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Government reveals energy price cap plan - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Business Secretary Greg Clark outlines draft legislation which aims to lower the cost of energy bills.
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Parliaments
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The government has unveiled draft legislation designed to lower the cost of energy bills.
The Draft Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariffs Cap) Bill will give energy regulator Ofgem the power to cap standard variable tariffs.
About 12 million households are on some form of uncapped default tariff, which can cost hundreds of pounds a year more than the cheapest deals.
However, the price cap is unlikely to take effect before winter.
Making a statement in the Commons, Business Secretary Greg Clark said the law would send a "clear message to suppliers they must act to put an end to loyal consumers being treated so unfairly".
Find out more about events in the Commons and Lords on Today in Parliament on Radio 4. You can listen to the programme on on iPlayer here.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-parliaments-41511271
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India Supreme Court rules sex with child bride is rape - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Supreme Court closes a loophole which allowed men to have sex with their underage wives.
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India
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The age of consent in India is 18, but marital rape is not considered an offence
India's Supreme Court has struck down a legal clause that permits men to have sex with their underage wives.
The clause, which was part of India's law on rape, said intercourse between a man and his wife was permissible as long as she was over 15 years of age.
The legal age of consent and marriage in India is 18 but marital rape is not considered an offence.
The verdict has been hailed by women's rights activists but correspondents say the order will be difficult to enforce.
The judgement said that girls under 18 would be able to charge their husbands with rape, as long as they complained within one year of being forced to have sexual relations.
"This is a landmark judgement that corrects a historical wrong against girls. How could marriage be used as a criterion to discriminate against girls?" Vikram Srivastava, the founder of Independent Thought, one of the main petitioners in the case, told the BBC.
However, the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi says that while welcome, the order will be difficult to implement in a country where child marriage is still rampant.
"Courts and police cannot monitor people's bedrooms and a minor girl who is already married, almost always with the consent of her parents, will not usually have the courage to go to the police or court and file a case against her husband," our correspondent says.
India's government says the practice of child marriage is "an obstacle to nearly every developmental goal: eradicating poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality; protecting children's lives; and improving women's health".
• None The child marriage tradition of an Indian tribe
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-41578800
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Two sisters, a mountain trek and a wobbly wire bridge - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Two sisters, a perilous mountain trek and a wobbly wire bridge - high in the Indian Himalayas.
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India
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Radhika and Yashoda can travel for up to six hours a day to school and back. They live high in the mountains, in a remote Himalayan village. But getting an education is really important to them. Follow them on their daily journey - or scroll down to read their story.
Tap here to see the 360 video.
To watch 360 video, you will need the latest version of Chrome, Opera, Firefox or Internet Explorer on your computer.
On mobile - you will need to open the video in the latest version of the YouTube app for Android or iOS.
It's 05:00 on a sunny morning in the middle of the monsoon season, and sisters Radhika and Yashoda are leaning on the edge of the balcony washing their faces.
They tease each other over who will get more roti for breakfast.
Their playfulness gives little indication that in half an hour, they will set off, on foot, on a perilous journey to school.
It's a trek that will take them through mountainous terrain, thick forests and over a fast-flowing river.
But first, they visit the Hindu temple at the heart of Syaba, a hamlet of 500 people, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.
The ringing of the bell there invokes the protection of the deities.
The sisters, aged 14 and 16, are two of the six youngsters who make the daily journey to their schools from their remote homes.
Their father waves them off with a smile and a heavy heart.
The trek takes two to three hours each way, depending on the weather.
But it's the only way to reach the far-off towns of Maneri and Malla, where the girls' schools are located.
There are no roads in or out of Syaba. Carrying their lunch of vegetable curry and chapati, and their school books, the girls set out on a narrow track covered with loose stones.
One of the most difficult parts of the journey lies some two hours ahead of them - crossing the Bhagirathi River.
There, they will have to pull themselves to the other side in a metal trolley suspended by a cable high over gushing water.
It requires a lot of strength - more so when it rains and the rope is heavier to pull. Injuries are not uncommon.
Villagers have damaged, and even lost, fingers in the overhead cables.
"We have to hold on to the trolley very tight to make sure we don't fall in the gushing waters," says Yashoda.
A cousin once got tangled in the ropes and fell into the water below. Luckily, he was saved.
"We also have to be careful about grease on the wires - our hands get dirty anyway, but we try to protect our clothes from the grease," says Yashoda.
"Our school trousers are white, so the stain shows."
Once they reach the safety of the north bank of the Bhagirathi, they wait for a taxi to take them - by road - to school.
Thick forests present their own dangers. Bears and leopards have been spotted by relatives and neighbours.
There are about 200 villages like Syaba in the mountains of Uttarakhand - that are more than 250 miles (400km) by road from Delhi.
Some are connected by road, but most are accessible only on foot.
Yashoda dreams of becoming a police officer, while Radhika has her heart set on being a teacher.
Neither wants to get married at a young age - as their parents did - and both want to continue studying. Apart from that, they couldn't be more different.
Yashoda is serious and quiet; Radhika stops chatting for only a few seconds, when she rapidly bends down to remove leeches from her feet.
There are plenty of leeches in the muddy path during the monsoon.
Radhika doesn't think much of the leeches.
"I am not afraid of anything," she says. Like her sister, she loves her village and the nature around it.
"When it rains, we see so many tiny waterfalls in the mountains. If you come from the city, you will be mesmerised with these falls," says Yashoda.
"The leaves from the trees fall during winter, and it looks as if somebody has laid out a red carpet to welcome an important person in the village."
On their way to school, the sisters stop to drink from a fountain fed by crystal clear water that has travelled down the mountain, and pick wild cucumbers.
When they get hold of one of their relatives' mobile phones, Yashoda and Radhika often play Bollywood song videos and watch the shapes of romantic actors dancing on the small, pixelated screen.
Their family doesn't own a TV, but one of their uncles does. Sometimes the entire family gathers to watch programmes on it.
On a tranquil Sunday afternoon, as the BBC crew plans the next shoot, Yashoda sits on the bed with the phone playing songs and Radhika wraps a pink scarf around her head before starting to dance.
"We dream about many things," says Yashoda.
"We sometimes have dreams about our ghosts, and sometimes we see our younger brother in our dreams, because he lives in the city in a hostel to study and we see him only during weekends."
Most children in Syaba leave school after Year 9. If they want to pursue higher education, they have to leave their home and rent accommodation.
Most families can't afford it.
The BBC team is planning on taking headsets to Syaba, so the girls and their family can experience this VR documentary first-hand.
This is their film. And for Yashoda and Radhika's parents, it will be a chance to take the journey to school with their daughters.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-41527080
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Trump challenges Rex Tillerson to IQ test - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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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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Facebook and Twitter could face 'online abuse levy' - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The government wants firms such as Facebook and Twitter to publish annual reports on abuse.
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Technology
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Surveys suggest children find it hard to avoid bullying and abuse on social media platforms
Facebook and Twitter could be asked to pay for action against the "undeniable suffering" social media can cause, the culture secretary has said.
Cyber-bullying, trolling, abuse and under-age access to porn will be targeted in plans drawn up by Karen Bradley to make the online world safer.
Ms Bradley wants social media groups to sign up to a voluntary code of practice and help fund campaigns against abuse.
She also wants social media platforms to reveal the scale of online hate.
Almost a fifth of 12 to 15-year-olds have seen something they found worrying or nasty, and almost half of adults have seen something that has upset or offended them, on social media - according to the government.
Despite promising to introduce new laws regulating the internet in the Conservative Party's manifesto, Ms Bradley told the BBC that legislating would take "far too long".
Ms Bradley said that the plan was for a "collaborative approach" with internet groups, adding that she sees a "willingness from them".
She added: "Many of them say: 'When we founded these businesses we were in our 20s, we didn't have children… now we're older and we have teenagers ourselves we want to solve this".
Ms Bradley said the internet had been an "amazing force for good, but it has caused undeniable suffering and can be an especially harmful place for children and vulnerable people".
"For too long there's been behaviour online that would be unacceptable if it was face-to-face."
One of the proposals is for an annual transparency report which could be used to show:
Ms Bradley said that the government "could legislate in the future", adding that any changes to existing law would be underpinned by the following principles:
The government also wants to see a new body, similar to the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, to consider all aspects of internet safety.
In response to the consultation, Facebook said: "Our priority is to make Facebook a safe place for people of all ages which is why we spent a long time working with safety experts like the UK Safer Internet Centre, developing powerful tools to help people have a positive experience."
"We welcome close collaboration between industry, experts and government to address this important issue."
A spokesperson for the NSPCC said keeping young people safe online was "the biggest child protection issue of our time".
"Social media companies are marking their own homework when it comes to keeping children safe, so a code of practice is definitely a step in the right direction but 'how' it is implemented will be crucial.
"Young people face a unique set of risks when using the internet and it is important any strategy recognises the challenges they face online and requires industry to act to protect them."
Vicki Shotbolt, chief executive at social enterprise Parent Zone, said it was encouraging to see the government taking "concrete steps" to make the internet a safer place for children.
Asking social-media companies to contribute towards the costs of educating the public about online dangers has precedence in the gambling industry, which currently contributes an amount to the treatment of gambling addiction.
The government also wants to see online safety given more attention at schools, with social-media safety advice built into existing education programmes.
The consultation will close on 7 December, and the government expects to respond in early 2018.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41566833
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Unsent text accepted as dead man's will by Australian court - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A court in Australia rules a draft text message can be accepted as an official will.
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Technology
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A court in Australia has accepted an unsent, draft text message on a dead man's mobile phone as an official will.
The 55-year-old man had composed a text message addressed to his brother, in which he gave "all that I have" to his brother and nephew.
The message was found in the drafts folder on the man's phone after he took his own life last year .
Brisbane Supreme Court ruled that the wording of the text indicated that the man intended it to act as his will.
In the message, the man gave details of how to access his bank account and where he had hidden money in his house.
"Put my ashes in the back garden," he wrote. "A bit of cash behind TV and a bit in the bank."
According to ABC News, the man's wife applied to manage his assets and argued that the text message was not valid as a will because it was never sent.
Typically, for a will to be valid in Queensland, it must be written and signed by two witnesses.
Justice Susan Brown said the wording of the text message, which ended with the words "my will", showed that the man intended it to act as his will.
"The reference to his house and superannuation and his specification that the applicant was to take her own things indicates he was aware of the nature and extent of his estate, which was relatively small," she said.
She said the "informal nature" of the message did not stop it representing the man's intentions, especially as it was "created on or about the time that the deceased was contemplating death, such that he even indicated where he wanted his ashes to be placed".
In 2006, the law in Queensland was changed to allow less formal types of documents to be considered as a will.
Another unusual will accepted in Queensland includes a DVD marked with "my will", in 2013.
The UK's Law Commission is currently fielding a public consultation on the legal rules applying to wills.
The proposals listed by the body includes giving courts the capacity to "dispense with the formalities for a will where it's clear what the deceased wanted".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41580970
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Child and teen obesity spreading across the globe - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Obesity rates have risen ten-fold in the last four decades, meaning 124m boys and girls are now too fat.
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Health
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Child and teenage obesity levels have risen ten-fold in the last four decades, meaning 124m boys and girls around the globe are too fat, according to new research.
The analysis in the Lancet is the largest of its kind and looks at obesity trends in over 200 countries.
In the UK, one in every 10 young people aged five to 19, is obese.
Obese children are likely to become obese adults, putting them at risk of serious health problems, say experts.
These include type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer, such as breast and colon.
The Lancet analysis, released on World Obesity Day, comes as researchers from the World Obesity Federation warn that the global cost of treating ill health caused by obesity will exceed £920bn every year from 2025.
Although child obesity rates appear to be stabilising in many high-income European countries, including the UK, they are accelerating at an alarming rate in many other parts of the world, lead researcher Prof Majid Ezzati from Imperial College London says.
Researchers believe wide availability and promotion of cheap, fattening food is one of the main drivers.
Charts produced by the World Health Organisation show how weight gain is measured in boys and girls, according to their BMI (body mass index).
The largest increase in the number of obese children and adolescents has been in East Asia. China and India have seen rates "balloon" in recent years.
Polynesia and Micronesia have the highest rate of all - around half of the young population in these countries is overweight or obese.
The researchers say that if current world trends continue, 'obese' will soon be more common than 'underweight'.
The number of underweight girls and boys worldwide has been decreasing since a peak in the year 2000.
The highest rates of obesity are shown in red, followed by orange and yellow. Green and blue means fewer than 5% of the young population is obese
The highest rates of obesity are shown in red, followed by orange and yellow. Green and blue means fewer than 5% of the young population is obese
In 2016, 192m young people were underweight - still significantly more than the number of young people who were obese, but that looks set to change.
East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean have seen a shift from underweight to obesity within the space of a few decades.
Globally, in 2016 an additional 213m young people were overweight although still below the threshold for obesity.
Obesity researcher Dr Harry Rutter, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "This is a huge problem that will get worse.
"Even skinny people are heavier than they would have been ten years ago.
"We have not become more weak-willed, lazy or greedy. The reality is the world around us is changing."
Dr Fiona Bull from the World Health Organization called for tough action to crack down on "calorie-dense, nutrient-poor food" and promote more physical activity.
So far, just over 20 countries around the world have introduced a tax on sugary drinks.
Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: "Our sugar reduction programme and the government's sugar levy are world-leading, but this is just the beginning of a long journey to tackle the challenge of a generation.
"The evidence is clear, that just telling people what to do won't work. Whilst education and information are important, deeper actions are needed to help us lower calorie consumption and achieve healthier diets."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41550159
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PM's Brexit vote hesitation may haunt her - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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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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Queen will not lay Remembrance Sunday wreath - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Queen has asked Prince Charles to take her place at the Cenotaph ceremony this year.
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UK
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It will be the first time the Queen has not laid the wreath since 1999
The Queen will not lay a wreath at the Cenotaph this year as part of the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony.
She will watch the event on 12 November in Whitehall from the balcony of the Foreign Office with Prince Philip.
Prince Charles will take her place in laying the floral tribute on behalf of the nation, along with the Duke of Edinburgh's equerry.
The Queen has not laid wreaths in six previous ceremonies since her coronation.
Two were during her pregnancies with Prince Andrew, in 1959, and Prince Edward, in 1963.
The other four occasions were when she was on visits abroad - in 1961, when she was in Ghana, in 1968, when in Brazil, in 1983, when in Kenya and in 1999, when in South Africa.
It will be the first time, as head of state, that the Queen will observe the ceremony from a nearby balcony.
The Queen traditionally lays the wreath at the Cenotaph on behalf of the nation
Royal officials told the BBC that the Queen chose to ask her eldest son and heir to carry out the royal duty.
It will be the second time the Prince of Wales has laid the wreath, after standing in for the Queen when she was on a trip to Kenya 34 years ago.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman added: "The Queen wishes to be alongside the Duke of Edinburgh and he will be in the balcony."
BBC Royal correspondent Peter Hunt said the change was "another sign of the Royal Family in transition", as well as "an acknowledgment of the fact the Queen is 91."
Earlier this year Prince Philip retired from his public duties, but he has continued to join the Queen at some of her official engagements.
In 2015, the ceremony was made shorter to limit the amount of time the Queen, Prince Philip and the veterans in attendance would have to stand. This move included making some members of the Royal Family lay wreaths together, rather than separately.
However, plans for the prime minister to lay one wreath on behalf of all the political parties were scrapped, with opposition leaders still being allowed to place individual wreaths.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41588578
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UK eggs declared safe 30 years after salmonella scare - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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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
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41568998
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Trump threatens broadcaster NBC after nuclear report - BBC News
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2017-10-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The president takes aim at NBC after it reported he wanted a tenfold increase in atomic weapons.
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US & Canada
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President Trump criticised NBC's report as he welcomed Canada's prime minister to the White House
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of challenging media licences for NBC News and other news networks after unfavourable reports.
He took aim at NBC, which made him a star on The Apprentice, after it reported he wanted to boost America's nuclear arsenal almost tenfold.
NBC also angered the White House last week when it said the secretary of state had called Mr Trump "a moron".
Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning: "With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!"
Welcoming Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Washington later in the day, the US president denied the NBC story.
"It is frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it," he said at the White House.
When asked if he wanted to increase the country's arsenal, Mr Trump said he only ever discussed keeping it in "perfect condition".
"No, I want to have absolutely perfectly maintained - which we are in the process of doing - nuclear force.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
"But when they said I want 10 times what we have right now, it's totally unnecessary, believe me."
He added: "I want modernisation and I want total rehabilitation. It's got to be in tip-top shape."
"Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the US nuclear arsenal are absolutely false," he said in a statement.
"This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible."
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The president's tweet about US broadcast networks provoked a free-speech uproar.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a frequent Trump critic, tweeted: "Mr President: Are you recanting of the Oath you took on Jan 20 to preserve, protect, and defend the 1st Amendment?"
Walter Shaub, who led the US Office of Government Ethics under President Barack Obama, said it could lead to "the point when we cease to be a democracy".
The Committee to Protect Journalists said the US president's comment was a poor example for other world leaders.
According to NBC News, Mr Trump told a top-level meeting at the Pentagon in July that he wanted to dramatically boost the American stockpile of atomic missiles.
He reportedly made the request after seeing a downward-sloping curve on a briefing slide charting the gradual decrease in US nuclear weapons since the 1960s.
Attributing its report to three officials in the room, NBC said Mr Trump's request surprised those present, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Rex Tillerson reacts to a report he called the president a moron.
The network reported that Mr Trump had also called for additional US troops and military equipment.
The US has 7,100 nuclear weapons and Russia has 7,300, according to the US non-partisan Arms Control Association.
Media commentators say the president would struggle to remove broadcasters' licences if he wished to do so.
The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates US broadcasters, issues licences not to networks as a whole, but to local stations.
It would be difficult to challenge a licence on the basis that coverage is unfair, say pundits.
Last week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders assured reporters that Donald Trump was an "incredible advocate" of constitutional free-press protections. This week, the president is contemplating whether a broadcaster could be forced off the airwaves because he doesn't approve of its news coverage.
Never mind that the federal government licenses local televisions stations, only some of which are owned by national broadcasters like NBC.
Just because a threat is unworkable in the extreme doesn't mean the president won't make it.
Media-bashing is one of Mr Trump's favourite pastimes - a means of venting frustration, apportioning blame and, perhaps, distracting reporters who always enjoy a bit of journalistic navel-gazing.
As with the NFL anthem-kneeling controversy, the cultural battle lines form quickly when it comes to questions of media bias. The president knows this and uses it to his advantage.
Taking pot-shots at journalists is one thing, of course. Contemplating the use of government coercion to stifle a broadcaster because of its news content is another.
Even if such an outcome is unthinkable in the US at the moment, there are places in the world where press freedoms aren't as deeply entrenched. Their leaders are watching the president, too.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41584194
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Harvey Weinstein: Did everyone really know? - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Lots of people have said the producer's alleged harassment and abuse was "an open secret". How open?
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Entertainment & Arts
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "It was an open secret" a producer tells the BBC
When actor Seth MacFarlane announced the Oscar nominations for best supporting actress in 2013, he cracked a now infamous joke: "Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein."
At the time, it was a rare public reference to what has since become a very public scandal.
And it is a telling sign that Weinstein's alleged behaviour was - as it's been repeatedly described in the past week - Hollywood's "open secret".
But how many people knew what was going on, and why wasn't it reported sooner?
MacFarlane has explained that he made the quip after his Ted co-star Jessica Barth told him about Weinstein's attempted advances two years earlier.
The actress told The New Yorker the mogul tried to persuade her to give him a naked massage in bed. She walked out.
Actress Lea Seydoux, writing in The Guardian about how Weinstein "suddenly jumped on me" in his hotel room, also recalled how she had seen him "hitting on" other young women and trying to convince them to sleep with him at parties.
Lea Seydoux: "It's unbelievable that he's been able to act like this for decades"
"Everyone could see what he was doing," she wrote. "That's the most disgusting thing. Everyone knew what Harvey was up to and no one did anything.
"It's unbelievable that he's been able to act like this for decades and still keep his career. That's only possible because he has a huge amount of power."
Weinstein has denied any non-consensual sexual contact with any women.
But allegations of improper behaviour were common knowledge among some who worked for him, according to the New York Times.
When the paper broke the story, it reported that dozens of his former and current employees, from assistants to top executives, "said they knew of inappropriate conduct while they worked for him".
"It wasn't a secret to the inner circle," Kathy DeClesis, a former assistant to Weinstein's brother and business partner Bob, told the paper.
One of the common themes of the accounts that have emerged is that Weinstein employees would set up meetings with young women and often accompany them to hotel rooms before disappearing and leaving the women and the producer alone.
Harvey Weinstein on the red carpet in 2012
The New York Times related how a young female employee quit after complaining of being forced to arrange what she believed to be assignations for him. She said she couldn't comment because she had signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Many people have suggested such employees could have gone public. But Weinstein was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and his domineering persona - aside from any sexual harassment - was legendary.
In a memo quoted by the paper, another former employee, Lauren O'Connor, described the experiences of women at the company, including herself. She wrote: "The balance of power is me: 0, Harvey Weinstein: 10."
What about those in Hollywood and New York beyond Weinstein's own companies? Stories of his sexual advances spread among actors, agents and others in the film industry.
Alison Owen didn't know her own sister-in-law had been preyed upon
Many celebrities who have commented in recent days have said they didn't know what was going on, even if they knew he had a sleazy reputation.
Oscar-nominated actress Annette Bening told BBC Radio 4's Front Row she knew he was "boorish" - but wasn't aware of what went on behind closed doors.
British producer Alison Owen, who has worked on films like Saving Mr Banks and Suffragette, told BBC News his behaviour was "an open secret".
"Everyone had heard the stories about Harvey," she said. "If you were in the film industry, there was no way you could not have heard those stories about Harvey.
"I never heard a story from the horse's mouth. But there were always stories about, 'Oh an actress told me', or 'Someone working at Harvey's company told me', or 'Did you hear about that intern who worked for Harvey?'
"So they were always second-hand but they were many and multifarious."
Such was the level of chatter that Owen said she wouldn't let young women meet Weinstein alone. Those who were preyed upon had nowhere to turn, she says.
"If you had been an actress and Harvey had groped your breasts while you were supposed to be auditioning for him, what are you going to do?
"You're not going to go to the police. They're not going to take that seriously. You're not going to call a journalist because at that point Harvey had the whole media world in his pocket and no-one was going to go up against Harvey Weinstein.
"There was only a downside to reporting it... Harvey's going to destroy your career."
Weinstein with his estranged wife Georgina Chapman in 2015
Owen's sister-in-law Laura Madden worked for Weinstein - but never told Owen about his overtures towards her. The producer only found out about them when she read the New York Times.
"Such is the strength of shame, I think," Owen told BBC Radio 4's PM. "That's another reason people don't come out."
The revelations have surfaced now, Owen believes, because "the prevailing culture has changed".
"The winds have shifted to the opposite direction [and] people have now been prepared to go on record."
But shouldn't the media have reported the allegations before?
A string of journalists have said in recent days that they tried. But the difficulties of persuading his accusers to go on the record, coupled with the force of Weinstein's legal threats, meant none were able to publish.
Sharon Waxman, a former New York Times reporter who went on to set up film site The Wrap, told BBC Newsnight how she chased the story in 2004 and tracked down a woman who had reached a settlement with Weinstein.
"I did manage to meet with the woman who had taken a payoff in London, but she literally wouldn't say anything," Waxman said.
"She actually just met with me and didn't speak. A very frustrating conversation. She was terrified that she was violating her non-disclosure."
If they wanted to publish, media outlets had to ensure their stories were watertight in case Weinstein sued.
"Any negative story that was going to be printed about him, he would go full-on aggressive," Waxman recalled.
"Any card he could play, any tool he could use to get that story not to appear in print… I was told that he had visited the newsroom personally to speak to my superiors. I don't know what he said. I don't know what threats were issued."
Others tried to pursue Weinstein too. The Hollywood Reporter editor-at-large Kim Masters and New York Times media columnist David Carr came close to finalising stories - but their sources backed out at the last minute, The New York Times said.
Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman, who helped uncover sexual harassment by late Fox News boss Roger Ailes, said one crucial piece of evidence in the New York Times story was the internal memo in which Lauren O'Connor raised concerns against Weinstein.
"That piece of printed material became one of the foundations of the New York Times report," he told BBC Radio 4's Media Show.
Rebecca Traister wrote on New York magazine's The Cut website that she first heard the allegations in 2000 - but that Weinstein "could spin - or suppress - anything".
She continued: "For decades, the reporters who tried to tell the story of Harvey Weinstein butted up against the same wall of sheer force and immovable power that was leveraged against those ambitious actors, the vulnerable assistants, the executives whose careers, salaries, and reputations were in his hands."
So for years, people who did know could only talk in whispers or, like Seth MacFarlane, under the guise of jokes that were funny only because they rang true.
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-41593384
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Michelle Keegan: Is Our Girl too glamorous? - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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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".
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-41583485
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North Yorkshire's The Black Swan 'best restaurant in world' - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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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".
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-41582994
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Belfast woman 'lay dead for two years' - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The 68-year-old woman was found dead in bed after police forced their way into a west Belfast flat.
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Northern Ireland
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A police vehicle was stationed outside the flat complex on Thursday morning
The body of a woman who is believed to have been murdered may have lain undiscovered for more than two years, police have said.
Marie Conlon, 68, was discovered dead in bed in a flat at Larkspur Rise in west Belfast last Friday.
A 23-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday and remains in custody.
Detectives have established that the last known sighting of Ms Conlon was in January 2015.
"It is our belief, supported by the medical evidence, that her death may have occurred at around this time," said Ch Insp Alan Dickson.
"We have launched a murder investigation and a 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences including murder.
"He was detained in the west Belfast area yesterday and remains in custody."
Police forced their way into the flat and found the woman's body in a bed
Ch Insp Dickson said authorities were alerted on Friday after concerns were raised about Ms Conlon's welfare.
"Officers forced entry to her Larkspur Rise home and discovered her deceased in bed," he said. "It was apparent that she had lain undiscovered for some time."
Results from a post-mortem examination suggest the death may have been suspicious, said Ch Insp Dickson, adding that further tests were due to take place.
Marie Conlon's family issued a statement on Thursday night, it said: "We are shocked and heartbroken to learn about the loss of our beloved sister.
"The tragic circumstances of her death make it all the more difficult to comprehend and accept.
"Marie was very much loved by her family and will be mourned greatly. She was a very independent person.
"Numerous attempts had been made to contact her in person, and by other means, over the course of the past two years but at no point were suspicions raised that she had been deceased.
"It is only with hindsight that the unimaginable now seems possible," the statement added.
Sinn Féin councillor Séanna Walsh said: "One of the tragedies, I suppose, of modern living is that in areas like this you don't have the same sense of connectedness that you would have had if she had have lived in a house further into the estate."
"This type of accommodation is very transitory, there's people coming and going all the time. I just find it tragic, the whole episode."
Sinn Féin councillor Seanna Walsh said the incident was tragic
SDLP councillor Brian Heading said it was concerning that someone could have lain undiscovered for so long.
"This is something that people need to think about, that if you don't see your neighbour knock on the door," he said.
"We don't know all the circumstances yet, but by keeping in communication with someone there could have been a different outcome in this case."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-41588452
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Brexit talks doomed? Not so fast... - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Michel Barnier used dramatic language but it's too soon to think it means that the whole process is doomed.
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UK Politics
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"Deadlock!". "L'impasse". "Quelle Horreur". You can hear the cries from across the Channel, and the cages of the City rattling in fear, as Michel Barnier's language took a dramatic turn at this morning's press conference, painting the Brexit talks as at a brick wall.
True, not even Brexit's biggest cheerleader could claim the discussions in Brussels have been going well. And there are visible frustrations on both sides.
But before claiming this morning's drama means the whole thing is doomed there are a few things worth remembering.
At the very start of this whole process, the hope was that in October, the EU would agree to move on to the next phase of the talks, to talk about our future relationship. But for months it has been clear that the chances of that were essentially zero.
It is not, therefore, a surprise to hear Mr Barnier saying right now, he doesn't feel able to press the button on phase 2, however much he enjoyed the drama of saying so today.
Second, behind the scenes, although it has been slow, there has been some progress in the talks but officials in some areas have reached the end of the line until their political masters give them permission to move on.
Forgive what comes next as nerdy detail, but it hopefully helps make this clear.
For example, the UK side is unwilling to move on to talking in more detail about the money, until the EU side is willing to talk about transition (the idea is, until we know what we might get in future, whether access to certain agencies, or EU programmes, how can we assess what we might be prepared to pay).
Mr Barnier is understood to have asked the EU 27 last Friday if he can start exploring transition for that reason, but Germany is resisting. So in this area, it is a possible, and would be a positive outcome for the UK, if at next week's political summit, Barnier asks the 27 for formal permission to talk transition.
It would not be as big a step as moving on to phase 2, but it is the next political decision that could ease the deadlock in this area. And there was a clue from Mr Barnier in his remarks this morning that this is what he will continue to pursue.
And third, if you had been writing the script of these negotiations before they even began, there's no question that at some point in the plot, there would have been a declaration of digging in, a cry that it's all impossible, it is almost the end of the road, all is lost!
Then, at the last moment in a late night summit, emerges the one side of A4 in the clammy hand of an official. On it, not many details, but a few lines that sketch out agreement, show some progress. Finally, the heroic politicians have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat! (Leaving officials in a quiet way to work out the boring details for the next ten years)
That is not to say for a second that all is well or indeed to minimise the real and possibly very serious consequences of the talks genuinely breaking down.
And whether it is all pantomime or real politics, the remarks will of course stir the pot in Westminster too, likely adding to the drum beat among some Brexiteers that a swifter exit with no deal is better than this drawn out agony - and Remainers' deep anxiety and uncertainty for business about whether a deal can really be done.
But both on the UK side and the EU side, to translate this morning's remarks into certain Armageddon for the deal would be to misunderstand.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41598453
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Linkin Park singer in posthumous Carpool Karaoke show - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Chester Bennington filmed the Carpool Karaoke episode six days before his death in July.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Chester Bennington (front right) in Apple Music's Carpool Karaoke days before his death in July
An episode of Carpool Karaoke starring Linkin Park - recorded less than a week before lead singer Chester Bennington killed himself - has been released.
The 23-minute episode is being streamed for free on Facebook with the permission of Bennington's family.
It was filmed for Apple Music on 14 July this year - six days before his body was found at a private home in LA County on 20 July.
The coroner ruled that Bennington, 41, had apparently hanged himself.
The episode sees Bennington, along with band mates Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn, driving around Los Angeles with US comedian Ken Jeong and singing along to their hits, including Numb, In The End and Talking To Myself.
Bennington was found hanged at a private home in LA on 20 July this year
It also sees a smiling Bennington join in with renditions of songs by Aerosmith, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The singer jokes with Jeong that the comedian should "join the band", saying: "Finally we have some leadership!"
He also revealed a love for Dungeons and Dragons, and that his trademark scream was created early on in the band's career.
"It's a funny thing," he said. "We were in the studio and working on a song and Mike was just like, 'Do you think you could scream this thing?' Then he was like, can you just do that all the time, forever, on every song?
At the start of the episode, a screen reads: "With the blessing of Chester's family and his bandmates, we share this episode and dedicate it to the memory of Chester."
Earlier this month, the band revealed they were back in rehearsals for the first time since Bennington's death.
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Bass player Dave 'Phoenix' Farrell posted a picture on Instagram, adding: "Home from the #dunhilllinks and back to "work!" Good to be back with the guys."
The band were practising ahead of a special tribute gig to Bennington at LA's Hollywood Bowl on 27 October, where they will be joined by the likes of Blink 182 and Korn.
The full episode of Carpool Karaoke can be streamed on Linkin Park's Facebook page.
If you are affected by the topics in this article, the Samaritans can be contacted free on 116 123 (in the UK) or by email on jo@samaritans.org. If you are in the US, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41602010
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The man diagnosed with pathological laughter - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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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."
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Harvey Weinstein: Oscars academy to hold emergency talks - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says sexual assault allegations are "repugnant".
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US & Canada
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Dozens of films produced by Harvey Weinstein have won Academy Awards
The hosts of the Oscars are to hold emergency talks to consider the future role of film mogul Harvey Weinstein following claims of sexual misconduct.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the allegations of sexual assault against Weinstein were "repugnant".
Bafta, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, has already suspended his membership.
Weinstein strongly denies the allegations against him.
In another development, police in New York told the BBC they were looking to speak to an individual regarding an allegation against Weinstein dating from 2004. The NYPD did not provide further details.
The US academy, which has handed out 81 Oscars to films produced by Weinstein's Miramax studio and the Weinstein Company, said it would meet on Saturday to "discuss the allegations against Weinstein and any actions warranted by the academy".
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
A statement has also been issued by Cannes Film Festival, which Weinstein has attended many times.
President Pierre Lescure said they have been "dismayed to learn of the accusations".
"These actions point to a pattern of behaviour that merits only the clearest and most unequivocal condemnation.
"Our thoughts go out to the victims, to those who have had the courage to testify and to all the others. May this case help us once again to denounce all such serious and unacceptable practices."
Harvey Weinstein attended Cannes Film Festival at times with his wife Georgina Chapman, who has now left him
Meanwhile, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told CNN she felt "sick" about the allegations surrounding Weinstein, pledging to donate money he had raised for her campaigns to charity.
Weinstein reportedly raised more than $1.4m (£1.05m) for Democratic groups, and Republicans have accused Democrats of not doing enough to distance themselves from him.
A string of high-profile actresses, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, have come forward to accuse the movie producer of sexual harassment or assault.
British actress and model Cara Delevingne is one of the latest to accuse him of inappropriate behaviour. In a statement, she said he tried to kiss her as she tried to leave a hotel room.
"I felt very powerless and scared," she said.
The French actress Léa Seydoux has written an article detailing her experience with Weinstein who she met at a fashion show.
She wrote in The Guardian 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. I had to defend myself. He's big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him. I left his room, thoroughly disgusted.
"I wasn't afraid of him, though. Because I knew what kind of man he was all along."
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.
Oscar-nominated actress Annette Bening said Weinstein was well known in Hollywood for being "boorish", but that she had not known the extent of his alleged behaviour.
"I certainly didn't know that this was going on to the degree that it was," she told BBC News. "It's terrible. And it's great that these women have come forward. I really respect them. Maybe it's a tipping point. Maybe culturally this means that things will change."
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On Wednesday, US prosecutors defended their decision not to take action against Weinstein after a woman complained about his behaviour in 2015.
The Manhattan district attorney's office said undercover audio of the complainant and Weinstein was "insufficient to prove a crime".
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.
The district attorney's office said 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.
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)
They said 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".
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."
On Wednesday she declined to comment on reports that Weinstein was intending to travel to Europe to enter a rehabilitation facility.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41591394
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Hammond's comments highlight Brexit divisions - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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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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Deadlock over UK's Brexit bill, says EU's Michel Barnier - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The EU negotiator calls the lack of agreement "disturbing" but says "decisive progress" is possible.
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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. Michel Barnier: 'We've reached a state of deadlock which is very disturbing'
The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier says there has not been enough progress to move to the next stage of Brexit talks as the UK wants.
He said there was "new momentum" in the process but there was still "deadlock" over how much the UK pays when it leaves, which he called "disturbing".
Brexit Secretary David Davis said he still hoped for the go-ahead for trade talks when EU leaders meet next week.
The pair were speaking after the fifth round of Brexit talks in Brussels.
Mr Barnier said: "I am not able in the current circumstances to propose next week to the European Council that we should start discussions on the future relationship."
The UK's Brexit Secretary David Davis urged EU leaders at the summit, on 19 and 20 October, to give Mr Barnier a mandate to start trade talks and to "build on the spirit of co-operation we now have".
He said there had been progress on the area of citizens' rights that had moved the two sides "even closer to a deal".
The EU chief negotiator told reporters at the joint press conference he hoped for "decisive progress" by the time of the December summit of the European Council.
He said Theresa May's announcement that Britain would honour financial commitments entered into as an EU member was "important".
But he said there had been no negotiations on the issue this week because the UK was not ready to spell out what it would pay.
"On this question we have reached a state of deadlock which is very disturbing for thousands of project promoters in Europe and it's disturbing also for taxpayers."
Not even Brexit's biggest cheerleader could claim the discussions in Brussels have been going well. And there are visible frustrations on both sides.
But before claiming this morning's drama means the whole thing is doomed there are a few things worth remembering.
At the very start of this whole process, the hope was that in October, the EU would agree to move on to the next phase of the talks, to talk about our future relationship. But for months it has been clear that the chances of that were essentially zero.
It is not, therefore, a surprise to hear Mr Barnier saying right now, he doesn't feel able to press the button on phase 2, however much he enjoyed the drama of saying so today.
Second, behind the scenes, although it has been slow, there has been some progress in the talks but officials in some areas have reached the end of the line until their political masters give them permission to move on.
The so-called divorce bill covers things like the pensions of former EU staff in the UK, the cost of relocating EU agencies based in the UK and outstanding commitments to EU programmes. The UK has said it will meet its legal requirements and there has been speculation the bill could be anywhere between £50bn and £100bn, spread over a number of years.
BBC Europe Correspondent Kevin Connolly said the UK sees its total financial commitment "as its best negotiating card to be played somewhere near the end of the talks - the EU wants that card to be shown now at a point which is still relatively early in a two-year game".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson: Time to put 'tiger in tank' on Brexit talks
The UK has also offered to keep paying into the EU budget during a proposed two-year transition period.
The EU had two other issues on which it would not make any "concessions", said Mr Barnier - citizens' rights and the Northern Ireland border.
On the status of the border, Mr Barnier said negotiations had "advanced" during this week's discussions.
But he said there was "more work to do in order to build a full picture of the challenges to North-South co-operation resulting from the UK - and therefore Northern Ireland - leaving the EU legal framework".
Asked about speculation that the UK could exit the EU in March 2019 without a trade deal, Mr Barnier said the EU was ready for "any eventualities" but added: "No deal will be a very bad deal."
Mr Davis said: "It's not what we seek, we want to see a good deal, but we are planning for everything."
Both men said progress had been made on citizens' rights, with Mr Davis saying there would be an agreement "soon" to ensure EU nationals in the UK would be able to enforce their rights through the UK courts.
He said EU citizens would still have to register with the UK authorities but the process would be streamlined to make it as simple and cheap as possible.
According to Mr Davis, the remaining sticking points include:
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "I think it's quite shocking. We're now 15 months on since the referendum and the government seems to have reached deadlock at every stage."
He said "falling out" of the EU without a trade deal would threaten "a lot of jobs all across Britain".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Starmer: "We need to grasp the urgency."
Labour is calling for "emergency" talks between Mr Davis and the EU early next week, to try to break the deadlock ahead of the EU summit.
Earlier this week, European Council President Donald Tusk suggested that the green light to begin talks about a post-Brexit trade deal would not come until December at the earliest.
Meanwhile, draft conclusions for next week's summit of EU leaders - which could yet change - call for internal work to begin on possible transitional arrangements and trade talks with the UK.
That would mean they could move ahead with negotiations on a future relationship, if "sufficient progress has been achieved" in talks.
But the draft conclusions seen by the BBC, if adopted, suggest EU leaders are not yet ready to begin talks with the UK about a post-Brexit transition deal.
Last month Prime Minister Theresa May used a speech in Florence to set out proposals for a two-year transition period after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, in a bid to ease the deadlock.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41585430
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Clean Growth Plan could see stamp duty incentive for homeowners - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The changes are part of the Clean Growth Plan to reduce the UK's greenhouse emissions.
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UK
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Stamp duty in England may be changed to encourage people to make their homes more energy efficient.
Energy minister Claire Perry told the BBC householders would face "carrots and sticks" to prompt them into saving on heating bills and carbon emissions.
It may form part of a plan by ministers to get about a million homes a year renovated during the next two decades.
The government will fail to meet its climate change laws unless it can cut emissions from household heating.
The proposals are part of the government's long-delayed Clean Growth Plan, being published on Thursday, which defines how it aims to reduce carbon emissions across the whole economy.
As part of the the Climate Change Act, the government needs to cut CO2 emissions by 57% from 1990 levels by 2050.
A recent report called for radical policies to incentivise homeowners - such as fining people who sell cold, draughty homes, or introducing a variable stamp duty to reward those who have insulated their homes and punish those who have not.
The point of sale of a house is seen as the best time to undertake improvements that many people find costly and disruptive.
Ms Perry told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme she was "interested" in the idea of lowering stamp duty on properties that have been made energy efficient.
She described the idea as potentially "one of the incentives" to encourage homeowners into implementing energy-saving measures on their houses.
She added: "It's more likely that a home where insulation has been put in would attract a higher value, because the running cost of that home over the lifetime of ownership would be lower."
The application of stamp duty is devolved around the UK, so this would only apply to energy efficient homes in England.
Homes now account for 13% of the UK's emissions, and this rises to 22% once electricity use is taken into account.
Ed Matthew, from the climate change think tank E3G, has welcomed the plan but says there needs to be a clear strategy.
He told BBC News: "The government is trying to triple the rate at which homes are being insulated. This policy is really ambitious but it needs money - and the Treasury has to stump up."
The UK has led the developed world by boosting its economy 60% whilst cutting carbon emissions 42% since 1990. But most of the carbon saving has come through cutting down on burning coal for power.
Advisors warn that the government's future policies will lead them to miss carbon targets by a long distance. They say emissions from transport and housing have recently been going up.
Ms Perry said the plan would cover all parts of the economy, including cars and industrial emissions.
But energy campaigners fear the plan will not contain the measures necessary to meet the government's own laws on cutting carbon.
Jonathan Church, a spokesman for the environmental lawyers ClientEarth, said the strategy didn't go far enough.
He said: "We need a firm commitment to say how the UK will decarbonise. Ministers do seem to be trying to make up lost ground with their new strategy, but they have not done enough."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41592635
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SNP conference: Is the childcare pledge 'unmatched'? - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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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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Diplomats owe £105m in congestion charges - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The US embassy owes the highest amount - £11.5m - in London congestion zone fees.
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UK Politics
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The US embassy owes the most in congestion charges
Foreign diplomats owe more than £105m in congestion charges in London, the foreign secretary has said.
The US embassy owes the highest amount - £11.5m - in congestion zone fees, which were incurred between the charge's introduction in 2003 and December 2016.
In 2016, 4,311 parking fines had been issued to embassies, totalling at least £430,126, the Foreign Office said.
After payments and some amounts that were waived, £327,962 remains unpaid.
In a written ministerial statement, Boris Johnson said the Foreign Office had held meetings with "a number of missions" about the outstanding debts.
There has been a longstanding dispute over the US embassy's bill because the Americans treat the congestion charge as a tax, so diplomats need not pay it.
Mr Johnson said the issue of unpaid fines was raised in introductory meeting with all new ambassadors and high commissioners and officials also pressed the matter.
He said: "In April this year, Protocol Directorate wrote to diplomatic missions and international organisations concerned giving them the opportunity to either pay their outstanding debts, or appeal against specific fines if they considered that they had been issued incorrectly."
It was also revealed that, in 2016, 12 "serious and significant offences" had allegedly been committed by people entitled to diplomatic immunity.
These were defined as crimes that could carry at least a 12-month prison sentence.
Eight of the 12 offences were driving related, including drinking and driving and driving without insurance.
Three offences - actual bodily harm, possession of a class-B drug with intent to supply, and possession of an offensive weapon - were allegedly committed by a Libyan diplomat.
An offence of sexual assault had been recorded against someone employed by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the ministerial statement said.
The government said most of the 22,500 people entitled to diplomatic immunity in the UK abided by the law.
"The number of alleged serious crimes committed by members of the diplomatic community in the UK is proportionately low," Mr Johnson said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41585423
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Newspaper headlines: Brexit 'deadlock', and Weinstein claims - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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Friday's papers report on the latest round of Brexit talks and more claims against media mogul Harvey Weinstein.
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The Papers
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Philip Hammond's role as chancellor is challenged by some of the papers
The Daily Telegraph says the prime minister has been forced to put her Brexit plans on hold because of what it calls a "potentially disastrous" Tory rebellion.
According to the paper, the government has delayed parliamentary scrutiny of the EU Withdrawal Bill because it faces defeat on more than a dozen hostile amendments.
The Guardian says Theresa May's government is "struggling to respond" to the "deluge" of amendments which now amount to about 300. The paper says the growing scale of the discontent in Parliament just underlines the challenge facing Mrs May over Brexit.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that Whitehall is planning to hire 2,000 extra staff to deal with Brexit in a sign, it says, of how its resources are increasingly being diverted towards the challenges of leaving the EU.
The Times focuses on the intervention of the former Conservative Chancellor, Lord Lawson, who has called on the current incumbent, Philip Hammond, to be sacked.
He says Mr Hammond's unwillingness to prepare properly for the eventuality of no deal being struck at the end of the Brexit talks is close to sabotage and should lead to his dismissal.
Nigel Lawson's demand is also the lead for the Daily Mail which carries the simple headline: "sack 'saboteur' Hammond".
The Sun claims an exclusive with its report that the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein propositioned the singer and TV presenter Myleene Klass with what it calls a "sex contract".
The paper says she declined the offer which was apparently made over lunch in 2010.
According to the LA Times, Hollywood is already starting to, in its phrase, "kick the tires" of the Weinstein Company.
It says studios, production companies, distributors and other investors have been calling bankers to assess whether to bid for pieces of the company if the firm is unable to stay afloat amid the scandal.
A number of papers carry a photograph of a Western family who have been rescued after being held by militants in Pakistan for nearly five years.
The Times reports that Caitlan Coleman, her Canadian husband Josh Boyle and their three children, had survived death threats during their captivity.
Josh Boyle told the Ontario Star that he and his family had been in the boot of their kidnappers' car when the rescue operation took place and five of their captors were shot dead by Pakistani security forces.
The Daily Mail is among a number of papers to tell the extraordinary story of a Dorset fisherman.
The unnamed 28-year-old had just caught a small Dover Sole which he was holding up near his face when the fish slipped out of his hands and down his throat, blocking his airways and provoking a heart attack.
His friends gave him CPR until help arrived, the fish was extracted and his pulse returned to normal.
A paramedic who treated him at the scene said: "I have never attended a more bizarre incident and I don't think I ever will."
And the Daily Telegraph recounts the distressing ordeal of Keith Boleat - a veteran of the Jersey Petanque Association.
Mr Boleat and his playing partners were on their way to an international competition in Denmark when the suitcase carrying his three steel boules was confiscated by airport authorities because they suspected they were bombs.
The 62-year-old had to make do with a borrowed set and the team duly lost - to Germany.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41604236
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Royal Mail wins strike injunction - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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Royal Mail wins an injunction in London's High Court preventing next week's 48-hour strike.
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Business
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Royal Mail has won an injunction in London's High Court preventing next week's 48-hour strike.
The postal firm's workers had been set to walk out from 19 October in protest over pensions, wages and jobs.
But the company said the strike would be "unlawful" if the Communication Workers Union (CWU) did not follow dispute resolution procedures.
A strike ballot of the CWU's 110,000 members had produced an 89.1% vote in favour on a 73.7% turnout.
It would have been the first national strike since Royal Mail was privatised four years ago.
The CWU said it was "extremely disappointed" at the ruling and described it as "a desperate delaying tactic from a board who are increasingly out of touch with the views of its workforce".
Royal Mail said in a statement: "We will now make contact with the CWU as a matter of urgency to begin the process of external mediation.
The firm said it expected the process to take until Christmas and added: "We are very committed to working closely with the CWU in order to reach agreement as a matter of priority."
Mr Justice Supperstone, who granted the injunction, said: "I consider the strike call to be unlawful and the defendant is obliged to withdraw its strike call until the external mediation process has been exhausted."
The CWU has said that Royal Mail's move to reform workers' pensions means that its members will lose up to a third of their retirement entitlements.
The company said pension scheme members would indeed build up smaller benefits in future, but that was because the plan in its current form was unaffordable.
Earlier this year, the Royal Mail announced that it would close its current defined benefit scheme in March 2018.
Although the pension fund is in surplus, Royal Mail, which was privatised in 2013, claims that its current annual contribution of £400m a year would swell to £1.26bn.
The company also said it was one of the few firms offering to replace one defined-benefit scheme with another.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: "The company are deluded if they believe their courtroom politics will resolve this dispute. Instead, the company's actions will have the complete opposite effect.
"Postal workers' attitude towards the company will harden and it makes us more determined than ever to defend our members' pensions, jobs, service and achieve our objectives."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41601179
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Moped robbery gang jailed after 100-victim crime spree - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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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.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41582001
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What will Trump do about the Iran nuclear deal? - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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Will it kill the deal if Trump refuses to recertify it, and how might Iran respond?
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US & Canada
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All the indications are that President Trump will refuse to recertify the present Iran nuclear deal some time before the due date of 15 October. This would light a fuse that could potentially explode the agreement. It raises questions about how Iran will respond. And it creates huge diplomatic difficulties between the US and many of its key European allies who wholeheartedly back the deal.
The agreement, negotiated with Iran by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council together with Germany and the European Union, was reached in July 2015. Its aim was to ensure that Iran's nuclear programme was entirely peaceful.
The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), began to be implemented in January 2016. In return for the progressive lifting of a range of economic sanctions, Iran halted some of its activities and reduced others within strict limits, all open to verification by international inspectors.
There are four crucial things to remember about the deal.
Forcing Iran to halt its nuclear activities altogether was not feasible. Many of the restrictions imposed by the JCPOA contain "sunset clauses", which run out after a number of years. What happens then is a valid question, but it was felt by all the parties that constraining Iran's nuclear programme for the immediate future was a deal worth taking.
It is easy to forget that there was a real concern at the time the deal was being negotiated that without an agreement there could be a military conflict.
Donald Trump spoke at rallies criticising the Iran nuclear deal, during the presidential campaign
Israel was pressing for military action. Many of Iran's Arab enemies in the Gulf quietly backed such a step and there were questions as to whether the US itself might have to use force to prevent Iran developing the capability to manufacture and deliver a nuclear weapon.
Sound familiar? It is much like the position that the US is in today with North Korea. The JCPOA was intended to manage Iran's nuclear activities, avoiding a recourse to war.
The JCPOA was about Iran's nuclear programme and nothing else. Iran does many things that the US, and its European and Middle Eastern allies, believe are damaging to security in the region.
That is an important but a different matter, one that I will come back to in a moment. The JCPOA was and is a nuclear deal, pure and simple.
And that brings me to perhaps the most fundamental point of all.
Everyone - and that includes the UN's nuclear watchdog and all of the signatories (including senior figures in the Trump administration) - believes that Iran is abiding by the agreement to the letter.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A timeline of what Trump's said about the Iran deal
It wanted to have some oversight over the application of the JCPOA and brought in legislation, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA), which requires the US president to certify every 90 days not just that Iran is complying with the deal, but that the continued suspension of nuclear-related US economic sanctions remains vital to the national security interests of the United States.
So far - despite criticising the Iran nuclear deal at every opportunity - President Trump has grudgingly recertified the JCPOA under this legislation. But now he looks set to change his mind.
Assuming he does now refuse to recertify the deal, insisting that it is no longer in US interests to do so, what then? What does it mean? And what happens next?
The crucial point to grasp is that the Iran deal (JCPOA) and the US legislation (INARA) are two totally different things.
By decertifying the Iran deal, Mr Trump would not be withdrawing from it. He would certainly be making a fundamental point about his view of its utility. He would be opening up a path under which Congress could effectively cease US compliance with the deal.
But in practical terms, this is a multinational agreement that is being adhered to and thus it would remain active with or without a certification from Mr Trump.
Of course, having decertified the deal, the president could simply reimpose some or all of the economic sanctions that have been waived under the JCPOA, and this would certainly mean that the US was no longer complying with its terms of the deal.
But the more likely scenario would be that - under the US INARA legislation - the whole issue would go to Capitol Hill for the US Congress to decide.
Opinion there is divided. There is clearly no warmth felt towards Tehran, but at this stage it is not clear what Congress might do.
The Iran nuclear deal was announced in Vienna, Austria, in July 2015
Would it reimpose some or all sanctions - thus pulling the US out of the deal - or decide to bide its time? There are indications that some of those on Capitol Hill most critical of the deal at the time are now reluctant to tear it up.
Now we come to another crucial aspect of this whole business: the ostensible reason why Mr Trump may decertify the agreement in the first place.
Iran is seen by the West and its allies as a major problem in the region. Paradoxically, the US itself helped to facilitate Iran's rise as a regional player through its destruction of the Saddam Hussein government in Iraq.
Iran has an important say with the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad. It - along with its proxy militias - is a major player in Syria. And it has a hand in the conflict in Yemen, though there is debate about the scale of its activities there.
Add in worries about its missile programmes and its alleged support for terrorism, and there are good reasons for concern about its growing regional influence.
The JCPOA agreement has not changed Iran's wider behaviour.
Under the deal, Iran's uranium stockpile will be reduced by 98% to 300kg (0.3 tonnes) for 15 years
The activities of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and its missile-research effort have continued.
The JCPOA was never intended to tackle these wider issues. But in some basic sense, Mr Trump looks set to contend that Iran is not living up to the "spirit" of the deal - it's not playing nice - and that is why he will choose to decertify it.
The Trump administration wants to get tough with Tehran.
The president is likely to set his decertification of the JCPOA as part of a wider set of policies intended to punish Iran, as he would see it, for its bad behaviour.
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All sorts of new sanctions could be on the table. Remember, there is still a whole battery of sanctions in place both from the US and the EU for a variety of other things - separate from the nuclear programme - such as terrorism or human rights violations.
One suggestion is that the Trump administration might decide to brand the whole of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity.
This body - part security force, part military, part ideological vanguard - also controls a significant part of the Iranian economy. More sanctions here could cause problems not just for Iran, but between the US and those of its allies who want to open up trade with Tehran.
So if, as expected, Mr Trump does decertify the Iran nuclear deal, it is not necessarily the end of the agreement.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US would damage its own reputation if it violates the nuclear deal
America's allies are lining up to encourage both the White House and Congress to stick with the deal.
Even if Congress chooses not to reapply sanctions for now, the next problem becomes the scope and impact of the Trump administration's wider policy towards Tehran.
Iran for now is likely to do nothing. It will see decertification as an internal legal US matter, and is likely to continue to adhere to the agreement. Indeed, it may well relish the widening split between Washington and its key European allies.
But the way Tehran responds to any other US steps may well decide the fate of the nuclear deal.
Remember, this is a US administration dominated by military figures, many of whom have been up against Iranian-backed forces in the field.
They may back the nuclear deal, but also want to see Tehran held to account for its actions.
Insulating the JCPOA from team Trump's wider Iran policy is not going to be easy, and over time, it may well influence thinking towards the utility of the agreement in Iran itself.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41571984
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Harvey Weinstein: Prosecutors defend lack of action - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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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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UK will spend what is needed to prepare for Brexit - No 10 - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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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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'I had a cardiac arrest at my sister's wedding' - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The maid of honour's life was saved by her two cousins, who had just learned how to do CPR.
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Health
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Carly (right) walking down the aisle just moments before her collapse
About 10,000 people die each year because bystanders do not know how to do CPR if they see someone in cardiac arrest, the British Heart Foundation says. One woman says she owes her life to people who acted quickly when she collapsed.
The photos capture Carly Williams smiling as she walks up the flower-lined aisle as maid of honour at her sister's wedding.
But moments later she collapsed without warning and had a cardiac arrest in front of her family, friends and two young sons.
Her heart had gone into a dangerously irregular rhythm and stopped beating.
Carly, 34, has no memory of her collapse but says she felt totally normal in the lead-up to the ceremony at a central London hotel in July.
"Apparently I said I was dizzy and I thought I might faint. I actually collapsed as soon as I sat down with my head in the other bridesmaid's lap," she tells the Victoria Derbyshire programme.
"People realised there was something wrong as I didn't stand for the bride and I started breathing in an irregular way."
Jodie, centre, pictured with Carly to her left and the rest of her bridal party.
There were calls for a first aider and ambulance. One of the guests was a childminder who realised Carly's heart had stopped and started performing CPR, helped by her two cousins who had completed a first aid course two weeks earlier.
"The hotel had a defibrillator but the staff had no idea how to use it. My cousins learned how to use it on the course. They shocked me and it worked - I had a pulse but still wasn't conscious," she says.
Meanwhile, her sister Jodie - who had been planning her £70,000 wedding for a year - had been taken out of the room along with the other guests.
"It was so surreal, like a nightmare," she says on looking back and seeing her sister undergo CPR.
Carly, pictured holding her daughter Matilda, says she felt totally normal before the ceremony.
Jodie believes it was lucky that she had chosen the hotel for the venue, just minutes away from St Thomas', a specialist heart hospital. She describes it as "the best decision I have ever made".
"I had been feeling very guilty worrying that this was Carly worrying about the wedding that had brought this on. My dad told me my wedding had saved her life," she says.
Another decision was also crucial. Carly had wanted to return to their hotel room to collect the corsages, but her dad said to leave them. "It was lucky I didn't go, as my heart might have stopped when I was alone in the room," she says.
Carly was taken to hospital where she was put in an induced coma. Jodie said all she wanted to do was get out of her gown and see her - so they called off the wedding, sending the 115 guests home.
"I expected it to be the best day of my life but it was the worst. I felt like I was about to fall off the edge of the world."
Carly emerged from the coma within 24 hours. A few days later she asked if the wedding had gone ahead and felt "really bad" when Jodie explained what had happened.
Carly has been fitted with a defibrillator called an S-ICD in case her heart fails again.
"We were so excited about the wedding - but she didn't mind at all. The chances of this happening in a room with three first aid-trained people and a defibrillator are so slim that actually I was lucky that it did," she says.
Carly has had a device fitted called an S-ICD, a defibrillator that she describes as "insurance" in case it happens again. "My heart is now doing its normal thing - but they don't know why it happened," she says.
The sisters are campaigning with the British Heart Foundation for more people to learn how to do CPR and use defibrillators as part of its Restart a Heart campaign - which will see 150,000 people learn CPR on 16 October.
And Jodie says she still wants to get married, once Carly is well enough.
"I still feel traumatised and get upset by it," she says. "My big worry on the day was the kids not walking down the aisle on their own. It's hard to believe that worried me now - health is all that matters," she says.
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41569398
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Young face growing mortgage debt burden - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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Young first-time buyers are increasing their mortgage debt to tackle short-term financial pressures.
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Business
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Young first-time buyers are increasing their overall mortgage debt in order to tackle short-term financial pressures.
The average mortgage term is lengthening from the traditional 25 years, according to figures from broker L&C Mortgages.
Its figures show the proportion of new buyers taking out 31 to 35-year mortgages has doubled in 10 years.
That means lower monthly repayments, but a bigger overall bill owing to the extra interest incurred.
The extra total cost can be tens of thousands of pounds.
Where can you afford to live? Try our housing calculator to see where you could rent or buy This interactive content requires an internet connection and a modern browser. Do you want to buy or rent? Use the buttons to increase or decrease the number of bedrooms: minimum one, maximum four. Alternatively, enter a number into the text input How much is your deposit? Enter your deposit below or adjust the deposit amount using the slider Return to 'How much is your deposit?' This calculator assumes you need a deposit of at least 5% of the value of the property to get a mortgage. The average deposit for UK first-time buyers is . How much can you pay monthly? Enter your monthly payment below or adjust the payment amount using the slider Return to 'How much can you pay monthly?' Your monthly payments are what you can afford to pay each month. Think about your monthly income and take off bills, council tax and living expenses. The average rent figure is for England and Wales. Amount of the that has housing you can Explore the map in detail below Search the UK for more details about a local area What does affordable mean? You have a big enough deposit and your monthly payments are high enough. The prices are based on the local market. If there are 100 properties of the right size in an area and they are placed in price order with the cheapest first, the “low-end” of the market will be the 25th property, "mid-priced" is the 50th and "high-end” will be the 75th.
The average term for a mortgage taken by a first-time buyer has risen slowly but steadily to more than 27 years, according to the L&C figures drawn from its customer data.
More detailed data shows that in 2007, there were 59% of first-time buyers who had mortgage terms of 21 to 25 years. That proportion dropped to 39% this year.
In contrast, mortgage terms of 31 to 35 years have been chosen by 22% of first-time buyers this year, compared with 11% in 2007.
The total cost of a £150,000 mortgage with an interest rate of 2.5% would be more than £23,000 higher by choosing a 35-year mortgage term rather than a 25-year term.
The gain for the borrower would be monthly repayments of £536, rather than £673.
David Hollingworth, of L&C Mortgages, said that interest-only mortgages were far less of an option for first-time buyers than a decade ago, and many needed to find a large deposit.
The income squeeze also meant that many "needed some slack in the monthly budget", so were choosing the longer-term mortgages.
Lenders have been offering longer mortgage terms, of up to 40 years, to reflect longer working lives and life expectancy.
He suggested that borrowers regularly reviewed their deals.
"Ideally, if you keep the term shorter, it will save you money in the long run," he said.
First-time buyers in some parts of the country have seen prices rising very slowly since the financial crisis, assisting affordability, despite stricter checks by lenders.
The latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed that more of its members expected house price falls than those expecting rises in the next three months.
Price falls have been most marked in London and South East England in September, they said, with falls also recorded in East Anglia and North East England.
On a national level, demand from new buyers and sales also fell in September, the survey suggested.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41580087
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Ten people charged for Louisiana State University hazing death - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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Maxwell Gruver, 18, died after engaging in a drinking game called "Bible study", police say.
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US & Canada
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Louisiana police have announced arrest warrants for 10 people accused of a role in forcing a university student to drink himself to death last month.
All the suspects are affiliated with the social club that police say 18-year-old Maxwell Gruver was attempting to join when he died.
One Louisiana State University student is charged with negligent homicide and nine others are charged with hazing.
According to a police affidavit, on the night of 13 September, Gruver had been forced to drink during a Phi Delta Theta initiation each time he incorrectly answered questions about the university's all-male club.
Gruver died of "acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration", according to a post-mortem examination by the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner.
The Georgia-native had a blood alcohol level that was over six times the legal limit for driving.
"Today's arrests underscore that the ramifications of hazing can be devastating," said university president F King Alexander on Wednesday.
"Maxwell Gruver's family will mourn his loss for the rest of their lives, and several other students are now facing serious consequences - all due to a series of poor decisions," he continued.
One suspect, Matthew Naquin, is charged with negligent homicide, which could carry a five-year prison sentence.
The others face charges of hazing, which carry a 10-30 day jail sentence:
All 10 suspects are affiliated with the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, but two are not currently enrolled at the school.
The charges now go to a grand jury, which will determine if there is enough evidence to warrant a criminal trial.
In September, a judge in Pennsylvania dismissed all the serious charges that had been filed against Pennsylvania State University fraternity members after a student there died during an initiation event.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41588051
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Las Vegas shooting: Worker's account raises fresh questions - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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A maintenance man says he told staff to call police before the gunman killed 58 concert-goers.
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US & Canada
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A hotel worker has said he alerted staff to report a gunman had opened fire before the suspect shot dead 58 people at a Las Vegas music festival.
Stephen Schuck said he was responding to a jammed fire door on the 32nd floor when he heard gunfire and spotted a colleague who had been shot.
He called dispatchers and told them to call police as the gunman sprayed bullets down the hallway, he said.
His account has intensified questions about why the gunman was not stopped.
"As soon as I started to go to a door to my left the rounds started coming down the hallway," Mr Schuck said on Wednesday.
"I could feel them pass right behind my head."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Police officers who entered the Las Vegas gunman's hotel room describe what they saw.
Mr Schuck said he encountered hotel security guard Jesus Campos, who had been shot in the leg by gunman Stephen Paddock.
Mr Campos told the maintenance man to take cover.
"It was kind of relentless so I called over the radio what was going on," said Mr Schuck.
"As soon as the shooting stopped we made our way down the hallway and took cover again and then the shooting started again."
Soon afterwards, Paddock, 64, sprayed bullets upon a nearby crowd at the Route 91 country music festival, perched above in his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
Paddock apparently took his own life after the attack, the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, leaving 58 dead and 500 wounded.
According to CBS News, gunfire could be heard as Mr Schuck told a dispatcher on his radio: "Call the police, someone's firing a gun up here. Someone's firing a rifle on the 32nd floor down the hallway."
The BBC has asked the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for comment.
Mr Schuck's account adds more questions about why police were unaware of the shooting on the 32nd floor before Paddock opened fire on concert-goers below.
Police initially said Mr Campos, the injured security guard, interrupted the gunman as he was firing upon the crowd from his hotel suite.
But on Monday police revised the timeline to clarify that Mr Campos was actually shot in the leg and wounded six minutes before Paddock began shooting at the music festival.
However the 3,200-room Mandalay Bay hotel disputed the police chronology, telling the BBC that the official police timeline is based on an erroneous initial report compiled by hotel staff.
"We are now confident that the time stated in this report is not accurate," a spokesperson for the hotel said in a statement.
"We know that shots were being fired at the festival lot at the same time as, or within 40 seconds after, the time Jesus Campos first reported that shots were fired over the radio."
"Metro officers were together with armed Mandalay Bay security officers in the building when Campos first reported that shots were fired over the radio," the statement continued, adding that the police and armed hotel security guards "immediately responded to the 32nd floor".
Police said Paddock, who had placed security cameras outside his room, shot Mr Campos through the door of his suite, firing 200 rounds into the hallway.
21:59 Paddock shoots security guard Jesus Campos outside his 32nd floor room. The hotel says they are "confident" this is not the accurate time.
22:05 Paddock opens fire on concert-goers below after smashing his window with a hammer
22:17 The first police arrive on the scene and find the wounded security guard near Paddock's room a minute later
23:20 Swat team breaks into Paddock's room and finds him dead from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41599529
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Jeremy Hunt to pledge £20,000 'golden hello' for rural GPs - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The health secretary is to announce new steps to attract more doctors to the countryside and coast.
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Health
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Newly-qualified GPs are to be offered a one-off payment of £20,000 if they start their careers in areas that struggle to attract family doctors.
The £4m scheme, to be announced by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, aims to boost the numbers of doctors in rural and coastal areas of England.
Mr Hunt said it will help "reduce the pressure" on practices in those areas.
The Royal College of GPs backed the plan, saying there was a "serious shortage" of family doctors.
The one-off payment will be offered to 200 GPs from 2018.
As of September 2016, there were 41,985 GPs in England.
Mr Hunt told the BBC: "What we're looking to do is to reduce the pressure on those GP practices which are doing a very, very valiant job but can't look after patients as well as they want to, because they're finding it hard to recruit."
The health secretary is due to speak at the Royal College of GPs' annual conference in Liverpool, where he will offer something for those already in the profession too, by announcing plans for flexible working for older doctors - to encourage them to put off retirement.
He will also confirm plans for an overseas recruitment office which will aim to attract GPs from countries outside Europe to work in England.
"By introducing targeted support for vulnerable areas and tackling head-on critical issues such as higher indemnity fees and the recruitment and retention of more doctors, we can strengthen and secure general practice for the future," he will say.
The Royal College of GPs said the package must be delivered in full and welcomed the commitment to incentivise working in remote and rural areas.
NHS England has already pledged an extra £2.4bn a year for general practice in England - part of which will fund plans for 5,000 extra GPs by 2020.
But Dr Richard Vautrey, chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee, said the government was not on course to reach that target.
"General practice is facing unprecedented pressure from rising workload, stagnating budgets and a workforce crisis," he said.
"'Golden hellos' are not a new idea and unlikely to solve the overall workforce crisis given we are failing badly to train enough GPs to meet current demands."
In 2016, the BBC learned that there were some practices in England offering a bonus of up to £10,000 to attract new doctors.
But The Nuffield Trust think tank said recruitment was "only half the battle".
"The NHS is struggling to hang on to qualified GPs, with surveys showing 56% plan to retire or leave practice early. Many trainees also drop out when they finish," said senior policy fellow Rebecca Rosen.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41590429
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The companies making bicycles from wood - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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A growing number of firms are crafting bikes using wood, but some cyclists remain wary
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Business
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Connor Wood makes its bike frames from white ash or black walnut
The forerunner of the bicycle - the laufmaschine or running machine - bears only a passing resemblance to the pedal-bikes we know today.
Invented in 1817, it had no chain and was powered by the rider pushing his feet along the ground in a walking or running motion.
Even more unusually, its frame was made from wood.
Jump forward to 2017, and a crop of bike makers is turning back the clock - at least in terms of using wood as a core material.
These firms make their bicycles in part, and occasionally wholly, from woods such as ash, oak and walnut.
They are driven by a love of craft and design, the desire to use natural materials, and a passion for cycling itself.
Chris Connor decided to combine his long held passions for woodwork and cycling
And they have attracted a small but growing base of enthusiastic customers, willing to pay high prices for their lovingly crafted creations.
"People like having something unique, something different," says Chris Connor, the founder of Connor Wood Bicycles.
"They also appreciate the craftsmanship. Not a lot of things are built by hand these days."
The company was born in 2012, after the 48-year-old American decided to combine his long held passions for woodwork and cycling.
All his bikes all have wooden frames; the other parts, such as the gears and wheels, are made from steel, carbon or rubber.
Sales have gradually been increasing, but it hasn't been easy, says Mr Connor. That's because of a perception among some cyclists that wooden bikes may break or be unsafe.
Woodster Bikes makes its frames from beech and bog oak
In fact, Mr Connor says wood is very durable, which is why it's used to make tool handles, skis, boats, even light aircraft.
It also absorbs vibrations well, making cycling on bumpy roads smoother, less tiring and quieter.
"And of course, these bikes look great," says Mr Connor, who makes his frames made from "strong but flexible" white ash or "eye candy" black walnut.
A recently published book called "The Wooden Bicycle: Around the World" features 111 companies that make bikes from wood or bamboo.
Only one, Splinterbike in the UK, sells 100% wooden models with its bikes featuring wooden gears, chains and wheels.
However, most limit their use of wood to the frame, and occasionally parts such as the handlebars and forks. Other parts will be made from materials typically associated with bikes, such as aluminium.
It is the unique design of wooden bikes, and their bespoke craftsmanship, that underpins their appeal, says Gregor Cuzak.
The Slovenian co-founded Woodster Bikes after meeting woodworker Iztok Mohoric, who had recently designed a bike with a wooden frame.
"I wasn't interested at first, but after I saw it and took a ride, I was immediately convinced," Mr Cuzak says. "People were watching me as if I was driving a wild sports car."
Piet Brandjes, right, co-founder of Bough Bikes with his son Bob
Like other firms in the space, Woodster is targeting customers who appreciate the finer things in life. Its bike frames are made of woods such as beech and bog oak, and prices range from 2,500 euros (£2,190) up to 17,000 euros.
In addition, every customer gets a book with a story about how their individual bike was made.
"We even plant a new tree at the same location where we cut one for your bike," Mr Cuzak adds.
For that reason, firms in the Netherlands such as Novotel and Rabobank have bought Bough Bikes for their guests and employees to use.
More stories from the BBC's Business Brain series looking at interesting business topics from around the world:
The bikes are also used in a shared bike scheme at Schiphol Airport business park, in Amsterdam, so workers can give them a spin.
Mr Brandjes says all his models have French oak frames, handlebars and front forks. However, customers don't need to worry about them getting wet in the rain.
"The bikes in the shared scheme have been outside for three years and they still look good," he says.
"As long as wet wood dries again, it's fine. You just need to polish it once a season."
Everyone I spoke to reported feeling frustrated by assumptions that wooden bikes were less safe and sturdy than other bikes.
Mr Connor tells me that by using the right woods and construction techniques, his bikes are perfectly durable.
"A strong seasoned wood, laminated to itself in strips with reversing grain directions, bonded with aerospace adhesives is incredibly tough.
"Add in interspersed layers of carbon fibre and Kevlar, like in my bikes, and the strength far exceeds the requirements for making a reasonably lightweight performance bicycle frame."
As for how they function, Mr Brandjes points out that all of his bikes have been tested by TUV Rheinland, a renowned German organisation that certifies products.
However, other obstacles may hinder firms in the space.
For one thing, wooden bikes tend to be heavier than many road bikes. The various models of the three companies I spoke to weigh between 9.9kg and 25kg.
"You can't make them as light as carbon bikes," says Mr Connor, "but I don't think a pound or two more or less matters."
The people who buy them are not competitive riders, he adds.
Another issue is that wooden bikes tend to cost a lot, which may be preventing higher volumes of sales.
American firm Renovo, whose bikes start at $3,995, is probably the number one producer of wooden bikes worldwide. And yet it told the BBC it had only sold 1,000 models since it was founded in 2007.
"If someone manages to create a wooden bike for under 1,000 euros (£914), sales might rise," Mr Cuzak says.
He has only sold 10 bikes since he started in 2015, meaning that he and his partner still have to work on the company in their spare time.
However, Mr Connor runs his business full time, having sold around 65 pieces to date. And Bough Bikes has shifted about 600 bikes since it was founded in 2012.
Summing up what many in the wooden bike industry believe, Mr Cuzak says, "this is not a regular business, but a slow business".
However, he adds: "We've planted the seed and are now waiting for the tree to grow. I believe it will, eventually."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41412627
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Australia jet and navy data stolen in 'extensive' hack - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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Sensitive information about fighter jets and naval vessels was stolen, authorities say.
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Australia
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The theft included details about Australia's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme, authorities said
Sensitive information about Australia's defence programmes has been stolen in an "extensive" cyber hack.
About 30GB of data was compromised in the hack on a government contractor, including details about new fighter planes and navy vessels.
The data was commercially sensitive but not classified, the government said. It did not know if a state was involved.
Australian cyber security officials dubbed the mystery hacker "Alf", after a character on TV soap Home and Away.
The breach began in July last year, but the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) was not alerted until November. The hacker's identity is not known.
"It could be one of a number of different actors," Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Thursday.
"It could be a state actor, [or] a non-state actor. It could be someone who was working for another company."
Mr Pyne said he had been assured the theft was not a risk to national security.
The hack was described as "extensive and extreme" by ASD incident response manager Mitchell Clarke.
It included information about Australia's new A$17bn (£10bn; $13bn) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme, C130 transport plane and P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft, as well as "a few" naval vessels, he said.
Mr Clarke told a Sydney security conference that the hacker had exploited a weakness in software being used by the government contractor. The software had not been updated for 12 months.
The aerospace engineering firm was also using default passwords, he said.
A report by ZDNet said officials referred to the months before ASD intervention as "Alf's mystery happy fun time".
"For those visitors overseas to Australia, Alf is Alf Stewart from an horrific Australia soap opera called Home and Away. It's just a thing we do," Mr Clarke told his audience, according to BuzzFeed.
The government distanced itself from the Adelaide-based firm, saying it had most likely been employed by another contractor.
"I don't think you can try and sheet blame for a small enterprise having lax cyber security back to the federal government. That is a stretch," Mr Pyne said.
"Fortunately, the data that was taken was commercial data, not military data, but it is still very serious and we will get to the bottom of it."
However, he said "we don't necessarily let the public know" about the identities of hackers, because such investigations often involve confidential information.
The incident was a "salutary reminder" about cyber security, he added.
Last year, Australia announced a surge in defence spending, a move that reflects concern over military expansion in the region.
Military spending would grow by A$29.9bn over 10 years, including plans to buy 72 Joint Strike Fighters, the 2016 Defence White Paper outlined.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41590614
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Harvey Weinstein scandal: Who has accused him of what? - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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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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Newspaper headlines: 'Weinstein backlash' as more speak out - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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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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Are longer mortgages the answer to high property prices? - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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Some young people are taking out up to 40-year mortgages instead of opting for traditional 25-year terms. They tell us why.
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UK
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Many young first-time buyers are opting for up to 40-year mortgages rather than traditional 25-year terms.
Some people explain why and talk about their experience of the property market.
James Lowrey-English, 26, bought a house with his wife Jessica in Bracknell in 2015.
"When we were offered the 40-year term we were overjoyed and elated to be offered anything at all."
It had been "heartbreaking" to think they might not be able to secure a mortgage, he explains.
"We now have two children and are happy with where we live. I have no regrets about taking out the mortgage.
"Our total outgoings are £1,200 a month, which is manageable."
He adds: "It's just about getting onto the ladder, we just needed to cross the line and actually secure a mortgage."
Charlie Crompton, 26, bought her first house in Burnley last year with her boyfriend Craig. They chose a 35-year mortgage term.
Charlie says she is happy with her "manageable" monthly payments of £480.
"It means we can afford to do nice things. We are flying to Portugal next week, which we wouldn't have been able to afford if the payments were higher.
"I also really like feeling stable. We have a house rabbit that is a bit destructive, and I was always worried she would chew things in our rented place. Now we own a house she has free run."
Her brother has a 25-year mortgage "and couldn't believe that we'd taken a 35 year one"
"I had no idea that 35 years was considered long-term," she says.
"I don't want to have a mortgage in 35 years; the sooner you're mortgage free, the sooner you can retire."
Conor Doherty, 26, is just about to complete on a one-bedroom flat in central Glasgow, with a 30-year mortgage term.
Conor and Robyn are both first-time buyers with monthly mortgage payments of £550.
Conor says he resented renting, and a longer-term mortgage was a useful way to get a foot on the housing ladder.
"I would have happily taken a 40 or 50-year mortgage to get out of the rented sector."
"I hated just throwing money away on rent. You have to do anything you can to get on the housing ladder."
"Obviously, I am slightly nervous about taking on so much debt but young people are used to being in huge debt because of the cost of being a student."
Casper Holm, 29, went for a 35-year term mortgage when he bought a three-bedroom house in Cardiff in 2016, with his fiancé Cara.
He says he wanted the mortgage term to be "as long as possible".
"The rationale was we would have the flexibility of lower monthly payments, and the option to overpay."
"The reality is it is hard to make yourself overpay, and we haven't."
"I understand that we will end up paying more, but I don't mind paying to have the flexibility of affordable repayments. It's worth it."
"We pay around £850 a month, and I see it as a good investment. It's not like we've racked up debt on credit cards."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41594765
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Student fell off Seven Sisters cliff 'posing for photo' - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The 23-year-old woman fell 200ft to her death while jumping in the air near the cliff edge.
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Sussex
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Signs warning about the instability of the cliffs are in place approaching the area
A student fell to her death while posing for a photograph on cliffs at Seven Sisters, an inquest heard.
Hyewon Kim, 23, came to the UK to study English and on 22 June took a trip to Cuckmere Haven, East Sussex, alone.
She asked a stranger to take her picture, but as she jumped in the air for the shot she lost her footing and fell 200ft (60m).
The court heard Ms Kim, from South Korea, suffered catastrophic injuries in the fall.
Speaking after the inquest, Mark Webb from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, said: "This was an incredibly sad incident leading to the unnecessary loss of a very young life.
"What we would say is to urge people to stay well away from cliff edges.
"The day before this incident we had a very severe rock fall in the same sort of area, so it's clear some of these cliff edges can be very unstable."
Several large sections of the cliffs have crumbled into the sea in recent months
Signs warning about the instability of the cliffs are in place approaching the area.
An option for more signs in foreign languages was considered by Seaford Town Council in July 2017 but was rejected.
Craig Williams, from the town council, said it was a unanimous decision from representatives of East Sussex County Council, Lewes District Council, the coastguard and South Downs National Park Authority.
"We've decided to keep the signs as they are; we felt more would just confuse matters. Instead we've tackled this at source.
"We've been approaching coach companies and tour operators who run trips to the area and take people up on the cliffs to discuss having plans in place to warn people."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-41598003
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Long Lartin: Prison staff 'attacked with pool balls' - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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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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Ben Affleck apologises for 'groping' MTV host Hilarie Burton - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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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.
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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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2017-10-12
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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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Asteroid close approach to test warning systems - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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A house-sized asteroid passes close to Earth, allowing scientists to rehearse future strike threats.
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Science & Environment
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Scientists say the asteroid, shown in this illustration, will safely pass by the Earth
An asteroid the size of a house is passing close to Earth.
The space rock will hurtle past our planet at a distance of about 42,000km (26,000 miles), bringing it within the Moon's orbit and just above the altitude of communication satellites.
Nasa scientists say there is no risk of an impact, but the flyby does provide them with the opportunity to test their asteroid-warning systems.
A global network of telescopes will be closely monitoring the object.
Paul Chodas, manager of Nasa's Centre for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, told BBC News: "We are going to use this asteroid to practise the system that would observe an asteroid, characterise it and compute how close it is going to come, in case some day we have one that is on the way inbound and might hit."
The asteroid, called 2012 TC4, was first spotted five years ago.
It is estimated to be between 15m and 30m (50-100ft) in size, which is relatively small.
However, even space rocks on this scale are dangerous if they strike.
When a 20m-wide asteroid exploded over Chelyabinsk in central Russia in 2013, it hit the atmosphere with energy estimated to be equivalent to 500,000 tonnes of TNT, causing a shockwave that damaged buildings and injured more than a thousand people.
Nasa scientists who have spent the last two months tracking this new rocky visitor say their calculations show that it will safely clear the Earth and poses no threat.
Instead, they will use this close approach to rehearse for future potential strikes.
More than a dozen observatories, universities and labs around the world will be watching 2012 TC4 as it flies past.
This will help them to refine how asteroids are tracked and provide a chance to test international communication systems.
Dr Chodas said that while the risk of an asteroid hit was small, it was prudent to plan ahead.
"Nasa search programmes are getting better and better at finding asteroids," he explained.
"It's been a priority to find the large asteroids first. So far the Nasa surveys have found 95% of the asteroids that are one kilometre and larger - these are the ones that could cause a global catastrophe.
"Now we are working our way down to the smaller ones - 130m in size and larger - and we are around 30% on that.
"This little one - we are not trying to find all of the ones of this size. It is just a convenient asteroid coming by that we can practise our tracking techniques on."
He added that if an asteroid was discovered to be heading for the Earth, scientists were looking at different techniques to avert a disaster.
"If we had enough warning time - five or 10 years - then we could do something about it, especially if it's on the small side.
"We could go up and move it, change its velocity years ahead, and that would be enough to move it away from a collision course."
Asteroid TC4's closest approach to Earth on Thursday will be over Antarctica at 05:42 GMT (06:42 BST; 01:42 EDT).
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41583704
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Dover sole 'jumps' down angler's throat in Bournemouth - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The fish wriggled out of the man's hand as he kissed it in celebration of his catch, causing him to swallow it.
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Dorset
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The six-inch (14cm) Dover sole (not pictured) wriggled out of the man's hand and jumped into his mouth
An angler had to be resuscitated after accidentally swallowing a fish he had just caught.
The man was kissing the Dover sole in celebration of his catch when the six-inch (14cm) fish wriggled out of his hand and jumped into his mouth, a friend said.
The 28-year-old stopped breathing and suffered a cardiac arrest at the scene on Boscombe Pier, Bournemouth.
Paramedics managed to remove the fish with forceps in an ambulance.
The man had been fishing at Boscombe Pier, Bournemouth
Ambulance worker Matt Harrison said: "It was clear that we needed to get the fish out or this patient was not going to survive the short journey to Royal Bournemouth Hospital.
"I was acutely aware that I only had one attempt at getting this right as if I lost grip or a piece broke off and it slid further out of sight then there was nothing more that we could have done to retrieve the obstruction."
Mr Harrison said the fish's barbs and gills became stuck but he eventually succeeded in extracting it in one piece.
He said it was the "most bizarre" call-out he had ever attended.
Members of Boscombe Pier Sea Anglers performed CPR on their friend before the arrival of emergency crews at about 23:00 BST on 5 October.
Ian Cowie from the group said: "He was kissing the fish when it jumped down his throat. It's a tradition to kiss your first catch."
Paramedics managed to restart the unnamed man's heart at the pier after working on him for three minutes.
Mr Harrison said: "We're all so glad the patient has no lasting effects from his cardiac arrest, which could so easily have had such a tragic and devastating outcome."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-41598493
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Ninety children taken into care each day, figures show - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The number of looked-after children reaches a record high, with 90 taken into care every day last year.
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Family & Education
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Ninety children are being taken into care every day in England and Wales and it's claimed social workers are "firefighting" the most serious cases late into the night.
Prof Ray Jones, who works in social services improvement, says staff fear children slip through the net as they try to keep up with rising pressures.
Latest government figures show 32,810 children were taken into care in 2017.
Ministers said extra money was being targeted towards improving services.
The total number of children in care is a record 72,670 - up 3% on 2016.
Council bosses, who are responsible for child protection services, say it's the biggest rise in seven years.
The Local Government Association, which is taking part in a conference on care services in Bournemouth, says it comes as children's services face a £2bn a year funding gap by 2020.
Prof Jones said: "What I am hearing from social workers is that they are having to spend most of the time 'firefighting' with the most serious concerns that get presented to them.
"They are spending a lot of time, including late into the night and at weekends, preparing for court proceedings.
"They are also having to close down work very quickly where the child is not an immediate concern.
"The consequence of that is the considerable stress they feel over concerns that they may be missing something."
He added: "Secondly, something that social workers are telling me is that they are closing down cases very quickly or even turning them away.
"And they are not able to work through potential cases where children are unhappy and distressed, because they are having to concentrate on cases where there is an immediate danger."
But the figures continue a longer trend of rising numbers of children facing severe need in terms of child protection.
Richard Watts, chairman of the LGA's children and young people board, said: "Children's services are at a tipping point with growing demand for support combining with ongoing council funding pressures to become unsustainable.
"Last year saw the biggest rise in the number of children in care for seven years.
"With 90 children coming into care every day, our calls for urgent funding to support these children and invest in children and their families are becoming increasingly urgent."
Robert Goodwill, Minister for Children and Families, said councils would receive more than £200bn for local services, including children's social care, up to 2020.
"This is part of a historic four-year settlement, which means councils can plan ahead with certainty.
"All children deserve the best possible support. And while some councils are doing excellent work, we want to help ensure more local authorities provide good and outstanding services."
• None Adoptions fall as more children in care
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41581805
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Branson's Virgin Group invests in Hyperloop One - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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Sir Richard is joining the board of the pod-based US transport company.
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Technology
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Hyperloop One claims its pod-based system is more "sustainable" than current transport options
The Virgin investment group has taken an undisclosed stake in Hyperloop One, one of several companies trying to create a pod-based transport system.
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Virgin's founder, Sir Richard Branson, is joining the Los Angeles-based firm's board as part of the deal, and it is rebranding itself as Virgin Hyperloop One.
One expert suggested the tie-up would help raise the company's profile.
"This is unproven technology and there's a long way to go before it ever finds itself in use in the real world," commented Prof David Bailey from Aston Business School.
"But this deal will certainly help in terms of marketing and potentially attract further investors to come into the operation."
Hyperloop One recently tested a prototype pod in the Nevada desert, which reached a speed of 310km/h (192mph) within a 500m (1,600ft) low air-pressured tube.
Its eventual goal is to reach 1,046km/h (650mph).
The system uses magnetic levitation and electric propulsion to cause pods to glide, and is pitched as a more eco-friendly mode of transportation than many of today's alternatives.
The firm says it is working on several projects to bring the technology to the Middle East, Europe, India, Canada and the US.
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In a press release, Virgin suggested the system could eventually cut journey times from Edinburgh to London to 50 minutes.
Hyperloop's inventor, Elon Musk, has previously signalled his intention to build a separate Hyperloop system via his tunnel-digging Boring Company.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, TransPod Hyperloop and Dinclix GroundWorks are among other companies to have announced rival projects.
"The combination of our proven technology and Virgin's expertise in transportation, operations, safety and passenger experience will accelerate the commercialisation phase of our company's development," said Hyperloop One's co-founder Josh Giegel in a written statement.
Virgin already has investments in rail companies, cruise liners, airlines and a nascent space tourism operation.
"I remain sceptical about using Hyperloop technology in places where there are high land values or dense population," he explained.
"But it may be more appropriate in places like the United Arab Emirates.
"It's a complicated technology and there's a long way to go."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41595297
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Queen will not lay Remembrance Sunday wreath - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The Queen has asked Prince Charles to take her place at the Cenotaph ceremony this year.
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UK
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It will be the first time the Queen has not laid the wreath since 1999
The Queen will not lay a wreath at the Cenotaph this year as part of the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony.
She will watch the event on 12 November in Whitehall from the balcony of the Foreign Office with Prince Philip.
Prince Charles will take her place in laying the floral tribute on behalf of the nation, along with the Duke of Edinburgh's equerry.
The Queen has not laid wreaths in six previous ceremonies since her coronation.
Two were during her pregnancies with Prince Andrew, in 1959, and Prince Edward, in 1963.
The other four occasions were when she was on visits abroad - in 1961, when she was in Ghana, in 1968, when in Brazil, in 1983, when in Kenya and in 1999, when in South Africa.
It will be the first time, as head of state, that the Queen will observe the ceremony from a nearby balcony.
The Queen traditionally lays the wreath at the Cenotaph on behalf of the nation
Royal officials told the BBC that the Queen chose to ask her eldest son and heir to carry out the royal duty.
It will be the second time the Prince of Wales has laid the wreath, after standing in for the Queen when she was on a trip to Kenya 34 years ago.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman added: "The Queen wishes to be alongside the Duke of Edinburgh and he will be in the balcony."
BBC Royal correspondent Peter Hunt said the change was "another sign of the Royal Family in transition", as well as "an acknowledgment of the fact the Queen is 91."
Earlier this year Prince Philip retired from his public duties, but he has continued to join the Queen at some of her official engagements.
In 2015, the ceremony was made shorter to limit the amount of time the Queen, Prince Philip and the veterans in attendance would have to stand. This move included making some members of the Royal Family lay wreaths together, rather than separately.
However, plans for the prime minister to lay one wreath on behalf of all the political parties were scrapped, with opposition leaders still being allowed to place individual wreaths.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41588578
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Jeremy Hunt: Is government on track with more GPs promise? - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The health secretary promised 5,000 more GPs by 2020.
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Health
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The majority of most people's contact with the NHS is with GPs
Addressing a room full of doctors, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt reminded the audience of his promise in 2015 that there would be 5,000 more general practitioners working in the NHS in England by 2020.
We're halfway to Mr Hunt's deadline - so how is the government doing at meeting this target?
In 2015, there were about 34,500 GPs working in the NHS in England. The government wants there to be about 39,500 by 2020.
But the latest figures published by the NHS show that there are actually about 350 fewer GPs now than there were in 2015, when the target was announced.
These numbers include registrars - trainee GPs who are qualified doctors but have not yet completed their specialist training.
After two foundation years, medical school graduates pick a specialism. It then takes another three years to become a fully fledged GP.
So far, then, it doesn't look like they're on track.
How do you get more GPs into the NHS?
The NHS is trying all three.
And the last of these appears to be proving a particular problem.
Mr Hunt told the Royal College of GPs' annual conference that the NHS was doing "pretty well" at getting more medical graduates into general practice.
Health Education England, the part of the NHS responsible for making sure enough people with the right skills are trained and recruited into the health service, said it would make sure a minimum of 3,250 trainees per year were recruited to GP training programmes by 2016.
The number is up 9% since 2015 but is still slightly behind the target.
The National Audit Office, which scrutinises public spending , said in January that 3,019 places had been filled, or 93% of the target.
So, the number of medical graduates being recruited into the GP specialism is going up.
But it's not yet having an impact on the overall numbers because more doctors are retiring or leaving the profession.
Between 2005 and 2014, the proportion of GPs aged 55 to 64 leaving the profession doubled, according to health think tank the King's Fund.
The NHS has launched a range of initiatives to encourage GPs to stay in the profession, for example offering more flexibility, training and financial support, but it's too soon to know how well they are working.
In July, the NHS also announced it would recruit more GPs from overseas by 2020-21 to meet its staffing targets. It's too soon to say how effective this recruitment drive has been.
And on Thursday the Health Secretary announced newly qualified GPs would receive a one-off payment of £20,000 if they started their careers in parts of the country that struggled to attract family doctors.
Efforts are clearly being made, but progress has been slow.
The King's Fund says that "the actions taken to deliver 5,000 more GPs by 2020 will need to be significantly more successful in the next few years for this pledge to be met".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41596947
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Trump threatens broadcaster NBC after nuclear report - BBC News
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2017-10-12
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The president takes aim at NBC after it reported he wanted a tenfold increase in atomic weapons.
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US & Canada
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President Trump criticised NBC's report as he welcomed Canada's prime minister to the White House
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of challenging media licences for NBC News and other news networks after unfavourable reports.
He took aim at NBC, which made him a star on The Apprentice, after it reported he wanted to boost America's nuclear arsenal almost tenfold.
NBC also angered the White House last week when it said the secretary of state had called Mr Trump "a moron".
Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning: "With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!"
Welcoming Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Washington later in the day, the US president denied the NBC story.
"It is frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it," he said at the White House.
When asked if he wanted to increase the country's arsenal, Mr Trump said he only ever discussed keeping it in "perfect condition".
"No, I want to have absolutely perfectly maintained - which we are in the process of doing - nuclear force.
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"But when they said I want 10 times what we have right now, it's totally unnecessary, believe me."
He added: "I want modernisation and I want total rehabilitation. It's got to be in tip-top shape."
"Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the US nuclear arsenal are absolutely false," he said in a statement.
"This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible."
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The president's tweet about US broadcast networks provoked a free-speech uproar.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a frequent Trump critic, tweeted: "Mr President: Are you recanting of the Oath you took on Jan 20 to preserve, protect, and defend the 1st Amendment?"
Walter Shaub, who led the US Office of Government Ethics under President Barack Obama, said it could lead to "the point when we cease to be a democracy".
The Committee to Protect Journalists said the US president's comment was a poor example for other world leaders.
According to NBC News, Mr Trump told a top-level meeting at the Pentagon in July that he wanted to dramatically boost the American stockpile of atomic missiles.
He reportedly made the request after seeing a downward-sloping curve on a briefing slide charting the gradual decrease in US nuclear weapons since the 1960s.
Attributing its report to three officials in the room, NBC said Mr Trump's request surprised those present, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Rex Tillerson reacts to a report he called the president a moron.
The network reported that Mr Trump had also called for additional US troops and military equipment.
The US has 7,100 nuclear weapons and Russia has 7,300, according to the US non-partisan Arms Control Association.
Media commentators say the president would struggle to remove broadcasters' licences if he wished to do so.
The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates US broadcasters, issues licences not to networks as a whole, but to local stations.
It would be difficult to challenge a licence on the basis that coverage is unfair, say pundits.
Last week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders assured reporters that Donald Trump was an "incredible advocate" of constitutional free-press protections. This week, the president is contemplating whether a broadcaster could be forced off the airwaves because he doesn't approve of its news coverage.
Never mind that the federal government licenses local televisions stations, only some of which are owned by national broadcasters like NBC.
Just because a threat is unworkable in the extreme doesn't mean the president won't make it.
Media-bashing is one of Mr Trump's favourite pastimes - a means of venting frustration, apportioning blame and, perhaps, distracting reporters who always enjoy a bit of journalistic navel-gazing.
As with the NFL anthem-kneeling controversy, the cultural battle lines form quickly when it comes to questions of media bias. The president knows this and uses it to his advantage.
Taking pot-shots at journalists is one thing, of course. Contemplating the use of government coercion to stifle a broadcaster because of its news content is another.
Even if such an outcome is unthinkable in the US at the moment, there are places in the world where press freedoms aren't as deeply entrenched. Their leaders are watching the president, too.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41584194
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Harvey Weinstein: Did everyone really know? - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Lots of people have said the producer's alleged harassment and abuse was "an open secret". How open?
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Entertainment & Arts
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "It was an open secret" a producer tells the BBC
When actor Seth MacFarlane announced the Oscar nominations for best supporting actress in 2013, he cracked a now infamous joke: "Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein."
At the time, it was a rare public reference to what has since become a very public scandal.
And it is a telling sign that Weinstein's alleged behaviour was - as it's been repeatedly described in the past week - Hollywood's "open secret".
But how many people knew what was going on, and why wasn't it reported sooner?
MacFarlane has explained that he made the quip after his Ted co-star Jessica Barth told him about Weinstein's attempted advances two years earlier.
The actress told The New Yorker the mogul tried to persuade her to give him a naked massage in bed. She walked out.
Actress Lea Seydoux, writing in The Guardian about how Weinstein "suddenly jumped on me" in his hotel room, also recalled how she had seen him "hitting on" other young women and trying to convince them to sleep with him at parties.
Lea Seydoux: "It's unbelievable that he's been able to act like this for decades"
"Everyone could see what he was doing," she wrote. "That's the most disgusting thing. Everyone knew what Harvey was up to and no one did anything.
"It's unbelievable that he's been able to act like this for decades and still keep his career. That's only possible because he has a huge amount of power."
Weinstein has denied any non-consensual sexual contact with any women.
But allegations of improper behaviour were common knowledge among some who worked for him, according to the New York Times.
When the paper broke the story, it reported that dozens of his former and current employees, from assistants to top executives, "said they knew of inappropriate conduct while they worked for him".
"It wasn't a secret to the inner circle," Kathy DeClesis, a former assistant to Weinstein's brother and business partner Bob, told the paper.
One of the common themes of the accounts that have emerged is that Weinstein employees would set up meetings with young women and often accompany them to hotel rooms before disappearing and leaving the women and the producer alone.
Harvey Weinstein on the red carpet in 2012
The New York Times related how a young female employee quit after complaining of being forced to arrange what she believed to be assignations for him. She said she couldn't comment because she had signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Many people have suggested such employees could have gone public. But Weinstein was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and his domineering persona - aside from any sexual harassment - was legendary.
In a memo quoted by the paper, another former employee, Lauren O'Connor, described the experiences of women at the company, including herself. She wrote: "The balance of power is me: 0, Harvey Weinstein: 10."
What about those in Hollywood and New York beyond Weinstein's own companies? Stories of his sexual advances spread among actors, agents and others in the film industry.
Alison Owen didn't know her own sister-in-law had been preyed upon
Many celebrities who have commented in recent days have said they didn't know what was going on, even if they knew he had a sleazy reputation.
Oscar-nominated actress Annette Bening told BBC Radio 4's Front Row she knew he was "boorish" - but wasn't aware of what went on behind closed doors.
British producer Alison Owen, who has worked on films like Saving Mr Banks and Suffragette, told BBC News his behaviour was "an open secret".
"Everyone had heard the stories about Harvey," she said. "If you were in the film industry, there was no way you could not have heard those stories about Harvey.
"I never heard a story from the horse's mouth. But there were always stories about, 'Oh an actress told me', or 'Someone working at Harvey's company told me', or 'Did you hear about that intern who worked for Harvey?'
"So they were always second-hand but they were many and multifarious."
Such was the level of chatter that Owen said she wouldn't let young women meet Weinstein alone. Those who were preyed upon had nowhere to turn, she says.
"If you had been an actress and Harvey had groped your breasts while you were supposed to be auditioning for him, what are you going to do?
"You're not going to go to the police. They're not going to take that seriously. You're not going to call a journalist because at that point Harvey had the whole media world in his pocket and no-one was going to go up against Harvey Weinstein.
"There was only a downside to reporting it... Harvey's going to destroy your career."
Weinstein with his estranged wife Georgina Chapman in 2015
Owen's sister-in-law Laura Madden worked for Weinstein - but never told Owen about his overtures towards her. The producer only found out about them when she read the New York Times.
"Such is the strength of shame, I think," Owen told BBC Radio 4's PM. "That's another reason people don't come out."
The revelations have surfaced now, Owen believes, because "the prevailing culture has changed".
"The winds have shifted to the opposite direction [and] people have now been prepared to go on record."
But shouldn't the media have reported the allegations before?
A string of journalists have said in recent days that they tried. But the difficulties of persuading his accusers to go on the record, coupled with the force of Weinstein's legal threats, meant none were able to publish.
Sharon Waxman, a former New York Times reporter who went on to set up film site The Wrap, told BBC Newsnight how she chased the story in 2004 and tracked down a woman who had reached a settlement with Weinstein.
"I did manage to meet with the woman who had taken a payoff in London, but she literally wouldn't say anything," Waxman said.
"She actually just met with me and didn't speak. A very frustrating conversation. She was terrified that she was violating her non-disclosure."
If they wanted to publish, media outlets had to ensure their stories were watertight in case Weinstein sued.
"Any negative story that was going to be printed about him, he would go full-on aggressive," Waxman recalled.
"Any card he could play, any tool he could use to get that story not to appear in print… I was told that he had visited the newsroom personally to speak to my superiors. I don't know what he said. I don't know what threats were issued."
Others tried to pursue Weinstein too. The Hollywood Reporter editor-at-large Kim Masters and New York Times media columnist David Carr came close to finalising stories - but their sources backed out at the last minute, The New York Times said.
Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman, who helped uncover sexual harassment by late Fox News boss Roger Ailes, said one crucial piece of evidence in the New York Times story was the internal memo in which Lauren O'Connor raised concerns against Weinstein.
"That piece of printed material became one of the foundations of the New York Times report," he told BBC Radio 4's Media Show.
Rebecca Traister wrote on New York magazine's The Cut website that she first heard the allegations in 2000 - but that Weinstein "could spin - or suppress - anything".
She continued: "For decades, the reporters who tried to tell the story of Harvey Weinstein butted up against the same wall of sheer force and immovable power that was leveraged against those ambitious actors, the vulnerable assistants, the executives whose careers, salaries, and reputations were in his hands."
So for years, people who did know could only talk in whispers or, like Seth MacFarlane, under the guise of jokes that were funny only because they rang true.
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Battles ahead for EU bill - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The government's EU repeal bill faces a tough passage through Parliament.
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Parliaments
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They seek it here, they seek it there - but the centrepiece of the government's Brexit legislation, the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, seems to have gone into hiding.
Most Westminster observers expected the Commons to embark on eight days of detailed debate, in Committee of the Whole House, pretty much as soon as their conference recess was over.
Eyebrows were raised when it was not on this week's agenda - and they shot skywards when it was not put on the agenda for next week.
It is not a postponement, because the committee stage has never been scheduled, but something seems to be afoot.
What might it be? Challenged in Commons business questions by the SNP's Pete Wishart, Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom noted that MPs had proposed more than 300 amendments and 54 new clauses to the Bill and these were being studied by ministers.
And there is little doubt that some of these pose a real threat to the government's tenuous Commons majority.
The threat-in-chief is posed by amendments from the Conservative former attorney general, Dominic Grieve, to limit ministers' powers to re-write the law in the process of enacting Brexit.
Remember, this Bill is designed to allow the government to reprocess four decades of accumulated EU law into British law, so that the UK has functional legislation on all kinds of crucial areas, come Brexit Day.
The powers are pretty sweeping, because the Bill provides a toolkit to build an edifice which has not yet been designed - and Mr Grieve's amendments express the qualms of some MPs (including those of many strong Brexiteers) about their extent. He is the man most likely to amend.
I suspect the government is already whispering to him, behind the scenes, to produce an appropriate compromise, probably with the helpful endorsement of the Commons Procedure Select Committee behind it.
Was that the PM's bag-carrier, Seema Kennedy, I spotted in the public galler, when Mr Grieve set out his stall in evidence to the Procedure Committee on Wednesday?
If ministers can craft a compromise amendment, via ProcCom, face can be saved and division averted.
But with plenty more amendments still raining down, Mr Grieve is not the only threat. A recent addition is an amendment co-signed by the Nottinghamshire axis of Conservative ex-chancellor Ken Clarke and Labour's arch-Europhile, Chris Leslie.
This is a cunning production which takes the PM's commitment to a transition from full EU membership to Brexit, made in her Florence speech, and seeks to put it on the face of the Bill.
It follows her words precisely. But the killer point is that, if there's no transition, then a fresh act would be required to trigger Brexit day. In other words, if no transition, then they must come back and ask Parliament "what next?"
Now the government is not legislating against the clock as it was on the Article 50 Bill, when it was racing to get the measure through Commons and Lords before the end of the last Parliamentary year.
But its schedule is clearly slipping a little.
Next week is to be devoted to a little humdrum legislation, an opposition day debate and backbench business - that leaves seven debating weeks before Parliament embarks on its Christmas recess.
Take out one week to debate the Budget, and another for the November mini-half term (when a lot of select committee visits have been scheduled) and you have six weeks in which to cram the promised eight committee stage days devoted to the Bill, and the minimum of two days needed for report stage and third reading. Not impossible - but it does make for a packed Parliamentary programme, with little room for anything else.
There is rising speculation that the continuing delay in getting going reflects ministerial indecision about how to handle the amendments to the Bill - although another theory is that the government is waiting until next week's European summit is done, in the hope that it can firm up the terms of a possible transitional arrangement.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-parliaments-41607238
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Formula One teams' costs rocket after rules changes - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Formula One teams' costs have soared after rules changes designed to make for closer competition.
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Business
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Next weekend Britain's Lewis Hamilton could secure his fourth Formula One title at the United States Grand Prix.
His Mercedes team is a staggering 145 points ahead of arch-rivals Ferrari despite the sport introducing rules this year which aimed to put the brakes on the dominance of a single outfit. They came at a hefty cost.
The new regulations were designed to make for closer racing by increasing aerodynamic and mechanical grip through the introduction of wider tyres and wings.
According to one of the teams it has "rewritten" the rulebook and the impact is just as noticeable off track as on it.
But if some had hoped the rules might stop Mercedes from running away with the F1 championship they will have been disappointed. Ironically, they have also forced up its rivals' costs.
Only the frontrunners have had the resources to foot the bill from their cashflow whilst one of the outfits lower down the grid even had to get a driver to cover the cost.
Research has revealed that new regulations fuelled a £167.6m increase in the F1 teams' costs in 2016. They rose 14.5% to hit a combined £1.3bn - the highest-ever total recorded in the sport.
F1 cars are designed the year before they race so the bulk of the investment in them is paid for then, too. It means that the cost of this year's campaign is reflected in the teams' 2016 accounts and the final one of them was filed last week.
Eight of F1's ten teams have to file publicly-available accounts - the only exceptions are Ferrari as its outfit is run by the car manufacturer itself, and Swiss-based Sauber where firms don't have to release their finances.
The costs of the teams' operating companies came to an average of £165.9m in 2016, topped by Northamptonshire-based Mercedes which spent £274.9m excluding the investment in its engines.
It is the highest ever total recorded on the accounts of a British F1 team and even eclipses the turbocharged spending levels before the 2008 economic crash which drove Toyota and Honda out of the sport.
At the other end of the spectrum is last year's new entrant Haas F1 which spent a third as much as the championship leaders.
Haas has managed to keep its costs down by taking advantage of a new rule allowing teams to buy in more parts than before. Haas uses a Ferrari engine with a chassis created by Italian manufacturer Dallara which also makes the cars for the F2 junior series.
Relying on suppliers reduces research and development expenditure which, along with staffing and engine costs, is one of their biggest costs - it rose across the board in 2016 as teams had to design cars to meet the new regulations.
They were introduced by F1's governing body the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) to address criticism that the outcome of races was clear before they started due to the dominance of Mercedes.
Haas has kept costs down by buying in more parts than before
With Hamilton at the wheel it has won both the constructors' and the drivers' championship for the past three years running. This year is set to be no different but there has been a far higher price to pay.
Writing in the introduction to its accounts Mercedes' team boss Toto Wolff notes that there has been "an increase of £27.9m in operating costs mainly due to the impact of technical regulation changes and movement in foreign exchange rates".
The 2016 accounts for Force India, also based in Northamptonshire, give more insight into the effort required to meet the new rules.
It says that combined with the change in tyre-sizes "our traditional method of retaining 50% of the previous season's car and updating the remaining 50% is not possible for 2017". Over 90% of Force India's car this year is completely new.
Force India has helped cover its increased costs with cash from driver Nikita Mazepin
The team planned to cover its increased costs with income from an unlikely source: a driver contract signed with Russian youngster, Nikita Mazepin, "secured a cash injection ahead of significant regulation changes ahead of the 2017 season", said Force India.
Mazepin was just 16 when he signed up last year and he has tested for the team twice since then, most recently in July after the Hungarian Grand Prix. He has ample resources to pay as his father Dmitry became a billionaire through owning the mineral fertiliser producer Uralchem.
Despite this, Force India still chalked up a net loss of £11.6m - the largest of any team in 2016.
The regulation changes even dented the bottom line of British manufacturing giant McLaren. Its went from a net £3.4m profit in 2015 to an after-tax loss of £3.2m the following year.
For F1 teams, victory on the track is more important than making a profit
Overall the teams made a combined net loss of £2m last year. Perhaps surprisingly this is nothing new as unlike most businesses, profit is not the barometer of success in F1.
Instead teams judge their performance on racing results and tend to spend all of their income on this in a bid for victory.
Some even pump in more than they make, with additional funds usually coming from owners' pockets or debt. The theory is that it is better to win and make no profit than make money and finish low in the standings.
Victory on track increases a team's ability to bring in more sponsorship,, as brands are prepared to pay more to be associated with a winner.
The teams' revenue generally comes from three sources with two providing the lion's share. They are fuelled by F1's huge television audience (390m viewers last year). The first key revenue source is sponsorship which comprises around a third of the teams' revenue,
Another third comes from prize money. F1's parent company, which is owned by American investment firm Liberty Media, pays the teams around 66% of its annual profits as prize money and it came to $985.5m (£742m) in 2016.
Despite numerous failed attempts there are new proposals to introduce a budget cap for F1 teams
Payments from owners represent around half of the teams' remaining revenue and the marketing benefit from the exposure on TV compensates for this investment.
If costs increase these payments often rise to compensate and last year Red Bull poured in four times more money into its flagship team. Its investment into Red Bull Racing hit £40.6m as costs surged 9.2% to £197m.
As its owner has deep pockets Red Bull Racing doesn't need to rely on drivers who pay but income from them is the remaining source of revenue for F1 teams. They are a hallmark of teams at the bottom of the grid but their days could be numbered.
Despite numerous failed attempts F1 hasn't given up on introducing a budget cap and recent reports suggest that Liberty Media will shortly present plans to the teams for introduction in 2021 when their current race contracts expire. But it will be the sport's governing body, the FIA, that will ultimately decide on any changes
A limit of £114m has been suggested and this would level the playing field as the smallest teams are already below this whilst the frontrunners would have to scale back.
Although it may seem like a logical direction for the sport to go in it would make the recent boost in spending seem all the more pointless.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41610963
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Review: Bruce Springsteen's 'intimate and personal' Broadway debut - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The singer starts a 16-week engagement in New York with a 'intimate and personal' show.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Springsteen's wife Patti Scialfa joins him on stage for two songs in the show
Bruce Springsteen is breaking box-office records with his one-man show, Springsteen on Broadway.
The rock star made $2.3m (£1.8m) in his first week of previews, behind only Hamilton and Hello, Dolly! - which both played more shows in the same period.
Mixing live music and storytelling, the show is set to run for 16 weeks, with The Boss taking up residence in the 960-seat Walter Kerr Theater.
"It's probably the smallest venue I've played in the last 40 years," he said.
The show officially opens on Thursday night - but the BBC's Elysa Gardner managed to catch one of the previews.
The star will play five performances a week until February 2018
Bruce Springsteen's first Broadway show is neither a musical nor a concert in the tradition of his previous solo tours.
Written and directed by The Boss, Springsteen On Broadway - which arrives roughly a year after his autobiography, Born To Run - is a meticulously crafted, deeply personal journey with set words and music, with the star alternately accompanying himself on guitar and piano.
But the two-hour program is also, in its distinctly intimate, sometimes darkly earnest fashion, an affirmation of the passionate showmanship and vivid storytelling that Springsteen's rock and roll shares with musical theatre.
As a songwriter, we're reminded, he's as much an inheritor to Rodgers and Hammerstein as any contemporary pop artist - an unabashed romantic with a probing social conscience, whose soaring tunes give full-throated voice to American dreams and the demons that haunt them.
The songs in Springsteen On Broadway are clearly chosen less to show off Springsteen's array of memorable characters (or hits, for that matter) than to acknowledge the people and events that shaped them.
Not surprisingly, more time and detail are devoted to his youth than his nearly 45 years as one of the most famous people on the planet.
"I come from a boardwalk town where everything is tinged with a bit of fraud," he announced at a preview before the official opening night, before tearing into his first number, the early classic Growin' Up. Two verses in, as if to underline the point, he paused to quip, "I've never held an honest job in my life... and yet that's all I've written about."
Such self-deprecating humour, which extends to tales of Springsteen's wayward youth and early career struggles, was offset by moving, lyrical tributes to his father, a depressive who sought refuge at the local bar, and his defiantly positive mother.
"She gave the world a lot more credit than it deserves," Springsteen observed, heading to the piano for an achingly tender The Wish.
The show concentrates on the foundations of Springsteen's career
Springsteen also played the rock and roll preacher, naturally, applying a shrewdly scaled-down version of the shamanistic intensity that has whipped packed stadiums into frenzies. The script used winking but seductive repetition, with playful references to the pleasures of the flesh, as well as the general promises of youth - captured in exhilarating readings of Thunder Road and The Promised Land.
As the show progressed, though, the emphasis shifted to more mature concerns and rewards. It's here that Springsteen's ability to open his heart and transcend sentimentality - as the most affecting rock and musical theatre artists almost invariably do - came to the fore. Back at the piano for a muscular Tenth Avenue Freezeout, he held forth without reserve about late E Street Band sax hero Clarence Clemons.
Joined by wife and fellow E Street member Patti Scialfa for two songs, he chose to wrap with Brilliant Disguise, an account of the frailty of love, written while Springsteen was married to another woman, made all the more poignant by a couple that has survived it.
Politics did not go entirely unmentioned; after noting that folk don't like rock stars advising them on such matters, Springsteen made reference to "the mess we're in" - embellishing that observation with a colourful adjective, but avoiding the T-word.
Nodding to an era when his lyrics were twisted by another president, Springsteen introduced Born in the USA with blistering, Eastern-flavoured chords (the show's most flamboyant demonstration of his guitar virtuosity), then sang the first lines a cappella, his voice raw and weary.
But that's plainly not the USA Springsteen chooses to see, or represent. One of the evening's most rousing numbers was The Rising, an account of courage, sacrifice and, yes, transcendence that was the title track of an album Springsteen released less than a year after 9/11. Its hero and narrator is a firefighter working that day, facing the abyss but also looking beyond it.
It's an image that, 16 years later, carried a fresh sense of urgency. Springsteen spoke of finding "beauty and power" in American stories, a goal that has found him consistently defying jingoism, and prodding us to keep dancing in the dark, while reaching for the light.
The star was joined by his wife and bandmate Patti Scialfa at the preview show
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Ipswich Town Football Club raiders had food fight - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The intruders stole giant plasma television screens from inside Ipswich Town's ground, police say.
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Suffolk
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Ipswich Town Football Club's Portman Road ground was broken into twice
Thieves who broke into a football stadium and stole giant TVs raided fridges to stage a food fight with frozen cheesecakes.
Police said the break-ins at Ipswich Town Football Club's Portman Road ground took place overnight on Saturday and in the early hours of Wednesday.
During the first raid, the intruders partied on wine and food, the BBC understands.
A club spokesman said they have increased the stadium's security.
It is understood the thieves got into hospitality boxes - one next to chairman Marcus Evans' personal box - and helped themselves to "expensive vintage" wine and food.
They then took the lift down to the kitchens beneath the stands to raid the fridges.
The football club said it has increased its security following the two break-ins
The same gang of at least four people carried out the raids on both occasions, it is understood.
Suffolk Police said officers were called to the ground at 07:50 BST on Sunday and at 06:00 on Wednesday.
A number of plasma television information screens from public areas around the ground were stolen on the gang's second visit, it is understood.
Police said no arrests have been made and inquiries are ongoing.
An Ipswich Town spokesperson said: "We can confirm there have been two incidents over the last week of intrusion at the stadium.
"The police are aware and are investigating. We have increased our security as a matter of course."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-41609231
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Brexit talks doomed? Not so fast... - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Michel Barnier used dramatic language but it's too soon to think it means that the whole process is doomed.
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UK Politics
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"Deadlock!". "L'impasse". "Quelle Horreur". You can hear the cries from across the Channel, and the cages of the City rattling in fear, as Michel Barnier's language took a dramatic turn at this morning's press conference, painting the Brexit talks as at a brick wall.
True, not even Brexit's biggest cheerleader could claim the discussions in Brussels have been going well. And there are visible frustrations on both sides.
But before claiming this morning's drama means the whole thing is doomed there are a few things worth remembering.
At the very start of this whole process, the hope was that in October, the EU would agree to move on to the next phase of the talks, to talk about our future relationship. But for months it has been clear that the chances of that were essentially zero.
It is not, therefore, a surprise to hear Mr Barnier saying right now, he doesn't feel able to press the button on phase 2, however much he enjoyed the drama of saying so today.
Second, behind the scenes, although it has been slow, there has been some progress in the talks but officials in some areas have reached the end of the line until their political masters give them permission to move on.
Forgive what comes next as nerdy detail, but it hopefully helps make this clear.
For example, the UK side is unwilling to move on to talking in more detail about the money, until the EU side is willing to talk about transition (the idea is, until we know what we might get in future, whether access to certain agencies, or EU programmes, how can we assess what we might be prepared to pay).
Mr Barnier is understood to have asked the EU 27 last Friday if he can start exploring transition for that reason, but Germany is resisting. So in this area, it is a possible, and would be a positive outcome for the UK, if at next week's political summit, Barnier asks the 27 for formal permission to talk transition.
It would not be as big a step as moving on to phase 2, but it is the next political decision that could ease the deadlock in this area. And there was a clue from Mr Barnier in his remarks this morning that this is what he will continue to pursue.
And third, if you had been writing the script of these negotiations before they even began, there's no question that at some point in the plot, there would have been a declaration of digging in, a cry that it's all impossible, it is almost the end of the road, all is lost!
Then, at the last moment in a late night summit, emerges the one side of A4 in the clammy hand of an official. On it, not many details, but a few lines that sketch out agreement, show some progress. Finally, the heroic politicians have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat! (Leaving officials in a quiet way to work out the boring details for the next ten years)
That is not to say for a second that all is well or indeed to minimise the real and possibly very serious consequences of the talks genuinely breaking down.
And whether it is all pantomime or real politics, the remarks will of course stir the pot in Westminster too, likely adding to the drum beat among some Brexiteers that a swifter exit with no deal is better than this drawn out agony - and Remainers' deep anxiety and uncertainty for business about whether a deal can really be done.
But both on the UK side and the EU side, to translate this morning's remarks into certain Armageddon for the deal would be to misunderstand.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41598453
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Security guard in Tesco Extra Reading roof protest - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Adama Jammeh, who says he was falsely accused of stealing, tells the BBC "I'm still surviving up here".
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Berkshire
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Adama Jammeh told the BBC "every day I'm more angry"
A security guard who claims he was sacked from Tesco after being wrongly accused of stealing has spent the night in the supermarket's roof space.
Adama Jammeh has been on the girders above the checkouts in Tesco Extra, Reading, for more than 20 hours, live-streaming on Facebook.
Shoppers were told to abandon their trolleys and leave the store as he climbed to the roof yelling.
Mr Jammeh told the BBC he was "stressed and angry".
Tesco said it was "assisting police with the matter".
The 46-year-old said he was falsely accused of stealing electrical goods worth £20,000 by the supermarket chain, which led to his sacking by security firm Total Security Services (TSS).
The father-of-two has spent the past six months staging a one-man protest outside the Portman Road store with banners.
Mr Jammeh, originally from Gambia, started the roof protest just after 18:00 BST on Thursday and says he has not slept and barely eaten.
"I'm stressed and angry but I'm still surviving up here," he said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Jammeh's wife Dawn said her husband "could be up there for days"
"I've been protesting my innocence for six complete months and nothing has been done about it, they [Tesco] have ignored me.
"Every day I'm more angry. I'm only alive when I come out here to Tesco protesting my innocence.
"So yesterday I decided it was the last straw for me."
Mr Jammeh said he would only come down if Tesco bosses apologise and "pay lost earnings".
In one of his videos on Facebook, he apologised to shoppers.
"Sorry for some of you that are supposed to come here shopping in this store," he said. "It's inconvenient, sorry for that people but it's something I have to do."
Mr Jammeh apologised to shoppers in one of his Facebook videos
His wife of 18 years, Dawn, is outside the supermarket supporting him.
She told BBC Berkshire reporter Nick Johnson "he will not be coming down willingly" and they are prepared to "accept the consequences".
"He's been wrongfully accused of stealing," she said. "Tesco accused him, told his workplace and his workplace sacked him straight away.
"Police went through CCTV which took them 10 months to go through and said he was an innocent man and that it was somebody else.
"He's had no apology off Tesco, no apology off TSS, and this is why he's protesting now."
Mr Jammeh began streaming his protest online at about 18:15 BST on Thursday
The store's management team is also outside but refusing to comment.
A Tesco spokesperson said they have nothing further to add.
A TSS spokesperson said: "We are aware of the incident involving a former employee of Total Security Services and are assisting the police and Tesco in this matter."
Thames Valley Police is yet to respond to claims of Mr Jammeh's innocence.
Tesco said it was helping police with the matter
The security guard has banners outside the supermarket
The Tesco Extra West store was evacuated just after 18:00 BST on Thursday after the police received reports concerning the "welfare of a man".
Tesco said the company was still establishing the circumstances of the incident but believed the man had not been directly employed by Tesco but was a member of security staff.
A statement said: "We're aware of an incident at our Reading West Extra store and are assisting police with the matter."
Thames Valley Police said officers were called to reports of a "fear for welfare of a man"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-41600332
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How do you build the next-generation internet? - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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What will it take to build the ultra-fast internet of the future?
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Science & Environment
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Scientists are now developing an ultra-fast quantum internet that will be partly based on light
Imagine super-fast computers that can solve problems much quicker than machines today. These "quantum computers" are being developed in laboratories around the world. But scientists have already taken the next step, and are thinking about a light-based quantum internet that will have to be just as fast.
It's not easy to develop technology for a device that hasn't technically been invented yet, but quantum communications is an attractive field of research because the technology will enable us to send messages that are much more secure.
There are several problems that will need to be solved in order to make a quantum internet possible:
A quantum computer is a machine that is able to crack very tough computation problems with incredible speed - beyond that of today's "classical" computers.
In conventional computers, the unit of information is called a "bit" and can have a value of either 1 or 0. But its equivalent in a quantum system - the qubit (quantum bit) - can be both 1 and 0 at the same time. This phenomenon opens the door for multiple calculations to be performed simultaneously.
However, qubits need to be synchronised using a quantum effect known as entanglement, which Albert Einstein termed "spooky action at a distance".
There are four types of quantum computers currently being developed, which use:
Quantum computers will enable a multitude of useful applications, such as being able to model many variations of a chemical reaction to discover new medications; developing new imaging technologies for healthcare to better detect problems in the body; or to speed up how we design batteries, new materials and flexible electronics.
Quantum computers might be more powerful than classical computers, but some applications will require even more computing power than one quantum computer can provide on its own.
If you can get quantum devices to talk to each other, then you could connect several quantum computers together and pool their power to form one huge quantum computer.
However, since there are four different types of quantum computers being built today, they won't be all be able to talk to each other without some help.
Some scientists favour a quantum internet based entirely on light particles (photons), while others believe that it would be easier to make quantum networks where light interacts with matter.
"Light is better for communications, but matter qubits are better for processing," Joseph Fitzsimons, a principal investigator at the National University of Singapore's Centre of Quantum Technologies tells the BBC.
"You need both to make the network work to establish error correction of the signal, but it can be difficult to make them interact."
It is very expensive and difficult to store all information in photons, Mr Fitzsimons says, because photons can't see each other and pass straight by, rather than bouncing off each other. Instead, he believes it would be easier to use light for communications, while storing information using electrons or atoms (in matter).
Quantum encryption will make communications much more secure
One of the key applications of the quantum internet will be quantum key distribution (QKD), whereby a secret key is generated using a pair of entangled photons, and is then used to encrypt information in a way that is impossible for a quantum computer to crack.
This technology already exists, and was first demonstrated in space by a team of researchers from the National University of Singapore and the University of Strathclyde, UK, in December 2015.
But it's not just the encryption that we will need to build in order to secure our information in the quantum future.
Scientists are also working on "blind quantum computer protocols", because they allow the user to hide anything they want on a computer.
"You can write something, send it to a remote computer and the person who owns the computer can't tell anything about it at all except how long it took to run and how much memory it used," says Mr Fitzsimons.
"This is important because there likely won't be many quantum computers when they first appear, so people will want to remotely run programs on them, the way we do today in the cloud."
There are two different approaches to building quantum networks - a land-based network and a space-based network.
Both methods work well for sending regular bits of data across the internet today, but if we want to send data as qubits in the future, it is much more complicated.
To send particles of light (photons), we can use fibre optic cables in the ground. However, the light signal deteriorates over long distances (a phenomenon known as "decoherence"), because fibre optics cables sometimes absorb photons.
It is possible to get around this by building "repeater stations" every 50km. These would essentially be miniature quantum laboratories that would try to repair the signal before sending it on to the next node in the network. But this system would come with its own complexities.
Artwork: a ground station beams a message contained in a light signal up to the Micius satellite
Then there are space-based networks. Let's say you want to send a message from the UK to a friend in Australia. The light signal is beamed up from a ground station in the UK, to a satellite with a light source mounted on it.
The satellite sends the light signal to another satellite, which then beams the signal down to a ground station in Australia, and then the message can be transmitted over a ground-based quantum network or classical internet network to the other party.
"Because there's no air between the satellites, there's nothing to degrade the signal," says Dr Jamie Vicary, a senior research fellow at Oxford University's department of computer science and a member of the Networked Quantum Information Technologies Hub (NQIT).
"If we want to have a really global-scale quantum internet, it looks like a space-based solution is the only way that will work, but it's the most expensive."
Quantum teleportation via space has been conducted successfully, and scientists are currently vying to demonstrate longer and longer distances.
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences generated headlines in June when they succeeded in teleporting entangled photons between two towns in China located 1,200km apart. They used a specially developed quantum satellite called Micius.
The same Chinese scientists recently topped their own record on 29 September, by demonstrating the world's first intercontinental video call protected by a quantum key with researchers at the Austrian Academy of Sciences - over a distance of 7,700km.
The call lasted for 20 minutes and the parties were able to exchange encrypted pictures of the Micius satellite and Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger.
Rupert Ursin, senior group leader at the Austrian Academy of Sciences' Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information believes the quantum internet will need land-based and space-based networks to operate in parallel.
"In the cities, we need a fibre network, but long haul connections will be covered by satellite links," he explains.
The video call between Austrian and Chinese scientists on 29 September 2017
To understand how QKD works, let's go back to the video call made between the Austrian and Chinese scientists. The Micius satellite used its light source to establish optical links with the ground stations in Austria and the ground stations in China.
It was then able to generate a quantum key.
The great thing about quantum encryption is you can detect whether someone has tried to intercept the message before it got to you, and how many people tried to access it.
Micius was able to tell that the encryption was secure and no one was eavesdropping on the video call. It then gave the go ahead to encrypt the data using the secret key and transmit it over a public internet channel.
Multiple groups of scientists are developing land-based networks by working on the technologies for quantum repeater stations, which are located every 50km, connected by fibre optic cables.
These repeater stations, also known as "quantum network nodes", will need to perform several actions in order to route, or direct, messages around the network.
First, each node needs to repair and boost the signal that was damaged from the previous 50km stretch of the network.
Imagine that you're using an old fax machine to send a one-page document to someone else, and each time you send the page, a different part of the message is missing, and the other party has to piece the message together from all the failed attempts.
This is similar to how a single message may have to be sent between different nodes on a quantum network.
Fibre optic cables will be used for land-based quantum networks
There will be many people on the network, all trying to talk to each other. So the node, or repeater station, will also have to figure out how to distribute its available computing power in order to piece together all the messages being sent. It will also have to send messages between the quantum internet and the classical internet.
The University of Delft is building a quantum network using nitrogen vacancies in diamonds, and it has so far shown the ability to store and distribute the links needed for quantum communications over quite large distances.
The University of Oxford and the University of Maryland are both currently building quantum computers that work in a similar way to a network. Their quantum computers consist of trapped ion nodes that have been networked together to talk to each other.
The bigger the computer you want, the more nodes you have to add, but this type of quantum computer only transmits data over a short distance.
"We want to make them small so they can be well-protected from decoherence, but if they're small then they can't hold many qubits," says Dr Vicary.
"If we connect the nodes up in a network, then we can still have a quantum computer without being limited by the number of qubits, while still protecting the nodes."
The repeater station will also need to have a quantum memory chip. The nodes create "links", which consist of entangled pairs of light particles. These entangled pairs are prepared in advance.
While the node calculates the route across the network that the message will need to take, it needs to store the entangled pair of photons somewhere safe, so a quantum memory chip is needed. It has to be able to store the photons for as long as possible.
Dr Rose Ahlefeldt and associate professor Matthew Sellars operate a high-resolution dye laser to study rare earth crystals at ANU
Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) have developed a telecom-compatible quantum memory chip using an erbium-doped crystal. This device is able to store light in the right colour and it is able to do so for longer than one second, which is 10,000 times longer than all other attempts so far.
"The biggest challenge is now to demonstrate a quantum memory with a large data storage capacity," associate professor Matthew Sellars, program manager in the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T) at ANU tells the BBC.
"It will be the memory's storage capacity that will limit the data transmission rate through the network.
"I think it will take about five years before the technology [for the quantum internet] is practical."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41570933
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Private parking tickets woman declared bankrupt - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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She was ordered by a sheriff to pay £24,500 after repeatedly ignoring hundreds of tickets.
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Tayside and Central Scotland
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Carly Mackie had ignored hundreds of private parking notices
A Dundee woman ordered to pay a private parking company £24,500 in unpaid charges has been declared bankrupt.
Carly Mackie had ignored hundreds of parking tickets for leaving her car at Dundee's Waterfront without a permit.
Ms Mackie, 29, who now lives in Paisley, has debts of £37,546 according to Scotland's insolvency service Accountant in Bankruptcy.
Vehicle Control Services (VCS) took her to court last year after she failed to pay £18,500 in private parking notices.
Ms Mackie said that she had a right to park in the area as she was living there at the time and that the charges were unenforceable.
Sheriff George Way said the charges were from a "valid contract" and she was liable for them.
In a written judgement, the sheriff said Ms Mackie had "entirely misdirected herself" on both the law and "the contractual chain" in the case.
He said: "The parking charges flow from a valid contract between the pursuers and the defender and she is liable for them."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-41608064
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Where are all the women in economics? - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Just 13% of US academic economists are women - and only one has won the Nobel Prize in economics. Why are women so under-represented in the profession?
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Business
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We hear a lot about the under-representation of women in so-called STEM fields - science, technology, engineering and maths.
But the proportion of women in economics is by some measures smaller.
In the US, only about 13% of academic economists in permanent posts are women; in the UK the proportion is only slightly better at 15.5%.
Only one woman has ever won the Nobel Prize in economics - American Elinor Ostrom in 2009.
And there wasn't even a single woman on some of the lists floating about guessing who this year's prize winner would be - it went to the behavioural economist Richard Thaler.
Some have argued that these figures aren't necessarily the result of bias.
Maybe, they say, women are simply behaving rationally and choosing different disciplines that are perhaps more suited to their temperament and skills, or choosing to work in different but related fields.
But Cambridge University economics lecturer Victoria Bateman says that can't really explain all of the gap.
"I think that that way of thinking about the problem is completely false," says Dr Bateman, who is a fellow at Cambridge's Gonville & Caius college.
"But I think [it] helps explain why economists have for too long hushed up this problem.
"Because if economists' models are suggesting that sexism doesn't exist, that it's all a result of people's free choices and... their personal characteristics, then you deny the fact there is a problem."
In fact, there is a growing body of research suggesting that there are some biases - overt and subconscious - that might be contributing to the lack of women in academic economic departments.
The proportion of women choosing to study economics at the undergraduate level in the UK has declined over the last decade.
A study published by University of California, Berkeley's Alice Wu made waves earlier this year.
Using natural language processing, Wu analyzed over one million posts on a website called EconJobRumors.com, which is a sort of online forum where academic economists discuss job openings and candidates.
Like many places on the internet, the conversations aren't particularly pretty or politically correct.
Wu found that when posters on the site discussed female economists, they used starkly different terms than those that were used to discuss male economists.
Many of those words are incredibly offensive. Posters tended to discuss a woman's physical appearance (hot and hottie were in the top ten) whereas those terms used with men tended to emphasise their intellectual ability (Wharton and Austrian - for the school of economic thinking - were in the top terms for men).
The paper caused a lot of debate within the economic community - with many saying that what people say on the internet isn't necessarily an indication of how they truly think.
University of Bristol professor Sarah Smith says: "I think it's an extreme view. I don't think it's a representation of everyone in the profession."
But, she adds: "I don't think it's surprising when you tie it up with looking at the proportion of women at different levels."
Prof Smith - who is also the chair of the Royal Economic Society's Women's Committee - cites other evidence that suggested a bias against women in the economics profession, such as a paper published by Harvard researcher Heather Sarsons.
Heather Sarsons found that women's contributions to co-authored papers tended to be undervalued
That paper found that an additional co-authored paper on an economist's resume correlates to an 8% increase in the probability of a male economist getting a tenured post - but only a 2% increase for female candidates.
Interestingly, the gap decreased if women co-authored papers with other women.
Ms Sarsons wrote in the paper: "While solo-authored papers send a clear signal about one's ability, co-authored papers do not provide specific information about each contributor's skills. I find that women incur a penalty when they co-author that men do not experience."
Her paper, she added in a footnote, was intentionally single-authored.
There are more studies - ones that suggest that female economists' papers take six months longer to peer review in top journals than their male counterparts; that when women get tenured faculty jobs in economics, they get paid less; and that even if a woman makes it to the front of a lecture hall - there might be no men listening to them.
Victoria Bateman organised a Women in Economics day at Cambridge in 2015 to encourage more young women to enter the field.
"There was a very interesting and quick bit of number crunching that was done by the Centre for Global Development which has headquarters in both Washington and London," says Cambridge's Dr Bateman.
"When they looked at male attendance at the seminars that they run they found that it fell off quite dramatically whenever gender was mentioned in the seminar topic."
Dr Bateman says the fact that there are so few women at the top has meant that many young women can't view themselves in those positions. She notes that in the early 2000s the proportion of women studying economics in British universities was around 30%.
It's down to just 26% today.
That women aren't even choosing to enter the discipline really surprised me. So I went to Cambridge to speak to some of the current undergraduates in economics.
Paulin Nusser says she noticed that there were very few women teaching her economics courses.
I met Paulin Nusser, a final year economics, student at the University Centre on a busy Sunday. I asked her what her experience studying economics had been like.
"When I think back to my lectures last year for instance out of the 11 lecturers and supervisors I had throughout the year that are based in the faculty - just one was a woman," she says.
This is why she says it can sometimes be hard to imagine a career in academic economics, even though she hopes to pursue it at postgraduate level.
"Representation is just something that does affect me because I am subconsciously looking for role models or someone where I can say you know, 'oh that could be me standing up there teaching this lecture'."
Clara Starrsjo, a second-year student says she notices that her male and female classmates approach economics problems differently - which often leads to better, more comprehensive answers.
This is why she's become passionate about increasing the number of women who study economics - including meeting with potential female economics students at a Women in Economics day each autumn.
I ask her why she tells these women they should enter the field - even if the odds may seem stacked against them.
"For the moment economists have only looked at the world around them through male eyes and this only provides us with half the story," she says she tells them.
"And with only half the story how can we get results that will help the whole population?"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41571333
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Security guard's Tesco Reading roof protest ends after 21 hours - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Sacked guard receives a letter from Tesco saying he may have suffered "a significant injustice".
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Berkshire
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Adama Jammeh was led out of the store by police officers shortly before 15:00 BST
A sacked security guard's 21-hour protest in the roof space of a Tesco store has ended after he received a letter to review his dismissal.
Adama Jammeh climbed onto the girders above the checkouts in Tesco Extra, Reading, on Thursday evening.
In a series of Facebook videos, the 46-year-old said he was sacked after being wrongly accused of stealing.
In its letter, Tesco said evidence suggested Mr Jammeh may have suffered "a significant injustice".
The former guard was led out of the store by police shortly before 15:00 BST.
He was arrested on suspicion of public order offences, a Thames Valley Police spokesman said.
Mr Jammeh came down after his wife told him he had received a letter from Tesco
Shoppers had been told to abandon their trolleys and leave the store as Mr Jammeh climbed to the roof, with police confirming they had received reports concerning "the welfare of a man".
He claimed he was falsely accused of stealing electrical goods worth £20,000 by the supermarket chain, which led to his sacking by security firm Total Security Services (TSS).
The father-of-two has spent the past six months staging a one-man protest outside the Portman Road store with banners.
Mr Jammeh, originally from Gambia, said he had not slept and barely eaten since starting the protest at 18:00 on Thursday, and that he would only come down if Tesco issued an apology.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Adama Jammeh told the BBC "every day I'm more angry"
Mr Jammeh ended the protest after his wife told him he had received a letter from the supermarket saying the "circumstances of the situation" that led to his dismissal and protest would be "reviewed".
It added: "No formal proceedings involving yourself have been instigated which supports your view that you have been the subject of a significant injustice."
Mr Jammeh had earlier said he was "stressed and angry" and he was protesting because Tesco had "ignored" him.
A TSS spokesperson said it had been aware of the incident and had been assisting police and Tesco.
Thames Valley Police is yet to respond to claims of Mr Jammeh's innocence.
Mr Jammeh apologised to shoppers in one of his Facebook videos
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-41611688
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Linkin Park singer in posthumous Carpool Karaoke show - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Chester Bennington filmed the Carpool Karaoke episode six days before his death in July.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Chester Bennington (front right) in Apple Music's Carpool Karaoke days before his death in July
An episode of Carpool Karaoke starring Linkin Park - recorded less than a week before lead singer Chester Bennington killed himself - has been released.
The 23-minute episode is being streamed for free on Facebook with the permission of Bennington's family.
It was filmed for Apple Music on 14 July this year - six days before his body was found at a private home in LA County on 20 July.
The coroner ruled that Bennington, 41, had apparently hanged himself.
The episode sees Bennington, along with band mates Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn, driving around Los Angeles with US comedian Ken Jeong and singing along to their hits, including Numb, In The End and Talking To Myself.
Bennington was found hanged at a private home in LA on 20 July this year
It also sees a smiling Bennington join in with renditions of songs by Aerosmith, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The singer jokes with Jeong that the comedian should "join the band", saying: "Finally we have some leadership!"
He also revealed a love for Dungeons and Dragons, and that his trademark scream was created early on in the band's career.
"It's a funny thing," he said. "We were in the studio and working on a song and Mike was just like, 'Do you think you could scream this thing?' Then he was like, can you just do that all the time, forever, on every song?
At the start of the episode, a screen reads: "With the blessing of Chester's family and his bandmates, we share this episode and dedicate it to the memory of Chester."
Earlier this month, the band revealed they were back in rehearsals for the first time since Bennington's death.
This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by phoenixlp This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram 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.
Bass player Dave 'Phoenix' Farrell posted a picture on Instagram, adding: "Home from the #dunhilllinks and back to "work!" Good to be back with the guys."
The band were practising ahead of a special tribute gig to Bennington at LA's Hollywood Bowl on 27 October, where they will be joined by the likes of Blink 182 and Korn.
The full episode of Carpool Karaoke can be streamed on Linkin Park's Facebook page.
If you are affected by the topics in this article, the Samaritans can be contacted free on 116 123 (in the UK) or by email on jo@samaritans.org. If you are in the US, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41602010
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Fake holiday sickness couple from Wallasey jailed - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A judge warns other holidaymakers making bogus sickness compensation claims to expect jail terms.
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Liverpool
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The couple boasted about their holiday on social media
A "greedy" couple made "fake" holiday sickness compensation claims while boasting about holidays full of "sun, laughter and fun", a court heard.
Deborah Briton, 53, and partner Paul Roberts, 43, were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting fraud.
They tried to claim nearly £20,000 saying their two children fell ill on holidays to Majorca in 2015 and 2016.
Judge David Aubrey QC said there had been an "explosion" in gastric illness claims made by UK holidaymakers.
Briton, who was jailed for nine months, and Roberts, who received a 15-month term, bragged about their holidays on social media, the court heard.
The pair, from Wallasey, Wirral, both admitted four counts of fraud in the private prosecution, brought by holiday company Thomas Cook.
Family members, including Briton's daughter Charlene, who had initially been charged with two counts of fraud that were later dropped, shouted out in court as the couple were jailed
The court heard that had they succeeded, the couple would have also cost the holiday firm a further £28,000 in legal expenses.
Judge Aubrey said their claims had been a "complete and utter sham".
"They were bogus from start to finish, you were both asserting on your behalfs and on behalf of your two children that on two separate holidays you had suffered illness.
"They were totally and utterly fake."
He said the claims, made in August last year, must have required planning and premeditation.
He said: "Why? Pure greed. Seeking to get something for nothing."
The judge said those tempted to make a dishonest claim must "expect to receive an immediate custodial sentence" if convicted.
A Thomas Cook spokesman added "We had to take a stand to protect our holidays and our customers from the minority who cheat the system."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-41609527
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Bethnal Green sex assaults: Girl attacked three times in hour - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Police say the teenager, who was on her way home from a night out, may have been drugged.
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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. Police released CCTV of men they want to trace
A teenage girl was sexually assaulted by three different men within an hour as she walked home from a night out.
Police said the 17-year-old was attacked in Bethnal Green, east London, after becoming separated from friends.
They believe the girl, who was found "distressed" by a member of the public, may also have been drugged.
Images have been released of two men police want to speak to in connection with the attacks, which happened on the night of 29 and 30 September.
Police want to speak to a bearded man who was on a racing bike
The victim was spotted on camera shortly before midnight being carried by a man, who was wearing dark clothing, in Cambridge Heath Road.
The pair appeared to go into a doorway on the same road, and some of the girl's clothing was later found nearby.
Shortly after midnight, the girl was seen on CCTV stumbling down Mint Street, followed by another man on a racing bike who is described as having a beard and wearing a baseball cap backwards and a hooded zipped jacket.
She was then attacked for a second time.
Minutes later, detectives believe the girl suffered a third attack, possibly involving two or three men.
They say she was approached by a third man, who police describe as walking unevenly, "perhaps being slightly bow-legged".
The man with a beard was wearing a baseball cap backwards
Police say she was then found by a member of the public who saw her lying in Corfield Street in "a state of distress" and rang 999.
Det Insp Suzanne Jordan said: "This is a horrific multiple sexual assault on an young female who was simply making her way home after a night out.
"We would like to thank the members of the public who intervened to help her and possibly prevented her ordeal from continuing even further."
She urged anyone with information about the "hideous crimes" to contact them urgently.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41605935
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Baby loss: 'People sharing stories is the biggest comfort' - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Stillbirths are rarely spoken about. But insights from those who have navigated the heartbreaking experience can help parents come to terms with their grief.
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Magazine
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Stillbirth is rarely spoken about. But insights from those who have navigated the heartbreaking experience can help parents come to terms with their grief.
A new website, Stillbirth Stories, which collects detailed interviews with mothers, fathers and clinicians, has been launched to coincide with Baby Loss Awareness Week.
It aims to nurture a conversation about a once-taboo subject. Here are extracts of some of those stories.
"There was a cold cot that I could put Jannah in. She could stay overnight. And that was really lovely - it was special."
At 41 weeks, Rabia went into labour. But in hospital, she and David were told there was no heartbeat. Jannah was stillborn. The couple were able to stay with their baby for two days in the hospital's bereavement suite.
David recalls the time they spent together as a family:
"I was with her for two days in the hospital - they were absolutely amazing, what they did. They had their own bereavement suite, so you [could have] your own time with the baby.
I never let Jannah be on her own at any moment. I wanted someone always with her - even though I knew she had gone. But I always felt that she had the right to be loved for those days - to be hugged and kissed and whatever, and not left alone. Like a baby.
"The bereavement suite had a double bed, so I could stay as well. It was like us three sleeping together. It was quite nice to have her with us as part of our family. We spent a lot of quality time with her [there]. We talked to her, made lots of videos, lots of photography, and tried to keep as much memory of her as [we] could. I don't know if it's odd or not, but I looked at every little part of her, right down to between her toes.
"I've got somewhere I can go, and I know she's there. I can put flowers on her grave - but it's not the same."
Alexis was stillborn at term. It was 1963 and neither Marjorie nor her husband, Alex, were allowed to see, or hold, their baby. It would be another 50 years before they found out where she had been buried.
"I knew Alex had to go and register the baby. I must have said to him: 'What are they going to do with her?' And he just said: 'Well, you know, they're going to have her buried.' We went to the hospital at one point and asked where she was, and they just said that she had been buried somewhere in Stockport, in one of the cemeteries.
"I'd started to have more children, and it was, you know, one day we will find her. Until the day came that we did go and look for her.
"We went to the big crematorium in Stockport, and they sent us to the central library. They said everything was on microfilm, and we looked through it and we found two burials around the time Alexis would have been taken there. She was born on the 15th [of April], there was just this one buried on the 17th - a girl of 31. And underneath it said: "Stillborn". So I knew they'd put a stillborn in the grave. And that's when we went back to the cemetery. I saw a different lady, and she said: 'Oh did they not get the little book out for you? We have a little book for all the stillborn babies.' She brought it, and it was there, and she gave us a grave number."
Stillbirth Stories is a collection of honest interviews from parents and and those who have worked with them. Besides offering emotional support, the site is a learning resource for clinicians. The project is supported by Wellcome.
"We went to look for it, and couldn't find it. There was no stone, it was just grass. Eventually, I did ask if I could put something on [the grave]. They said: 'No. The grave belongs to somebody, it's registered to somebody. You can put flowers on, but no, you can't put anything else on.' So, for a while, I just bought something that you could stick in the grass and put flowers on. Then I got a bit angry about it. I've had a proper stone flowerpot with her name put on it.
"Over the other side [of the cemetery] is where all the babies are buried. And that haunts me - to think that she was just put in a grave with somebody that I don't know. I just hope and pray it never happens to anybody else, because it's one of the cruellest things you can do to a couple. I know I can go there and put flowers on for her, but it's not the same."
"I bathed him for the funeral, which you do in Muslim culture."
Mohammed was stillborn at 27 weeks gestation. Parents Shazia and Omar decided to bury their baby according to the Muslim faith. Shazia says the hospital midwife appreciated the need to have the body released for the funeral as quickly as possible, and helped with the process.
It was Omar who performed the Ghusl - or ritual bath - for the funeral.
"So it was just me and him, and a priest. That was the time, I guess, it was just us two.
"That was the toughest part of all of this for me. That's where, you know, you're sort of past the birth and it's the day of the burial, and the funeral. It's a duty that you need to do. At that time, I guess, religion sort of took on a different aspect for me.
"And it was this grief that actually cemented my religion a little bit: maturing and going through that experience, learning what you do when, when it's your responsibility for the funeral. That point where I was bathing him, was the point where I was close to totally breaking down. But I soldiered through - for want of a better phrase.
"Something that I'm proud of, is that me and Shazia made it through it, having seen some really, really low, low times, to where we are now."
At the time of interview Shazia and Omar had recently had their fourth child.
"I just want people to understand it's much more common than they think. There's like over 300 babies a month stillborn."
Guy was stillborn on 13 November 2015 at 25 weeks and five days, to parents Sam and Martin.
"We had a couple of close friends we'd told at the time [when Guy died]. I just physically couldn't even speak to get the words out to tell people.
"Once he was born, we just decided to use Facebook. We thought that is the quickest way to get the message out there and not have to speak to anybody really.
"I got such an overwhelming response from that. So many people messaged me privately to say that they'd had similar experiences; that they'd had losses, various stages, and that was - I want to say comforting, to know that there were other people out there. But I wondered why nobody had ever said anything. And even then, they were posting it privately to me and I thought, well, tell people.
"It was nice to know that they'd opened up and they'd gone on to have their own children, and were trying to put that little bit of hope out to us.
"People sharing their stories is the biggest help, the biggest comfort - because a lot of people will shy away from it.
"The thing about meeting people online, is that you don't know if they're who they say they are. But these were all genuine people sharing their stories. I ended up meeting a few [of them] at a memorial service. A couple of the girls that I was following were going, so we said we'd meet up there, just to put faces to the names, and the stories. Over the last few months, I've just found my own little group of friends
"I've put [Guy's] story out there quite a lot. I've done a lot of fundraising, mostly for Tommy's. Then we've done some for Aching Arms, because they're the charities we feel have helped us the most."
"We had like a little selection of little knitted dresses, little gowns that a woman had made via a charity"
Petal was born at 23 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy to Aimee and Marc. In the UK, the definition of 'stillborn' is a baby born with no signs of life at 24 or more weeks of gestation. Had Petal been born one day later she would have been legally 'stillborn'.
"Before I was induced, the bereavement midwife come round and she gave us a selection of clothes that Petal could have to wear. She was too small for babygros and things. We'd bought blankets and dolls and things for her [the day before], but none of the clothes would fit her. We had a selection of little knitted dresses, little gowns that a woman had made via a charity. It was really personal to be able to pick something for Petal to wear. So, when I delivered her, Marc bathed her and then dressed her in a little purple, pink gown, with a little hat and gloves.
"It was precious. It's all we have of her. That's the memory that I have of her that feels real - that she was really here.
"She was classed as a late miscarriage instead of a stillbirth. If she would have been born 22 hours later, I would have been able to register her and she would have had her own death certificate. We don't have any legal documentation for her.
"Sometimes I feel like that because she doesn't have a death certificate, she never existed.
"Since I lost Petal, I felt that people pitied me because of that experience, but I don't want to be defined as the mother who lost a child. I'm also a mother of three healthy children as well, who just wants to say that there is help out there for bereaved parents to carry on."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41588548
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Santa Rosa and Napa wildfire destruction from above - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Satellite and aerial images reveal devastation, as death toll rises 40.
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US & Canada
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Deadly wildfires in northern California have destroyed more than 3,500 buildings and forced 25,000 people to leave their homes.
Firefighters are still battling the fires which have at least 40 dead and left scars across 170,000 acres (265 square miles) of land. Satellite images show the extent of the around the city of Santa Rosa.
The fires have been fanned by north-easterly winds known as Diablo winds.
The Tubbs fire - between Santa Rosa and Calistoga turned housing estates to rubble and ash in some parts of Santa Rosa.
Hundreds of people are still missing and thousands of firefighters are working to stop the fires spreading.
Wildfires also raged through the hills of the Napa County wine growing regions, burning estates, ranches and farmland.
Before now, California's deadliest fire was in October 1933, when 29 people died in the Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41603474
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Samsung Electronics CEO resigns over 'unprecedented crisis' - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Kwon Oh-hyun said the company was facing an "unprecedented crisis inside out".
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Business
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It is the latest management upheaval at the firm after the heir of the entire Samsung Group was imprisoned for corruption in August.
Mr Kwon is one of three co-chief executives of Samsung Electronics.
His resignation comes on the same day the firm forecast record quarterly profits, citing higher memory chip prices.
Mr Kwon said he had been thinking about his departure "for quite some time" and could "no longer put it off."
"As we are confronted with unprecedented crisis inside out, I believe that time has now come for the company [to] start anew, with a new spirit and young leadership to better respond to challenges arising from the rapidly changing IT industry," he said in a statement.
He will remain on the board of Samsung Electronics until March 2018.
Ryan Lim, founding partner of the Singapore technology consultancy QED said "Samsung is in a leadership crisis situation".
Mr Lim said "the current management structure seems to be a complicated web that does not clarify, but rather confuses".
"This needs to be resolved soon as it can be worrying not to know who is truly steering the Samsung behemoth into the future," he said.
In response to the criticism, a spokesperson for Samsung Electronics told the BBC that a successor would be appointed "soon" but could not give a timeframe.
Samsung Electronics is regarded as the jewel in the crown of the Samsung Group conglomerate, which is made up of 60 interlinked companies and is one of South Korea's massive family-run businesses known as chaebols.
In August, the group's heir apparent Lee Jae-yong was convicted of bribery and corruption and sentenced to five years in jail.
Mr Lee was accused of giving donations worth 41bn won ($36m; £29m) to non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of South Korea's former President Park Geun-hye, in return for political favours.
He was back in court on Thursday, appealing against his jail term.
Lee Jae-yong was convicted in August on corruption and bribery charges
Andrew Milroy, head of advisory services at technology consultancy Ovum, said Samsung needed to regain the confidence of the government and financial markets in the aftermath of the corruption scandal.
"This may mean new senior management who are not associated with the past," he said.
However, the leadership troubles do not appear to have hit the company's bottom line yet.
Ahead of the announcement from Mr Kwon, Samsung Electronics said it would report a record quarterly profits thanks to surging chip prices.
The world's largest smartphone maker said operating profit in the three months to the end of September is expected to have tripled from a year earlier.
The forecast profit of 14.5tn won (£9.65bn; $12.81bn) beats market expectations for the quarter.
While memory chips were the main driver of Samsung's profits, its mobile phone business was given a boost by its new Note 8 smartphone which received the firm's highest number of pre-orders.
But scope for continued earnings growth from smartphones is likely to narrow. Ovum's Mr Milroy said the market was slowing and despite record results the company "faces a lot of risk".
"It may be felt that someone new can drive greater innovation and manage the firms move into new areas as the smartphone market matures," he said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41604860
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California wildfires: Death toll climbs to 31 - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The fires raging across northern wine counties are now the state's deadliest in 84 years.
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US & Canada
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Fire crews battle the fast-moving flames near the evacuated town of Calistoga
The number of people confirmed dead in wildfires sweeping northern California has climbed to 31, as officials warned that conditions would worsen.
Hundreds of people remain missing as at least 22 fires rampaged across the state's famous wine country.
More than 8,000 firefighters are now battling the flames.
The wildfires have destroyed more than 3,500 buildings and homes over 190,000 acres (77,000 hectares) and displaced about 25,000 people.
Seventeen people are now confirmed killed in Sonoma County, with another eight in Mendocino County, four in Yuba County and two in Napa County, officials said.
The updated casualty figures mean the wildfires are the deadliest in California since 1933, when 29 people died in fires at Griffith Park in Los Angeles.
Strong winds that have fanned the flames eased in recent days, but forecasters warned they were set to pick up again on Friday night.
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Prison inmates have been called in to help fight the fires
"We are not even close to being out of this emergency," Mark Ghilarducci, state director of emergency services, told reporters.
Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said recovery teams with cadaver dogs were searching the smouldering ruins of homes.
"We have found bodies that were completely intact, and we have found bodies that were no more than ash and bone," he said.
Ten victims, with an average age of 75 years old, have been identified so far, Sheriff Giordano said.
Some of the elderly victims were identified by "a piece of metal left from somebody's surgery, like a hip replacement, with an ID number that helped us identify the person", he added.
It is not yet clear what started the fires on Sunday night, but officials say power lines blown over by strong winds could be the cause.
One of the greatest threats to life is believed to be around the town of Calistoga, Napa County, where the entire population of 5,000 has been ordered to evacuate.
Calistoga Mayor Chris Canning warned residents to stay away since rescuers would not be able guarantee their safety.
"You are on your own," said Mayor Canning.
Only chimneys remain standing in fire-ravaged districts of Santa Rosa
Geyserville, a town of around 800 people, and the community of Boyes Hot Springs, both in Sonoma, were also evacuated.
The huge fires have sent smoke and ash over San Francisco, about 50 miles away, and over some towns and cities even further south.
At least 13 Napa Valley wineries have been destroyed, a vintners' trade group says.
Cannabis plantations in fire-scorched Mendocino County could lose millions as many are uninsured, according to Nikki Lastreto of the local industry association.
Marijuana farmers cannot insure their businesses since federal law bans the drug.
Though recreational cannabis was legalised in the state in 2016, California's retail market does not open until next January.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41604743
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Will fashion brand Marchesa be tainted by Weinstein scandal? - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The label run by Harvey Weinstein's wife is under pressure after sexual assault allegations against the Hollywood producer.
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Newsbeat
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As allegations of sexual assault mount up against Harvey Weinstein, his wife of 10 years has left him.
British fashion designer Georgina Chapman said her "heart breaks" for all the women who suffered pain because of him.
The Hollywood producer's been accused of inappropriate behaviour by a number of actresses, including Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow.
And now the scandal is hitting his wife's fashion label Marchesa - a favourite with stars on the red carpet.
Celebrity fashion stylist Alex Longmore told Newsbeat: "If any celebrity is seen wearing Marchesa at the moment, it's almost like they're slightly supporting what's gone on before.
"Harvey got his leading ladies like Jennifer Lawrence and Nicole Kidman to wear Marchesa. It was a statement and Georgina's brand kind of went hand in hand with Harvey's."
Georgina Chapman is a co-founder of Marchesa, which launched in 2004 - the same year she started her relationship with Weinstein.
The label's dresses cost thousands of pounds and are very popular on red carpet premieres at events like the Oscars and the Golden Globes.
Harvey Weinstein was often seen on the front row at Marchesa fashion shows.
Mandy Moore (second left), Harvey Weinstein, and Anna Wintour attend the Marchesa fashion show during New York Fashion Week 2017
Alex Longmore, who's styled the likes of Little Mix and Emma Bunton, believes actresses in Hollywood may no longer want to wear Marchesa because "they will not want anything to do with Harvey, his entourage or his family".
The celebrity stylist met Georgina Chapman in London and told Newsbeat: "She works very hard. Up until now, her and her business partner have been clever with how they've marketed their brand."
Rita Ora is often seen in Marchesa. She starred in Southpaw alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, which was produced by the Weinstein Company.
Others who have worn the label include Selena Gomez and the Duchess of Cambridge.
The Duchess of Cambridge has worn Marchesa in the past
So how will the allegations against Weinstein affect the Marchesa brand?
An American jewellery company was due to produce a range with Marchesa but in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Helzberg Diamonds said: "The company is not launching the Marchesa brand at this time."
The diamonds are still available on Helzberg's website but without the name Marchesa.
Marchesa has also postponed its Spring Summer 2018 preview.
Brand strategist Andi Davids told Newsbeat that Marchesa needs to do damage control and "make clear that they don't condone his [Weinstein's] behaviour".
"Her brand started to take off right around the same time as their relationship.
"But if it comes out that she didn't know about these types of allegations, people would actually support her as a potential victim as well."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articles/41600214
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Uber lodges appeal over London ban - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The ride-hailing firm files an appeal after being denied a licence to operate in the capital.
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Business
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Some 3.5 million passengers and 40,000 drivers use the Uber app in London
Uber has filed an appeal against the decision by London authorities to deny it a licence to operate in London.
Last month, Transport for London (TfL) refused Uber a new private hire licence, saying the ride-hailing firm was not fit and proper.
TfL said it took the decision on the grounds of "public safety and security implications".
The appeal process could take months, during which time Uber can continue to operate in London.
"While we have today filed our appeal so that Londoners can continue using our app, we hope to continue having constructive discussions with Transport for London. As our new CEO [chief executive] has said, we are determined to make things right," an Uber spokesperson said.
TfL "noted" the appeal but said it would not be commenting before the hearings.
Some 3.5 million passengers and 40,000 drivers use the Uber app in London.
Earlier this month, Uber's new chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi met Mike Brown, who runs Transport for London.
Uber described those talks as "constructive", while TfL said the talks "centred on what needs to happen to ensure a thriving taxi and private hire market in London".
When TfL denied Uber its licence last month it listed four main concerns about Uber's operation:
Uber disputed those complaints, saying it had a special procedure for dealing with allegations of criminal offences.
It argued that DBS checks were properly handled by a third party organisation and that TfL's concerns over its use of software were unjustified.
Uber's trouble in London adds to a long list of problems faced by the company.
In July, chief executive Travis Kalanick, who helped found the company in 2009, resigned following a series of scandals and criticism of his management style.
In June, 20 staff were sacked in the US after a law firm investigated complaints made to the company about sexual harassment, bullying and retaliation for reporting problems.
Last year, Uber lost a landmark employment tribunal in the UK which ruled drivers should be classed as workers rather than being self-employed.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41606965
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Newspaper headlines: Brexit 'deadlock', and Weinstein claims - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Friday's papers report on the latest round of Brexit talks and more claims against media mogul Harvey Weinstein.
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The Papers
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Philip Hammond's role as chancellor is challenged by some of the papers
The Daily Telegraph says the prime minister has been forced to put her Brexit plans on hold because of what it calls a "potentially disastrous" Tory rebellion.
According to the paper, the government has delayed parliamentary scrutiny of the EU Withdrawal Bill because it faces defeat on more than a dozen hostile amendments.
The Guardian says Theresa May's government is "struggling to respond" to the "deluge" of amendments which now amount to about 300. The paper says the growing scale of the discontent in Parliament just underlines the challenge facing Mrs May over Brexit.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that Whitehall is planning to hire 2,000 extra staff to deal with Brexit in a sign, it says, of how its resources are increasingly being diverted towards the challenges of leaving the EU.
The Times focuses on the intervention of the former Conservative Chancellor, Lord Lawson, who has called on the current incumbent, Philip Hammond, to be sacked.
He says Mr Hammond's unwillingness to prepare properly for the eventuality of no deal being struck at the end of the Brexit talks is close to sabotage and should lead to his dismissal.
Nigel Lawson's demand is also the lead for the Daily Mail which carries the simple headline: "sack 'saboteur' Hammond".
The Sun claims an exclusive with its report that the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein propositioned the singer and TV presenter Myleene Klass with what it calls a "sex contract".
The paper says she declined the offer which was apparently made over lunch in 2010.
According to the LA Times, Hollywood is already starting to, in its phrase, "kick the tires" of the Weinstein Company.
It says studios, production companies, distributors and other investors have been calling bankers to assess whether to bid for pieces of the company if the firm is unable to stay afloat amid the scandal.
A number of papers carry a photograph of a Western family who have been rescued after being held by militants in Pakistan for nearly five years.
The Times reports that Caitlan Coleman, her Canadian husband Josh Boyle and their three children, had survived death threats during their captivity.
Josh Boyle told the Ontario Star that he and his family had been in the boot of their kidnappers' car when the rescue operation took place and five of their captors were shot dead by Pakistani security forces.
The Daily Mail is among a number of papers to tell the extraordinary story of a Dorset fisherman.
The unnamed 28-year-old had just caught a small Dover Sole which he was holding up near his face when the fish slipped out of his hands and down his throat, blocking his airways and provoking a heart attack.
His friends gave him CPR until help arrived, the fish was extracted and his pulse returned to normal.
A paramedic who treated him at the scene said: "I have never attended a more bizarre incident and I don't think I ever will."
And the Daily Telegraph recounts the distressing ordeal of Keith Boleat - a veteran of the Jersey Petanque Association.
Mr Boleat and his playing partners were on their way to an international competition in Denmark when the suitcase carrying his three steel boules was confiscated by airport authorities because they suspected they were bombs.
The 62-year-old had to make do with a borrowed set and the team duly lost - to Germany.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41604236
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Why fatbergs present challenges for us all - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The BBC's science editor has been up close and personal with a gigantic lump of waste.
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Science & Environment
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A difficult and disgusting operation to clear London's largest "fatberg" from a London sewer raises a number of issues about our approach to waste disposal.
Fatbergs are not natural - they are creatures of the modern age - and the blockages they cause can lead to raw sewage flowing up into shops, offices and people's homes.
It is not a subject for the faint-hearted but there are 10 large fatbergs in London right now and hundreds of smaller ones across the country.
They form when oil and grease, poured down drains, coagulates around the likes of tampons, baby wipes and condoms flushed down toilets.
The result is the creation of a pale, tough substance with the strength of rock - a form of artificial geology that in the case of the Whitechapel fatberg has choked 80% of the flow of the sewer.
The basic problem is that we inherited a network of underground sewers built 150 years ago that was never designed to cope with what's now thrown into it.
However far-sighted Sir Joseph Bazalgette and his fellow Victorian engineers were, they can have had no idea how the populations of our cities would explode and how changes in diet and lifestyles would create a potentially devastating onslaught.
The gentle gradients of their designs were meant to create steady streams of human waste and water - not exactly fragrant but "they don't smell bad if they're working properly," one sewage expert told me.
The smell from the Whitechapel "fatberg" was bad enough to cause David Shukman to gag
By contrast, the noxious blast of fetid air that rose when the manhole cover was lifted during yesterday's operation was enough to make me gag and cover my face with my jacket.
Three metres beneath the heavy East End traffic, a monstrous mass of fat is acting in the same way that plaque does in arteries and, as with heart trouble, the problem is usually unseen until it's too late.
As the engineers donned what looked like spacesuits to head underground - double gloves, hoses bringing fresh air, electronic sensors to spot dangerous gases - a small crowd gathered to watch.
The street is lined with fast-food restaurants, just the kind of places that have flourished as the demand for fried takeaways has soared. One of the onlookers wore the striped apron of a chef.
Research by Thames Water mapped the locations of fatbergs and of restaurants, and came up with a remarkable conclusion: if you live within 50 metres of a fast-food place, your chances of being flooded with sewage are eight times higher than if you live further away.
So the company has sent teams to visit more than 700 restaurants to explore what steps they're taking to stop the flow of fat leaving their kitchens.
The answer? The vast majority are doing nothing at all.
Thames Water executives believe this is not through wilfulness but ignorance. There are devices to trap fat, and they cost only a few hundred pounds, but few seem to have heard of them.
So the first step in the battle against the bergs is to encourage, cajole or shame restaurant owners into forking out for the small boxes that sit atop a drain and clean the flow.
Talks with the big chains are under way. The response so far has been one of surprise that the scale of the problem had not been realised, so maybe the coming months will see fat traps becoming more common.
Fatbergs have to be cleared out of narrow tunnels, often by hand
But the survey also found that where a small number of restaurants had invested in the devices, few had maintained them. So there lies another challenge.
And the key to all this may be our own attitudes - whether any of us demand change.
Just as it's become more common for people to expect vegetarian options or food prepared without gluten or dairy products, might anyone demand to know whether a restaurant's kitchen is sewer-friendly before paying for a meal?
There's now a term for our unthinking but damaging approach to what we flush away: sewer abuse.
One answer is to support and expand schemes to collect restaurant fat and turn it into fuel - a logical form of renewable energy - and this is what will happen to the fatbergs.
At the heart of this question is our consumer culture's approach to waste, the belief that we can just chuck anything away without consequence, "away" being an abstract and distant concept that we need not care about.
But "away" is a real place, like an east London sewer jammed with a fatberg weighing the same as 11 buses, and now being chipped away by shovel by brave teams straining in heat so intense they can last only 40 minutes at a time.
The image of a dark figure hunched in a tiny tunnel working by hand is startling to us in 21st Century Britain. But in a curious way, it's also an unintended throwback to the grimmer Victorian times when the sewers were built in the first place.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41608863
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Meet some of the UK's oldest university students - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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In your 70s and 80s? Time to start university, say the second-chance students.
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Family & Education
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Freshers' fair? Maureen, a 79-year-old law student, says she had a great time socialising
What does a student look like?
Forget the stereotypes. Think of diversity in a different way. And meet some of the country's oldest undergraduates.
Maureen Matthews is starting a three-year law degree at the tender age of 79.
She's not even the oldest student on her new course at the University of West London in Brentford.
Sitting next to her in lectures is 84-year-old Craigan Surujballi.
This isn't dabbling in learning with an evening course - it's an intensive, full-time degree, studying alongside people with ambitions to become lawyers.
"You may look at me and see an older face - as may many young people," says Maureen.
Craigan and Maureen have begun a three year, full-time law degree
"But through my eyes I'm experiencing the same aspirations that I had before.
"It's always been to engage in involving myself in education," she says.
Maureen says older people should not be intimidated by the prospect of learning in an environment traditionally associated with the young.
Think of the law school film Legally Blonde, but in terms of overturning ageism rather than sexism.
"All older people are capable of being up for a challenge. They've been through life where they've had to meet many challenges," says Maureen.
If there are practical problems, such as mobility, she says they are never insurmountable and help is available.
The law class at the University of West London has a much wider variety of ages than usual
"I would say to older people, recognise the fact that your hearing may have decreased, your eyesight may not be as good as it was before, maybe you can't use the computer very well, but think about strategies that will enable you."
This extended to taking part in the freshers' week events for new students, which she says gave her a chance to socialise with other new students at the university.
But this is not a sugar-coated story.
Craigan came to England from the Caribbean in the early 1960s, after a long journey by sea.
Forget your stereotypes about age, says Millie Mbabazi: "It is literally just me, but older."
He says it was a time of much discrimination, in housing and work, but he had a deep hunger to keep studying and educating himself.
He was in his 30s before he studied for his A-levels - but his ambition to become a lawyer eluded him.
At least until now. Even if he doesn't get to practise as a lawyer, he says he might be able to help with legal problems at a Citizens Advice office.
When about half of young people now go into higher education, it's easy to forget how much university was once out of reach for the vast majority of people.
Law lecturer Mike Derks says the different age groups fit together "seamlessly"
In the 1950s, when Craigan and Maureen were in their 20s, there were fewer than 20,000 student places each year.
Even though the number of older students has increased, it's still only a relatively tiny number grabbing this second chance to learn.
The most recent figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show there were 25 students starting full-time undergraduate degrees after the age of 70, out of a cohort of almost half a million.
However, the fees system is in many ways more generous to older students. There is no upper age limit on loans to cover tuition fees - and with repayments based on earnings, it's unlikely that many pensioners will ever pay back what they have borrowed.
"It's crazy how much they know," says Patrice Murdoch, impressed by her older classmates
The University of West London is unusual in the extent of the diversity of its intake. This is a long way from the Pimms and ivy-clad-buildings end of higher education.
Almost three-quarters of students here are over the age of 21 when they enter.
It has one of the highest proportions of state school pupils - 98% - and more than half of students are from ethnic minorities and from families where no-one has previously been to university.
The university has other students beginning degree courses at a time of life when some of their age group would be thinking about early retirement.
Rita is also studying law - and is a university student at the same time as two of her daughters.
Rita says she wants to study law to help women in her community
She wants to study law because of the injustices she says she has seen facing women in her community, particularly over issues such as domestic violence.
Clifford, sitting with her in the university cafe, worked when his son was going through university.
Now it's his turn and he wants to be able to understand the law so that he can stand up for people more effectively as a union representative.
Law lecturer Mike Derks says the range of ages "fit together quite seamlessly".
Clifford is taking his chance at university, after seeing his son getting a degree
Teaching older students is very rewarding. "They seem to get more out of it. It's unusual, but they're still very engaged."
But what do the young students make of finding themselves alongside classmates old enough to be their grandparents?
"At first it was quite weird. But it was actually quite good, because you admire them," says Patrice Murdoch.
Omar Idrees says the determination of older students to learn is an inspiration
"It shows you can start education at any age and you can always go back. It's crazy how much they know. It makes us look not so up with it," she says.
"If anything I feel it's inspirational that they can come back into education and they always seem to have more knowledge," said Millie Mbabazi.
"I don't have any negative stereotypes about older people. It is literally just me, but older."
Omar Idrees says: "Maureen and Craigan are an inspiration to all of us.
"They've proved to us that no matter how old you are, no matter what life has put you through, you can walk in and say, 'This is what I've always wanted to do. I'm still young, I can still do it.'"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41573213
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Birmingham Islamic faith school guilty of sex discrimination - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Appeal judges say Ofsted failed to identify the problem in schools across the country earlier.
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Birmingham & Black Country
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Anti-segregation protestors gathered outside the court at an earlier hearing
An Islamic faith school's policy of segregating boys and girls is unlawful sex discrimination, a court has ruled.
The case was heard at the Court of Appeal as Ofsted challenged a High Court ruling clearing the Al-Hijrah school in Birmingham of discrimination.
Ofsted's lawyers argued the segregation left girls "unprepared for life in modern Britain".
Appeal judges ruled the school was discriminating against its pupils contrary to the Equality Act.
However, the court did not accept the argument the school's policy had disadvantaged girls more than boys.
The appeal judges also made it clear the government and Ofsted had failed to identify the problem earlier and other schools operating similarly should be given time "to put their houses in order".
About 20 schools - Islamic, Jewish and Christian - are thought to have similar segregation policies.
From Year Five boys and girls are completely separated for lessons, breaks, trips and clubs
The three appeal judges heard boys and girls, aged four to 16, attend the Birmingham City Council-maintained Al-Hijrah school, in Bordesley Green.
But from Year Five, boys and girls are completely separated for lessons, breaks, school trips and school clubs.
In 2016, Ofsted ruled the school was inadequate and it was put in special measures, saying its policy of separating the sexes was discrimination under the 2010 Equality Act.
In November, High Court judge Mr Justice Jay overruled the inspectors, saying that they had taken an "erroneous" view on an issue "of considerable public importance".
Ofsted's Amanda Spielman said the policy failed to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain
Speaking after the Court of Appeal ruling Amanda Spielman, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, said educational institutions should never treat pupils less favourably because of their sex.
"The school is teaching boys and girls entirely separately, making them walk down separate corridors, and keeping them apart at all times," she said.
"This is discrimination and is wrong. It places these boys and girls at a disadvantage for life beyond the classroom and the workplace, and fails to prepare them for life in modern Britain," she said.
In the ruling, the appeal judges said Ofsted had made it clear if the appeal succeeded, "it will apply a consistent approach to all similarly organised schools".
Given their failure to identify the problem earlier, the education secretary and Ofsted had "de facto sanctioned and accepted a state of affairs which is unlawful" and should give the affected schools time to "put their houses in order", the judges said.
The ruling means state schools which segregate pupils risk being given a lower rating by Ofsted. It only applies to mixed-sex schools.
During the appeal hearing, Peter Oldham QC, speaking for Al-Hijrah's interim executive board, said the boys and girls at the school were treated entirely equally while segregated.
He said Ofsted did not claim separation was discrimination until 2016 and its actions were "the antithesis of proper public decision-making".
Birmingham City Council said the issue was about schools being inspected against unclear policy and guidelines
Birmingham City Council said it took the High Court action it had because it felt Al-Hijrah school had been held to a different standard than other schools with similar arrangements, which had not been downgraded by Ofsted as a consequence.
Colin Diamond, corporate director of children and young people at the Labour-run council, said the case had always been about fairness and consistency in the inspection process.
"We would therefore highlight comments made in this judgement about the secretary of state's and Ofsted's 'failure to identify the problem'," he said.
He added the council had a strong history of encouraging all schools to practise equality but if it was national policy that schools with gender separation were discriminating against pupils then local authorities and the schools needed to be told so they knew the standards they were being inspected against.
Speaking to Radio 4, Mr Diamond said: "In questioning the judgement itself, the logic whereby you can say having, in one part of our city here, a boys' school and a girls' school adjacent to each other, with a fence between them... so that's okay is it?
"Whereas it's not okay to have boys and girls in the same school, when parents have signed up for that form of Islamic education. We don't see the logic, the equity in any of that."
Matt Bennett, shadow cabinet member for children and family services, said the verdict did not reflect well on Al-Hijrah, the council, Ofsted or the DfE.
"It is now clear that practices breaching the Equality Act 2010 have been allowed to continue at this school, and others across the country. Action is now required at local and national level," he said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-41609861
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'I had a cardiac arrest at my sister's wedding' - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The maid of honour's life was saved by her two cousins, who had just learned how to do CPR.
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Health
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Carly (right) walking down the aisle just moments before her collapse
About 10,000 people die each year because bystanders do not know how to do CPR if they see someone in cardiac arrest, the British Heart Foundation says. One woman says she owes her life to people who acted quickly when she collapsed.
The photos capture Carly Williams smiling as she walks up the flower-lined aisle as maid of honour at her sister's wedding.
But moments later she collapsed without warning and had a cardiac arrest in front of her family, friends and two young sons.
Her heart had gone into a dangerously irregular rhythm and stopped beating.
Carly, 34, has no memory of her collapse but says she felt totally normal in the lead-up to the ceremony at a central London hotel in July.
"Apparently I said I was dizzy and I thought I might faint. I actually collapsed as soon as I sat down with my head in the other bridesmaid's lap," she tells the Victoria Derbyshire programme.
"People realised there was something wrong as I didn't stand for the bride and I started breathing in an irregular way."
Jodie, centre, pictured with Carly to her left and the rest of her bridal party.
There were calls for a first aider and ambulance. One of the guests was a childminder who realised Carly's heart had stopped and started performing CPR, helped by her two cousins who had completed a first aid course two weeks earlier.
"The hotel had a defibrillator but the staff had no idea how to use it. My cousins learned how to use it on the course. They shocked me and it worked - I had a pulse but still wasn't conscious," she says.
Meanwhile, her sister Jodie - who had been planning her £70,000 wedding for a year - had been taken out of the room along with the other guests.
"It was so surreal, like a nightmare," she says on looking back and seeing her sister undergo CPR.
Carly, pictured holding her daughter Matilda, says she felt totally normal before the ceremony.
Jodie believes it was lucky that she had chosen the hotel for the venue, just minutes away from St Thomas', a specialist heart hospital. She describes it as "the best decision I have ever made".
"I had been feeling very guilty worrying that this was Carly worrying about the wedding that had brought this on. My dad told me my wedding had saved her life," she says.
Another decision was also crucial. Carly had wanted to return to their hotel room to collect the corsages, but her dad said to leave them. "It was lucky I didn't go, as my heart might have stopped when I was alone in the room," she says.
Carly was taken to hospital where she was put in an induced coma. Jodie said all she wanted to do was get out of her gown and see her - so they called off the wedding, sending the 115 guests home.
"I expected it to be the best day of my life but it was the worst. I felt like I was about to fall off the edge of the world."
Carly emerged from the coma within 24 hours. A few days later she asked if the wedding had gone ahead and felt "really bad" when Jodie explained what had happened.
Carly has been fitted with a defibrillator called an S-ICD in case her heart fails again.
"We were so excited about the wedding - but she didn't mind at all. The chances of this happening in a room with three first aid-trained people and a defibrillator are so slim that actually I was lucky that it did," she says.
Carly has had a device fitted called an S-ICD, a defibrillator that she describes as "insurance" in case it happens again. "My heart is now doing its normal thing - but they don't know why it happened," she says.
The sisters are campaigning with the British Heart Foundation for more people to learn how to do CPR and use defibrillators as part of its Restart a Heart campaign - which will see 150,000 people learn CPR on 16 October.
And Jodie says she still wants to get married, once Carly is well enough.
"I still feel traumatised and get upset by it," she says. "My big worry on the day was the kids not walking down the aisle on their own. It's hard to believe that worried me now - health is all that matters," she says.
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41569398
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7 days quiz: What is Dolly's latest venture for kids? - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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7 days quiz: It's the weekly news quiz - have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?
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Magazine
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It's the weekly news quiz - have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?
If you missed last week's quiz, try it here
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41596397
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Harvey Weinstein: US actress Rose McGowan makes rape allegation - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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An Amazon Studio executive is put on leave of absence after being accused of ignoring her allegation.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Harvey Weinstein and Rose McGowan appeared at a premiere for the film Grindhouse in 2007
The scandal deluging Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has deepened after US actress Rose McGowan publicly accused him of raping her.
In a series of tweets, McGowan also accused Amazon Studio chief Roy Price of having ignored her when she made the allegation earlier.
Amazon has put Price - himself accused on Thursday of sexually harassing a female producer - on leave of absence.
Weinstein denies any sexual assaults. There was no comment from Price.
Police forces in the US and UK police have launched investigations into sexual assault allegations against Weinstein:
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Addressing Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos on Twitter, McGowan - who has appeared in Scream, The Black Dahlia and TV series Charmed - criticised the company for doing business with Weinstein.
"I told the head of your studio that HW raped me," she wrote. "Over & over I said it. He said it hadn't been proven. I said I was the proof."
Price was separately accused by Isa Hackett, a producer on one of Amazon's shows, of having lewdly propositioned her in a taxi and at a corporate dinner in 2015, the Hollywood Reporter writes.
Amazon Studio's Roy Price has been suspended from his job
Hackett reported the incident to Amazon executives immediately, she was quoted as saying, and an outside investigator was brought in.
She was not told the outcome of the investigation but did not see Price again at any events involving her shows, she added.
In a statement, Amazon said: "Roy Price is on leave of absence effective immediately. We are reviewing our options for the projects we have with The Weinstein Co."
Three women earlier accused Weinstein of rape in an investigative article in The New Yorker magazine.
They are Italian actress and director Asia Argento, former aspiring actress Lucia Evans and a third woman who was anonymous.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Emma Thompson: "This man is at the top of a very particular iceberg"
The same article says 10 other women told the author that Weinstein had either sexually harassed or assaulted them between the 1990s and 2015.
The New York Times broke the story on 5 October when it detailed decades of allegations of sexual harassment against Weinstein.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Film producer Stephen Woolley tells Today film industry "should be ashamed" of the way it handled Weinstein
Weinstein has insisted through a spokeswoman that any sexual contacts he had were consensual.
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has said he believes that Weinstein should not be judged prematurely.
(L-R) Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Cara Delevingne, Lea Seydoux, Rosanna Arquette, Mira Sorvino have all spoken about their experiences with Harvey Weinstein
"If he broke the law it will come out," he told reporters on a visit to South Korea for a film festival. "I believe that a man shouldn't be condemned by a vigilante system."
In a subsequent social media post, however, Stone expressed a wish to "recuse" himself from a TV series about Guantanamo Bay "as long as The Weinstein Company is involved".
The director wrote on Facebook that he was "appalled" by the allegations made against Harvey Weinstein and "commend[ed] the courage of the women who've stepped forward".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jane Fonda: "I should have been braver"
In another development, Twitter briefly suspended McGowan for violating its terms and policies after she included a personal phone number in tweets about sexual abuse allegations.
Some prominent US figures, notably from the entertainment world, said they would boycott the platform on Friday in protest, using the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter.
Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell and Ryan Gosling have all spoken out on the issue
Quentin Tarantino was "stunned and heartbroken" to hear the claims about his "friend for 25 years"
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-41606140
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'First female nipple' broadcast in daytime TV advert for breast cancer - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The advertisement for breast cancer awareness was seen on TV on Friday and will be fully broadcast on Monday.
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UK
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The CoppaFeel! advert encourages people to check themselves for signs of breast cancer
The first advertisement to appear on UK daytime television with a female nipple fully visible has been broadcast, with the full advert being shown on Monday.
Created for the CoppaFeel! charity, it is being shown during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
It was broadcast on Good Morning Britain on Friday, during a discussion about the disease with the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with one person diagnosed every 10 minutes, with almost all of them women.
TV stars AJ Odudu and Olivia Buckland feature in the advert
The advert encourages people to examine their own breasts to check for signs of irregularities, which could be symptoms of cancer.
It shows inanimate objects being touched, as well as men and women touching their own chest and nipples.
Scheduled to run on TV and in cinemas, in 60 and 40-second versions respectively, it will not be shown in or around children's programmes.
It also shows inanimate objects, encouraging viewers to explore them by touch
Natalie Kelly, CEO of CoppaFeel!, said: "In demonstrating the power of our hands and celebrating our touch as the best tool for checking, we hope to encourage more young people across the UK to adopt a healthy boob-checking habit, which could one day save their life."
One in eight women in the UK will develop breast cancer in their lifetime.
Some 5,000 people will be diagnosed during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Survival rates for the disease are improving, and have doubled in the last 40 years in the UK.
Almost nine in 10 women survive breast cancer for five years or more, while every year about 11,400 people die from breast cancer in the UK.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A BBC News animation shows how you should check your breasts
See your GP if you notice:
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41611952
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Tim Cahill: Australia forward's goal celebration prompts 'sponsor' debate - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Australia's football association will not take action against Tim Cahill after it was claimed he used a goal celebration to promote a sponsor.
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Australia
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Australia's football association will not take action against Tim Cahill after it was claimed he used a goal celebration to promote a sponsor.
The striker made a "T" sign after scoring for Australia in the World Cup qualifying win over Syria on Wednesday.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, a travel agency hailed the gesture and Cahill replied with eight emojis.
"We don't believe Tim's breached any laws," a Football Federation Australia (FFA) spokesman told the BBC.
Cahill, who plays for Melbourne City and previously had spells with Millwall, Everton and New York Red Bulls, later tagged the sponsor in an Instagram post of his own.
"Another chapter written and plenty more to come. Amazing team performance and really proud of everyone tonight, team, staff and fans," Cahill wrote, before tagging the agency.
World football's governing body, Fifa, told BBC Sport it is "reviewing and analysing the reports from the referees and the match commissioners for all matches in Fifa competitions". They added that "any events which require further attention may be communicated accordingly".
Fifa's laws of the game prohibit advertising on some garments and on the field of play.
The FFA says it has not been contacted about the matter.
In 2012, Danish footballer Nicklas Bendtner was fined 100,000 euros (£80,000) by European football's governing body, Uefa, for exposing sponsored underwear.
The Cahill celebration has generated much discussion in Australia, where sport writers have said Cahill "blew an iconic Australian football moment" and "held the pose long enough" to make it conspicuous.
The win earned Australia a 3-2 aggregate win over the Syrians and a play-off against Honduras, with the victors earning a place at next summer's World Cup in Russia.
• None The rising profile of football in Australia
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41590623
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Las Vegas shooting: Worker's account raises fresh questions - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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A maintenance man says he told staff to call police before the gunman killed 58 concert-goers.
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US & Canada
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A hotel worker has said he alerted staff to report a gunman had opened fire before the suspect shot dead 58 people at a Las Vegas music festival.
Stephen Schuck said he was responding to a jammed fire door on the 32nd floor when he heard gunfire and spotted a colleague who had been shot.
He called dispatchers and told them to call police as the gunman sprayed bullets down the hallway, he said.
His account has intensified questions about why the gunman was not stopped.
"As soon as I started to go to a door to my left the rounds started coming down the hallway," Mr Schuck said on Wednesday.
"I could feel them pass right behind my head."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Police officers who entered the Las Vegas gunman's hotel room describe what they saw.
Mr Schuck said he encountered hotel security guard Jesus Campos, who had been shot in the leg by gunman Stephen Paddock.
Mr Campos told the maintenance man to take cover.
"It was kind of relentless so I called over the radio what was going on," said Mr Schuck.
"As soon as the shooting stopped we made our way down the hallway and took cover again and then the shooting started again."
Soon afterwards, Paddock, 64, sprayed bullets upon a nearby crowd at the Route 91 country music festival, perched above in his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
Paddock apparently took his own life after the attack, the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, leaving 58 dead and 500 wounded.
According to CBS News, gunfire could be heard as Mr Schuck told a dispatcher on his radio: "Call the police, someone's firing a gun up here. Someone's firing a rifle on the 32nd floor down the hallway."
The BBC has asked the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for comment.
Mr Schuck's account adds more questions about why police were unaware of the shooting on the 32nd floor before Paddock opened fire on concert-goers below.
Police initially said Mr Campos, the injured security guard, interrupted the gunman as he was firing upon the crowd from his hotel suite.
But on Monday police revised the timeline to clarify that Mr Campos was actually shot in the leg and wounded six minutes before Paddock began shooting at the music festival.
However the 3,200-room Mandalay Bay hotel disputed the police chronology, telling the BBC that the official police timeline is based on an erroneous initial report compiled by hotel staff.
"We are now confident that the time stated in this report is not accurate," a spokesperson for the hotel said in a statement.
"We know that shots were being fired at the festival lot at the same time as, or within 40 seconds after, the time Jesus Campos first reported that shots were fired over the radio."
"Metro officers were together with armed Mandalay Bay security officers in the building when Campos first reported that shots were fired over the radio," the statement continued, adding that the police and armed hotel security guards "immediately responded to the 32nd floor".
Police said Paddock, who had placed security cameras outside his room, shot Mr Campos through the door of his suite, firing 200 rounds into the hallway.
21:59 Paddock shoots security guard Jesus Campos outside his 32nd floor room. The hotel says they are "confident" this is not the accurate time.
22:05 Paddock opens fire on concert-goers below after smashing his window with a hammer
22:17 The first police arrive on the scene and find the wounded security guard near Paddock's room a minute later
23:20 Swat team breaks into Paddock's room and finds him dead from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41599529
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Brexit: EU 'to prepare' for future trade talks with UK - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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A draft paper seen by the BBC suggests the EU is getting ready for the second phase of negotiations.
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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. Michel Barnier said there was "deadlock" over the UK's Brexit bill
The EU is to begin preparing for its post-Brexit trade negotiations with the UK, while refusing to discuss the matter with the British government.
An internal draft document suggests the 27 EU countries should discuss trade among themselves while officials in Brussels prepare the details.
The draft text could yet be revised.
EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said a lack of compromise over the UK's financial commitments was impeding progress - saying "they have to pay".
Speaking in Luxembourg, Mr Juncker used the analogy of someone covering the bill after ordering 28 beers at a bar to explain the EU's position - and added that the Brexit negotiating process was taking longer than expected.
He also dismissed the wrangling over citizens' rights - another sticking point - as "nonsense", calling on the UK to adopt a "common sense" approach and say "things will stay as they are" after Brexit.
Downing Street said "good progress" was being made in the talks.
As the fifth round of talks ended in Brussels on Thursday, the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said there was "deadlock" over the UK's Brexit bill.
He said there had not been enough progress to move to the next stage of post-Brexit trade talks - as the UK had hoped - but added that he hoped for "decisive progress" by the time of the December summit of the European Council.
The draft paper submitted to the 27 EU states by European Council president Donald Tusk, suggests free trade talks could open in December - should Prime Minister Theresa May improve her offer on what the UK pays when it leaves.
The government is wading through proposed amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill
The BBC's Europe correspondent Adam Fleming said the paper contained "something for everyone" - with the reference to trade talks accompanied by a call for the UK to do more to bridge the gap on the key negotiating points.
The document calls for talks - about a transition period and the future relationship - to move to the next phase "as soon as possible".
The draft conclusions - to be put to EU leaders next Friday - also call for more concessions from the UK on its financial obligations and the rights of European nationals who wish to stay after Brexit.
The paper confirms Mr Barnier's assessment, that there has not been "sufficient progress" on three key elements of a withdrawal treaty for leaders to agree to open the trade talks now.
But it says the leaders would welcome developments on these key issues: the rights of three million EU citizens in the UK, protecting peace in Northern Ireland from the effect of a new border and Britain's outstanding "financial obligations".
The council would then pledge to "reassess the state of progress" at their December summit.
Bernd Kolmel, chairman of Germany's Eurosceptic Liberal Conservative Reformers, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there appeared to have been little progress between the first and fifth round of talks - something he described as a "disaster".
He called on the EU to expand the talks to include its future relationships and trade with the UK.
Anders Vistisen, a Danish Eurosceptic MEP and vice-chair of the EU Parliament's foreign affairs committee, agreed, adding: "The most integral thing is the future relationship. If we are making a bad trade deal for Britain we are also hurting ourselves."
The document states that in order "to be fully ready", EU leaders would ask Mr Barnier and his officials to start preparing now for a transition - albeit without actually starting to talk to the UK about it.
"The European Council invites the Council (Article 50) together with the Union negotiator to start internal preparatory discussions," the draft reads.
A Downing Street spokeswoman would not comment on the draft EU document but said Theresa May "has been clear all along that we need to reach a settlement", adding that UK would honour its financial commitments.
Meanwhile, a crucial plank of the government's Brexit legislation faces a raft of attempted amendments by MPs as ministers seek to steer it through Parliament.
The EU (Withdrawal) Bill will end the supremacy of EU law in the UK and incorporate existing Brussels legislation onto the UK statute book.
Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said going through the proposed changes was "taking a bit of time" as she confirmed there would be no debate on the bill next week.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41604675
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Why is this Indian giving $200m to Florida? - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Kiran Patel's gift to a Florida university is a new high in philanthropy by Indian-Americans.
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US & Canada
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The Patels about to get on their plane
A cohort of Indian-Americans who have made their fortune in the US are increasingly turning to large-scale philanthropy. Kiran Patel's giant gift to a Florida university is the new high-water mark.
Every day at school, eight-year-old Kiran Patel would watch longingly as his younger brother and friends snacked on chocolate and soda bought with their pocket money. His one shilling a day pocket money could easily pay for those goodies. But to him it was a waste - he dropped it in a piggy bank instead.
In a few years, he had saved enough to buy the ship fare from Zambia to India for himself, his parents and his two siblings - their first trip home in 12 years.
Six decades later, Dr Kiran C Patel recounts the story aboard his 14-seater private Bombardier jet on his way to Tampa, Florida. He has come a long way from that small town in Zambia.
Just hours prior, he and his wife, Dr Pallavi Patel, pledged $200m to a Florida university - the largest donation ever from an Indian-American to a US institution. Nova Southeastern University (NSU) will use the gift to create two medical colleges - one in Florida, another in India.
"I learnt a few very early lessons in life," he says. "A penny saved is a penny earned and one should drop it where it makes the maximum impact."
Patel grew up in the era of racial segregation in Zambia, where he had to move 80km to go to school as there was none in his town for non-white students. He attended medical school in India and moved to the US with his wife, also a medical doctor, on Thanksgiving Day in 1976.
Patel went from cardiologist to businessman when he created a network of physicians with different specialities. But the real breakthrough came in 1992 when he took over a health insurance company on the verge of bankruptcy.
Ten years later when the Patels sold the firm, it had more than 400,000 members and revenue in excess of $1bn. His business empire is not without controversy - earlier this year, two of his businesses paid more than $30m in a settlement after accusations of artificially inflating costs for care. The firm has not admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
Patel likes to call himself an "aggressive entrepreneur" and believes in the old Gujarati adage "When the goddess of wealth comes knocking, don't run away to wash your face".
"I'm a risk taker and a 90 miles per hour guy, always pressing the accelerator," he says, then points to his wife of 44 years Dr Pallavi Patel. "She is the one who applies the brakes."
In recent years, many successful Indian-Americans have changed their giving habits, moving from donations to temples and religious institutions to using their newly acquired wealth to shape societies back home and in the United States.
The Patels are not alone in the scale of their givings. New York couple Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon pledged $100m to the NYU School of Engineering in 2015. The Sanju Bansal foundation provides backing to a number of non-profits and foundations in the Washington, DC area.
Patel says philanthropy would be part of his life even if he wasn't rich.
"My father didn't have a lot but be it in Zambia or Gujarat he was always helping those who were in need," he says.
Among the biggest beneficiaries of the Patels' largesse is the University of South Florida, where they established a research centre focused on solving problems in the developing world in a sustainable way, and a Tampa arts conservatory.
They also fund a number of initiatives in India, including a 50-bed hospital in a Gujarat village.
Patel says $50m of his donation to NSU will go directly to the school and $150m will go towards building a medical education complex in nearby Clearwater.
The aim is partly to improve healthcare in India and Zambia and to train healthcare professionals in these countries at an affordable cost.
The ultimate plan is to have Florida students get practical experience in India, and Indian students spend a year at the Florida school.
By bringing American-style education to India, the philanthropist says he will be able to reduce the expenses considerably.
"A Zambian student can stay in India for less than $2,000, including accommodation and food," Patel says. "We are able to help thousands of people, and at the same time provide the same quality of education as imparted in the US."
American students in India will benefit from exposure to a lots of different diseases and health situations, he says.
"To stretch the same dollar to impact 10-fold, 20-fold, 100-fold, that's what I enjoy," he says.
What he also seems to enjoy, though, is grandiose spending.
In the last five years, he purchased four private jets and is halfway through building a palace-like home that's talk of the town in Tampa, Florida.
The nearly-40 bedroom mansion, built entirely in red sandstone shipped from India, is impossible to miss. More than 100 people have been working on it for the past five years. When it's finished, Patel hopes three generations of his family will live in it - including his three children and several grandchildren.
So what would he say to the child who thought spending a shilling on soda and snacks was a waste?
"I like to have the best," he says. "I know many will criticise me for this extravagance but some will also say - why not?"
His wife says flying in private jets or owning beachfront properties doesn't make them any happier than what they felt as a middle-class family.
"He has given more than he has splurged on himself," she says. "I think he has earned the right to enjoy as well."
She says her husband is still frugal at heart, and that's how he's brought up his children.
When their son, Shilen, was nine, he returned from school one afternoon and asked, "Dad, are we rich?"
They were taken aback, but her husband responded: "Maybe I am rich but you are not."
"This is how we reminded them that they have to make their life on their own," she says.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41587429
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Palestinian unity deal: Gazans hope for end to feud - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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A Fatah-Hamas deal to end a decade-long rift is welcomed by Gazans, but many are wary of the future.
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Middle East
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Joy for now, but will the truce deal last?
Some Palestinians have been taking to the streets of Gaza to celebrate the new reconciliation deal agreed by their rival political factions, Hamas and Fatah.
Others I speak to are more cautious, but desperately hope an end is in sight to a decade-long feud they feel has damaged the nationalist cause.
The deal, brokered by Egypt, is expected to see the Palestinian Authority (PA), dominated by Fatah, resume full control of the coastal territory by 1 December.
The PA and its security forces were ousted from Gaza in 2007, when Hamas seized control, a year after winning legislative elections.
For Naim al-Khatib, a father of six, "Hamas are showing some flexibility which is unprecedented. It gives us hope that people are being pragmatic, seeing themselves as Palestinians, rather than as part of a global, Islamic group."
"There are lots of difficult issues still to tackle - but the opposite of reconciliation is a very gloomy situation which I would hate us to step into," he adds.
Recently, Gaza's nearly two million residents have suffered as political divisions deepened and President Mahmoud Abbas piled financial pressure on Hamas.
There is already no electricity in the Gaza Strip for up to 20 hours per day
Waste-water treatment has largely halted, resulting in the discharge of sewage into the sea
His PA imposed heavy taxes on fuel for the strip's only power plant and reduced the amount of electricity bought from Israel for Gaza.
Mains electricity now comes on for just a few hours a day. This leaves water desalination and sewage treatment plants unable to work properly.
Over 60,000 civil servants, still getting salaries from the PA even though they cannot work, were cut by a third. Supplies of medicines were halted.
The reconciliation deal was signed by Fatah's Azam al-Ahmed (right) and the deputy head of the Hamas politburo Saleh al-Aruri
Now it is expected some sanctions will be reversed.
"We hope electricity will come back immediately. It's a basis for normal life," says Amal, a teacher.
"I think this will solve our sewage problem. We Gazans are very attached to the sea and we hope it will be clean again."
Israel and Egypt tightened their blockade of Gaza after the Hamas takeover.
The new agreement is expected to see PA forces return to border crossings, which could ease the movement of people and goods.
"We want to see free movement in and out of Gaza - to the West Bank, Egypt and Israel for medical purposes and for education," Amal says. "Such steps will make us feel reconciliation is serious."
Previous reconciliation deals have quickly fallen apart, and the latest announcements from Cairo have not made clear how some long-standing sticking points can be resolved.
They include the fate of Hamas's 25,000-strong military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
Hamas is also classed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and the European Union. The latter are both major donors to the PA - but would find it difficult to support a unity government that includes Hamas.
Will Mahmoud Abbas now visit Gaza - for the first time in a decade?
More tricky negotiations are now due to be held ahead of a meeting of all the Palestinian political movements in Cairo on 21 November.
"What's happened is a good step, it's positive, but this is just the beginning," says Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative.
"The next few weeks are very crucial because what's been agreed must be implemented. All the Palestinian factions, not just Hamas and Fatah, must then decide on a unified government and a date for elections."
Some reports suggest that if all goes to plan President Abbas could soon visit Gaza for the first time in a decade as part of the reconciliation effort.
That would be a huge turnaround: a recent Palestinian opinion poll indicated that demand for his resignation stood at 67% overall and 80% in Gaza.
Which, paradoxically, brings out one of the reasons why some commentators believe this bid at reconciliation has better chances of success.
At 82, some reason that Mr Abbas has an eye on his political legacy and little to lose.
Likewise Hamas, an ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, has found itself on the wrong side of recent regional events.
Faced with increased isolation, it has reached out to Cairo for help.
In turn, Egyptian leaders are very keen to improve security in the restive Sinai Peninsula, which borders Gaza, and after the turbulent years following the Arab Spring, they are looking to restore their role as regional power brokers.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41601251
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Moors Murders: Judge rules on Ian Brady body disposal - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Moors Murderer Ian Brady died five months ago but his remains have yet to be disposed of.
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Manchester
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Moors Murderer Ian Brady's remains must be disposed of with "no music and no ceremony", a High Court judge has ruled.
Two councils asked the judge to step in to ensure the disposal of the serial killer's body did not cause "offence and distress" to his victims' families.
Sir Geoffrey Vos said Brady's executor had failed to make proper arrangements for disposal of his remains.
Brady died aged 79, on 15 May, but his remains have not yet been disposed of.
Brady and Myra Hindley, who died in prison in 2002, tortured and murdered five children in the 1960s.
Keith Bennett's body has never been found
Sir Geoffrey acted after Oldham and Tameside councils raised concerns that five months after Brady's death his executor, solicitor Robin Makin, had failed to make proper arrangements for the disposal.
In his judgement, he noted assurances sought by coroner Christopher Sumner over concerns Brady's ashes might be scattered on Saddleworth Moor, where at least three of his victims were buried.
Tameside and Oldham councils brought the action over similar concerns from relatives, with parts of the moor in both boroughs.
This was compounded by Mr Makin's reluctance to discuss arrangements for the disposal of the remains.
"We know that the relatives and residents alike found even the suggestion that his ashes may be scattered over Saddleworth Moor to be abhorrent and distressing, especially because 13-year-old Keith Bennett has never been found," the councils said after the hearing.
As part of his ruling, Sir Geoffrey accepted a proposal for a Tameside council officer to arrange for the disposal was the "best available".
"I am satisfied also that it is both necessary and expedient for the matter to be taken out of Mr Makin's hands," Sir Geoffrey said.
"Even after a hearing that has lasted for one and a half days, the parties have not been able to agree precisely how the deceased's body should be disposed of."
Saddleworth Moor has been the scene of several searches for the remains of Brady's victims
In issuing directions about the body's disposal, Sir Geoffrey said: "I decline to permit the playing of the fifth movement of the Symphony Fantastique at the cremation, as Mr Makin requested."
He quoted the Wikipedia page for the piece that states the musician sees himself "at a witches' sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come together for his funeral".
"I have no difficulty in understanding how legitimate offence would be caused to the families of the deceased's victims once it became known that this movement had been played at his cremation," Sir Geoffrey said.
The judge said Mr Makin could not be "entrusted" with Brady's ashes because he had been "so secretive".
Sir Geoffrey said: "Had he (Mr Makin) discussed the matter openly with the claimants and with Sefton Borough Council and given clear undertakings that he was not intending to scatter the deceased's ashes in their areas, these proceedings might have been avoided.
"Even now, he has refused to say what he intends to do with the ashes if he is allowed custody of them."
Brady was jailed in 1966 for murdering John Kilbride, aged 12, Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17.
In 1985, he also admitted killing Pauline Reade, 16, and 12-year-old Keith Bennett, whose body has never been found.
Despite pleas from Keith's mother Winnie Johnson, who died in 2012, Brady did not reveal where her son was buried.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41609522
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Liberia election: Ex-football star George Weah takes early lead - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Partial results put George Weah ahead in the race to choose a successor to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
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Africa
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George Weah is senator for Montserrado County in Liberia
Partial results from Liberia's presidential election show former football star George Weah has taken an early lead.
Figures from the National Elections Commission (NEC) put Mr Weah ahead in 11 out of 15 counties, although most votes have yet to be counted.
His main rival, incumbent Vice-President Joseph Boakai, leads in one county and is second in most others.
A candidate needs more than 50% of the votes for outright victory.
If no-one achieves that, a second round will be held in November.
The election is to choose a successor to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Africa's first elected female president and a Nobel Peace laureate.
As the results came in, the manager of Arsenal Football Club, Arsene Wenger, was apparently duped by false reports that Mr Weah had won.
Arsene Wenger coached George Weah in the 1990s when he was in charge of French club Monaco
"I would like to congratulate one of my former players, who became president of Liberia," Mr Wenger told reporters.
"It's not often you have a former player who becomes president of a country. So well done, Georgie."
NEC Chairman Jerome Korkoya hit out at false reports and said his officials were doing their best to get accurate official results out as quickly as possible.
"This commission has not declared any winner," he stressed.
International election observers said they had not identified any major problems with Tuesday's voting.
However, parties supporting three of the 20 candidates have alleged irregularities and said they would contest the result, Reuters reported.
Vice-President Joseph Boakai says the Liberian people want to see more development
Ms Sirleaf, 78, who is stepping down at the end of two terms, hailed the election as a success.
"We believe that all Liberians are ready for this process. I thank them for participating in this process," she said.
Liberia, which was founded by freed US slaves in the 19th Century, has not had a smooth transfer of power in 73 years.
Ms Sirleaf took office in 2006, after her predecessor, Charles Taylor, was forced out of office by rebels in 2003, ending a long civil war.
Taylor is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence in the UK for war crimes related to the conflict in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
Mr Weah, 51, has chosen Taylor's ex-wife Jewel Howard Taylor as his running mate.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41604740
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Student fell off Seven Sisters cliff 'posing for photo' - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The 23-year-old woman fell 200ft to her death while jumping in the air near the cliff edge.
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Sussex
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Signs warning about the instability of the cliffs are in place approaching the area
A student fell to her death while posing for a photograph on cliffs at Seven Sisters, an inquest heard.
Hyewon Kim, 23, came to the UK to study English and on 22 June took a trip to Cuckmere Haven, East Sussex, alone.
She asked a stranger to take her picture, but as she jumped in the air for the shot she lost her footing and fell 200ft (60m).
The court heard Ms Kim, from South Korea, suffered catastrophic injuries in the fall.
Speaking after the inquest, Mark Webb from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, said: "This was an incredibly sad incident leading to the unnecessary loss of a very young life.
"What we would say is to urge people to stay well away from cliff edges.
"The day before this incident we had a very severe rock fall in the same sort of area, so it's clear some of these cliff edges can be very unstable."
Several large sections of the cliffs have crumbled into the sea in recent months
Signs warning about the instability of the cliffs are in place approaching the area.
An option for more signs in foreign languages was considered by Seaford Town Council in July 2017 but was rejected.
Craig Williams, from the town council, said it was a unanimous decision from representatives of East Sussex County Council, Lewes District Council, the coastguard and South Downs National Park Authority.
"We've decided to keep the signs as they are; we felt more would just confuse matters. Instead we've tackled this at source.
"We've been approaching coach companies and tour operators who run trips to the area and take people up on the cliffs to discuss having plans in place to warn people."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-41598003
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BCC: 'Robust' manufacturing fails to boost UK growth - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The British Chambers of Commerce says while manufacturing is robust, there are concerns over services.
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Business
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The UK economy grew at a muted rate in the third quarter of 2017 despite progress in the manufacturing sector, the British Chambers of Commerce says.
The number of manufacturers reporting improved domestic sales and orders rose in the quarter to its highest level since early 2015, the BCC said.
Export sales and orders in the sector also improved.
But in services, domestic sales and orders remained static, as did the sector's employment expectations.
The BCC said its survey also showed the prevalence of recruitment difficulties facing UK businesses, which worsened further during the quarter.
Almost three-quarters of manufacturers reported difficulties hiring staff, and in services, the percentage rose to its highest since early 2016.
BCC director general Dr Adam Marshall said: "The uninspiring results we see in our third-quarter findings reflect the fact that political uncertainty, currency fluctuations and the vagaries of the Brexit process are continuing to weigh on business growth prospects.
"The chancellor's autumn Budget is a critical opportunity to demonstrate that the government stands ready to incentivise investment and support growth here at home.
"While much of Westminster and Whitehall is distracted by Brexit, business needs action now on the home front. The solutions to some of the biggest issues currently facing our firms - including high up-front costs, a lack of incentive to invest, and a need for better infrastructure - are entirely within the power of the UK government to deliver."
The BCC also said that in the current economic climate, it seemed "extraordinary" that the Bank of England was considering raising interest rates.
"We'd caution against an earlier than required tightening in monetary policy, which could hit both business and consumer confidence and weaken overall UK growth," said BCC head of economics Suren Thiru.
"While interest rates need to rise at some point, it should be done slowly and timed to not harm the UK's growth prospects."
Buoyancy in the UK manufacturing sector is not universal at the moment, one company said.
Andrew Varga, managing director of Seetru, a Bristol-based manufacturer of safety valves for industry, told the BBC's Today programme his firm was "slightly more pessimistic" than the BCC.
"We see some startling results. Despite the buoyant European economy, we see an accelerating reduction in order pull from Europe. Clearly uncertainty is having a really significant effect on customers' choices of which country they buy from, and they're not buying from the UK any more."
He added that the UK market was "depressed".
"Like-for-like sales are clearly down - down about 10%," he said. "This is all due to [Brexit] uncertainty at the moment."
Clare Flynn Levy, founder and chief executive of financial behavioural analytics software firm Essentia Analytics, told the BBC that for her company "life's a bit more optimistic".
"But I'm not surprised to hear that the services sector is static, because there is a massive energy suck toward people decisions and mobility decisions that are caused by Brexit, and the uncertainty is just causing energy that would otherwise be devoted to selling and delivering services to clients to be pulled into scenario planning... so people are sort of frozen," she said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41601454
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Australia skydiving: Three dead after 'mid-air collision' - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Police say the skydivers may have collided mid-air and their parachutes failed to deploy correctly.
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Australia
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Mission Beach is a popular stopover for backpackers travelling along the Queensland coast
Three skydivers have died in Queensland after they apparently collided mid-air, say Australian authorities.
Paramedics and police were called to Mission Beach, a popular skydiving spot about 140km (87 miles) south of Cairns.
Two men in their 30s, and a woman in her 50s, were found dead at the scene, Queensland police said in a statement.
Police said initial investigations found one person may have collided with tandem skydivers, and their parachutes failed to deploy correctly.
Queensland's ambulance service told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that one skydiver was found in the garden of a residence, and the other two were found close by.
A resident was also quoted as saying the bodies were found about 1.5km north of the usual landing site.
Operating company Skydive Australia told local media that it had suspended its operations at Mission Beach while an investigation took place.
The solo skydiver was a "highly experienced instructor who had completed thousands of jumps", while the other two were a customer and another experienced instructor, it said in a statement.
"The company extends its deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the individuals and families involved and the broader skydiving community," it added.
An unnamed eyewitness told the Cairns Post that he saw one of the skydivers falling. "You could see one chute was tangled and it wasn't opening."
"I was just watching him in free fall until he went behind the trees, and that was the last I saw," he said.
"It wasn't good to watch. I had my heart in my mouth."
The area's local mayor, John Kremastos, told the ABC that the incident was "horrible news", saying: "Three people in one accident is very, very sad."
Skydiving is a popular tourist activity in the area, with many of the backpackers who travel the Queensland coast stopping by Mission Beach.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41607101
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Prince Harry calls for regular HIV and Aids testing - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The prince was accepting an honour on his mother's behalf at the Attitude magazine awards in London.
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UK
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The award was presented by Ian Walker and Julian La Bastide, who had both met the princess
Prince Harry has paid tribute to his late mother's work in raising awareness of HIV and Aids, and urged more people to "embrace regular testing".
The prince was speaking at the Attitude magazine awards, where Princess Diana was posthumously honoured with the Legacy award, 20 years after her death.
Prince Harry said if his mother were still alive, she would be "standing alongside" those living with HIV.
The prince collected the award on Thursday night on her behalf.
In April 1987, Princess Diana opened the UK's first purpose built HIV/Aids unit that exclusively cared for patients infected with the virus, at London Middlesex Hospital.
In front of the world's media, she shook the hand of a man suffering with the illness.
She did so without gloves, publicly challenging the stigma and notion that HIV/Aids was passed from person to person by touch.
"She knew that Aids was one of the things that many wanted to ignore and seemed like a hopeless challenge," he told the awards ceremony in London.
"She knew that the misunderstanding of this relatively new disease was creating a dangerous situation when mixed with homophobia.
"So, when, that April [in 1987], she took the hand of a 32-year-old man with HIV, in front of the cameras, she knew exactly what she was doing."
Princess Diana visiting the London Lighthouse, a centre for people affected by HIV in October 1996
The prince said he and his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, were "incredibly proud of what our mother achieved".
If she were still alive, he said she "would be demanding" free and available testing and treatment for people all across the world.
"I believe that she would be telling everyone across society - not just those most at risk - that with effective treatment being free and available in the UK, that we must all embrace regular testing - both for our own sake and for those that we love," he added.
As he accepted the award, the publication unveiled its new, limited edition magazine cover featuring a black-and-white photograph of Diana by Patrick Demarchelier.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41604668
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Penguins die in 'catastrophic' Antarctic breeding season - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Only two chicks survived in a colony of 36,000 in a "catastrophic" breeding season in east Antarctica.
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Science & Environment
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It is the second catastrophic season for the southern penguins in five years
All but two Adelie penguin chicks have starved to death in their east Antarctic colony, in a breeding season described as "catastrophic" by experts.
It was caused by unusually high amounts of ice late in the season, meaning adults had to travel further for food.
It is the second bad season in five years after no chicks survived in 2015.
Conservation groups are calling for urgent action on a new marine protection area in the east Antarctic to protect the colony of about 36,000.
WWF says a ban on krill fishing in the area would eliminate their competition and help to secure the survival of Antarctic species, including the Adelie penguins.
Adelie penguins pictured at the French monitoring station in Dumont d'Urville in east Antarctica
WWF have been supporting research with French scientists in the region monitoring penguin numbers since 2010.
The protection proposal will be discussed at a meeting on Monday of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
The Commission is made up of the 25 members and the European Union.
"This devastating event contrasts with the image that many people might have of penguins," Rod Downie, Head of Polar Programmes at WWF, said.
"The risk of opening up this area to exploratory krill fisheries, which would compete with the Adelie penguins for food as they recover from two catastrophic breeding failures in four years, is unthinkable.
"So CCAMLR needs to act now by adopting a new Marine Protected Area for the waters off east Antarctica, to protect the home of the penguins."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41608722
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'Psychotic nympho' Halloween outfit criticised by psychiatrists - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Psychiatrists say the outfit stigmatises mental illness and is "one of the worst" they have seen.
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UK
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A fancy dress company has been criticised by psychiatrists for selling a Halloween costume they say stigmatises mental illnesses.
Escapade's "psychotic nympho" dress has straitjacket sleeves, a lace-up collar and optional face paint for the "seductive goth" look.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists said it was one of the worst examples of such an outfit it had seen.
Escapade has not yet responded to the BBC's requests for a comment.
A description of the costume on Escapade's website says it is a "sensual outfit" that "expresses a lot of deep desires without you having to utter a single word".
The company also sells other outfits with the word "psycho" in it, including the "cell block psycho" costume and "psycho nurse Sally".
Dr Tony Rao, a psychiatrist and member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said outfits of this kind stigmatised those with mental illnesses by suggesting people should be afraid of them.
He told the BBC: "If you're going to use words like "psychotic" and associate it with "nympho", very pejorative, dramatic and shocking terms that are designed to get sales, then I think that is misleading both the perception of mental illness and misleading the public in promoting the idea that it's something we should be afraid of."
In recent years a number of retailers have withdrawn similar items from sale after they were criticised.
In 2013, Tesco and Asda withdrew two Halloween outfits - a psycho ward costume and a mental patient outfit - following complaints.
The retailers apologised and agreed to make donations to the mental health charity Mind.
Dr Rao said there were "far fewer offensive costumes" for this year's Halloween, but he said those that are sold set back the public perception of mental illnesses "several decades".
This could contribute to people being discouraged from seeking treatment, he said.
"The royals, reality TV stars, music stars, have done an excellent job in encouraging people to keep the conversation going about reducing stigma.
"But what these costumes are doing is portraying an ignorance of those with severe mental illness, which is still in some ways seriously misunderstood by the public."
Escapade has yet to respond to requests for a comment.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41606854
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Harvey Weinstein: 'Business as usual' at Weinstein Co, brother insists - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Harvey Weinstein's brother Bob insists their production company is not facing closure or sale.
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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. On some red carpets, Harvey Weinstein is not a welcome subject
Harvey Weinstein's brother, Bob, has denied media reports that the film production company they co-founded could be closed or sold.
"Our banks, partners and shareholders are fully supportive of our company," he said in a statement. "Business is continuing as usual."
The company fired Harvey Weinstein on Sunday amid a slew of sexual harassment allegations.
The claims have prompted police investigations in both the US and UK.
On Friday, the scandal surrounding Weinstein - who produced films including Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - deepened when he was accused of rape by US actress Rose McGowan.
Bob Weinstein co-founded the studio with his brother in 2005
He was already facing claims of rape, sexual assault, groping and harassment.
Weinstein, who is believed to be in Europe seeking therapy, has insisted through a spokeswoman that any sexual contacts he had were consensual.
Since the avalanche of claims began, the company has been trying to disassociate itself from its co-founder and save the business, reports say, with efforts made to buy Harvey Weinstein out, rebrand and keep creative partners on board.
But reports in the Los Angeles Times said that financers had begun to pressure the company to sell and potential buyers were circling.
The Wall Street Journal also reported the company was "exploring a sale or shutdown" and was "unlikely to continue as an independent entity".
The Weinstein Company fired Harvey Weinstein last weekend, but there remains intense speculation about its future
The company is thought to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars but before the recent allegations had already faced questions about its future prospects amid increasing competition from media streaming services.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs said on Friday it was investigating options to sell the small stake it holds, citing the reported "inexcusable behaviour".
On Saturday, the organisers of the Oscars film awards will hold emergency talks amid speculation it could suspending Harvey Weinstein's membership. Bafta, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, has already done so.
The New York Times broke the story on 5 October when it detailed decades of allegations of sexual harassment against Weinstein.
Since then police forces in the US and UK have launched investigations into sexual assault allegations against Weinstein:
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41617349
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Crocodile attack suspected in search for Australian woman - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Police searching for a missing woman with dementia say they have found human remains.
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Australia
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Police searching for a missing woman in Australia say she is likely to have been killed by a crocodile.
Anne Cameron, 79, was reported missing from a nursing home near the Queensland town of Port Douglas on Tuesday.
Clothes and a walking stick bearing the name of Ms Cameron, who suffers from dementia, were found next to a creek.
On Friday, police said remains found nearby had been confirmed as human and they were "highly likely" to belong to Ms Cameron.
"We strongly suspect now that there has been involvement of a crocodile attack," Acting Inspector Ed Lukin said.
"There will be forensic tests done on those remains, but I will stress that there are no other missing persons in the Port Douglas area."
Police suspect that Ms Cameron was attacked after walking into bushland about 2km (1.2 miles) from the nursing home.
She had moved to the nursing home recently to be closer to relatives, local media said.
Wildlife officers will set crocodile traps in the area where the remains were found.
Crocodile attacks have claimed nine lives in Queensland since 1985, including a spear fisherman in March.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41590621
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Dover sole 'jumps' down angler's throat in Bournemouth - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The fish wriggled out of the man's hand as he kissed it in celebration of his catch, causing him to swallow it.
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Dorset
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The six-inch (14cm) Dover sole (not pictured) wriggled out of the man's hand and jumped into his mouth
An angler had to be resuscitated after accidentally swallowing a fish he had just caught.
The man was kissing the Dover sole in celebration of his catch when the six-inch (14cm) fish wriggled out of his hand and jumped into his mouth, a friend said.
The 28-year-old stopped breathing and suffered a cardiac arrest at the scene on Boscombe Pier, Bournemouth.
Paramedics managed to remove the fish with forceps in an ambulance.
The man had been fishing at Boscombe Pier, Bournemouth
Ambulance worker Matt Harrison said: "It was clear that we needed to get the fish out or this patient was not going to survive the short journey to Royal Bournemouth Hospital.
"I was acutely aware that I only had one attempt at getting this right as if I lost grip or a piece broke off and it slid further out of sight then there was nothing more that we could have done to retrieve the obstruction."
Mr Harrison said the fish's barbs and gills became stuck but he eventually succeeded in extracting it in one piece.
He said it was the "most bizarre" call-out he had ever attended.
Members of Boscombe Pier Sea Anglers performed CPR on their friend before the arrival of emergency crews at about 23:00 BST on 5 October.
Ian Cowie from the group said: "He was kissing the fish when it jumped down his throat. It's a tradition to kiss your first catch."
Paramedics managed to restart the unnamed man's heart at the pier after working on him for three minutes.
Mr Harrison said: "We're all so glad the patient has no lasting effects from his cardiac arrest, which could so easily have had such a tragic and devastating outcome."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-41598493
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Philip Hammond says his remarks were a poor choice of words - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The chancellor later tweeted that his comments were a "poor choice of words".
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Business
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The chancellor has labelled the European Union's Brexit negotiators as "the enemy" - a remark he subsequently described as a "poor choice of words".
During a television interview, Philip Hammond also called the negotiators "the opponents" and said they should "behave like grown-ups".
But he tweeted later: "I was making the point that we are united at home. I regret I used a poor choice of words."
Mr Hammond is in Washington for an International Monetary Fund meeting.
He has been criticised for saying that the Brexit process has created uncertainty, and this week a former chancellor claimed he was trying to sabotage the talks.
During a series of media interviews in Washington, Mr Hammond told Sky News that "passions are high" in the party "but we are all going to the same place".
But he added: "The enemy, the opponents, are out there on the other side of the table. Those are the people that we have to negotiate with to get the very best deal for Britain."
Despite his regrets, Mr Hammond's comments drew fire from political opponents. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said it was an "inept approach from a failing government. Insulting the EU is not the way to protect our economic interests".
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During his interviews, the chancellor also has described as "bizarre" and "absurd" accusations he is talking down the economy.
Mr Hammond said he was a realist and that he wanted to "protect and prepare" the economy for the challenges ahead.
The chancellor said: "It is absurd to pretend that the process we are engaged in hasn't created some uncertainty. But the underlying economy remains robust.
"I am committed to delivering a Brexit deal that works for Britain," he added.
He refused to answer how he would vote if another referendum was held now. "We've had the referendum," he said. "You know how I voted in it."
This week, former Conservative Chancellor Nigel Lawson called for Mr Hammond to be sacked, saying he was unhelpful to the Brexit process.
Lord Lawson said: "What he [Mr Hammond] is doing is very close to sabotage".
Responding to these comments, Mr Hammond said: "Lord Lawson is entitled to his view on this and many other subjects and isn't afraid to express it, but I think he's wrong."
The chancellor, who has been accused of being too pessimistic about Brexit, told the Treasury Committee of MPs this week that a "cloud of uncertainty" over the outcome of negotiations was "acting as a dampener" on the economy.
But speaking on Friday, Mr Hammond said he was optimistic about the UK's economic future and was in Washington to promote it.
"What I'm doing here in Washington is talking Britain up, talking about Britain's future as a champion of free trade in the global economy, seeking further moves on liberalisation on trade in services which will hugely benefit our economy."
He added that Britain had "a very bright future ahead", but added that it was "undoubtedly true" that the process of negotiations had created uncertainty for business.
"If you talk to businesses, they would like us to get it done quickly so that they know clearly what our future relationship with the European Union is going to look like."
Mr Hammond said the Cabinet was united behind Prime Minister Theresa May's recent speech in Florence setting out her Brexit plans.
"We know what our proposal is, we put it on the table effectively. Now we want the European Union to engage with it… challenge us… but let's behave like grown-ups." he said.
Mr Hammond said the government would not spend taxpayers' money preparing for a "no-deal" Brexit until the "very last moment".
He said he would not take money from budgets for other areas such as health or education just to "send a message" to the EU.
One former minister, David Jones, has said billions of pounds should be set aside in November's Budget for a "no deal" scenario.
He argued 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.
• None Hammond's 'last moment' plan for 'no deal'
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41608243
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The UK city where sex work is banned, but hasn't stopped - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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Hull is the UK's only city to have banned sex workers from its red light district. The council says the policy is working. An ex-sex worker disagrees.
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Magazine
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Hull is the UK's only city to have banned sex workers from its red light district, effectively making prostitution illegal. The council says the policy is working, but Millie, who once worked on the streets herself, says it increases the danger for the women involved.
Sex work "slithered" into Millie's life when she was in her twenties. "It happens quite slowly at first and then all of a sudden you're in this mad cyclone and you can't find your feet, you get lost," she says.
The cocky bravado of the women in Hull's red light district made it seem like an easy way of funding her drug addiction. But now, with more than five years on the streets behind her, she knows all that banter is just body armour against the violence and vileness that comes with the job.
"Oh, you must love sex," punters would say with a smirk. "No. I love heroin," was Millie's sharp retort. "There is no love of sex, working on the streets - it's always a last resort."
Millie's drug addiction began as a teenager, when she would steal her mum's sleeping pills and Valium. When her mum's mental illness was at its height, she would whisper menacing things through Millie's bedroom door at night: "There's evil inside you, I can see it. You are a demon, spawned from demon seed." The pills helped to block it all out. From there she graduated to ecstasy, opioids - and eventually, heroin.
"Then you get trapped in addiction because you end up needing the drugs to get through it, to block out the things you've had to do," says Millie.
She remembers how women would steel themselves for a night on Hessle Road - Hull's red light district - telling themselves that they wouldn't do anything for less than £60. But their resolve would weaken as soon as withdrawal symptoms set in. "When you're rattling you'll get in that car for less than £20 - you'd do it for a fiver, simple as that," says Millie.
When we meet, Millie has just finished reading a book about the Victorian serial killer, Jack the Ripper, and can relate to his victims. "Back then we were referred to as 'unfortunates'," she says. "We have different names now but still the same social problems: the poverty, the addiction, the violence."
In Hull, the fishing industry and the sex trade have always been intertwined, she says, the poorest women in the fishing community at risk of sliding into prostitution. Millie knows lots of sex workers today whose fathers were trawlermen in the 1970s, when the industry went into steep decline.
"Generation after generation of women from these fishing families are working the streets - it is a terrifying prospect."
But while Hull has celebrated its fishing heritage with statues and murals as UK City of Culture this year, it takes a hard line on the sex trade. Three years ago - not long after its status as 2017's city of culture had been confirmed - it became the only local authority in the UK to effectively make prostitution illegal.
An end-of-terrace mural on Hessle Road, created for Hull's year as UK City of Culture
It did this by obtaining powers from the county court to issue injunctions under Section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972, to people found loitering, soliciting or having sex in the Hessle Road area. If they continue their anti-social behaviour they have broken the injunction, and can be arrested, prosecuted, and even jailed.
The policy currently affects more than 100 women. Last year the Lighthouse Project, a charity, had contact with 113 women working on the streets of Hull, and another 15 who had stopped - either temporarily or permanently. Women who break free may be back in a few years, charity workers say.
Millie, who has been out of the sex trade and clean from drugs for about 10 years, says Section 222 has forced the sex workers out of sight, making their lives more dangerous. To dodge police, they work increasingly in back streets or on isolated industrial estates - areas that are poorly lit and away from surveillance cameras.
"Even without Section 222 to contend with, it's lonely, it's frightening, it's degrading - and it's a secretive life," Millie says.
"I can understand that Hull City Council wants to clean up the streets, but I think the best way to do that is not an Asbo, or to victimise victims, I think it is to provide support and proper treatment and look at the social issues - the homelessness, the domestic violence, the exploitation, the drug addiction, the mental health problems."
Millie is one of 11 women who worked with the Lighthouse Project to produce An Untold Story, a book documenting the reality of being a sex worker in Hull. In the three-and-a-half years it took to prepare, five women working on the streets were murdered. Another 11, including two of the book's contributors, died from other causes - pneumonia, drug overdoses or other conditions resulting from years of sex work, and drug or alcohol abuse.
Sorry. It's only one word containing five letters. It's not enough, it will never be enough.
I miss being a mum. It's down to me that I'm not any more. I hold my hands up to all the mistakes and bad decisions I've made, but it's not enough. It will never be enough.
It's not just birthdays, but the silly little things, like making up daft songs about what we were having for tea and singing them all the way home from the shops. Or writing teeny tiny letters from the tooth fairy in minuscule writing, thanking them for an incredible tooth and to keep up the good work. That their tooth would be used to help build the fairy kingdom.
I miss being a Mum. My memories of my three children are tainted by guilt, filled with shame, saddened by regret.
Since the policy came into force, 29 women have been arrested and served with court orders and four have been prosecuted. Two women have been sentenced to jail; one to 14 days, the other to one month, though her sentence was suspended for a year. Five women are currently waiting for a court date. "Sending them to prison for two weeks won't do anything and it isn't even enough time to provide rehabilitation," argues Millie, who served short sentences in prison herself, and would go back on the streets the day she was released.
A couple of times a month, Millie goes out at night on a Lighthouse Project bus. Women who board it are given condoms, hot drinks and information on dangerous individuals - passed on by Ugly Mugs, a charity that collects reports of incidents from sex workers and fields them out to warn others.
"They come to unburden their day - they're telling me their problems and they're the same ones I faced," says Millie. She commiserates with them on painful anniversaries - the day their children were taken away by social services, or the last time they spoke to their parents.
But since Section 222 came into force, women have been more afraid to use outreach services, says Emma Crick, who led the Untold Stories Project.
During the day, Hessle Road is a busy shopping street
"Many times when I have been working in evening outreach, police are around and appear to be waiting for the women to get on or off the vehicle so they can target them," she says.
As a result of the strong police presence, Hull's sex workers have also become more dispersed, making it harder to offer them support services, Crick says.
The director of Ugly Mugs, Georgina Perry, says the charity has received just two incident reports for Hull in 2016/17 - well below average for a city of its size. In Nottingham, a similarly-sized city, 35 incidents were reported during the same period, she says.
"What we see in every authority where there is a heavy-handed enforcement approach is that the number of reports [to Ugly Mugs] goes down and the number of women then willing to take it to the police goes down too, because they are frightened about criminalisation," she says.
Perry brands Hull council's approach to sex workers a "quick and dirty way of superficially dealing with a problem that is about poverty and deprivation".
You're usually "sorting somebody out" [buying their drugs]. I was sorting out my boyfriend, and a couple of his mates. There's always spongers who just soak up everything that they can get hold of, drug-wise.
A lot of fellas, they say, "I'm looking after our lass," and, "I'm looking after my girl." No they're not! They don't want to miss out, so they need to be there when the punter drops her off. If not, they might not get anything.
By contrast, Graham Paddock, anti-social behaviour team leader at Hull City Council, says the ban has "been a success so far" and was renewed in December 2016 for another three years.
"We had reports of sexual intercourse in gardens and against fences, so we had to do something to protect the community," he says.
"We are never going to stamp out prostitution in Hull entirely, but at the end of the day we have to send a message out that that kind of behaviour will not be tolerated."
Doing sex work is known in Hull as "going down the lane", after the former red light district, Waterhouse Lane
Residents reported an improvement after the policy based on Section 222 was introduced, he says.
But is this a case of "victimising victims", as Millie puts it?
"I can see that argument, but I guess our number one responsibility is the local community being affected," Paddock replies.
He adds that police tactics have changed over time, so that it isn't just the women who are targeted.
"When it first came into place in 2014 we were concentrating a lot on the girls themselves, but it was always intended for anyone - whether it be pimps, partners, boyfriends - so I've noticed there's been a change recently where more punters are actually being served with the orders now."
No men have yet been prosecuted, however.
Slum housing on the edge of the red light district has been demolished in recent years, to make way for modern homes
A multi-agency group made up of representatives from the police, the council and charities - including the Lighthouse Project - is now meeting to discuss the best way of using Section 222, while also supporting the women involved in sex work. But Millie is frustrated that no-one with experience of sex work has been invited to take part. She thinks she could have made a useful contribution.
She would have argued that if the goal is to protect the local community, then the women and most of their clients are also members of the local community. And she would have underlined that they can be helped to find a way out of prostitution.
"The saying 'once a junkie always a junkie' isn't true - you can break free from addiction," she says. It wasn't easy - she relapsed many times - but after moving into a hostel and getting the right counselling, she started to claw back control of her life.
She remembers the first time she decided not to use her money to buy heroin - she bought a necklace instead. It was a silver cross with her mum's birthstone in it - amethyst.
"I remember the pride I felt - I wasn't used to feeling pride, it was an emotion I'd lost long ago."
Kate's been my ever-patient mentor for all the years I've volunteered for Lighthouse...
We continue our walk up the main road of the red light district in Hull, towards the next working girl, stood on the next street corner. The Lighthouse car pulls up in front of us again, playing a crazy game of leap frog with us, keeping Kate and I within sight.
Another working girl opens the side door as we arrive at the car. She's in a hurry so she just needs a hot drink and a goody bag, then she's on her way.
For the next two hours we stop and talk to every working girl we see. Most we know. Some are new.
When the night shift is over and I'm snuggled up under the duvet with my dog curled up behind my knees, my husband breathing rhythmically sleeping beside me, a man who's never once thrown my past in my face, I once again realise how fortunate I am.
Millie's name has been changed
See also: My work as a prostitute led me to oppose decriminalisation
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41533411
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Jeremy Hunt: Is government on track with more GPs promise? - BBC News
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2017-10-13
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The health secretary promised 5,000 more GPs by 2020.
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Health
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The majority of most people's contact with the NHS is with GPs
Addressing a room full of doctors, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt reminded the audience of his promise in 2015 that there would be 5,000 more general practitioners working in the NHS in England by 2020.
We're halfway to Mr Hunt's deadline - so how is the government doing at meeting this target?
In 2015, there were about 34,500 GPs working in the NHS in England. The government wants there to be about 39,500 by 2020.
But the latest figures published by the NHS show that there are actually about 350 fewer GPs now than there were in 2015, when the target was announced.
These numbers include registrars - trainee GPs who are qualified doctors but have not yet completed their specialist training.
After two foundation years, medical school graduates pick a specialism. It then takes another three years to become a fully fledged GP.
So far, then, it doesn't look like they're on track.
How do you get more GPs into the NHS?
The NHS is trying all three.
And the last of these appears to be proving a particular problem.
Mr Hunt told the Royal College of GPs' annual conference that the NHS was doing "pretty well" at getting more medical graduates into general practice.
Health Education England, the part of the NHS responsible for making sure enough people with the right skills are trained and recruited into the health service, said it would make sure a minimum of 3,250 trainees per year were recruited to GP training programmes by 2016.
The number is up 9% since 2015 but is still slightly behind the target.
The National Audit Office, which scrutinises public spending , said in January that 3,019 places had been filled, or 93% of the target.
So, the number of medical graduates being recruited into the GP specialism is going up.
But it's not yet having an impact on the overall numbers because more doctors are retiring or leaving the profession.
Between 2005 and 2014, the proportion of GPs aged 55 to 64 leaving the profession doubled, according to health think tank the King's Fund.
The NHS has launched a range of initiatives to encourage GPs to stay in the profession, for example offering more flexibility, training and financial support, but it's too soon to know how well they are working.
In July, the NHS also announced it would recruit more GPs from overseas by 2020-21 to meet its staffing targets. It's too soon to say how effective this recruitment drive has been.
And on Thursday the Health Secretary announced newly qualified GPs would receive a one-off payment of £20,000 if they started their careers in parts of the country that struggled to attract family doctors.
Efforts are clearly being made, but progress has been slow.
The King's Fund says that "the actions taken to deliver 5,000 more GPs by 2020 will need to be significantly more successful in the next few years for this pledge to be met".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41596947
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Battles ahead for EU bill - BBC News
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2017-10-14
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The government's EU repeal bill faces a tough passage through Parliament.
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Parliaments
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They seek it here, they seek it there - but the centrepiece of the government's Brexit legislation, the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, seems to have gone into hiding.
Most Westminster observers expected the Commons to embark on eight days of detailed debate, in Committee of the Whole House, pretty much as soon as their conference recess was over.
Eyebrows were raised when it was not on this week's agenda - and they shot skywards when it was not put on the agenda for next week.
It is not a postponement, because the committee stage has never been scheduled, but something seems to be afoot.
What might it be? Challenged in Commons business questions by the SNP's Pete Wishart, Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom noted that MPs had proposed more than 300 amendments and 54 new clauses to the Bill and these were being studied by ministers.
And there is little doubt that some of these pose a real threat to the government's tenuous Commons majority.
The threat-in-chief is posed by amendments from the Conservative former attorney general, Dominic Grieve, to limit ministers' powers to re-write the law in the process of enacting Brexit.
Remember, this Bill is designed to allow the government to reprocess four decades of accumulated EU law into British law, so that the UK has functional legislation on all kinds of crucial areas, come Brexit Day.
The powers are pretty sweeping, because the Bill provides a toolkit to build an edifice which has not yet been designed - and Mr Grieve's amendments express the qualms of some MPs (including those of many strong Brexiteers) about their extent. He is the man most likely to amend.
I suspect the government is already whispering to him, behind the scenes, to produce an appropriate compromise, probably with the helpful endorsement of the Commons Procedure Select Committee behind it.
Was that the PM's bag-carrier, Seema Kennedy, I spotted in the public galler, when Mr Grieve set out his stall in evidence to the Procedure Committee on Wednesday?
If ministers can craft a compromise amendment, via ProcCom, face can be saved and division averted.
But with plenty more amendments still raining down, Mr Grieve is not the only threat. A recent addition is an amendment co-signed by the Nottinghamshire axis of Conservative ex-chancellor Ken Clarke and Labour's arch-Europhile, Chris Leslie.
This is a cunning production which takes the PM's commitment to a transition from full EU membership to Brexit, made in her Florence speech, and seeks to put it on the face of the Bill.
It follows her words precisely. But the killer point is that, if there's no transition, then a fresh act would be required to trigger Brexit day. In other words, if no transition, then they must come back and ask Parliament "what next?"
Now the government is not legislating against the clock as it was on the Article 50 Bill, when it was racing to get the measure through Commons and Lords before the end of the last Parliamentary year.
But its schedule is clearly slipping a little.
Next week is to be devoted to a little humdrum legislation, an opposition day debate and backbench business - that leaves seven debating weeks before Parliament embarks on its Christmas recess.
Take out one week to debate the Budget, and another for the November mini-half term (when a lot of select committee visits have been scheduled) and you have six weeks in which to cram the promised eight committee stage days devoted to the Bill, and the minimum of two days needed for report stage and third reading. Not impossible - but it does make for a packed Parliamentary programme, with little room for anything else.
There is rising speculation that the continuing delay in getting going reflects ministerial indecision about how to handle the amendments to the Bill - although another theory is that the government is waiting until next week's European summit is done, in the hope that it can firm up the terms of a possible transitional arrangement.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-parliaments-41607238
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Formula One teams' costs rocket after rules changes - BBC News
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2017-10-14
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Formula One teams' costs have soared after rules changes designed to make for closer competition.
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Business
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Next weekend Britain's Lewis Hamilton could secure his fourth Formula One title at the United States Grand Prix.
His Mercedes team is a staggering 145 points ahead of arch-rivals Ferrari despite the sport introducing rules this year which aimed to put the brakes on the dominance of a single outfit. They came at a hefty cost.
The new regulations were designed to make for closer racing by increasing aerodynamic and mechanical grip through the introduction of wider tyres and wings.
According to one of the teams it has "rewritten" the rulebook and the impact is just as noticeable off track as on it.
But if some had hoped the rules might stop Mercedes from running away with the F1 championship they will have been disappointed. Ironically, they have also forced up its rivals' costs.
Only the frontrunners have had the resources to foot the bill from their cashflow whilst one of the outfits lower down the grid even had to get a driver to cover the cost.
Research has revealed that new regulations fuelled a £167.6m increase in the F1 teams' costs in 2016. They rose 14.5% to hit a combined £1.3bn - the highest-ever total recorded in the sport.
F1 cars are designed the year before they race so the bulk of the investment in them is paid for then, too. It means that the cost of this year's campaign is reflected in the teams' 2016 accounts and the final one of them was filed last week.
Eight of F1's ten teams have to file publicly-available accounts - the only exceptions are Ferrari as its outfit is run by the car manufacturer itself, and Swiss-based Sauber where firms don't have to release their finances.
The costs of the teams' operating companies came to an average of £165.9m in 2016, topped by Northamptonshire-based Mercedes which spent £274.9m excluding the investment in its engines.
It is the highest ever total recorded on the accounts of a British F1 team and even eclipses the turbocharged spending levels before the 2008 economic crash which drove Toyota and Honda out of the sport.
At the other end of the spectrum is last year's new entrant Haas F1 which spent a third as much as the championship leaders.
Haas has managed to keep its costs down by taking advantage of a new rule allowing teams to buy in more parts than before. Haas uses a Ferrari engine with a chassis created by Italian manufacturer Dallara which also makes the cars for the F2 junior series.
Relying on suppliers reduces research and development expenditure which, along with staffing and engine costs, is one of their biggest costs - it rose across the board in 2016 as teams had to design cars to meet the new regulations.
They were introduced by F1's governing body the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) to address criticism that the outcome of races was clear before they started due to the dominance of Mercedes.
Haas has kept costs down by buying in more parts than before
With Hamilton at the wheel it has won both the constructors' and the drivers' championship for the past three years running. This year is set to be no different but there has been a far higher price to pay.
Writing in the introduction to its accounts Mercedes' team boss Toto Wolff notes that there has been "an increase of £27.9m in operating costs mainly due to the impact of technical regulation changes and movement in foreign exchange rates".
The 2016 accounts for Force India, also based in Northamptonshire, give more insight into the effort required to meet the new rules.
It says that combined with the change in tyre-sizes "our traditional method of retaining 50% of the previous season's car and updating the remaining 50% is not possible for 2017". Over 90% of Force India's car this year is completely new.
Force India has helped cover its increased costs with cash from driver Nikita Mazepin
The team planned to cover its increased costs with income from an unlikely source: a driver contract signed with Russian youngster, Nikita Mazepin, "secured a cash injection ahead of significant regulation changes ahead of the 2017 season", said Force India.
Mazepin was just 16 when he signed up last year and he has tested for the team twice since then, most recently in July after the Hungarian Grand Prix. He has ample resources to pay as his father Dmitry became a billionaire through owning the mineral fertiliser producer Uralchem.
Despite this, Force India still chalked up a net loss of £11.6m - the largest of any team in 2016.
The regulation changes even dented the bottom line of British manufacturing giant McLaren. Its went from a net £3.4m profit in 2015 to an after-tax loss of £3.2m the following year.
For F1 teams, victory on the track is more important than making a profit
Overall the teams made a combined net loss of £2m last year. Perhaps surprisingly this is nothing new as unlike most businesses, profit is not the barometer of success in F1.
Instead teams judge their performance on racing results and tend to spend all of their income on this in a bid for victory.
Some even pump in more than they make, with additional funds usually coming from owners' pockets or debt. The theory is that it is better to win and make no profit than make money and finish low in the standings.
Victory on track increases a team's ability to bring in more sponsorship,, as brands are prepared to pay more to be associated with a winner.
The teams' revenue generally comes from three sources with two providing the lion's share. They are fuelled by F1's huge television audience (390m viewers last year). The first key revenue source is sponsorship which comprises around a third of the teams' revenue,
Another third comes from prize money. F1's parent company, which is owned by American investment firm Liberty Media, pays the teams around 66% of its annual profits as prize money and it came to $985.5m (£742m) in 2016.
Despite numerous failed attempts there are new proposals to introduce a budget cap for F1 teams
Payments from owners represent around half of the teams' remaining revenue and the marketing benefit from the exposure on TV compensates for this investment.
If costs increase these payments often rise to compensate and last year Red Bull poured in four times more money into its flagship team. Its investment into Red Bull Racing hit £40.6m as costs surged 9.2% to £197m.
As its owner has deep pockets Red Bull Racing doesn't need to rely on drivers who pay but income from them is the remaining source of revenue for F1 teams. They are a hallmark of teams at the bottom of the grid but their days could be numbered.
Despite numerous failed attempts F1 hasn't given up on introducing a budget cap and recent reports suggest that Liberty Media will shortly present plans to the teams for introduction in 2021 when their current race contracts expire. But it will be the sport's governing body, the FIA, that will ultimately decide on any changes
A limit of £114m has been suggested and this would level the playing field as the smallest teams are already below this whilst the frontrunners would have to scale back.
Although it may seem like a logical direction for the sport to go in it would make the recent boost in spending seem all the more pointless.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41610963
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