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Charlie Roberts: The man who made Man Utd 'outcasts' - BBC News
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2017-10-01
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How a Manchester United captain started a football rebellion and scored a win for workers' rights.
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Manchester
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Charlie Roberts, pictured in 1912, founded the body that became the Professional Footballers' Association
A footballer labelled Manchester United's "first real star" has been inducted into the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame. But Charlie Roberts is now remembered more for his trade union activism off the pitch than his success on it.
Roberts was an England international who captained the Red Devils to their first two league titles and their first FA Cup win in the years before World War One.
He was also a campaigner for players' rights, founding football's first successful players' union and leading his team of self-declared "outcasts" to victory over the Football Association (FA).
Born in County Durham in 1883, he had grown up among mining communities that were at the heart of the burgeoning trade union movement - an upbringing that would go on to influence his later career.
His football talent took him to Manchester United in 1904 where his robust defending made him a fans' favourite.
He was capped for England a year later and, over the next few years, captained the Red Devils to their first major trophies.
The team was hit by one of football's forgotten tragedies, though, in April 1907. Scottish defender Tommy Blackstock, 25, collapsed and died on the pitch after heading a ball during United's match against St Helens.
His death spurred Roberts and his teammate Billy Meredith - one of the game's early superstars - into action.
Roberts' grandson Ted Roberts said: "There was nothing available for Blackstock's family, and my grandfather was horrified that nothing was available.
"So they decided to do something about it."
Billy Meredith, known as "the Welsh Wizard", founded the union with Roberts
Roberts and other star players were already unhappy about the FA's wage cap, which prevented clubs from paying players more than £4 a week - the equivalent of about £440 today.
He believed "footballers were working men like any others, and deserved to be treated fairly", said football historian Dr Gary James.
The pair founded the Association of Football Players' and Trainers' Union (AFPTU), popularly known as the Players' Union, with the aim of removing the the wage cap and winning footballers the same rights enjoyed by other workers.
This worried the FA and club owners.
Roberts (left) led Manchester United to a 1-0 victory over Bristol City in the 1909 FA Cup final
"Football was a business, just as it is now, and... clubs had to make money to pay their staff," said Dr James.
"The authorities didn't want the possibility of fixtures disappearing due to strikes."
Despite clubs' reservations, many footballers joined the AFPTU, and the FA reluctantly recognised it as the players' official representative body.
This uneasy peace deal failed in spectacular fashion in 1909.
A proposed transfer to Chesterfield saw Fulham's George Parsonage, who was not keen on making the move north, ask for more than the regulation signing-on fee of £10.
Aghast at what they saw as an exorbitant request, the Derbyshire club reported Parsonage to the FA, who banned the midfielder for life.
Roberts' 1909 FA Cup final shirt was sold for £30,000 in an auction in 2015
In response, the AFPTU gathered a petition of 1,322 signatures. Fearing strike action, the FA demanded players resign from the union or face a life ban.
While most left, Roberts' United teammates stood firm - and were promptly suspended by the club.
A stand off between the club and players ensued. Roberts and his colleagues posed with a wooden sign calling themselves "The Outcasts Football Club". This photograph made the front pages of the next day's newspapers "much to our enjoyment and the disgust of several of our enemies", as Roberts later recalled.
As the beginning of the 1909/10 season neared, the row had still not been resolved. Unable to put out a side, United contacted their first opponents, Bradford City, to discuss the possibility of a cancellation.
However, the FA backed down and struck a deal which allowed union members to play in Football League matches.
A scroll at the PFA's offices pays tribute to Charlie Roberts, who was captain in Manchester United's victorious 1909 FA Cup final
Revenge was taken on Roberts, however. Although he went on to become one of the country's most expensive footballers when he moved to Oldham Athletic for £1,500 in 1913, he was frozen out by the FA. He never added to his three England caps won in 1905.
The union survived and would later become the Professional Footballers' Association - which finally won its battle to abolish football's wage cap in 1961.
Gordon Taylor, its long-serving chief executive, said modern multi-millionaire players should be aware of the role Roberts played.
"I think it's really important. They need to know the state of the profession they are in and the part that Charlie Roberts played," he said.
"By coming together and showing solidarity, Roberts and his teammates helped make the game attractive. They had big concerns. The profession of football was not even recognised at the time.
"Now we can be very proud that this country has got the most full-time professional clubs in the world."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41386949
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Catalan referendum: In pictures - BBC News
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2017-10-01
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Images from Catalonia where a massive police operation is under way to halt the disputed referendum.
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Europe
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Violence has broken out in Catalonia during a massive police operation to halt an independence referendum which Spain's constitutional court has suspended.
Emergency services have treated people who were injured when police smashed their way into polling stations to seize ballot boxes.
Warning: Some of the images below contain scenes of a violent nature
National riot police carried this woman away from a gathering outside a school in Barcelona
Spain's deputy prime minister said police had acted in a "proportionate" way
Hundreds of people queued to vote outside this school in Barcelona
Hundreds of people were injured, Barcelona's mayor said
At least 12 police officers were injured in clashes
A witness in Barcelona sent this photo to the BBC's Tom Burridge - the man had been caught up in scuffles at a polling station
Officers from the Guardia Civil tried to prevent these people from voting in the referendum
FC Barcelona's match against Las Palmas took place behind closed doors after a last-minute decision
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41460037
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Poynton lake death: Detective was 'tireless worker' - BBC News
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2017-10-01
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Leanne McKie was a popular officer who worked in the sexual crimes unit, police say.
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Manchester
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The body of Leanne McKie was discovered in the early hours of Friday in Poynton, Cheshire
A detective found dead in a lake was a "tireless worker" and "popular figure" among colleagues, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has said.
The body of Leanne McKie, 39, was discovered in the early hours of Friday in Poynton, Cheshire.
Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said the mother-of-three worked in the sexual offences unit and sought justice for victims.
A man, 43, from Wilmslow remains in custody on suspicion of murder.
The body was found in a lake in Poynton Park
Cheshire Police said her death appeared to be "an isolated incident" and officers were not looking for anyone else.
Mr Hopkins paid tribute to Det McKie, who joined GMP in 2001.
He added: "I would like to offer my most sincere condolences to Leanne's family and friends at this devastating time. My heart particularly goes out to her three young children, who she adored.
"Leanne worked tirelessly to provide support and seek justice for victims of sexual crimes.
"[She] was a popular figure among her colleagues, who have been left devastated by the news of her tragic death. She will be sorely missed by everyone she worked with."
A 43-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder remains in custody
Tributes were also paid online to to the officer.
Adi Taylor wrote on Facebook: "My memories of Leanne was [sic] of a really cheerful, happy and approachable person.
"My thoughts go out to family and friends and especially her poor children."
Matt Rogers, who said he was "devastated" in a social media post, described her as a "lovely, gentle woman".
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41453512
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Theresa May pledges help for young on student fees and housing - BBC News
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2017-10-01
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The PM plans to freeze tuition fees and extend Help to Buy in a bid to win over younger voters.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Theresa May says the government "has to look again" at the issue of tuition fees
Theresa May has admitted a change in her party's approach on tuition fees in England, saying she has listened to voters and fees will freeze at £9,250.
Fee repayment thresholds will also rise, so graduates will start paying back loans once they earn £25,000, rather than £21,000, the PM said.
She said the whole student finance system would be reviewed and did not rule out a move to a graduate tax.
Labour, which wants to scrap tuition fees, called the plan "desperate".
The prime minister, who is in Manchester for her party's conference, also pledged to extend the Help to Buy scheme which helps people buy newly-built homes, in an attempt to win over younger voters.
Mrs May told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show she plans to apologise to Conservative activists for her decision to call a snap election.
She said the message she had taken from the election, at which she lost her Commons majority, was that the Conservatives needed to "listen to voters," particularly younger people and those who are "just about managing".
She said that when the government increased student fees it had been expected that there would be a "diversity in the system," with some universities offering shorter and cheaper courses, rather than always charging the maximum amount.
"That hasn't happened. We've got to look at it again," she told Marr.
Asked if there could be a graduate tax instead of the current system, she said: "By looking at it again we will be looking at the issues that people are raising, we will be looking at where the system has worked, we will be looking at the concerns that people have."
The Conservative Party conference runs from Sunday until Wednesday
The planned £250 increase in tuition fees for 2018-19 to £9,500 will not go ahead and fees will instead remain at the current maximum of £9,250 per year.
The overhaul of the higher education sector could also see the introduction of fast-track, two-year degree courses, an idea which has been suggested to limit the costs for young people considering higher education.
Other ideas being considered by the government as part of the overhaul are cutting the interest rates on loans and introducing lower fees for students studying certain subjects, such as engineering, where there is a skills shortage.
Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said he wanted to see the government going further by reintroducing maintenance grants for the poorest students and reducing interest rates for low and medium earners.
"We also need to do more to reverse the worrying decline in the numbers of part-time and mature students," he added.
Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust education think tank, agreed that maintenance grants should be reintroduced and also called for fees to be means-tested so those from low-income families repay less.
Labour's shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said the move was "a desperate attempt by the Tories to kick the issue into the long grass because they have no plans for young people and no ideas for our country".
She added: "They are yesterday's party."
Calling this a "freeze" on tuition fees in England is a distinctly positive spin on abandoning a policy of increasing fees above £9,250 only put in place this year. If not a U-turn, it's certainly a Uni-turn.
But it shows how quickly the politics have changed - with rising fees and ballooning debts now a toxic combination for any party wanting to court young voters.
Although billed as a change of direction, universities had already predicted that a fee rise was "dead in the water" because, without a majority, the government had no realistic prospect of pushing it through.
Perhaps more significant is the increase in the earnings threshold for repayments - up from £21,000 to £25,000.
There is also the promise of re-examining interest rates for loans, hiked to 6.1% from this autumn.
But this will be the first time an announced fee rise has had to be ditched.
The question will be whether cancelling an increase will be a bold enough move compared with promises to scrap them altogether.
Martin Lewis, founder of the Money Saving Expert website, welcomed the move, saying increasing the repayment threshold from £21,000 to £25,000 could save many lower and middle earning graduates thousands of pounds.
Writing on his Facebook page, he said "every single graduate earning over £21,000 a year will pay less".
"And it has a long-term progressive benefit too," he added.
"As most graduates won't clear their loans in full before it's wiped - by reducing what they repay each year, you reduce what they repay in total too."
However, he said details were still "sketchy" and it was unclear who it would apply to.
The Help to Buy mortgage scheme is currently only available on newly-built homes in England
The Help to Buy expansion will see £10bn go to another 135,000 buyers in order to help them to own their own home.
The funding will allow recipients to get a mortgage with a deposit of just 5%.
The money can only be put towards the purchase of new-build homes.
The Conservative Party conference runs from Sunday until Wednesday - when Mrs May will be the final speaker in Manchester.
The conference slogan isn't "anything but Brexit", but listen to what the party's high command wants to talk about here in the next few days, and it might as well be.
There is a clear attempt by senior Conservatives here to change the subject; stray beyond the ever present - and divisive - topic of leaving the European Union, and flesh out the government's domestic political priorities.
Ministers want to be seen to be addressing an Achilles heel for them at the general election - young people, who overwhelmingly rejected them in June.
Hence two policies pitched directly at them: university tuition fees in England, and getting on the property ladder.
The political reality, though, is Brexit - the defining political issue of our time - will never be far from the lips of people here.
And neither too will the precarious state of the party and its leader, after the humiliation of going backwards in an election Theresa May called voluntarily.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41456555
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OJ Simpson released on parole from Nevada jail - BBC News
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2017-10-01
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The former American football and movie star is freed after serving nine years for armed robbery.
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US & Canada
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The Nevada Department of Corrections shared this image of OJ Simpson being released
The former American football star and actor OJ Simpson has been released on parole after nine years in a Nevada jail.
He had been serving time for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and 10 other charges over a 2007 confrontation at a Las Vegas hotel.
Simpson was approved for early parole release at a board hearing in July.
In 1995 he was acquitted of the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
In a Facebook post, Nevada Department of Corrections released an image and video of Simpson signing documents and leaving Lovelock Correctional Centre early on Sunday.
They confirmed the 70-year-old had been released from the facility at 00:08 (07:08 GMT).
He will face restrictions - including up to five years of parole supervision.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Four things OJ did in while in prison
Simpson has expressed his desire to move to Florida after leaving jail.
His lawyer, Malcolm LaVergne, told Reuters news agency that his client's whereabouts would be kept confidential for now.
But Florida's attorney general, Pam Bondi, has publicly sad the state does not want Simpson to serve his parole there. The state, she tweeted, "should not become a country club for this convicted criminal".
The football player was sentenced to a maximum 33-year sentence in 2008 after storming a Las Vegas hotel room with five others in an effort to seize items from two sports memorabilia dealers.
In July this year, he was granted parole and approved for release in October.
Simpson was found guilty in 2008 exactly 13 years to the day after he was famously acquitted in the double-murder case.
Despite the 1995 not-guilty verdict, a civil court jury held Simpson liable for the deaths of Brown Simpson and Goldman, awarding $33.5m (£25m) to their families.
'If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit', his lawyer argued
A lawyer representing Ron Goldman's family told Associated Press this amount had nearly doubled with interest under Californian state law, and that the family would continue to seek payment from Simpson after his release.
His lawyer said on Wednesday that he was feeling "very upbeat" ahead of the release.
Simpson became a cult figure in the National Football League (NFL) after record-breaking performances for the Buffalo Bills team.
After retiring in 1979 he starred in television shows and movies, including the 1988 film The Naked Gun.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41458911
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Virtual Zuck fails to connect - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Mark Zuckerberg's virtual reality tour of Puerto Rico has raised eyebrows.
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Technology
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It must have seemed like a good idea. As a taster for a big announcement about Oculus VR on Wednesday, send Mark Zuckerberg on a little virtual reality trip, including a stop in Puerto Rico.
But the reviews are in - and they are not good.
The sight of Mr Zuckerberg using VR to survey the devastation of an island still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria may have been meant to convey Facebook's empathy with the victims.
The fact that he was there in the form of a cartoon seemed to many the perfect visual metaphor for the gulf in understanding between Silicon Valley and the real world.
Sure, he was talking about all the activities which his company had initiated to help the island, from helping people tell their families they were ok using Safety Check to sending Facebook employees to help restore connectivity.
But cartoon Zuck showing us a 360 degree view of a flooded street before zipping back to a virtual California just seemed a little, well, crass. Is Facebook really concerned about the plight of Puerto Rico, or is it merely a handy backdrop to promote Oculus, whose sales have so far proved disappointing?
It is not the first time the young tycoon has misread the public mood. Back in November following the US elections, he said it was "crazy" to suggest that fake news on Facebook had played any part in deciding the results.
Since then, as ever more detail has emerged about Russian use of his platform to try to influence voters, Zuckerberg has been on a journey towards understanding and acknowledging the power he has.
He's also been on a literal journey, with a mission to visit every US state this year. As he's been pictured at the dinner table with farmers in the mid-west or mused about religion, revealing he is no longer an atheist, some have seen another motive behind this odyssey. Could this be preparation for Zuckerberg 2020, a run at the White House?
Meanwhile, back at Mountain View headquarters problems are piling up in the CEO's in-tray, with politicians from left and right asking tricky questions.
Is he doing enough to stop terrorists using WhatsApp? Did Facebook promote fake news around the Las Vegas shootings? Is billionaire Peter Thiel, with his connections to the alt-right, a fit and proper person to serve on Facebook's board?
Like many a tech leader, Mark Zuckerberg has assumed that what is good for his company is good for the world, but now the world is not so sure.
As I was writing this, a reminder popped up on Facebook of a day in 2008 when I interviewed its founder during a trip to London.
Back then he seemed impossibly young, not very articulate - but very focused on building his business and ignoring the sceptics who kept telling him to sell up before the bubble burst.
Since then his vision of a company connecting the world has come true, and his business brain has out-thought all of his rivals and detractors. It's his political brain which still needs a bit of work.
Maybe it is time to retire the cartoon Zuckerberg and for the real one to spend a little more time out of the spotlight, reflecting on the impact his immensely powerful empire has on our lives.
Mark Zuckerberg has obviously been taken aback by the reaction to his virtual reality visit to Puerto Rico. He has posted this on Facebook in response to negative comments below his original post and video.
"One of the most powerful features of VR is empathy. My goal here was to show how VR can raise awareness and help us see what's happening in different parts of the world. I also wanted to share the news of our partnership with the Red Cross to help with the recovery. Reading some of the comments, I realize this wasn't clear, and I'm sorry to anyone this offended."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41568549
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Rochdale inquiry: Cyril Smith 'attended alleged victim's wedding' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A man tells an inquiry Smith touched his genitals soon after he arrived at a children's hostel.
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Manchester
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The abuse inquiry is hearing allegations about abuse by Rochdale's former Liberal MP Cyril Smith
An alleged abuse victim of Cyril Smith told an inquiry how he came face-to-face with the politician at his own wedding.
The man said Smith touched his genitals during what he thought was "a medical" at Cambridge House hostel in Rochdale.
One of the wardens led the teenager to a "quiet room" to meet an "important gentleman", the inquiry heard.
The hearings are examining Smith's alleged abuse of young boys in Rochdale care institutions.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was told by a witness that Smith was a guest at his wedding years after he was indecently assaulted by him at the children's hostel.
The politician later helped the couple secure a council house in Rochdale, the inquiry was told.
Giving evidence anonymously about alleged abuse at the hostel, the man said: "All I knew was I was going to meet a gentleman and I thought I was having a medical."
The witness said Smith told him he wanted to check for nits and if he had been washing himself properly.
"So he said, 'Take your pants off', so I took my pants off, my underpants, and my T-shirt and stood there with my clothes off," he said.
"He asked me to face the wall. I outstretched my arms and then he started running his hands through my hair.
"He then started stroking me down the back of my head and along my arms and then he started coming down my body."
Then Smith allegedly touched the man's genitals, the hearing was told.
The alleged victim had only arrived in the care of the hostel two days before, having fallen out with his foster family during the early 1960s, the hearing heard.
Years passed and the man did not discuss it with his bride-to-be.
But on their wedding day, he recognised one of the guests as the man who had abused him, the hearing was told.
Unbeknown to him, Smith was a family friend of his fiancée.
The inquiry is examining how Smith was allegedly able to target boys at Cambridge House hostel and Knowl View school
Brian Altman QC asked: "Did that make you angry?"
"Yes, but I couldn't say anything," the witness replied.
Between 1969 and 1970 police launched an investigation into Smith over sexual abuse claims and the man agreed to give a statement about his experience.
Referring to the reaction of his in-laws, he said: "It didn't go down too well, they couldn't believe it because they were obviously supporters of Cyril Smith."
Smith allegedly then paid the man a visit with an accomplice and asked him to retract his statement.
The witness said: "He says it is going to cause him a lot of problems and I said, 'No, what has happened to me is the truth'."
His allegations against Smith were never aired in court after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided not to press charges.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41570389
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Weinstein and the media's shame - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Harvey Weinstein sacked after sexual harassment claims. A cascade of allegations is swirling.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Harvey Weinstein, the Oscar-winning film producer accused of sexually harassing female employees, has been fired by the board of his company.
Harvey Weinstein has denied many of the allegations against him, but in such a convoluted and incoherent manner that it is not too soon to conclude his behaviour over the course of a storied career has, at times, been disgusting.
Now that he has been sacked by the company named after him and his brother, a cascade of allegations is swirling and many people who have been loyal to him over the years are suddenly questioning why they bothered.
It is hard not to see the allegations against Weinstein in the light of similarly tawdry claims made against the late Fox News boss Roger Ailes, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly, comedian Bill Cosby, and even the President, Donald Trump, who - we should remind ourselves - stands accused of sexually exploitative behaviour by many women. Those allegations are unproven and Trump denies them.
Changing attitudes to the behaviour of powerful men are driving a cultural shift, which most people will consider long overdue if it means that bullying and intimidation in exchange for sexual favours is no longer so widespread.
I wonder too if the advent of social media is making more women feel able to speak out: perhaps the capacity for an accusation to go viral, and so garner both attention and support from a vast global audience in a matter of seconds, incentivises honesty where women might previously have feared the consequences of speaking out.
But it would be a dereliction of duty to ignore that these allegations are pouring forth from the American media and creative industries.
The painful fact is, many, many people were aware of Weinstein's behaviour for years. He was, as the saying goes, hiding in plain sight, no doubt protected to some extent by his friendships with famous people and his ability to hand out internships to the likes of Malia Obama (who as far as we know was treated with the utmost civility). That he was a major supporter of Hillary Clinton will have done him little harm, too.
Weinstein was also protected by sheer force of character. The few times I've met him in New York he was declaiming at a party, raconteuring his way through Manhattan's most starry joints, a sun around which other stars would orbit. It's pathetic, of course, but one reason those who knew about his sordid malefactions didn't speak out is because he was their host, and they enjoyed his parties.
There is outrage in American media circles now - though many would say it pales in comparison to the outrage that attended the claims of rampant sexual harassment at Fox News. To that extent, this scandal - revealed by that other icon of liberal America, The New York Times - is in fact a test of liberal America. If late night TV hosts and their boosters in the media don't pour the same opprobrium on Weinstein as they have on, for instance, O'Reilly, they could stand accused of double standards.
Why are all these scandals erupting in the media? There's no firm evidence that sexual intimidation is more prevalent in, say, Hollywood than Wall Street. But if - and it is a big if - it is, I wonder if that's because the likes of Weinstein are part of an economy within an economy in the creative industries: they buy and sell fame.
Weinstein was the kind of man who used his power to be a gateway to both financial riches and fame: he controlled access to huge audiences, with all the money that can bring. If some of the claims made by actresses are true, it may be that Weinstein was - unforgivably - allowed to get away with it because of his power. Not just his power to make people very rich; also, his power to make them very famous.
That's the same power Roger Ailes had. Do this sexual favour for me, his sick argument allegedly went, and you'll have a better chance of ending up on screen.
If more women feel prepared to speak out, and fewer lecherous men are allowed to get away with exchanging sexual favours for fame and riches, some good may yet come from the turpitudinous exploits of Harvey Weinstein and his ilk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41558556
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Matthew Scully-Hicks 'murdered' adopted baby after two weeks - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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18-month-old Elsie suffered months of abuse before she died two weeks after being adopted, court hears.
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South East Wales
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A father murdered his baby daughter just two weeks after formally adopting her with his husband, a court heard.
Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, is accused of "violently shaking" 18-month-old Elsie, causing her "catastrophic head injuries" following months of abuse.
Cardiff Crown Court heard she died at University Hospital of Wales on May 29, four days after the defendant called 999 saying she was "floppy and limp".
Baby Elsie was placed in the care of Vale of Glamorgan Council just days after being born, the jury was told.
At the age of 10 months she was taken in by fitness instructor Matthew Scully-Hicks and his husband Craig in September 2015.
The couple relocated from Swindon, Wiltshire, to Cardiff six years ago and had been married for three years.
Matthew Scully-Hicks had given up full-time work to care for any children.
Eight months after they took Elsie in, the couple completed the adoption process. A fortnight later she was dead.
"Within two weeks of Elsie's formal adoption by the couple, we allege that the defendant had inflicted fatal injuries upon her," prosecutor Paul Lewis QC said.
He told the jury that on 25 May 2016, the ambulance service received a 999 call from Matthew Scully-Hicks reporting that Elsie was unresponsive.
Mr Lewis told the court that paramedics attended the house and found Elsie was not breathing, with no signs of cardiac output.
"The injuries that caused her death were inflicted upon her by the defendant shortly before he called emergency services that day," said Mr Lewis.
"His attack upon her that day was not the first time he had employed violence towards Elsie, nor was it the first time he had caused her serious injury.
"His actions on the late afternoon of 25 May were the tragic culmination of a course of violent conduct on his part towards a defenceless child - an infant that he should have loved and protected, but whom he instead assaulted, abused, and ultimately murdered."
The trial is being held at Cardiff Crown Court
The court heard Elsie had suffered haemorrhages to her brain and behind her eyes, and doctors decided to switch her ventilator off.
Tests showed there were older bleeds to her brain and behind her eyes and a post-mortem examination revealed she had also suffered broken ribs, a fractured left femur and a fractured skull.
The court was told Matthew Scully-Hicks carried out the alleged attacks on Elsie while his husband worked full time as a company director.
Mr Lewis told the jury about a catalogue of injuries Elsie had suffered during her short life.
In November 2015, two months after she had been taken in by the couple, she had fractured her ankle while in the sole care of the defendant, who had given differing accounts of how she had suffered the injury.
A month later she sustained a bruise to her forehead which a health visitor advised needed treating. Matthew Scully-Hicks allegedly lied he had done so, the jury heard.
In January, Elsie suffered another bruise on her head and in March she was taken to hospital by ambulance after Matthew Scully-Hicks said she had fallen down the stairs.
She was discharged from hospital after four hours after her injuries were considered "consistent with a fall downstairs".
The jury were read a series of text messages the defendant allegedly sent to friends. One described the baby as a "psycho".
One read: "I'm going through hell with Elsie. Mealtimes and bedtimes are like my worst nightmare at the minute."
Another said: "She has just screamed non stop for 10 minutes. She had a full bottle and clean nappy. Literally not even half an hour and she is a psycho."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-41549969
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The man with 7,000 licence plates - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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American licence plates have become aluminium works of art - and collecting them is hugely popular.
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US & Canada
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American car registration plates have become aluminium works of art and collecting them has never been more popular.
On a quiet street in Arlington, Virginia, one man has squeezed the whole world into his garage.
On one wall, all 50 states of America. Next to it, all 13 of Canada's provinces and territories.
Most of Mexico is above the garage door, while another wall zips from continent to continent: Montenegro one minute, Micronesia the next.
Andrew Pang has spent 40 years collecting plates, and every sheet of metal tells a story.
Andrew has "between 7,000 and 8,000 plates". He received his first aged seven while growing up in Virginia.
"My friend and neighbour across the street was from Louisiana, and he would go back every summer," says Andrew.
"One summer I said 'bring me something back from Louisiana'. He chose to bring me a licence plate from his grandfather's car dealership."
Andrew had "dabbled" in stamp collecting and "had developed an interest in other countries, geography, maps".
When Louisiana landed in his lap, he decided to start collecting. "I thought 'everyone collects stamps'," he says. "This was a little different."
By the time Andrew was 12, he had a plate from all 50 states. His next challenge was collecting a Virginia plate from every year they were issued.
"It took me 25 years to complete," says Andrew.
He found the missing piece of the jigsaw when a woman in Fredericksburg, Virginia, sold her deceased husband's collection. He bought a dozen plates - including the 1906 - for "around $4,000".
After completing the Virginia set - or "run", to use the terminology - Andrew looked for new worlds to conquer. Or new states, at least.
He spent four years in Texas, and completed its run. He now wants the set from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, but admits it will take time.
"I'm very close on DC, Maryland, North Dakota," he says. "But I particularly focus on quality (the plate's condition). I could have finished many (runs) if I took anything."
Many states and territories use their plates to advertise their attractions
When Andrew started collecting plates, the hobby was an "oddity", he says. But two things have changed that: the internet, and the trend for colourful, well-designed plates.
"Many of the plates in the old days were very, very boring," he says. "At the time their only reason was for identification: two colours, no pictures, no designs.
"With a few notable exceptions, the first real foray into more interesting graphics was 1976 for the US bicentennial (the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence).
"At that time, quite a few states offered very specific bicentennial plates to everyone."
The next marker, says Andrew, was in 1986. After the Challenger space shuttle disaster, Florida issued a plate with a rocket design to raise funds for the Astronauts Memorial Foundation.
States began to realise the potential of plates, and the era of brighter, distinctive designs began. Oregon's plates have a fir tree, for example. North Dakota's have a bison. Florida's have two oranges.
The effect, when driving on American roads, is twofold. On one hand, the country seems vast: it's not uncommon in DC to see plates from California, 3,000 miles away, for example.
On the other, it makes the country seem smaller, more interesting, and more united: oh look, there goes someone from Maine, or Michigan, or Montana. We're all Americans here.
Plates design began to change in the 1970s - as seen in these examples from 1970 and 1996
There is, of course, another reason for the rise in well-designed plates.
"The American population is very mobile," says Andrew, a 47-year-old accountant. "This summer we drove 6,000 miles across the country, and that's not unusual.
"The states realised, 'here's my person from Virginia, people are going to see his licence plate, let's do something'.
"If you're in Florida, you're nowhere near a mountain, but you see a car from Colorado and they have the snow-covered peaks on the plate.
"South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and many others put their tourism website on their licence plate. In many ways they have replaced the bumper sticker. It's free advertising."
The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association began in 1954. It has almost 3,000 members from all 50 states and 19 countries.
Around 500 people attend its annual conventions, and there are smaller, regional meetings too. Jeff Minard became a member in the 1960s, aged 15.
"Your member number is related to when you joined," says Jeff. "My number is 495. There are very few three-digit members alive."
Jeff says licence plate collecting has become "enormous", although he distinguishes between "serious" collectors, such as the association's members, and those who may have a dozen or so in their garage.
"I'm not dismissing them at all (the less serious collectors)," he says. "But we're a little more academic, if I can put it like that."
One collector in Florida has 50,000 license plates. "Unbelievable," says Jeff.
Jeff himself has 500, after downsizing his collection from 5,000. "I sold a lot," he says. "I'm finding homes for them. I don't want someone (else) to have to do that.
"We just hope they don't get recycled for aluminium."
Back in Arlington, Andrew Pang looks at the international plates on his garage wall. In between Albania and the Bahamas is a 1998 plate from Monaco, still in a plastic wrapper.
"I wrote to the prince, asking for a plate," he says. "I didn't expect anything to happen, but it arrived in the post a few weeks later."
Most of Andrew's plates, however, are bought online, rather than from royalty.
He has plates from former countries, such as East Germany, disputed territories, such as South Ossetia in eastern Europe, and moments in history, such as when Iraq occupied Kuwait.
He even has a plate from the pacific island of Vanuatu. It is made from wood.
Andrew is missing plates from around 40 countries and territories. The Pitcairn Islands - a tiny British territory in the south Pacific - are proving tricky, while the Vatican City is "tightly controlled".
Could you buy one, if money wasn't an issue?
"Probably, but you're talking high hundreds (of dollars), maybe low thousands," he says.
Andrew has plates from most countries
Despite having walls covered in plates, does Andrew still glance at every back bumper he passes?
"I am afflicted with that," he admits.
"Just yesterday I saw a vehicle in a parking lot from Puerto Rico, and that's quite unusual. In this area [near DC] I look for diplomatic plates.
"What really excites me is if I see a US diplomat that's coming back from another country, but they're back such a short period of time, the plates from the other country are still on the vehicle."
And what does his wife make of it all?
"My wife is less of a hobbyist than I am," says Andrew, smiling.
"While she has grown to understand it and live with it... she doesn't necessarily embrace it."
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Exotic animal parties 'to face new regulations' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Animals used range from snakes and tarantulas to - more controversially - skunks and monkeys.
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UK
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mobile zoo owner Scott Gavin uses snakes and a raccoon dog at parties
Mobile zoos that provide exotic animals for children's parties will require licences to operate in England, the government has said.
It comes as the RSPCA told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme animals such as meerkats and raccoons were being handled and kept inappropriately.
Animals used currently range from snakes and tarantulas to - more controversially - skunks and monkeys.
Animal welfare group the Scottish SPCA said it was opposed to mobile zoos.
There are about 200 mobile zoos in the UK, estimates suggest
Estimates suggest there are about 200 mobile zoos in the UK. Some do hundreds of events a month.
Under the changes to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 - to be introduced "as soon as parliamentary time allows" in England - "anyone in the business of providing an animal for exhibit" would need a licence from their local authority, the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.
They must also adhere to welfare standards developed with those working in the sector and animal welfare charities.
Defra said it would "liaise closely" with the Welsh government over the matter - which has just concluded a consultation on bringing in new laws.
The Scottish government has previously announced it plans to develop a new licence to protect the welfare of animals used in such shows.
Ros Clubb, from the RSPCA, said the charity was particularly worried about the use of meerkats, raccoons and raccoon dogs - also known as tanukis - at children's parties.
"They have specific needs, for example being kept in a group. They're wild animals, they're not used to being handled," she said.
She was also concerned about "animals being stacked up in inappropriate boxes and enclosures, and taken to places for display and for handing round again and again potentially in the same day".
The charity warned that some animals may also pose a risk to children from bites and scratches, or even the spread of disease. Reptiles and amphibians can spread salmonella to humans.
Dr Clubb says it is "extremely easy" for someone to start a mobile zoo business
Under the current system, local councils in England, Scotland and Wales do run a registration scheme for performing animals.
But the RSPCA said many did not require mobile zoos to sign up, because they did not consider animals in mobile petting zoos as "performing".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A good mobile zoo has a trusting relationship between an animal and its handler, one operator told the BBC
Most of the mobile zoo owners the Victoria Derbyshire programme has spoken to supported the notion of stronger regulation.
Joshua Jameson, from Wild Science - whose animals include hedgehogs, snakes and scorpions - said his company had never been inspected.
"I definitely think there should be more regulation in this industry," he said.
"People are using the wrong animals - meerkats, skunks, even small monkeys. It's tantamount to animal cruelty."
Scott Gavin, who runs Party Central Entertainments, has more than 120 animals - including a raccoon dog.
He defends his use of large exotic animals, seeing little difference to the keeping of domestic pets.
"It's OK to keep a rabbit in a hutch, but it's not OK to have a raccoon. You can have a hamster, but not a hedgehog," he said, questioning the logic. "It's just people being very picky."
Mr Gavin has more than 120 animals
Mr Gavin - who also does school visits - believes his events help to educate children about the creatures.
He insisted that animal welfare was his number one priority.
"The environment has got to be set properly, no crowding, no noise," he said.
"If [the children] are causing stress for the animals, the animals go home."
In 2013, the RSPCA rescued 70 exotic animals from a company running a mobile zoo
The RSPCA is urging parents to think carefully before booking any mobile zoo for their children's party.
In 2013, it rescued 70 exotic animals from a company that was keeping them in cramped, dirty conditions.
The owner of the company, Stephen Rowlands, pleaded guilty to 34 animal welfare offences.
He was given a suspended jail sentence, but was able to continue running his mobile zoo business.
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
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NHS future precarious, says regulator - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Staff shortages and rising demand means standards are likely to slip, says England's regulator.
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Health
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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) says the health system is "straining at the seams" and faces a "precarious" future.
The England's regulator's annual report raised concerns about staff shortages, rising demand and the number of patients with preventable illnesses.
It said so far the quality of NHS and council care has been maintained but warned standards were likely to drop.
Health Minister Philip Dunne suggested that extra money for social care, mental health and A&E was enough.
"With record funding and more doctors and nurses, the NHS was recently judged the best healthcare system in the world, despite the pressures from increasing demand," he said.
In its report, the CQC highlighted:
The CQC's report - its yearly round-up on the state of the sector - comes after it completed its new inspection regime of hospitals, mental health units and care services.
CQC chief executive Sir David Behan said that while the quality of care was being maintained currently thanks to the efforts of staff, that resilience was not inexhaustible given the rising pressures.
"We are going to see a fall in the quality of services that are offered to people and that may mean that the safety of some people is compromised," he added.
He said the NHS is "struggling to cope with 21st century problems" including increasing numbers of people with illnesses linked to unhealthy lifestyle choices like obesity, diabetes, dementia and heart disease.
"We are living longer but are not living healthier so I think what we are signalling is that the system now and into the future has got to deal with those increased numbers of older people who are going to have more than one condition."
He said one of the immediate priorities was finding a solution to funding social care - ministers have promised a Green Paper by the end of the year after providing an extra £2bn of funding over the next three years to keep services going.
Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said the findings made worrying reading.
"Really this tells you everything you need to know about the state of care today - it's like a rubber band that's been stretched as far as it will go and can't stretch any further."
Labour Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the report was "damning".
"Next month the Chancellor in his budget must finally put the NHS on a secure financial footing for the long term."
Are you waiting for NHS treatment? Have you recently faced a long wait in A&E? Share your experiences. Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your stories.
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Theresa May sets out Brexit options including 'no deal' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Theresa May also says the UK could face European Court of Justice rulings for two years after Brexit.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Theresa May: "The ball is in their court"
The UK has set out how it could operate as an "independent trading nation" after Brexit, even if no trade deal is reached with Brussels.
Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs "real and tangible progress" had been made in Brexit talks.
But the country must be prepared for "every eventuality", as the government published papers on future trade and customs arrangements.
Labour said "no real progress has been made" since last June's referendum.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said a "no deal" scenario was starting to appear "more likely" even if it was not something either side in the talks wanted.
Mrs May's statement comes as the fifth round of negotiations began in Brussels. Focusing on technical issues, it is the final set of talks before EU leaders meet on 19 October to decide if enough progress has been made to talk about post-Brexit relations with the UK, including trade.
European Commission spokeswoman Margaritis Schinas said "the ball is entirely in the UK court" to reach agreement on Britain's "divorce deal", without which the EU has said it will not move on to the second phase of talks.
Mrs May appeared to reject that in her statement to MPs, saying: "As we look forward to the next stage, the ball is in their court.
"But I am optimistic we will receive a positive response."
Mrs May also confirmed that the UK would remain subject to the rulings of the European Court of Justice during a planned two-year transition period after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.
Responding to a challenge from Eurosceptic Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, she told MPs the need to ensure the minimum of disruption "may mean that we will start off with the ECJ still governing the rules we're part of for that period".
She said it was "highly unlikely" any new EU laws would come into force during the transition, but did not rule out the possibility that any which did so would have effect in Britain.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jeremy Corbyn: "What on earth the government has been doing?"
The prime minister rejected existing models for economic co-operation, such as membership of the European Economic Area or the Canadian model, calling instead for a "creative" solution that would be "unique" to the UK.
But she also stressed - as she has done before - that the government was preparing for "every eventuality," reinforcing her long-held position that walking away without a deal is a possibility.
She rejected a call from a Tory MP to name a date when the UK would walk away from talks without an agreement, saying "flexibility" was needed.
On Northern Ireland, she said the government had begun "drafting joint principles on preserving the Common Travel Area, and associated rights and we have both stated explicitly we will not accept any physical infrastructure at the border".
The two White Papers give the most detail yet of contingency planning that is under way.
The White Papers set out three strategic objectives: ensuring UK-EU trade is as frictionless as possible, avoiding a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and establishing the UK's own independent international trade policy.
But there is also contingency planning, in case the UK leaves the EU without a negotiated settlement.
A customs bill will make provision for the UK to establish a stand-alone customs regime from day one, applying the same duties to every country with which it has no special deal.
The level of this duty would be set out in secondary legislation before the UK leaves the EU.
For high-volume roll-on roll-off ports, the legislation would require that consignments are pre-notified to customs authorities, to try to ensure that trade continues to flow as seamlessly as possible.
"No deal" is not the government's preferred option; and the detail in the customs paper in particular hints at how disruptive it could be. But the UK wants the EU to know that it is planning for all eventualities.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the government had spent the 15 months since the EU referendum "squabbling amongst themselves" and were making a "mess" of Brexit.
He urged Mrs May to unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU citizens in the UK, as well as criticising the lack of progress on Northern Ireland.
The SNP's leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, said there had not been a single mention of the devolved administrations in Mrs May's speech, as he called for urgent action on EU citizens' rights.
The Liberal Democrats, who want a referendum on any final Brexit deal, urged the prime minister to "show real leadership" by ring-fencing the issue of EU citizens' rights, confirming the UK will remain in the single market and customs union and firing Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Jacob Rees-Mogg told the BBC he was "troubled" by the PM's statement: "If we're remaining under the jurisdiction of the ECJ then we haven't left the European Union or the date of departure is being delayed."
But Boris Johnson said the UK would "still be able to negotiate proper free trade deals" during the transition period.
"She (Theresa May) has reaffirmed the destination of a self-governing, free-trading, buccaneering and Global Britain taking back control over our laws, money, and borders," he said in Facebook post.
"The future is bright. Let's keep calm and carry on leaving the EU."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41546701
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Melania Trump hits back at Ivana 'first lady' jibe - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The US first lady's spokeswoman says comments by Donald Trump's ex-wife are attention seeking.
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US & Canada
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Ivana Trump (L) said she was the first lady
A spokeswoman for US First Lady Melania Trump has described comments by her husband's ex-wife Ivana as "attention seeking and self-serving noise".
Ivana Trump told ABC's Good Morning America she was "basically first Trump wife, I'm first lady".
She said she had a direct line to the White House but did not want to "cause any kind of jealousy".
The first Mrs Trump is promoting her book Raising Trump, to be released on Tuesday.
She was married to Donald Trump in 1977 but they divorced in the 1990s over his affair with Marla Maples, who became his second wife.
Ivana and Donald had three children - Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric Trump.
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Ivana Trump told GMA she spoke to her former husband about once a fortnight.
"I have the direct number to White House, but I no [sic] really want to call him there because Melania is there," she said.
"I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that because I'm basically first Trump wife. I'm first lady, OK?"
Melania Trump responded with a barbed statement through her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham.
"Mrs Trump has made the White House a home for [their son] Barron and The President," it read.
"She loves living in Washington, DC and is honoured by her role as First Lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books.
"There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. Unfortunately only attention seeking and self-serving noise."
The exchange is thought to be the only public row between a US first lady and a president's former wife.
Before Mr Trump, Ronald Reagan was the only divorcee president.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41560528
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Harvey Weinstein 'sent email plea ahead of firing' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The producer reportedly emailed associates hours before he was sacked over sexual harassment claims.
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US & Canada
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Harvey Weinstein has said he is the victim of "false and defamatory statements"
Film producer Harvey Weinstein emailed Hollywood associates asking for help to avoid being fired by his own company, US media report
In the email, he said he was "desperate" for help and called for the film industry to support him, the New York Times reported.
Hollywood stars have spoken of their shock at the allegations.
Meryl Streep told the Huffington Post she was appalled by the "disgraceful" news and praised the women who reported the alleged abuse as "heroes".
Dame Judi Dench, who won an Oscar for her role in the Weinstein movie Shakespeare in Love, called the claims "horrifying".
The email was sent on Sunday to studio executives and agents, the New York Times reported, hours before Weinstein was fired by the board of his company.
According to those who said they had seen it, the email read: "My board is thinking of firing me. All I'm asking is let me take a leave of absence and get into heavy therapy and counselling.
"Whether it be in a facility or somewhere else, allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance. A lot of the allegations are false as you know but given therapy and counselling as other people have done, I think I'd be able to get there.
"I could really use your support or just your honesty if you can't support me."
The email adds: "We believe what the board is trying to do is not only wrong but might be illegal and would destroy the company. If you could write this letter backing me, getting me the help and time away I need, and also stating your opposition to the board firing me, it would help me a lot. I am desperate for your help. Just give me the time to have therapy. Do not let me be fired. If the industry supports me, that is all I need."
Streep and Weinstein worked together on films such as The Iron Lady
Weinstein is one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, having co-founded the Miramax and Weinstein Company production firms. His films include Shakespeare in Love, The King's Speech and Pulp Fiction.
When the claims were first reported in the New York Times last week, Weinstein issued a statement in which he apologised for causing "a lot of pain".
However he later disputed the article, with one of his legal team claiming the newspaper's report was "saturated with false and defamatory statements".
Weinstein's lawyer, Lisa Bloom, said in another statement that the allegations against him were "patently false".
Bloom later announced she had resigned as Weinstein's adviser.
The allegations against him, according to the New York Times report, emerged mainly from young women hoping to break into the film industry and included celebrities Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan.
Among the accusations levelled against the film producer are that he forced women to massage him and watch him naked. In return for sexual favours, he promised to help advance their careers, they said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41563269
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ParentPay website unavailable for school meal payments - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Some parents say their children have been unable to buy school meals due to the glitch.
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UK
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The website of payment firm ParentPay has gone down, leaving some parents unable to transfer funds for school meals and trips.
The company normally serves more than 5,500 schools in 200 local authorities, helping about 1.5 million families.
The company said it was affected "by a national internet connectivity issue - impacting some users. This is out of our control and we'll update you."
Some parents said their children were unable to buy food due to the glitch.
ParentPay said payments had been suspended until the issue was resolved.
Some parents reported being able to make transactions on Tuesday evening, but the company told the BBC the issue was not yet fixed and there was no timescale for when it would be.
One parent, Victoria Lew, said on Twitter she had been trying to access her account for two hours.
"What do [the] kids do for lunch?" she asked, adding that she had been unable to get through to the company on the phone.
Charlotte Banks said on Facebook that neither of her sons had been able to buy food.
"This is getting ridiculous now. Seems to be every few days there are issues with this site," she said.
People also expressed scepticism about the company's explanation for the outage.
Heidi Burrows said: "The only company who appears to have national internet connectivity are ParentPay, so I think you may want to adjust your wording as many of us work in big firms relying on internet and no one else is having this issue!"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41569694
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Have you been nudged? - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Five ways the theory behind this year's Nobel prize for economics may have influenced your behaviour.
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Business
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Richard Thaler has won a Nobel prize for his research into 'nudge' theory
Think the Nobel prize for economics has nothing to do with you? In some years that may well be true.
But this year's award has gone to Richard Thaler who, in his book Nudge, was one of the first to outline how tiny prompts can alter our behaviour.
The Nobel judges are clearly keen on the discipline, since they awarded fellow behavioural economist Daniel Kahneman the Economics prize in 2002.
Since when "nudge theory" has been applied to a wide range of problems.
Here are a few ways you may have been nudged yourself.
In probably the most well-known example, spillage around the toilet, an age old problem for at least half of the human race, was cut by 80% using an ingeniously simple intervention.
First introduced at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam back in 1999, the idea was simple: etch the image of a fly in the urinal and men cannot help but take aim, saving on clean-up costs as well as alleviating unpleasantness.
The painted porcelain was one of Prof Thaler's early favourite examples of tweaking the environment in a way that makes us change how we behave.
When David Cameron became prime minister in 2010, one of his pet projects was the "Nudge Unit" or to give it its official title: the Behaviourial Insights Team.
It set about encouraging better behaviour amongst UK citizens in a range of ways from letting you know that other people had filled in their tax returns (so you should do yours now) to offering a more personal approach at the job centre.
But the most eye-catching, for those on the receiving end, was what you were sent if you failed to pay your car tax.
A big heading shouted: "Pay your tax or lose your Ford Fiesta" (or whatever car you owned) accompanied by a photograph of the untaxed car. The focused approach paid off.
A more positive tone was taken with the wealthy failing to pay their taxes. They received letters explaining how their taxes would help improve local services, and pointing out what would disappear without funding. These tweaks saw £210m in overdue tax paid into the Treasury.
Woolwich in south-east London had a problem with anti-social behaviour. During the riots in 2011 several shop fronts were smashed in.
The following year advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, embracing the new science of behavioural economics, offered an innovative strategy.
Knowing that even the toughest heart is melted by the sight of a infant, they spent a night with graffiti artists painting pictures of local babies' faces onto the shutters protecting the shop windows.
The move was credited with helping to reduce anti-social behaviour by 18% in Woolwich.
If you've ever been on the phone to a salesperson, you may well have heard one of the following:
"Most people in your position buy this" or "This deal is only available today".
The first plays on our susceptibility to "social norming" - we think if others are doing it they must have a good reason.
The second is based on loss aversion: we hate the idea of missing out.
Thirdly, there can often be a tone of inexplicable cheeriness. Relentless positivity is catching apparently, and makes us feel good about signing up.
Big brands have embraced the idea. For example, a team from Ogilvy and Mather has coached staff selling subscriptions to the Times and the Sunday Times to use these persuasive techniques. Did they work on you?
In the past, people who want to donate their vital organs in the event of their death have usually been asked to "opt in" by putting their name on a register. Thanks in part to behavioural economics, there's a growing trend to adopt policies that presume consent and ask objectors to "opt out".
Though the results are inconclusive it's clear we've embraced the concept - that we need to design the system in a way that helps us to "do the right thing" rather than rely on individuals' consciences.
Likewise, we all know we need to save for our retirement, but it can be hard to summon the will-power.
The "save more tomorrow" approach pioneered in the United States saw employees automatically signed up to pay into a pension, but starting with very small contributions to avoid loss-aversion that could make them baulk. Only later do payments rise.
All if all this makes you feel as though the policymakers and marketers are only out to manipulate us, well at least thanks to Prof Thaler we now understand what they're up to a little better.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41549533
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Rochdale inquiry: Cyril Smith 'a puppet master abuser' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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MI5 evidence raises a "spectre of collusion" that enabled abuse to go on for years, an inquiry hears.
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Manchester
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The abuse inquiry is hearing allegations about abuse by Rochdale's former Liberal MP Cyril Smith
Cyril Smith treated a children's home as his "personal fiefdom" and abused residents for "perverted amusement", an inquiry heard.
Laura Hoyano, representing eight alleged victims, said Smith was a "puppet master" who escaped justice.
Prosecutors have also said "it is difficult to see why" it was decided as far back as 1970 not to charge Smith.
The independent inquiry is examining the late MP's alleged abuse of young boys in Rochdale care institutions.
A dossier of information on the Liberal MP was held by the security services and has been disclosed to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
The MI5 intelligence on the allegations "raises a spectre of collusion" over his activities, Ms Hoyano said.
It is examining how Smith was able to carry out his alleged offences at a number of institutions, including the Cambridge House children's hostel and Knowl View residential school, where he was a governor.
On Monday, counsel to the inquiry Brian Altman QC, said Sir Norman Skelhorn - then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) - claimed in 1970 a police investigation of Smith was unlikely to lead to a prosecution.
This was followed nine years later, Mr Altman said, when MI5 was informed the Rochdale Alternative Press (RAP) was told by Sir Norman's successor, Thomas Hetherington, there was no record of the 1970 case.
Referring to the claims, Ms Hoyano asked: "Was political pressure brought to bear upon the DPP from politicians and members of the Liberal Party from 1969 to 1970?
"Why would Sir Thomas Hetherington decide he should lie to journalists, stating that he had not submitted a prosecution file?
"Why would the DPP contact MI5 about this at all? We say this dossier from MI5 raises a spectre of collusion."
In an opening statement for the CPS - which replaced the DPP - Edward Brown QC said changes in the law relating to evidence in child sexual abuse cases in the intervening years could explain the decision not to prosecute Smith.
Since 1995, juries have been able to convict offenders based solely on the accounts of victims when there are similarities in the evidence, Mr Brown said.
But in 1970, he said a jury would have been specifically warned of the dangers of convictions based on uncorroborated evidence, which might have led to the accused being acquitted.
However, he did accept that even then courts were starting to see so called "similar fact evidence" where accounts are similar, could prove the guilt of an abuser.
Referring to the evidence in Smith's case, he said: "It is perhaps difficult to see how [the DPP] would have come to any other conclusion that there was, indeed, corroboration of the complainant's accounts; that is, one supporting the other."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41565696
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Data is not the new oil - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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There are vital differences between the power of tech firms today and oil barons a century ago
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Entertainment & Arts
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Unlike oil, which is finite, data is a super-abundant resource in a post-industrial economy
How do you know when a pithy phrase or seductive idea has become fashionable in policy circles? When The Economist devotes a briefing to it.
In a briefing and accompanying editorial earlier this summer, that distinguished newspaper (it's a magazine, but still calls itself a newspaper, and I'm happy to indulge such eccentricity) argued that data is today what oil was a century ago.
As The Economist put it, "A new commodity spawns a lucrative, fast-growing industry, prompting anti-trust regulators to step in to restrain those who control its flow." Never mind that data isn't particularly new (though the volume may be) - this argument does, at first glance, have much to recommend it.
Just as a century ago those who got to the oil in the ground were able to amass vast wealth, establish near monopolies, and build the future economy on their own precious resource, so data companies like Facebook and Google are able to do similar now. With oil in the 20th century, a consensus eventually grew that it would be up to regulators to intervene and break up the oligopolies - or oiliogopolies - that threatened an excessive concentration of power.
Many impressive thinkers have detected similarities between data today and oil in yesteryear. John Thornhill, the Financial Times's Innovation Editor, has used the example of Alaska to argue that data companies should pay a universal basic income, another idea that has become highly fashionable in policy circles.
A drilling crew poses for a photograph at Spindletop Hill in Beaumont, Texas where the first Texas oil gusher was discovered in 1901.
At first I was taken by the parallels between data and oil. But now I'm not so sure. As I argued in a series of tweets last week, there are such important differences between data today and oil a century ago that the comparison, while catchy, risks spreading a misunderstanding of how these new technology super-firms operate - and what to do about their power.
The first big difference is one of supply. There is a finite amount of oil in the ground, albeit that is still plenty, and we probably haven't found all of it. But data is virtually infinite. Its supply is super-abundant. In terms of basic supply, data is more like sunlight than oil: there is so much of it that our principal concern should be more what to do with it than where to find more, or how to share that which we've already found.
Data can also be re-used, and the same data can be used by different people for different reasons. Say I invented a new email address. I might use that to register for a music service, where I left a footprint of my taste in music; a social media platform on which I upload photos of my baby son; and a search engine, where I indulge my fascination with reggae.
If, through that email address, a data company were able to access information about me or my friends, the music service, the social network and the search engine might all benefit from that one email address and all that is connected to it. This is different from oil. If a major oil company get to an oil field in, say, Texas, they alone will have control of the oil there - and once they've used it up, it's gone.
This points to another key difference: who controls the commodity. There are very legitimate fears about the use and abuse of personal data online - for instance, by foreign powers trying to influence elections. And very few people have a really clear idea about the digital footprint they have left online. If they did know, they might become obsessed with security. I know a few data fanatics who own several phones and indulge data-savvy habits, such as avoiding all text messages in favour of WhatsApp, which is encrypted.
But data is something which - in theory if not in practice - the user can control, and which ideally - though again the practice falls well short - spreads by consent. Going back to that oil company, it's largely up to them how they deploy the oil in the ground beneath Texas: how many barrels they take out every day, what price they sell it for, who they sell it to.
With my email address, it's up to me whether to give it to that music service, social network, or search engine. If I don't want people to know that I have an unhealthy obsession with bands such as The Wailers, The Pioneers and The Ethiopians, I can keep digitally schtum.
Now, I realise that in practice, very few people feel they have control over their personal data online; and retrieving your data isn't exactly easy. If I tried to reclaim, or wipe from the face of the earth, all the personal data that I've handed over to data companies, it'd be a full time job for the rest of my life and I'd never actually achieve it. That said, it is largely as a result of my choices that these firms have so much of my personal data.
Servers for data storage in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, which is trying to make a name for itself in the business of data centres - warehouses that consume enormous amounts of energy to store the information of 3.2 billion internet users.
The final key difference is that the data industry is much faster to evolve than the oil industry was. Innovation is in the very DNA of big data companies, some of whose lifespans are pitifully short. As a result, regulation is much harder. That briefing in The Economist actually makes the point well that a previous model of regulation may not necessarily work for these new companies, who are forever adapting. That is not to say they should not be regulated; rather, that regulating them is something we haven't yet worked out how to do.
It is because the debate over regulation of these companies is so live that I think we need to interrogate superficially attractive ideas such as 'data is the new oil'. In fact, whereas finite but plentiful oil supplied a raw material for the industrial economy, data is a super-abundant resource in a post-industrial economy. Data companies increasingly control, and redefine, the nature of our public domain, rather than power our transport, or heat our homes.
Data today has something important in common with oil a century ago. But the tech titans are more media moguls than oil barons.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41559076
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Volunteers pick up 4kg of chewing gum discarded on Ben Nevis - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The chewing gum was among 121kg of rubbish collected during a litter-pick on the mountain at the weekend.
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Highlands & Islands
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Fourteen volunteers took part in the clean-up of Ben Nevis at the weekend
A bag of chewing gum and an empty 1980s packet of peanuts were among 121kg (267lbs) of rubbish found on Ben Nevis.
Fourteen volunteers filled 21 bags during a litter pick on Scotland's highest mountain on Saturday.
The debris found on the hillside included a peanut packet with a best before date of January 1987 and a ball of chewing gum weighing 4kg (9lbs).
It was one of a series of events across the UK organised by the Real 3 Peaks Challenge.
A total of 570kg (1,256lbs) of waste was taken off seven peaks in Scotland, England and Wales. They were:
Organiser Rich Pyne said it was "not a bad day out" for the 109 volunteers who took part in the nationwide clean-up.
Rich Payne organised the litter pick where 4kg of discarded chewing gum was collected
The peanut packet had a best before date of 24 January 1987
Among the debris were lots of tissues, cigarette ends, banana peel, orange peel, bottle tops, tampons, sweet wrappers, foil, crisp and sandwich wrappers.
Some of the 150,000 people who climb Ben Nevis every year even abandoned walking poles, tents and flags on the mountain.
One volunteer also came across a horseshoe they believe belonged to one of the ponies which worked Ben Nevis in the early 1900s.
A horseshoe believed to date back to the early 1900s was among items picked up on Ben Nevis
My Pyne told the BBC Scotland website that they generally receive a good reaction from other hillwalkers during their annual litter picks.
"They always say thank you, they're always grateful," he said. "Quite often they ask if there's anything they can do and then they might pick up a few bottles on the way down."
The mountain guide, from Kinlochleven, set up the Real 3 Peaks challenge in 2013, in a bid to clean up the mountains before the winter snowfall.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-41564972
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Game of Thrones: Traffic banned from Dark Hedges road - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Traffic is to be banned from road made famous by TV's Game of Thrones, to protect NI's Dark Hedges.
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Northern Ireland
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The famous tunnel of beech trees was used by the Game of Thrones crew to represent 'the Kingsroad'
Traffic is to be banned from part of a County Antrim road - made famous by the TV fantasy drama Game of Thrones - to protect trees known as the Dark Hedges.
The tunnel of beech trees on the Bregagh Road, near Armoy, has become a major international tourist attraction.
The scene was used by the Game of Thrones crew to represent "the Kingsroad" in the HBO drama series.
Stormont's Department for Infrastructure is introducing a ban on cars using the road from 30 October.
The order will also prohibit buses and coaches from using the designated stretch of the Bregagh Road.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Tourists at the beech-lined avenue have welcomed the move
Any motorist who flouts the ban could face a fine of up to £1,000.
Some vehicles - including agricultural and emergency vehicles - will be exempt from the ban "in certain circumstances".
The Dark Hedges were planted more than 200 years ago by the Stuart family, who created a tree-lined avenue along the entrance to their Gracehill House mansion.
About 150 were planted by James Stuart, but time has taken its toll over the centuries and now fewer than two thirds remain standing.
A large branch of one of the trees fell onto the Bregagh Road in July 2016
In January 2016, during Storm Gertrude, high winds ripped up two trees, causing them to collapse.
Later that year, a large, rotten branch broke off one of the trees and fell across the road.
The Dark Hedges became a huge draw for tourists and TV fans after they appeared, albeit very briefly, in the closing scene of one episode of Game of Thrones.
A sign at the Dark Hedges marks the site's contribution to the TV show
Arya Stark, one of the show's main characters, was filmed travelling on a cart along the road, disguised as a boy.
Conservationists have expressed alarm about the increasing traffic levels in the area and the possible damage to the trees' roots.
During the Easter holidays this year, pictures of traffic jams were shared on social media, some criticising the number of vehicles lining the road..
The cycling blog NI Greenways described the Dark Hedges as a "national treasure" and claimed it was being slowly killed.
The Department for Infrastructure published the banning order on 5 October.
It had proposed the ban last year, after "discussions with Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council and other interested parties".
It launched a consultation and said "four written objections were received and duly considered and no other representations were received".
The ban is will be enforced along Bregagh Road, from its junction with Ballinlea Road to its junction with Ballykenver Road.
The department said new traffic signs, advising the public of the ban, would be erected in the area "in due course".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-41561589
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Dramatic Grenfell baby story probably never happened - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Was a baby thrown from Grenfell Tower and caught? The evidence suggests the event never took place.
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UK
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One of the most dramatic stories from the night of the Grenfell Tower blaze - that a baby was thrown from a window and caught - probably never happened, a BBC investigation has concluded.
The news was reported in the media right across the UK and the world.
But neither the police nor ambulance service have a record of the event, and experts have questioned whether it is scientifically possible.
No witnesses quoted at the time were willing to be interviewed on camera.
The report, by BBC Newsnight, found the first reference to the story can be traced back to 10:08 on 14 June while firefighters were still battling the blaze.
It was one of the few good news stories out of Grenfell Tower that awful night in June
The Press Association tweeted an interview with a woman named Samira Lamrani.
She told them that she had witnessed a woman on the "ninth or 10th floor" throwing a baby from a window and that the child was caught by a man below.
The quotes were picked up by news organisations across the UK, including by the BBC.
Newsnight contacted Ms Lamrani but she declined to be interviewed. "My memory of that night is fading… I don't want to talk about it," she said.
Another witness quoted at the time was the broadcaster and architect George Clarke who told Newsnight on the day of the fire that he saw a man catch "a kid" thrown out of the window from the eighth floor.
When we contacted him for this report, he told us he did not wish to make any comment on the matter at all. "It's such a contentious issue and I think it's so hurtful to so many people," he said.
The news was first reported in this tweet from a journalist with a video of a witness at the scene
On the 16 June, two days after the fire, a dramatic account of a similar sounding incident appeared in The Sun newspaper. It was subsequently picked up by many other news organisations.
The story features photographs of a man holding a young girl. The Sun names him as "Pat" and says the picture was taken just after he had caught the girl, aged 4, who the newspaper said had been dropped from the fourth floor.
However, we tracked down the man in the picture. His name is Oluwaseun Talabi, and the girl he is holding in the picture is actually his own daughter. The pair had escaped the fire by walking down from the 14th floor.
Belief in this miracle doesn't seem to have diminished in the streets around the burned-out tower. If you ask local residents some will tell you that they are certain the story is true, although they didn't see it themselves.
Newsnight has attempted to contact every person quoted as saying they did see the baby thrown and caught. Some told us that they had been misquoted. For some supposed witnesses, we found no evidence that they actually exist at all. None of those we could track down were willing to go on the record and give us an on-camera interview.
One local resident, Jody Martin, has a theory about where the baby story originated. He arrived at the scene of the fire at about the same time as the first fire crews, just after 01:00.
Jody Martin saw a woman holding a child outside a window to give it air
He says his attention was drawn to activity on the third or fourth floor.
"There was an African-Caribbean lady with her baby and she was leaning out the window," he says. "It was more like a toddler. And there was smoke just billowing out behind us, so obviously she was just trying to get oxygen. So she was at the lowest point of the ledge, you know right down low, top half of her torso hanging out, but her infant at arm's length."
Jody is clear that the woman was only minutes away from being rescued by fire crews and wasn't throwing the baby, just trying to make sure it had enough air.
According to psychologists it is common in fast moving situations for witnesses to see part of an event and then assume what happened next. There is nothing dishonest about this. It is just how we formulate memories.
As experts told us, human memory isn't a video tape - it is a best guess assembly of often incomplete or even contradictory information.
There is another reason we should perhaps be sceptical of this story. The physics of such a fall would make serious injury to any child and anyone who tried to catch it a probability according to medical experts.
Even dropped from five storeys or 15m, an object would be travelling at 17.15m per second or 61.73km per hour (38mph).
Double the height to the 10th floor, or 30m, and an object is travelling at 24.25m per second or 87.3kmh (54.2mph).
Any fall from above one storey would likely result in serious injury, irrespective of whether someone tries to catch the child or not, according to Dr Dan Magnus, Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
"I would be sceptical of a baby falling from a very high height and someone catching that baby would somehow make the fall benign. I think that is difficult to understand," he said.
If this event had happened you would think that there would be some official record of it, but Newsnight has established that neither the police, nor the ambulance service know anything about it, and no children from Grenfell were treated at hospital for the serious physical injuries likely to have resulted from such a fall.
The Metropolitan Police could not have been clearer in their statement: "We have no record of this incident."
It is often not possible to definitively say something didn't happen. All we can do is search for the witnesses and scrutinise the evidence.
We have done that and haven't turned up anything that suggests this amazing event actually happened. Indeed all the available evidence points to the opposite conclusion.
David Grossman was reporting for BBC Newsnight. Watch his full report here.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41550836
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Google 'uncovers Russian ad campaign linked to US election' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The search giant has evidence that agents tried to influence the US election, media report.
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US & Canada
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Google has found evidence that Russian agents spent tens of thousands of dollars on adverts in a bid to sway the 2016 US election, media reports say.
Sources quoted by the Washington Post say the adverts aimed to spread disinformation across Google's products including YouTube and Gmail.
They say the adverts do not appear to be from the same Kremlin-linked source that bought ads on Facebook.
Google said it was investigating attempts to "abuse" its systems.
US intelligence agencies concluded earlier this year that Russia had tried to sway the election in favour of Donald Trump.
The Russian government strongly denies the claims and President Trump has denied any collusion with the Kremlin.
The issue is under investigation by US congressional committees and the Department of Justice.
Sources said to be close to the Google investigation said the company was looking into a group of adverts that cost less than $100,000 (£76,000).
Google said in a statement: "We have a set of strict ads policies including limits on political ad targeting and prohibitions on targeting based on race and religion. We are taking a deeper look to investigate attempts to abuse our systems, working with researchers and other companies, and will provide assistance to ongoing inquiries."
Microsoft said on Monday it was also investigating whether any US election adverts had been bought by Russians for its Bing search engine or other products.
A spokesman told Reuters it had no further information at the moment.
Facebook said in September that it had uncovered a Russian-funded campaign to promote divisive social and political messages on its network.
It said that $100,000 was spent on about 3,000 ads over a two-year period, ending in May 2017.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg later said his company would pass the information to US investigators.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41561882
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Too much cheese lands van man in pickle with police - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Police said the excess dairy produce had to be "removed or eaten" as the van was 41% over weight.
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Cambridgeshire
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Police told the driver the cheese had to be "removed or eaten" before he could leave
A van driver was pulled over by police as he had too much cheese on board.
Officers found the vehicle was 41% over its weight limit, in Sawtry, Cambridgeshire on Monday.
The driver was left in a pickle as the van had 2,822lb (1,280kg) more cheese than it was allowed to carry. Officers said it had to be "removed or eaten".
During a grilling, the driver was allowed to take some of the dairy produce away but made to call in another van to take the excess.
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire road policing unit officers discovered the problematic produce, at a weighbridge off the A1.
It is not yet known exactly which varieties of cheese had grated with police.
• None Would Wallace be a master of cheese
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-41566545
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World Cup 2018: Does height matter in football? - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The ex-Scotland boss claimed his team failed because they were shorter but does it really make a difference?
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Scotland
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Gordon Strachan said genetics were to blame for Scotland's failure to beat Slovenia
The claim: Gordon Strachan, the former manager of Scotland, said after the country's failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia that his team lacked the height and strength to compete, saying that Scotland were the second-shortest team "in the last campaign".
Reality Check verdict: In recent years, Scotland have been among the shortest teams in Europe, when measuring average height of the squad - but not the second-shortest. However, height in football doesn't necessarily lead to success.
After failing to lead Scotland to victory in their must-win World Cup qualifier against Slovenia, where did ex-manager Gordon Strachan lay the blame?
Scotland's opponents might not have been technically superior, but they had "height and strength" the Scots had been unable to combat, Strachan said.
"Genetically, we are behind," he said. "In the last campaign we were the second-smallest, apart from Spain."
Strachan's comments sparked a debate in the football world about whether Scotland, or any football team, needed more height in their team to succeed.
Reality Check looked at whether Strachan has a point.
Little and large. Shaun Wright-Phillips and Peter Crouch training for England.
Slovenia are one of the tallest teams in Europe. Scotland's starting XI in Ljubljana were, on average, more than 3cm (1in) smaller than their opponents.
Strachan's team, featuring players with an average height of 180.1cm, are actually in the top 10 of the "shortest" teams in Europe this year, according to research by the International Centre for Sport Studies (CIES) football observatory.
In fact, by the average measure, they are surpassed - or maybe undercut - by only Cyprus, Israel and Armenia, level with Spain.
Based on research by the CIES, which excludes seven countries (none of whom qualified), only two of the 10 shortest teams - Spain and France - will qualify for Russia 2018.
The height of footballers does not necessarily reflect the national trend. Dutch men are the tallest in world, but their football team is currently one of the shortest in Europe.
Lionel Messi, in action here for Argentina against Ecuador, is 170cm (5ft 6in) tall.
Seven out of the 10 tallest teams in 2017, excluding the World Cup hosts Russia, either qualified automatically - Serbia, Iceland, Belgium and Germany - or made the play-offs - Sweden, Greece and Denmark.
So it's certainly true that in the run-up to the World Cup, some of the tallest teams in Europe were in form this year.
But it's difficult to say whether these teams were successful because of their stature.
Strachan also claimed that Scotland had been the second-shortest team in their previous qualifying campaign (for Euro 2016). But they were in fact the sixth-shortest in 2015. The eventual winners of the tournament were Portugal, who were also one of the shortest teams, suggesting height was not necessarily a bar to success.
Globally, the top 10 shortest teams in 2015 contained some of the most successful football nations, and four World Cup winners: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain.
Among the tallest countries, there was only one previous World Cup winner: Germany.
At the top of the list, with an average height of 1.86m, was Serbia.
Who has the tallest team? Average heights of European national teams in 2017.
This article has been updated since its original date of publication to reflect new data.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41549709
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Newspaper headlines: PM's plan for 'no deal' Brexit - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The prime minister's plans for a no-deal scenario post Brexit feature on Tuesday's front pages.
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The Papers
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Tuesday's papers have plenty of advice for the prime minister ahead of the next round of Brexit talks.
The Guardian says Theresa May must not subordinate her judgement to the whim of "no deal Brexit hardliners".
The paper says "the reckless dogma that would drive us to a Brexit without a deal enjoys no majority in Parliament or the country".
Former Prime Minister David Cameron's old spin doctor, Andy Coulson, writes in the Daily Telegraph that Mrs May should announce that she will stand down as leader before the next general election.
He says such a dramatic announcement could convince voters that "it's not all about her but about the country".
The Daily Mail columnist, Richard Littlejohn, is also frustrated with what he sees at the Tory Party's introspection.
Fifteen months on from the EU referendum, he complains, "it's still all about them". The only thing that matters, he says, is getting Britain out of the EU as quickly as possible.
Several papers are alarmed by the warnings from the Care Quality Commission about the pressures facing the NHS and the care system.
It's the front page story in the Daily Mirror, which says "savage Tory austerity" is killing "our most precious public service" - although the government says the vast majority of patients are getting good care.
The Daily Mail says unhealthy lifestyles are to blame for increasing rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and dementia.
The Times says it's learnt that the term "junior doctor" could be banished from the NHS because it's viewed as demeaning.
The chief medical officer for England, Dame Sally Davies, has apparently said that doctors need job titles that give them "the respect they deserve".
She's backing a call to rename qualified doctors with medical degrees - many of whom are in their late 30s and have been working for 10 years. At a time of low morale, it is hoped changing job titles would be a cost-free way of making the doctors feel valued and improving patient care.
The Spectator reports that Culture Secretary Karen Bradley, who is responsible for government policy on broadcasting, has complained of being hounded by TV Licensing for not having a licence for her constituency office.
A Culture department spokesman says the minister has now explained that she doesn't have a television in her office. The Spectator's gossip columnist, Steerpike, hopes that none of the minster's staff have been watching the BBC iPlayer on their office computers - an offence that risks a £1,000 fine.
Jon Lansman is reported to be running for a seat on Labour's ruling body
The Huffington Post reports that the founder of the the grassroots Labour movement, Momentum, is being lined up for a seat on Labour's ruling body.
It quotes "multiple sources" as saying that Jon Lansman, who's a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, will run for one of three new places on the National Executive Committee.
The Times and the Daily Telegraph cast new light on a painting which the National Gallery describes as a Gainsborough masterpiece - but which it's now being suggested contains rude symbols and sexual innuendo intended as an insult to its subjects.
"Mr and Mrs Andrews" portrays a fashionable young couple in a landscape soon after their marriage.
The artist's biographer, James Hamilton, has told the Cheltenham Literature Festival that the inclusion of two donkeys trapped in a pen in the background; a gun he believes is a phallic symbol; and what he believes to be a phallic drawing on the wife's skirt suggest Gainsborough had fallen out with the couple and was exacting revenge.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41561642
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UK attracting record number of tourists - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Visitor numbers are expected to reach nearly 40 million in 2017, with "staycations" also on the rise.
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Business
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Tourism is booming in the UK with nearly 40 million overseas people expected to have visited the country during 2017 - a record figure.
Tourist promotion agency VisitBritain forecasts overseas trips to the UK will increase 6% to 39.7 million with spending up 14% to £25.7bn this year.
Britons are also holidaying at home in record numbers.
British Tourist Authority chairman Steve Ridgway said tourism was worth £127bn annually to the economy.
He called the sector an "economic powerhouse" and a "job creator right across Britain".
"Two-and-a-half times bigger than the automotive industry, employing three million, tourism is one of our most successful exports and needs no trade deals to compete globally."
The UK has become a cheaper place to visit for tourists from overseas following the fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote last year.
But Mr Ridgway said: "Tourism is a fiercely competitive global industry and you cannot just build a strong, resilient industry on a weaker currency.
"We must continue to invest in developing world-class tourism products, getting Britain on the wish-list of international and domestic travellers and we must make it easy for visitors to make that trip."
The London Eye has proved popular since it opened in 2000
Tourism Minister John Glen said: "Tourism contributes billions to the UK economy and supports millions of jobs."
He added that the record figures for overseas and domestic holidaymakers were "testament to our world-class attractions and the innovation of our tourism industry".
During the first six months of the year there were a record 23.1 million overseas visits to the UK - up 8% on the same period in 2016 - and the figures for July topped four million for the first time, with only a slightly smaller number of visits made during August.
Britain's beaches and attractions have also attracted more domestic users with "staycations" on the rise.
From January to June this year, domestic overnight holidays in England rose 7% to a record 20.4 million with visitors spending £4.6bn - a rise of 17% and another record.
On Monday, figures from trade body UK Finance showed UK tourists' debit card spending when abroad was down sharply compared with last summer, providing more evidence of the trend towards holidaying at home.
Spending on UK debit cards overseas was down nearly 13% in August compared with the same month in 2016.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41564655
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Farm profits may halve after Brexit, says report - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The "worst-case scenario" would cut average farm profits from £38,000 per year to just £15,000, says the research.
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Business
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Dairy farmers might, in some circumstances, receive higher prices after Brexit says the report
The profitability of the average UK farm could fall by as much as half after Brexit, new research suggests.
The report, by the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), says the "worst-case scenario" would cut average farm profits from £38,000 a year to just £15,000.
The analysis tries to model the effects of cheaper imported food, reduced subsidies and more expensive labour.
A government spokesman said the report was based on highly unlikely scenarios.
The UK is due to leave the European Union (EU) in March 2019.
Some formal negotiations with the EU started in June, but so far, it is unclear how trade between the UK and the EU will change if the Brexit timetable is met.
In fact, the specific negotiations over a future trade deal have not even started.
But they will be particularly vital to the agricultural and horticultural industries because of the subsidies which are received under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "This report is based on hypothetical and highly unlikely scenarios that do not reflect the government's negotiating position.
"Outside the EU and free from the bureaucracy of the Common Agricultural Policy, our farmers will be able to focus on growing, selling and exporting more fantastic produce."
The AHDB research looked at three possible outcomes of Brexit:
"Under the three scenarios outlined in the report, changes in the UK's trade relationships will impact farmers' bottom line when the UK leaves the single market, whether or not a free trade agreement is negotiated with the EU," said the Board.
The CAP gives UK farmers £3.1bn a year which, on the face of it, will disappear after Brexit, though the UK government has guaranteed to maintain "overall" farm subsidies or payments at the same level until 2022.
AHDB, a statutory body funded by a levy on the agricultural industry, said Brexit would inevitably have a "dramatic immediate impact" on farm sectors that rely most on subsidies.
The effects of Brexit will not be uniform, though, and the position will be complex, depending on the sector and scenario being modelled.
Dairy and pig farmers may benefit from rising prices, the report says.
On the other hand, significant exporters such as cereal producers and sheep farmers would suffer due to the increased cost of exporting products to the EU.
And where businesses rely on migrant workers, higher employment costs due to more stringent immigration restrictions will also push up farmers' costs dramatically, especially in horticulture.
An AHDB spokeswoman said there were thought to be between 50,000 and 80,000 EU nationals working in UK agriculture and horticulture, in both permanent and seasonal jobs.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41570648
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Theresa May won't say if she'd vote for Brexit now - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The prime minister dodges questions about how she would vote if there was another EU referendum.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mrs May said she would not answer "hypothetical questions"
Theresa May has refused to say how she would vote if there was another EU referendum.
The prime minister, who backed Remain in last year's vote, was repeatedly asked if she would now vote for Brexit.
The PM, who said during the general election campaign that the UK had a "brighter future" after Brexit, added: "I voted Remain for good reasons at the time but circumstances move on."
Downing Street sources suggested it would be ridiculous to say the prime minister's comments raise doubts about whether she will deliver Brexit, as some such as ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage have said.
Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, who was a leading campaigner for Brexit, said: "She is entirely right to avoid being divisive.
"She is seeking to unite the country, not to perpetuate referendum divisions."
Fairly or not, Theresa May's hesitation in giving her answer on this hypothetical question will give pause for thought to those who harbour suspicions of her real commitment to Brexit.
And her "open and honest" answer, which refused to come down on either side creates the strange situation where the prime minister appears unwilling to give full-throated support to her government's main policy.
Presenter Iain Dale told Mrs May that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had switched from Remain to Leave because former Chancellor George Osborne's gloomy economic predictions about the latter had failed to come true.
He asked Mrs May why she could not say she had changed her mind, given that she was leading the country into Brexit.
"Yes and I'm prime minister ensuring I'm going to deliver Brexit for the British people," she replied.
Pressed again, Mrs May said: "I could say I would still vote Remain or I would vote Leave just to give you an answer to that question.
"I am being open and honest with you. What I did last time round was I looked at everything and I came to a judgement and I would do exactly the same this time round.
"But we are not having another referendum and that's absolutely crucial."
Mrs May's second in command, First Secretary of State Damian Green, also refused to say whether he would back Brexit if there was a referendum now.
Jeremy Corbyn called on Mrs May to guarantee migrants' rights
Mr Green, who was a board member of the campaign to keep Britain in the EU, told Channel 4 News: "I don't resile from anything I said during the election campaign."
But he added that it was a "meaningless" question and "purely hypothetical".
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson said: "It is staggering that even the prime minister isn't convinced by the government's approach to Brexit.
"If Theresa May doesn't have any faith in her own government's policies, why is she still driving this country towards the cliff edge?
"Theresa May says she would weigh up the evidence again, she shouldn't deny that right to the British people.
"The public must have the chance to change their mind if they want to, once the government comes back with a deal."
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage tweeted: "How can Theresa May negotiate Brexit without believing in it?"
In the same LBC interview, Mrs May said she could not guarantee the status of the estimated 1.2 million UK nationals living in other EU countries if Britain leaves the bloc without a deal.
And she warned that rights held by more than three million EU nationals in the UK could "fall away" in a "no deal" scenario, something the government is actively preparing for if talks in Brussels fail.
"By definition, if there isn't a deal we won't have been able to agree with the EU what happens to UK citizens currently living in countries like Spain and Italy and other members of the EU," said the prime minister.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: "Unacceptable. The Tories' chaotic handling of Brexit means no deal is a real risk. Theresa May must guarantee EU migrants' rights now."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41576098
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Harvey Weinstein: Paltrow and Jolie say they were victims - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The Oscar-winning actresses join a growing number of women alleging harassment by Harvey Weinstein.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Harvey Weinstein, the Oscar-winning film producer, has been accused of sexually assaulting three women
Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow are the latest actresses to allege they were victims of sexual harassment by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Both said the incidents happened early in their careers.
They join a string of actresses accusing Weinstein of harassment. On Tuesday he also denied allegations of rape made in The New Yorker magazine.
Weinstein's wife, designer Georgina Chapman, said on Tuesday that she was leaving him.
"My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions," the 41-year-old told People magazine. London-born Chapman, co-founder of fashion label Marchesa, and Weinstein, 65, have two children together.
The mogul has also been fired over the allegations by his Hollywood studio The Weinstein Company.
Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have added their voice to growing demonstrations of public outrage. Their eldest daughter Malia worked as an intern at The Weinstein Company in New York earlier this year.
A statement released by the Obamas says they "have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein".
It adds they "celebrate the courage of women who have come forward".
Also on Tuesday, Paltrow and Jolie both sent statements to the New York Times, which first reported allegations against him last week.
Jolie said in an email: "I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did.
"This behaviour towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable."
In a statement, Paltrow alleged that, after Weinstein cast her in the leading role in Emma, he summoned her to his hotel suite, where he placed his hands on her and suggested massages in his bedroom.
Gwyneth Paltrow has joined the list of people accusing Harvey Weinstein
"I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified," she told the newspaper.
She said she told her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt about the incident, and said he confronted Weinstein.
"I thought he was going to fire me," she said.
The separate New Yorker report says that 16 former and current employees at Weinstein's companies told the magazine "they witnessed or had knowledge of unwanted sexual advances and touching at events associated with Weinstein's films and in the workplace".
The magazine quotes Italian actress and director Asia Argento and Lucia Stoller, now Lucia Evans - who says she was an aspiring actress when Weinstein allegedly approached her in 2004. Both say they were forced into sexual acts by the producer.
A third woman, who did not want to be named, said Weinstein had "forced himself on me sexually".
Argento said she has not spoken until now because she feared it would ruin her career to do so.
"That's why this story - in my case, it's 20 years old, some of them are old - has never come out," she told the New Yorker.
Asia Argento, pictured in 2009, has spoken to the New Yorker magazine
Other allegations in the piece came from Mira Sorvino, who won an Oscar in 1996 for her role in Mighty Aphrodite for Miramax, a studio headed by Weinstein at the time. She told the magazine that Weinstein had tried to pressure her into a relationship.
Roseanna Arquette also said that she rejected Weinstein's advances and that she believes her acting career suffered as a result.
Weinstein's spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister issued a statement in response to the article.
"Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein," she said. "Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.
"Mr Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr Weinstein has begun counselling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path."
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Hillary Clinton shared a statement saying that she was "shocked and appalled" by the revelations about Weinstein, who donated to her 2016 presidential campaign and has been a major donor to Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama's Democratic party.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
• None What next for Weinstein and Hollywood?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41570216
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Newspaper headlines: Paltrow and Jolie accuse Weinstein - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Mounting allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein make many of Wednesday's front pages.
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The Papers
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Producer Harvey Weinstein and his wife, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, who has since said she is leaving him
With allegations of rape and sexual harassment swirling around Harvey Weinstein, it is - the Daily Mail says - Hollywood's darkest day. How did the Monster of Tinseltown get away with it for so long, it asks.
Accounts by Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie in the New York Times that they were sexually harassed by the film producer are reported on most of the front pages.
The Guardian says the stories appear to illustrate a pattern of behaviour by Mr Weinstein that carried on for decades.
The New York Times - which has been chronicling the claims against Mr Weinstein - says his alleged behaviour was something of an open secret in Hollywood.
More established actresses were fearful of speaking out because they had work; less established ones were scared because they did not.
A statement by Mr Weinstein's spokeswoman says he unequivocally denies any allegations of non-consensual sex.
The Times leads on Chancellor Philip Hammond's article for the paper, in which he says it would be irresponsible to spend taxpayers' money now in preparation for a "no-deal" Brexit.
The paper says Mr Hammond supports contingency planning in case the "divorce" talks collapse, but with money tight and the government trying to secure a deal, he's reluctant to approve spending unless the danger is imminent.
Prime Minister Theresa May's refusal to say whether she would vote for Brexit if another EU referendum were held now, is widely reported - and is the Guardian's main story.
It says her refusal was seized upon by opposition parties as a sign that she's not fully committed to a Brexit she's promising to deliver.
The Sun describes it as alarming and says it sparked questions about whether she believed leaving the EU was the right course for the UK.
For the Daily Telegraph's sketch-writer, Michael Deacon, the person in charge of Brexit apparently still can't say she would actually vote for it. It was - he says - no less than a vote of no confidence in herself.
In the Spectator's judgement, refusing to give your wholehearted support to leaving doesn't exactly help the UK's position in the negotiations.
A survey has found that a third of children under five now own a tablet device. The Daily Mail reports that parents upgrading their own devices have been handing down their old ones to keep their children quiet.
Researchers who carried out the survey tell the paper: "Constant access to technology is here to stay - and pre-school children are keeping up with the pace."
And the UK's hottest-ever ready meal has gone on sale - an Indian curry made with a chilli that is 200 times hotter than Tabasco sauce.
According to the Mirror, the Morrison's Volcanic Vindaloo comes with a rating of six chillies on its packaging - and will only be sold to over-16s.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41576489
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The government nudges itself over race - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The information in the government's race audit is already known, so why has it not been acted on?
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UK
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Theresa May has pledged to tackle social and racial injustice in the UK
It is fitting, perhaps, that the launch of the government's so-called "race disparities audit" comes the day after American economist Richard Thaler was awarded a Nobel prize for his work on behavioural economics and nudging, because that is what this project is about.
It is a giant nudge to change behaviour on issues of race inequality. The odd thing is that the project is not a government trying to nudge the people. It is a government trying to nudge itself.
The prime minister has dedicated her premiership to fighting burning injustices and says she is determined to shine a light on disparities between different racial groups in the UK on a range of areas - health, education, job prospects, housing and so on.
A focus on the many and often troubling differences is - of course - no bad thing, but people might well wonder why we need a public website to get Whitehall departments to take an interest.
The race audit commissioned no new research.
All the information on the website comes from Whitehall departments, the vast majority of which is already in the public domain.
Indeed, most of the shocking headlines of disparity from the audit have been reported upon, discussed and debated many times.
Graduates from ethnic minorities in Britain are less likely to be in work than their white peers, research has found
This shouldn't come as a revelation.
Another prime minister, James Callaghan, established the Commission for Racial Equality back in 1976 to deal with racial disparity and discrimination. It is still going, now part of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, a government quango whose job is to promote racial equality.
The Social Mobility Commission, another quango set up in 2010, has written many reports on racial disparities, and sent them to ministers.
It is perhaps a recognition of the inability of these bodies to get their messages across over decades that we apparently need a race audit website - a pull together of 60 of all the 300 data sets that relate to the experience of different racial groups.
The people being nudged are the people who sit around the cabinet table with the prime minister - her own government. "Explain or change," the PM will tell them. Where disparities exist, ministers will be encouraged to explain why they exist.
There may be understandable reasons why all races do not experience the same outcomes.
It might be a factor of demographics or income, cultural differences or even the chances of developing certain medical conditions. But if the explanations don't stack up, then departments will be expected to introduce measures to change them.
Today's launch is accompanied by some new initiatives. The Department of Work and Pensions has used its own data to identify 20 hot spots where people from racial minorities struggle to access the jobs market, and will now reintroduce a mentoring scheme that was abandoned 10 years ago.
The question remains, though. Given that ministers have known about these "troubling" and "shocking" disparities for years or even decades, why does it take a prime ministerial nudge to get them to take action?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41565954
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Richard Thaler and the economics of how we live - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Behavioural economics is giving us a much better understanding of why things don’t happen in the way we expect.
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Business
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Changing the positioning of healthier foods can change shopping habits
How do you get people to eat more healthily?
You could construct some powerful arguments about how an obesity epidemic is leading to more diseases such as Type II diabetes and coronary heart conditions.
You could put large red traffic light signs on unhealthy foods and engage in expensive public information campaigns warning that overeating products high in salt, sugar and fat can reduce life expectancy.
Or you could just change where you put the salad boxes on the supermarket shelves.
The last option is an example of nudge theory at work, a theory popularised and developed by Richard Thaler, the University of Chicago economist who was today announced as this year's recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics.
Prof Thaler's central insight is that we are not the rational beings beloved of more traditional economic theory.
Given two options, we are likely to pick the wrong one even if that means making ourselves less well off.
Lack of thinking time, habit and poor decision making mean that even when presented with a factual analysis (for example on healthy eating) we are still likely to pick burger and chips.
We're hungry, we're in a hurry and burger and chips is what we always buy.
Nudge theory takes account of this, based as it is on the simple premise that people will often choose what is easiest over what is wisest.
Tests have shown that putting healthier foods on a higher shelf increases sales. The food is more likely to be in someone's eye line and therefore "nudge" that person towards the purchase - whether they had any idea about the obesity argument or not.
Such theories, which sit in a big bucket of academic study called "behavioural economics", are what Prof Thaler is famous for.
So famous that the government now has its own Behavioural Insights Team, otherwise known as the "nudge unit".
It helps formulate policies, for example on pensions, to try and make us behave "more rationally" and push us towards better outcomes.
Shoppers will spend more on a credit or debit card in a food shop compared with cash
One of its projects revealed that charitable giving via your pay packet - called payroll giving - increased dramatically if people were told who else in their peer group (maybe Facebook friends) were also giving via that method.
Attaching a picture of "mates giving money" also improved the level of charitable donations. We tend to like doing what our friends like doing - called the peer group norm.
Prof Thaler also gave us the concept of "mental accounting" - that we will tend to divide our expenditure into separate blocks even though they come from the same source.
For example, we will spend more on a credit or debit card in a food shop compared with cash even though all the money ultimately comes from our earnings.
Then there is his work on the "planner-doer" syndrome - that we lack self-control, will act in our own short-term self-interest and need extra incentives to plan long term than simply being told that, rationally, it is good idea.
How many times do we let that gym membership lapse, despite our best intentions?
Having just received news of the award, Prof Thaler told me that his job was to "add human beings" to economic theory.
And today he has been rewarded, both via the recognition of the Nobel Prize and by the not inconsiderable sum of £845,000 in prize money.
Asked how he would spend the money Prof Thaler gave a succinct answer. "Irrationally."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41550434
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Teenage motorbike passenger dies after Huyton shooting - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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James Meadows, 17, is killed after he is shot in the head while riding pillion on a motorbike.
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Liverpool
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Police said the bike's rider failed to stop and left the scene "at speed"
A boy has died after he was shot in the head while riding pillion on a motorbike, police have said.
James Meadows, 17, came off the motorcycle after being shot at Lyme Cross Road, Huyton, at about 21:40 BST on Sunday.
Merseyside Police said the bike's rider had failed to stop and had left the scene "at speed".
He died in hospital on Monday evening. A murder investigation has been launched by Merseyside Police.
A police spokesman said the victim's family had been informed and a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-41549642
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BAE Systems to cut almost 2,000 jobs - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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BAE is facing an order gap for the Typhoon so wants to slow production before an expected order from Qatar.
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Business
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BAE Systems is planning to cut almost 2,000 jobs in military, maritime and intelligence services, the firm says.
A total of 750 posts will go at the Warton and Samlesbury plants in Lancashire where parts for the Eurofighter Typhoon are manufactured.
BAE is facing an order gap for the Typhoon so wants to slow production before an expected order from Qatar.
In all, a total of 1,400 roles will go across England in the firm's air and information business,
Outside Lancashire, 400 posts will close in Brough, East Yorkshire, 230 will go at RAF Marham and 15 are being lost at RAF Leeming.
Meanwhile 340 maritime jobs will be lost in Portsmouth and Solent region and a further 180 posts will go in London, Guildford and other locations.
Most of the pain for BAE Systems will be felt in its air business.
Orders for the Typhoon jet have slowed down amid stiff competition from the new F-35, part of which is made by BAE Systems, and from France's Rafale and the US F-16.
Overall, the multinational Typhoon/Eurofighter programme, which includes Germany, Italy and Spain, has received 599 orders from eight customers.
BAE has already sold more than 70 Typhoons to Saudi Arabia and had been hoping to sell more. The political controversy surrounding arms sales to the Middle East Kingdom probably hasn't helped.
Support jobs will be lost too as the RAF Tornado comes to the end of its life, with the RAF planning to retire its squadrons by 2019. Orders have also slowed down for the venerable Hawk Trainer jet.
Both Typhoon and Hawk production lines will stay open for now, but for how much longer?
BAE needs a clear signal from its main customer, the Ministry of Defence, as to what comes next after the F-35.
Unions have already criticised the government for buying more military equipment from the US.
While the UK now has an industrial strategy to sustain the production of warships in the UK, it does not appear to have a similar strategy for the air defence sector.
In a statement, the defence contractor said it was making organisational changes to "boost competitiveness, accelerate technology innovation and improve operational excellence".
It added that the restructuring of its cyber-security wing would "drive continued growth".
The company's chief executive, Charles Woodburn, said the changes "unfortunately include proposed redundancies at a number of operations".
He added: "I recognise this will be difficult news for some of our employees and we are committed to do everything we can to support those affected."
BAE said that most of the military air job cuts would take place in the next two years and that it wanted to achieve as many voluntary redundancies as possible. The changes are due to begin on 1 January.
The BAE plant in Samlesbury is one of those affected by the cuts
The Unite union reacted with anger and assistant general secretary Steve Turner said: "These planned job cuts will not only undermine Britain's sovereign defence capability, but devastate communities across the UK who rely on these skilled jobs and the hope of a decent future they give to future generations.
"These are world-class workers with years of training and expertise on which an additional four jobs rely upon in the supply chain.
"The UK government must take back control of our nation's defence and with it, play its part in supporting UK defence manufacturing jobs."
Business Minister Claire Perry insisted that the job cuts at BAE Systems were due to restructuring and "not related to UK defence spending decisions".
Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, Ms Perry said the government wished to continue to procure from BAE, but said "it would be wrong for the government to interfere in the company's restructuring".
Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith said: "It is time for the government to address the clear uncertainty that is felt by the industry and come forward with an urgent plan to save these jobs.
"This must include the possibility of bringing forward orders to provide additional work for BAE's employees, such as replacing the Red Arrows' fleet of Hawk aircraft that are approaching the end of their service life."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41566841
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Suzi Quatro: Rock's female role model - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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She shot Alice Cooper, kissed The Fonz and acted as a trailblazer for female musicians everywhere.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The singer scored 18 hit singles in the UK
It all began with the bongos.
As a seven year-old in 1950s Michigan, Susan Kay Quatro would sit with her father's jazz band, the Art Quatro Trio, playing percussion and getting an early education in stagecraft.
But her life changed when she saw Elvis and the Beatles on television.
Grabbing the Fender Precision Bass her father had loaned her, she started a band with her sisters Patti and Arlene.
The Pleasure Seekers' early singles, especially Never Thought You'd Leave Me and What A Way To Die, are still sought after by garage rock collectors - and the band soon found themselves sharing the bill with fellow Detroit rock stars Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper.
When the band broke up in 1971, Quatro was headhunted by British pop impresario Mickie Most, and launched a hugely successful solo career, marrying the double-tracked drums of glam rock to the strolling bass lines of Motown.
One of the first female rock stars, she sold 55 million records, with number one singles including Can The Can and Devil Gate Drive; while setting hearts aflutter on TV sitcom Happy Days as Leather Tuscadero, the rebellious younger sister of The Fonz's girlfriend, Pinky.
One of rock's true trailblazers, she's about to set off on a UK tour. She told the BBC about shooting Alice Cooper, becoming a museum exhibit and what's inside her "Ego Room".
The singer was a regular presence on Top of the Pops in the 1970s
You were part of a Detroit scene that also included Iggy Pop, MC5 and Alice Cooper. What was that like?
It was an extremely exciting time. I'm very proud of the Detroit pedigree. Musicians from Detroit have an energy level, an edge that's second to none. I don't know why it is. It just is.
Who were your inspirations?
I'm a Motown fanatic. I cut my teeth on James Jamerson, who played bass in Motown's house band, The Funk Brothers. He's my absolute hero.
Once. I ran down into the pit [in front of the stage] and started playing bass next to him. He gave me the biggest compliment. He said: 'Not bad for a white chick.'
I read that you once shot Alice Cooper with a rubber dart. Is that true?
It was on the Welcome To My Nightmare tour, which was 80 shows. We got bored, so we decided to have a dart gun fight. Alice decided to hide behind a television and, you know, he's got a little bit of a large nose. And I saw his nose sticking out, so I whacked him. I gave him a black eye!
He said his first thought was, 'Ouch' and his second thought was, 'Good shot!'
Your first number one was Can The Can. How did you celebrate?
I was at a gig up North and we were staying at some lady's bedsit. We were in the bedroom, all celebrating with a bottle of champagne when the lady knocked on the door and said, 'Lights off! It's 10 o'clock.' So that was our celebration!
The singer recently recorded an album with Glam rock cohorts Andy Scott (from Sweet) and Don Powell (from Slade)
Why do you think you had more chart success over here than at home in the 70s?
I had more singles released over here, that's all. I toured America successfully all the time and Happy Days made me into a household name over there.
There's a famous scene where you kiss The Fonz [Henry Winkler]. Did you get any hate mail?
Not at all! In fact, I heard from the main secretary on Happy Days that, after Henry, I got the most fan mail, as Leather Tuscadero. So that's a big compliment!
Happy Days isn't your only acting role - what's been your favourite?
Happy Days is hard to beat but recently I loved Midsomer Murders, where I got electrocuted.
Quatro got her role on Happy Days without auditioning, after the show's producer saw her poster on his daughter's bedroom wall
Is it true that your leather catsuit is now in the Victoria & Albert museum?
I gave them one of my jumpsuits - a gold one. I have to keep reminding them it's only on loan! But I have loads here in my house, in my Ego Room, and I still wear jumpsuits now.
Sorry, did you say Ego Room?
Yes! I have an Ego Room on the third floor. My entire life's in there - videos, DVDs, suits, guitars, pictures all over the wall, scrapbooks, awards, everything. Even the red book from This Is Your Life on the table.
The sign on the door says, "Ego Room - Mind Your Head".
On your last album, you covered Goldfrapp's Strict Machine - which itself references Can The Can. What's it like to know you're still influencing new bands?
It's fantastic. It's a little bit of humbly-accepted applause.
I recently found out KT Tunstall is a fan. In fact, she stayed here last night and we did three songs together!
Suzi Quatro in her trademark catsuit, with an actual cat
You were one of the first female rock stars - did people come to you for advice?
Oh God, yes. I was a bit of a benchmark for a lot of girls. I was able to be the leader of the gang, with the guys, and still keep my femininity - which is the difficult part.
And now you've got an honorary doctorate in music!
I have! I received it in Cambridge [from Anglia Ruskin University] dressed in a cap and a gown. It was such an honour.
Do you have to give lectures now?
Yes - I talk about how to survive in this industry, mainly.
Learn one instrument properly. Learn to read and write [music]. And gig. Because you don't know your craft until you can entertain the drunk at the bar who doesn't want to see you.
It feels like a lot of artists don't get that schooling these days.
They're just famous for being famous. It's just so stupid. I hate it.
I've been on the road for 53 years and I'm still learning. Don't tell me these guys who've been working at McDonald's and go on X Factor have any tools to deal with fame. That's not how stars are discovered.
You're about to hit the road with The Osmonds and Hot Chocolate. Do you like doing nostalgia tours?
I like it as long as I'm headlining!
After everything you've achieved, what's left on your bucket list?
I just had my first novel released, called The Hurricane. I'd like a movie of that made, and I'd like a proper movie of my life.
The Legends Live Tour - featuring Suzi Quatro, David Essex, The Osmonds and Hot Chocolate - starts on Friday, 13 October in Glasgow.
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Harvey Weinstein: George Clooney says alleged behaviour is 'indefensible' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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The actor joins a list of stars condemning Harvey Weinstein after claims of sexual harassment.
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Entertainment & Arts
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George Clooney has called the alleged actions of Weinstein 'indefensible'.
George Clooney and Jennifer Lawrence have joined the list of Hollywood stars condemning Harvey Weinstein.
The co-founder of The Weinstein Company faces sexual harassment claims dating back nearly three decades, which came to light in the New York Times.
Clooney, whose big-screen big break was a Weinstein film, said the producer's alleged actions were "indefensible".
Weinstein, who has been fired by the board of his company, disputes the New York Times report.
He has vowed to take legal action against the newspaper, which said in the report that he had reached at least eight settlements with women.
Jennifer Lawrence, who won an Oscar for his film Silver Linings Playbook, has also now spoken about the allegations, saying she was "deeply disturbed".
Jennifer Lawrence with Harvey Weinstein at the GLAAD Media Awards in 2013
Clooney, who was given his first big movie role as an actor by Weinstein in 1996's From Dusk Till Dawn and as a director in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, said he was previously unaware of the allegations.
"The part we're hearing now about eight women being paid off, I didn't hear anything about that and I don't know anyone that did," he said in an interview with The Daily Beast.
"That's a whole other level and there's no way you can reconcile that. There's nothing to say except that it's indefensible."
Clooney said he had known Weinstein for 20 years. "We've had dinners, we've been on location together, we've had arguments. But I can tell you that I've never seen any of this behaviour - ever," he said.
"Maybe that's what good will come out of this - that not just in Hollywood, although Hollywood is now the focus, but in all of these cases the victims will feel that they will be listened to, and that they don't need to be afraid."
Lawrence also released a statement, five years on from working with Weinstein on Silver Linings Playbook, for which she won the best actress Oscar.
"I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinstein's behaviour," she told Variety.
"I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting."
Jessica Chastain said she had been "warned" about working with Weinstein
Actress Jessica Chastain, who has appeared in The Martian and Zero Dark Thirty, also spoke out on Tuesday, saying she had been "warned" about working with Weinstein.
Unlike others in the industry, who have said they were not aware of his alleged actions, the Oscar winner tweeted her reaction.
"I was warned from the beginning. The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again."
She also responded on social media to a statement from Kate Winslet, who said the allegations made her "angry", and also noted that more men should be speaking up.
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Actress Emma Watson also tweeted on Tuesday afternoon about women being sexually harassed, but did not elaborate on what she was referring to.
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Cillian Murphy, whose TV drama Peaky Blinders is distributed by The Weinstein Company in the US, said the alleged behaviour was "appalling".
"It's great that it's been exposed and I admire all of these women that have come forward," he told BBC 5 live's Afternoon Edition. "We can't allow behaviour like that to be in our industry or in any industry really.
"When people are honest and speak up, that's all that people need to do. It shouldn't be tolerated in any walk of life so why should it be tolerated in the entertainment industry?"
Over the weekend, Weinstein stepped down from the board of directors at the US charity Robin Hood, which describes itself as "New York City's largest poverty-fighting organisation", the charity told BBC News.
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Brazilian Fabio Rochemback arrested in 'cockfighting' raid - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Ex-Barcelona and Middlesbrough player Fabio Rochemback is among dozens arrested, Brazilian media say.
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Latin America & Caribbean
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Fabio Rochemback played for Middlesbrough from 2005 to 2008
Brazilian footballer Fabio Rochemback - formerly of Barcelona and Middlesbrough - has been arrested after an alleged cockfighting ring was busted in the country's south.
A police operation was conducted at a farm in Rio Grande do Sul state, reported news site Globo.
It said 89 roosters were seized and more than $100,000 (£75,000) in cash.
However, his father said his son was not present at the scene. Cockfighting is banned in Brazil.
UOL Sport reported that police arrested 57 people, out of 147 present during the early-morning raid close to Palmeira das Missoe.
But Rochemback's father Juarez said they had been together at the family farm elsewhere in the state.
Fabio Rochemback, now retired from football, was part of Brazil's national team.
He also played for Sport Club Internacional, Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon, before joining Middlesbrough in August 2005.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-41565814
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Catalonia independence declaration signed and suspended - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Catalan leaders sign a declaration of independence from Spain - but suspend it to allow talks.
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Europe
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Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and other regional leaders have signed a declaration of independence from Spain, following the disputed referendum.
However, they say the move will not be implemented for several weeks to allow talks with the government in Madrid.
The document calls for Catalonia to be recognised as an "independent and sovereign state".
The move was immediately dismissed by the Spanish central government in Madrid.
A 1 October referendum in the north-eastern province - which Catalan leaders say resulted in a Yes vote for independence - was declared invalid by Spain's Constitutional Court.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament in Barcelona that the region had won the right to be independent as a result of the vote.
The referendum resulted in almost 90% of voters backing independence, Catalan officials say. But anti-independence voters largely boycotted the ballot - which had a reported turnout of 43% - and there were several reports of irregularities.
National police were involved in violent scenes as they manhandled voters while implementing the legal ruling banning the referendum.
A pro-independence rally was held near the Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona
The declaration reads: "We call on all states and international organisations to recognise the Catalan republic as an independent and sovereign state.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Pablo Insa Iglesias and Elisabeth Besó sit on opposite sides of the argument
Mr Puigdemont told the regional parliament that the "people's will" was to break away from Madrid, but he also said he wanted to "de-escalate" the tension around the issue.
"We are all part of the same community and we need to go forward together. The only way forward is democracy and peace," he told deputies.
But he also said Catalonia was being denied the right to self-determination, and paying too much in taxes to the central government in Madrid.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria responded to Tuesday's developments by saying: "Neither Mr Puigdemont nor anybody else can claim... to impose mediation.
"Any dialogue between democrats has to take place within the law."
She added: "After having come so far, and taken Catalonia to the greatest level of tension in its history, President Puigdemont has now subjected his autonomous region to its greatest level of uncertainty.
"The speech the president... gave today is that of a person who does not know where he is, where he's going, nor who he wants to go there with."
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called an extraordinary cabinet meeting for Wednesday morning to address the latest moves in the crisis.
By the BBC's Tom Burridge, in Barcelona
As Catalonia's leader announced he would declare independence, thousands of his supporters, watching his speech nearby, on a big screen, were euphoric.
But seconds later - when Carles Puigdemont qualified his announcement - and said the declaration would be suspended for several weeks, the disappointment was visible in the crowd.
Mr Puigdemont's language was stark, claiming that he had to follow the will of the Catalan people.
But he is playing for time - offering a window for the possibility of dialogue with Madrid.
His ultimate aim, to pressure the Spanish government to allow a legitimate referendum, remains.
But it's highly unlikely that the Spanish government will accept that and there are signals now that its patience is wearing thin.
Catalonia's centre-right, centre-left coalition government only had a majority of MPs in the regional parliament with the support of another small pro-independence party, on the far left. That party is unhappy that there has been no clear declaration of independence. And so Catalonia's awkward coalition of pro-independence parties feels more fragile.
Independence supporters had been sharing the Catalan hashtag #10ODeclaració (10 October Declaration) on Twitter, amid expectations that Mr Puigdemont would ask parliament to declare independence on the basis of the referendum law it passed last month.
But influential figures including Barcelona's mayor Ada Colau and European Council President Donald Tusk had urged Mr Puigdemont to step back from declaring independence.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What do Scottish nationalists think about Catalonia?
Catalonia, a part of the Spanish state for centuries but with its own distinct language and culture, enjoys broad autonomy under the Spanish constitution.
However, a 2005 amendment redefining the region as a "nation", boosting the status of the Catalan language and increasing local control over taxes and the judiciary, was reversed by the Constitutional Court in 2010.
The economic crisis further fuelled discontent and pro-independence parties took power in the region in the 2015 elections.
Catalonia is is one of Spain's wealthiest regions, accounting for a quarter of the country's exports. But a stream of companies have announced plans to move their head offices out of Catalonia in response to the crisis.
The European Union has made clear that should Catalonia split from Spain, the region would cease to be part of the EU.
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From fluffy pillows to concrete: The uses of captured CO2 - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Carbon emissions contribute to global warming, so could tech that removes them from the air slow the process?
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Business
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Your fluffy pillows and memory foam mattress could be helping to reduce CO2
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are contributing to global warming, so could technologies removing some of the gas from the atmosphere help slow the process?
When you tuck yourself into bed tonight - curling up on your memory foam mattress and fluffy pillows - consider this: you could be helping to reduce climate change.
This is because CO2 can now be captured from the air and stored in a range of everyday items in your home and on the street.
It can be used to make plastics for a whole host of things: the insulation in your fridge-freezer; the paint on your car; the soles of your shoes; and the binding of that new book you haven't read yet.
Even the concrete your street is made of could contain captured CO2.
UK-based Econic Technologies has invented a way of encouraging CO2 - a typically unreactive gas - to react with the petrochemical raw materials used in the making of many plastics.
In this catalysed form, the CO2 can make up to 50% of the ingredients needed for making plastic. And recycling existing CO2 in this way reduces the amount of new CO2 emissions usually resulting from the process.
"Our aim is that by 2026, the technology will be used to make at least 30% of the polyols [the units making up plastic] made globally, and that would reduce CO2 emission by 3.5 million tonnes each year," explains Rowena Sellens, chief executive of Econic Technologies.
"This is equivalent to taking more than two million cars off the road."
CarbonCure's Robert Niven thinks his firm's concrete is far more environmentally friendly
The company is currently working with partners in industry to introduce its technology to market.
Canadian company CarbonCure Technologies is recycling CO2 and putting it into concrete.
CarbonCure takes waste CO2 from industrial emitters - such as fertiliser producers - and injects controlled doses of the liquid gas directly into the concrete truck or mixer.
The reaction that takes place creates calcium carbonate particles that become permanently bound within the concrete - and make the concrete up to 20% stronger.
Today, CarbonCure's technology is installed in more than 60 concrete plants across Canada and the US, supplying hundreds of construction projects.
Another company, Carbon Engineering, captures CO2 and uses it to make diesel and jet fuel. While Carbon Clean Solutions, in the Indian port of Tuticorin, captures CO2 from a coal-fired power plant and turns it into soda ash (sodium carbonate), an ingredient in fertilisers, synthetic detergents and dyes.
But will such carbon capture efforts really make much difference?
Simply put, levels of "greenhouse gases" - CO2, methane and nitrous oxide are the main ones - have been rising rapidly because we've been burning fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - to make electricity and power our transportation, amongst other human activities.
Should we be reducing the amount of CO2 used in making plastics, or simply using less plastic?
At the 2015 Paris climate conference, 195 countries agreed to try to keep global temperatures to within 2C of pre-industrial times by reducing emissions.
But to achieve this target by 2030, the world needs to cut emissions - CO2 accounts for about 70% - by 12 to 14 gigatonnes per year, says John Christensen, director of a partnership between the UN Environment Programme and the Technical University of Denmark.
Econic, by contrast, hopes that by 2026, its technology will be responsible for reducing CO2 emissions by 3.5 million tonnes each year.
And CarbonCure has demonstrated that its technology can help a typical medium-sized concrete producer reduce CO2 emissions by 900 tonnes a year. Globally, the concrete industry could reduce CO2 emissions by more than 700 million tonnes a year, the company believes.
"It's great to have these options coming up," says Mr Christensen, "but there's no silver bullet, no single solution."
Greenpeace's Doug Parr thinks renewable energy is a better way to reduce CO2 emissions
Environmentalists are also concerned that such carbon capture technologies merely delay the fundamental shift society needs to make to become a low-carbon economy. A plastics factory producing less CO2 is still environmentally unfriendly, the argument goes.
"Research into new technologies and approaches that can help reduce carbon emissions is vital, but it must not become an excuse to delay action on tackling the root of the problem - our dependence on fossil fuels," says Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK.
"A process that appears to reduce emissions or increase efficiency can lock us into maintaining industries that could be replaced with much greener options."
In addition, Mr Christensen points out that these carbon capture technologies tend to be very costly because they are so small-scale.
"The advances are positive but it's far from what is needed," he argues.
Another challenge is what to do with the recycled carbon. Some have suggested burying it in the ground or deep under the ocean, but the consequences of this are not fully understood.
So it's better to reduce the amount of emissions we produce in the first place through increased use of renewable energies, such as wind, hydro and solar power, environmentalists argue. This could reduce emissions by up to 50% of the amount needed.
"Use all the technologies available to bend the [emissions] curve down. Then carbon capture can come in," says Mr Christensen.
"It could have an important role to play."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41550446
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UK must act against race inequality, Theresa May says - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Public services are ordered to "explain or change" as wide disparities in life chances are set out.
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UK
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Students at Dunraven School in south London listened as Theresa May explained the audit
Theresa May has warned public services there will be "nowhere to hide" if they treat people differently on the basis of their race.
A new government website shows disparities in educational attainment, health, employment and treatment by police and courts between ethnicities.
The PM said institutions must "explain or change" any variations - but critics are demanding action from ministers.
Labour says government must accept its role in exacerbating injustice.
"People who have lived with discrimination don't need a government audit to make them aware of the scale of the challenge," Mrs May said.
"This audit means that for society as a whole - for government, for our public services - there is nowhere to hide."
Among those contacting the BBC, Shaneil, from Moss Side, Manchester, said: "It shouldn't matter where you come from or your race. You should be equal, you should be able to do anything you want to do.
"We need more different ethnicities to be in power as well."
Joseph G Jones, of the Gypsy Council, said the government was failing its Romani and Traveller communities with "multi-discrimination" across people's lifetimes.
"The younger generations shouldn't have to put up with endemic ongoing discrimination - for the time being there is little light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
And Victoria Stevens, a Ukrainian who has lived in the UK for 18 years told the BBC she had no problem in applying for jobs, as she had a mechanical engineering degree, plenty of work experience, and her late husband's English surname.
But she added: "However, when it came to career progression, I found that a British candidate would get a promotion above me, every time."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Awal Hassan tells Radio 4's Today he was unable to take out a loan for a council flat
Almost all the data released on 'Ethnicity Facts and Figures' is already publicly available and no new data was commissioned for the audit.
This audit is a giant nudge to change behaviour on issues of race inequality. The odd thing is that the project is not a government trying to nudge the people. It is a government trying to nudge itself.
The prime minister has dedicated her premiership to fighting burning injustices and says she is determined to shine a light on disparities between different racial groups in the UK on a range of areas - health, education, job prospects, housing and so on.
A focus on the many and often troubling differences is - of course - no bad thing, but people might well wonder why we need a public website to get Whitehall departments to take an interest.
And given that ministers have known about these "troubling" and "shocking" disparities for years or even decades, why does it take a prime ministerial nudge to get them to take action?
Critics from ethnic minority backgrounds, including former deputy London mayor Munira Mirza, in a letter to The Times, said the "crude and tendentious" approach of comparing the data in the website risked "promoting a grievance culture and policies that harm the communities they aspire to help".
They said prejudice had declined "markedly" and while injustice must be challenged, there were often many underlying factors to explain differences.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid denied it would drive a grievance culture but would help identify disparities.
"There are hundreds of thousands of British Pakistani women and Bangladeshi women who don't speak proper English, who don't speak English at all," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"That might be through choice in some cases, it might be a cultural issue. But that is a big issue because that does then hold those women back from the employment market and other opportunities."
Labour's Dawn Butler said government cuts to services had disproportionately affected women, ethnic minorities, disabled and older people.
Speaking in the House of Commons, she said the PM had "done nothing but exacerbate the problems".
"Far from tackling the burning injustices she's added fuel to the fire. We need solutions and a sustained effort to really tackle burning injustices, talking shop's just not going to cut it."
Although the audit does not focus on government policies, Mrs May is launching a number of measures to combat the differences discovered.
They include Department for Work and Pensions "hotspots" to help people from ethnic minorities get jobs, and traineeships for 16-24 year-olds.
Under the plans, the Ministry of Justice will also adopt recommendations from the Lammy Review, including demanding that prisons have performance indicators to assess how inmates are treated and how representative their workforce is.
David Lammy MP told BBC News the data was "not all doom and gloom" and "some progress" had been made.
"The truth is you can't rest back on your laurels, you can't leave race and issues of class and poverty off the agenda. Some of this has been left off the agenda over the last seven years so we've fallen backwards."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41560927
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'Bulimia battle did not beat me' says athlete Jayne Nisbet - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Jayne Nisbet says she missed out on one sporting dream because of bulimia, but fought her way back.
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Scotland
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Jayne Nisbet said getting to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was emotional
Jayne Nisbet's eating disorder almost robbed her of her sporting dream - but the Edinburgh athlete fought back to compete in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 29-year-old, who has now retired from competing in the high jump, spoke to the BBC about her battle with bulimia in order to highlight the issue and inspire others to fight it.
Jayne said she had been a top junior athlete who was tipped for the Olympics, but that she "spiralled downhill" because her illness.
"I felt like I was useless," she says.
Jayne Nisbet has written a book about her battles with an eating disorder
"I had bulimia, which was combined with depression, and I suffered from anxiety for lots of years afterwards."
Jayne says she now recognises features of her condition, such as extreme behaviour and perfectionist tendencies, going back to childhood.
But it all came to a head in the year before the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.
She had moved to Loughborough in Leicestershire to train at the High Performance Training Centre, but was not eating properly and went down to a weight which was very low for an athlete of 5ft 8in (1.72m).
"People would say to me: 'You are so skinny', and I would genuinely think they were just jealous.
Jayne said a medal at Glasgow would have been the icing on the cake
"I genuinely believed what I was doing was going to help my sport.
"But my performances got worse and worse and I became more and more isolated, to the point where I identified: 'This is not ok, I'm not myself any more'. I completely lost myself."
However, Jayne says that admitting she had an issue did not solve the problem.
"In fact, I probably got worse," she says.
Over the next three months she put on a lot of weight.
"Nobody saw that because I hid myself away," she says.
"I used to hide away in my bedroom because I thought everyone was ashamed of me."
Even in the depths of her struggles, Jayne set herself the goal of qualifying for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
She says: "I spent the first couple of years trying to work it out for myself because I was too afraid to speak anyone.
"By March 2012 I was fluctuating again and I thought: 'Why am I not happy?'
"I got a therapist at that point and he started working through some of my older issues that I didn't even realise existed.
"He unravelled things that I never even knew existed in my head."
In 2013, Jayne had a fantastic season but it was cut short in July by an accident in the gym.
She fell from the top of a step-up box and sustained a compression fracture of the spine, exactly a year before the Glasgow games.
Jayne missed out on the high jump in Delhi but fought back to compete in Glasgow
"In the past that would have triggered a complete downward spiral, and for a small amount of time it did," she says.
"But then I thought: 'What are you doing?' My coach said: 'Do not let this get back inside you, you have come so far'."
She had already pre-qualified for the Commonwealth Games, so needed to get fit and return to her best.
Jayne finished 10th in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow
Jayne says that making it to Hampden Stadium for the Commonwealth Games was an "amazing and emotional" achievement.
"It was like making it to the finish line for me in terms of mental health issues," she says.
While a 10th place finish was not as good as she would have wanted, for Jayne making it to the Games was a major success.
"For me getting a medal would have been the icing on the cake," she says.
"But it was to actually prove that you can overcome something when you are at such a low point.
"You can get through it all and not let it beat you and become what you were meant to be."
Jayne has since retired from high jump and runs a successful business as a personal trainer.
She has also written a book called Free-ed.
"ED is a shorter version of eating disorder, and I want people to find freedom," she says.
In recent years she has also made a transition from high jump to running marathons.
Two years after her Commonwealth Games appearance, she ran a marathon in less than three hours and 15 minutes.
She now wants to reduce her marathon time by competing in the London marathon and the New York marathon next year, to celebrate her 30th birthday.
She says the Jayne of seven years ago would not recognise the woman she has become.
"The transformation in my confidence since competing at the Commonwealth Games has been huge," Jayne says.
"I love an opportunity now to get up and try to inspire people and that's the key thing.
"I want to help people overcome issues to try to get the best out of themselves."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41565598
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North Korea 'hackers steal US-South Korea war plans' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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North Korea allegedly stole secret documents last year, including a plan to kill its leader.
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Asia
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How could war with North Korea unfold?
Hackers from North Korea are reported to have stolen a large cache of military documents from South Korea, including a plan to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.
Rhee Cheol-hee, a South Korean lawmaker, said the information was from his country's defence ministry.
The compromised documents include wartime contingency plans drawn up by the US and South Korea.
They also include reports to the allies' senior commanders.
The South Korean defence ministry has so far refused to comment about the allegation.
Plans for the South's special forces were reportedly accessed, along with information on significant power plants and military facilities in the South.
Mr Rhee belongs to South Korea's ruling party, and sits on its parliament's defence committee. He said some 235 gigabytes of military documents had been stolen from the Defence Integrated Data Centre, and that 80% of them have yet to be identified.
The hack took place in September last year. In May, South Korea said a large amount of data had been stolen and that North Korea may have instigated the cyber attack - but gave no details of what was taken.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that Seoul has been subject to a barrage of cyber attacks by its communist neighbour in recent years, with many targeting government websites and facilities.
The isolated state is believed to have specially-trained hackers based overseas, including in China.
North Korea has accused South Korea of "fabricating" the claims.
News that Pyongyang is likely to have accessed the Seoul-Washington plans for all-out war in the Koreas will do nothing to soothe tensions between the US and North Korea.
The two nations have been at verbal loggerheads over the North's nuclear activities, with the US pressing for a halt to missile tests and Pyongyang vowing to continue them.
The US president and his North Korean counterpart are at loggerheads over Pyongyang's nuclear programme
The North recently claimed to have successfully tested a miniaturised hydrogen bomb, which could be loaded onto a long-range missile.
In a speech at the UN in September, US President Donald Trump threatened to destroy North Korea if it menaced the US or its allies, and said its leader "is on a suicide mission".
Mr Kim responded with a rare statement, vowing to "tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire".
Mr Trump's latest comment took the form of a cryptic tweet at the weekend, where he warned that "only one thing will work" in dealing with North Korea, after years of talks had proved fruitless. He did not elaborate further.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41565281
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Australia dual citizenship saga: Court hearing begins - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A court will determine whether seven MPs, including the deputy PM, are eligible for office.
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Australia
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Barnaby Joyce inherited New Zealand citizenship from his father
An Australian court has begun a long-awaited hearing into whether seven MPs caught up in a dual citizenship saga should remain eligible for office.
Under constitutional rules, Australian politicians cannot be dual citizens.
The High Court of Australia will clarify whether there are any exceptions, such as for those who did not know they were dual nationals.
If Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is disqualified, the government could lose its one-seat majority.
The government will argue that only two politicians who "voluntarily obtained, or retained" dual status should be disqualified.
The other five politicians, including Mr Joyce, were unknowing recipients and should remain eligible, according to the government's defence.
The hearing will last three days. A ruling could be made as early as Thursday, but the court may decide that longer deliberations are necessary.
The cases involve Mr Joyce and his government colleagues Fiona Nash and Matt Canavan, as well as four politicians from minor parties - Malcolm Roberts, Nick Xenophon, Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam.
Mr Joyce will attract the most interest because he sits in the lower House of Representatives, where the party with the most MPs forms the government. The others were elected to the Senate.
If Mr Joyce loses his seat, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull could oversee a minority government, but the potential outcomes are complex.
The citizenship revelations began in July when New Zealand-born Mr Ludlam, from the Greens, announced he was a dual national.
It prompted dozens of politicians to make public statements about their status.
The court will hear submissions from the seven politicians, the government, and an independent challenger, former MP Tony Windsor.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41561892
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Six robbers flee Regent Street jewellers raid on one moped - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The gang abandons a scooter and crashes a second in a smash-and-grab at a West End jewellers
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London
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The gang attacked Mappin & Webb in Regent Street armed with a machete and a hammer
Six robbers fled on a single moped after a smash-and-grab raid at a high-end jewellers in central London.
The gang raided Mappin & Webb in Regent Street at about 19.20 BST, armed with a machete and a hammer, police said.
They arrived on three scooters but abandoned one at the scene and crashed another in nearby Oxford Street.
"All six" fled on the remaining moped, police said. An eyewitness told the BBC he saw three men on a single moped with a fourth "running alongside".
Two of the robbers crashed their moped on Oxford Street during their escape
"Four men, one with a sledgehammer sticking out of his bag, were swerving around traffic heading towards Soho on two mopeds," the eyewitness said.
He added: "One of the mopeds must have clipped another vehicle as it crashed and came sliding towards the pavement.
"The two robbers then scrambled to get on the remaining moped, but one man ended up running along side with the public giving chase."
The gang made off with a "high-value" haul, police said
The robbers made off with a "high-value" haul after smashing cabinets at the store. No arrests have been made, police said.
A Met Police spokesman said following the Oxford Street crash "the suspects who were on that moped were then picked up before all six fled on a single remaining moped".
Mappin & Webb was founded in 1775 and customers have included Queen of France Marie Antoinette, Grace Kelly and Winston Churchill.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41559472
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EE apologises for voice call fault - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Customers around the UK reported problems making and receiving phone calls.
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Technology
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Mobile phone provider EE confirmed that some customers were experiencing problems making voice calls.
The firm has now tweeted that the issue is resolved. Data and messaging services were not affected.
The fault appeared to largely affect calls to non-EE phone numbers.
Nearly 3,000 people left comments on the website Down Detector from around the UK, saying they were unable to make or receive calls, on some occasions for several hours.
"Some of our customers are reporting problems when trying to make calls to some numbers this morning," the firm said in a statement.
"All data and messaging services are working as normal. We're working to fix this as quickly as possible and apologise for any inconvenience caused."
EE also said on Twitter that emergency services numbers were still accessible.
Customers took to social networks and forums to complain.
"Can only call other mobiles in Nottingham, even local numbers aren't working, sort this out EE, ironically I received a text from EE promoting BT Sports app during this downtime!" wrote Pat on Down Detector.
At the end of September the firm apologised again after a fault affected customers using its UK home broadband service.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41568555
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Arthur Collins trial: Acid 'thrown inside packed club' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann is accused of injuring 16 clubbers, a court hears.
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London
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Arthur Collins is accused of throwing acid at clubbers in Mangle
A man threw acid inside a packed London nightclub injuring 16 people after "trouble" broke out, a court has heard.
Arthur Collins, ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann, is accused of throwing the substance in the Mangle nightclub in Dalston, on 17 April.
Prosecutors told Wood Green Crown Court it happened after a group of men started pushing and shoving.
Mr Collins, 25, and co-defendant Andre Phoenix, 21, both deny the charges against them.
They are accused of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, and 11 counts of actual bodily harm.
Jurors heard 16 people who were on the crowded dancefloor were injured when Mr Collins, of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, threw the substance at another man.
Sixteen people were injured in April's attack at an east London nightclub
Prosecutor Luke Ponte said it was not clear what started the confrontation.
But he said Mr Collins "does not dispute that he threw the acid" and "he was assisted" by Mr Phoenix, of Tottenham.
CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Collins throwing the substance "into the face of another young man".
"As that man went down in pain, the aggressor threw acid a second time directed towards another man, and then threw acid a third time," Mr Ponte said.
He added it was "not surprising" Mr Collins did not dispute his involvement as it was filmed "clearly on the club's CCTV".
Mr Collins is the father of The Only Way is Essex star Ferne McCann's unborn child
Among those injured was Mr Phoenix who was splashed with the unidentified substance that was later found to have a pH level of 1, the court heard.
The pair were later identified from the CCTV footage and Mr Phoenix was arrested on 21 April, the jury was told.
However, Mr Collins initially "could not be found", Mr Ponte said.
He was located a few days later at a property in Northamptonshire, the court heard, where he jumped out of the first floor window in his T-shirt and underwear to escape arrest and was Tasered by police.
It is understood about 600 people were attending an event at the Mangle nightclub in London Fields
The court was told Mr Collins allegedly heard Makai Brown - one of the people injured in the attack - talking about spiking a girl's drink in the club.
When asked by George Carter-Stephenson QC, defending Mr Collins, if such a conversation about spiking a drink occurred, Mr Brown said no.
Mr Carter-Stephenson told the jury it was Mr Collins' case he then insulted Mr Brown and told him "you are not spiking anyone".
He then asked Mr Brown if his client had taken a bottle from him "which he thought contained something to spike drinks."
But Mr Brown denied having a bottle, explaining he does not drink alcohol and had been searched on entry to the venue.
He also denied that any altercation or aggression had taken place with Mr Collins and Mr Phoenix.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41566491
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'My daughter had to share a classroom with her rapist' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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Campaigners say the government is taking too long to produce guidelines for schools on handling sexual assaults between pupils.
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Family & Education
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Rachel's daughter was raped by a boy at her school. He was arrested, bailed, and put back in his normal lessons, alongside his victim, the following day.
"Somebody who's been raped is already in a terrible place, but to be expected to be back in the same space as the rapist is just terrible," she told the Victoria Derbyshire programme. "It's re-traumatising - it's just a terrible thing to do to a rape victim."
The government says it is writing interim guidelines for schools to prevent schoolchildren being forced to share classes with pupils who have raped or sexually assaulted them, but campaigners say it is taking too long.
Rachel - not her real name - said her daughter's anonymity was compromised at an early stage - which made life especially difficult.
"Being in the same classroom as the person that's raped you is difficult enough, but when people in that room know what's happened and they're watching how you cope being in the same room as the rapist - that's just awful," she explained.
"It's a whole extra layer of stress, knowing that these people are watching you - it's just vile. It's voyeurism gone mad."
Rachel said the school seemed to have no policy in place for the situation and dealt with it "extremely badly". She had to instigate a meeting and, despite her efforts, she says, they did not prioritise her daughter's needs.
"They were very keen to protect his right to an education, but seemed to give no consideration at all to her rights as a rape victim and somehow or other they just didn't understand what it would do to a rape victim to be expected to be in the same space as the rapist," she said.
Her daughter started to absent herself from lessons where she might see him, before gradually withdrawing herself from school entirely.
The issue was highlighted in a report by the Commons Women and Equalities Committee in 2016, which exposed the widespread incidence of sexual violence and harassment in England's schools.
According to BBC research, 5,500 sexual offences were reported to the police as having taken place in UK schools over a three-year period to July 2015, including 600 rapes.
Last month, lawyers who had been contacted by victims, wrote to Education Secretary Justine Greening, accusing her of being in breach of her statutory duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 which requires her to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination against girls in school and advance equality of opportunity.
Her department has replied saying it is drafting interim guidance.
Rachel says the current guidance on the Department for Education website includes 11 pages of notes of what to do if the perpetrator is an adult, but the paragraph on peer abuse has no detail.
"Which is why you get a patchwork approach, and it leads time and time and time again, to the victims being treated really, really badly by schools," she said.
"I believe strongly that it's time the government stepped up and provided as much guidance as they provide when the perpetrator is an adult, because it's just as complicated."
Rachel Krys, co-director of End Violence Against Women, agreed that it was all taking "far too long".
She said the extent of the problem highlighted by last year's select committee report was shocking and the government was failing to act on its obligations under human rights legislation to protect students.
"Girls continue to be failed by schools and the system," she said. "The government has to tell schools what to do, you can't expect each individual head teacher and board of governors to decide, it's not easy and the government has to take responsibility."
Rachel says her daughter is recovering well but feels "hugely" let down.
"A terrible situation was made much worse and there are long-term consequences for her of that, both in terms of her ability to access criminal justice is in some ways compromised and in terms of her psychological wellbeing," she said.
The Department for Education said it was working with specialists to determine how the issues raised in the committee inquiry should be best reflected in guidance and it was important to get it right.
Minister for Children and Families Robert Goodwill, said: "Statutory safeguarding guidance is clear that schools should have an effective child protection policy that addresses peer-on-peer abuse. This should include procedures to minimise it along with advice on how allegations will be dealt with and how victims will be supported.
"We are considering what more can be done to assist schools and we listen to the views of stakeholders and experts when updating our safeguarding guidance."
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41486776
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Robo shops - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Can a wave of disruptive ideas change our shopping habits?
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Business
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Virtual shop assistants and mobile shops that could drive to meet you are just some of the ways real world stores are fighting back against the internet.
So could a wave of disruptive ideas change all our shopping habits?
TAP HERE to find out more.
Read more from the BBC's series The Disruptors here.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41557369
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'I quit Google and launched a business with my mum' - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How Munaf Kapadia runs a successful "pop up" restaurant at his family home in Mumbai.
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Business
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Munaf Kapadia runs a successful "pop up" restaurant at his family's home in Mumbai. His mother also works as head chef.
While watching TV one Sunday afternoon back in 2014, Munaf Kapadia had an argument with his mother that would change his life.
The then 25-year-old Google employee wanted to watch US cartoon the Simpsons, but as usual, his mother Nafisa preferred to see her favourite Indian soap opera and switched channels.
His mum had lots of skills, but in his view she spent too much time watching bad TV.
Diners usually eat Bohri food from the same large platter, or "thaal"
Determined to get her doing something more meaningful, he struck upon an idea.
Nafisa had always been good at cooking "Bohri" food, an Indian cuisine that is much feted, but hardly served anywhere in their home city of Mumbai.
And so he decided to email 50 friends, inviting them for lunch at the family home.
"We settled on a group of eight friends of friends, and served them my mom's food," recalls Mr Kapadia, now 28.
"Then we started doing it every Saturday and Sunday, opening it up to the public and charging like a restaurant. That's how The Bohri Kitchen was born."
Members of the public dine at the Kapadias' home every weekend
Traditionally, Bohri cuisine has only been available within the Dawoodi Bohra community, a small Muslim sect that lives in parts of India and Pakistan.
As Mr Kapadia says, "you literally had to beg Bohri friends or gatecrash Bohri weddings" to get a spoonful of it.
It blends Gujarati, Parsi, Mughlai and Maharastrian influences, and is often enjoyed by groups of friends or families, who eat from the same large steel platter, or "thaal".
For his first "pop-up" lunch, Mr Kapadia charged guests 700 rupees (£8, $11) per head for a traditional seven-course banquet. By the time they had finished eating he knew the idea had potential.
Mutton Khichda - goat meat cooked with dal and rice along with various Indian spices
"I was really shocked, but they actually hugged my mom. They said, 'aunty, you have magic in your hands, this food is outstanding!'."
He adds: "I saw the glint in my mom's eyes when she got that acknowledgement, which she is not used to, because we in the family take her cooking for granted.
"That's when I decided to just keep on doing this, I thought let's try to keep getting new people exposed to my mother's cooking skills."
So Mr Kapadia quit his marketing job at Google, and in January 2015 launched the "The Bohri Kitchen" as a brand.
Thanks to word-of-mouth publicity and some good reviews, it quickly gained a reputation among adventurous young food-lovers.
Mr Kapadia now charges 1,500 rupees per meal, typically offering lunches and occasional dinners at his parents' home.
He has also launched a separate takeaway and catering business, which operates through the week, and employs three members of staff from outside the family.
The firm recently broke into profit and is now looking to open outlets across India.
More The Boss features, which every week profile a different business leader from around the world:
But it hasn't all been plain sailing. For one thing, it took Mr Kapadia a while to get used to hosting strangers in his home.
"We started a 'no serial killer policy', so customers can't just book a seat, they have to ask for it," he says. We then do a background check by calling them up and asking a few questions to make sure they're legitimate."
There have been other challenges too, including convincing his parents that he wasn't crazy for leaving his job at Google, and learning how to hire good staff.
"My biggest challenge now is ensuring that our takeaway produces the same quality of food that my mother makes at home."
Bohri Kitchen samosas are stuffed with smoked lamb mince, coriander, onion and lemon
Ravinder Yadav, of management consultancy Technopak Advisors, says that many Indian food businesses struggle to build a loyal customer base.
"These days, consumers in India have plenty of options when it comes to eating out. So making sure you know who your consumer is, and creating something that they will keep coming back to, is vital, even for the biggest brands."
Still, he says in some respects things are getting easier.
"Finding investment is less of a challenge in India nowadays. And the government is making it easier to do business, so it's simpler to get the licenses you need and to meet other regulations.''
The dessert Doodhi Halwa is made by slow-cooking calabashes in milk, with dry fruits and sugar
India's food services industry is also expanding fast. In the past decade, consumer spending power has grown, along with people's appetite for eating out and ordering takeaways.
Mr Kapadia's mother, the hidden culinary talent behind The Bohri Kitchen, says that the business has brought out a different side of her personality.
"I have never looked at this from a business angle, it's just something that I love doing," she says.
"And when guests say my food reminds them of home, it's amazing. I get a lot of satisfaction and happiness."
But has her son managed to wean her off her TV habit? Not likely, she says with a giggle.
"I still watch all my favourite soaps while cooking for our guests."
You can hear an interview with Munaf Kapadia on The Big Debate on BBC Asian Network, Monday 9 October.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41467962
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James Harding: BBC's head of news to leave - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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He says he will stand down as director of BBC News at the beginning of 2018.
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Entertainment & Arts
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James Harding is going to set up his own company
BBC director of news James Harding is to stand down at the beginning of 2018.
In a statement, he said: "I am proud to have worked for BBC News as we renewed our reputation for responsible journalism."
BBC director general Tony Hall praised Harding, saying: "James has done an incredible job during a hugely complex and momentous period."
After four years in the role, Harding is leaving the BBC to set up his own news media venture.
Announcing the move, Harding said "even when we're pedalling into the wind" that working at the BBC was "rewarding and worthwhile".
Talking about his new company, he explained: "There is some journalism that the BBC, for all its brilliance, can't, and probably shouldn't, do.
"And that's what I want to explore: I am going to start a new media company with a distinct approach to the news and a clear point of view.
"I know I will enjoy the chance to do some more journalism of my own and, at such a critical time, I'm seriously excited about the prospect of building a new venture in news."
He said he'd reveal more in the new year.
James Harding was previously editor of The Times
Lord Hall thanked Harding for his service to the BBC.
"James has done an incredible job during a hugely complex and momentous period of British and world history," he said.
"He has led the BBC's coverage through two referendums, two general elections, an astonishing US presidential election, not to mention a series of extraordinary events at home and abroad.
"In the years James has been with us he's played an important part in modernising and changing the BBC, but beyond that, he has been a first-class colleague and a pleasure to work with."
A successor will be appointed by the end of the year, Lord Hall said.
Harding joined the Financial Times in 1994 and served as Shanghai correspondent, media editor and Washington bureau chief.
He joined The Times in 2006 as business and city editor and was editor from 2007 to 2012.
Harding was appointed in April 2013 to oversee all of the BBC's news and current affairs programming.
The division's workforce produces output across network news, English regions and the World Service group.
In an email to staff announcing his departure, James Harding covered what all departure messages must cover: his legacy.
Harding, who is - full disclosure - my ultimate boss, mentioned the emphasis on slow news, the hiring of new talent, new language services and the launch of the Reality Check brand to address the challenge of fake news.
Together these add up to a substantial legacy. But Harding, like any journalist, will want to be remembered above all for the stories that were covered during his tenure.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
• None Need for news 'greater than ever'
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41572378
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Trump challenges Rex Tillerson to IQ test - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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"I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests," Mr Trump said. "And I can tell you who is going to win."
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US & Canada
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US President Donald Trump has challenged his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, to an IQ test, in the latest sign of discord between the two.
He made the remark in a magazine interview when asked about reports that Mr Tillerson had called him a moron.
"I think it's fake news," Mr Trump told Forbes, "but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."
Mr Trump had lunch on Tuesday with Mr Tillerson.
Shortly beforehand, the president maintained he still had confidence in the secretary of state.
"I did not undercut anybody," he also told reporters. "I don't believe in undercutting people."
Asked about Mr Trump's IQ test challenge, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the daily news briefing: "It was a joke. You should get a sense of humour."
Reports have swirled of a schism in the Trump administration between the commander-in-chief and his top diplomat, as the US faces a host of vexatious foreign policy conundrums, from North Korea to Iran.
Last week Mr Tillerson called a news conference to dismiss reports that he was considering quitting.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In October, Rex Tillerson responded to a report he called Mr Trump 'a moron'
But the former ExxonMobil chief executive did not deny an NBC News report that he had called his boss a moron after a July meeting at the Pentagon.
Earlier this month, Mr Trump publicly undercut the former Texas oilman by tweeting that he was "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with nuclear-armed North Korea.
Last week the New York Times reported that Mr Tillerson was astonished at how little Mr Trump grasps the basics of foreign policy.
According to the newspaper, quoting sources close to the secretary of state, Mr Trump has been irritated by Mr Tillerson's body language during meetings.
Mr Tillerson is said to roll his eyes or slouch when he disagrees with the decisions of his boss.
Donald Trump insists that the stories about Rex Tillerson insulting his intelligence - despite being heavily sourced - are "fake news". Now, however, he's lobbing one of his trademark counter-punches, just in case.
Mr Tillerson thinks he's a moron? Well, he's smarter than Rex, that's for certain.
It's classic Trump - a slightly less juvenile version of the "I guarantee you there's no problem" retort Mr Trump snapped off during a Republican debate, when Senator Marco Rubio questioned the size of his, er, manhood.
Mr Trump tends to get touchy when people doubt his intellect. That's probably why the "moron" line has prompted such a furious response from the White House and State Department. During the campaign he said he doesn't have to consult generals because he has "a very good brain" and told a rally in South Carolina that he was highly educated and has "the best words".
In August, he boasted that he was a "better student" and went to better schools than all his elite critics.
Mr Tillerson may have opened a difficult-to-repair rift with the president. While Mr Trump is quite comfortable with insult-trading, there's one topic that's clearly off-limits.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41570266
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At it happened: Catalan crisis: Puigdemont backs negotiated independence - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Catalonia's president asks parliament to suspend the effect of the independence referendum to enable talks to achieve it.
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Europe
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The incredible game of cat and mouse between the Madrid government and the Catalan devolved government continues.
That's been the tactic all along from the Catalan government. It's been putting threats on the table, it's been speaking to the media and saying: "I will go ahead and declare independence from Spain come what may"; "I will hold that referendum of more than a week ago even though it has been declared illegal by the Spanish state, even though they try to arrest officials and try to break it up".
And now Carles Puigdemont is saying: "I am still going to declare independence from Spain, but I am giving them some time, a window."
That is a window where there can in theory be mediation - and we are hearing that there are mediation efforts tonight by an international organisation - according to our sources involving very very senior international political figures.
In a sense his stark warnings haven't changed. But he will still be under pressure, not only from his own party but other pro-independence Catalan parties which he depends on for a majority in parliament to actually keep this whole project going.
He's given them maybe enough, but is their patience going to run out? And then there's the other dimension in this - the Spanish government in Madrid.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-41567394
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PM's Brexit vote hesitation may haunt her - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The PM's refusal to say whether she'd now vote for Brexit was a telling moment.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mrs May said she would not answer "hypothetical questions"
Unscripted but uncontroversial - the prime minister had been safely navigating a radio phone-in.
Then a quiet, excellent booby trap question was laid by the interviewer, Iain Dale, for the prime minister.
She had, as she has said many times, balanced all the evidence and looked at all the facts to come to her original conclusion about backing Remain in the referendum.
She had been lobbied by both sides to pick them, but in the end went for the doomed side of the status quo.
Would she, more than a year on, stick to that view? Or is she now a convert, a true believer to the Brexit cause?
If there were to be another referendum, what would she do?
Now, to the mind of someone like Theresa May who is known to take time to make decisions, to call for evidence, answering a hypothetical question about something that isn't going to happen is perhaps the daft kind of game that journalists like to play from time to time.
The point of those kinds of questions however is to probe a politician's instincts.
In sticking only ever to purely factual answers it tells us little of their character, little of their thinking, little of their instincts.
Fairly or not, Theresa May's hesitation in giving her answer on this hypothetical question will give pause for thought to those who harbour suspicions of her real commitment to Brexit.
And her "open and honest" answer, which refused to come down on either side creates the strange situation where the prime minister appears unwilling to give full-throated support to her government's main policy.
Of course, as she has said countless times, we are leaving the European Union, "Brexit means Brexit" - soundbites repeated ad nauseam.
There is no question that she is fundamentally committed to the objective she has set for the government, determined to carry out the policy and Downing Street sources have suggested it would be ridiculous to say her comments raise doubts about whether she will deliver Brexit.
But the refusal to be categoric on whether she would choose this set of circumstances was telling.
It's easy to see why she wasn't willing to answer.
She likes to talk about things that are real, rather than imagined.
I remember, in the referendum campaign itself it took months - yes, months - to persuade her to give us an interview about why she had come to her conclusion to support Remain.
And most importantly perhaps, she is the kind of politician who believes in doing what people have asked her to do, rather than blindly pursuing what she believes herself.
In that sense, in many areas she is not a "vision" person, not a policy-pusher either.
And for some, that's an advantage, one Brexiteer told me today: "She is the best person to be the Boss because she is an administrator."
It's not about imposing her views on her party, or the country (of course, she doesn't have the majority to do that in any case).
But her hesitation tonight may haunt her - and it's a judder that Number 10 could well have done without at a time when they are trying to rediscover the ground beneath their feet.
At the very least, it's a question that she will be asked, again and again.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41576100
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Sir Bruce Forsyth honoured with NTA award - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The event's entertainment award will be renamed in honour of the late entertainer.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The National Television Awards have renamed their entertainment prize in honour of the late Sir Bruce Forsyth.
Sir Bruce, who died in August aged 89, was a frequent NTA nominee and received its special recognition award for services to entertainment in 2011.
Shows like Saturday Night Takeaway and The Graham Norton Show are among those in contention for the inaugural Bruce Forsyth entertainment award.
Sir Bruce's widow said the NTAs "always had a special place in his heart".
Sir Bruce presented Strictly Come Dancing with Tess Daly from 2004 to 2014
Lady Forsyth wrote: "My darling Bruce would have been both humbled and delighted to have a National Television Entertainment Award named in his honour.
"Entertainment was his life. The National Television Awards always had a special place in his heart because they're the people's awards, voted by viewers.
"The children and I are thrilled his flame will still burn brightly with this new award celebrating the stars of today and tomorrow."
Sir Bruce's 75-year-career saw him present shows like The Generation Game, The Price is Right, Play Your Cards Right and Strictly come Dancing.
The BBC is considering dedicating a permanent memorial to the star.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41557664
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Meryl Streep and Dame Judi Dench speak out about Harvey Weinstein - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Leading actresses are appalled by sexual harassment claims against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Streep and Weinstein have worked together on such films as The Iron Lady
Meryl Streep and other Hollywood stars have spoken out against producer Harvey Weinstein in the wake of the sexual harassment claims that saw him being fired by his own company.
Streep told the Huffington Post she was "appalled" by the "disgraceful" news.
She went on to praise "the intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse", calling them "heroes".
Dame Judi Dench also issued a statement saying she was "completely unaware" of the "horrifying" claims.
The British actress also praised those who had spoken up.
"I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out," she said.
Meanwhile, another British actress - Romola Garai - says she felt "violated" after being asked to visit Weinstein in his hotel room when she was 18 so he could "approve" her for a role.
Garai told The Guardian he opened the door in his dressing gown. "It was humiliating for me," she said, adding: "It was an abuse of power."
Oscar-winner Kate Winslet has also praised those, like Garai, who spoke out, telling Variety they are "incredibly brave", adding it had been "deeply shocking to hear".
Emma Thompson, Mark Ruffalo and Seth Rogen are among other leading actors to express similar sentiments.
The Weinstein allegations have instigated a fierce debate about abuse of power in Hollywood and beyond.
Streep's statement followed criticism that leading Hollywood figures had maintained a "deafening silence" in the wake of the allegations against Weinstein that surfaced in the New York Times on Friday.
Streep said she wanted to make it clear that "not everybody" had known about the allegations, including herself.
The three-time Oscar-winner said the news had "appalled those of us whose work [Weinstein] championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported."
Streep worked with Weinstein on such films as The Iron Lady and August: Osage County and jokingly referred to him as "God" in a 2012 acceptance speech.
Rose McGowan has been highly vocal without mentioning Weinstein by name
"Harvey supported the work fiercely, was exasperating but respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally," Streep wrote about the allegations.
"I did not know about his financial settlements with actresses and colleagues; I did not know about his having meetings in his hotel room, his bathroom, or other inappropriate, coercive acts.
"And if everybody knew, I don't believe that all the investigative reporters in the entertainment and the hard news media would have neglected for decades to write about it."
She added: "The behaviour is inexcusable, but the abuse of power familiar. Each brave voice that is raised, heard and credited by our watchdog media will ultimately change the game."
Thompson said Weinstein was known to be "a predatory man"
Weinstein was made an honorary CBE by the Queen in 2004 for his contribution to the British film industry.
A spokesman for Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May said she had expressed "concern" about the allegations, but said his CBE was not a matter for her office but for the Honours Forfeiture Committee, where each case is "considered on its merits".
Speaking earlier on Monday, Britain's Emma Thompson said she was pleased the story had come out and described Weinstein as "a predatory man".
"Male predatory behaviour is everywhere, not just in the film industry," the actress and screenwriter told the BBC.
"Let's support those women who don't have the confidence to speak out."
Some male stars have also spoken out to denounce Weinstein and express support for the women he is alleged to have abused.
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"What Harvey Weinstein did was a disgusting abuse of power," tweeted Avengers actor Mark Ruffalo about the claims.
"I believe all the women coming forward about Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment," wrote Seth Rogen.
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Actress Rose McGowan, who the New York Times claimed had reached a legal settlement with Weinstein in 1997, has also been highly vocal.
"Ladies of Hollywood, your silence is deafening," she tweeted on Saturday, going on to tell the Hollywood Reporter that "men in Hollywood need to change ASAP".
When the claims were first reported in the New York Times, Weinstein issued a statement in which he apologised.
"I appreciate the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologise for it," he wrote.
But he later disputed the article, with one of his legal team claiming the newspaper's report was "saturated with false and defamatory statements".
Mr Weinstein's lawyer, Lisa Bloom, said in another statement that he denied many of the allegations against him as "patently false".
Bloom later announced she had resigned as Mr Weinstein's adviser.
The painful fact is, many, many people were aware of allegations about Weinstein's behaviour for years. He was, as the saying goes, hiding in plain sight, no doubt protected to some extent by his friendships with famous people and his ability to hand out internships to the likes of Malia Obama (who as far as we know was treated with the utmost civility).
That he was a major supporter of Hillary Clinton will have done him little harm, too.
Weinstein was the kind of man who used his power to be a gateway to both financial riches and fame: he controlled access to huge audiences, with all the money that can bring.
If some of the claims made by actresses are true, it may be that Weinstein was - unforgivably - allowed to get away with it because of his power. Not just his power to make people very rich; also, his power to make them very famous.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41557010
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UK eggs declared safe 30 years after salmonella scare - BBC News
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2017-10-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Young children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups can safely eat raw eggs, say UK food experts.
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Health
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Runny eggs can now be enjoyed by everyone
"Lion mark" eggs have been declared safe for pregnant women and young children, nearly 30 years after a salmonella scare.
Vulnerable groups had been advised not to eat raw, soft boiled or runny eggs.
The Food Standards Agency says "Lion Mark" eggs, which include almost all of the eggs produced in the UK, are virtually free of salmonella.
The new advice comes after a vaccination programme, and improvements to animal welfare.
In 1988, a scare over the presence of salmonella in eggs caused a dramatic collapse in sales of eggs and a series of warnings for vulnerable groups to avoid eating them if they were raw or runny.
The then junior Conservative health minister, Edwina Currie, declared: "Most of the egg production in this country, sadly, is now affected with salmonella."
Mrs Currie's statement wildly overstated the danger and eventually led to her resignation.
But there was a problem with salmonella in eggs and by the 1990s producers started a vaccination programme.
The "British Lion Mark", printed on eggs in red ink, was introduced so that eggs could be traced back to the farm of origin and to show best-before dates.
Almost 30 years on from the initial scare, the Food Standards Agency's Heather Hancock, says runny eggs can now be eaten by everyone.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Science now shows the risk from salmonella in eggs is extremely low.
"We are now saying if there is a British Lion egg, you're safe to do that.
"The risk of salmonella is now so low you needn't worry.
"And that's true whether you're a fit healthy adult, or whether you're pregnant or elderly or young.
"It's only people on strictly medically supervised diets who need to avoid those eggs."
The British appetite for eggs has been growing in recent years.
Last year British hens laid 10,372 million eggs, while on average we consume more than 34.5 million eggs every day.
And eggs are very good for you, packed full of vitamin D, protein and valuable omega-3 fatty acids.
Mother of two Catherine Millington is a big fan, with eggs providing quick, cheap and nutritious meals for her two daughters, who are aged nearly 4 years old and 7 months.
"Eggs are brilliant because you can boil them, break them into bits, and the baby can handle them so we can do baby-led weaning with it.
"And when you're in a rush, they're dead easy."
Just outside Penrith on the edge of the Lake District is The Lakes Free Range Egg Company.
Egg farmer David Brass says the introduction of the British Lion standard has made all the difference.
"We know from back in the '80s when all the scare started, there was an issue with eggs.
"But what the Lion standard does, it is a fully independent, audited code of practice to make sure we have standards on the farm that make sure we can't have any of those disease problems again.
"And it has shown time after time, in those intervening years, that it is just a brilliant food safety code."
Over the summer, millions of eggs were pulled from supermarket shelves in more than a dozen European countries - including the UK - after it was discovered some had been contaminated with a potentially harmful insecticide at Dutch farms.
• None 700,000 eggs came to UK from tainted farms
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41568998
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Michelle Keegan: Is Our Girl too glamorous? - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Viewers were surprised by how flawless actress Michelle Keegan looked in a disaster zone.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Michelle Keegan has returned for the third series of Our Girl
The first episode of the new series of Our Girl has been criticised by viewers who thought Michelle Keegan looked too glamorous to play an army medic.
Ed Power in The Telegraph wrote that Keegan, as Georgie Lane, had a "straight-from-the-beauty salon complexion" - but added that she put in a "solid" performance.
Viewers had mixed views on the return of the BBC drama.
And some were unimpressed with a simulated earthquake in the episode.
The Mirror praised Keegan for her acting prowess
"On paper, there's nothing wrong with the Nepalese earthquake storyline," wrote Ian Hyland in The Mirror.
"But, sadly, Our Girl clearly lacks the budget to do it justice.
"As Lane's colleagues rolled off their camp beds during an aftershock, it was like William Shatner and the Starship Enterprise gang throwing themselves around the set of Star Trek in the 1960s."
Some Twitter users agreed, with one also comparing the camerawork to that of the 1960s.
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Another said it was "embarrassing" and "unrealistic".
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Milan and Georgie were caught up in an earthquake in Nepal in the episode
Many were just happy to see the series back on the screen however.
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Others were surprised at how perfect Keegan's make-up was while she was playing a Lance Corporal in a combat zone.
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Another viewer concurred, remarking on how her "hair and makeup remains untouched throughout the whole episode, even after an earthquake".
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Tuesday night's episode was the highest series opener of Our Girl with four million viewers, according to overnight figures.
The first series starred former EastEnders actress Lacey Turner in the first series in 2014.
The Times gave the episode two stars, bemoaning its "army banter" and accusing it of firing blanks.
The Telegraph gave it three stars, with Power saying Keegan played "plucky Georgie" with "real zing".
Hyland wrote in The Mirror that the first episode's issues were "no reflection on Keegan", adding: "She does her best. There simply isn't that much for her to get her teeth into on this second time around".
And in the Daily Mail, Christopher Stevens said it seemed a bit too "peaceful and idyllic" for a disaster zone - but noted the episode was "romantic enough".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41583485
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The man with 7,000 licence plates - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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American licence plates have become aluminium works of art - and collecting them is hugely popular.
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US & Canada
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American car registration plates have become aluminium works of art and collecting them has never been more popular.
On a quiet street in Arlington, Virginia, one man has squeezed the whole world into his garage.
On one wall, all 50 states of America. Next to it, all 13 of Canada's provinces and territories.
Most of Mexico is above the garage door, while another wall zips from continent to continent: Montenegro one minute, Micronesia the next.
Andrew Pang has spent 40 years collecting plates, and every sheet of metal tells a story.
Andrew has "between 7,000 and 8,000 plates". He received his first aged seven while growing up in Virginia.
"My friend and neighbour across the street was from Louisiana, and he would go back every summer," says Andrew.
"One summer I said 'bring me something back from Louisiana'. He chose to bring me a licence plate from his grandfather's car dealership."
Andrew had "dabbled" in stamp collecting and "had developed an interest in other countries, geography, maps".
When Louisiana landed in his lap, he decided to start collecting. "I thought 'everyone collects stamps'," he says. "This was a little different."
By the time Andrew was 12, he had a plate from all 50 states. His next challenge was collecting a Virginia plate from every year they were issued.
"It took me 25 years to complete," says Andrew.
He found the missing piece of the jigsaw when a woman in Fredericksburg, Virginia, sold her deceased husband's collection. He bought a dozen plates - including the 1906 - for "around $4,000".
After completing the Virginia set - or "run", to use the terminology - Andrew looked for new worlds to conquer. Or new states, at least.
He spent four years in Texas, and completed its run. He now wants the set from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, but admits it will take time.
"I'm very close on DC, Maryland, North Dakota," he says. "But I particularly focus on quality (the plate's condition). I could have finished many (runs) if I took anything."
Many states and territories use their plates to advertise their attractions
When Andrew started collecting plates, the hobby was an "oddity", he says. But two things have changed that: the internet, and the trend for colourful, well-designed plates.
"Many of the plates in the old days were very, very boring," he says. "At the time their only reason was for identification: two colours, no pictures, no designs.
"With a few notable exceptions, the first real foray into more interesting graphics was 1976 for the US bicentennial (the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence).
"At that time, quite a few states offered very specific bicentennial plates to everyone."
The next marker, says Andrew, was in 1986. After the Challenger space shuttle disaster, Florida issued a plate with a rocket design to raise funds for the Astronauts Memorial Foundation.
States began to realise the potential of plates, and the era of brighter, distinctive designs began. Oregon's plates have a fir tree, for example. North Dakota's have a bison. Florida's have two oranges.
The effect, when driving on American roads, is twofold. On one hand, the country seems vast: it's not uncommon in DC to see plates from California, 3,000 miles away, for example.
On the other, it makes the country seem smaller, more interesting, and more united: oh look, there goes someone from Maine, or Michigan, or Montana. We're all Americans here.
Plates design began to change in the 1970s - as seen in these examples from 1970 and 1996
There is, of course, another reason for the rise in well-designed plates.
"The American population is very mobile," says Andrew, a 47-year-old accountant. "This summer we drove 6,000 miles across the country, and that's not unusual.
"The states realised, 'here's my person from Virginia, people are going to see his licence plate, let's do something'.
"If you're in Florida, you're nowhere near a mountain, but you see a car from Colorado and they have the snow-covered peaks on the plate.
"South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and many others put their tourism website on their licence plate. In many ways they have replaced the bumper sticker. It's free advertising."
The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association began in 1954. It has almost 3,000 members from all 50 states and 19 countries.
Around 500 people attend its annual conventions, and there are smaller, regional meetings too. Jeff Minard became a member in the 1960s, aged 15.
"Your member number is related to when you joined," says Jeff. "My number is 495. There are very few three-digit members alive."
Jeff says licence plate collecting has become "enormous", although he distinguishes between "serious" collectors, such as the association's members, and those who may have a dozen or so in their garage.
"I'm not dismissing them at all (the less serious collectors)," he says. "But we're a little more academic, if I can put it like that."
One collector in Florida has 50,000 license plates. "Unbelievable," says Jeff.
Jeff himself has 500, after downsizing his collection from 5,000. "I sold a lot," he says. "I'm finding homes for them. I don't want someone (else) to have to do that.
"We just hope they don't get recycled for aluminium."
Back in Arlington, Andrew Pang looks at the international plates on his garage wall. In between Albania and the Bahamas is a 1998 plate from Monaco, still in a plastic wrapper.
"I wrote to the prince, asking for a plate," he says. "I didn't expect anything to happen, but it arrived in the post a few weeks later."
Most of Andrew's plates, however, are bought online, rather than from royalty.
He has plates from former countries, such as East Germany, disputed territories, such as South Ossetia in eastern Europe, and moments in history, such as when Iraq occupied Kuwait.
He even has a plate from the pacific island of Vanuatu. It is made from wood.
Andrew is missing plates from around 40 countries and territories. The Pitcairn Islands - a tiny British territory in the south Pacific - are proving tricky, while the Vatican City is "tightly controlled".
Could you buy one, if money wasn't an issue?
"Probably, but you're talking high hundreds (of dollars), maybe low thousands," he says.
Andrew has plates from most countries
Despite having walls covered in plates, does Andrew still glance at every back bumper he passes?
"I am afflicted with that," he admits.
"Just yesterday I saw a vehicle in a parking lot from Puerto Rico, and that's quite unusual. In this area [near DC] I look for diplomatic plates.
"What really excites me is if I see a US diplomat that's coming back from another country, but they're back such a short period of time, the plates from the other country are still on the vehicle."
And what does his wife make of it all?
"My wife is less of a hobbyist than I am," says Andrew, smiling.
"While she has grown to understand it and live with it... she doesn't necessarily embrace it."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41532658
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North Yorkshire's The Black Swan 'best restaurant in world' - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Black Swan beats Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck and Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir.
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York & North Yorkshire
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The family-owned pub is on the edge of the North York Moors
A village pub has been named the best restaurant in the world in an international poll based on customer reviews.
The Black Swan in Oldstead, North Yorkshire, beat Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck and Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir.
TripAdvisor said it was the first time a British restaurant had won the title since the awards began in 2012.
Blanc's Belmond Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, came second.
The travel website said the winner was selected based on the millions of reviews and opinions collected on the site over a 12-month period.
Tommy Banks became the UK's youngest chef to win a Michelin star at the age of 24
The Black Swan, which has a Michelin star and 4 AA Rosettes, is a family-owned pub on the edge of the North York Moors, near Thirsk.
It is run by the UK's youngest Michelin-starred chef Tommy Banks, who won the accolade four years ago at the age of 24, and his brother James.
Head chef Tommy said: "It's a huge honour to win this award, but what makes it really special is that it's been awarded because of feedback from our customers."
Martín Berasategui in Spain has held the title since 2015.
Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck came 12th in the website's Travellers' Choice Favourite Fine Dining Restaurants Worldwide poll.
TripAdvisor said the awards differed from others as they were based on feedback from guests and "not based on a small judging panel".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-41582994
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The horror of Weinstein's casting couch - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The hierarchical power dynamic of the casting couch.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Harvey Weinstein is believed to be in Europe to seek therapy
The scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein shows it is impossible to understand the history of film and television without recognising the central role, and potential horror, of the so-called casting couch.
This colloquialism refers to the capacity for auditions to turn into mechanisms for sexual exploitation. The casting couch is a kind of erotic theatre in itself: one in which would-be performers exhibit their suitability for a particular role and provide sexual favours.
It is a place with a very hierarchical power dynamic: ambitious, not to say desperate, talent; and producer, director or whoever with the capacity to make dreams come true.
As both the cliche and the grim reality have it, the talent is often a young woman, and the dream-maker an older man. This is the situation in which a 22-year-old Gwyneth Paltrow found herself when, she alleges, Weinstein made unwanted advances towards her.
In the revolting revelations emerging about sexual bullying by Weinstein - who denies the bulk of allegations against him - the power dynamic of the casting couch is shown to be a forum for sickening exploitation and potentially criminal abuse.
The most striking thing about the New York Times and New Yorker's reports is the elaborate lengths to which Weinstein and those around him allegedly went to facilitate casting couch sessions, usually in hotels.
According to several actresses quoted in recent stories, assistants would deliver on-screen talent before leaving them to their private rendezvous with Weinstein; and afterward, if they were upset, would help smooth things over by hushing things up or speaking to relatives.
It may be lazy or dangerous to extrapolate from the individual case of Weinstein to a broader problem in the media and film industries - though as I said in an earlier blog post, it is impossible not to see these awful allegations alongside those levelled at Bill O'Reilly, the late Roger Ailes, Bill Cosby and even Donald Trump.
I also said perhaps some good could come of this awful story.
If the casting couch ceases to be a forum for sexual exploitation of vulnerable, desperate performers by perverts; and if other women who have experienced the sordid worst of the casting couch feel they can come forward, the media and film industries may yet benefit from the depredations of this Hollywood thug.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41582184
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Portsmouth owner Eisner's journey from Disney to Pompey - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Michael Eisner is using is expertise in the US entertainment industry to turn around Portsmouth FC.
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Business
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Michael Eisner watched a lot of football in Europe and the US before buying Portsmouth
Two decades at the helm of global entertainment giant Walt Disney might seem a strange apprenticeship for taking over a lower-level English football club, but Michael Eisner insists it is the latest logical move in his high-flying business career.
The 75-year-old American completed his takeover of historic south coast club Portsmouth in August for £5.67m, buying it from fans who had stepped in with their own money to save the club.
The club, nicknamed Pompey, had fallen on hard financial times since winning the FA Cup in 2008, and had dropped from the Premier League to the bottom tier, but did get promoted back to League One at the end of last season.
After a lifetime working for some of the biggest US and international TV and film firms, including ABC and Paramount as well as Disney, the native of New York state had launched his own investment firm, and was looking for interesting projects to back.
Mr Eisner, whose net worth is estimated at $1bn (£760m), and his Tornante group will invest £10m in the club.
"What is an American guy doing getting involved with English football?," he says.
"Well, I am qualified for this new role. In a way I feel my whole career has led up to this."
Portsmouth FC is starting out on what Mr Eisner hopes is a march back up the league tables
Indeed, during his time in the entertainment industry Mr Eisner was involved in a number of sports-related projects, including TV scheduling, film production, and the acquisition of clubs.
"There are differences between sport and entertainment - one must be scripted, planned, produced, and the other is more spontaneous, extemporaneous. But both have conflict, a climax and an ending," he observes.
"And whatever your brand, product, league, club - the idea of loyalty or passion is key."
And Eisner says it was the raucous fan reaction to Portsmouth winning promotion, and the League Two title, last season that was the final factor in convincing him to buy the club.
Mr Eisner says it was the passion of the fans that convinced him to buy Portsmouth FC
"Because of this mad enthusiasm I found Pompey irresistible," he said at the Leaders sports conference in London.
"I had first heard about the possibility of acquiring the club when I was looking at the possibility of buying a US sports team. Investing in US sport is very expensive. The NFL has its physical problems which scare me.
"It [football] just seemed a great thing to me and my family. We got hooked on the game in the UK."
Mr Eisner and his three sons, Breck, Eric, and Anders, make up the Portsmouth board, along with Andy Redman, president of Tornante, and Portsmouth FC chief executive Mark Catlin.
Despite its recent woes the club has a strong heritage, winning the League title in 1949 and 1950, and FA Cup in 1939 as well as nine years ago.
Mr Eisner says he was struck by Portsmouth's historic past
"When I passed through the Fratton Park turnstiles I felt like I did when I stepped through the doors at Disney - a sense of excitement and of a rich history," he says.
"Portsmouth fans are passionate. [After] four strange owners the fans stepped in and bought the team.
"Pompey fans had done a remarkable job but it seemed they would need additional investment to build the brand."
He says there were another reasons, apart from fan passion and history, that he and his family wanted to buy a football club.
The new owners say they have plans to upgrade Fratton Park stadium
One is the fact that football has a global appeal, and also - in a currently fractured media landscape - "the only appointment-to-view [TV] is for sports events".
"Today, viewers can watch the shows they want any time they want on on multiple devices. But sport fans want to watch their teams compete in real time," he says.
That means that sports, and football, TV rights will always be in high demand by broadcasters looking for content.
Mr Eisner was introduced to the fans before the opening game of the season against Rochdale
As well as the expertise and cash that Eisner is providing, he is also promising to improve the stadium and promote managerial stability.
"Over time we will make the match day experience the pleasure it should be," he says, adding the club will also continue to build on its strong community work, for which it has won a number of Football League awards.
Michael Eisner at the launch of an ESPN sports-themed restaurant
"At ABC TV in 1970 we made a crack in the traditional entertainment wall, by moving NFL Football to prime time on a Monday night. ABC was the smallest network and needed success," he says.
It became one of the longest-running prime time shows ever on commercial network TV.
At Paramount he oversaw production of sports films Players, North Dallas Forty, and the Bad News Bears trilogy.
In 1984 he became Disney chairman and the company produced the film The Mighty Ducks. Disney in 1993 then created an actual ice hockey team called the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, now the Anaheim Ducks. In 2006-07 the team won the NHL's Stanley Cup.
Disney also produced baseball film Angels in the Outfield in 1984. In 1997 Disney took over the California Angels team. It was renamed the Anaheim Angels and under Disney's ownership won its first World Series championship in 2002.
During Mr Eisner's time at Disney it also acquired leading sports cable TV channel ESPN in 1996.
His current private firm bought the Topps sports trading card firm in 2007. It is licensed to produce English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Uefa Champions League, and Indian Premier League cricket products.
Mr Eisner now says the club, which sits mid-table in League One, now needs stability and continuity on and off the playing field.
He believes if club owners give their manager support, then the coaching team will have the confidence to lead the team to success.
"If you look at the great sports teams, you try to find a great manager and stick with him through thick and thin," he says.
Mr Eisner says there are similarities between Portsmouth and Disney fans
He says he hopes current manager Kenny Jackett will be in the post for a decade, and oversee success during that time.
"The Disney fans are similar to Portsmouth fans," he says. "When I went there it was about to be broken up. The fans' love of Disney helped support it.
"All of Disney's sports films had the same theme - the triumph of the underdog. With Portsmouth we hope to get it right in fact, not fiction.
"We will get there - being slow, steady and smart."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41509530
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'Disorganised ring' hampered efforts to save Great Yarmouth boxer - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Medical technician Susan Mitchison described the ring as "disorganised" as she worked on Jakub Moczyk.
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Norfolk
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Kuba Moczyk's trainer described his fatal fight as like an "unlicensed" event
A medic at a boxing match where a young fighter was knocked out and later died has told an inquest there were too many people in the ring as she tried to save him.
Jakub Moczyk, 22, known as Kuba, was knocked out in the third round of his first fight at the Atlantis Arena, Great Yarmouth, in November 2016.
The medical technician described the ring as "disorganised" as she worked on Polish-born Mr Moczyk.
He died two days later in hospital.
Mr Moczyk's fight at the Atlantis Arena was filmed by a spectator
Giving evidence at Norfolk Coroner's Court in Great Yarmouth, emergency medical technician Susan Mitchison said she was called to provide medical cover on the afternoon of the fight.
She works with her husband, Andrew Cawlard, for his firm, Lifeshield Medical Services, providing medical cover at boxing matches, small festivals and on film sets.
When the bout started she and her husband were at a ringside table and they went into the ring when Mr Moczyk was knocked down.
"He was unconscious, he was fitting and he was bringing up a lot of fluid," Ms Mitchison said.
She said they cleared his airway and put him on oxygen and another man helped support his head.
Kuba Moczyk's twin Magdalena Moczyk (far right) with their mother, Jolanta Smigaj, and her partner
Mr Moczyk's twin sister, Magdalena Moczyk, asked if she thought there were too many people in the ring.
"Yes, there were, and there were people who didn't need to be there and I did ask some to leave on more than one occasion," Ms Mitchison said.
"There were so many people there. It was disorganised," she added.
Ms Mitchison said she carried out the medicals before the fight but that no area was prepared for medicals and she was given no details about the boxers, no list of names or disclaimer forms.
She said she set up a table beside the DJ booth, and got each boxer to write their name on a piece of paper as they were checked to see if they were fit to fight.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-41584128
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HIV hairdresser Daryll Rowe 'boasted of ripped condom' - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Daryll Rowe is accused of deliberately infecting four unsuspecting men with the virus.
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Sussex
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Daryll Rowe met his partners on dating app Grindr, jurors at Lewes Crown Court were told
A hairdresser accused of deliberately infecting his lovers with HIV said "I got you" to one of them, a court heard.
Daryll Rowe, 26, denies infecting four men from the Brighton area with the virus and attempting to give it to a further six.
Lewes Crown Court heard he bombarded his second victim with texts and calls after the pair had sex.
During one call, jurors heard, Mr Rowe said: "I ripped the condom. Burn. I got you."
The man told the court he and the defendant exchanged explicit images via dating app Grindr before agreeing to meet.
In messages between the pair, the complainant said, Mr Rowe had told him he wanted to have sex without a condom.
When the pair met, he said, the defendant attempted to initiate unprotected sex, but the man refused and insisted he put one on.
Addressing the complainant, Prosecutor Caroline Carberry QC said: "You told the police that he said, 'Come on, come on, I'm fine, you know you want it'."
He said that was correct, and that he had taken it to mean Mr Rowe was "clean. That he had no diseases".
After the encounter, the court heard, the defendant began sending aggressive messages to the other man, who blocked him on several platforms.
Mr Rowe began repeatedly calling him, jurors heard, and when the phone was answered said he had ripped the condom.
Giving evidence, the man told the court: "That's a really crazy thing to say to somebody and then I just got worried, so I wanted to listen to what he had to say and that was it.
It was just panic. Worry."
He described Mr Rowe's tone of voice as "kind of laughing" during the call.
The man tested positive for HIV a few months later.
A third man told jurors Mr Rowe had been "quite adamant and determined he had been tested".
He said he had agreed to have unprotected sex with the defendant because he "had checked that he was clean and trusted the fact that he was".
Mr Rowe was living and working in the Brighton area at the time of the first eight alleged offences.
He is accused of trying to infect two more men in the north east of England while he was under investigation by Sussex Police.
The court previously heard Mr Rowe, who is originally from Edinburgh, was diagnosed with HIV in April 2015.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-41569925
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Flooding closes Cumbria roads and schools - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Sandbags were made available to those affected in the worst areas.
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Cumbria
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The village of Blennerhasset saw some of the worst flooding
Some parts of Cumbria saw more than 8ins (206mm) of rain fall in less than 24 hours, according to provisional figures from the Environment Agency.
Honister, Seathwaite and Ennerdale were the worst hit areas as torrential downpours closed schools and disrupted road and rail travel.
The agency issued 18 flood alerts and eight flood warnings, while a Met Office yellow warning for rain was in place for much of Wednesday.
No serious injuries were reported.
BBC weather presenter Paul Mooney said the amount of rainfall had been "significant" but not on the scale of Storm Desmond in 2015.
The Borrowdale area was also badly affected, with two bridges forced to close.
Northern Rail said lines were blocked due to floods between Carlisle and Maryport causing major disruption.
Eight schools were forced to shut due to impassable roads. They were:
Egremont Bridge in Egremont and Forge Bridge in Eskdale were both closed.
The A595 had been closed at Bothel but has now reopened.
Several roads were closed, with many others barely passable
The Borrowdale area also saw some severe downpours
Gary Macrae, from the Hazel Bank Country House Hotel in Borrowdale, said the rain had affected their guests and deliveries.
He told BBC Cumbria: "We have a house full of guests who can't move backwards or forwards - they can't get into Keswick via Honister or via the main Borrowdale Road into Keswick, which is a bit of a nuisance.
"Plus our deliveries aren't going to be getting to us today either."
South Lakeland District Council said sandbags were being made available at its depots in Ulverston, Ecclerigg and Kendal.
People are unable to get in and out of Borrowdale
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-41582974
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Satellites spy Antarctic 'upside-down ice canyon' - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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An Antarctic ice shelf is shown to have a deep gorge cut in its underside by warm ocean water.
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Science & Environment
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Graphic: Some fast-thinning glaciers drain into the Amundsen Sea
Scientists have identified a way in which the effects of Antarctic melting can be enhanced.
Their new satellite observations of the Dotson Ice Shelf show its losses, far from being even, are actually focused on a long, narrow sector.
In places, this has cut an inverted canyon through more than half the thickness of the shelf structure.
If the melting continued unabated, it would break Dotson in 40-50 years, not the 200 years currently projected.
"That is unlikely to happen because the ice will respond in some way to the imbalance," said Noel Gourmelen, from the University of Edinburgh, UK.
"It's possible the area of thinning could widen or the flow of ice could change. Both would affect the rate at which the channel forms.
"But the important point here is that Dotson is not a flat slab and it can be much thinner in places than we think it is and much closer to a stage where it might experience major change."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This animation shows how warm water gets under and melts the ice shelf
Dr Gourmelen's new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, uses the European Space Agency's Cryosat and Sentinel-1 spacecraft to make a detailed examination of the thickness and movement of Dotson.
The 70km by 40km ice shelf is the floating projection of two glaciers, Kohler and Smith. As they stream off the west of Antarctica, their fronts lift up and join together, pushing out over the Amundsen Sea.
The shelf acts as a buttress to the ice behind. If Dotson were not present, Kohler and Smith would flow much faster, dumping more of their mass in the ocean, contributing to sea-level rise.
Satellites have long tracked the behaviour of the shelf, but in Cryosat in particular researchers now have an altimeter instrument that is able to retrieve much higher-resolution elevation information than ever before.
Ice shelves are the floating protrusions of glaciers flowing off the continent
Taking the period of its observations from 2010-2016, Dr Gourmelen's team can see that Dotson's surface is lowering on average by about 26cm per year, which suggests the roughly 400m-thick shelf as a whole is thinning by about 2.5m per year.
But Cryosat's sharper vision also reveals that this thinning is concentrated at a surface depression that is roughly 5km wide and 60km long.
It extends from the point where the glacier ice starts to float as it comes off the land, all the way out to the front edge of the shelf where icebergs are calved into the ocean.
What the team is able to show is that this surface depression corresponds to an incised canyon on the underside of the shelf.
The average width of this inverted gorge is 10-15km but it cuts up into the shelf by as much as 200m in places. The Edinburgh-led group says all the evidence suggests warm water from the deep ocean around Antarctica has got under the shelf to melt out the canyon.
"We say warm; it's 0.6-0.7 degrees," explains Dr Gourmelen. "It makes its way into the cavity under the shelf along a trough to the grounding line, and then it starts to rotate clockwise and rises. And it comes out on the west side. That's where we see the thinning and the basal melt."
Artist's impression: Cryosat, with its radar altimeter, was launched into orbit in 2010
This export of fresh melt-water from the underside of the shelf carries with it a lot of iron from rocks scraped from the continent, and drives strong growth in plankton and other biological activity in front of Dotson.
Just a simple forward projection using the pattern and rates of thinning observed by Cryosat and Sentinel-1 in this study would lead to complete melt-through of Dotson's front in 20 or so years, and its rear in about 40 years.
That is on the order of 170 years earlier than Dotson would thin to zero using the ice-shelf-averaged thinning rate. But as previously stated - the shelf is not a static structure and it will react to the formation of the canyon.
"An ice shelf can be a complicated thing," says co-author Prof Andy Shepherd from Leeds University and principal scientific adviser on the Cryosat mission.
"As you thin them it reduces the traction on the feeding glaciers, allowing those glaciers to speed up; and as they speed up, they should put more ice into the ice shelf so that it thickens again. It is supposed to be a stabilising effect."
Prof Shepherd said a new high-resolution swath mode used by Cryosat at Dotson was now being deployed elsewhere around Antarctica to look for more patterns of enhanced thinning on other ice shelves.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41573917
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10 toughest places for girls to go to school - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The countries where most girls don't even get to start primary school.
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Business
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South Sudan has been named as the worst place in the world for education for girls
Debates about schools in richer countries are often about the politics of priorities, what subjects should be given most importance, who needs extra help and what needs more public spending.
But for families in many developing countries questions about education can be a lot more basic - is there any access to school at all?
Figures from the United Nations suggest there has been "almost zero progress" in the past decade in tackling the lack of school places in some of the world's poorest countries.
A further report examined the quality of education, and the UN said the findings were "staggering", with more than 600 million children in school but learning next to nothing.
In Niger, four out of five adult women remain illiterate
While in affluent Western countries, girls are often ahead of boys in academic achievement, in poorer parts of the world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, girls are much more likely to be missing out.
And on the UN's International Day of the Girl, the development campaign, One, has created a ranking for the toughest places for girls to get an education.
Across these 10 countries, most of those without school places are girls.
These are fragile countries, where many families are at risk from poverty, ill health, poor nutrition and displacement from war and conflict.
Refugees displaced by fighting this summer in South Sudan
Many young girls are expected to work rather than go to school. And many marry young, ending any chance of an education.
UN figures indicate girls are more than twice as likely to lose out on education in conflict zones.
Refugees in Chad: Conflicts have disrupted the educations of tens of millions
The rankings are based on:
For some countries, such as Syria, there was insufficient reliable data for them to be included.
Here are the top 10 toughest places for girls' education:
A shortage of teachers is a common problem across poorer countries.
Last year, the UN said another 69 million teachers would need to be recruited worldwide by 2030 if international promises on education were to be kept.
Florence Cheptoo learned to read at 60, when her grandchild brought home a library book
The report says there are great economic dividends if girls can be kept in school.
And there are great gains for individuals, such as Florence Cheptoo, who lives in a remote village in Kenya and learned to read at the age of 60.
Gayle Smith, president of the One campaign, called the failures in education for girls a "global crisis that perpetuates poverty".
"Over 130 million girls are still out of school - that's over 130 million potential engineers, entrepreneurs, teachers and politicians whose leadership the world is missing out on."
Ideas for the Global education series? Get in touch.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41558486
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The man diagnosed with pathological laughter - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Following a brutal assault Paul Pugh was left with pathological laughter - a condition which causes him to laugh at the most inappropriate moments.
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Disability
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Paul Pugh was in the most critical meeting of his life. He was being told what his future would be like after receiving a brain injury in a brutal assault. He laughed the whole way through the discussion but, to him, it felt like he was sobbing. He would later be diagnosed with pathological laughter.
Pugh, now 38, had been on a night out with his Cwmaman Football Club teammates in January 2007 when he was targeted in an unprovoked attack on a cold January night.
As he left a pub in his home town of Ammanford in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, four men he didn't know rounded on him and repeatedly punched and kicked him.
Pugh's skull was fractured and he fell into a coma for more than two months. A blood clot which measured 10cm x 4cm formed on his brain and he was left with slurred speech, chronic fatigue and mobility difficulties which resulted in him having to use a wheelchair.
"I've had to learn to walk and talk again and come to terms with the fact that I will never fully recover," he says. "Life has been a struggle for me and my family, but we're ploughing through it."
Pugh spent 13 months in hospital, but it wasn't until month four that he had his first laughing fit.
"It was a serious meeting with my consultant, rehabilitation therapists and my family to discuss what my life and future was going to be like," he says.
"When they started talking about me, I was frightened and it triggered something off in my brain and I laughed right through the meeting.
"I was actually crying my eyes out, but it came out on the surface as laughter."
At first, no one understood his behaviour, his family even thought he was "making a scene in public, pleading for attention".
It took several years before Pugh's fits of "full on laughter" were diagnosed as pathological laughter or the Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA).
The condition arises when there is a disconnect between the frontal lobe of the brain - which keeps emotions in check - and the cerebellum and brain stem - which regulate the expression of emotion. It's a real crossed-wires moment.
PBA can affect those with neurological conditions or injuries such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, or Alzheimer's disease.
Andy Tyerman, consultant clinical neuropsychologist of brain injury charity Headway, says: "The term refers to uncontrolled expression of emotion that is disproportionate or inappropriate to the social context and may be inconsistent with what the person is actually feeling.
"A person might also appear very distressed about something that would previously have been only slightly upsetting."
In Pugh's case, he laughed when he thought he was crying.
"I know when I'm laughing or crying, but other people don't," he says. "Some have been upset and reacted by being sarcastic with me or even aggressive and try to hurt my feelings because they think I'm laughing at them.
"It's amazing how important laughing is. You take it for granted but it has a really powerful effect, if you share a joke with someone it's special."
Pugh says his family are very understanding. His mum has become his full-time carer to help with his mobility issues, his dad, aged 72, still works and his brothers - Simon and Matthew - have both had a hand in helping him over the past decade.
He says the diagnosis "hit me hard" and sometimes attracts unwanted attention but he can now sense when an episode is imminent.
"I feel a laugh coming a few seconds before it happens - sometimes I can control it but a blip can happen. The laugh doesn't last long, a minute at the most, but it can cause a lot of problems if people don't understand."
Pugh has developed his own method to avert an episode by "thinking of something or someone bad without giving it feeling" and estimates he can control nine out of 10 laughing fits.
It's been an "extremely tough 10 years" since the assault, he says.
He had to give up work as an electrician and now spends his time in therapy or visiting the charity Headway Carmarthenshire which, he says, gave him an "insight of being with people with brain injury" and reassurance he wasn't on his own.
"Since the incident we've met the most incredible people you'll ever meet, all wanting to help me," he says. "On the other side of the dice, I feel like I'm under house arrest because the injury affected my mobility and balance, therefore I need assistance whenever I go outdoors."
In 2014, Pugh started Paul's Pledge - a campaign to educate people about alcohol-fuelled violence which Dyfed-Powys Police is also involved in.
He makes visits to schools, colleges and youth clubs and has had an "absolutely fantastic" response because "they can see that it's real and not theatrical".
"This is my life now - I've moved on from what happened," he says. "There are many things I can't do - but this [campaign] I can do. I think it sends a powerful message to the world. I don't want to see anyone, nobody in the situation it left me and my family in."
The four men responsible for Pugh's attack were jailed for between nine months and four years.
Pugh says: "The one that kicked me in the head with full force from point blank range, almost killing me, was let out. What about me? Ten years later, I'm still serving my sentence."
For more Disability News, follow on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to the weekly podcast.
• None 'Powerful message' to tell says victim
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Hammond's comments highlight Brexit divisions - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The chancellor's approach to spending over Brexit preparations has caused anger in some quarters.
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UK Politics
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It is traditionally the job of a chancellor to look after the nation's money, not to be flash with taxpayers' cash, to balance the books, and not to go around making promises that can't be paid for.
And in normal times under Conservative governments there is usually customary support from the backbenches for them to err on the side of caution when it comes to controlling the purse strings.
But there is very visible anger from some Tory quarters today about Philip Hammond's approach to spending when it comes to making preparations for life outside the EU. Why?
Well, how much to spend on preparing for leaving the EU without a deal, and when to spend it, has become the new faultline in the Tories' never ending divisions over Brexit.
The chancellor wrote in the Times this morning that he'd only be prepared to spend money when it was necessary and not in next month's Budget.
And he went even further in front of MPs this morning, saying that he wouldn't spend until the "very last moment".
That is a direct challenge to some Brexiteers who have been pushing for billions to be spent now, yes, to be ready just in case, but also in order to demonstrate to Brussels that the threat to walk away is a real one.
And two different cabinet sources say his comments today come on top of a row at cabinet yesterday over precisely this issue, an exchange described as "robust".
Number 10 acknowledges that there was a brief discussion of the preparation for the "no deal" scenario, although they deny (as they would) that there was anything like a ding-dong.
But one of the cabinet sources suggests Mr Hammond's behaviour is either "deliberate and divisive or politically stupid".
But it led today to what Brexiteers are claiming was a "deliberate slapdown" of the chancellor by Theresa May at Prime Minister's Questions, when she made plain that money would be forthcoming for "no deal" planning as and when it was necessary, striking a rather different tone to the chancellor's "very last moment", comments.
As Numbers 10 and 11 point out, the Treasury has already allocated more than half a billion to specific contingency planning and held back billions in last year's spending round to provide headroom if Brexit goes awry.
But right now, the Treasury is clearly not willing to give in to some of his colleagues' demands to write big cheques for the "what if".
For Mr Hammond's team it makes no sense to be spending money when there's hardly any around, unnecessarily, and certainly not to send political signals to Brussels.
But for those in the Tory party who already resent and disagree with his attitude, it's another reason to have a pop.
For those of us watching on, it's another sign of how the Tories are consumed with fighting each other over Brexit, rather than the opposition.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41585428
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Ealing abortion clinic protest ban approved - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Ealing councillors vote in favour of banning protesters from gathering outside an abortion clinic.
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London
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Protestors said women were not being offered alternatives to abortion
An "unprecedented" ban on protesters outside abortion clinics could be introduced in a London borough.
Councillors in Ealing overwhelmingly backed a proposal to stop anti-abortion groups protesting outside a Marie Stopes clinic in the borough.
Binda Rai, who brought the motion, said it would allow women to access "legal healthcare without intimidation".
The Good Counsel Network, which holds daily vigils outside the centre in Mattock Lane, denies harassing women.
Some protesters used "deliberately disturbing and graphic images" outside the Marie Stopes clinic, the council said
The council motion said 3,593 residents signed a petition, delivered by campaign group Sister Supporter, backing the move.
It said dozens also wrote letters describing "disruption and distress" caused by the protesters.
Speaking after the vote, Ms Rai said there could be "national implications", and that Ealing could be the first council to take action against protesters outside abortion clinics.
"I'm absolutely thrilled that there was such huge support in the chamber for the motion, and right across the parties," she said.
"It was really good. And this is really a stand for women, and for women's rights to access healthcare that is legally available to them."
She said the council may use a Public Space Protection Order (PSPOs), which give councils the power to crack down on perceived anti-social behaviour.
Richard Bentley, managing director of Marie Stopes UK, hailed the decision as "ground-breaking".
"We hope that other local authorities will follow this example and act to increase protection for women in their area," he said.
Local pro-choice group, Sister Supporter, demanded action to stop anti-abortion protesters holding vigils six days a week outside the clinic
A spokesman for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said it welcomed the vote result and urged the government to introduce legislation banning protests at all clinics.
"The situation in Ealing is sadly not unique, and women and clinic staff across the country report being followed, filmed, and harassed when trying to access or provide legal healthcare services.
"This has to stop," he said.
The Good Counsel Network said it has held its vigil for 23 years "without any criminal charges"
Clare McCullough, the Good Counsel Network's founder, told the BBC the group had held its vigil for 23 years "without any criminal charges".
Responding to the prospect of a PSPO, Ms McCullough said: "Most lawyers would agree those orders were not put in place for this kind of issue.
"They're not there to suppress freedom of speech.
"I think it would be a grave misuse and would have implications for all kinds of groups who are protesting all kinds of things."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41577129
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Van crashes into Maulden thatched cottage front door - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The vehicle is thought to have crossed a grass verge and gone through a hedge before hitting the cottage.
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Beds, Herts & Bucks
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No-one is thought to have been injured in the crash
A white van has crashed through the front door of a listed 16th Century thatched cottage.
It is thought the vehicle came off at a bend on Ampthill Road, in Maulden, Bedfordshire, on Tuesday before it crossed a grass verge, went through a hedge and embedded itself in the house.
A 34-year-old man from Maulden was arrested on suspicion of being unable to drive through drink or drugs.
No-one is thought to have been hurt in the crash.
Val Fossey, who lives in the cottage, said there was "a dreadful noise - like an earthquake" when the van struck.
The van crashed through the front door and is said to have gone into the hall and kitchen
She was in the living room with her husband Steve when the van crashed into their home, which they have lived in for 14 years, at about 22:35 BST.
"This van came flying over a hedge and crashed into our hall and kitchen," she said. "If I had left the room I don't know what would have happened.
"We are not right on the bend and we are about 20 yards from the road," she said. "He must have been going fast to go over the verge.
"There are cracks going up the wall into the bedroom.
"I don't know when we will be allowed back in."
Val and Steve Fossey have lived in the 16th Century cottage for 14 years
Central Bedfordshire Council's structural engineers have said the house is structurally safe.
A spokesman said an expert had checked the building, and the area that the van damaged had been shored up.
The authority said it was waiting for the insurers to take over the case and it was not clear when the family would be able to return home.
A police cordon has been put in place around the property
The house has been assessed and deemed to be structurally sound
A 34-year-old man has been arrested over the crash
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-41580280
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SNP conference: Is the childcare pledge 'unmatched'? - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How do plans to expand childcare provision in Scotland compare with schemes in the rest of the UK?
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Scotland
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The claim: Nicola Sturgeon told her party conference that the Scottish government's commitment to early years education and childcare was "unmatched anywhere else in the UK" as she fleshed out plans to expand childcare provision.
Reality Check verdict: Overall, Scotland's planned childcare provision would be the most generous in the UK, as it plans to offer 1,140 hours a year, regardless of whether parents are in work. However, a pilot scheme under way in Wales is better for working parents as it offers 1,440 hours a year.
When Nicola Sturgeon took to the stage at the SNP conference, she said she was committed to giving children in Scotland "the best possible start in life".
She confirmed that the Scottish government would increase its offer of free childcare from 16 hours a week to 30 hours for three- and four-year-olds, as well as vulnerable two-year-olds, by 2020.
And she pledged to double investment in early years education and childcare, from £420m to £840m a year, by the end of the current parliament.
"This is a commitment unmatched anywhere else in the UK," she said. "And it's the best investment we can make in Scotland's future."
The first minister's office confirmed that what she meant was that the universality of care offered to children north of the border would be better than that provided in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Reality Check has looked into the claims.
Parents of three- and four-year-olds and vulnerable two-year-olds in Scotland are currently offered 600 hours of free childcare a year.
It works out at roughly 16 hours a week over 38 weeks of the year but families can choose to spread the hours over a longer period.
The Scottish government wants to increase annual childcare provision to 1,140 hours by 2020.
Funded childcare is currently offered to all families in Scotland - regardless of the employment status of their parents.
That is where Nicola Sturgeon's plans differ from those in practice across the rest of the UK.
All families in England are currently offered 570 free hours a year.
However, where both parents (or one in single-parent families) work more than 16 hours a week, they are entitled to 1,140 hours a year.
In Wales, a pilot scheme is under way where working families in seven authorities are offered 1,440 hours of childcare a year.
That works out at 30 hours a week over 48 weeks.
As in England, it is available only to families where both parents (or one in a single-parent family) work more than 16 hours a week.
Every child in Wales is eligible for 10 hours of early years education a week, from the term after their third birthday. That is incorporated into the 30 free hours in the pilot areas.
Families in Northern Ireland can access between 12.5 and 22.5 hours of funded pre-school education a week over 38 weeks for all three- and four-year-olds.
One of the key actions of the NI executive's draft programme for government was to "extend responsive, high-quality provision in early childhood education and care" for families with young children.
However, Northern Ireland has been without an executive for 10 months, following a row between the DUP and Sinn Fein. The parties are in discussions to restore the government.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41571583
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Four solutions to the disposable coffee cup problem - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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What solutions would work best to deal with our growing coffee cup waste mountain?
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Business
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Is the price of our growing addiction to takeaway hot drinks an ever higher mountain of landfill?
Since last year, when we were all made aware of the UK's unrecycled cup mountain, some of us have found it hard to buy a takeaway coffee without being wracked with guilt.
In the UK, we throw away an estimated 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year. In theory, they are "recyclable", but in practice, only a tiny percentage is dealt with sustainably.
Yet so far, there's no agreed way forward.
Parliament's environmental audit committee has been hearing the latest thoughts from campaigners and industry on how we can improve on our record in this area.
A lot of the biggest names in takeaway beverages, including Caffe Nero, Costa Coffee, McDonald's, Pret A Manger and Starbucks, have signed up to a scheme to collect and recycle more of the current type of cups. Costa is also collecting cups from rival brands in its shops.
But others believe a more fundamental rethink would work better.
Here are four ways the coffee cup waste problem might be tackled.
Conventional cups can be recycled, but only in special facilities, thanks to the lamination that makes them waterproof.
Frugalpac, based in Ipswich in the UK, manufactures cardboard cups that can be recycled in regular recycling plants.
"We looked at this three years ago: everyone was blaming someone else, the cup makers, the coffee shops, councils. We thought, why don't we go out there and solve the problem?" says Frugalpac's founder, Martin Myerscough.
He has a patent for his cup - made of recycled materials, with an only very lightly attached plastic lining (representing about 10% of the weight of the cup), that separates easily during recycling.
It's a more pragmatic solution, he argues, than trying to set up specialist collection points for conventional cups, because we already have recycling bins.
He has done trials with independent coffee shops and is working with Starbucks.
Of course, consumers will still have to remember to put them in the right bin, and he is still working on replacing the plastic lid.
Safia Qureshi points to chai wallahs in India as one of her initial inspirations. There, tea is poured into glasses that are washed and reused. We all used to drink milk and Coca Cola from returnable, reusable bottles.
"The current model for reusable cups is that the consumer needs to buy the cup and take it in. The ratio of consumers doing that is 2% of all the total coffee sold," she points out.
Instead, she proposes that the customer joins Cup Club and picks up a reusable cup when they buy their coffee. It can be returned later to one of several collection points. Cup Club is responsible for collecting washing and redistributing the clean cups to participating retailers.
Because the cups are tagged and registered to your account - using RFID, the same technology that's on an Oyster travel card - Cup Club can text you a reminder if you've forgotten to return a cup and charge you if you keep it.
"I'm very passionate about putting an end to products that are only used one time," says Ms Quereshi "It's a selfish and arrogant stance."
She's starting with company offices and universities, but is aiming ultimately for a London-wide scheme.
Its success will rely on enough retailers subscribing, but she has received an Ellen MacArthur Circular Design Challenge award, which will support her in developing the idea further.
Tom Chan, an engineering student from Hong Kong studying in the US, said he saw the coffee cups piling up in the rubbish bins outside his university building and wanted to do something about it.
He has now patented his TrioCup, a triangular-shaped cardboard cup, with sticking up flaps "like bunny ears". Those ears can be folded down and tucked in to close it.
The entire cup is recyclable and, without the need for a separate plastic lid, potentially cheaper than normal cups.
"I decided if I were to make a new cup, it needed to have more features than just being eco-friendly," he says.
So he aimed for some other selling points too, such as spill-resistance.
"From my anecdotal research, a lot more people spill their coffee than you think."
He says you can drop a TrioCup from waist height and most of the coffee will stay in the cup.
He thinks the shape makes the cups easier to hold and gives them "a cool aesthetic".
Even the origami folding technique is pretty simple, he says.
Next month, Mr Chan, another recipient of an Ellen MacArthur award, will be making several thousand cups per week for use in the university coffee shop.
The ultimate waste-free cup, though, must be this: a coffee cup made of cereals that you can munch on like an ice cream cone, once you've downed your drink.
Three friends from Plovdiv in Bulgaria, Miroslav Zapryanov, Mladen Dzhalazov and Simeon Gavrailov, came up with their "waffle" recipe containing no preservatives, colourings or coatings a few years ago and have been working on commercialising it ever since.
Apparently slightly sweet and crisp, it will hold your coffee for up to 40 minutes. And if you decide not to snack on it, it will biodegrade within weeks.
They say they were inspired by a desire to change the world. They might only be changing the diets of a limited number of Bulgarian coffee drinkers, but they are ambitious.
The founders say that with a shelf life of six months the Cupffee could meet the needs of the big High Street coffee chains.
But many other firms are thinking along similar lines, at least when it comes to compostable cups.
Companies such as Bristol-based Planglow have successfully commercialised what they say is fully biodegradable food packaging, including coffee cups.
And they boast clients from restaurants to contract caterers, sandwich shops to Parliament, so policy makers presumably are familiar with this option.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40951041
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Saif Magid stabbing: Boys, 14, charged with murder - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Saif Abdul Magid suffered multiple knife wounds during an attack in Neasden, north-west London.
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London
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Two 14-year-olds have been charged with murdering a teenager who was stabbed to death, police have said,
Saif Abdul Magid, 18, suffered multiple knife wounds in an attack in Tanfield Avenue, Neasden, north-west London, on Friday afternoon.
Both boys, who cannot be named due to their age, will appear at Wimbledon Youth Court later, Scotland Yard said.
A 15-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder has been bailed until mid-October, the force added.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41577132
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Moped robbery gang jailed after 100-victim crime spree - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The gang tried to rob the former chancellor and succeeded in robbing more than 100 people over five days.
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London
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. George Osborne was one of the gang's 103 victims
A moped gang that robbed more than 100 people, including an attempted robbery on former chancellor George Osborne, has been jailed.
Claude Parkinson, 18, and two boys aged 16 and 15, carried out the robberies over a five-day spree that "spiralled out of control".
All three had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery.
A fourth unknown member used a hammer to intimidate victims in Camden, Westminster, Islington and Chelsea.
The gang were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court.
After they were arrested in May, police reported a 40% drop in moped-related robberies in Westminster.
Shamsul Chowdhury, 40, and Claude Parkinson, 18, were both jailed for their part in the spree
The gang rode the streets of London snatching items of value out of victims' hands before driving away.
Mr Osborne was one of an estimated 103 victims of the gang when an attempt was made to snatch his mobile phone outside the BBC in May.
In a victim impact statement previously read out to the court, Mr Osborne said he had felt "shocked and stunned" after the attempted robbery.
CCTV footage from near Broadcasting House showed a passenger on the moped trying to grab the phone out of his hand, before fleeing empty-handed.
In sentencing, Judge David Tomlinson said: "With or without weapons, throughout this course of conduct there was a risk to the safety and wellbeing of members of our community.
"Your willingness to use weapons to threaten violence showed that your offending had spiralled out of control."
The gang was paid £55 to £200 for the stolen handsets, the court heard.
A fifth member of the gang Shamsul Chowdhury, 40, of Bethnal Green, would traffic the phones to Bangladesh.
Chowdhury was sentenced to four years and 10 months after admitting handling stolen goods.
Parkinson, from Islington, was sentenced to five years and three months for robbery.
The 16 and 15-year-olds - who cannot be named for legal reasons - were both jailed for four years and two months.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41582001
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Too much cheese lands van man in pickle with police - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Police said the excess dairy produce had to be "removed or eaten" as the van was 41% over weight.
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Cambridgeshire
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Police told the driver the cheese had to be "removed or eaten" before he could leave
A van driver was pulled over by police as he had too much cheese on board.
Officers found the vehicle was 41% over its weight limit, in Sawtry, Cambridgeshire on Monday.
The driver was left in a pickle as the van had 2,822lb (1,280kg) more cheese than it was allowed to carry. Officers said it had to be "removed or eaten".
During a grilling, the driver was allowed to take some of the dairy produce away but made to call in another van to take the excess.
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire road policing unit officers discovered the problematic produce, at a weighbridge off the A1.
It is not yet known exactly which varieties of cheese had grated with police.
• None Would Wallace be a master of cheese
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-41566545
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UK will spend what is needed to prepare for Brexit - No 10 - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The PM spoke after her chancellor said it was too soon to start spending on plans for "no deal".
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UK Politics
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The prime minister said she wanted a deal and believed one was achievable
The government will spend whatever is necessary to make sure the UK is ready for Brexit, Downing Street has said.
A No 10 spokesman said £250m of new money had been allocated this year to prepare for leaving the EU, "including the possibility of a no-deal scenario".
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Theresa May said "where money needs to be spent it will be spent".
Earlier, Chancellor Philip Hammond said funding for a no-deal plan would not happen "until the very last moment".
He suggested it was not wise to spend money - which could alternatively go to the NHS or schools - at this stage on an outcome which may or may not happen, merely to "send a message" to the EU.
In response, several Tory MPs have criticised the Treasury, one accusing it of "incompetence" and another suggesting the EU would not listen to the UK unless it was sure it was seriously preparing for the possibility of leaving in March 2019 without a negotiated agreement.
The BBC understands a row broke out at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting over the issue of contingency funding in the event of a "no deal" scenario in the Brexit negotiations.
The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg said two different cabinet sources confirmed there was a "robust" exchange. Downing Street denied there was a row but acknowledged there had been a brief discussion.
She added that how much to spend on preparations for leaving the EU without a deal, and when to spend it, had become a new faultline in the Tories' divisions over Brexit.
Mrs May announced the £250m Brexit contingency funding in response to a question from ex-leader Iain Duncan Smith, who sought assurances "all necessary monies" would be spent in case of a no-deal outcome.
"We are preparing for every eventuality," she told MPs. "We are committing money to prepare for Brexit including a 'no deal' scenario.
"The Treasury has committed over £250m of new money to departments like DEFRA, the Home Office, HMRC and DfT in this financial year for Brexit preparations and in some cases, departments will need to spend money before the relevant legislation has gone through the House."
Mrs May said the UK was striving for a good deal with the EU and rejected claims from a Labour MP that she was "running scared" of her backbenchers and "ramping up" talk about the odds of there being no deal.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Hammond: Not time yet for 'no deal' spending
Two hours earlier, the chancellor - who has been accused of being too pessimistic about Brexit - told the Treasury committee of MPs that he was "committed" to supporting departments prepare for Brexit but said it would be premature to spend money now on the assumption there would be no deal between the UK and EU.
"We are prepared to spend when we need to spend against the contingency of a 'no deal' outcome," he said.
"I am clear we have to be prepared for a 'no deal' scenario unless and until we have clear evidence that this is not where we will end up."
"What I am not prepared to do is allocate funds to departments in advance of the need to spend," he added.
"Every pound we spend on contingency planning on a hard customs border is a pound we can't spend on the NHS, social care or education. I don't believe we should be in the business of making potentially nugatory expenditure until the very last moment when we need to do so."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Heidi Alexander says the British people "deserve better than a prime minister simply running scared"
Illustrating what he said was one worst case scenario for a "no deal", he said there could be no air travel taking place between the UK and the EU on Brexit day - 29 March 2019 - but added that he did not see that as likely to happen, even if the UK/EU talks failed to reach agreement.
The current state of Brexit negotiations were a "cloud of uncertainty" hanging over the UK economy, he said, which could only removed by progress and the EU agreeing to begin talks on its future relations with the UK.
One ex-minister, David Jones, has said billions should be set aside in November's Budget for a "no deal" scenario, arguing that if this did not happen it would be seen as a "a sign of weakness" by EU leaders.
And Jacob Rees-Mogg said the Treasury's conduct with regard to Brexit had been "incompetent bordering on the dishonest" and planning for all possible outcomes was a necessary "insurance policy".
"If you think the EU is claiming 100bn euros from us, to have credibility for the no deal scenario we have to show that it's real and it can happen," he said.
"And most of the money that would be spent for no deal would be money that's needed for the end result anyway.
"So, changes to the borders, changes to customs and excise, will need to take place regardless of whether there is a deal or not. So it's not wasted money, it will be money that's very well spent."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41583661
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Harvey Weinstein: Prosecutors defend lack of action - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Prosecutors say audio, reportedly of a sting operation against Mr Weinstein, was "insufficient" evidence.
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US & Canada
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. It was "an open secret" a producer tells the BBC
Prosecutors have defended their decision not to take action against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein after a woman complained about his behaviour in 2015.
The Manhattan district attorney's office says undercover audio of the complainant and Weinstein was "insufficient to prove a crime".
But they said the Oscar winner had a "pattern of mistreating women".
Weinstein says many of the accusations against him are false.
In a statement, Chief Assistant District Attorney Karen Friedman-Agnifilo said: "If we could have prosecuted Harvey Weinstein for the conduct that occurred in 2015, we would have.
"Mr Weinstein's pattern of mistreating women, as recounted in recent reports, is disgraceful and shocks the conscience."
Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, 22, had gone to police to accuse Weinstein of touching her inappropriately. She then agreed to meet the producer again while wearing a hidden microphone.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The New Yorker released audio of an alleged undercover sting operation by New York Police (UK users only)
The district attorney's office say police arranged the meeting without informing them. "Prosecutors were not afforded the opportunity before the meeting to counsel investigators on what was necessary to capture in order to prove a misdemeanour sex crime," they said.
They say the "horrifying" audio "was insufficient to prove a crime under New York law" which left prosecutors with "no choice but to conclude the criminal investigation without charges".
In the recording, Weinstein can be heard asking Ms Gutierrez to come into his hotel room. The model asks the producer "why yesterday you touched my breast?" He apologises, saying he "won't do it again".
Cara Delevingne is the latest actress to accuse Mr Weinstein of inappropriate behaviour
A string of high-profile actresses, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, have come forward to accuse the movie mogul of sexual harassment or assault.
The British actress and model Cara Delevingne is the latest to accuse Weinstein of inappropriate behaviour. In a statement, she said he tried to kiss her as she attempted to leave a hotel room.
"I felt very powerless and scared," she said.
On Tuesday, Weinstein denied allegations of rape made in The New Yorker magazine. On the same day, his wife Georgina Chapman said she was leaving him.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "This is what you will be remembered for" - Playwright's message to Harvey Weinstein
Weinstein's spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister said: "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein. Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.
"Mr Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual.
"Mr Weinstein has begun counselling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Model Zoe Brock tells Radio 4's Today that she was one of Harvey Weinstein's victims
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Oscars, branded the allegations against Mr Weinstein "abhorrent" and said it will hold a meeting on Saturday to discuss further action.
It comes after Bafta, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts suspended his membership of the organisation.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41587585
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North Korea crisis: US bombers conduct military drills - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The military drill has been described as part of a programme of "deterrence" against North Korea.
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Asia
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The bombers took off from Guam and flew over the East Sea and Yellow Sea
The US has conducted a joint military exercise with South Korea, flying two strategic bombers over the Korean peninsula.
The B-1B combat bombers were joined by two South Korean F-15K fighter jets, and carried out air-to-ground missile drills off South Korean waters.
It comes amid heightened tensions with North Korea over its nuclear programme.
Pyongyang conducted its sixth nuclear test, and launched two missiles over Japan, in recent months.
The bombers took off from the US Pacific territory of Guam on Tuesday night, before entering South Korean airspace and conducting firing exercises over the East Sea and Yellow Sea, South Korea's military said.
The training was part of a programme of "extended deterrence" against North Korea, it added.
The US said Japan's air force also took part in the drill.
US President Donald Trump met top officials from his national security team on Tuesday night for a briefing on ways to respond to threats from North Korea, the White House said.
Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have exchanged heated rhetoric in recent weeks.
In a speech at the UN in September, Mr Trump accused Mr Kim of being "on a suicide mission" - while Mr Kim responded by vowing to "tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire".
On Wednesday, a South Korean lawmaker said North Korean hackers had reportedly stolen a large cache of military documents from his country, including a plan to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, and wartime contingency plans drawn up by the US and South Korea.
The South Korean defence ministry refused to comment about the allegation, while North Korea denied the claim.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41577769
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Farm profits may halve after Brexit, says report - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The "worst-case scenario" would cut average farm profits from £38,000 per year to just £15,000, says the research.
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Business
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Dairy farmers might, in some circumstances, receive higher prices after Brexit says the report
The profitability of the average UK farm could fall by as much as half after Brexit, new research suggests.
The report, by the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), says the "worst-case scenario" would cut average farm profits from £38,000 a year to just £15,000.
The analysis tries to model the effects of cheaper imported food, reduced subsidies and more expensive labour.
A government spokesman said the report was based on highly unlikely scenarios.
The UK is due to leave the European Union (EU) in March 2019.
Some formal negotiations with the EU started in June, but so far, it is unclear how trade between the UK and the EU will change if the Brexit timetable is met.
In fact, the specific negotiations over a future trade deal have not even started.
But they will be particularly vital to the agricultural and horticultural industries because of the subsidies which are received under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "This report is based on hypothetical and highly unlikely scenarios that do not reflect the government's negotiating position.
"Outside the EU and free from the bureaucracy of the Common Agricultural Policy, our farmers will be able to focus on growing, selling and exporting more fantastic produce."
The AHDB research looked at three possible outcomes of Brexit:
"Under the three scenarios outlined in the report, changes in the UK's trade relationships will impact farmers' bottom line when the UK leaves the single market, whether or not a free trade agreement is negotiated with the EU," said the Board.
The CAP gives UK farmers £3.1bn a year which, on the face of it, will disappear after Brexit, though the UK government has guaranteed to maintain "overall" farm subsidies or payments at the same level until 2022.
AHDB, a statutory body funded by a levy on the agricultural industry, said Brexit would inevitably have a "dramatic immediate impact" on farm sectors that rely most on subsidies.
The effects of Brexit will not be uniform, though, and the position will be complex, depending on the sector and scenario being modelled.
Dairy and pig farmers may benefit from rising prices, the report says.
On the other hand, significant exporters such as cereal producers and sheep farmers would suffer due to the increased cost of exporting products to the EU.
And where businesses rely on migrant workers, higher employment costs due to more stringent immigration restrictions will also push up farmers' costs dramatically, especially in horticulture.
An AHDB spokeswoman said there were thought to be between 50,000 and 80,000 EU nationals working in UK agriculture and horticulture, in both permanent and seasonal jobs.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41570648
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Theresa May won't say if she'd vote for Brexit now - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The prime minister dodges questions about how she would vote if there was another EU referendum.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mrs May said she would not answer "hypothetical questions"
Theresa May has refused to say how she would vote if there was another EU referendum.
The prime minister, who backed Remain in last year's vote, was repeatedly asked if she would now vote for Brexit.
The PM, who said during the general election campaign that the UK had a "brighter future" after Brexit, added: "I voted Remain for good reasons at the time but circumstances move on."
Downing Street sources suggested it would be ridiculous to say the prime minister's comments raise doubts about whether she will deliver Brexit, as some such as ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage have said.
Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, who was a leading campaigner for Brexit, said: "She is entirely right to avoid being divisive.
"She is seeking to unite the country, not to perpetuate referendum divisions."
Fairly or not, Theresa May's hesitation in giving her answer on this hypothetical question will give pause for thought to those who harbour suspicions of her real commitment to Brexit.
And her "open and honest" answer, which refused to come down on either side creates the strange situation where the prime minister appears unwilling to give full-throated support to her government's main policy.
Presenter Iain Dale told Mrs May that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had switched from Remain to Leave because former Chancellor George Osborne's gloomy economic predictions about the latter had failed to come true.
He asked Mrs May why she could not say she had changed her mind, given that she was leading the country into Brexit.
"Yes and I'm prime minister ensuring I'm going to deliver Brexit for the British people," she replied.
Pressed again, Mrs May said: "I could say I would still vote Remain or I would vote Leave just to give you an answer to that question.
"I am being open and honest with you. What I did last time round was I looked at everything and I came to a judgement and I would do exactly the same this time round.
"But we are not having another referendum and that's absolutely crucial."
Mrs May's second in command, First Secretary of State Damian Green, also refused to say whether he would back Brexit if there was a referendum now.
Jeremy Corbyn called on Mrs May to guarantee migrants' rights
Mr Green, who was a board member of the campaign to keep Britain in the EU, told Channel 4 News: "I don't resile from anything I said during the election campaign."
But he added that it was a "meaningless" question and "purely hypothetical".
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson said: "It is staggering that even the prime minister isn't convinced by the government's approach to Brexit.
"If Theresa May doesn't have any faith in her own government's policies, why is she still driving this country towards the cliff edge?
"Theresa May says she would weigh up the evidence again, she shouldn't deny that right to the British people.
"The public must have the chance to change their mind if they want to, once the government comes back with a deal."
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage tweeted: "How can Theresa May negotiate Brexit without believing in it?"
In the same LBC interview, Mrs May said she could not guarantee the status of the estimated 1.2 million UK nationals living in other EU countries if Britain leaves the bloc without a deal.
And she warned that rights held by more than three million EU nationals in the UK could "fall away" in a "no deal" scenario, something the government is actively preparing for if talks in Brussels fail.
"By definition, if there isn't a deal we won't have been able to agree with the EU what happens to UK citizens currently living in countries like Spain and Italy and other members of the EU," said the prime minister.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: "Unacceptable. The Tories' chaotic handling of Brexit means no deal is a real risk. Theresa May must guarantee EU migrants' rights now."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41576098
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Newspaper headlines: Paltrow and Jolie accuse Weinstein - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Mounting allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein make many of Wednesday's front pages.
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The Papers
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Producer Harvey Weinstein and his wife, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, who has since said she is leaving him
With allegations of rape and sexual harassment swirling around Harvey Weinstein, it is - the Daily Mail says - Hollywood's darkest day. How did the Monster of Tinseltown get away with it for so long, it asks.
Accounts by Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie in the New York Times that they were sexually harassed by the film producer are reported on most of the front pages.
The Guardian says the stories appear to illustrate a pattern of behaviour by Mr Weinstein that carried on for decades.
The New York Times - which has been chronicling the claims against Mr Weinstein - says his alleged behaviour was something of an open secret in Hollywood.
More established actresses were fearful of speaking out because they had work; less established ones were scared because they did not.
A statement by Mr Weinstein's spokeswoman says he unequivocally denies any allegations of non-consensual sex.
The Times leads on Chancellor Philip Hammond's article for the paper, in which he says it would be irresponsible to spend taxpayers' money now in preparation for a "no-deal" Brexit.
The paper says Mr Hammond supports contingency planning in case the "divorce" talks collapse, but with money tight and the government trying to secure a deal, he's reluctant to approve spending unless the danger is imminent.
Prime Minister Theresa May's refusal to say whether she would vote for Brexit if another EU referendum were held now, is widely reported - and is the Guardian's main story.
It says her refusal was seized upon by opposition parties as a sign that she's not fully committed to a Brexit she's promising to deliver.
The Sun describes it as alarming and says it sparked questions about whether she believed leaving the EU was the right course for the UK.
For the Daily Telegraph's sketch-writer, Michael Deacon, the person in charge of Brexit apparently still can't say she would actually vote for it. It was - he says - no less than a vote of no confidence in herself.
In the Spectator's judgement, refusing to give your wholehearted support to leaving doesn't exactly help the UK's position in the negotiations.
A survey has found that a third of children under five now own a tablet device. The Daily Mail reports that parents upgrading their own devices have been handing down their old ones to keep their children quiet.
Researchers who carried out the survey tell the paper: "Constant access to technology is here to stay - and pre-school children are keeping up with the pace."
And the UK's hottest-ever ready meal has gone on sale - an Indian curry made with a chilli that is 200 times hotter than Tabasco sauce.
According to the Mirror, the Morrison's Volcanic Vindaloo comes with a rating of six chillies on its packaging - and will only be sold to over-16s.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41576489
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Harvey Weinstein: Paltrow and Jolie say they were victims - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The Oscar-winning actresses join a growing number of women alleging harassment by Harvey Weinstein.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Harvey Weinstein, the Oscar-winning film producer, has been accused of sexually assaulting three women
Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow are the latest actresses to allege they were victims of sexual harassment by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Both said the incidents happened early in their careers.
They join a string of actresses accusing Weinstein of harassment. On Tuesday he also denied allegations of rape made in The New Yorker magazine.
Weinstein's wife, designer Georgina Chapman, said on Tuesday that she was leaving him.
"My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions," the 41-year-old told People magazine. London-born Chapman, co-founder of fashion label Marchesa, and Weinstein, 65, have two children together.
The mogul has also been fired over the allegations by his Hollywood studio The Weinstein Company.
Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have added their voice to growing demonstrations of public outrage. Their eldest daughter Malia worked as an intern at The Weinstein Company in New York earlier this year.
A statement released by the Obamas says they "have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein".
It adds they "celebrate the courage of women who have come forward".
Also on Tuesday, Paltrow and Jolie both sent statements to the New York Times, which first reported allegations against him last week.
Jolie said in an email: "I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did.
"This behaviour towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable."
In a statement, Paltrow alleged that, after Weinstein cast her in the leading role in Emma, he summoned her to his hotel suite, where he placed his hands on her and suggested massages in his bedroom.
Gwyneth Paltrow has joined the list of people accusing Harvey Weinstein
"I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified," she told the newspaper.
She said she told her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt about the incident, and said he confronted Weinstein.
"I thought he was going to fire me," she said.
The separate New Yorker report says that 16 former and current employees at Weinstein's companies told the magazine "they witnessed or had knowledge of unwanted sexual advances and touching at events associated with Weinstein's films and in the workplace".
The magazine quotes Italian actress and director Asia Argento and Lucia Stoller, now Lucia Evans - who says she was an aspiring actress when Weinstein allegedly approached her in 2004. Both say they were forced into sexual acts by the producer.
A third woman, who did not want to be named, said Weinstein had "forced himself on me sexually".
Argento said she has not spoken until now because she feared it would ruin her career to do so.
"That's why this story - in my case, it's 20 years old, some of them are old - has never come out," she told the New Yorker.
Asia Argento, pictured in 2009, has spoken to the New Yorker magazine
Other allegations in the piece came from Mira Sorvino, who won an Oscar in 1996 for her role in Mighty Aphrodite for Miramax, a studio headed by Weinstein at the time. She told the magazine that Weinstein had tried to pressure her into a relationship.
Roseanna Arquette also said that she rejected Weinstein's advances and that she believes her acting career suffered as a result.
Weinstein's spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister issued a statement in response to the article.
"Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein," she said. "Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.
"Mr Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr Weinstein has begun counselling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path."
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 Nick Merrill 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’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Hillary Clinton shared a statement saying that she was "shocked and appalled" by the revelations about Weinstein, who donated to her 2016 presidential campaign and has been a major donor to Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama's Democratic party.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
• None What next for Weinstein and Hollywood?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41570216
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The government nudges itself over race - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The information in the government's race audit is already known, so why has it not been acted on?
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UK
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Theresa May has pledged to tackle social and racial injustice in the UK
It is fitting, perhaps, that the launch of the government's so-called "race disparities audit" comes the day after American economist Richard Thaler was awarded a Nobel prize for his work on behavioural economics and nudging, because that is what this project is about.
It is a giant nudge to change behaviour on issues of race inequality. The odd thing is that the project is not a government trying to nudge the people. It is a government trying to nudge itself.
The prime minister has dedicated her premiership to fighting burning injustices and says she is determined to shine a light on disparities between different racial groups in the UK on a range of areas - health, education, job prospects, housing and so on.
A focus on the many and often troubling differences is - of course - no bad thing, but people might well wonder why we need a public website to get Whitehall departments to take an interest.
The race audit commissioned no new research.
All the information on the website comes from Whitehall departments, the vast majority of which is already in the public domain.
Indeed, most of the shocking headlines of disparity from the audit have been reported upon, discussed and debated many times.
Graduates from ethnic minorities in Britain are less likely to be in work than their white peers, research has found
This shouldn't come as a revelation.
Another prime minister, James Callaghan, established the Commission for Racial Equality back in 1976 to deal with racial disparity and discrimination. It is still going, now part of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, a government quango whose job is to promote racial equality.
The Social Mobility Commission, another quango set up in 2010, has written many reports on racial disparities, and sent them to ministers.
It is perhaps a recognition of the inability of these bodies to get their messages across over decades that we apparently need a race audit website - a pull together of 60 of all the 300 data sets that relate to the experience of different racial groups.
The people being nudged are the people who sit around the cabinet table with the prime minister - her own government. "Explain or change," the PM will tell them. Where disparities exist, ministers will be encouraged to explain why they exist.
There may be understandable reasons why all races do not experience the same outcomes.
It might be a factor of demographics or income, cultural differences or even the chances of developing certain medical conditions. But if the explanations don't stack up, then departments will be expected to introduce measures to change them.
Today's launch is accompanied by some new initiatives. The Department of Work and Pensions has used its own data to identify 20 hot spots where people from racial minorities struggle to access the jobs market, and will now reintroduce a mentoring scheme that was abandoned 10 years ago.
The question remains, though. Given that ministers have known about these "troubling" and "shocking" disparities for years or even decades, why does it take a prime ministerial nudge to get them to take action?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41565954
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Ebay paid UK corporation tax of £1.6m in 2016 - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The tax bill for the UK division of the auction website comes despite total revenues of £1bn.
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Business
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The UK arm of eBay paid only £1.6m in corporation tax last year, even though its US parent had total revenues from its UK operations of $1.32bn (£1bn).
Ebay's UK accounts record only £200m in revenues, which came entirely from a Swiss parent firm, seemingly for acting as its advertising agency.
The company declined to explain how its UK revenues were not booked though its UK business.
However, an eBay spokesman said its tax affairs were entirely legal.
"In all countries and at all times, eBay is fully compliant with national, EU and international tax rules including those of the OECD, including the remittance of VAT to the appropriate authorities," he said.
The pre-tax profit eBay UK made on its revenues in 2016 was £7.7m, according to the accounts, and it was on this figure that the UK corporation tax was levied.
Ebay is a huge international business that makes money mainly from advertisers and the commission on sales made through its auction site.
The total revenues of $1.32bn that the parent US business generated from the UK included those from subsidiaries such as the Stubhub ticket exchange and Gumtree classifieds site.
Within the group, the UK arm of eBay is wholly owned by eBay International, which is based in Switzerland and is itself owned by eBay in the US.
The firm's UK accounts describe the role of eBay UK as providing "services to eBay International by recommending market penetration and advertising strategies for the UK internal marketplace and related third party advertising sales in the UK, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Australia".
The seeming ability of the company to shelter most its UK profits from the UK tax authorities raises again the ability of big international companies to route their revenues to the countries with the most favourable tax regimes.
This has led in the past few years to intense scrutiny of the tax practices of big firms such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Starbucks.
Ebay in the US, whose international revenues hit $9bn last year, acknowledged that its tax affairs were under scrutiny in several countries, which may leave it with more tax to pay.
"The material jurisdictions where we are subject to potential examination by tax authorities for tax years after 2002 include, among others, the US (Federal and California), Germany, Korea, Israel, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Canada," its US accounts said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41582844
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Brexit: UK to wait until 'last moment' to spend on 'no deal' plan - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Philip Hammond says the UK will be ready if there's no Brexit deal, but won't spend money on it yet.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Hammond: Not time yet for 'no deal' spending
Taxpayers' money will not be spent on preparing for a "no-deal" Brexit until the "very last moment", Chancellor Philip Hammond has suggested.
He said he was preparing for "no deal" and all other outcomes and would make money available when needed.
But he said he wouldn't take money from other areas, like health or education, now just to "send a message" to the EU.
At PM's questions Theresa May rejected claims she was ramping up "no deal" talk, insisting she wanted agreement.
"We are actively working... with the EU to ensure a good deal, the right deal for Britain for a brighter future for this country," Mrs May told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions.
One ex-minister, David Jones, has said billions should be set aside in November's Budget for a "no deal" scenario, arguing that if this did not happen it would be seen as a "a sign of weakness" by EU leaders who would think the UK was not serious about leaving the EU without a deal.
The chancellor, who has been accused of being too pessimistic about Brexit, told the Treasury committee of MPs a "cloud of uncertainty" over the outcome of negotiations was "acting as a dampener" on the economy.
He said this could only be removed by progress in the talks, which he said was dependent on the EU agreeing to discuss its future relationship with the UK as soon as possible.
He told MPs one worst case scenario for a "no deal", would see no air travel taking place between the UK and the EU on Brexit day - 29 March 2019 - but added that he did not see that as likely to happen, even if the UK/EU talks failed to reach agreement.
Writing in the Times ahead of next month's Budget, Mr Hammond said he had a responsibility to be "realistic" about the challenges of leaving the EU and would spend money only when it was "responsible" to do so.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mrs May said she would not answer "hypothetical questions"
An extra £412m has already been allocated to government departments to prepare for Brexit over the next four years and Treasury sources suggested more would be made available if negotiations faltered.
Asked about the article as he appeared before the Commons Treasury committee, Mr Hammond said he was "committed" to funding departments for Brexit preparation and he was "rather surprised" that the article might be interpreted as saying that he was reluctant to do so.
"We are prepared to spend when we need to spend against the contingency of a 'no deal' outcome," he said.
"I am clear we have to be prepared for a 'no deal' scenario unless and until we have clear evidence that this is not where we will end up."
"What I am not prepared to do is allocate funds to departments in advance of the need to spend," he added.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Would it have been better if the UK voted Remain? Newsnight's Emily Maitlis presses Damian Green
"We should look in each area at the last point that spending can begin to ensure we are ready for a day-one 'no deal' scenario.
"Every pound we spend on contingency preparations on a hard customs border is a pound we can't spend on the NHS, social care or education. I don't believe we should be in the business of making potentially nugatory expenditure until the very last moment when we need to do so."
Theresa May was pressed on the issue at Prime Minister's Questions, in which former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith sought assurances "all necessary monies" would be spent preparing for a no deal outcome.
"Where money needs to be spent it will be spent," the prime minister replied, adding that government departments would be given an extra £250m this year to prepare for a range of Brexit outcomes.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Heidi Alexander says the British people "deserve better than a prime minister simply running scared"
Labour's Heidi Alexander accused Mrs May of "running scared" of Tory backbenchers - prompting the PM to reply "the honourable lady could not be more wrong... we are not ramping up a no deal scenario".
On Tuesday, Mrs May - who backed Remain in last year's vote - repeatedly refused to say if she would now vote for Brexit, telling LBC radio: "I don't answer hypothetical questions."
At PMQs, the SNP's Ian Blackford claimed the PM "could not answer a simple question" and urged her to "come off the fence" and recognise the risk to jobs in Scotland from leaving the single market and customs union.
In response, the prime minister said she was clear the UK would be leaving the EU in March 2019 and that there would be no second referendum.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41577065
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Diary of Anne Frank transformed into graphic adaptation - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The words of young wartime diarist Anne Frank are reimagined in comic-strip format.
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Europe
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Seventy years after its first publication, Anne Frank's original diary is being transformed
"We do have similar personalities. I'm a bookworm, I love books."
India is 14 years old. She's wrapped up in a maroon Harry Potter hoodie.
Like so many readers around the world, Anne Frank has helped her to understand an otherwise unimaginable and distant chapter of history.
India is one of a group of pupils congregated outside a canal-side warehouse in Amsterdam, where Anne's father once sold the gelling agent pectin. They've come to learn more about the life of the young wartime diarist.
Pupils from Dundee's Harris Academy in Scotland visit the building where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis
Anne Frank was 15 when she died. She was an aspiring author, and one of more than a million Jewish children killed in the Holocaust.
Today her diary - which she nicknamed Kitty - is one of the most-read books in the world. Her teenage prose has spawned Hollywood screenplays, Broadway shows and countless other (re)productions.
Now it has been adapted into comic-strip format, in a book produced by the creators of the Oscar-nominated animation Waltz with Bashir, and there is a film coming soon too.
Scenes from the original book are reimagined in the Graphic Diary of Anne Frank
Accompanied by excerpts from her diaries and letters, the "graphic diary" depicts the story of how Anne Frank and her family went into hiding after her sister Margot received a summons to report to a Nazi work camp.
They survived for almost two years, tiptoeing around in the dark, damp confines of the "achterhuis" (secret annex) before being discovered.
Nazis emptied Anne's schoolbag to carry cash and jewellery looted from Jewish homes - her distinctive red-checked diary was recovered from the floor of the hideout.
Read more on the Holocaust:
Ari Folman, author and director of the new graphic adaptation, says he wants to ensure Anne's legacy remains relevant.
"The Graphic Diary is the perfect solution for the next generation," he says.
"To reach the readers of the diary you also have to find their language - more people will get to know the story. Period."
In fact, readership of the original is increasing every year.
Anne Frank who died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the age of 15
Anne Frank has come to symbolise courage, optimism and determination.
But it is her teenage attitude and frustrations that resonate with young people.
"It's easy to understand. She's eloquent," explains Eilidh Lean from the Anne Frank Trust, as she follows the Scottish students towards the secret annex where the Frank family hid.
"Six million people [approximate number of Jews murdered during World War Two] is difficult to get their heads around. Anne puts a human face on it. You can tell she's 13. She's going through puberty. They can empathise with her."
But reimaging Anne's famous prose in cartoon form was not an easy decision.
Illustrator David Polonsky was initially reluctant, for fear of becoming part of the "Holocaust industry" sometimes accused of commodifying the Diary of a Young Girl (also known as The Diary of Anne Frank).
But he hopes the images will inform and stimulate contemporary debates about people forced out of their homes by politicians waging war.
"It is one story about one person, and each immigrant has a different story, too," he says.
Zahara Belen Mackay and Sammy Neeter attend the Montessori school that Anne Frank attended before the Nazis made all Jews attend Jewish schools
At the Montessori primary that Anne Frank attended before the Nazis created Jewish-only schools, not all the pupils are convinced the new version is necessary.
The concrete building stands in the southern suburbs, away from the city centre tourist strips. Colourful children's bikes lean against one another outside.
Eleven-year-old pupils Sammy Neeter and Zahara Belen Mackay are conscious of the historical significance of their environment, proudly leading me to see Anne's old wooden desk. Sammy says it's "weird but cool" that he used to sit in her classroom.
His mother read Anne Frank's diary to him when he was seven years old. What does this earnest young man make of the comic-book style of interpretation?
"When you look at the pictures you cannot really see what happened; when you read the diary you can see more with your imagination..."
But Zahara believes this approach could help to engage younger audiences.
"It's nice for little children, but once you go to the secondary school you should just read the original book because it's very nice and it actually has her words."
The pupils from Dundee's Harris Academy have stepped out of the claustrophobic confines of the secret annex and into the invigorating autumn sunshine; inspired after literally walking an hour in Anne Frank's footsteps.
"It's quite surreal," Joshua reflects, gazing downwards. "I saw how she lived... being determined and, like, just getting through and keeping on going.
"Now we've been here we can see how this genocide happened and we need to go home and really band together to make sure it never happens again."
The Graphic Diary of Anne Frank is published in the Netherlands and Germany. An English edition will reach audiences in the UK and US early 2018. An animated film is scheduled for release in 2019.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41517570
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Bafta suspends Harvey Weinstein's membership - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The British film and TV academy says his alleged behaviour is "completely unacceptable".
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Entertainment & Arts
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Bafta, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, has suspended Harvey Weinstein's membership from the organisation.
It is in light of allegations against the film producer which include sexual assault and harassment.
Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Heather Graham are some of the stars who have come forward with allegations.
Bafta released a statement saying it hoped the announcement would send "a clear message".
The announcement said: "Whilst Bafta has previously been a beneficiary of Mr Weinstein's support for its charitable work, it considers the reported alleged behaviour completely unacceptable and incompatible with Bafta's values.
"This has led to Mr Weinstein's suspension, and it will be followed by a formal process as laid out in Bafta's constitution.
"We hope this announcement sends a clear message that such behaviour has absolutely no place in our industry."
Weinstein's name has also been removed from the list of trustees of Bafta New York.
Angelina Jolie and Gwneth Paltrow have made allegations about Weinstein's behaviour
A number of allegations about Weinstein's behaviour, including accusations of sexual assault and harassment from actresses he has worked with, emerged this week.
Weinstein's wife, Marchesa co-owner Georgina Chapman, has now said she is leaving him.
Weinstein has admitted his behaviour has "caused a lot of pain" but described many of the allegations against him as "patently false". His spokeswoman has said "any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied".
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41586442
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Harvey Weinstein scandal: Who has accused him of what? - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A string of actresses have claimed he harassed or assaulted them in hotel rooms and offices.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cara Delevingne have all spoken out
Salma Hayek, Rose McGowan and Gwyneth Paltrow are among dozens of women who have come forward with allegations ranging from rape to sexual harassment by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
He is currently facing five charges relating to two women in New York.
He has previously admitted his behaviour has "caused a lot of pain" but has described many of the allegations against him as "patently false".
His spokesperson has said "any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied" and there were "never any acts of retaliation" against women who turned him down.
Here are some of those who have made allegations against him.
The actress has accused Weinstein of raping her by performing oral sex in a hotel at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997, when she was 23 and had just appeared in Scream.
She later reached a $100,000 settlement with him - and says he offered her $1m for a further non-disclosure deal to stay silent. She declined and has been one of his most vocal accusers.
The Emmy-nominated former Sopranos actress has alleged that Weinstein forced himself into her apartment in New York in 1992 and raped her.
"I was so ashamed of what happened," Sciorra told the New Yorker. "And I fought. I fought. But still I was like, Why did I open that door?"
The actress says Weinstein asked her to go to his hotel room under the guise of a business meeting, but appeared in a bathrobe and asked if he could give her a massage or if she could watch him shower.
She refused, and says he got revenge by seeking to damage her career. Director Peter Jackson has come forward to say he removed her from a casting list "as a direct result" of what he now thinks was "false information" provided by Weinstein.
In May 2018 Judd sued Weinstein claiming he damaged her career in retaliation for her rejecting his sexual advances but a Los Angeles court later dismissed her sexual harassment suit.
Her defamation claim may still proceed, the judge said.
Mira Sorvino was photographed at a Weinstein Company party in January 2017
The Mighty Aphrodite star says he harassed her in a hotel room in 1995. "He started massaging my shoulders, which made me very uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me around," she said.
Like with Ashley Judd, Peter Jackson said Weinstein warned him off casting her.
Hayek said Weinstein threatened to kill her
The Frida actress says she turned down repeated sexual advances from Weinstein while making the 2002 film Frida.
And she says his persuasion tactics included threats. Hayek said Weinstein once told her: "I will kill you, don't think I can't."
The Italian actress and director Asia Argento says she reluctantly agreed to give him a massage in a hotel room on the French Riviera, but he then raped her.
Weinstein "terrified me, and he was so big", she said. "It wouldn't stop. It was a nightmare."
Lucia Evans - nee Stoller - encountered Weinstein in 2004 in a New York club when she was an aspiring actress. She says she was forced to perform oral sex by the producer after going to his office for what she thought was a casting meeting.
"The type of control he exerted, it was very real," she told The New Yorker. "Even just his presence was intimidating."
The Boardwalk Empire star has accused Weinstein of raping her twice in New York in 2010.
The first time was after he offered her a ride home, and the second was when he turned up uninvited at her apartment. "I did say no, and when he was on top of me I said, 'I don't want to do this'," she said.
Paltrow says Weinstein asked her to give him a massage in his hotel suite after casting her in the leading role of 1996's Emma when she was 22.
She refused. "He screamed at me for a long time. It was brutal," she said. She told then boyfriend Brad Pitt - who threatened to kill the producer if he did anything like that to Paltrow again.
Former production worker Mimi Haleyi alleges that she was raped by Weinstein when he forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006 in his New York apartment.
"I told him 'no, no, no'. But he insisted," Ms Haleyi told a press conference in New York.
The actress also alleges she was raped by Weinstein when he performed oral sex on her without her consent. She says he lured her to a hotel room in 2010 under the guise of helping her procure future TV and film roles.
"I didn't know how to say no to someone like him at the time, which I regret," she said.
The Norwegian actress accuses Weinstein of raping her in a London hotel after the 2008 Bafta Awards ceremony.
She also alleges that he then asked her to engage in a threesome with him and another woman when back in Los Angeles following the Baftas.
British actress Lysette Anthony says he carried out a "pathetic, revolting" attack at her London home in the late 1980s, which left her "disgusted and embarrassed".
Lysette Anthony told The Sunday Times she had reported an attack by Weinstein to the Metropolitan Police in London.
In an Instagram post, Delevingne writes how uncomfortable she felt during an encounter with Weinstein in a hotel room and describes what allegedly happened when she told him she wanted to leave.
"He walked me to the door and stood in front of it and tried to kiss me on the lips. I stopped him and managed to get out of the room," she says.
The French actress has written about how he invited her to come to his hotel room for a drink.
"We were talking on the sofa when he suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me," she wrote in The Guardian. "I had to defend myself. He's big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him."
Angelina Jolie with Gillian Anderson at the premiere of Playing by Heart in 1998
Jolie says she was propositioned by Weinstein in a hotel room in 1998.
"I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did," she said.
The Pulp Fiction actress says Weinstein pushed her down and "tried to expose himself" at the producer's hotel room in London during the 1990s.
"He tried to shove himself on me... He did all kinds of unpleasant things," Thurman said. "But he didn't actually put his back into it and force me. You're like an animal wriggling away, like a lizard."
Harvey Weinstein and Heather Graham at a film party in 1999
The Boogie Nights actress told Variety she was once propositioned by Weinstein in the early 2000s when she met him to discuss being cast in one of his movies.
She alleges he implied she had to sleep with him to get a film role, telling her that his wife would have been fine with it.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Model Zoe Brock tells Radio 4's Today that she was one of Harvey Weinstein's victims
The model and actress says he asked for a massage in the south of France in 1997. She said: "I didn't know what to do and I felt that letting him maybe touch me a little bit might placate him enough to get me out of there somehow."
Before long, she "bolted" into the bathroom. He banged on the door with his fists before eventually retreating, putting on a dressing gown and starting to cry.
The actress and producer says she was attacked by Weinstein when he invited her to his office in a hotel for a meeting about a script she had written at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008.
He insisted on listening to her pitch in his hot tub, then asked her to watch him masturbate, she says - and told her he could green-light her script if she did so. She left.
The Splash actress says she repeatedly turned down Weinstein's advances during promotion for Kill Bill and its sequel. He tried, she says, to get into her hotel room on multiple occasions, once getting a key and "burst[ing] in like a raging bull."
He asked to grope her breasts and then asked her to expose herself to him, she alleges. She suffered physical repercussions as her flights were cancelled and she was left stranded after she turned him down on one occasion, she adds.
The actress says she rejected Weinstein's advances and that she believes her acting career suffered as a result.
She told the New York Times in the early 1990s she was directed to his hotel room, where he was in a bathrobe and asked her for a massage. When she refused she says he grabbed her hand and pulled it toward his crotch.
Model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez has said she was groped by Weinstein and later went to New York police in 2015, saying the producer assaulted her. She then met Weinstein wearing a hidden microphone. But prosecutors took no action.
Other stars to have detailed how he made advances in his home or hotel rooms include Brit Marling, Lupita Nyong'O, Lena Headey and Kate Beckinsale.
Other women who have come forward since then with their stories include French actresses Florence Darel, Judith Godreche and Emma de Caunes.
British model Kadian Noble, US actresses Jessica Barth, Katherine Kendall and aspiring actresses Dawn Denning, who is now a costume designer, Tomi-Ann Roberts, who is now a psychology professor, have also gone on the record.
TV anchor Lauren Sivan alleges Weinstein cornered her in an empty basement area of a New York restaurant in 2007 and masturbated in front of her.
And other workers at the Weinstein film company told the New Yorker about their experiences, including Emily Nestor, who was a temporary front desk assistant who said she had had to refuse his advances "at least a dozen times".
Actress Claire Forlani has said "nothing happened" between her and Weinstein - but only because she "escaped five times".
In an interview with Canadian TV, actress Lauren Holly said the producer approached her naked and requested a massage, at which point she "pushed him and ran".
Zelda Perkins, a British former assistant of Harvey Weinstein, says she resigned after a colleague accused him of trying to rape her.
Weinstein's spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister issued a statement on 10 October in response to the allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
"Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein," she said. "Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.
"Mr Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr Weinstein has begun counselling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41580010
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Grenfell fire: One year immigration amnesty can become permanent - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Home Office also said relatives who came to the UK to help survivors can stay for six months.
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UK
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Grenfell Tower fire survivors whose immigration status was uncertain will have the chance to be granted permanent UK residency, the Home Office has said.
This is a change to the one-year immigration amnesty announced after the June blaze in west London.
Immigration minister Brandon Lewis said the government "believed it is right" to give survivors greater certainty.
Meanwhile, the chancellor has said the government will not "automatically" fund fire safety measures for councils.
Mr Lewis also announced that relatives of survivors and victims who have been allowed to come into the UK for reasons relating to the fire will have the right to stay for six months.
In a statement, Mr Lewis wrote: "Our initial response to this terrible tragedy was rightly focused on survivors' immediate needs in the aftermath of the fire and ensuring they could access the services they need to start to rebuild their lives.
"However, since the Grenfell Tower immigration policy was announced, we have been planning for the future of those residents affected by these unprecedented events".
He added that the granting of permanent residency would depend on the completion of security and financial checks. Anyone wishing to apply for permanent residency under the proposal must come forward by 30 November.
The announcement came on the same day as another inquest opened into the death of a resident of the tower. Ligaya Moore was a 78-year-old grandmother who had moved to London from the Philippines in 1974.
Mrs Moore's inquest is the 68th inquest to be opened in relation to the fire.
The chancellor said that money for works ordered in the wake of the tragedy in west London will be available only as the "last resort".
Instead, Philip Hammond will remove rules which ring-fence some parts of council budgets to allow local authorities to use their own money.
However, he insisted that all "safety-critical" changes would be made.
Speaking to MPs, Mr Hammond said he had asked councils that said they did not have the money to set out details of the shortfall, but that none has yet done so.
The chancellor said the government would act when it was certain that a council "genuinely does not have any available resource".
The measures could include the removal of flammable cladding and retrofitting sprinkler systems in council-owned tower blocks.
Councils said many of the changes had been recommended by local fire services.
The inquest into Ligaya Moore's death opened on Wednesday
On 16 June, two days after the Grenfell fire which claimed at least 60 lives, Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid pledged that the government would "do whatever it takes" to improve safety in tower blocks.
Yet several councils have already complained that money has not been forthcoming.
The leader of the Labour opposition group on Westminster City Council, Adam Hug, said the local authority had struggled to secure funding from Mr Javid's department to pay for the removal of cladding and the installation of sprinklers.
"Ultimately these are things that the London Fire Brigade says have to be done and ultimately the cost is having to be borne by the housing revenue account, which is tenants' rents and service charge fees," Mr Hug said.
Mr Javid says Kensington and Chelsea Council plans to have all former residents of the tower moved out of emergency hotel accommodation by Christmas, unless they want to stay,
He stressed that no one would be forced to decide on a new home before they were ready.
He said that of the 203 households left homeless by the fire, 92 were still living in hotels with no other offer of accommodation.
Just 10 of them have moved into permanent new homes, and 44 were in temporary accommodation.
Another 40 households have accepted the offer of permanent homes and 17 have taken temporary placements, but have not yet moved in, he said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41586892
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Are men forgotten in miscarriage? - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Researchers think half of unexplained miscarriages could be linked to the man's health and have possibly found a treatment.
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Health
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James and his wife Joanna had seven miscarriages before they had their son Samuel.
One in four couples who discover they are pregnant have a miscarriage, but men are often forgotten both in terms of emotional support and as the potential cause. But researchers are working on a treatment which focuses on how their health could affect pregnancy.
James Barnett and his partner endured seven miscarriages before successfully having a son, Samuel, who is now nine months old. Despite their ordeal he says he only cried in front of his wife once.
At their 12-week scan the couple found the baby had no heartbeat and were sent home with drugs to induce the miscarriage. Within a few hours of agony on their bed, Joanna delivered the baby.
"She passed it to me and I looked at it and that really was the first time it hit home that this was a baby," he told the Victoria Derbyshire programme.
"I was so upset, the potential this baby could have had, what it could have been, what it could have achieved. And I broke down, just to see it in front of you, just what it could have been."
Men say they can find themselves overlooked in terms of the emotional impact of miscarriage.
Gareth Watkins, whose wife Jo had three miscarriages before their two-year-old daughter Jessica, said he found explaining how he felt to others was the hardest thing.
Gareth Watkins said he tried to be a supporting figure for his wife Jo when they had three miscarriages.
"I'd make an excuse to go out to the shops just so I have ten minutes were I could compose myself, even crying sometimes, just out there on my own just trying to work through it. Just so you can go back into the house, try and be that supportive figure for your partner who's obviously in bits with what's gone on," he said.
And despite the fact that one in 100 couples will have three or more miscarriages, some men say the emotional support available from medical professionals is "next to nothing" unless you are able to pay for it.
Al Ferguson has three children, but has experienced six miscarriages. He said very little support is offered to couples afterwards: "There's no follow-up appointment. [It would help] even if there was just one appointment or something which the GPs could do, to ask 'how's it going?'"
Prof Lesley Regan, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says the lack of care for men comes down to resources.
"Offering counselling and bereavement counselling often in this cash-strapped NHS that we're working in at the moment, is difficult, and it's maybe the one thing that's considered, for example in the clinic I'm running, to be non-essential," she said.
"I would have to prioritise the investigative tests I'm doing and try and encourage the couple to find the support and the counselling from other sources, from family, from friends."
Often miscarriage is caused by problems with chromosomes, but one of hardest things for parents is not knowing why it has gone wrong.
But last year the UK's first national research centre dedicated to understanding miscarriage opened at Birmingham Women's Hospital. It is funded by Tommy's baby charity, in partnership with the University of Birmingham, the University of Warwick and Imperial College London.
Simon and his wife, Kate, had three miscarriages while having their sons Isaac and Ethan.
One of the researchers is Dr Jackson Kirkman-Brown, who said around half of miscarriages currently have no explanation. But they think a lot may be due to the male's sperm.
"Until now, everybody has thought, after the man has got the lady pregnant, that's the end of his role. And if she loses the child, that's something that's wrong with her. Our research is really starting to turn that on its head. Now we think around half the time we can't find an answer about miscarriage, it may be down to sperm DNA," he said.
The researchers have developed a dietary supplement which they hope to be able to give to those men to correct the problem in how they make sperm.
"If we get the trial data to support this supplement working, we'd aim to have it out there on the market within a very few years to treat these problems," Dr Kirkman-Brown said.
"We're incredibly optimistic about this research, and excited to push through to the next stage. We estimate that tens of thousands of miscarriages each year in the UK may be down to a male factor so we hope if we could correct that, perhaps 10,000 babies more a year would be born that otherwise would have had a miscarriage."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Victoria Derbyshire programme hears from four men who have had 19 miscarriages between them
Simon Webb and his wife Kate experienced three miscarriages while having their two sons. Simon said the development sounded amazing, but he remains cautious.
"You listen to the news and you hear of it all time, 'they've found a cure for this, they've found a cure for that'. When they actually find that cure, then you can start really believing," he said.
"I would like to have another child. I'd find it hard, but going through the experience and actually having a child, gives me that hope."
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
• None 10 miscarriages but still trying
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41525610
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Brazilian Fabio Rochemback arrested in 'cockfighting' raid - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Ex-Barcelona and Middlesbrough player Fabio Rochemback is among dozens arrested, Brazilian media say.
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Latin America & Caribbean
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Fabio Rochemback played for Middlesbrough from 2005 to 2008
Brazilian footballer Fabio Rochemback - formerly of Barcelona and Middlesbrough - has been arrested after an alleged cockfighting ring was busted in the country's south.
A police operation was conducted at a farm in Rio Grande do Sul state, reported news site Globo.
It said 89 roosters were seized and more than $100,000 (£75,000) in cash.
However, his father said his son was not present at the scene. Cockfighting is banned in Brazil.
UOL Sport reported that police arrested 57 people, out of 147 present during the early-morning raid close to Palmeira das Missoe.
But Rochemback's father Juarez said they had been together at the family farm elsewhere in the state.
Fabio Rochemback, now retired from football, was part of Brazil's national team.
He also played for Sport Club Internacional, Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon, before joining Middlesbrough in August 2005.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-41565814
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Newspaper headlines: 'Weinstein backlash' as more speak out - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Thursday's papers continue to cover the allegations against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
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The Papers
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British model and actress Cara Delevingne says Mr Weinstein tried to kiss her in a hotel room
Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is pictured on several of the front pages once again, as are some of the growing list of women who have alleged that he sexually harassed them.
The Daily Mirror leads on one such account by the British actress Cara Delevingne.
And the Sun claims Mr Weinstein "became obsessed" with Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas.
In a column, the paper's showbiz editor Dan Wootton condemns what he calls a "disgusting conspiracy of silence" engineered to protect Mr Weinstein over the years.
Mr Weinstein strongly denies the allegations against him.
"Daggers Drawn" is the headline for the Daily Mail - which says Theresa May has slapped down the "treacherous" Chancellor Phillip Hammond for undermining her Brexit strategy.
It says their contrasting remarks about how the UK is preparing for a no-deal Brexit is a sign that relations between the two have plunged into a "deep freeze".
In an editorial, the paper calls on the prime minister to issue an ultimatum to Mr Hammond - stop talking Britain down, or else!
The Daily Express goes further and says if the chancellor cannot accept the referendum result, he really should go.
US President Donald Trump is set to meet the Queen next year during an official visit to the UK, says the Times.
The paper reports that diplomats are planning to downgrade the trip from a full-blown state visit, but an audience with the Queen is apparently in the works to mollify Mr Trump, who's said to have asked for a carriage ride down the Mall.
Officially, both Washington and London tell the paper the state visit will go ahead as planned, at some point.
The Mirror believes the only people who will be disappointed by the low-key approach are the sellers of eggs and tomatoes.
The Guardian reports that the Home Office's refusal to issue gender-neutral passports is to be subject to a judicial review.
It is the result of a successful legal challenge by Christie Elan-Cane, who the paper says has campaigned for passports to feature a third option apart from male or female - called X, or unknown - for 25 years.
The Sun leads with a report that Sally Jones - the British Islamic State recruiter nicknamed "the White Widow" - has been killed in a drone strike.
The paper reports that CIA officials told their UK counterparts she was targeted in June, after fleeing the Syrian city of Raqqa.
The Sun says her death has been kept quiet until now because of fears her 12-year-old son also died in the strike.
And the Daily Telegraph reports that U-shaped seats are being introduced by a bus company in Dorset in an attempt to make passengers speak to each other.
The firm's managing director says while he does not believe he can undo the smart-phone revolution - getting people to look up from their screens and have a chat can only be a good thing.
But the Telegraph is not so sure. The paper believes British travellers instinctively look to the panic alarm if someone sits next to them on a half-empty bus.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41590413
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Catalonia independence declaration signed and suspended - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Catalan leaders sign a declaration of independence from Spain - but suspend it to allow talks.
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Europe
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Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and other regional leaders have signed a declaration of independence from Spain, following the disputed referendum.
However, they say the move will not be implemented for several weeks to allow talks with the government in Madrid.
The document calls for Catalonia to be recognised as an "independent and sovereign state".
The move was immediately dismissed by the Spanish central government in Madrid.
A 1 October referendum in the north-eastern province - which Catalan leaders say resulted in a Yes vote for independence - was declared invalid by Spain's Constitutional Court.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament in Barcelona that the region had won the right to be independent as a result of the vote.
The referendum resulted in almost 90% of voters backing independence, Catalan officials say. But anti-independence voters largely boycotted the ballot - which had a reported turnout of 43% - and there were several reports of irregularities.
National police were involved in violent scenes as they manhandled voters while implementing the legal ruling banning the referendum.
A pro-independence rally was held near the Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona
The declaration reads: "We call on all states and international organisations to recognise the Catalan republic as an independent and sovereign state.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Pablo Insa Iglesias and Elisabeth Besó sit on opposite sides of the argument
Mr Puigdemont told the regional parliament that the "people's will" was to break away from Madrid, but he also said he wanted to "de-escalate" the tension around the issue.
"We are all part of the same community and we need to go forward together. The only way forward is democracy and peace," he told deputies.
But he also said Catalonia was being denied the right to self-determination, and paying too much in taxes to the central government in Madrid.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria responded to Tuesday's developments by saying: "Neither Mr Puigdemont nor anybody else can claim... to impose mediation.
"Any dialogue between democrats has to take place within the law."
She added: "After having come so far, and taken Catalonia to the greatest level of tension in its history, President Puigdemont has now subjected his autonomous region to its greatest level of uncertainty.
"The speech the president... gave today is that of a person who does not know where he is, where he's going, nor who he wants to go there with."
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called an extraordinary cabinet meeting for Wednesday morning to address the latest moves in the crisis.
By the BBC's Tom Burridge, in Barcelona
As Catalonia's leader announced he would declare independence, thousands of his supporters, watching his speech nearby, on a big screen, were euphoric.
But seconds later - when Carles Puigdemont qualified his announcement - and said the declaration would be suspended for several weeks, the disappointment was visible in the crowd.
Mr Puigdemont's language was stark, claiming that he had to follow the will of the Catalan people.
But he is playing for time - offering a window for the possibility of dialogue with Madrid.
His ultimate aim, to pressure the Spanish government to allow a legitimate referendum, remains.
But it's highly unlikely that the Spanish government will accept that and there are signals now that its patience is wearing thin.
Catalonia's centre-right, centre-left coalition government only had a majority of MPs in the regional parliament with the support of another small pro-independence party, on the far left. That party is unhappy that there has been no clear declaration of independence. And so Catalonia's awkward coalition of pro-independence parties feels more fragile.
Independence supporters had been sharing the Catalan hashtag #10ODeclaració (10 October Declaration) on Twitter, amid expectations that Mr Puigdemont would ask parliament to declare independence on the basis of the referendum law it passed last month.
But influential figures including Barcelona's mayor Ada Colau and European Council President Donald Tusk had urged Mr Puigdemont to step back from declaring independence.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What do Scottish nationalists think about Catalonia?
Catalonia, a part of the Spanish state for centuries but with its own distinct language and culture, enjoys broad autonomy under the Spanish constitution.
However, a 2005 amendment redefining the region as a "nation", boosting the status of the Catalan language and increasing local control over taxes and the judiciary, was reversed by the Constitutional Court in 2010.
The economic crisis further fuelled discontent and pro-independence parties took power in the region in the 2015 elections.
Catalonia is is one of Spain's wealthiest regions, accounting for a quarter of the country's exports. But a stream of companies have announced plans to move their head offices out of Catalonia in response to the crisis.
The European Union has made clear that should Catalonia split from Spain, the region would cease to be part of the EU.
Are you in the region? E-mail us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.ukwith your stories.
You can also contact us in the following ways:
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41574172
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Hampton school gives pupils alarm clocks to replace 'distracting phones' - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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A west London school gives its students free clocks to stop mobile phones interrupting their sleep.
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London
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Heather Hanbury handed out school branded alarm clocks to students at an assembly marking world Mental Heath Day
A school has handed out free alarm clocks to students in an effort to stop mobile phones interrupting their sleep.
Heather Hanbury, head teacher at Lady Eleanor Holles in west London, advised parents to ban phones, televisions and computers from their children's bedrooms.
"Students often claim they need their phone to wake them up in the morning," Mrs Hanbury told the BBC.
But she said mobile phones were distracting them from sleeping.
"Young people are regularly online, dealing with social media distracted by the idea of missing out if they're not online," she said.
Every girl in the Senior School in Hampton - 700 students in total - was given an alarm clock at an assembly marking World Mental Health Day.
The £20,000-a-year private girls school also carried out workshops for students on how "to rewire an anxious brain".
Parents of pupils at Lady Eleanor Holles school have been asked to ban phones, televisions and computers from their children's bedrooms.
In a blog on the school's website, Mrs Hanbury wrote: "Without a proper amount of sleep nightly, it is very difficult to learn efficiently and effectively.
"Neurotoxins which build up during the day as we learn and experience things, can only be cleansed from our brains by sleep."
The NHS recommends children aged 12 and above get at least nine hours sleep a night, with those that don't more likely to be overweight or obese.
Persistent sleep-deprivation can leave also children overactive, seeking constant stimulation and unable to concentrate, it said.
• None How lack of sleep affects the brain
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41581994
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'Bulimia battle did not beat me' says athlete Jayne Nisbet - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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Jayne Nisbet says she missed out on one sporting dream because of bulimia, but fought her way back.
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Scotland
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Jayne Nisbet said getting to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was emotional
Jayne Nisbet's eating disorder almost robbed her of her sporting dream - but the Edinburgh athlete fought back to compete in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 29-year-old, who has now retired from competing in the high jump, spoke to the BBC about her battle with bulimia in order to highlight the issue and inspire others to fight it.
Jayne said she had been a top junior athlete who was tipped for the Olympics, but that she "spiralled downhill" because her illness.
"I felt like I was useless," she says.
Jayne Nisbet has written a book about her battles with an eating disorder
"I had bulimia, which was combined with depression, and I suffered from anxiety for lots of years afterwards."
Jayne says she now recognises features of her condition, such as extreme behaviour and perfectionist tendencies, going back to childhood.
But it all came to a head in the year before the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.
She had moved to Loughborough in Leicestershire to train at the High Performance Training Centre, but was not eating properly and went down to a weight which was very low for an athlete of 5ft 8in (1.72m).
"People would say to me: 'You are so skinny', and I would genuinely think they were just jealous.
Jayne said a medal at Glasgow would have been the icing on the cake
"I genuinely believed what I was doing was going to help my sport.
"But my performances got worse and worse and I became more and more isolated, to the point where I identified: 'This is not ok, I'm not myself any more'. I completely lost myself."
However, Jayne says that admitting she had an issue did not solve the problem.
"In fact, I probably got worse," she says.
Over the next three months she put on a lot of weight.
"Nobody saw that because I hid myself away," she says.
"I used to hide away in my bedroom because I thought everyone was ashamed of me."
Even in the depths of her struggles, Jayne set herself the goal of qualifying for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
She says: "I spent the first couple of years trying to work it out for myself because I was too afraid to speak anyone.
"By March 2012 I was fluctuating again and I thought: 'Why am I not happy?'
"I got a therapist at that point and he started working through some of my older issues that I didn't even realise existed.
"He unravelled things that I never even knew existed in my head."
In 2013, Jayne had a fantastic season but it was cut short in July by an accident in the gym.
She fell from the top of a step-up box and sustained a compression fracture of the spine, exactly a year before the Glasgow games.
Jayne missed out on the high jump in Delhi but fought back to compete in Glasgow
"In the past that would have triggered a complete downward spiral, and for a small amount of time it did," she says.
"But then I thought: 'What are you doing?' My coach said: 'Do not let this get back inside you, you have come so far'."
She had already pre-qualified for the Commonwealth Games, so needed to get fit and return to her best.
Jayne finished 10th in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow
Jayne says that making it to Hampden Stadium for the Commonwealth Games was an "amazing and emotional" achievement.
"It was like making it to the finish line for me in terms of mental health issues," she says.
While a 10th place finish was not as good as she would have wanted, for Jayne making it to the Games was a major success.
"For me getting a medal would have been the icing on the cake," she says.
"But it was to actually prove that you can overcome something when you are at such a low point.
"You can get through it all and not let it beat you and become what you were meant to be."
Jayne has since retired from high jump and runs a successful business as a personal trainer.
She has also written a book called Free-ed.
"ED is a shorter version of eating disorder, and I want people to find freedom," she says.
In recent years she has also made a transition from high jump to running marathons.
Two years after her Commonwealth Games appearance, she ran a marathon in less than three hours and 15 minutes.
She now wants to reduce her marathon time by competing in the London marathon and the New York marathon next year, to celebrate her 30th birthday.
She says the Jayne of seven years ago would not recognise the woman she has become.
"The transformation in my confidence since competing at the Commonwealth Games has been huge," Jayne says.
"I love an opportunity now to get up and try to inspire people and that's the key thing.
"I want to help people overcome issues to try to get the best out of themselves."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41565598
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Long Lartin: Prison staff 'attacked with pool balls' - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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The Long Lartin disturbance should "ring alarm bells at the most senior level".
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Hereford & Worcester
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Emergency crews were seen arriving at the prison
Staff were attacked with pool balls during a disturbance at a high-security prison, the BBC understands.
A total of 81 inmates at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire became violent, forcing staff to retreat, a source said.
By 04:30 BST the disturbance was resolved with no injuries.
BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said he understood about 10 "Tornado teams" of riot officers had been sent to the prison on Wednesday.
Eighteen prisoners have since been moved to other jails.
James Treadwell, professor of criminology at Staffordshire University, said he understood there had been violence at the prison in the lead up to the disturbance.
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The disturbance at the maximum security jail should be "ringing alarm bells at the most senior level", the Prison Governors Association [PGA] said.
John Attard, national officer for the group, said the trouble was symptomatic of cutbacks and changes in the Prison Service management structure.
"Last year the PGA called for an independent public inquiry into the state of our prisons due to cuts... It fell on deaf ears. That call has not gone away," he said.
"I think we've dodged a bullet on this. They brought this under control very quickly and it's fantastic that they've dealt with it."
Our correspondent said staff on E wing had retreated, after inmates started throwing pool balls, but it had been secured so the troublemakers could not go elsewhere.
There were also reports of a separate protest elsewhere in the jail, our correspondent said.
The disturbance followed riots at prisons including Lewes, Bedford, Birmingham and Swaleside.
Five inmates who started a 15-hour riot that caused more than £6m damage at HMP Birmingham in December were sentenced earlier this month.
Also in December, part of a prison wing was taken over by about 60 inmates at HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent.
Long Lartin has housed a number of high-profile inmates, including radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza and murderer Christopher Halliwell.
I understand the trouble at Long Lartin prison has been brewing for several months.
A source with good connections to the prison said there was anger among prisoners over changes introduced by the new Governor, Claire Pearson, who'd previously been in charge at Belmarsh Prison.
Among the changes were tighter restrictions on the clothes prisoners were allowed to wear, tougher rules on family visits and family photographs, more rigorous security clearance procedures for visitors which meant some inmates waiting longer for visits, and more time spent by prisoners in their cells during the afternoons and evenings. In addition a smoking ban was introduced.
The source said the former legal high, Spice, was also prevalent in the jail, as it is in many others.
A Prison Service spokeswoman said: "Specially trained prison staff successfully resolved an incident at HMP Long Lartin on 12 October. There were no injuries to staff or prisoners.
"We do not tolerate violence in our prisons, and are clear that those responsible will be referred to the police and could spend longer behind bars."
Long Lartin is one of the highest-security prisons in England and Wales, with two-thirds of the inmates serving life sentences, BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said.
He said the prison had suffered cuts and lost a fifth of its staff.
Four prisoners have been killed at the site - which holds up to 622 male inmates - in the last four years.
Child murderer Subhan Anwar was strangled in 2013, while killer John York was beaten to death in his cell in 2015.
In June 2016, Sidonio Eugenio Teixeira was killed using a rock wrapped in a pair of socks.
Two inmates who murdered a fellow prisoner were jailed for life last month.
An inspection report published in 2014 described a "calm, well controlled prison".
"But, while violence and bullying were few, there continued to be some very serious incidents," it added.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-41588544
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Harvey Weinstein: Wife Georgina Chapman leaves accused producer - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Georgina Chapman says her "heart breaks" for victims of the US producer's "unforgivable actions".
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Entertainment & Arts
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Ms Chapman, pictured here with her husband, said his actions were "unforgivable"
The wife of producer Harvey Weinstein has said she is leaving him following allegations of sexual harassment from a string of actresses.
Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow are the latest women to come forward. Both said the incidents happened early in their careers.
On Tuesday, Weinstein also denied allegations of rape made in The New Yorker magazine.
Weinstein was fired on Sunday from his own film studio. The Weinstein Company board said on Tuesday that they would help any criminal investigation.
"My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions," Georgina Chapman, 41, told People magazine.
Chapman and Weinstein, 65, have two children together.
In a statement, the film mogul said: "I support her decision, I am in counselling and perhaps, when I am better, we can rebuild."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Model Zoe Brock tells Radio 4's Today that she was one of Harvey Weinstein's victims
Meanwhile, former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have joined the growing public condemnation.
In a statement, they said they were "disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein" and added that they "celebrate the courage of women who have come forward".
Weinstein was a big donor to the Democratic party under Obama's leadership. The Obamas' eldest daughter Malia worked as an intern at The Weinstein Company in New York earlier this year.
Weinstein also donated to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Mrs Clinton said she was "shocked and appalled" by the revelations.
Angelina Jolie said she had a "bad experience" with Weinstein
Paltrow and Jolie both sent statements about Weinstein's behaviour to the New York Times, which first reported allegations against him last week.
Jolie said in an email: "I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did.
"This behaviour towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable."
Gwyneth Paltrow said she was "terrified" when Weinstein made advances on her
In a statement, Paltrow alleged that, after Weinstein cast her in the leading role in Emma, he summoned her to his hotel suite, where he placed his hands on her and suggested massages in his bedroom.
"I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified," she told the newspaper.
She said she told her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt about the incident, and said he confronted Weinstein.
"I thought he was going to fire me," she said.
Asia Argento, pictured in 2009, has spoken to the New Yorker magazine
Others to have spoken out about their experiences with Weinstein include:
The New Yorker report also said 16 former and current employees at Weinstein's companies "witnessed or had knowledge of unwanted sexual advances and touching at events associated with Weinstein's films and in the workplace".
Mira Sorvino said Weinstein tried to pressure her into a relationship
Weinstein's spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister issued a statement in response to the article.
"Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein," she said. "Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.
"Mr Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr Weinstein has begun counselling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path."
Meanwhile, actress Lindsay Lohan posted an Instagram story - which she later deleted - appearing to defend Weinstein, saying: "I feel very bad for Harvey Weinstein right now. I don't think it's right what's going on."
Buzzfeed reporter Lauren Yap did a screen grab and posted Lohan's video, in which she also posted an angel emoji under Weinstein's name, on Twitter. Lohan also said Chapman should "be there for her husband" - although it's not clear if she knew at the time that Chapman had said she was leaving him.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
• None What next for Weinstein and Hollywood?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41578997
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Ben Affleck apologises for 'groping' MTV host Hilarie Burton - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Ben Affleck says sorry after criticism for touching MTV presenter Hilarie Burton on air in 2003.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The incident happened when Ben Affleck appeared on MTV's TRL
Actor Ben Affleck has apologised after being criticised for groping an MTV presenter on air in 2003.
The incident surfaced after he posted condemnation of Harvey Weinstein, who is facing sexual assault allegations.
One Twitter user remembered how Affleck "grabbed Hilarie Burton's breasts on TRL once" but "everyone forgot though". Burton replied: "I didn't forget."
Affleck later wrote on Twitter: "I acted inappropriately toward Ms Burton and I sincerely apologise."
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A clip of the moment from TRL Uncensored was recirculated, including a clip of Burton recalling how Affleck had put his arm around her and proceeded to "tweak my left boob".
"Some girls like a good tweakage here and there," she said on the programme. "I'd rather have a high five."
On Twitter, after being reminded, she said she was "a kid" at the time and "had to laugh back then so I wouldn't cry".
Ben Affleck with hosts Hilarie Burton (left) and La La on TRL in 2003
Affleck made his apology a day after posting a message giving his views on Hollywood producer Weinstein's alleged sexual harassment and assaults.
"I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades," he said.
"The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick.
"This is completely unacceptable, and I find myself asking what I can do to make sure this doesn't happen to others. We need to do better at protecting our sisters, friends, co-workers and daughters.
"We must support those who come forward, condemn this type of behaviour when we see it and help ensure there are more women in positions of power."
Weinstein is currently facing a number of allegations involving sexual harassment and assault.
His spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister said any allegations of non-consensual sex were "unequivocally denied" and that "there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances".
"Mr Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual," the statement added.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41589352
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'Why I want gender-neutral UK passports' - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A transgender blogger says gender-neutral passports would be a sign of respect.
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Newsbeat
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Mia Violet says its important everybody is recognised
UK passports currently have "M" or a "F" for people to specify their gender - but what about "X"?
A campaigner has today been given the go-ahead to challenge the government over gender-neutral passports.
Christie Elan-Cane wants there to be an "X" - which stands for unspecified - for people who don't identify as male or female.
Transgender blogger Mia Violet, who backs the call, says it would be a sign of "respect" to trans people.
She says it's fantastic the campaign has taken its next step and describes it as a "sign of progress".
"Trans rights do feel as though they've stagnated in the UK and I do hope this pushes forward more changes.
"We need to ensure everybody is recognised. For trans people to be seen, I think that's going to be incredibly important to them because so often they are overlooked."
Mia says gender-neutral passports would be an important step
Mia, 28, from Dorset, came out as transgender around two years ago.
She told Newsbeat: "Initially, I identified as non-binary. I didn't see myself as fully female or fully male, I was kind of in the middle.
"Over time, I've become more comfortable with using female to describe myself. But it was very awkward and uncomfortable in that time because there was basically no way to select a gender that felt like mine."
Mia says gender-neutral passports in the UK would be an important step because "it's recognition and it's respect".
"When I changed my passport gender to female, I had to get a letter from my doctor that basically said 'OK Mia is trans. This transition is permanent. She is now considered female, please change it'. It wasn't enough for just my permission to do it.
"It's almost like the government is looking the other way and not really thinking about trans issues but at the same time we have thousands of thousands of trans people in this country who are having to deal with systems that are just not set up to recognise them."
Christie Elan-Cane took the fight for gender-neutral passports to the High Court
Christie launched a High Court fight for the right to have "X" passports in the UK. The campaigner has now been given permission to challenge the government in a judicial review.
Christie believes it's wrong to force people to choose either M or F on their passports if they define as neither.
Gender-neutral passports are already available in Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Malta, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Ireland and Canada.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articles/41567449
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