokered by Qatar and France, to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, including medicines for hostages held by Hamas. In return, Israel will permit more basic supplies into the war-torn region. Over 132 hostages, with some in need of medical attention, are believed to be held in Gaza, and the US is hopeful that further talks could lead to their release. The situation in Gaza is dire, with 85% of the population displaced due to months of Israeli bombardment." + }, + { + "article": "Thousands of people gathered for a free screening of episode #130 of Dragon Ball Super in Ciudad Juarez The death of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama has been mourned by fans of the comic book and animated series. But amid the tributes, fans have also been recalling how the series sparked a diplomatic incident between Japan and Mexico almost exactly six years ago. Plans for public screenings in various Mexican cities ran into copyright snarl-ups and the Japanese Embassy was forced to step in. But one event was salvaged after the studio struck a deal with officials. It was 2018, and the first season of the anime series Dragon Ball Super was coming to a close after more than 100 episodes. Various cities across Latin America were organising viewing parties for the last couple of episodes. In Mexico's Ciudad Juarez, in the state of Chihuahua, a group of young people sought the local municipality's support to organised a free, public screening in one of the city's squares. Hundreds of people were expected to attend. But as news of the public events spread, Dragon Ball's studios Toei Animation published a chilling statement: \"Toei Animation has not authorised these public showings and does not support or sponsor any of these events, nor do we or any of our titles endorse any institution exhibiting the unauthorised episode.\" The statement read further: \"In an effort to support copyright laws, to protect the work of thousands of persons and many labour sectors, we request that you please enjoy our titles at the official platforms and broadcasters and not support illegal screenings that incite piracy.\" Then a letter from the Japanese Embassy in Mexico, dated 16 March 2018, to the governor of the state of Coahuila that was widely circulated online echoed the concerns expressed by Toei Animation and requested the cancellation of any illegal screening. But for Dragon Ball fans in Juarez, there was a happy ending. Mayor Armando Cabada successfully negotiated with the studios to allow the screening of the second-to-last episode of the series. An estimated 15,000 people gathered in the city's Plaza de la Mexicanidad on 17 March 2018 and enjoyed Toriyama's creation. The outpouring of love for the series on that day was also on show on Friday, after Toriyama's studio announced his death at the age of 68. People from Sheffield to Chicago got in contact with the BBC to share what Dragon Ball meant to them growing up. \"This anime was absolutely my childhood, and influenced me to get past my struggles and become a better person, and it directly inspired me to improve in life, it's so incredibly sad to hear about his death but, his work will live on forever,\" said Amin Ibrahim. And he was far from the only one. Northern Ireland-based Alexander Scullion said: \"From a young age, I was heavily bullied, I felt very low at times. I started watching Dragon Ball and I was instantly entranced. I fell in love with the art, the story and the action.\" Beloved in the US, Goku recently appeared at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City Samantha Hauton in Wales shared a similar experience. She was a fan of Dragon Ball Z, one of the anime series that spawned from the manga: \"I got through some lonely years in primary and secondary school thanks to Dragon Ball Z.\" For some readers, Dragon Ball continued to be a part of their adult lives. Joshua Aistrop, from Sheffield, recalls: \"Fond memories include watching Dragon Ball Super: Broly in cinemas and actively participating in organising and being a panellist at Saiyacon, the UK's inaugural Dragon Ball convention.\" The global phenomenon, which made its debut in 1984, is inspired by the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West, about a monk who goes on a pilgrimage to obtain sacred texts. In Dragon Ball, a boy called Son Goku goes on a journey to find seven magical spheres which, when gathered, awake a dragon that grants wishes. But Goku is not the only one seeking the dragon balls, and his many struggles and battles provide an opportunity for him to make friends, enemies, and mature.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "The death of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama has been mourned by fans worldwide, with memories shared of a 2018 diplomatic incident between Japan and Mexico over unauthorized public screenings of the series. Despite copyright issues, a free screening of Dragon Ball Super's episode #130 was eventually allowed in Ciudad Juarez, attracting thousands of fans." + }, + { + "article": "Model Christy Turlington, British presenter Maya Jama, US actress Selma Blair and model Precious Lee were among the women invited to the shoot If you saw the latest cover of fashion bible British Vogue going viral last week, you probably had the same question as many others. \"How on Earth did they manage to get 40 of the most famous, in-demand women on the planet in the same place at the same time?\" She's the magazine's global bookings director and the person who co-ordinated the massive photoshoot. Her boss, British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, wanted to mark his final issue after seven years with something special, and his pitch was a cover featuring some of the world's most notable women. Household names from the worlds of fashion, film, music and sport, together in one location. Easy, right? \"I figured it was never going to happen and I told him he was mad,\" she tells BBC Newsbeat, laughing. \"Then suddenly he was like 'I want Miley Cyrus, I want Oprah...' \"And I said, 'sure, let me see what I can do'.\" Edward Enninful became British Vogue's editor-in-chief in 2016 and is the first black man to hold the role So Rosie started putting in calls to agents and managers but experience told her it wouldn't be easy. \"Getting people to share a cover or getting models to share a cover can be difficult, let alone people of different disciplines, having models share with musicians, with actors,\" she says. \"Things get very complicated in that way.\" But she needn't have worried. \"Once they started saying 'yes', I was like, 'oh my God, I'm gonna have to get a knife and a fork and eat my words', which I was very happy to do,\" she says. \"It's testament to what people will do for Edward. \"I think there's so much goodwill to him from all of these people who he had put on his covers before to come together to kind of say goodbye.\" Rosie admits that the original plan didn't involve 40 cover stars, but the situation escalated once US TV host Oprah Winfrey was on board. \"As things often have a tendency to do with Edward, they kind of snowball and things get bigger and more fantastical,\" she says. \"But I've never worked on something of that size where people were so willing to give their time and so quickly.\" Rosie says almost everyone they approached to appear on the cover agreed, with only Nicole Kidman unable to make it due to filming arrangements. The next step was to set a date, and plan a strict schedule - Rosie calls it a \"military operation\" - at an undisclosed location in New York chosen for December's shoot. \"It was all super-secretive,\" she says. \"There were very few of us in the office who actually knew who was going to be there. And we kept it really tight, which was almost, maybe, more exciting. \"It was almost like running a fashion show,\" she says. \"When you have that much talent in one place and everyone has to be ready for a certain time. \"So we had a whole floor just of hair and make-up, we had a whole floor of styling, a whole floor with people's management and things like that. \"And it was all sort of very, very structured.\" Rosie says that all the stars in the shoot had to be on set by 15:00, meaning a long day of prep beforehand. \"So some people were there [at] eight in the morning, some people arrived at 14:59 already with their hair and makeup done,\" she says. Rosie Vogel-Eades was a part of the team that co-ordinated the epic shoot, and says she initially thought it was a \"mad\" idea \"Once I ticked everyone off, and everyone was in hair and makeup, I went outside to go and get coffee, sort of decompress and basically call my husband in floods of tears. \"Because I don't know if I'm ever going to do anything that would be as good as this and perhaps I've sort of peaked. \"And he was like: 'Well, why don't you go back inside and enjoy it rather than crying on the phone to me?', and I did. \"And it really was amazing.\" After several weeks of prepping Edward's final issue, which goes on sale from Tuesday, Rosie says \"it's nice be able to share it with the world\" after all the secrecy. And she thinks it's a fitting send-off for her former boss who, in her view, has had an \"immeasurable\" influence on the fashion industry. \"I think he's really changed the landscape for so many people,\" she says. \"Given voices to people who weren't necessarily heard or seen or involved before. \"But something that he always says is that there's still so much work to do. \"And I really hope that we can continue doing that kind of work even while he's not the editor-in-chief. \"I'm so grateful that I got the opportunity to work with him and work on that cover and on all of his covers, you know, because it's all been a wild ride.\" Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "British Vogue's global bookings director, Rosie Vogel-Eades, coordinated a photoshoot featuring 40 famous women, including Christy Turlington, Maya Jama, Selma Blair, and Precious Lee, for editor-in-chief Edward Enninful's final issue. The cover, initially thought to be unattainable, came together with ease as stars were eager to support Enninful, with almost everyone agreeing to participate, except for Nicole Kidman due to filming commitments. The shoot, described as a \"military operation,\" took place in a secret New York location, showcasing the impact and respect Enninful has in the fashion industry." + }, + { + "article": "The family, not pictured, are trapped in Gaza A Palestinian refugee is taking legal action against the Home Office over what he says is in effect a refusal to grant visas to his family in Gaza. The Home Office rejected the man's request to allow his wife and four young children to apply for visas without giving fingerprints. Two of his children caught hepatitis A, which the World Health Organization says is spreading in Gaza. The Home Office told BBC News it did not comment on individual cases. \"All applications are carefully considered on their individual merits and must meet the requirements of the immigration rules and published guidance,\" an official said. A court anonymity order means the man and his family cannot be identified, for their own protection. But in a witness statement to the court, he said he \"wanted to die\" when he had heard about the Home Office's decision. \"I am so afraid that my family will be killed, they will be killed while I am away from them, and I will blame myself for not being able to bring them here,\" the man said. People with refugee status can apply for family-reunion visas for their family members to join them in the UK without going through the asylum system themselves. Asylum Aid solicitor Anastasia Solopova, who is representing the family, told BBC News they had applied for these in December. In most circumstances, when someone applies for a long-term British visa outside of the UK, they need to give their biometrics - fingerprints and a photograph - at a visa-application centre (VAC), for security reasons. But because there are no working VACs in Gaza, the family had applied to either be exempt from having to give their fingerprints or be allowed to travel to Egypt to give them at a centre there. In a refusal letter seen by BBC News, the Home Office told the man the government was \"not able to assist with exit/entry requirements for a third country, where a person needs to travel to that country to... submit biometrics\". Guidance, it adds, \"makes it clear that people must only apply for entry clearance if they can travel to the UK\". There was now no way for the family to submit their biometrics, Ms Solopova said. And they had brought a judicial review, asking a judge to examine the Home Office's decision. \"We are challenging the decision in court - but the truth is that with every day of delay, our client's family's lives are put more in danger,\" Ms Solopova said. \"The Home Office should never have made this unlawful decision, which could mean that our client's wife and children could possibly die in Gaza without ever seeing our client again.\" Even before the current conflict, it was not easy for Palestinians to leave Gaza via the Rafah crossing into Egypt. They had to register with the local Palestinian authorities two to four weeks in advance and may then have been rejected by either the Palestinian or Egyptian authorities with little warning or explanation. And since the current war began, Egypt has said it is reluctant to allow an influx of refugees from Gaza. In November, the Home Office told BBC News it was working with the Foreign Office to help British people and their non-British family members evacuate Gaza through the crossing. And at the time, a team of Home Office staff was helping visa applicants in Egypt. Now, people able to leave Gaza through the crossing can receive medical, consular and administrative support from British embassy staff in Cairo.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "A Palestinian refugee is suing the UK Home Office for refusing to grant visas to his family in Gaza, claiming it effectively bars them from joining him due to the unavailability of visa-application centers in the conflict-stricken region. The family, including children who have contracted hepatitis A, cannot provide fingerprints required for visa applications, and the Home Office has stated it cannot assist with entry to a third country for biometric submission." + }, + { + "article": "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mark Drakeford fought back the tears as he talked about the \"hardest and saddest\" year of his life Mark Drakeford called the past year \"the hardest and saddest of my life\" in an emotional speech marking his resignation as Wales' first minister. His wife Clare died suddenly at the age of 71 in January 2023. In a speech in the Senedd, Mr Drakeford thanked members of all parties in Cardiff Bay for the \"small acts of kindness\" that helped him \"get through those very, very difficult times\". He will formally resign by sending a letter to the King on Tuesday evening. When he receives a reply from King Charles he will no longer be first minister, clearing the way for his successor, newly elected Welsh Labour leader Vaughan Gething, to take over on Wednesday. Conservative Senedd group leader Andrew RT Davies thanked Mr Drakeford for leading Wales through \"some of its darkest hours\" during Covid. Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth said Mr Drakeford had shown \"empathy, concern and kindness\" during that difficult period. Mr Drakeford paused briefly as he mentioned the death of his wife Clare during his statement. \"The last 12 months have been the hardest and the saddest of my life,\" he said, adding \"people will not see beyond the chamber those small acts of kindness that happened every day from people in every part of this chamber\". \"We debate with a conviction of our own beliefs but, as human beings in this chamber, we are always, I believe, amongst friends.\" Andrew RT Davies and Mark Drakeford had kind words for each other in the Senedd on Tuesday On his approach to five years of leading the Welsh government, he said he had always aimed to be \"prepared to do the things which are difficult today, because we know that the benefits lie in the lives of the generations to come\". His battles included cancelling the proposed M4 relief road, introducing a new 20mph speed limit in built-up areas and radically changing the way farm subsidies work, all highly controversial. \"If you set out to be a radical, reforming government then you have to be prepared for opposition,\" he said. \"No ground was ever gained without a struggle for a progressive cause, even when the case for change is so clear or the object of change so apparently innocuous, because in politics there will always be vested interests - some of them benign, others determined not to surrender their own positions of power and of privilege.\" Mr Drakeford was given a standing ovation by the whole Senedd as he wound up his speech. Mark Drakeford signing his resignation letter to send to the King Mr Davies thanked Mr Drakeford for his role in the pandemic, saying his counterpart showed \"stern leadership in a positive way that gave direction and function to government and to civil society to get us through that crisis and, ultimately, come out the other end\". \"I thank you for that leadership. That's not saying I agree with everything you did, but the leadership that you showed, benefited this country in coming through some of its darkest hours.\" Mr ap Iorwerth said Mr Drakeford had guided Wales with \"empathy, concern and kindness, in stark contrast to UK government, demonstrating the personal qualities we demand of those who seek the highest office\". He said he was \"very proud\" of what Plaid Cymru had achieved with the Welsh government through the co-operation deal, where the two work together on major policies such as free school meals and reforming the Welsh government. \"Mark brought thoughtfulness and good grace to public life at a time when such qualities were needed the most,\" he said. During his last First Minister's Questions, earlier, Mr Drakeford praised Mr Gething following concern among some Labour Members of the Senedd over \u00a3200,000 of donations to his leadership campaign. Mr ap Iorwerth asked what advice Mr Drakeford had for his replacement on the issue of trust. \"I know what a careful and considered person he is when it comes to making decisions,\" Mr Drakeford replied. \"He doesn't need advice from me on all of that and I look forward very much to supporting him and the Welsh government from the back benches.\" Conservative Mr Davies told Mr Drakeford that the pair had enjoyed \"some interesting exchanges, some colourful exchanges and some passionate exchanges,\" in the chamber. When asking for advice for Mr Gething, Mr Drakeford replied: \"In terms of preparation, I just say to my successor that it will take hours and hours of his time because it's unavoidable. \"If I had a hope for this forum and these questions, it will be that just occasionally we all focus a little bit more on generating light than generating heat.\" He also told his Conservative opponent he had \"never doubted the commitment that the leader of the opposition brings to the difficult job he has to do or the motivation for the questions he asks me\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Mark Drakeford, Wales' first minister, emotionally announced his resignation, citing the past year as the \"hardest and saddest\" due to the sudden death of his wife. He thanked colleagues for their support during difficult times and will be succeeded by Welsh Labour leader Vaughan Gething." + }, + { + "article": "Alexei Navalny, seen here in Moscow in 2020, had long been an outspoken critic of President Putin's regime Alexei Navalny's mother has been unable to recover his body after his death in an Arctic jail, a close aide to the dead Russian opposition leader says. Kira Yarmysh said his mother, Lyudmila, was told his body would only be handed over once a post-mortem examination had been completed. Navalny's team believes the anti-corruption campaigner was murdered on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. A rights group said 400 Russians had been arrested for laying tributes. Western governments say the blame lies with Russian authorities for the 47-year-old's sudden death, while foreign ministers from the G7 group of rich countries called on Russia to \"urgently clarify\" the circumstances surrounding it. Mr Putin has not publicly commented since the Russian prison service announced on Friday that Navalny had been taken ill and died at the remote IK-3 prison in the Arctic Circle. In the immediate aftermath, the Kremlin said it was aware and the president had been informed. Russia's Foreign Ministry said it rejected \"biased and unrealistic\" assessments over his cause of death made during a meeting with British officials on Saturday. Navalny was one of the most prominent faces of Russian opposition to Mr Putin's regime and was serving a three-decade sentence for politically motivated charges at the \"Polar Wolf\" penal colony in Kharp, about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) north of Moscow. His mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, was reportedly told by the prison service he died on Friday after collapsing and falling unconscious during a walk, his team said. She visited the colony on Saturday and was given an official notice stating the time of death as 14:17 local time (09:17 GMT), Ms Yarmysh said. Another Navalny ally, Ivan Zhdanov, said the activist's mother was told the cause of death was said to be \"sudden death syndrome\" - a generic, vague term for a condition which could cover a cardiac arrest with no apparent cause. His team said that Ms Navalnaya was told his body had been taken to the town of Salekhard, near the prison complex, but when she arrived the morgue was closed. Prison officials reportedly told her an initial post-mortem examination was inconclusive and a second would have to be carried out. Navalny's allies claim his body is purposely being withheld by the Russian authorities so they can \"cover traces\", and call for the body to be returned to his family \"immediately\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Meanwhile, more than 400 people have been arrested following vigils and gatherings across Russia, according to independent Russian human rights monitoring group OVD-Info. OVD-Info, which reports on freedom of assembly in Russia, said arrests had taken place in 36 cities, with the largest numbers in the capital Moscow and St Petersburg. On Saturday, police in Moscow detained about 15 people who had laid flowers and lit candles at the foot of the \"Wall of Grief\" monument to the victims of repression during the Soviet-era. Protests are also being held near Russian embassies in many countries. G7 foreign ministers meeting at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday observed a minute's silence to pay tribute to the Russian activist. British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said the UK would be \"taking action\". \"When appalling human rights outrages like this take place, what we do is we look at whether there are individual people that are responsible and whether there are individual measures and actions we can take,\" said Cameron, who added that he would not share in advance what measures the UK intended. Also in Munich was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who described Mr Putin as a \"thug\" and said it was \"absurd\" to perceive him as the \"legitimate head of a Russian state\". Navalny had been an outspoken critic of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began two years ago next week.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Alexei Navalny's mother has been unable to retrieve his body after his death in a Russian Arctic jail, with authorities stating a post-mortem examination must first be completed. Navalny's team suspects he was murdered on President Putin's orders, and his death has led to over 400 arrests in Russia as mourners pay tributes, while Western governments blame Russian authorities and G7 foreign ministers call for an explanation." + }, + { + "article": "Rishi Sunak is being urged by opposition parties to do more to help areas in England affected by flooding. Hundreds of homes have been evacuated following heavy rainfall, with flooded roads and railway tracks causing travel disruption. Labour said the PM should set up a \"taskforce\" to manage the response, and set out what support will be available. He is also coming under pressure to visit flood-hit areas. The Liberal Democrats said he should go to affected areas to \"see for himself the devastation caused by these floods\". Mr Sunak said he had spoken to flooding victims and the Environment Agency was responding \"appropriately and with all due haste\". Visiting an affected area in Nottinghamshire, flooding minister Robbie Moore said he was in \"incredibly close contact\" with Mr Sunak. He told reporters the government was taking concerns about repeat flooding \"extremely seriously\", and was looking into what compensation might be offered to people affected. There are around 280 flood warnings in force, the majority in the Midlands, East Anglia and southern England. Heavy rain has fallen on ground already saturated by Storm Henk, which caused disruption across large parts of England earlier this week. Several rivers have burst their banks, including the Trent in Nottinghamshire and the Severn in the West Midlands and West of England. Labour said the prime minister had been \"asleep at the wheel\" and he should urgently set up a taskforce to protect homes from further damage, similar to the Cobra meetings sometimes held to deal with national emergencies. The BBC has been told there are no plans to hold a Cobra meeting. A government source said Environment Secretary Steve Barclay was being updated by the Environment Agency. Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: \"The government need to get on the front foot, to go to the areas affected by the floods, and to set out the support that's going to be provided\". This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Helicopter video shows man cycling through flood as homes and lorries submerged Mr Sunak told reporters the Environment Agency \"absolutely recognise the urgency\" of the situation, and had \"people on the ground in all the affected areas\". He added that hundreds of high-volume pumps were in operation, and were \"making a difference\" in affected areas. Asked whether he would visit flood-hit areas, he said he had spoken to people who had been affected during a visit to the East Midlands on Thursday. The Environment Agency says its operation of flood defences and action to clear watercourses has protected 44,000 properties from flooding this week. But Labour and the Liberal Democrats also accused the government of inadequate flood prevention measures. Both parties pointed to a National Audit Office report in November, which found number of extra homes in England to be protected from flooding had been cut by almost half. The government had committed to better protecting 336,000 more properties between 2021 and 2027 - but the spending watchdog report found this was reduced to 200,000. The report also found the Environment Agency had removed 500 of the 2,000 new flood defence projects originally included in the government's six-year flood and coastal erosion programme. The government said capital funding for the programme had been doubled to \u00a35.2bn, and blamed rising inflation for the targets being missed. Labour has not committed more funding to the project, however. Shadow environment secretary Steve Reed said the issue was \"not about extra money\" but ensuring the existing budget \"is used to maximum effect\".", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Opposition parties are calling on UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to provide more assistance to flood-hit areas in England and to visit the affected communities himself. Labour and the Liberal Democrats criticize the government's flood prevention measures, pointing to a reduced number of homes being protected, while the Environment Agency claims its actions have saved 44,000 properties from flooding this week." + }, + { + "article": "Wiley was one of the first grime artists, with ground-breaking tracks like Eskiboy and Ice Rink Wiley has been stripped of his MBE, four years after he posted antisemitic comments on social media. The rapper, known as the \"Godfather of Grime\", was appointed MBE for his services to music in 2017. At the time, he shared his approval on social media, writing \"Big up the Queen\". But in 2020, his accounts were flooded with antisemitic comments, including a statement that likened Jews to the Ku Klux Klan. He also wrote \"Israel is ours\", apparently referring to the black community, and advanced the antisemitic trope that Jewish people are in control of global business interests, as well as the entertainment industry. The musician, whose real name is Richard Cowie, was subsequently suspended from Twitter (now X) and Instagram. However, many critics said the companies did not act quickly enough, leading to a 48-hour Twitter boycott by prominent organisations and celebrities, including Lord Sugar, Greenpeace UK, the pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor, sports broadcaster Gary Lineker and MPs from both sides of the House of Commons. Wiley was also dropped by his manager, John Woolf, who said: \"I do not support or condone what Wiley has said today online in any way shape or form. \"I am a proud Jewish man and I am deeply shocked and saddened but what he has chosen to say,\" he continued. \"This behaviour and hateful speech is not acceptable to me.\" In 2018, Wiley said was \"honoured to be receiving an MBE\" and that it felt \"like the school grade I wanted and didn't get\" Amid the backlash, some of Wiley's tweets were reported to the Metropolitan Police, and there were calls from the public for the musician to be stripped of his MBE. In an interview with Sky News, Wiley later apologised for \"generalising\", telling the network: \"My comments should not have been directed to all Jews or Jewish people. \"I want to apologise for generalising, and I want to apologise for comments that were looked at as antisemitic.\" He characterised his comments as the result of a dispute \"between me and my manager\". Asked whether he thought his posts could incite violence towards Jewish people, he replied: \"Well, you've never seen me commit a violent act towards Jewish people or the Jewish community.\" The 45-year-old, from Bow in East London, later established a new Twitter account, which the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA) said was used to \"spout racist hate towards Jews\". On that account, he posted a photograph of himself wearing Hasidic clothing; as well as a video titled: \"The Jewish Faces that Control Hip-hop and Mainstream Black Music.\" He caused further anger when he gave an interview to The Voice newspaper in which he claimed his Jewish associates in the music industry \"still see us [black musicians] as slaves\". After pressure from the CAA and others, the Cabinet Office confirmed his honour was \"under review\" in August 2020. On Friday afternoon, he was formally stripped of the title for \"bringing the honours system into disrepute\". Stephen Silverman, director of investigations for the CAA, welcomed the decision. In a statement, he said: \"Antisemites like Wiley must understand that we will work tirelessly to hold them to account. \"For four years, we have worked to ensure that Wiley faces ruinous consequences for his unhinged antisemitic tirade, for which he has shown no remorse. Today's decision is a vindication of that effort.\" The announcement was made on the Cabinet Office website, where it was also confirmed that former Post Office chief Paula Vennells would lose her CBE, amid the fallout from the Post Office scandal. The BBC has attempted to contact Wiley for comment but all emails have bounced back, and his social media accounts on X and Instagram appear to have been deleted. Recommendations for forfeiture are submitted through the prime minister to the King. Other high profile names to have been stripped of their honours include Rolf Harris and Robert Mugabe.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Wiley, the \"Godfather of Grime,\" has been stripped of his MBE due to posting antisemitic comments on social media in 2020, leading to a Twitter boycott and condemnation from the music industry. The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism welcomed the decision, stating that they had worked for four years to hold Wiley accountable for his actions." + }, + { + "article": "Gina Carano claims she faced \"a bullying smear campaign\" over her social media posts Actress Gina Carano has sued Disney and Lucasfilm after she was sacked in 2021 over a social media post in which she compared being a Republican to being a Jew during the Holocaust. The lawsuit is being funded by Elon Musk, who made an open call on his platform X for others to join the suit. Ms Carano is seeking $75,000 (\u00a360,000) in damages. She is also asking the court to force Lucasfilm to recast her. Representatives for the defendants were not immediately available for comment. Ms Carano, 41, a former MMA fighter, portrayed Cara Dune in the first two seasons of the Disney+ show The Mandalorian. During that time, she frequently tangled online with left-wingers. But critics demanded she be fired after she shared a post on her Instagram account in February 2021 equating the persecution of Jews by the Nazis to the political climate Republicans face today. \"Because history is edited, most people today don't realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews,\" the post read. \"How is that any different from hating someone for their political views.\" That same day, Ms Carano was dropped by Lucasfilm, the production company behind the show, as well as UTA, the talent agency that had represented her for nearly two years. In a statement at the time, a Lucasfilm spokesperson said \"her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable\". UTA is not named in Tuesday's court filing, which alleges that the Walt Disney Company was at fault for the agency dropping her. The 59-page civil suit, filed in California federal court, lays out allegations of wrongful termination and retaliation in a narrative laden with Star Wars references. \"A short time ago in a galaxy not so far away, Defendants made it clear that only one orthodoxy in thought, speech, or action was acceptable in their empire, and that those who dared to question or failed to fully comply would not be tolerated,\" the complaint begins. Ms Carano claims she was fired \"because she dared voice her own opinions... and stood up to the online bully mob who demanded her compliance with their extreme progressive ideology\". The lawsuit alleges that the actress was treated differently from two male co-stars, who wrote or shared posts online maligning Republicans as Nazis but faced no penalty. In a lengthy statement on X, Ms Carano said she had been subjected to \"a bullying smear campaign aimed at silencing, destroying & making an example out of me\". \"Artists do not sign away our rights as American citizens when we enter into employment,\" she added, thanking Mr Musk and those who have supported her. The billionaire shared her statement, writing: \"Please let us know if you would like to join the lawsuit against Disney.\" Mr Musk has previously vowed to financially support those facing discrimination for their posts on X. In a statement, a spokesperson for his company said it was \"proud\" to back Ms Carano's lawsuit as part of its commitment to free speech.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Actress Gina Carano is suing Disney and Lucasfilm for $75,000 in damages after being fired from \"The Mandalorian\" in 2021 over a social media post comparing being a Republican to being a Jew during the Holocaust. The lawsuit, funded by Elon Musk, alleges wrongful termination and retaliation, with Carano claiming she faced a \"bullying smear campaign." + }, + { + "article": "America's Landsat spacecraft have been looking down on Antarctica since 1973 Scientists say they now have a better idea of exactly where and when the margin of Antarctica started melting. They've traced the changing shapes of bumps on the ice surface that mark locations where glaciers are anchored in place. Half a century ago, few of these frozen moorings, or \"pinning points\", showed much change. Since 2000, however, more than a third have reduced in size, emphasising the acceleration in melting. The research is published in the journal Nature and underscores once again the increasing contribution that ice losses from the continent will make to future sea-level rise around the globe. The study's focus was the ice shelves that fringe 75% per cent of Antarctica's coastline. The shelves are the floating fronts of glaciers that have pushed out into the surrounding ocean. Many of them - especially in the west of the continent - are being assaulted by warm water and are thinning as a consequence. That's bad news because they are regarded as a key braking mechanism, slowing the movement of ice off the continent. In places where the seafloor is shallow - where there's an underwater hill, for example - the shelves can get caught in place, holding back the glacier ice to their rear. The pinning points are reasonably obvious to a passing satellite because they produce a lump at the shelf surface where the flowing ice has had to ride over them. What the Edinburgh University team did was analyse through time how these bumps had changed shape. The surface bumps above pinning points have reduced in size or even disappeared The idea was to see if the bumps got smaller, which would imply the shelves were thinning - that they were melting; that their braking force was getting weaker. Dr Bertie Miles went back through the entire image archive from the long-running American Landsat spacecraft series to assemble new, cloudless mosaics of Antarctica's coastline. He then analysed what happened at the ice surface during three periods: from 1973 to 1989, 1990 to 2000 and from 2000 to 2022. In the initial period, only 15% of pinning points reduced in size. This then picked up in the 1990s, when 25% experienced shrinkage. And then, in the final period, 37% of pinning point bumps were seen to get smaller. \"As we go through the decadal snapshots, you see these bumps in general getting smaller and sometimes completely disappearing,\" Dr Miles said. \"The thing to remember is that once an ice shelf loses contact with a pinning point, it's very difficult to regain contact, because you get a dynamical response in the ice: it starts to speed up and the grounding line - the line where the glacier is still touching the seabed - starts to retreat,\" he told BBC News. Bertie Miles spent two years lining up Landsat images to build new cloud-free views of the coastline What's interesting about this study is that it's used a different approach from how the thinning of ice shelves is normally assessed. This is done using a specific type of satellite called an altimeter, which sends down radar pulses to very precisely measure the height of the ice surface. But this gold standard technique only goes back 30 years to the early 90s. By using the proxy of the ice bumps in the Landsat images, the record of thinning observations can be pushed back a further two decades. This deeper history gave us a much better grasp of where and when ice loss really got going, said Edinburgh co-worker Prof Rob Bingham. \"The Landsat record shows you, for example, that those well known, big glaciers in West Antarctica - Pine Island and Thwaites - were quite unusual in that there was change happening on them already in the 1970s,\" he explained. \"But in a lot of other places, and certainly in their sector around the Amundsen Sea where the thinning is completely pervasive now - you didn't see that happening until the 1990s.\" Prof Helen Fricker from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego observes ice shelves with satellite altimeters. She commended the Edinburgh research. \"Floating shelves are to the ice sheet as flying buttresses are to buildings - they provide structural support and prop the ice sheet up. \"Pinning points increase this effect, and as contact is lost, the support weakens. So by focussing on pinning points, this beautiful study has assessed the stability of the support of Antarctica and how and where it is weakening,\" she told BBC News.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Scientists have analyzed half a century of data from America's Landsat spacecraft, revealing that since 2000, over a third of Antarctica's \"pinning points\" - areas where glaciers are anchored - have shrunk, indicating an acceleration in melting. This loss of ice shelves, crucial for slowing glacier movement, contributes to rising global sea levels, with the study emphasizing the weakening braking mechanism on the continent's ice." + }, + { + "article": "Conservatives in both the US and UK need a \"bigger bazooka\" to fight the left, former Prime Minister Liz Truss has told an event in Maryland. \"Unless conservatives become more active in speaking out... Western civilisation is doomed,\" Ms Truss said. She was speaking at the biggest annual gathering of conservatives in the US. The UK's shortest-serving PM - who was in Downing Street for six weeks - also sought to peg her downfall to \"antagonism\" from the establishment. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats accused Ms Truss of spreading \"conspiracy theories\". The former prime minister was speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), hosted by the American Conservative Union, which runs until Saturday. The grassroots gathering is one of the leading events on the conservative political calendar, and has been transformed in recent years into a heavily pro-Donald Trump affair, a reflection of his takeover of the Republican Party. Other speakers this week include Nigel Farage, the presidents of El Salvador and Argentina, and Mr Trump himself on Saturday. During Ms Truss' 20-minute speech on Thursday afternoon - in between sessions that covered topics including transgender children, oil and gas and a speech from Lara Trump, Mr Trump's daughter-in-law - she sought to attack the establishment in the UK and US. \"We have to understand how deep the vested interests of the establishment are, how hard they will fight, and how unfairly they will fight in order to get their way,\" she said. \"And that is what I learnt from my time as a government minister and my time in No 10.\" \"The West has been run by the Left for too long and it's been a complete disaster,\" she said. \"In Britain we are one of the few countries that still have a conservative government.\" Despite that, she said conservatives had to \"challenge the system itself\", saying: \"It's not even enough to get the position of power that you need to deliver those policies because conservatives are now operating in a hostile environment... we essentially need a bigger bazooka in order to be able to deliver.\" And she accused people on the left of the politics of \"weaponising our court system\" and \"pushing their woke agenda through our schools\". She said because of people on the left, the West has been seen as weak, which had helped what she called \"our enemies\", countries such as Russia, Iran and China. \"We've enabled Putin by not taking action early enough when he could be stopped,\" she said. Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's former chief strategist, is one of several right-wing figures speaking at CPAC this year During her 45 days in office Ms Truss was remembered for announcing a series of economic measures widely blamed for reducing the value of the pound and panicking financial markets. She addressed her short tenure as prime minister during the speech, saying she had \"faced the most almighty backlash for those conservative policies I tried to put in place\". She said: \"From the usual suspects in the corporate world, but also from people who were meant to work for the government. The OBR, the Bank of England. \"And even President Biden intervened to have a go at my policies. Can you imagine being attacked on your economic policies by the inventor of Bidenomics?\" she said to laughter. The US president's vast package of subsidies and tax breaks for industry has been dubbed \"Bidenomics\". Labour's shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth described Ms Truss's comments as \"damaging nonsense\" about a \"deep state\". \"After crashing the economy and sending mortgages rocketing, Liz Truss is now spreading conspiracy theories with Steve Bannon and spearheading a wacky fringe group to take over the Tory Party again,\" he added. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper also poured scorn on the speech, saying: \"This Conservative Party love-in for right-wing American politics is like watching a slow-moving car crash.\" She called for Ms Truss to be stripped of the allowance she currently receives for being a former PM. The Public Duty Costs Allowance for all former prime ministers is currently set at \u00a3115,000. Ms Truss did not disclose whom she would be backing in the race to be the Republican candidate for this year's US election, but she said: \"Of course we need a Republican back in the White House. We need it desperately.\" Mr Trump is currently the frontrunner in the race to pick the Republican Party's candidate for this year's presidential election, which takes place in November. This weekend marks another stage in the race - with South Carolina the next state to pick its preferred Republican candidate. Nikki Haley, Mr Trump's rival, is currently trailing badly in the state.", + "qwen_reference_summary": "Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has urged conservatives in both the US and UK to be more assertive in countering leftist policies, warning that Western civilization is at risk if they don't. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, Truss blamed her downfall on establishment antagonism and accused the left of using the court system and schools to push a woke agenda, while also criticizing the economic policies of US President Joe Biden." + } +] \ No newline at end of file